Free Sewing Lessons Anyone?

Not for you, for me! Lately, I've been really wanting to learn to sew. There's so many things I could do on my own- pillows, curtains, maybe even slipcovers if I'm really feeling ambitious. I could really go nuts! I've sewn (sewed?) only once before with the help of a friend in high school. I made yellow monkey-printed pajama pants. They are stunning, believe me. :)

I've been wanting new curtains for the dining room and fell in love with the look of burlap panels.



I could buy these ones for $37.50 a panel. The tab tops are super cute!

Or if I learned to sew and made my own like Layla did over at The Lettered Cottage, I could have a pair for under 30 bucks! Look how cute:







Aren't they great?! It sounds pretty easy- a good sewing project to start out with. I just love burlap. It brings so much warmth and texture and has that natural rustic look that I love.



And who says curtains are only for windows? I love that!


via A Beach Cottage


via House Beautiful

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Well I'm finally blogging after a week of absence, only to leave you for another week! My husband, mom, dad, and younger brother are leaving tomorrow morning to spend a relaxing week in Canada. Dad fulfilled a dream of his a couple weeks ago and bought his very own boat, so we're hitchin' it up and heading north! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am! This will be my third (I think?) trip to the cabin on Big Clear Lake and Jesse's first, so I'm extra excited for him.

Sorry for no pictures today! I'll be back in about a week! :)

Antiquing Day Trip

Have I said that my sister is in town right now? She's been here since Monday, and is staying until Friday. She's on a week-long shopping adventure for her Etsy shop, Frog Goes To Market. Her and my mom have been out shopping from morning till dawn every day, while I sit at work. Boo. :( But yesterday I had a day off so we all went antiquing together! We set our sights on a few new antique stores we had never been to.

The first place we stopped at was definitely my favorite. The Seville Antique Center. It had a ton of primitive and really early antiques. Lots of great (and very expensive) tables, chests and cupboards.









They had lots of those antique painted wood signs that I just love but can't afford.





I was drooling over this painted basket but like almost everything else in the store, it was way out of my price range.



We stopped for lunch at Cool Beans Cafe. Haha! It was, in fact, pretty cool beans.



They had really good food, and iced coffees. That pretty lady is my sister, Ellie. :)



These corbels were something I kinda wished I had bought. Why do I always do that? I don't buy something I know I really want, then regret it later. Duh.

Keep an eye on Ellie's Etsy over the next several days. I got a glimpse of some of the things she found this week, and they're really cool!

I Won Something?!

Last week I entered a little contest on Pottery Barn's Facebook page. They gave two pictures, seemingly identical, but with 10 small differences. Correctly spot the 10 differences, and be entered to win a $50 gift card. With my past luck of never winning any contest I enter, I didn't think I had a chance at the gift card. But I love those spot-the-differences games so I did it anyways.

And what do you know... I won! Woo-hoo! Now the hard part... what to spend the $50 on?!



I love their new wire baskets. The plate in the front is especially cute! $39 each.



I've always loved this calligraphy pillow, also $39. But do I really need more pillows?



Apparently in Pottery Barn's world, there is no such thing as "too many pillows."



I would go nuts if I could have this antiqued white bed. But remember, the gift card is for 50 dollars... not 50 thousand dollars.

I've got some thinkin' to do. :)

Deer-Be-Gone!

I am totally, completely in love with my new (old) blanket chest. It's doing a very good job being a coffee table. :)

This next picture is very exciting for me. Why? Because there's NO deer head on the wall! No pointy antlers, no bulging eyes looking at me, no giant furry beast breathing down my neck. For the first time, the living room is free of wild animals.



If you haven't figured it out already, my husband is an avid deer hunter. He has 3 bucks mounted so far, and I'm less than crazy about them. We started out with all of them in the living room, but I've slowly convinced him to move them in to the spare room/office. We hardly use the room, so now I don't have to constantly be looking at them, and them looking at me. I promised him that when we buy a house he can have his own room- a "man cave" all to himself with all the deer heads he wants. He's ok with that. :)

So now I have this bare wall space; a blank canvas. Hmm, what to do, what to do.



I've been wanting this mirror for a long time, and it would look great on that wall. It's from a company my mom orders wholesale, so I could get it for a really good price.



Or how cute would one of these window shutter mirrors be?! A little more than I want to spend- $119 from Wisteria.


I love this rustic wall clock, also from Wisteria for $59.



Nancy Fishelson's homes always have the coolest antique signs hanging on the walls - I would love to find something like that.

Or I could save my money and just leave the wall as is. But that's no fun. :)

Have a nice weekend!

A Big, Blue, Beautiful Splurge

My sister was in town this past weekend, which meant it was time to go antiquing! We met in the morning and spent the rest of the day shopping at our favorite places, along with some new places too. I was being so good; passing up on things I liked, but that I really didn't need. I've been trying to do that more often- I'm slowly learning the difference between the words "want" and "need."

...And then we went to the Hartville Antique Center. And I laid eyes on an antique blanket chest that I thought I needed.

This store is phenomenal. Until yesterday, I had never actually bought anything there. They are super expensive, but have thee best antiques around. The place is wall-to-wall early antique furniture, and everything is really great quality and just so stinking PRETTY! I should take my camera in there someday and blog about it. :)

Ok, back to the blanket chest. I actually saw it for the first time several weeks ago. I admired it for a good 20 minutes before I picked my jaw up off the floor and forced myself to leave the store without it. It was beautiful, but just too expensive for me.

Then Saturday, when I went back with my mom and Ellie, there was a couple looking at it and bargaining with the owner of the store. My heart sunk. That's supposed to be mine! They can't buy it! Sam, the owner of the store, told them he would knock off $100 from the price. I watched them discuss it for awhile. They left and said they would think about it. Whew. Close one. But now I knew if I really wanted it that bad, I need to buy it soon. I talked to Sam and he told me he would give me the same deal.

I wanted it. No, I needed it. Ok, no, I just wanted it. But really really really bad! Well, to make a long story short (oh wait, too late for that), after thinking about it and getting permission from the hubby, I bought it! Even with the discount, it was still a bit of a splurge. But oh so worth it.



We're using it as a coffee table. A picture hardly does it justice. The colors and texture of the old paint colors are just perfect.

I love all the curves and detail. It dates back to the early 1800's, according the Sam.





So I certainly didn't need it, but I sure did want it. But I think it's ok to really indulge in a want every now and then, don't you?