baking

Flour, Sprinkles, and Dough! Oh My!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas wouldn't be as sweet if there were no Christmas cookies!

Every year my husband's family gets together to make yummy Christmas cookies at his Grammy's house. Unfortunately, we were missing a few faces (Lacy, Dustin, and Coletta) this year, but there will not be a shortage of the sugary snack when the holiday gets here.

The boys were especially excited to get started with the cookie making. (Hank, our sweet nephew, was in love with that Christmas tree cookie cutter.)





It is always fun to watch Hank cut out the cookies. He never lacks effort or enthusiasm...



...and he is never disappointed with how they turn out.



 "Shake, shake, shake" (A necessary step to ensure that the cookie is perfect!)







We eventually collected a large variety of tasty cookies...even if Dane managed to sneak a few bites of raw dough.





No cookie is complete without icing...and sprinkles when Hank is involved. (Trust me, EVERY cookie got at least one sprinkle.



YUM! Don't those look delicious?



I hope everyone is enjoying these days before Christmas. Have you made cookies yet, or do you have an different holiday tradition?

{b}

christmas decorations

Oh Christmas Tree

Sunday, December 18, 2011

It is official...Christmas is just a week away! Most of you have probably already taken the time to put up a Christmas tree and all of your other Christmas decorations. (I started decorating 3 weeks ago!) This is the first year I was able to decorate the Christmas tree as a wife! I am sure you can imagine my excitement. Our small tree is the perfect size for the the corner of our living room, and luckily there is still room for all of the presents to fit around it. (Trust me...if the tree were any bigger presents wouldn't be an option!)



Decorating the Christmas tree is something I enjoy doing every year. When I was a child I would get to pick out a new ornament before Christmas, and as we decorated the tree each November we would look back at all of the ornaments that we collected.

Dane and I don't have an impressive collection of sentimental ornaments ro decorate our tree. I am sure that we will begin to collect those when we start having children, but this year I wanted my tree to have a theme: rustic!

Dane already had a great variety of rustic ornaments thanks to his wonderful mother!



We also had some shimmery, little red ornaments that added a needed pop of color!



Unfortunately, we did not have a tree topper, but that just meant that we could add our touch to the tree that was already great! We found this pretty silver star at Wal-Mart.



I also got a few simple, silver ornaments for the tree, and I used a couple of those to make these fun rustic ornaments!



Dane and I are so excited about spending this holiday season as husband and wife. We love our cute little tree and I am sure that it will evolve as we celebrate more Christmases, (I also need to find new stockings at some point...or make my own!) but for now we are very happy with our little tree and the special ornaments that decorate it!

{b}

Christmas Cards

Getting Ready for the Holidays!

Monday, November 07, 2011

I cannot tell you how excited I am to send all of my friends and family Christmas cards this year! It is one of the perks of being married that I have been looking forward to for a long time. So, I have started working on my Christmas card design. I looked through several designs online, but I really wanted the satisfaction of designing my own. I am sure (like anything else that I design) I will make several different designs before I select the one that I will mail out...good thing I started early!



Here is the first design that I have come up with! This font is one of my new favorites!



Now I just need to take a cute picture for our Thank You cards and get those mailed out. We are so blessed! {b}

Pinterest Challenge!!!!!

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Phew…now that the wedding has passed and we have returned from the honeymoon we will be able to relax and enjoy our home. WRONG! If I could show you pictures of my spare bedroom (which I won’t because it is so embarrassing) you would see that it will be quiet some time before I am able to relax. I have a lot of organizing, unpacking, and decorating to do! DON’T WORRY! I will make sure to fill you in on all of my exciting projects along the way.

However, the first order of business is the Pinterest Challenge. For this season’s Pinterest Challenge I have decided to make wreath for my front porch (which is going to look great when it is all done!) I found this a couple of months ago. I loved the little rosettes and the rustic look.



First I had to find a wooden wreath to use as the base. I found this one for $4 at Wal-Mart, but I also saw them at Michael’s.

The next part was a bit tricky…I had to decide what color felt to use! I love almost every color so this was the real challenge for me. I decided to use white because of the contrast and versatility.



Now for the fun part…making the wreath! I cut 5 circles from the felt. They don’t have to be the same size. Then I cut the circles into a spiral shape.

Then I rolled the spiral from the outside into the center. This created the rosette look.

I placed a dot of hot glue on the back of the rosette to hold it together and then glued it onto the wreath.



I decided to use 5 rosettes (I like the look of odd numbers), but you can use any number and multiple colors.



I love the way that it turned out, and I love that I did it on my own!

{b}

Elise Photography

W is for Wednesday and...WEDDING!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I have been up to my eyebrows in wedding planning, but I am enjoying every minute of it. I have carefully selected professionals to make this day spectacular for Dane and I (and our guests!!!) I have learned that it is difficult to start the whole wedding planning process. It seems that there is always one exceptionally big decision to make. For some it is the venue or the dress (or in my case the photographer!) I looked at countless photographers to find the very best one and stick to my budget! I didn't want just any old photographer. I wanted a photographer with a unique, artsy style that would show in my photos! Well, I finally found one, and she is AMAZING!!! I am so excited that Elise Photography is going be taking pictures of my special day! Her style is exactly what I was looking for.

Back in October Dane and I had her take some engagement shots, and she did a wonderful job.






(c) Elise Photography



(c) Elise Photography



(c) Elise Photography

I think I got a few a lot of bug bites from this particular shot, but it was well worth it! This is one of my favorite pictures. My plan is to blow it up and hang it somewhere in the living room.

 Elishia did a fabulous job for our engagement pictures and I cannot wait to see what she does for our wedding! I am counting down the days (52 left)! {b}

craft

Monogram Art

Sunday, August 21, 2011




 
So, I got a little crafty today! I saw this idea on Pinterest (which I am totally addicted to) and I decided to give it a try.

Materials:

8x10 stretched canvas

paint (any color)

sponge painter

material

stencil (I made my own)

scissors

staple gun or hot glue gun

First I cut the material (I used burlap, but any material would work) to fit the canvas.

Then I stretched the burlap around the canvas. You can use a staple gun or hot glue to hold the material in place.

After that I centered the stencil on the canvas. To make the stencil I picked a font out and printed the letter as large as I could. Then I cut the letter out of the center.

Once the stencil is centered you can begin painting!

Lightly dab the paint onto the material. It is important to go slowly. This will prevent the stencil from moving around on you. I did the edges first and then filled the rest in.

After you have filled in the entire letter you can remove the stencil and see your work of art!

I had a lot of fun making this and I am sure I will make several more. Hope you enjoy it! {b}

DIY

To Do List

Friday, August 19, 2011

My to do list keeps on growing! I have no idea how I am going to manage to get everything done.

Pick out Colors
Paint Cabinets (this is half done, I still have one more coat to do)
Paint the Kitchen
Paint the Refrigerator (I convinced Dane to let me paint the fridge with chalkboard paint...exciting!)
Paint the Living Room
Paint the Office
Paint the Bedroom
Finish the Front Porch
Finish the Stairs
Put in New Carpet
Finish Planning the Wedding
Become Mrs. Fletcher!!! 

There is so much to do and so little time (57 days to be exact)! We are going to be very busy for the next couple of months, and I will be posting our progress here. {b}

DIY

Kitchen Color Revealed

Thursday, August 18, 2011


Dane and I have been busy little bees! We are getting a lot of stuff done before the big day. We have cut down bushes, painted walls, and we have been working on making decisions about the rest of our little house. The first order of business is to finish the kitchen. We have already changed the cabinets from green to chocolate brown and we are going to be adding hard wear very soon. The next step is to paint the now tan walls. I have been looking at several different options, and while on my search I came across one of my new favorite websites, Design Seeds!This website will be very helpful as I pick out other colors for our home. However, I have found myself looking through the different palettes when I should probably be working on painting. Anyway…we have decided to go with orange for the walls. We would like our kitchen to be warm and inviting, and this color was one that we both loved! Now I have to go put on my painting clothes and get started. I cannot wait to get the kitchen all together. I have several little DIY projects in mind. Of course, I will be sharing them with all of you! Make sure you check out Design Seeds! {b}

A New Chapter

Thursday, August 18, 2011


It is no secret that Dane and I have been dating for quite some time. Well, now we are getting ready start a new chapter of our lives! We are getting married…in three months to be exact! Our to-do list seems to be infinite. We have lots of tasks to complete for the wedding, and there are still things that we would like to do to turn the house into our perfect little nest! As soon to be newlyweds we are looking forward to doing all of these fun projects, and we would like to share them with you. Hope you enjoy! {b+d}