Covet

I love this guys apartment.

I must have the deer head (it's similar to this one from ZGallerie). I love the Ikea frame around it. I covet the monogrammed pillows and the black vase. 

Admiring the balance and symmetry on the sofa table. And those fab retro lamps.

Love the leather rug in the living room, the beautiful mid-century sideboards, the sea urchin lamp on the desk, the ghost chair, the pop of red in the kitchen. I wish this guy would come and organize my house.

Cute Tutorial

Check out this adorable tutorial from Holly Jones at Creating Cupcakes. This is such a cute idea. Nice and wintery without being holiday specific. Love it! It's adaptable, as well. Don't like snowflakes? Make them ornaments, deer, santas, dogs, pacifiers, the alphabet, etc, etc...

DIY Snowflake Garland

This snowflake Garland is very inexpensive and easy to make. You will need some "Stiff Felt" in white or your desired color, some ric rac or ribbon, sharp scissors, a hot glue gun, sequins, and a needle with thread.

1) CLICK HERE to Download and print this 2 page PDF file. This will be the pattern for your snowflakes.
(My CLICK HERE doesn't do anything. You'll have to follow the earlier link and follow her CLICK HERE)

2) Cut out the paper snowflakes for a pattern.

3) Trace Pattern onto some stiff felt.

4) Cut snowflakes out of stiff felt.

5) Use a hot glue gun to glue sequins or embellishments to the center of each snowflake.

6) Using white thread, hand sew each snowflake to ric rac or ribbon to make your snowflake garland.

7) Find a fun place to hang your garland and enjoy!

*Note, snowflakes take a little time to cut out. I like to cut them while watching my favorite movie.

Please feel free to share my pictures and this tutorial with your friends. Please direct them to this website to download the snowflake patterns, as the pattern is not intended for

re-distribution. Thanks!

Adorable-ness

He may be the Spawn of Satan, but at least he loves his sister.

Question

Is anyone else having problems loading photos?

Festive IKEA

Check out a few of the Holidays displays at IKEA. Adorable:

These little guys came in Natural or Black, but unfortunately the ribbon is holding them together and red does not go with my Holiday decor. And check out the gnomies on the gift bags. So cute.

These plates aren't necessarily "Holiday" but they easily could be. They were beautiful. 

Project

So my cafe curtains are coming along nicely. Well, I only have one finished, but that sure beats none, right? My set-up is a little basic, but I am slowly getting the job done.

Don't judge my shade-less lamp and my icky wall color, people. Just be proud I am getting something done. I know I am. 

Late Halloween Post (Sort of)

We went to a party at a friends house on Halloween. The house used to belong to his parents and he bought it from them. He says he has been remodeling, so I am not sure who to blame for this particular bit of lovely:

This is the finished remodeled bathroom:

 

That's baby on a motorcycle above the toilet...

And here's a shot of one of the bedrooms, either a guest or his 18 year old son (Guest, I hope):

And that's Gidget on the rug in her "costume". I didn't know we were going to a party until the last minute, so she was a flying monkey. I made use of her winter sweatshirt and some wings my mom and I got for her at the Renaissance Fair (so we would look a little dorkier and blend in). Pretty hilarious, since we call her Monkey most of the time and not Gidget. Here's another shot:

 

 

The Beast didn't get to come since he is evil and we weren't sure there wouldn't be another dog around. Plus he has to be on a leash all the time if he's outside, she doesn't. 

And I'll leave you with a parting shot of a lady I saw in the parking lot at HomeGoods:

I don't know if that picture will get bigger if you click on it, but she had on a jester hat, a sweatshirt with a big pumpkin on it, and some "jams" (or MC Hammer pants if you're not familiar with the term) in a veritable rainbow of color. And this was a week after Halloween, middle of the day, on a Tuesday. Love her confidence, but I couldn't help but laugh. 

Ikea (again)

On our spectacular road trip to IKEA Schaumberg we brought home a ridiculous amount of goodies. Okay, well it wasn't that much, but it sure seemed like a lot at the time. (Two carts and a flat cart FULL.) And if you have even been glancing at my past posts you will notice that I am not that great at follow-up posts. The reason for that is because I don't finish anything. Ever. I still haven't finished the second coat of paint in the Dining Room.  I also haven't hooked up the wireless for the computer, so it is still in said unfinished Dining Room. Mr. brought up his olive green camp chair and that's where we sit to use to computer. Classy, right?
Well, I finally started on my kitchen curtains folks. That's right, I am accomplishing something! And about time too, I think Mister is about ready to kick me to the curb if I don't finish some projects, lol. And now my mother and I are taking another weekend to run back to Chicago. Yup. I bought two 31" Billy bookcase systems for the our bedroom. We were supposed to get: 2 bookcases, 4 doors, 4 small doors, and 2 height extensions. We bought: 2 bookcases, 2 doors, 2 small doors, and 2 15.75" height extensions. Hmmm... So now we have to go back and swap out the height extensions and buy more doors! Argh. Which is fine, cause I really want this rug for the bedroom. Okay, well I can't find it now. But it's black and white and hopefully they will have it in an 8 x 10 at least.

I just noticed that my links are the same color as my text. Hm. I don't have time to fix it now, though. Off to work, then straight to Chicago after. And I am leaving my computer with Mr. so he can get his Craigslist fix while I'm gone. The things I do for him... 
But I'll try to remember to take lots of pictures for the few of you still reading these posts...

Do you guys have any special plans for this weekend or are you just planning on doing nothing? (Totally jealous of you who get to do nothing)

Sewing

I just ran out of bobbin thread in the middle of a panel for my cafe curtains! I completely forgot how to thread  a new one and I can't find my manual. Grr... Of course it is the only one missing from the "Manuals" file in the file cabinet.
So I turned to YouTube. I have heard they have instructional videos for everything on there and turns out it's true! After a few false starts I found a lovely British girl to show me how to make myself a new bobbin. Yay! Check her out here if you need any help of your own. Hopefully by this time next month I'll have my curtains finished, LOL!

The Lemp Mansion

This is a week late, but like I mentioned before, I can no longer access Blogger at work and I just don't usually have the time or the inclination to touch the computer when I get home. Maybe once I get my wireless set-up.

My mom and I went with some girls from her work for a nighttime tour of the supposedly haunted Lemp Mansion here in St. Louis. I got to hold the infrared camera, which is supposed to show you orbs, which are ghosts. You walk around in the dark and the only way to really see anything is through this camera. Well, I was so distracted by all the fab furnishings that I couldn't really concentrate on the ghost part. Check out some of the pictures.

*Second Floor Bedroom*

Just look at those lights... mmm... and the wardrobe...

*Third Floor Bedroom(I think)*

Love that chair!!

  

*Buffet in hallway on third floor*

I wanted to bring this home with me. Beauty, no?

  

 

 

*Bathroom of the Lavender Lady*

Do you see the penny tile on the floor? And I'm not sure if anyone can tell, but the fireplace is shiny white subway tile. So apparently these things never go out of style. Ooh, and the toilet was just like ours. I wanted to steal it, cause ours still(!) leaks. 

 

*Ceiling in the Basement*

This was all glass mosaic. 

  

 *Floor in the Basement*

So, lovely right? I kinda wish I had taken a tour of the house before we went so I wasn't so distracted by the house itself. I'm not really sure I believe in ghosts, but I am open to the possibility and I kinda feel like I missed out on the scary Halloween factor of it all. I guess we'll just have to go back next year!