Digital scrapbooking

Chelle made this for our favorite "little face", Jaxen, for his first fall.

There is an 8X10 photo frame calling its name!

Recipe cards

With all the recipes floating around this time of year, how cute would it be to create your own deck of personalized recipe cards?!

Say no more!

If you'd like your own bundle of 25 personalized recipe cards like these for $15.00, email chellejo@gmail.com
We will be using these as stocking stuffers for the Mamma's!

WELCOME!

Remember this post?

Well, It's time for the ugly blue vase to go. We found an inside rug that matches our tastes perfectly, and a small side-table for 6.99 at Goodwill that Chelle is in the process of sanding with our new electric palm-sander! During that same Goodwill visit, Chelle found a unique Ikea vase for 2.00 and will be re-creating it with some inspiration found on pinterest! Check back for the finished products on both the side-table and the vase re-do!

"Love you Sister-face"

Remember these??:

They've been a cute addition to the kitchen; however, it took us almost 4 months to get around to chalk-painting them. We had more elaborate plans, but opted for something more simple and functional.

We also have been lazy about snapping a picture of the finished product; however, we couldnt resist after a cute note appeared from Kevin's sister...

Back to School (3 months overdue!)

One of Chelle's childhood friends is a school teacher. This year, as a "back to school" gift to Maggie, Chelle made a wreath to decorate the classroom. Kevin wasnt a huge fan, but it was hilarious to make and Maggie liked it so that's what matters, right??

Fall Decorating (and a Bears game)

Chelle got some fall decorating done just in time for a gathering in the basement for the Bears game a few weeks back. Check it out here!

More pinecones from the Mama's put to good use in a embossed tin planter from on of

Chelle's thrifting journeys for .75 cents. This now sits on the downstairs bathroom toilet. :)

Inspired by one of Chelle's pinterest posts, this candle laced with a light gold overlay (found at Salvation Army for .25 cents, never burned) was wrapped in some fabric fall leaves from dollar tree and some burnt orange crafting ribbon, then placed in a narrow candle tumbler. Who says you cant craft on the cheap!!!??

Here is a broad view of the mantle, and please excuse the TV cords; we havent gotten brave enough yet to start drilling into the mantle where we need to run them. :) Since we havent posted full pictures of the downstairs living room, we'll give a brief overview here.

This is our absolute favorite room of the house. The entire floor is covered in heavily textured heated slate tile, run by a hidden thermostat in one of the downstairs closets. (TOASTY!!!) The same tiles that lay on the floor have also been hand-cut into smaller squares to make the fireplace, as well as the bathroom floor. They are so easy to keep clean, too, which is not to go ignored, as cleaning is no fun for anybody! :)

The stacking boxes in the right corner of the fireplace stoop were a craigslist purchase for $8, and neatly store misc aux cords, extra remotes and extension cords, ect. For information on the bouquet directly to the left of the boxes, check out our post prior to this one on one of Chelle's latest obsessions.

The candle spread, front and center of the mantle, is also a craigslist find. Weighing 15 pounds easy, and matching our slate perfectly, we were overjoyed when we stumbled upon this on Craigslist for just $6. The lantern on the left corner of the stoop is an antique looking "earth-green", found on clearance at Homemakers for $13. The door of the lantern doesnt shut all the way, therefore, they put it in the land of misfit home decor and Chelle immediately snatched it up. We about threw up when we saw what they originally priced it at....

In the bookcase shelves on the far left, there are some faux books providing additional hidden storage(originally 19.99 a piece at Pier one-- Chelle got all 4 for $12 on Craigslist). Sitting on top of one of the books is a glass liquor decanter Kevin was given as a groomsmen gift for a wedding he was in. Above that are the electronics that Chelle is dying for a better way to store, and a canvas tote basket with some coffee-table books from long ago.

Above that as the newly decorated mantle. Four candlesticks (another Craigslist find: $8 total) hold 4 decorative pumpkins (from Dollar Tree) with fabric leaves that Chelle hot glued to their middles, and beside them sit a big metal "Memories" sign (Craigslist-10.00). Along the mantle runs a series of 4 fall garlands purchased from dollar tree for .50 cents a piece, finished off by the fall printable Chelle mentioned in our prior post.

Moral of the story? We love our mantle decor (Chelle a little more than Kevin, we're sure), and we did not come CLOSE to giving an arm and a leg for the things we purchased to decorate it. Where there's a will there's a way, and you can ABSOLUTELY create a classy space without breaking the bank to do so! Get out there and search!

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Close-ups at some of the above-mentioned mantle decor:

Dont be intimated by "cozying up" your space this season in fear of throwing away your hard earned money. Put your creativity to work in a cheap way!

Also, some of our favorites came over that day to watch our favorite NFL team hold a clinic on thier recent opponent!

While we wait...

Chelle has big DIY plans for the wedding next May (weird). Therefore, we have been spending a lot of time in our area thrift stores scoping out deals. What does this mean for us? We have a spare bedroom full of old ornate candlesticks and picture frames that will be spray painted and used for wedding decor. Only 8 short months from now, Chelle's favorite post will reveal all that we "DIY'd" for our big day, in hopes of inspiring other DIY brides. Budget or no budget, there is something to be said about looking around on your big deal thinking of all the memories you've made over the past year as you scavenged and refurbished old into new. We're really looking forward to the final projects! In the meantime, we have a lot of things taking up a lot of space! So, in the spirit of the upcoming Holidays and decorating the house with the big orange door for its maiden voyage with us in it, Chelle decided to put some of these frames to good use before spraypainting them.

We simply found free printables from http://www.pinterest.com/, printed them out on regular copy paper, (we're fancy, huh!) and stuck them in frames that will soon be part of the wedding decor! Check out our designs below and if you like what you see, feel free to check out Chelle's "DIY & Upcycling" boards on Pinterest to nab the images yourself.

This guy sits in our upstairs living room on a lonely side table.Chelle LOVED this printable because she is in love with subway art. Anything subway art, we have to have it. And we think this is a cute variation!

Not the greatest shot,but we LOVE this picture, soon to be hung on the "gallery wall" behind the couch in our downstairs living room. Inspired by a Pinterest post, Chelle created an "eye chart art" template with a very special song lyric, and a very simple "sketched heart" grapic at the bottom. We spray painted the matting of this frame (why dont we as humans do more of that, it seems like such an obvious solution!! :)) a soft yellow to add a burst of color to a room with a lot of earthy coppers, browns, and light blues. Hopefully the gallery wall is up sometime within this century so we can showcase all of the sentimental "art" we've been working on! But for now, one more wedding frame as found a temporary home!

This picture speaks 1000 words. We wish we had a camera to show off the items in this picture better, but this will have to do. On the bottom shelf, we have a frame to be used for the wedding (thrift find: 29 cents), wiht a brown Thanksgiving subway art graphic printed from Pinterest. Beside that, we have a very cool old bottle with a large cork that we are using as a change jar in our entry way. Chelle plans to chalkboard paint a 4X2inch section and write "spare change", but for now, its good enough. We like to joke that this is our Honeymoon fund! If that's the case, we're going to the nearest town for our getaway, or we wont be Honeymooning until we're 50!

On the top shelf is the monogram "A" that Chelle created in a separate post, made with green craft burlap to match the color scheme in the upstairs living room. Beside that is a photo of Kevin and Chelle from high school , in the original frame Chelle put it in when we were 17...everyone together now: "Awwwwwwww". Yeah, we know, it's cheesy, but we're big cheese'sters at heart. :)

This is Chelle's FAVORITE use of our old frames waiting to be made new. This fall pinterest printable is our favorite and perfect for inspiring that fall mood: A life without love is like a year without fall.
Think on that!!
This picture sits on our downstairs mantle with the rest of the fall decor. Note the pinecones in the left of the picture, coutesy of mom and mom-in-law, who searched their yards for pinecones for Chelle to use this fall (as they are) and this winter (spray-painted and displayed in hurricane vases).

Stay tuned for our fall decorating reveal! This year, its small, but effective! Just right for our first fall in the house with the big read door.

We Heart Burlap!

Yes, oh yes, we do! Chelle managed to sneak a 10 yd roll of it into a wedding supply order from http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ and had time this past weekend to finally use some of it. We (she) has many more plans with this stuff, but for the time being, she used it to cover a photo frame insert. It really cant be considered a project at all, because it took literally 5 seconds, but there was about 5 minutes of instant gratification that quickly followed. Chelle snagged this ornate photo frame at a garage sale for .25! It's surprisingly heavy-duty, and it was already painted bright pink, taking all of the work out of it for Chelle! She plans to stamp a monogram "A" onto the center, but for now, we'll call it "complete".

Cake Topper!

This weekend, Chelle made the cake topper that will sit on top of our wedding cake! Chelle was able to help custom design our 3 tier cake, and we cant wait to see it, less than 8 months from now! Time is sure flying, and wedding planning is in full swing. In fact, with all of the work travel, and wedding details to be figured out, it's left very little time for Chelle to "DIY", and even less to blog about it. However, there was some free time this weekend, which yeilded the final product of our cake-to-be! Check it out:

*Dont mind the messy table. Chelle has had this beast since the dawn of time, and it's a little rough around the edges. Not to mention that it only seats 4...It works for now, but we're definitely in the market. :)

After some hot glue, silk button mums, a 4.5inch styrofoam ball, and pearls:

Welcome to: The office (well, half of it)

We've worked really hard to make the office a place of nostalgia. Most of our loved ones know how near and dear our hearts are to Boston-the city, the history, the RedSox...So we wanted to make the office a "classy" omage to one of our favorite places.

Boston is a city full of history, and we wanted to display our OWN history in our office space. With the help of some pinterest inspiration, ikea, and our some personal touches, we think we've got that accomplished. For now, one half of the office is finished. Our "office organization center" is still underway, but so close to being finished that we can taste it!

For now, here is the majority of this space. :) Enjoy!

Here is an overview of the space. The picture, we're sad to say, makes the walls and colors look much more vibrant than they are. They are much more muted than this in real life; especially the navy blue wall, but camera would not cooperate. However, Chelle would like to paint the dark wall a flatter color; right now, its more of an eggshell.  Lesson learned; darker colors need a flatter finish, at least in our opinion. Also, the papasan covers will hopefully someday be replaced by white or cream ones; for now, Kevin's little sister was gracious enough to swap papasan covers with us so we could use these orange ones.(Ours were white and green floral before!)

This is our favorite part of the office; a creative and sentimental way to tell the story of "us"

The large picture in the middle looks like a collection of random numbers at first glance; however, they give an important timeline of our history together: 02-18-02-the day we "officially" started dating, 03-20-09-the anniversary of the 2nd time we started dating, after being separated for 3 years, 10-30-10-the day Kevin proposed, and finally, in red, 05-12-12-our wedding day.

A heart shaped cutout of a map of Boston; the city where we fell in love again.

A heart-shaped cutout of Iowa-our hometowns, the place we first met, the place we call home.

Additionally, we really love the red floating bookshelf from Ikea, although it was more than a little scary hanging this thing level and then trusting it to not rip half the wall off.

please notice the collection of Jack Handy books, perfect when you need a good dose of dry humor. ;)

Mom-in-law got us this ceramic "Herky". He is so CUTE. In sticking with the nostalgic theme of this room, we put Herky's very first puppy collar on him.

 

Welcome to: The Entryway

After leaning up against the wall for over a month while Chelle procrastinated hanging the entryway mirror, it's finally up. We got this mirror for $10 whole dollars, as it had a large crack through the frame. After some putty filler and a new coat of black paint, she looks good as new, and is the perfect size for the entry wall. Chelle added a flower arrangement to the other side in an oversized blue vase, and we're calling it done for now.

Eventually we plan to put something small up on the opposite wall where the flowers are now, and replace the blue vase with something that goes a little more with the theme of our decor.

Etsy

Our first Etsy listing! We are so excited that this is finally up and running and cant wait to see the type of interest/feedback we get!

Check out the link to our first item up for grabs here!

Buy local and save on shipping! Just contact us.

Addicted to chalkboard paint

As addicted as Chelle has gotten to spray painting, you wouldnt think there'd be room for much else, but oh how wrong you are. Chalkboard paint. Let me repeat: Chalkboard.paint. LOVE the stuff! After using it on the inside of our pantry cupboards (Remember this post?) , nothing in the house has been safe. After a few garage sales and craigslist finds, there was quite a bit of repurposing that occured this past weekend. So much in fact, that we didnt have time to post our weekend update pictures! (we'll get to that in a bit)

It has felt SO relieving to get more and more of these little projects finished or close to finished that we feel like we've gained some momentum! Good thing, with the housewarming party fast approaching!!

Check out our "before and afters" of this weekend's projects!

Garage sale mirror-$2.00

Insert: bright purple spray paint, and chalkboard paint (see, we told you, it's a problem).....



... now we have a cute addition to the guest bedroom. The guest bedroom is the final resting place of all of Chelle's "girly" decor and bedroom items. It just sort've happened that everything fell into this room, and once we saw how colorful it was, we decided just to run with it. :) Its bright, cheerful, and, the guests; well, they love it!


While we're on the subject of the guest bedroom, Chelle picked up a cute pair of bookshelf endtables this weekend, and we're going to get to work sanding and refinishing the headboard soon! We also have a pair of hideous lamps that will have the bases spray painted (of course!), and the lamp shades re-done with a clever DIY project Chelle's been dying to try! Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, Here is a sneak peek of the guest bedroom:

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Check out this $3.00 garage sale shelf Kevin found us quite some time ago that we havent quite found a home for in the new house! It's missing a hook, and one of the remaining ones is bent! :)

Since we couldnt find a home for this shelf, Chelle really scratched her head figuring out what to do with this. We were really excited about the idea we ended up having:

Upcycled into a chalkboard shelf for our Nephew, Jax's room! The shelf will be filled with rolled-up onsies that no longer fit, and we're in search of three new knobs for the front, where burp-cloths will hang! Stay tuned for the finished look!!

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Next, we've been trying to figure out what to put above the couch in the downstairs living room. Since it's a big space, we really wanted to find something to do it justice. We have it all planned out, now we're just in the execution phase!

1. We found these metal wall art signs at a garage sale for $10.00 for the set. We love them because they remind us of Kevin's Mom's house. She has a bunch of this pattern of metal wall art in her front living room, and we like that we'll be able to think of her every time we look at these! Mushy, but true.. :)

They just need a little dusting and TLC, and they'll be ready!

2. We really like the floating shelf idea and had originally wanted to look for a couch-length, wide floating shelf to house pictures and art (to avoid from hanging them on the wall). This was our inspiration, from one of Chelle's favorite bloggers: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_20mHpGMPkgkz-CPpYif_Mn6Fi3bJNhWfO1ICejUXUukBUmlrNIOkRaqRZGp5-L3wOjHHKo_VnrafBIJLVQTnfXiB3t3aZOYZw3Aj7fdR12DWD0Q2NiJdxMKFpvOqALoOOzKqUa0uy6KT/s1600/DSC02117.JPG

But, since we have several miscellanious wall shelves "floating" around (ha ha, pun intended), we decided that we should just utilize those.  That will also give us a more broken up, geometrically arranged pattern while still looking clean and uncluttered. The color combo that we created we are SOOOOOO pleased with!

...so, the walls are a muted blue and the floors are slate; there is a lot of dark wood, and our metal signs are bold, earthy tones. So coming up with the perfect look was a big topic of discussion. We finally opted on a simple and clean white, with an accent color of a "hammered metallic bronze".  Here are the two shelves before:

Silver "speckled?" wall shelf: $8 off craigslist. We knew that the ornate detailing on the ledge had a lot of potential, and are glad we found this!



This HIDEOUS shelf was falling apart when we found it at a garage sale for $1. Do you love the brass fixtures!? (Neither did we)

Here we've taken apart the shelf and found a new use for our Rustoleum Hammered spray paint that's just been sitting in the garage since long before we even moved out of our old apartment.


We think these shelves, now completed, make a perfect pair. Chelle literally hugged these shelves to her chest when she was finished and channeled a little Mariah Carey "We Belong Together"...We're not lying...

We cant wait to add these to the metal art, along with two 10-in white wall shelves we've been trying to find a home for!

**If you havent noticed, We sort've have a think for shelves. Take a sneak peek at our favorite "shelf" in the house, a bright red ikea bookcase in our office. The rest of the office is coming soon!

Next up: Chelle will be attempting to chalkboard paint square labels onto these garage sale tins ($8) for the kitchen. We'd eventually like to get glass canisters, but need to find something that has a suction-sealed lid to preserve the ingredients!