Hey guys! So I just wanted to share with you some goodies that I recently picked up at Anthropologie. This is a store that I really love everything in whenever I get the chance to check one out. We really don’t have any actual stores near my house but whenever I am traveling or visiting family I love to pop in and check out their kitchen and home goods section. I think that they have the most unique pieces that can really make a kitchen or dining space stand out. If you are interested in checking out everything in more detail check out the video linked at the end of this post!
So I think at this point I have to admit I am completely obsessed with stationery and anything that glitters! I have suffered from this obsession since I was first able to shop for my own school supplies thanks to my grandparents who always took my sisters and I out on a fun little shopping date that I would look forward too all summer. The folders the pens, and binders the possibilities were limitless and my Poppy Joe was always amused and somehow shocked at all of the “necessities” that I needed for my upcoming third grade year! Luckily they never minded and I always got straight A’s which I attributed to my color coordinated stationary 🙂 Ever since I was little I loved magazines and paper in general and have always found a way to keep buying these things over the course of my life. From watercolor classes in college to now scheduling our family activities which clearly wouldn’t get done unless accompanied by a matching sticker! 😉 Anyway on to the point of this post, I have been asked how I store some of my craft supplies and I wanted to share some of my fave finds from the past few months!
I have found a bunch of stickers at my local Hobby Lobby and I just lucked out when they were all 50% off the brand is called “The Paper Studio” and they have tons of stickers that would be perfect for a calendars or scrapbooks. Also another one of my various hobbies that I have been meaning to get around to!
Even though Valentine’s Day is over I still think that these adorable love themed stickers can be used throughout the year for Anniversaries or even Birthdays so check out the clearance sections! I have recently accumulated a bunch of these cute wash tapes that I find myself reaching for now that I have them neatly stored in a three-tiered metal rack that I actually found at Wal-Mart in the bath section. I just spray painted it gold and it works perfectly for post-its and other office related goodies! If you want to see more goodies I have found check out some of my haul videos below! Happy stickering!
I wanted to share this really easy fun craft that I did with the babe last week that would be great for kids of all ages. I remember making these when I was a little kid lol so it’s definitely not a new idea, but she had a great time! Our good friend Meg came over to hang out and she helped us make these spooky little ghosts, so here is what you will need
Any type of white trash bag
Styrofoam Balls
Pipe Cleaners
Orange & Black String/Twine
Sharpie Marker
You may even have some of these items lying around from other crafts or just in your pantry! We used our regular kitchen trash bags and cut them into various sized squares and just put the ball inside and tied a little bow to create the head.
Next step was to cut the pipe cleaners in half and stick them into the top of the head so that you can easily attach them to a tree, bush, or your mailbox! The last step was to give them spooky little faces using the sharpie marker and your done!
Meg did a fab job tying all of their bow-ties!I think that they turned out super cute and the babe absolutely loves them! You can make as many as you like and since they are made out of trash bags they should last pretty well even if it rains!xo Meg
So it’s no surprise that I love fall and I think many of you can agree! The weather is perfect still somewhat warm during the day and cooler at night! I also love all of the festive holidays that are coming up especially Halloween! I think that it’s so much fun to decorate and get ready for fall so I just wanted to share how we decorate our front porch and some other little tidbits from around our house for fall!
I absolutely love flowers, it doesn’t matter what they are I think they are all beautiful and I love having them all around our house! The great thing about mums are not only do they provide a great pop of color, but they come back every year which will save you money if you plant them in your gardens!
I am in love with these silver lanterns that I scored on sale at Target for $10.00 each!! I have been searching everywhere for these for at least a year now and was so happy to score them on sale! Pieces like this are great because they are so versatile and can be used year round inside, or outside!The pumpkins are from our local farm stand all hand-picked by the babe! Something else that I love to do is save all of the holiday cards we receive and actually put them into picture frames. You get to utilize frames you already have around your house and put to use those adorable cards that can be pretty pricey and are way too pretty to throw away!
I hope you enjoyed seeing a peek around our house for fall and I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather!!
I love having our friends and family over for dinner but since we live so far from most of them it’s rare that we get to have them over. This past weekend was so fun getting to spend time with my mom and our friend Chris, my brother-in law Dan and his girlfriend Lenora! One of my favorite parts of a dinner gathering is setting the table as a kid I used to dread setting the table for some reason but now I love it! For me everything seems to come together better at the last second without putting too much thought into it. We had an impromptu dinner and I just pulled things from other parts of the house like the flowers and table runner. I think that it turned out really bright and airy feeling!
I am obsessed with fresh flowers in the house especially in the winter I think it feels so bright and cheerful. I am not sure what the exact name of these flowers are but they literally last forever and they were pretty inexpensive for about $7.00 a bunch. I think that roses are pretty and everything but for the price I would rather have something that cost less and will last a lot longer. All of our furniture in the dining room is Ikea and the accessories are all mostly from T.J. Maxx or Marshalls. I love these tealish blue plates that I found at Target combined with silver chargers also from target. All of the mercury glass I have randomly picked up and I think they transition from holiday decor to everyday perfectly!
We had such a fun weekend after that horrible snow storm hanging out with friends and family, doing hot yoga, and just relaxing!
So we had a snow day shockingly a couple of days ago so that meant we couldn’t play outside or take the baby to the park so that left us with coloring and crafts! The baby loves to draw and paint so being snowed in gave us the perfect opportunity to get all of her Valentines Day cards made and even some little decorations for around the house!
I had bought a pack of stickers for her cards and didn’t end up using them so I decided to use them on some of our glass wear that we had laying around the house and I think that they turned out pretty cute. This year I have been loving neutrals and couldn’t really find any cute Valentines Day decor in the stores so this was a perfect solution. For literally under $5.00 you could easily use these scrapbooking stickers to temporarily decorate a vase or candle holder. Check out some of my favorite looks here on my Valentines Day Board.
Please excuse the Netflix 🙂
I had seen many different variations of Valentines Day banners on Pinterest but just ended up using left over paper from the baby’s cards and simply printed out letters on the computer. You could get really in depth with a project like this but I tend to get impatient and want to start hanging things up right away! I really like how this little canvas turned out with the baby’s handprint. I had come across one that we did when she was only a month old and it is so crazy how much she has grown and how fast time is flying by! These types of crafts make perfect gifts for any of your loved ones and it is so fun to look back when they are older to see how much they have grown. The canvas was $4.99 and I had the paint already at home so that was an easy one!The next craft was also pretty easy and very inexpensive, I was searching on Pinterest for cute ideas and came across a pin for a “free printable”. I love finding these because you can take a simple picture frame and turn it into a seasonal decoration by just using a simple piece of paper. Some of these blogs have amazing graphics and awesome ideas on decorating and party ideas. I found this particular printout first from this pin and on the Pear Salad Blog. To take a look at the post about the Valentines Day Free Printable check out this link! I loved the colors and patterns on these particular printouts and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them but printed them out anyway. After I cut them all out I thought that they would look cute in the dining room. These would be perfect for a February birthday or Valentines Day party! I just cut them out and then used craft scissors to mount them on top of the string so that I could hang them. You could also just use a hole punch and skip the mounting. I would however recommend using a glue stick because this liquid glue was not the best for paper! I think that Valentines Day is fun but not a holiday that I would go out and spend a fortune on trying to decorate for, so these are great options if you want to add some love to your house without breaking the bank!
Tis the season to be thankful and for holiday decorating! This is one of my favorite times of the year because we get to spend time with family and look back over the year and really think about what we are grateful for.
This year I am incredibly thankful that Eric is home with us and able to celebrate his first Christmas with our daughter! I am also thankful that our family will all be together at our house for the very first time!
This year has been one of many challenges and changes from moving cross-country, a deployment, learning how to be a mommy, buying a house and a new car, to saying goodbye to good friends and making new ones. The Army presents many challenges that many people wouldn’t even think about if they don’t know someone who serves our country, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I am so proud of my husband, brother-in-law, and the many friends we have made on this journey so far. It has allowed us to take risks, see new parts of the country make amazing life long friendships, and strengthen our relationship like nothing else could.
This is the first year we could really decorate our own home and it’s extra special that we will get to share it with our family for Christmas dinner! The interesting part of constantly moving and having half of your things break in shipment is reusing decorations and seeing where they fit in a new space. Lights that were once outside are now inside and ornaments from our old tree are now used as garland accents outside. You have to get creative and try to use everything you have even if its unconventional.
I love seeing decorations that we had in our first tiny apartment now being used in the dining room, or the Santa figurines that are passed down from my mom-mom. Decorations that I grew up with in my parents house we now have as reminders of all the fun-filled traditions that my sisters and I grew up with. The holidays are such a special time and I love seeing the house filled with decorations reminding us everyday of December!
New icicle lights with wreathes passed down from my mom-mom and topped with new gold accentsGarland woven with older ornaments that didn’t match the living room, greenery from our back yard (good idea mom!) and an adorable personalized snowman from aunt nicole!Nothing better than relaxing with the fireplace a decorated tree!The dining room is all silver, gold, with hints of tealGarland that once hung outside of our old house in WAWe decided on a red and gold theme for our living room, the candy stripped mesh we found at Costco and worked perfectly with our tree. The curtains we switched out with our neutral ones and are from our very first apartment!I love that we finally have a mantle to hang our stockings on that are personalized from my parents! The Santa is from my mom-mom and we love it!Entry way table, I love using placemats all over to add color or in this case sparkle to end tables and we can use this one year round! (found at TJmaxx)This tree that now looks tiny was our only tree in our small apartment where we first lived and now fits perfectly in our dining room where we will have Christmas dinner!
Happy Holidays and don’t forget to be grateful for all the amazing people in your life!
Ahh November is here, my fave month not only because it’s my birthday month but because it means we just had Halloween which is one of the best holidays and because it is really starting to feel like fall. Fall is so beautiful, I’m always down for a beach trip and I love the heat but there is nothing like the leaves changing and being able to break out your boots and scarfs without freezing to death!
Halloween this year was so much fun because my husband was home and we could enjoy the holiday with our daughter! She was finally able to trick-or-treat for the first time! I wasn’t sure how she would react to everyone dressed up and if she would like trick-or-treating, but we all dressed up in a family costume and we had so much fun taking her around our neighborhood. If you couldn’t guess we dressed up as characters from Harry Potter one of my all time fave childhood reads/movies! She caught on pretty quickly and was running all over by the end of the night!
Decorating for fall is so exciting, I love all warm colors and all of the flowers and pumpkins, I just think that it makes a house feel so warm and cozy! This year instead of carving pumpkins we painted them in neutral colors so that we could leave them up until Thanksgiving. This was a super easy craft that is perfect for kids of any age, I chose metallic colors, but you could do a Halloween theme or even black and white would be cute too. I think that they turned out super cute and the babe had so much fun painting them! If only our flowers would have survived it would still look adorable for some reason we tend to kill every plant we buy… so disappointing!
So here’s to fall, grab a pumpkin spiced late and enjoy the season with your loved ones I know we will!
Decorating is something that I really enjoy in my spare time. I think that the process of decorating is so much fun. When you move into a new space it allows you to use items that you have had for years in new ways and allows you to create a unique space that shows your personality. Previously I have chosen items that are very universal and along the same color palette of black and white so that as we moved we could easily transition pieces into different spaces. Having moved a couple of times in the last few years I was able to save money and reuse items from say the living room and then later used it in my bedroom. This is the really the first time I was able to have a vision and then create what was in my head through paint colors and new colors and patterns that I haven’t used before. I am so happy with how everything turned out and so proud of our new space!
In my opinion decorating is a process that can take a while depending on your financial situation you can’t expect to have an idea and then go buy everything you need at one time. This is why having universal pieces is a great idea for those of you who are just starting out with your first apartment or a new house. Take your time come up with a concept and then the fun part is shopping around for the perfect pieces. TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Homegoods are three of my favorite places to shop for decorations for a house or apartment. It may take longer to find what you are looking for as their inventory is constantly changing. I have found over the years that they are pretty on trend with the pieces that they carry and you can find designer inspired pieces at a much lower cost.
Paint is something that will completely change the look and feel of a room and makes such a huge difference in the way a space looks. For years I have never been able to paint so when I moved it was so much fun picking out paint colors! Personally I love DIY projects and could not wait to get started on painting the rooms! I think that if you have the time it is awesome to put work into your space yourself, you take pride in how it looks and you know that hopefully it will be done how you like it! Once you have all of your supplies its smooth sailing from there. I found that the paint and primer in one is the best way to go since I was only covering up beige walls. In my opinion it is worth the extra couple of bucks to get the higher grade paint from Lowes. For us it only took one coat and covered perfectly!
Below are some snapshots of my favorite little spots in my house and I think that the small details are the ones that make the biggest difference between a house and a home!
Fresh Flowers always make a house feel warm and welcoming!Chairs and table- Ikea/ Rug- Target/ Curtains- MarshallsFinally found a place to display my wedding shoes in our closet!Vintage mason jars are great for so many different things but flowers are my favorite!You can never have too many throw pillows! Usually inexpensive and easy to change out depending on the season or your mood! Chevron- TJMaxx Black- TargetUnique tea light and stripped curtains both from MarshallsMore pillows! White- Target/ Silver- Bed Bath and Beyond/ Pink- MarshallsA white duvet cover can easily fit any theme and can be switched from room to room. Duvet- Target/ Throw- TargetShabby Chic touches in the Dining RoomI love candles! They are so pretty when lit especially for a special dinner!
meg.antinucci 
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