More Football Wreathes!

I guess I've gone overboard now ... my middle name may be "football wreath"!  I originally shared a few examples of this adorable wreath earlier this fall.  After making countless Georgia, Georgia Tech and who knows whatever other school football wreathes for family and friends; I've been recruited by War Eagle Friend J to make two MORE wreathes for J's friend.  J's darling wreathes have been featured on her front doors for two years now, and her friend just had to have a matching set!

And so ... it's back to Hobby Lobby I go.  This time in search for some additional orange and blue ribbon and perhaps a few Halloween odds and ends that are too irisistable to pass :).

My fave part of these projects is that each set turns out a bit differently and has its own creative personality.  So, dear J's friend ... hope you love them!

This post is partying over at CSI

Behind the Scenes

I guess it would make sense that unless you have a newborn babe, you wouldn't know exactly how those adorable baby photo shoots happen and what's involved with snapping those cute perfectly sweet moments.  In my blissful ignorance, I just assumed that the photographers snapped five billion shots and hoped that some of them turned out, but that was waaaaaayyyyyyy off.  Instead, a calculated routine is completed that lulls the baby into a deep sleep.  Then, the photographer, with all of their talents; molds the babe like a big ball of clay into the cute poses you see in the pic.  It is truly an art form and somewhat amazing. 

For Baby B's newborn shots, we used the talented Jody Lynn of Jody Lynn Photography.  If you are in the Atlanta area, she's fantastic with children and you should definitely check her out!

Here's a few pics of her behind the scenes footage as she captures the adorable images we just love of Baby B in his first few weeks on this Earth. 

And, the finished product just couldn't be any cuter!  Is it crazy to buy prints of EVERY one of them???

Bloggy Best: The Fall Bucket List

Thank you, thank you, thank you Loves of Life for this adorable Fall Bucket List for this season.  This is such a cute idea I just can't even stand it. 

As part of my fall decor, I framed this little cutie and we will use a dry erase marker to update as we go.

So scoot on over to her blog to download this now and start keeping track of your fall festivities in such a cute way!  Hmmm..... now I think I need one of these for each season and just may make my own- upcoming craft warning, get ready! :)

~charmed, b

Communication Station

With good intention, I set out to get organized this week and make sure we had all of our ducks in a row now that Nanny D will be staying at the house with Baby B each day.  I know that to balance my already crazy juggling act of full time job, small business, household administration, activities and mommyhood that we absolutely must be super organized.  Ok... perhaps SOME of that need for organization has to do with the little thing called my "Type A" controlling personality, but for the most part I will speculate that the need for organization is mandatory nonetheless. 

So, armed with some extra burlap from my fall decorating; I had the great idea to create a communication station in our laundry room to give my controlling side a little sigh of relief.

 

The new little addition of a basket for mail and odds and ends as well as 3 clipboards will hopefully (fingers crossed) ensures that we stay on top of our game when things get a little crazy.  The 3 clipboards have been designated for (a) Nanny Notes: to keep post it requests at bay, (b) Shopping Lists: for reminders of things we are out of and need to pick up while we are out and about and (c) A multi-month calendar: because when travel schedules pick up Dear Hubs, Nanny D and I need to know who's where when!

Here's how I did it:
Supply Round Up:

• Basic clipboards - I bought mine at an office supply store for $2 a piece
• Burlap scraps
• Ribbon
• Mod Podge and brush
• Marker or straight edge
• Scissors

Craft in a Flash:
1.  Cut your scraps of burlap to fit the clipboards.  I wanted my burlap to be like a band around the bottom half of the clipboard.  To do this, I cut a strip of burlap that covered the front and wrapped around about 1 inch onto the back.
2.  Measure where the burlap embellishment will be and mark it with the marker and straight edge. 

3.  Using the Mod Podge, coat the marked off area (from above) with Mod Podge and affix the burlap.  Then, coat the burlap with a heavy dose of Mod Podge on top of the fabric.  Be sure to go over the edges onto the clipboard - don't worry, it dries clear. 
4.  Once the front is covered, complete the same steps on the back edges that wrap around. 
5.  Let the board dry completely.
6.  Add ribbon or other embellishment to the top of the board.  For mine, I added a cute leopard ribbon and some sweet 1-2-3 tin tags that covered the metal clipboard clip almost entirely.
7.  Hang cute paper on each board.  For mine, I created templates for "Beckham's Babbles:  Notes With Nanny D" so that we can keep track of odds and ends that would otherwise be sent to post its as well as a shopping list and calendar. 

8.  Hang (along with a pen or pencil) and get organized!

~Charmed, b

This post is partying over at A Mommy's Life

Bee-st Weekend

It's official, fall is upon us and I couldn't be more pleased!  The leaves are starting to turn around these hilly parts and while I know we have at least one more flash of Indian Summer ahead, I'm giddy at the cooler temps I wake up to each day! 

We had a wonderful weekend this past week and had good times with family and friends as always.  Due to tennis matches, tailgate parties and nap schedules; we didn't make it to see our alma mater bumble bees take on and school Kansas on how the game of football is played this past Saturday.  Instead, I did my part by taking this adorable cake to our pot-luck tailgate party.  Ya'll will recall that this pan was deemed as one of my fave things and a gift for my birthday this past summer.  I just love it!  It was a hit; adorable AND tasty to boot!

And, I wouldn't be doing my part to show my Yellow Jacket pride if I didn't include this cutey.  Thanks to Jody Lynn, this adorable pic is now hanging in the entry to my basement rec room.  We love our Baby B :)!

Go Jackets - what's the good word!

~charmed, b

S'more Fun

Our backyard re-do is in the final stages and simply waiting the arrival of a few last chairs to complete the entire make over.  All this, just in time for the cooler weather and time to enjoy the fun new space!  Over the past week, we have had the opportunity to have friends over not just once, but TWICE to break in the new firepit.  As a self proclaimed s'more nut, I'm just head over heals to have a big outdoor fire and s'mores twice this week! 

After our first round, where dear Little S proclaimed me to be the hostess with the mostess and "so organized" after she saw that the complete ingredients for the perfect s'more were tucked away in the pantry in their own containers; one for marshmellows, one for graham crackers and of course giant Hershey bars.  So, to top that accolade from my ten year old fan, I just had to come up with a cute little touch for our next s'more-tivity fireside.  This time, individual s'more packets were on the list and were all the rage with the kids and adults alike.

Here's to s'more!

~charmed, b

Porch Pillows

Heavy sigh... my, my how time flies.  This time last week, I was knee deep in craft projects soaking up every last second of my last few days at home.  Now, it's onward and upward as I've gone back to work part time and spent the rest of the week running necessary errands, appointments and odds and ends before I start back to work full time.  I thought if I stuck my toes into the water before I jumped full in that things would be calm and completely under control.  While the week has been good to me, I'm just now getting around to posting some of the adorable projects I did on my crafty vaca last week!

One thing that has been on my to do list for some time now was to revamp the pillows on the front porch.  I just love my front porch and the four big rocking chairs that sit upon it.  It feels so welcoming to me and well... so southern :)!  For the better part of the last year, gold gingham pillows with little bees embroidered all over have sat in each of the chairs and welcomed guests to come and sit a spell.  Well, these cuties have surely seen better days and the hot summer sun did a number on them leaving them a drab blah color in need of a redo. 

The "Before"

And so, armed with a love for all things burlap right now and an idea of how cute monogrammed or personalized pillows would be; I set out to whip up some cute new designs that would make the porch pop this fall.  Sure, I've seen some darling burlap pillows on the pages of my favorite catalogs, but with a price tag of over $60 each I decided to pass because I'd certainly prefer to invest over $200 in something more meaningful and useful (new shoes for fall!).  This led me to my hunt for affordable pillows and a little craft project.  In the end, I now have some super cute, personalized pillows to toss around and welcome our friends!

New Burlap Beauties for the Porch

Here's how I did it:

Supply Round Up:

• Pillow covers
• Fabric or acrylic paint
• Paint brushes
• Paper (scrap)
• Scissors, tape and marker (for tracing)
• Template

Craft in a Flash:
1.  I secured plain burlap pillow covers.  I found mine on ebay for a very affordable price. 
2.  Print off a template for your monogram, letter or other personalization.  My choice was an oh, so simple giant "m" letter.  To make my template, I simply selected the font of choice and a very large font size; then printed it out.  Does it get any easier?

3.  Insert a piece of scrap paper inside the pillow cover FIRST.  This will keep paint and marker from getting through your cover onto the back of the pillow.  This is especially important if you use an open weave like burlap! 
4.  Cut out your template and decide where you want your design.  If you are doing multiple pillows that need to look the same, be sure to measure the position of the template so that you can copy the same measurements for your other pillows.  Tape the template to your pillow cover.  I used a little bit of tape on each of the straight sides of my "m" so that it would stay pretty flat.  Trace around your template and ensure that your lines are very straight (or plan to paint outside of them).  Remove your template when you are done.  Be sure to keep the template in good shape if you plan to do multiple pillows so you can reuse it!
5.  With paint, trace around your letter first.  Then, fill it in with additional paint.  You may need to do a few coats of paint to get a good cover.

6.  Once dry, insert your pillow form and voila ... super cute and super inexpensive new porch pillows!

~charmed, b

This post is partying over at A Mommy's Life