Sunday, December 15, 2013

Christmas banners

Can you believe Christmas is only 10 days away!  How did that happen?!  The month has gone by so fast and I have to admit I haven't done all the Christmas stuff I would like to do (like getting lights hung on the outside of our house), but I was able to do a little craft to add to the Christmas décor at our house before the month flew by. 
I've had some vintage music sheets in my craft stash for a while and finally decided to do something with them.  I just needed a little ribbon and glitter from the craft store and a few other tools I already had on hand to make banners!
 
I first made a mini banner to drape across the Christmas tree.
 
 With all the other "natural" and glittery decorations, I think the banner adds a little extra vintage charm
 
I then made a banner that was a little bit bigger to hang in the living room and add a little extra shine to our entry mirrors.
 
It's just a little craft, but cost only a few dollars and I think adds some great sparkle and vintage style to our Christmas.
Have you done any crafts this Christmas season to add a little shine to your home? 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

A "little" announcement

There's some exciting stuff going on at our home these days...we're getting ready for a baby!  That's right, we're expecting our first baby in April!  Throughout the last two months we've slowly been breaking the news to family, friends, and co-workers so it seemed like it was finally time to make the announcement to the masses. 
Of course the first people we told were our parents.  We told my parents over a game of Scrabble, which is a family favorite game to play together. 
 
Our first ultrasound of the baby made me say, "we're having a gummy bear!" since the ultrasound looked less like a baby and more like a little gummy bear in my belly.  So, for about the first month we called the baby our gummy bear.  It was fitting when I saw this huge gummy bear at a store in the mall to take a picture of it with my "gummy bear".
 
And just this week we found out that we're having a girl!  It felt like Christmas that day being able to see an ultrasound of a cute little baby and finding out we're going to have a little girl this Spring!   Our pictures for our Christmas cards this year catch our growing baby girl (aka my growing belly). 
 
So, that's a little update on the big change that is going on with our family as well as the reason I've been slacking a little with blogging in the past couple of months!
 

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Fall at home

With it finally getting colder in our neck of the woods, I am getting more jazzed about the upcoming holidays.   It makes me think of hanging stocking on the fire place, layering up, listening to Christmas music and eating treats that only seem to come around this time of year; but I have to take a step back to try to enjoy the brief moments of fall before I get completely engrossed in the Christmas spirit.  So here's a look at what fall is looking like at our house.  Of course while I write this I'm still contemplating when I can get the Christmas decorations up, but for now, let's take in the beauty of fall! 

The big tree in our front yard is the vibrant red-orange.  It makes me grateful for the beauty of fall with all the natural colors that grace the trees and start to line the streets and yards with fallen leaves


I still love coming home to the collection of pumpkins/gourds that flank or front porch.  I especially love that all of the pumpkins/gourds (except the white one) were autumn gifts from our family and neighbor, such a great reflection of what the season is all about...giving and celebrating family & friends. 


The gigantic mulberry tree in our back yard has dropped about a third of it's leaves so far, making the entire backyard blanketed in golden flecks.  While it gets a little frustrating to have all these leaves to rake up (the one down side of having a big backyard), I have to be grateful for the majestic tree because of all the great shade it provides us all summer and the fun tree fort it sports year round.  


I'm not one for doing a lot of fall decorations in the house (probably because I anticipate Christmas so much), but I try to make sure to have my dining room chalkboard provide a reminder for this fall and Thanksgiving season.  I truly have so much to be grateful for, especially to be able to enjoy fall in this little space I call home! 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Cooking up...Young women in excellence

It's been a few weeks now (I've been slacking!) but I was able to put on an event along with the girls I work with at church.  Every year the girls from youth group at church (we call it Young Women) present what they have been working on in their Personal Progress and the girls that have completed all of their personal progress get honored.  The special night is called "Young Women in Excellence".  Personal Progress is a program kind of like the Boy Scouts program where there are certain skills and activities the girls have to complete, but many of the skills and activities focus on building their faith in Jesus Christ through eight different values.   
With the girls, we put on a night that had a cooking theme emphasizing all of the the values as if they were "ingredients" or "cooking utensils" that were necessary for every cook.  
We sent out save the dates about 2 months early to make sure all of the Young Women and parents knew about it.

About a month before the event we then sent out the actual invites to get the girls excited!

It was a great event with the girls impressing me with the program we worked on and a special musical number that sounded angelic!  I only wish I had taken more pictures of the night, but I do have this great picture of the girls..they did such a great job!  It was really a great night of cooking up Young Women in Excellence! 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Copy that--Williams Sonoma inspired pumpkin seed brittle

Over a year ago I ordered one thing from Williams-Sonoma (special cookie cutters for a party I threw) and ever since then I have been getting their catalogs.  While it's fun to peruse their catalog when it comes in the mail, I haven't purchased anything else and really can't imagine myself buying anything since they are quiet pricey.  The October catalog however peaked my interest when I saw they were selling a unique Halloween/fall treat...Pumpkin Seed Brittle! 
 
 
 
I knew I wanted to try making that especially since I saw the price tag, nearly $30 for 1 pound...yowzers! 
 
 
So I did a little hunting and thanks to the internet, I found this simple and tasty Pumpkin Seed Brittle recipe.  I had all of the ingredients already in my cupboards except for the pumpkin seeds, light corn syrup and the candy thermometer; so those items had to be purchased.  Those items cost me around $10 or less and I have left over seeds and plenty of corn syrup to make more batches! Although Williams-Sonoma has their cute tin and all for their pumpkin seed brittle, I was glad I could make the treat at home for way less!
 
 
It's a unique alternative to peanut brittle and just the perfect goodie to share with family and friends this season! 

Monday, September 30, 2013

Vintage Yellow House--Etsy shop update

I got an exciting email last week...
I sold my first item in my Etsy shop!   Back in July I finally opened up an Etsy shop and while I had intentions of listing several vintage goodies I have to sale, I ended up only getting one item listed.  With the little effort I put in, I was super excited to see that I actually sold my one item, this kitschy plaid thermos this last week!
 
With my one sale under my belt, I am geared up and more excited to finally get more items up for sale and enjoy being part of the Etsy marketplace. 
Here's a peak at what I have up for sale right now. 
 
 
I hope to get more items up soon, so check back for more goodies!  Crossing my fingers for more great emails that let me know that someone snatched up these items!
 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Northern Adventures

It's been almost two weeks since we've been back from our trip to Seattle, Alaska and Victoria, Canada.  We were on a wonderfully scenic Alaskan cruise!  The trip was beautiful in every town we went to and we got so many great photos to capture the trip.  My parents also went on the cruise which worked out great for making sure we nailed all of the photo opportunities!
 
We flew up to Seattle and stayed with Clint's uncle and aunt who were great hosts and showed us around some great Seattle sights.  I especially loved Pike's Market where we got to see the "fish throwing" action and snagged gorgeous bouquets of flowers for only $5!  We lucked out too since it was a spectacular sunny day in Seattle!
 
 
 
We also went to magnificent Snoqualmie Falls. 
 
 
Later that night we ventured back out to go the Space Needle. 
 
The view from the top was amazing all lit up at night.
 
 
After a wonderful day in Seattle it was time the next morning to head to our ship to cruise off to Alaska!

The cruise ship was amazing with plenty of activities to do, food to eat, and a relaxing room with a beautiful balcony view when we wanted to kick back. 


During the week we made four stops.  Our first stop was in Ketchikan, Alaska where we adventuring karting!  It was a gorgeous sunny day which was perfect for our karting tour. 

 
 
Our next stop was Juneau, Alaska where it was much cooler and rainy, but we still managed to see much of the town along with the Mendenhall Glacier and an ocean side Catholic shrine.



Our final stop in Alaska was Skagway.  We took a train ride through the mountains with picturesque views from every angle!  It was a beautiful tour! 

 
 
Our last stop on the cruise was in Victoria, Canada.  This was one of our favorite stops!  We got to take a little "bike taxi" and see so much of the town, including the Empress hotel, the Parliament buildings, China town, adorable historic houses, beautiful architecture  and more!  In the little time we had in Victoria we saw so much, but it definitely left us wanting more!

 

 
 
 

It was a once in a lifetime trip up North seeing Seattle, Alaska and Victoria, Canada!  

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Thrifty wardrobe

Pretty soon here I'm going on vacation (yeah, long over due!) and probably like many of you I decided I wanted needed some new clothes to bring on my trip.  After all the our trip will include cooler weather and I want to have fun dressing up too!  So, I have been trading in my normal home décor hunting at thrift stores lately for fall wardrobe hunting.  Here are some of the finds I picked up and will be taking on our trip (with some other staples already in my closet).
 
Three great pairs of jeans as well a pair of purple pants that are different than my normal attire, but were too fun to pass up
 
I found a cozy sweater, a casual gray striped shirt and two light weight jackets that will be great for layering
 
 
A simple gray dress and a little bit more fancy turquoise dress for our evening adventures on our trip
 
And of course wardrobe shopping wouldn't be complete without shoes!  I found these deep purple heals and these super cute nautical inspired flats that I think will go great with a couple of outfits
 
thrift shopping
So, the most exciting part about all these fun fall clothes I found is the price...$70 for all of this!!  Seriously, way better than going to the mall!  Mixed in with some things I already have, these "new" pieces are an inexpensive solution to my fall and vacation wardrobe needs! 
 
Come visit me again soon on here...I'm sure I'll post about our vacation! 

Friday, August 9, 2013

Make it over: old record storage to craft cabinet

More than a year ago I snagged this old cabinet at a yard sale that was originally for record storage.  While the piece had good bones, it definitely needed work to be usable and presentable.  For only $5 I decided to take it home with me and make it over.  So...more than a year later I finally got to it! 
 
 
 
I wanted to make the cabinet clean and functional, so I knocked out the pieces of wood inside the cabinet so I could utilize the space more.  I then painted the whole cabinet a clean white and added new nickel hardware.  For the inside shelves I put down cute chevron contact paper.
 
 
 
 
The cabinet now is a perfect space for all my stacks of craft paper and other creating supplies.  I love this addition to our office right next to my craft desk!  I have to admit, after I finished the cabinet and put it in the office I got a little giddy about having a clean inspiring space to work in!