Easy Spring Wreath!

I apologize that I don't have step by step pictures on how I made this. I TOOK the pictures, but they have since vanished! I wanted a easy, but pretty spring wreath for my front door. I went to Hobby Lobby and got this spiral grapevine wreath half off.It was super simple, I picked some scraps of fabric in the "spring-like" colors that I wanted, and made rosettes with my hot glue gun. There are tutorials ALL over blog land on how to make fabric rosettes. If you don't know how just google it and you'll find many options.

I found the little nests at HL too, they were two in a pack, in the floral styrofoam aisle, near the fake birds and butterflies. It was empty, but I hot glued a cute speckled egg from my other Spring decor inside...perfect! I love how simple and elegant it is!

I hung it up with burlap ribbon that my sis-in-law gave me {leftover from the chair backs at the wedding}. I think with the half off the wreath, the whole project cost me less than $10! Score!

Linking up to Spring Fling at This Blessed Nest!

A Taste of Orange Blossom: Sesame Crusted Halibut

After a week or so of being unable to make it out to OBJ on date night, last night we finally got to go back! A couple of sick kids will do that to you! Last night one of the specials was Sesame Crusted Halibut with a lobster sauce. The soup was Cream of Asparagus and it was just what we needed on a cold and stormy night. It was POURING down rain last night, but we made it out, and having a hot cup of soup right away was the perfect warm-up to my chilled bones!

It was topped with homemade croutons and cheese.

Mmmm...cheese! My spellchecker doesn't like it when I say "mmm", but MMM,MMM was it good!!

The special salad last night was an Avocado Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing. It was SO good! I always order my old trusty Orange Caesar dressing, so I've never had the pleasure of tasting the other yummy homemade dressings they have to offer! I LOVED it!

Just look at how beautiful that is! If you've read my previous OBJ posts, you know that I am obsessed with the red cabbage they have in their salads! I don't know what they soak it in/marinate it in...whatever you wanna call it...it's FABULOUS! I could just sit and eat a plate of cabbage with dressing I swear! Maybe someday they would tell me how to make it so my home salads wouldn't taste quite so BLAH. Although all my home bottled dressings don't even compare so I have almost given up making salads at home.

These were the sides that came with the special... Parmesan Polenta, Winter Greens, Gingered Carrots, and Toasty Bread! Seriously, it is SO much food! {Note: You get the choice of soup OR salad when you order the special, but I was lucky enough to try both}

Here is the main dish...Sesame Crusted Halibut with Lobster Sauce!

This fish was SO juicy!! If you've ever had dry fish, you know what I mean when I say that OVER cooking fish totally ruins it! I was seriously AMAZED at how soft, flaky and moist this fish was! And for you non-fish lovers out there, I tasted zero "fishy-ness"!

When you order a special, it also comes with your choice of dessert! They have their regular desserts and a special dessert of the day to choose from. I went with the Chocolate Trauma, which is always on the menu! I have to admit, I'm a confessed chocoholic. It is Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream on top of a Chocolate Ganache Tart, covered in Hot Fudge! We DEVOURED it, even after all we had already ate!

As always, you can check out their regular menu online, and see their weekly specials! If you sign up for their e-mail list, you'll get the weekly specials delivered right to your inbox!

Spring is in the Air!

I titled my blog post, and then looked out my window to the freezing cold rain coming down. Oh well! We've had spring-like weather in California for weeks, and we are at the beginning of a cold storm, reminding us that it's still technically February. I thought I would walk you through my spring decor. I said a couple of weeks ago that my old cheesy stuff needs to be retired, and I am SO pleased with what I've done/bought since!I bought these bead board ornaments on etsy, from The Shabby Chic Cottage shop. I got them today and I love them! They are the palest blue possible and perfectly distressed.

This garland I bought for $7.99 at Ross. Score! I love the branches and the really pale, muted color of the eggs so that they don't look like kids' easter eggs.

A close up of a bird.

This is the top rack view of my baker's rack.

I bought the apocrathy jar, already embellished on the outside at HomeGoods. I think it was $12.99. Today I finally found acceptable eggs at JoAnns and they were on sale!

This birdcage was $9.99 at Ross and the petals are candle holders.

I love this thing!! I found it {the ONLY one in sight!} at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago and I used a 40% coupon on it.

My friend gave me this sign she made for doing her a shopping favor! =)

The little blue bird was half off at Hobby Lobby when I bought it, so I think it was $1.50. The bronze birdbath was already mine from last year. I also already had the little nest with tiny eggs. Hey, we've even got REAL butterflies in this picture getting ready to hatch! Ha Ha!

I found these little signs hiding in the easter aisle at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 each. They come blank, so I just cut out some vinyl with my cricut that I had on hand.

This was also a HomeGoods purchase. I think it was $9.99.

The big jar with the B was a Christmas gift from my sister in law. I just tied some ribbon I had in my scrap bag that had the same teal color in it. It's definitely not my fave but I keep forgetting to look for something more "spring-y".

My friend Trish hosted a smore's night right before Valentine's day and she had a bunch of apocrathy jars tied with ribbon and filled with candies. I loved it, so when Hobby Lobby put their glassware on sale, I bought two for half off. Then I added some vinyl birds. The smaller jar got multiple, smaller birds. The medium size one has only one, slightly bigger bird.

Well, there you have it! My updated spring decor! I have ONE more plan {we'll see if I can just stick to one more thing!} that I hope to finish and blog about tomorrow! =)

Linking to Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party

Ruffle Flower Wreath and Frame

UPDATE! I figured out what my wreath was missing! I bought this little bird ornament from Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago, but didn't know what I was gonna do with it. I looks perfect in my wreath!

It is really pale plue and cream damask print.

NOW it's perfect!

Last week I got a GREAT deal on this whitewashed frame....it was $2! Have I ever mentioned I love Rescued Treasures? Cause I do!My friend, Crafty Christi {I wonder if my friends like or hate that I give them all crafty names when I talk about them on my blog}, showed me this post over at Little Birdie Secrets. This wreath is different, but loosely based on that. I liked making the ruffle flowers so I did them all the same instead of 3 types.

I used an old sheet {back from when I didn't know that KING IS DIFFERENT THAN CAL KING!} that is too small for our bed. To save myself some ruffle making, I noticed that the gathered edge looks suspiciously like a ruffle.

I cut a few inches deep, around the entire edge of the sheet. Then cut them into sections, depending on how big I needed the flowers.

Here it is...a RARELY found perfectly whitewashed and distressed frame for 8 quarters! I used an exacto blade to cut a scrap of cardboard to be my wreath base.You'll never see it.

This is what it looked like on the bottom, after hot glueing as I rolled.
After I ran out of edges, I cut strips of the fabric and made my own ruffles, by stitching down one {don't backstitch} edge and then gathering them. Using the edges of the sheet just saved me from this step for about half of the flowers for this size wreath.

Voila! I tied it with a few layers of jute and hot glued it to the back of the frame. I LOVE it! Not bad for recycled fabric and 8 quarters!

Linking to Tatertots and Jello weekend wrap up party and Crazy Domestic

Miss Lucy's Monograms!

Awhile ago, my friend Jani showed me a curling iron/flat iron insulated bag that she ordered for her mom for her birthday. I instantly knew I needed one! I am always stuck carrying a hot tool in my hand when we are packing up and leaving the hotel in the morning. Of course it is always the last thing you are using before leaving, so it is too hot to pack. She led me to Miss Lucy's Monograms! They currently have it in houndstooth and zebra print. Monogramming is always free, and there are many design, font, and thread choices to tickle your fancy!

The inside is heat safe so you are good to go! {Of course just make sure you wrap up the cord so that it's not touching the hot iron!}

I think it's priced right at $22 and free monogramming! Super cute!

Etsy Review {Sew Chatty}

Last week I ordered this little pouch from a cute shop on Etsy called Sew Chatty. She had a coupon code on a blog I follow, and I loved this little zipper pouch! It was so reasonable! She sells lots of other beautiful things in her shop, you should check it out! I thought of a bunch of ways to use this pouch, and I think I decided on the ring storage!

It's a great little pouch for all of my costume rings!

It would be a good place for your tween's {or your} ipod, chargers and earbuds.

Or for a few pieces of make up you keep with you in your purse.

Or, let's be honest this would be a good use for a teenager! Again, or you! ;) I can't believe I just posted that, but I'm just keepin' it real!

The other thing I thought of is it would be a cute pouch for a point and shoot camera and a spare set of batteries, to keep in your purse, but since I was USING my camera, I couldn't take a picture of that! I highly recommend Sew Chatty, she has great service, quality and super fast shipping!

Crafties

Last night I got to host our craft group! The title of our FB group {just a private ongoing chat wall so that we don't have to keep emailing each other} is "Crafties", so I thought it would be cute to add it to my chalkboard.

I set up by taping big pieces from our easel roll of paper on the table. Each person had a plaque, which I pre-painted, clothespins, plate and brush for mod podge, vinyl letters, and jute.

This was a very easy and straight forward craft.

This was the sample one I made. Actually I made it myself and then when I stepped in to cover a craft month, this is the craft I decided on.

There were lots of pretty papers to choose from.

Crafting is so much better with enthusiasm. Ha ha.

Below are all of the finished projects!

I know some of my friends SO well that I KNEW which paper they would choose {out of a stack of about 15 pages or so!} while I was shopping!