beauty in broken reflections

So, recently I posted about my new favorite DIY creation~ the fabric rosettes! Aren't they awesome?! Well a few weeks ago on Pinnie, I saw someone border a mirror with some paper flowers. It was adorable! She had previously painted the wooden frame of her full length mirror a color that she no longer  loved.

Light bulb moment! My husband has an old, stickered, dirty full length frame that was recently broken in our PCS move from Connecticut to Washington. We need a new frame in our bedroom anyway, so I decided to go to work.

I started with a broken frame:

Ignore that gorgeous girl in the reflection.
Focus on the lower right corner. ;) 

Well... I didn't move that frame right away. I realized that to frame this one in flowers, I would need many, many flowers. So I got to work. Once I had enough (over 100), I needed to first line the edges and fill the broken corner some how. 

How did I do it? Cardboard and duct tape: two things that most households have. I find that I use these two often for my projects (more to come on that later). 

I cut a fitting piece of cardboard behind the broken corner, and taped all edges of the frame with white duct tape. Here's the idea: 

My husband's "man chair" is in the reflection,
 and that's Shadow with his blanket on the couch.

To make ALL the flowers, I used:

- 2 old white pillow cases, cut into strips two feet long and two inches wide

- 5 pieces of old white satin ribbon

- 1 large bag of hot glue sticks and my handy dandy glue gun

Note: when this project was finally finished, I had run out of ammo for my gun. Talk about vulnerability! 

Next step: flower that frame! I used more hot glue for the process. Simply dab a dot of glue on the tape, and add flowers. Add flowers one or two drops of glue at a time, because as you know the glue dries quickly. I filled in the cardboard corner and did the same for the opposite top left corner for aesthetics. 

Hope you're inspired! It's worth it to look at your bedroom mirror and be able to say, "you are beautiful." You are! 

...adoring all things beautiful

Flowers out of Fabric?!

So... recently I signed up for Pinterest.

For some of you, you're thinking "Enough said. I totally understand." 

For others, here's the gist. If you are interested in anything- anything at all- chances are, it's there. All kinds of ideas in one place- at your fingertips! 

Ok, so you can see by my interests that I'm totally in to DIY crafts and pretties. Since this is what I browse through on Pinnie (my new nickname for the site), I inevitably come across the fabric rosettes you see on everything lately. So I've been making my own. You can add these to anything!

A wreath for all year around!! Hanging on the inside of my front door. Visible from my living room, and thus matching in warm, mellow colors. :) 

Step one 

Start with a strip- an inch wide and couple feet long.

Tie the end in a knot. Start wrapping the fabric around the knot.

Fold the fabric every half way around, making the points on the petals.

Put a pin in the back every once in a while, then sew from the back to secure. Done!

I made this yarn wreath simply by wrapping a ball of thread around a styrofoam ring, then added flowers that I made out of some old scrap fabric I had in the closet!

I added one to a headband I made, too! I made this just after I learned to crochet. 

I only added the flower because after I asked my husband to take the picture below (left) he informed me that "it needs something like a flower or something added to it." HA! 

                          Here's the before shot                                ...with the added flower

This flower is made out of toule and ribbon, intertwined.
This time, instead of sewing together, I used a fabric glue and just added a dot every few inches. 

Adorning necklaces, t-shirts, and the possibility is endless! Here's one of a necklace: 

Have a long string of pearls you don't wear often? 

Double them over, add some ribbon, and pin on a rosette! Brilliant!

This rosette is made from satin ribbon with fabric glue. 

Moral of the story? If you don't have a Pinterest account, get one. Pinnie is a girls best friend. ;) 

...adoring all things beautiful

...Burlap & Lace...

As many military families know, weddings don't come easy in our world. There is a mess of stuff to deal with (leave chits, deployments, moves, paperwork...) that civilians don't have to deal with. Myles and I were almost on the verge of saying, "Eh! We're already married... Let's just save the money and forget it!"

I'm. So. Glad. We. Didn't. 

We got married in a courthouse last Spring (2011), and needed it to be on paper so that I could move with him after I finished graduate school and before he got permanent orders so that I would be on them. Otherwise, it might have ended up that we'd be waiting four more years to be wed! Turned out though, that the ACTUAL wedding couldn't be until the very end of the year. December 19th was the blessed day. 

We did it! We had the wedding! It was all that I could have imagined.... and more. 

I wanted a country-chic wedding, inspired by cowboy boots, burlap, and lace!
Aren't my girls fabulous?! 

 Here are some of my faves in terms of finishing touches and details...

 The ceremony was atop a hill at Riley's Farm in California. Beautiful spot! 

Very rustic and country, to which we added some elegance and charm. 

We used moss on the petal basket and ring pillows, and had mason jars hung by burlap. Of coarse, everything had a touch of lace for that chic elegance we all adore! 

 My favorite part! I showed up to the ceremony in this classic antique blue convertible car. Walked myself down the isle to "At Last" by Etta James.  After the ceremony, we rode away together. :)

 We had the reception in the barn! So fantastic! There was a hay ride to and from the ceremony site up the hill for the guests to ride. (It was a bit of a chilly walk to and from!) 

 Here are a few reception photos: 

Chalkboards were a huge part of our theme. Very trendy right now! 

I used them for signs outside and throughout the reception area. 

Centerpieces were collections of vintage blue glass that my grandmother had collected. Each table had different pieces, different sizes, and each one was gorgeous. Tables were lined with... you guessed it! Burlap and lace. 

 We had a country band complete with a dance caller! Our guests had a great time dancing with the dance caller. At first we thought it might be a little awkward... "What if no one comes up? What if he tells us to do something WEIRD?" HAHA! It was so the opposite. 

Even the groom, the I'm-a-typical-white-male-who-hates-dancing-even-while-drinking had a great time! 

 Everything about it was perfect. At one point, Myles and I were sitting at our sweatheart table, and I looked and said, "Look at this! Look at our wedding! How amazing is this? It's everything I dreamed."

I loved it. I cherished it. I love him. I cherish him. 

...adoring all things beautiful