Twig & Thistle is one of my favorite blogs ever. Click here for their templates of the straw and match embellishments shown above.
DIY 4th of July pin Wheels from another favorite blog, love the day. Click here for a tutorial.
I love the Abraham Lincoln popcorn! These images are from Indie Spotting and I love all these ideas. The only downfall is that you have to pay for these templates, but if I needed to I wouldn't mind helping a young business owner by purchasing one. 
I love this banner, so shabby chic. This is from Alphamom.
Another favorite blog of mine is say yes to hoboken, you can find this tutorial there.Goodness I've been busy lately, not with projects or anything really exciting...just with the joys of motherhood (you know, sweeping up what is left of my favorite glass plate off the floor, scrubing dried PB&J off of the table, chairs and cabinets. OR my favorite....wiping bums.) But I wouldn't trade it for anything, and giving them a big bear hug makes up for it all!
Anyhow, I really want to share this project I did in December as a gift to the grandmas for Christmas.
These are silhouette pillows of the kids I made as Christmas gifts last year.
1. I took profile pictures of each child. 2. I ordered 8x10 prints of each individual child from Costco. 3. I cut out the silhouette with a small crafting knife so all you have left is what you see below. 4. I taped the picture with the cut out silhouette to a thick piece of white fabric.
5. I took some fabric paint (bought at any craft store) and filled in the cut-out with black paint. 
6. I let the paint dry for about 10 min. and then removed tape and let it dry overnight. I made 2 sets of silhouettes of each child. 
7. I used pillows I already had on hand to cut down on cost, but with 6 pillows I had to buy some (they can be purchased at any fabric store). I recovered them so the silhouette is on one side and the fabric (which coordinated with the grands' Living Rooms) is on the other side. 
And there you have it! A homemade gift that lasts year round!
PS if you can sew a straight line you can recover a pillow. Click HERE to see an easy tutorial on recovering already made/bought pillows at West Hampton DIY.
My flowers have begun to bloom and I am smitten. Below are some pictures I took of them. They make me happy just to look at.
Bells & Lillies
My potted flowers in our front and backyard
short border flowers that add a pop of color and prettiness
Jupiters Beard & Peony
Our side yard in the back with our GORGEOUS Poppies. So in love with these.
We have a wonderful Nursery some friends of ours opened up this Spring just up the street from us, off of Highway 89. It is called Bare Roots Nursery, so if you are headed this direction you need to drop by and take a gander at all of their beautiful flowers and plants!
I celebrated my b-day this weekend at my parent's house. It was a good time. I am 35 now, and I swear I counted about 5 new wrinkles around my eyes. Oh well, they are from smiling so much and I welcome smile-wrinkles. ;)
My mom is a fab cook and said she would make anything I wanted. All I wanted for my b-day dinner was her Fresh Pesto Pasta, Salad de Maison and a cheesy vanilla store bought cake. My mom is a pretty classy gal (who makes everything from scratch, even mac&cheese) so for her to go to the grocery store and buy me a cake was probably difficult for her. If it was up to her she would have made me some gourmet 5 layer creation. But no, give me the $10 grocery store cake (I'm so tacky, I know).
Below are the recipes to my delicious birthday Pesto:PEGGY'S PESTO
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbs. pine nuts
4 clove garlic
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbs. softened unsalted butter
Put basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a food processor or blender. Blend or process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese and butter. This sauce will melt over warm pasta. If freezing put in small freezer bags, small canning jars or plastic containers.
Now this is all a matter of opinion and each person has their own ideas on how they decorate their life, but I am a firm believer in "less is more". Even in the way I dress, I try to look nice but not over the top. Now, when I say that I am not referring to minimalism or boring. I love bright bold colors, I love something that's a little different. But there is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing' (I must be on a phrase kick today).
Below are pics of things/styles I like. Why am I sharing this? I don't know, perhaps it's therapeutic and reassuring to know what you like...yeah, let's go with that. :)
The above photos are rooms decorated by my uber talented cousin-in-law. ;) Her style is simple but NOT boring in the least. Go to her blog for more pics of her designs.
I love the styles above, the dress is from my friend's blog say yes to hoboken. I love her style, very simple and chic. The other 2 outfits are from Ann Taylor Loft.
I love the rooms above, they are bold yet not over the top. Generally, I am not too keen on painting stripes in your home, but if done right they can add a touch of color and interest to any room. But, if done wrong they can take over a space and become design overkill.
My mom at THE PURPLE APPLE made this mousse with Mimi for Memorial Day weekend and decided to name it Mimi's Mousse. It is DIVINE and so easy to make.
I have had the real, true-blue French chocolate mousse and this tastes just as good! (well it's been a long time, but I am almost positive it tastes as good :] ). We layered it with heavy whipping cream that only had a little sugar in it to balance out the sweetness of the chocolate. Best part is, it's fat free! NOT! Drum roll please.....here the recipe. Enjoy!
MIMI'S MOUSSE
3 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
9 oz best quality semi sweet chocolate, chopped (we used Hershey's dark chocolate)
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1 tsp. vanilla
in a sauce pan combine marshmallows chocolate, butter and water. Heat gently, stirring occasionally. When all ingredients are melted and combined set aside to cool. Whip cream with vanilla until stiff. Fold cream into cooling chocolate mixture. At this point you can fill pretty glasses with this mousse as we did in the picture. Or chill and create your own temptations.
In my last post I talked about the differences between Swedish and French country and how my family's style is heavily influenced by French country. Below are pics taken at my parent's home in Cache Valley.
Below are pictures of my parent's sunroom, full of all different kinds of natural wood.
I love the wallpaper below in my parents bathroom. It has a picture of French hens on it. There are also at least 3 different types of wood in their Master bath below. 
love love love the claw foot tub. My mom bought this tub at the local antique store and they had it reglazed.
Below are pics of their Master Bedroom. I love how eclectic, yet coordinated it all is. My parent's bought the armoir below in France and my mom often picks up old suitcases she finds at the DI, antique stores or the flee market. 
Below is one of my mom's best DI finds. She found the darling white and yellow reading chair at the DI. It was pretty beat up with old torn 70's cushions and chipped wood. My mom saw it had good "bones" and snatched it up for $10. She gave it a white glaze finish and then had it professionally reupholstered. Now, it looks like it could be an antique!
Below is a section of my parent's kitchen. This was taken 2 Easters ago, but I wanted to post it because it has one of the few wood peices that my mom has painted in it. Behind Max there is buffet that my mom inherited from my Nelson grandparents. She painted it green and it is just darling. Now it showcases her French Gien. So pretty. Oh and I spent a weekend staining ALL the kitchen cabinets. So I feel like a bit of my elbow grease (literally) is in this photo as well.
I remember reading somewhere that a major difference between Swedish and French country is that with Swedish homes and decor they often paint the wood white.
SWEDISH COUNTRY
I tested this by googling Swedish country and French country. In the google images of Swedish country I found a plethora of bright pictures, as much of the wood and furniture was painted white. I also found that half the time wheat was incorporated into the decor. My mother often decorates for Christmas with wheat in liue of our Swedish heritage.
At Christmas time in our old home in P.C. my mom would hang wheat wreaths in the windows wrapped with red and gold ribbon made in Sweden.
I love the muted/dusty blue below with the silver, gold and white embellishments. So lovely. The great thing about this, is that despite the pink, yellow and blue floral painted on the wall and the brass accents it doesn't look like 70's victorian decor.
I love the muted/dusty blue below with the silver, gold and white embellishments. So lovely. The great thing about this, is that despite the pink, yellow and blue floral painted on the wall and the brass accents it doesn't look like 70's victorian decor. You know what I am talking about right? In the 70's or maybe early 80's the victorian style was really popular and many older homes today still have this style. I'm not saying it is bad, because in it's day I am sure it was very trendy and chic. Unfortunately as with all trends, they eventually and inevitably go out of style and look dated.
I think what keeps this look classic, is the use of antiques and using the "real" not imitations stuff. I am sure that the brass here is real brass and crystal, the silver is probably plated sterling silver and that the gold is probably gold leaf. So if you have $50,000 on hand to buy the real antiques then you probably won't go out of style. For the rest of us, we'll probably have to tweak our style every 10 years or so to keep it up to date. ;)
Love the blue and white below. So traditional and pretty, and never goes out of style. But like with all styles, they will need updating every 10 years or so. Nothing major, just tweaking or adding and taking away a few things to keep it up to date.
FRENCH COUNTRY
In the google images of French country I found lots of deep wood colors as much of the furniture and trim remained their natural wood color.
After living in France I think it is fair to say that my family's style has been influenced heavily by French country. My parent's home which they were able to design is filled with natural woods. I can only think of 1 or 2 pieces of furniture that are painted. 
In my home now (which we bought as is) much of the wood is painted white, and much to my surprise I like it! A lot. Who knew? I certainly didn't.
Painted wood is very much "in" right now. Is it because of IKEA and the Swedish influence? Whatever it is, I like how bright and clean it can make a room look especially if you don't like the type or look of the wood that you currently have (like the wood in our master bedroom).Pictures:
#6 & #7 Country Living
#3 Curbly
Mimi's Princess party was so fun, she still talks about it. I am so happy to make these fun memories for her. It looked so lovely, in spite of our fence......Our goal this Summer was to tear down this chain link fence (I have some serious animosity towards this fence. Why? Mostly because it offers no privacy whatsoever) and put up a cedar fence. But now that Max needs his tonsils out and Henry needs tubes in his ears, I may just have to put up with this fence for another Summer. Humphhhh. Oh well, in the grand scheme of things it's not really that big of a deal. AND so what if everyone in the neighborhood can see me gardening in the backyard in sweatpants, no make-up and uncombed hair?
I used decorations that were left over from my sister's wedding to decorate the party with. Lucky for me her wedding colors were pink and green. ;) Thanks sis.
I searched and searched for DIY castle cakes. There are some darling cakes out there, but most of them looked much too intricate and time consuming to make. So I took ideas from the cakes I liked and created the castle cake above.
This table was fun, I got the idea to use the IKEA net from the blog, love the day. It was just the right height for the kids as well, and they sure looked cute getting their pink lemonade!
I used decorations that were left over from my sister's wedding to decorate the party with. Lucky for me her wedding colors were pink and green. ;) Thanks sis.
I searched and searched for DIY castle cakes. There are some darling cakes out there, but most of them looked much too intricate and time consuming to make. So I took ideas from the cakes I liked and created the castle cake above. It was so simple to make and Mimi LOVED it! The best part was when we took the cones apart to cut the cake the kids used the cones for their ice cream.
This table was fun, I got the idea to use the IKEA net from the blog, love the day. It was just the right height for the kids as well, and they sure looked cute getting their pink lemonade!
