{Have To Have It Necklace}

I spent Sunday morning with a friend seeing The Ugly Truth and in every other scene, Katherine Heigl's character, Abby, is sporting this shiny watch necklace! I have to find this,... if not the very same designer, as close as possible. Anyone know where this is from and where I can get one????

HELP!

{The DAWN Box}

My friend and co-worker liked this box so much, I decided to name it after her. I kept this box the natural brown that it comes in since it matched the color scheme. I love the polka dots!

{The BRINKLEY Box}

This box was inspired by a little Rockstar baby named Brinkley. She is about two months old and has a hot pink and black room, HOW COOL!! So I bought the supplies planning to send her a little keepsake box and made this one to test it out, see how everything goes together. I am going to make one special for her, but since this was the "test" box, I am going to name it BRINKLEY and probably list it in my Etsy shop soon.

The patterns and embellishments turned out so cute together!! Such a cute little rockstar box! What do you think???

{Frames}

It's FRIDAY!! I am So ready for a relaxing weekend!

So, at our wedding, to identify our tables, we used framed pictures of black and white old Hollywood celebrity head-shots. We had a Marilyn Monroe table, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, etc. I bought a bunch of random sale frames and spray painted them all black and put a frame on each table. It turned out super cute! Obviously, in the end I was left with a lot of black frames. I decided to do a collage in the hallway with some of them, some pictures and trinkets from the wedding. I wanted a slightly brighter, more fun feel, so I painted some of them with brighter colors. The box lid is from the favor boxes that were on the tables and the pictures are from our bridal and engagement shoots... I still have yet to order wedding pictures. I plan to add a few more pictures, but I LOVE how it turned out!!

{Banana Pancakes & Sweet Champagne}

Happy Monday!! The weekend went by SO fast and I didn't do nearly as much as I had hoped! We DID manage to get to the Social Security Office to change my last name, take a walk with the crazy little dog and make homemade BANANA PANCAKES for dinner Saturday night! Ummm,.. these were AMAZING! Just look how yummy they are!!!!!

As you can see, I slaved away in the kitchen making breakfast for dinner!

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make pancakes from scratch!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed

DIRECTIONS

Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

I topped these with a bit of margarine, maple syrup, sliced banana pieces, whipped cream and chopped walnuts and served it up with a glass of pink champagne! Rest assured, we WILL be having these again SOON!

If you couldn't already tell they were yummy, here is my last bite (before I went back for two more cakes an hour later) :)

{A New Box For Baby}

This cute box is on its way to an old friend and her baby-on-the-way. I haven't seen the room, so I am hoping I got the colors right. I find myself making these boxes a lot when I know someone is expecting.... it's a cute decoration in a nursery and it's great for keepsakes and a little piece of that first nursery that can be saved forever. ALL my nieces and my nephew have them and I am pretty sure they grace the shelves of several of my friends homes as well.
I used some vintage and new ribbon and lace I found on Etsy... PERFECT for this box!

I have been getting pretty creative with embellishments. I wanted to stay SOMEWHAT simple with this one, so I just used a mix of paper flowers, crystals and brads all found in the scrap booking section of your local art supply store.

All of the paper squares are hand cut by yours truly... I know I know, you think I'm crazy! But really, this is pretty "therapeutic" for me! I enjoy tedious projects and besides, I can never find the pre-cut squares in the paper I want. Maybe in the future I will invest in one of those fancy machines to do the work for me... for now this works.

My newest boxes are finished with a high-gloss spray varnish. I LOVE how this makes them look. Very finished and clean.

I hope Mom, Dad and Baby like this little box!!

{Sunday Morning Cinnamon Buns}

I slept in a little late Sunday morning and when I finally got up and around (11am...YIKES) I decided I would make cinnamon buns for breakfast. As you can see, the process was a little more than opening a tube of buns, sticking them in the oven then slathering them in icing. These were virtually from scratch and they ended up being Sunday lunch... he he.

This is the finished dough before rising.....

after rising.

I am kind of lame and I don't even own a rolling pin.... BUT luckily I had this flat/skinny Old Spaghetti Warehouse glass from probably about 15 years ago :) It worked just fine.

Pre-oven....

YUMMMM,... ready for eating! They were DELISH! Tom said they were the best thing I ever made... not sure how I should take that now that I think about it.

On another note, I have enrolled in a six week, Intro to Digital SLR Photography course at a local community college. I CAN'T WAIT!! I have tried to sit down with my manual and just test things out, but I am a visual learner, I am better off if someone shows me!

Also, I just received two beautiful packages that contain lots of lovelies that will soon adorn the tops of some of my patchwork boxes! Stay tuned, I am going to take pictures of these sweet & colorful presents!

{Fireplace Unveiling}

I finally took a picture of the finished fireplace!!! Everyday, I tell myself I am going to take a picture when I get home from work, then I get into a project, a nap,... whatever and by the time I remember, its dark out and I don't love "flash pictures". Remeber,... my house is like a cave so there isn't much natural light anyway. This project was intended to brighten it up a little in that front room,.... what do you all think???
Before and After,... I think it turned out sweet, bright and cheery!

{A Spot For Audrey}

Audrey refused to give up her chair while my Dad was in town for a visit,... so she took what she could get!!! :)

Happy Wednesday!!!

{A New Box For Rebecca}

I made this wedding card box for Rebecca Hackl, the coordinator for my wedding in April. This was for an event she is having tomorrow (July 8). In an effort to encourage brides to "Go Green", her "Heirloom Vintage" event is based on the idea that brides can use heirloom items that they already own for decorations/centerpieces/display, etc. I absolutely LOVE this idea and while my card box is not genuine vintage or heirloom, it is hand made and looks kind of antique!

I am LOVING how my boxes are turning out with all the ribbons and crystals! I am pretty picky about the flowers I use. I don't like the SUPER fake looking flowers. These are all paper flowers and I LOVE the way these look, I am having a hard time finding good ones though. If anyone knows a good supplier for paper/silk/vintage/millinery flowers PLEASE let me know where!!

Here I "trickled" the crystals all the way down the side of the box,.. SO CUTE!

I think this is really my favorite box I have ever made!!! I can't wait to see pictures of it on display at Rebecca's Heirloom Vintage event!

{Monte Carlo - Recap}

Hi there! So my parents were in town last week, hence the lack of posting. I have some pictures to upload and share, but since I haven't gotten to that part yet, I will share some old pictures I took in Monte Carlo last year. These are pretty old, but gorgeous nonetheless.

This is the view from our amazing hotel room!!!

We stayed at the Monte Carlo Bay, Hotel & Resort right on the water! GORGEOUS!!

We stopped at a street market in Nice, SO colorful! We did bargain for two lovely water colors that I ended up leaving in the airport in Paris on accident :(

Look at these sweet little animals snuggling and hanging out.

It was March, 2008 and it was pretty chilly most of the time that we were there. That didn't stop people from laying out a blanket on the rocky beaches and hanging out for the day! It also didn't stop me from enjoying a refreshing mojito either! :)

Here are some fireworks on our last night there. The roof on the banquet room we were in opened up completely and the show began.

The whole time we were there I kept thinking about Grace Kelly and how cool it was that I was enjoying some of the same sights she had enjoyed!