1 The New Normal

We moved into our new apartment April 1st. It was exciting and stressful all at the same time. There were lots of tears shed, mostly mine. Ok all mine. But we did it. Our little family lived together alone once before while I was in school at West Virginia but this was like our first real place together. 5 days after moving in Mikey and I left for our honey moon in St. Thomas. It was a very much needed vacation especially after the move from hell, but it also meant that we would be coming home from paradise to a cockroach infested, unpacked, home. Yes I said cockroach. Apparently the people who lived here before us didnt know the meaning of clean. And apparently the rental agency doesnt think it necessary to abide by the contact, you know the one that says all pests must be taken care of PRIOR to tenants moving in. Yeah. But here we are 2 months later and we are *mostly* roach free and almost settled in. We hope to be here for at least two years so Im excited to actually take them time to decorate this place like I really want to. Our apartment is big, it's in a great location (and only two streets down from my sisters!!!) we have a pool (which we have been to almost daily since it opened) a play ground, and the best part? So many kids! The family that lives below us has 4 kiddos and after weeks of Peyton looking on them playing from our balcony yelling 'hey fwends!!) Mikey and I decided to let her go down and play with them. We went with her the first few times, met the parents, got to know he kids, and now she ventures down there on her own and we keep watch from our balcony. It's pretty great. It gives her some independence, gives us some kid free time, and she's so happy. She loves it here. Which is all that really matters. 

moving blows... as if you didnt already know that

also since being here Peyton has been sleeping so.much.better. like waking up at 10 is not a rarity

she's an independent swimmer.

unpacking our wedding things was one of the most exciting parts of the move!

Iv been slowly adding my own touches and doing DIYs that iv been day dreaming about for years. 

Peyton's room is HUGE and it fits all of her toys. awesome. 

we've even had friends over for dinner quite a bit so far! I love using all of our wedding gifts. and I love hostessing.

I think we are all significantly happier here and I hope it only keeps getting better!

2 How To // Create an Outfit Inspiration Board

Hello friends. Let me start off by saying I am by no means a photoshop genius. That being said, I do know somewhat what Im doing and I'm here to pass what little knowledge I have onto you, my lovely readers.

Per request of the fabulous Gretchen I did a little DIY tutorial on how to create your own outfit inspiration board.

step 1:

Pick your outfit. It's best to use pictures with mostly white or solid color backgrounds. If you are using a site like modcloth where you cant really drag and drop the picture you can just take a screen shot (command+shift+4) for a crop shot or (command+shift+3) for a full screen

step 2:

open all your outfit pieces in photoshop and create a new document. I made mine 5x7.

step 3:

Drag and drop your base article of clothing to your new document

step 4:

Edit > transformations > scale

resize the image to whatever size you want it. make sure to hold shift down while doing this so that your image remains proportionate.

step 5:

Drang and drop your next outfit component. Since Im using a skirt and I want it to over lap my shirt I will place it where I want it and then resize the image until it looks proportionate to the shirt.

step 6: 

Use the magic wand tool

step 7:

click on the blank space around the image. This is why using an image with a solid background works best. The tool will select the empty area around the image. Once that area is selected hit the delete button.

notice how I still have a chunk left that it didnt select. Simply click on that area next and hit delete again

even after doing this a few times there was still some left over so I just used the eraser to clean it up

step 8:

Drag your next item and rezise

notice how the laces are white on these shoes so the magic wand tool would have deleted them so I chose not to use it in this situation

step 9:

instead what I chose to do was place the shoe where I wanted it and then I just used the eraser to clear out the white space that was overlapping the rest of the picture.

step 10:

I repeated these steps with the bracelet I chose to use

step 11:

If you want to show tights or something that you want placed behind your outfit drag and drop the image and note what layer it is. Take that payer and drag it down so that it is below the layers you want it positioned under

step 12:

continue to drag and drop your accessories

use the magic wand tool or eraser when necessary

step 13:

make a new layer

use the rectangle marque tool to create a box to the side of your outfit

step 14:

use the eye drop tool and click on a color from the outfit. That color should now be in the lower left hand of your screen as the foreground color (i know this picture has the paint bucket highlighted I have no idea why that happened)

step 15:

use the paint bucket tool to color in the rectangle

step 16:

go to your layers and click on the one you just made and hold down control and duplicate layer. Once the layer is duplicated move your new rectangle below the first one. go back to the eye dropper and pick a new color to fill that rectangle. Repeat the as many times as the colors you want to represent. Then

highlight all the duplicated layers and click control again to merge them. After they are merged you can move them left or right in a group to find the perfect location for them

step 17:

go back to the marque tool but this time chose the elliptical marque. Decide where you want your label and hold shift to make a circle.

step 18:

Color your circle and then use the text tool to crate a name for your outfit

Step 19:

use the crop tool to crop your picture to the size you want it.

shirt // skirt // tights // shoes // bracelet // earrings

And now you are done!

Any questions? Leave them here in the comment box or send me an email. I know that was a lot of steps but it's all very easy once you get the hang of it. It's basically just the same 4 steps over and over again.

I hope this helps you and if you make an outfit board let me know id LOVE to see it!

ppppsssstttt feel free to pin it!

Pin It

2 DIY//Bolster Recover

Hey bloggity friends today Im coming to you with an insanely easy DIY.

Im not kidding this took me less than 30 min to pull off and Im pretty sure you need minimal sewing skills to accomplish it.

Im still working on the toddler room, yes it is quite the process but its almost done. yay. happy dance.

Im just adding a few last min touches and today im here to share one with you!

I have literally had this bloster for 100 years. ok maybe more like 17. Either way it's reallllly old. My momma made it for me originally and at one point it was nice and shiny and new but now its old and stained and in need of a total makeover.

So here is what you will need:

Fabric : amount varies depending on the size of your pillow but it needs to be able to wrap around it with room to spare and Id say you need at least a foot of fabric on each end

Thread

Sewing machine (or hand stitch)

Ribbon

Scissors

Safety pin

Pencil

Step one - make a 1/2in -1in fold on the end of the fabric

Step two - Fold again the same amount  so that there is no raw edge. You can iron the fold down if it makes it easier 

Step three - fold it up to the pillow and make sure it come a little more than half way

Step four - Stitch the fold down. make sure that space from the end of the fabric to the stitch line is wide enough to fit your ribbon

make sure to do this on both ends of the fabric

Step five - pin the right sides together around the pillow. Make sure it's tight. 

Step six- use a marking utensil to mark where your pins are on both sides of the fold. Then take the pins out and remove the pillow. Place the pins back in using the markings to help you

Step seven - stitch along the markings. ****Make sure NOT to cross over your width stitches**** I didnt take a picture of this because I skipped over this step and had to use a stitch remover. I know it's a little hard to understand so feel free to message me if you have a question and Ill try to better explain it!

Step eight - cut a piece of ribbon. You want to make sure its as long as the width of the fabric. You can always cut it at the end but it's better to have it too long than too short. Attach a safety pin to the end of your ribbon

slide pin into one end of the opening you created in steps 1-4. work it's way through to the other side.

then shimmy your pillow into the case. You may need an extra hand for this part!

Step ten - once threw pull the ribbon until it scrunches in a circle and tie in a knot then a bow. 

Do this on both sides

And there you have it. 

Its seriously so simple and it gives you a whole new look.

Im super happy with the results and it was way less costly then buying a whole new bolster!

I hope this wasn't too confusing to follow and if you have any questions at all feel free to message me!!

And let me know if you try it out!!!