DIY Bon Appetit Fridge Topper

Back for the second time in a week! Are you proud of me? Aw, thanks. It's a lot easier to be consistent with content since Dan and I have been kicking butt at home and getting all sorts of projects done! Blogging about finished projects is much easier than blogging about ongoing projects.  Today I am excited to show off a really fun DIY project that I was able to pull together in the course of one evening, this DIY Bon Appetit sign!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I feel like the majority of my social circle (and certainly all of my blog-readers) already know this from Facebook...but since the news hasn't officially debuted yet on Brand New We...

Some Changes...

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but don't fret, I'm still here, and just about ready to go again.  We've got some changes that are in the making, and you'll find more all about those in upcoming posts.

First, though, I'm going to do a little sprucing up around here.  I'm also going to post Brand New We on Bloglovin'.  If you use Google Reader to follow blogs, and, like me, are really upset at the fact that Google will be discontinuing it, prehaps you can, also like me, switch to Bloglovin'.  It's got a great, simple interface for blogs. If you do switch to Bloglovin', please follow me! You can do so by clicking on this link:

Follow me on Bloglovin'

If you don't know what Bloglovin' is, or what it means to "follow" someone's blog, let me take a minute to explain.  Be warned, this will be the simplified, laymen's explanation...nothing fancy here. 

If you read several different blogs, you could definitely benefit from having them all be accessible from one place, right? For instance, I read eleven different blogs. (It might sound like a lot, but it's child's play, really.) I could type in their individual URLs every time I wanted to read a new blog, but that would involve remembering to check on eleven different websites every time I wanted to catch up on my reading.  That's no good.  It would be far better to be able to access all eleven blogs from one website, right? Right.  That is exactly what Bloglovin' does.  I choose to follow my blogs, click one button to do so, and from then on, all of my blogs are available to me with just one click...instead of eleven.  Every time one of my favorite blogs posts something new, that post comes to my Bloglovin' page, all shiny and new and easy to read. 

To use Bloglovin' you do need to create an account, but it is as simple as an email and a password and you're in. Bada boom. 

Happy HoliDIYs

If you caught my last post, hailing the little details of my Christmas mantel, then you saw some of the last month's proudest accomplishments.  Dan and I found ourselves heading into this Christmas season stockingless.  And even if we'd had stockings, it would have been a hopeless case, for we had no stocking holders. But now, oh, now we do.

I'm fairly proud of how these came together, mostly because it was not something I saw on Pinterest first.  Nothing really drives me to be creative than being...well, required to be creative.  I would have been totaly okay with buying some stocking holders, but we couldn't find any.  I didn't see any at World Market, Target,  WalMart...the Dollar Tree had some, but I'm not sure they would have been able to hold up a paper snowflake, much less a stuffed stocking.  So when push came to shove, I decided to make my own stocking holders. Take that. 

Merry Christmas Mantle

If you do not already know this, know it now: I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. I have unashamedly been listening to Christmas music since just after Halloween. (No, I do not hate Thanksgiving.  I sing "Happy Holidays" with gusto on that day, and pass the Turkey with joy.)

Even more specifically, I love decorating for Christmas.

DIY Dropcloth Curtains

Before anything happens, let's address the yellow elephant in the room.

Horrible pictures. 

I know, I know. I'm like a bad picture menace.  And those that are in this post are particularly awful.  I'm so sorry.  I am a big Apple fan...but an iPhone camera can only do so much. If you stick with me for, oh, nine or ten years, I'll be able to afford a nice DSLR camera and provide you with decent quality photos.  As for now, please just accept my most sincere apologies, and know that the quality of my pictures are as embarrassing to me as they must be disappointing to you. *Sigh.* 

Moving on. Don't you wish there really were a yellow elephant in your room? Me too. 

Moving on again. When Dan and I first moved into this house with all of its big beautiful beautiful windows...I immediately felt a desperate desire to cover them up.  I blame that on my mother.  There are two things that can always be expected of her: 1.) She will always turn down the music and, 2.) she will always close the curtains.  I can't blame her.  She values both her ability to hear and her privacy.  What are you gonna do? 

Either way, we had all of these big beautiful windows and were in need of some curtains.  For months, we settled for screws in the walls that held up several of Dan's old curtains from his apartment.  It looked awful. I don't have any pictures, but just believe me.  The curtains weren't so bad in and of themselves, but they were pretty much the exact color of the couches and so the whole living room was like this big den of dusty blue.  For a girl that thrives on contrast, it made me sad. 

And so I made myself some new curtains. Out of a dropcloth. Hoo-ray. 

D.I.Y. Newspaper Table Tray

When we first bought our house and began thinking about renovating and making big changes, I became acutely aware of the "past" of our home.  I was thinking through color schemes and decorations and floor layouts...and it caused me to think of the people who must have stood in about the same places and who must have made the same kinds of decisions.  Evidence of those people and their lives kept popping up as we dug deeper into our home; we found old toys, some pictures, and even a memento of a baby's baptism. 

My favorite finding of our home's past was a collection of old newspapers stuffed between the studs in the walls, most of them from the 40's, when the house was built.  I started trying to think of a way to display the clippings, in order to sort of honor the home and let it stay connected to its past in spite of all the renovations.  I wanted to do it in a way that wasn't super obvious (so framing them wasn't an option) but that was cute and functional (as I believe most decor should be). After a bit of hemming and hawing, and some inspiration from this blogger who posted on my Pinterest challenge post  (of which there is a better picture on this post) I came up with this project. May I introduce my D.I.Y. Table Tray.  Come on down after the jump for a little how-to.