Well I did it again!

Yup!  I did it again!

I ordered more fabric!  This time though, I bought with something in mind, the new living room look!

It should all be here early next week, and I am so excited, I will be making some bolster pillows for the new sofa, and some other things as well.  Not sure what.....yet.....I'll figure it all out!

Hey I know I have a fabric problem, I just can't help myself!

What do you think?

HeLLLOOOooo Karl!

So we are making a little progress on getting all the goodies we bought this weekend set up, whooHOO!!

Muscle, aka Josh, finally maneuvered our old monster sofa out and all the way to goodwill, poor guy has been working twelve hours a day too, and still he did it after getting off work, AND driving an hour home!  He just knew that I couldn't stand that thing!  So nice of him!

Anyway, I immediately got to assembling our new Ikea sofa, the Karlstad!

I had originally planned on getting the Kivik sofa, but when we got there is was so super low to the ground that I just didn't think it was the look I wanted...so  in walks the Karl.

Here's a little glimpse of the fun that was going on in here tonight!

The Ikea instructions always crack me up, I can't help laughing when I see the....have a work buddy image, cause that will make you happy!

What have you all been up to tonight?

DIY Kate Spade Ampersand

I have been wanted to do this DIY forEVER!

But today I finally took out the watercolors and got painting!

Do you see the hot pink Ampersand, it was part of a photo collage in a Kate Spade store, and I just knew that I needed one! 

 Well, I got back from Ikea this weekend with lots of frames to complete a photo wall for the new living room, so I figured it was time to get painting!

I started by free handing the ampersand onto some watercolor paper.

Then I began layering some pinks, reds, and corals, to get some depth and the rich coral color I wanted!

You don't get to see  the finished product, I ran out of daylight to get a decent picture!

I can't wait to get this up on the wall, we are still living with boxes of new furniture, and all the old stuff we haven't been able to move out yet!

We are hoping to get everything to Goodwill this week, but Josh has been working overtime, and since he's the muscles, I just have to have some patience!

But I can't wait to get the new things set up!

I will share pictures of everything when I get it all finished!!

The newest blog on the block!

Have you heard?  Kelly Wearstler has joined the blogging world!

Her blog is called My Vibe My Life.

Kelly Wearstler's work is FaBuLoUs! 

I can't wait to see what see will share on her blog!

I LOVE her workshop!!

what a loooonnnggg drive!

This is what we drove home with late last night, after a trip to Ikea and Homegoods!

Whew it was more than a 6 hour round trip drive, but I am super excited with what we found!

Wait till you see what I paid for this nail head trimmed ottoman!

I LOVE IT!!!

Can you tell we are excited to be almost home!

Blog Swap!

He guys, welcome to my first blog swap!
Charlie from Attempting Aloha will be sharing a few projects with you today, while I am battling my way threw D.C. traffic to Ikea!
Wish me Luck!

 Aloha Blonde's DIY Life fans!  My name is Charlie (pink, not blue). and I'm thrilled to be swapping blogs with Ashley today.  I've been following her almost from the beginning, and I'm so in love with her style. The girl has talent! And she's super sweet to boot! And pretty. Triple threat. I'm working on jealousy this year, so I'm putting all that aside and still being friends with her. ;)
So see that flower pillow in my header? That lovely little thing was actually inspired by one Ashley bought to sit on her fabulous bench she transformed!

But today I really wanted to show you a few Valentine's creations I've been working on. You've got a week left to bust out some decor and make some sweet gifts, so here's what I've come up with (so far...).
I just finished this "P.S. I Love Your Laughter" sign yesterday morning. It's a sign to put in our bedroom that I'll be giving to my sweetheart for Valentine's Day. I'm sure I'll appreciate it much more than he does, but hopefully it will give me a daily reminder to keep him smiling.

I also made a little heart-shaped fabric wreath out of a hanger and white fabric. I had to play around with where I put it, though...
First I hung it on a bright red platter in our dining room:

But then my husband came home and told me it looked like something out of Victoria's Secret, so I decided to hang it on our living room mirror instead:

Better!

And I invented the "Valentine's Stocking" for my husband and I to put treats for our girls in on Valentine's Day morning.

 And if you love flowers and burlap, here's a great way to combine the two: Burlap-covered vase! I bought a cheap $1.50 plastic vase from a party supply store and dressed it in some burlap. Sure, I get the occasional complaint from the vase about the itching, but she's so happy to finally have flowers adorning her that she doesn't mind too much. ;)   And if you don't have fresh flowers blooming in your front yard, an empty vase on your table is an excellent way to send a hint to the Mr. about what to give you for Valentine's Day!

Wrap a pink ribbon around a Goodwill-find pillow, slap a flower on there and call it a day!

Lazy-mom's version of Valentine's art:

I have no pics yet with love notes, but I'll show you what we're doing. I made this chicken wire display to show off our cards from friends at Christmas, and we've decided to share love notes with each of our family members on it leading up to Valentine's Day. So everyone checks daily to see if they got a new note on the wall. :)

Thanks again, Ashley, for letting me visit and joining Swap 'n' Meet Saturday. You have fabulous readers, and I'm excited to have the chance to meet them!

Come stop by anytime you're needing a little sunshine and sand. We LOVE tourists. ;)

Aloha,

Charlie

I hope you all enjoyed reading about some of Charlie's projects!

Flirty Gems, just in time for Valentines!

I ran across this super Chic little store on Etsy, called Flirty Gems. You have to check it out, her little earrings are super cute, and the prices are pretty great too!  Perfect for a little Valentines gift!

   Alana Imbruce, is the artist and designer of this FAB little jewelry line.

 I asked her how she started making her little creations, and this is what she said.....

              I am 37 years old and a Mom to three, 8, 5 and a 1 year old.  I started selling my line in retail stores shortly after having my first born 8 years ago I always made jewelry but it wasn't until then that I decided to do it full time and I enjoyed the fact that I could do it all from my home office.  I got the idea of starting my line while I was in the process of getting married and looking for jewelry to match my bridesmaids dresses when I couldn't find any I decided to make them myself and everyone loved them and in turn when they were all getting married asked me to make them for there bridal parties and from there it just took off as they say.  I was featured on a segment on NBC morning news about bridal party jewelry then Brides Magazine followed then Seventeen and Pregnancy Magazine.  I take a lot of pride in my work and make each piece myself which is why I decided to sell on Etsy because there is no stress I just make what I love and can handle and when I sell it I make more there is no stress from big retail orders and I can maintain the craftmanship I pride myself on.  I always remember a quote I heard in my early twenties that said remember what made you happy as a child and then find a way to do that for a living and you will be happy and I thought to myself when I was a child I would spend hours out on the lawn on the grass stringing daisies together and making necklaces and bracelets out of them so that's what makes me happy I guess...making jewelry is my happy place.

 Can you believe she has been in so many magazines!  

Anyway here are just a few of my favorite pieces she has in her shop right now!

I think I may have just found the new colors for my living room!  I LOVE aqua and coral!  So cute with white in the summer!

Her shop is called Flirty Gems, go check her out!

Do you Joss?

There's a new Member's Only discount home shopping website!

It's called Joss & Main!

They are relatively new so I'm excited to see what else they may sell at some really great discounts!

Go here
to sign up using my personal invitation!

Here are just a few of the things they have for sale right now!

I just LOVE this Trina Turk Pillow!

Baby Blanket Turorial

Ok, so I just realized that I have a tendency to tell you guys that I will get back to you with a tutorial and I always seem to forget!

So here is the first of a few sewing tutorials for past projects.

Baby Blanket Tutorial.

This is a very easy blanket to make, I think it took me longer to pick out the fabric than to cut and sew it together!  I used a Minky fabric and a soft flannel to make mine, but you could also use a pajama satin or a fun patterned cotton print.

Cut your inside fabric 30"x 35"

Cut your outside fabric 35"x 40"

I decided  to use the minky for my outside fabric and the flannel for the inside but you really can make it either way, there is no wrong way!

Next place the wrong sides together and center your inside fabric over the outside fabric, mine was not perfectly centered,  just get it the best you can.

Fold outside fabric over the inside fabric with 1/4 inch hem then pin into place.

A little trick when pinning together any stretchy fabric, start in the middle of any one side, then pin together corners of said side, this will keep the fabric from stretching out as you pin along the side making the one fabric longer than  the other. To finish pin the rest of the side into place.

The corners are the most difficult part of this blanket, but with a few minutes of refolding them mine came out just fine!

Fold and miter the corners. 

Sorry I have no pictures of this, but you basically fold the outside fabric so that the tip of the outside fabric meets the tip of the inside fabric, then fold again. The hemmed corners should now meet forming your corner.

I totally forgot to take pictures of this, so google mitered corner if you still need help!

Now you just topstitch the hemmed edges, trying to stay close to the edge so the hem you folded under is sewn down, I finished the all four edges before I topstitched each mitered corner.

That's it! Super easy! 

I'm in the process of making a few more, so I will try to get more detailed pictures of the whole process!