I love finding a good deal on furniture, that’s why I thrift and garage sale. But, this might be my best deal to date!  You guys, I found this chair on the side of the road.  Can’t get much better then FREE!

It definitely needed a little love, but with a fresh coat of paint and a new cushion and sheepskin back, it’s looks pretty great.  And it’s the comfiest chair – it rocks and swivels.  You can check out the full makeover and how-to over on ehow today.

Have you ever found furniture on the curb?  What’s the best thing you’ve ever picked up?

Summer and flowers are meant to go together. If you are hosting a party or just want to add a little color to your dining room table, you don’t have to pay big bucks to have a florist arrange flowers for you. You can do this!!!! With some great foliage and flowers and the right tools, you can create a gorgeous arrangement.

I teamed up with my favorite local florist, Amanda of House of Flowers, to teach me some tips and tricks for creating a beautiful summer arrangement.  We used Fiskars Micro Tip Floral Snip and Floral Pruner to make easy work of cutting through thick woody stems and flowers.  Amanda said these cut like butter!

I could watch this little GIF all day. There is something so satisfying to watch this all come together in just seconds. 

We started with a big, wide mouthed vase.  The graphic black and white (from West Elm), was a nice contrast to the wild, unruly arrangement.  Amanda started with a base of leafy stems from a mulberry bush that she foraged from her yard.  These thicker, woodier branches act as an anchor to hold all the other stems in place. Then there is no need to use a floral frog or oasis. These first branches also create the basic shape of the arrangement.

Next she added in lots of greens and whites in varying textures and sizes, many of which grow in folks yards here in California. Green viburnum, pieris japonica, white astilbe (my favorite thing about this arrangement), star of Bethlehem, and hellebores where all used. This filled in the arrangement.

Then she added in the more expensive flowers like the anemones.

And finally, to give the arrangement that wow factor, pops of hot pink ranunculus and spots of black scabiosa were added as a finishing touch.

I can’t wait to play with flowers again soon.

This post is sponsored by Fiskars, thank you for supporting the companies that help make this blog possible. 

We are smack in the middle of Grad season. I love the idea of gifting fresh flowers to graduates, it feels special.  But, it can really get pricey.  So, I’ve made some adorable mini grad bouquets with printable “congrats” paper wraps.  I spent very little on these flowers and actually most of them were from my yard.  And I’m pretty sure any grad would be happy to receive these after receiving their diploma.

You can download the free printable paper wraps in black and white. Simply cut out the two squares of paper and glue or tape them back to back.  Then tie up a mini bouquet of a few flowers and wrap them in the “congrats” paper.

I hope you had a great long weekend.  I spent mine making and working on a whole bunch of projects. I’m really excited to share a whole bunch of fun new DIYs for you. So stay tuned.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I’m pretty sure it might be one of the most important holidays there is. We owe our mom’s so much, at least I know I owe mine. Mom’s are suckers for sentimental, thoughtful, handmade gifts. This year I’m excited to give my mom a pretty garden rose fleecy throw blanket that I created for her with Shutterfly.

I’ve also got some fun free printable Mother’s Day gift tags for you (so keep reading). Whether you make your mom a blanket or something else, I’ve got the perfect little tags to attach to your mom’s gift.I took black and white pictures of garden roses in my neighborhood, and had them printed on Shutterfly’s new super soft sherpa blankets. I love how they turned out. They’re feminine and graphic all at the same time.  I printed one with just a few, bigger blooms and another with hundreds of white blossoms all over  the blanket. I can’t decide which is my favorite. I have both images for you to download.
And what’s a gift without wrapping is up pretty and adding a card? Mom’s love a good card. You can print out the 4 gift tags I’ve designed and add a personal message. (Links to the free printable below.) You can download this set of Mother’s Day gift tags HERE!

And if you’d like to make a blanket here’s Version 1 and Version 2.

This post is sponsored by Shutterfly, thank you for supporting the companies that help make this blog possible. 

After I made one of these necklaces, I couldn’t stop. And before I knew it, I’d make 7 geometric shaped necklaces. I’m a huge fan of fun, big, chunky jewelry. And my 12 year old self, still loves to play with oven baked clay. These simple necklaces pendants are really just a couple geometric shapes layered on top of each other to create a modern, unique jewelry pieces. The possibilities and combinations are endless. I stuck with my go-to color combo – green, gold and grey and played with different combinations of these colors.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• a rolling pin and a marble or stone surface to work on
• oven-bake clay (I used Gold, Green, Granite, and Marble)
• a q-tip
• clay adhesive
• small shape cookies cutters
• a paper straw
• parchment paper and cookie sheet
• twine or cotton rope

Start by rolling out the dough to about a 1/4″ thickness. You want it to be quite thick so that the piece has so weight to it. If possible, roll out on a stone surface, even a cutting board will do. The clay is less likely to stick to this surface.

Using the cookie cutters, cut out your desired shapes. This was the fun part. I cut lots of sizes, shapes and colors and had fun pairing them up to get a look I wanted.

When you have decided which pieces will go together, place a small amount of the clay adhesive on the clay pieces and adhere them together.

Using the paper straw, cut out wholes for the rope to hang from.  Place the finished pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in the oven at 200 F for about 15-20 mins. I had a DIY fail the first time I made these. I followed the directions for baking on the package and all the white pieces turned out totally yellow and discolored. So I reduced the temperature and baking time, and all the clay cured and stayed it’s true color. Just watch them carefully. Take them out and allow them to cool completely. If they don’t feel totally hard, bake them for another couple of minutes. It’s not an exact science, but you can get great results if you are patient with the baking process.

You are going to want to go buy some clay.  I made all of these pieces with about 4 packages of oven-bake clay.  And Olivia was quite entertained for about 2 hours as we made bead after bead together.

I’ve always loved setting the table for dinner. It was the job my mom always gave me when we had quests over. And the only way to do it right is with cloth napkins.

You know I’m a fan of tropical foliage (remember my Alphabet chart). So, I created these simple leaf and vase patterns to be part of my Cricut Gold Explore Machine for JoAnn Fabric Stores designs (check out the machine here, under Die Cut Machines, Supplies and More at Joann.com).

Grey, gold and white is still one of my favorite combos. I bought solid grey napkins and cut leaves and vases in gold and white iron-on vinyl, but stencils could also be cut and the leaves and vases could be painted on with fabric paint.

Be sure to check out my other Cricut Gold Designs like the Half Moon Wall Hanging, Throw Blanket with Geometric Patterned Edge, and a whole bunch of fun pillows.

Well, Easter is just about here and we are enjoying Spring Break vacation with a trip to Washington DC. We just arrived this afternoon and we are excited to see the sites and enjoy some quality time together as a family. The kids have never been, so they are excited to check out all the museums and monuments. We need to find a church to attend on Easter Sunday while we are here. It does feel a little weird to be missing our church family for Easter, so I whipped up some super easy Easter treats for all the ladies of my small group.  I’ve had a lot of projects in the works, so this Spring I just haven’t had time for a lot of cute seasonal crafting. But, I had this idea in the back of my head for weeks and knew I wanted to quickly make these for my friends.

I bought a bag of pastel and gold plastic Easter eggs at Target and gave them a sophisticated, grown-up makeover.  I sprayed the pastel half of the eggs with flat black spray paint and then cut simple egg shapes pieces of card stock.  I attached cute, costume jewelry earrings to the card stock and filled each egg with a pair of earrings.  When you don’t want all the calories of chocolate, jewelry is the next best thing to receive as a gift.  These would also look great displayed in a bowl on your dining room table.  If you are like me and tend to lean away from the bright and colorful and gravitate towards neutrals, these just might be the Easter decor you’ve been looking for.