2 Years and Counting...

Jacob and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary with a fun weekend getaway. I am so thankful that he planned the whole thing starting with a trip to College Station for First Yell. If you don't know what that is, read this http://yell.tamu.edu/firstyell. Our seats were in the Zone Club. They had ceiling fans. Amen.

A Freddy's Frozen Custard recently opened in College Station and if you know me at all, you know we had to go there. My favorite custard place, Shake's, closed a few years ago and I have been heartbroken ever since. I'm happy to know that the Aggies now have a place to enjoy frozen custard. It was a staple in my diet in college. :)

We stuck around for Midnight Yell Practice and we're so glad we did. Granger Smith sang "We Bleed Maroon" in front of a packed crowd of Aggies. It was epic. Not to mention I got an awesome kiss when the lights went out. Whoop!!

 Unfortunately, the Aggies went on to lose their first game in the SEC against the Florida Gators the next day, but at least it wasn't a blowout 17-20. We didn't go to the game, because we were on our way to our final destination for the weekend. 

Jacob surprised me with a trip to Stag Leap in Nacadoches, TX. I've never been to Nacadoches and always get it confused with Navasota. Imagine that. So he had to set me straight.

Stag Leap was a quite awesome getaway run by the sweet Collins family. We highly recommend it it you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. Check them out. http://stagleap.com/. We stayed in the Deer Haven cabin and it was true to its name. We saw 6 deer one morning just walking around the property.

A huge thank you to my handsome, funny, genius husband Jacob for this weekend! I love you to the moon and back times infinity!

Mr GQ on our honeymoon

Tres Amigos

Tres Amigos @ Barton Spings

 

Our accidental video that makes me smile.

I love these girls and loved our girly weekend together. Can't wait to do it again!!!

The Long Awaited, Highly Anticipated Chair Upholstery Blog

 In the beginning, there was an old chair. She was stained, dirty, smelly and in need of some love.

She needed an extreme chair makeover so that is exactly what she got.

The surgery begins...

Her springs were in decent shape so only a little TLC was needed there.

Her button tufts were very high quality, but not repeatable for a newbie like me.

And then she was naked.

Just having a new kooshy seat made her spirits soar!

Her back was a painstakingly slow sewing job.

She was so excited to have a comfy back!

Oh my, we are coming along quite nicely.

Wow, I have a nice profile, she said.

Check out the rear view ;)

Hot mama.

And she smiled.

                     So sad.                                                                                                                          Hip Hip Hooray!!

Pillow Got Friends!

Pillow found himself some friends!

Envelope Pillow Cover

I bought these cheapo red pillows from Walmart when we got our couch over a year ago since I didn't have a color scheme in the living room as of yet. We have since added a multi-colored rug and faux roman shades to give the room some color. Those are made up of brown, blue, green and ivory. The red pillows were clashing big time.

Cheapo red pillow

I found a tutorial from Teal and Lime on how to make envelope pillow covers. It turned out to be really simple and quick. I got the fabric at Joann's for 40% off, but it's still upholstery grade fabric so not cheap. Well, not cheap by my standards. Full price is $40/yd. With the discount, the fabric was $12.50 for 5/8 yds. This is 1 pillow's worth of fabric. Considering that a new pillow is at least $15, I think that this project was definitely worth it.

Front of freshly covered pillow

Back of pillow, envelope closure

 The new pillow looks so lonely. I need to go back and get more fabric to make a cover for the second pillow.

I should probably get more pillows while I'm at it. ;)

Aaahh much better. New pillow needs some friends!

Springtime in Texas

Spring is such a fun season. Flowers are blooming all around, temperatures are bearable, rain is replenishing the earth, the grass is green and people are generally happy. It's really hard to be inside working during the week when the outdoors are so inviting during this season. 

Here are a few things I've done so far this spring.

I got 26 daisies in 1 day. They make me so happy!

Gave Kallie a warm weather haircut. She so cute.

Having daisies in my yard is so awesome. Free decorations!

Granny gave me this Easter lily when she came to visit for Easter.

Ran the Blue Bell 10K with Lynette. Free ice cream at the end is always worth it.

Made a tiffany wreath for mom.

Helped my friend Shely make her first wreath. It turned out awesome!

What have you been up to this spring??

From Jake's Workshop

Jacob is such a great husband. He made this headboard for us with his own two hands. He got the idea from Ana White's Blog. It's a Pottery Barn headboard that sells for $699 retail! I think he made it for around $100. Go hubby!

Here's how it looks in our bedroom. He had the side tables in college and they are a perfect match. Nice!

A British Sunshine Blanket

My good friends Claire and Paul live in England and they are expecting their first child in May! 

They are not going to find out the gender of the baby since it is English tradition not to. I would be so anxious to find out, but they are taking it all in stride. Such good parents already. :) 

For now, they are referring to their little one as BeeBee H. (their last name is Haythornthwaite).

I made a Winnie the Pooh sunshine blanket for BeeBee H. so that he or she would have a little piece of me in his or her life.

I am so excited for you Claire and Paul, and I know that you are going to be fantastic parents!

A Spring Wreath for Mom

I made this oh so cute wreath for my mom for spring and I want to steal it! It's white and Tiffany blue. I followed the tutorial here!

Kinda blurry, but the final product.

Mom and I both like the rustic look so I didn't spray paint the wreath white like the tutorial said to. I used flannel fabric for the rolled flowers. I had no idea how much time it would take to trace, cut and roll the flowers. Let me tell you, it took 30 minutes to do 2 flowers. I could not have done this in 1 day. But the fabulousness of this wreath is worth the time and effort! Don't you agree?

Sunshine Blanket

At this point in my life, a lot of my friends are getting married and having babies. The easy thing to do is head on down to Babies R Us or BBB and buy something useful for them. But the fun thing to do is to make them something special. I was pondering what I could make for my cousin Koren's son Ben, when Granny and my mom said that I should make a sunshine blanket! I was like, "a what?"

Sunshine Blanket - a lightweight, light colored, small blanket used to shield baby from the summer sun.

We went on down to the fabric store, found some cute animal fabric and trim, and I got to work! It was so super easy to make. I will for sure be making more of these. My mom said that Granny made me one and that she used it all the time.

There are so many things that I want to learn from my Granny. She is the most amazing sewer, crafter, crocheter, knitter and all around DIY'er that I know!

Girls Weekend

My buddies Katie and April came for a visit in January to mi casa. We went to our friend Kristal's wedding Saturday night, but we had to be productive during the day so we did a little craft. Framed letters for our names! H is for Helber, A is for April and K is for Katie Kilmer! April and I used burlap as our background while Katie went with scrapbook paper. We spray painted old picture frames and the letters. We all now have a little more decor in our lives. :)

April, me and Katie at Kristal's beautiful wedding. 

 

This is the best display of our friendship :)

Ruffle Christmas Tree Skirt

My super awesome cousin Robin asked me to make her a Christmas tree skirt after she saw the one I made for my tree (see it in this post). After much deliberation, I decided to go in a completely different direction from the skirt that I made for myself. I got her approval to make a skirt similar to the one here. I really like the ruffled look, but wanted to make 100% sure it was what she wanted. She said yes and asked for it in light green. Here's what I came up with.
 
The tutorial I found said to glue the fabric, but that was not fun to clean off of my tile floor so I switched to sewing very early on. So glad I did. The stitches will be more durable than the glue and sewing was way faster. Sweet.

I'm figuring out some neato things that I can do with my phone camera. All of my pics are taken with my phone since my digital is pretty outdated. Original is on the left. Snazzed up is on the right.

Acorn Wreath

The inspiration for this wreath came from this blog: MADE. What I love about this wreath is that it was practically free and it can be painted a different color for each season. All you need is a straw wreath (use your 40% off Hobby Lobby coupons ladies), acorns, hot glue, and spray paint. How simple is that?

If you are planning to make this wreath, I must give you one crucial piece of advice. BAKE OR BOIL YOUR ACORNS! DO IT! Want to know the consequence for not doing it? Maggots. Yuck. The end.

I decided to paint it a Valentine's color since that was the nearest holiday. 

I'm thinking aqua or yellow next for Easter. :)