My DIY Necklace for Moms and Non-Moms...

If anyone else out there has a grabby baby, they know that jewelry is a word they scarcely recognize and accessorizing is waaaay low on the priorities list these days. I've always loved punctuating my outfits with bling, but Collin is sure to rip any earring larger than a post out of lobes and chew/slobber my necklaces to death. I've been on a mission to create a safe, non-toxic necklace for very little money that can be cute, but also strong enough to withstand clawing baby hands.

I present you with the culmination of said mission:

It only took a trip to Home Depot and Hobby Lobby and about 35 minutes to assemble. At Home Depot I picked up the brass colored machine screw nuts and flat washers and at Hobby Lobby I purchased non-toxic wood beads (make sure if you are buying wood beads, that you buy the ones marked Non-Toxic), various plastic beads and Amy brand crocheting/knotting/knitting nylon twine in mint green and white with gold. 

What you are seeing in the pics is really two necklaces worn together. I really wish I had a dress form to show off creations like these. Alas, I'm not sure the photos do it justice (or maybe I'm just overly proud of my accomplishment), but I think you get the idea. There wasn't much of a rhyme or reason to the bead arrangement. I'm not a match-matchy ordered kind of gal, but if you are you might want to devise a pattern before you start.

So, all in all, it cost me about $20, so if Collin puts chew marks in the beads, it's not a big deal! I should mention that this necklace is not a toy and should never be given to babies as such. It's simply a cheap, pretty, non-toxic piece of jewelry that they can play with whilst you make a fashion statement. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Office Makeover and Springtime Delights

Saturday was the perfect day to have a lazy morning and productive afternoon. After enjoying our weekly eggs, bacon and waffle breakfast (with coffee, of course), we set out to baby proof the office and in the process I was inspired to make my workspace more inviting and cheerful. First task on the list was to do something about our nasty, faded office chair. I really do loathe your run of the mill type office furniture. All function and no form! What's up with that?  There are some lovely Eames inspired chairs out there, but not in our price range, so my husband suggested we re-cover our current chair as a free alternative!

I had this sample upholstery square in my fabric box and it was the perfect size! I'm not sure what you would call the pattern... It's sort of Southwestern/Ikat looking and the color is a pinky peach, honeysuckle tone. If you have insights into the name of the fabric pattern, I'd much appreciate it. Needless to say, I'm in love. I'm so glad we didn't spend money on a new chair! 

All you need is someone to help you stretch the fabric taut and a staple gun. Voila! Easy, peasy project!

That prompted me to swap blank walls with post-it notes for some workspace pzaz. Virtually everything you see in these pictures was collected over the years from Goodwill runs, freely acquired or purchased very cheaply. The lamp was something I made-over a few years back and you can read about that here. I think the bulletin board was leaning on the side of a dumpster and the fabric covering the board is from Ikea. The desk was a piece we found on the side of the road when we lived in Midtown, the vintage metal TV tray is from Goodwill, the vintage faux bois clipboard is from Goodwill, the picture frame was on sale at Antrho, the wire basket that is serving as my desktop organizer used to house three herb garden pots, the gold frame is another Goodwill find and inside of it is a remnant of a vintage wallpaper roll that I found at-- you guessed it-- Goodwill! So, my cheerful workplace environment probably cost around $30 total.

After all that hard work, we decided to head over to our neighborhood park for a much needed stroll!

Along the way, we spotted this tree. Any ideas on its name? It's gorgeous for sure! That's about it. I love Saturdays with my little fam. Happy Monday y'all!

Peachy Keen, Keen on Peach

Peach has long been a favorite color of mine, so, needless to say, I'm pretty pleased variations of it are everywhere this spring/summer from sundresses to lipgloss. I also happen to live in the land of Peaches. Do I eat Georgia peaches frequently, you might ask? No, in fact I'm not so sure I've even had an honest-to-goodness Georgia peach while I lived here. I do, however, drive on multiple roads each week that all have the word Peach or Peachtree in them. That should give me some peach cred, no?

The wedding world has most certainly taken hold of the peach craze and I am only too happy to roll with it in my invitation designs. Here's a new one I've made called the Festivity Invite, printed on eco-white linen paper with papaya and gravel grey detailing and as with all my designs, the signature deep V, European style Envelope. The Festivity Invitation suite can be purchased here, in my shop.

The magazines you see pictured are for business research purposes and completely tax-write-offable. Love it when I can build the "work" of staying current into my routine! Check out a few more shots of the invites and a sneaky addition to the mix-- my sweet Collin-boy who has just turned 8 months and is on the verge of full-out crawling. I really do need to work on baby proofing a few more areas of the house. Mobility is a fast approaching, unstoppable train! 

Invitation Inspiration

I've been keeping myself quite busy these past few months with wedding invitation packages. I'm loving the opporutnities to sit down and discuss weddings with brides to be. My current project is for Hannah and Jesse who will be tying the knot this fall. They are getting married at the Whitlock Inn in Marietta, GA and their wedding feel has been described as Earthy Antebellum. The colors will be gravel gray, ivory, blush and a nice seersucker blue. How fittingly Southern. These photos are my inspiration:

Photo courtesy of OnceWed via Our Labor of Love

The Whitlock Inn, Marietta, GA

Photo courtesy of Merriment Events, Richmond, VA

via Pinterest

I'll be sure to post photos when the invites are printed and hopefully a follow-up with photos of the wedding! 

It's been way too long

 Hey friends. So, I'm officially a deadbeat blogger. It's just hard to keep up with this little guy in my life! He is, by the way, almost 7 months old! How did that happen?! Indulge me and take a look at a few recent pics of our sweet Collin. He's such a blessing.

Atlanta folk, it's that time again!

Hey friends! Just wanted to make a quick plug for the 8th Annual Garden Market at the Garden Hills Rec Center in Buckhead. It's going to take place on Saturday the 12th of November and we are excited to be participating in this awesome event once again. Looking for a unique, handmade Christmas gift? Look no further!

Here are some shots of our booth from last year's market:

Our baby is here!

On September 12th at 3:36 PM we welcomed Collin Gabriel into our lives. He weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 21.75 inches long. He boasts some ridiculously long legs, big hands, big feet and the sweetest strawberry blonde hair. We are loving getting to know our little monkey man! He's just so precious.

Labor and delivery was very fast and easy... Remarkably so. My water broke at 7AM and by 3:36 PM he was in our arms. All in a day's work! I pushed for a total of 30 minutes. Guess he was eager to get a jump start on life outside the womb!

We find ourselves just staring at him non stop. Even though I'm not getting much sleep these days, I wouldn't trade momma-hood for anything. He truly is a gift from God!