brittanyMakes

death by puppy cuteness

Why, hello there! I hope you've had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  Mine is finally winding down.  Believe it or not, this is the first time I've opened my computer since Friday! And now it's time to catch you up on things.  First up - Rocco's puppies!

 

 

oh. my. goodness.  Look at all those squished little faces!

 

 

are you dieing yet?

 

 

how about now?

 

 

Frenchie puppies are the cutest things ever! 

 

 

These puppies are so adorable! They had me and my BF on the ground, cuddling with them and cooing like little babies.  Is it weird? I wish I had a house full of little Frenchie puppies! 

I hope your death by puppy cutentess wasn't too painful :)

 

Cute graduation gift

I really enjoyed Monday's I Spy feature, so much so I went out and bought myself a few blank journals to execute my grad gift idea!  The result is nothing special really, but I had a lot of fun playing around with design ideas and drawing fonts.  Check 'em out:

 

 

I bought black journals and a white-out pen with the idea of designing them like a chalkboard! I know there are white ink pens out there that would probably work better, but white-out was Target's only option. 

 

 

I originally designed the first journal to say "crap to learn", but I decided to keep these G-rated!  Who knows what offends people these days... Cute right? You should try your own!

 

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On the big project front, I'm inches away from completing a big sewing project that has been looming over my head for the last couple months.  Yes, MONTHS.  Finishing touches this weekend, with a reveal next week! I cannot tell you how great it is to finish this project.  I have never been more confident with my sewing abilities as I am now! 

Hope you have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend! We plan to pack, purge, visit puppies, and shop for a couch! Wish us luck!  Follow me on Twitter and you'll get the play-by-play on our action packed weekend!

HA! I sound like an infomercial.  I will lure you in with the promise of puppy pics!!!!

I Spy a DIY - #12

Happy Monday! I want to share this super sweet and amazingly simple project I found this weekend.  It's one of those projects that can be the perfect gift for all those grads out there!  I have a sister graduating high school this week, and as she preps for college this summer, I know she'll be looking for new and personalized supplies to take with her.  I was out browsing around for gift ideas, when I found these adorable watercolor notebooks over at Claire's blog, Fellow Fellow.  I thought "what a perfect idea!" I could design a bunch of personalized notebooks for my sister out of some Kraft notebooks, wrap them together with jute rope and give them to her as a gift. 

I am so smitten with Claire's watercolor notebooks.  Thankfully she agreed to share her DIY with us today as our next I SPY feature! Thanks Claire! You should check out her portfolio of DIYs, guarantee you'll have a favorite within minutes!

::Let's see how Claire made these beautiful watercolor notebooks::

 

 

I have to agree with Claire, there is something so beautiful in the simplicity of these notebooks. I love them even more dressed up in a little watercolor and gold paint!  And let's be real here, Claire had me at gold paint.

 

 First, gather your supplies:

- Some blank-cover notebooks (Claire used Moleskin pocket-size)
- Paint brushes in various sizes/shapes
- Watercolour paints
- A tray you can mix your colours in
- A cup with some water in it
- A blank piece of paper or cardboard

 

 

Claire's instructions are clear and easy to follow:

Step 1: Put some of your chosen paint into your tray (you won’t need too much), and mix in some water with each.

Step 2: My flowers are a combination of just dabbing the brush onto the card, and making short strokes. If you’re not super experienced with watercolour (like me!), a good place to start is by experimenting with your brushes and paints on a blank piece card. Dab your brushes from different angles, drag them, press them lightly and heavily. Doing this will just help you get an idea of the different ‘flowers’ you can get with the different brushes. You may also notice that you’ll get different results with more/less water, so just play around.

Step 3: Once you’re feeling confident, start working on your notebook. It’s best to start from the top of your cover and work down so you aren’t dragging your hand through wet paint. I did my flowers in stages – blue/orange flowers (the biggest ones) first, then layering the rest over that. Wait for each layer to dry before doing the next. My final colour on each was a metallic gold watercolour, which made everything really stand out.

 

 

That's it! Let your imagination go wild!

 

 

Beautiful, Claire! Thank you so much for letting us share your DIY today!  I already have a pack of 3 notebooks in my Amazon shopping cart.  Can't wait to try this myself!

 

Livingroom inspiration: world traveler

We have a few weeks before we get the keys to our new place, but that hasn't stopped me us from brainstorming decor ideas for each room!  Like most guys, my BF is all about comfort and utility.  Is the couch comfortable? Is there a shelf for my PS3? Is there a drawer for the remotes?  You get the idea.  I, on the other hand, like pretty/textured/vintage/gold/chippy/Frenchy things.  Or in his words, "old crap".

That being said we've spent the last week brainstorming ideas and working out compromises, for example, I get to keep my 2 French Bergere chairs (and my Frenchy dining set, and my armoire, and my gilded chair...) as long as he gets a La-Z-Boy.  Sounds fair!

Check it out, I put together a little inspiration board for our new living room!

 

I started building the room around our dream couch, Crate & Barrel's Lounge sectional.  We love the double-wide chaise! It's wide enough for the both of us, so we can cuddle while watching movies (or to sit next to him while he slays dragons, I mean, let's be real here).

First it was just the couch.  But then I fell in love with this rug, and things got crazy!

 

Can you believe it's from TARGET? Sigh.  Consider this your first warning... Target's tractor beams are 100x more intense online.  Trust me.  I literally bought the rug 3 minutes after I first laid my eyes on it. Target always wins!

Everything else is just inspiration.  I want to find a decent world map, or map of Italy, and hang it in a big gold frame.  I'm also head over heels for Urban Outfitter's gold lamp, I would give it a good home!  I want to find a decent thrifted/Craigslist dresser to turn into a media table/TV stand. I like the idea of hiding PS3 controllers and DVDs in drawers.  Just so you know, I won't be shelling out $300 for a log from West Elm, that's for sure! My brother said if I really wanted one, he'd find a free log in the wilderness for me, save me a couple of bucks, LOL.  

What do you think? Do you like the rug?  Waiting for the move out definitely has me in patience training.  I'm just way too excited, if you couldn't tell :)

what's new?

Hello! I have a bunch of little things going on at the moment, so today I decided to write a post about all those little things!

First things first - I opened a Twitter account! YIKES, I know.  I thought I would never take the plunge - that I would put it off forever and ever, but what the hay right? This little fear started to creep up in me that someone would take my name, so I thought it best to just get 'er done.

That being said! Please FOLLOW ME! My Twitter name is, of course, brittanyMakes.  I remodeled my sidebar too with new icons; enjoy, enjoy.

Next up, the BF and I are picking up this armoire tonight (this is the pic currently on Craigslist):

 

 

It looks promising! I don't care what the inside looks like, although the lady says there are drawers and shelves. There could be dog poop inside, I don't care! It's a steal! I'll go into more details later, and take better photos, once it's actually mine.

Remember my new baby niece? Well... she's growing up really fast and is possibly the most beautiful little girl in the world.  Here are some pics I took of her on Mother's Day:

 

 

Oh I could just eat her up, she's so sweet!  The one on the left is a little blurry, but look at that smile! Blur shmurr, I decided to work with it anyway.

We received our first house warming gift already, a Keurig!  Horray to home brewed coffee!

 

Although we can't use it yet.  We made a rule to wait to use all new household items until we move.  It's true... I have a brand new sunflower yellow KitchenAid that I got as a gift, Christmas 2010, sitting in the box in our garage... dang rules! But the end of communal living is nigh!

Last but not least, Rocco's baby mama had 6 beautiful & healthy puppies last Friday! 4 boys and 2 girls.  I don't have any pics yet to share, but we plan to visit the pups next weekend and I'll bring some photos back for you all to die at.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

I Spy a DIY - #11

I can't tell you how many hours I've spent gazing at Restoration Hardware's Spring collection catalogue (and website).  I've gained sooo much inspiration from their collection that I am eagerly planning to incorporate the rustic look and feel into our new apartment (which shall be termed 'home' from this point forward).  Luckily, I was blessed with enough patience to be able to hunt for less expensive alternatives to high end home decor.  It's exhausting, but totally worth the effort! So far I've scored some pretty amazing finds that I can't wait to reveal!  In due time, in due time!

My trusty DIY eye led me to find Amy's Restoration Hardware factory cart hack.  The minute I saw it, I knew it was my next feature.  Amy, from The Blissful Bee, wrote the most incredibly detailed how-to on her blog, so I thought to just share a peek of Amy's project, since she deserves ALL the credit for the steps she took to recreate this fancy factory cart.   

Amy's inspiration - the $1,400 Restoration Hardware Factory Cart:

 

 

Amy's version!

 

 

Here's the visual on how Amy and her hubby made their own factory cart!

 

(please pin directly from The Blissful Bee!)

Oh man, old rusty casters make my palms sweaty and my heart flutter. Do you see the level of detail Amy went with this cart? It seriously looks as if she and her husband paid $1,400 for the real thing!

Bravo, Amy! You deserve all kinds of recognition for this amazing hack! 

personalized bouquet for mom!

For all those special mothers in our lives, here's a super quick way to personalize a store bought bouquet that will sure to make a mother smile! 

 

 

Grab a couple dozen flowers, in this case I used my mom's favorite flower, tulips! Next, grab some brown Kraft paper, your favorite tissue paper, scissors and some ribbon, and wrap away!   A little personal flair transforms a basic store bought bouquet into a special gift from you.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there!

 

We finally found a place!

The hunt is over! We finally found the perfect place! It's big and bright and airy, a little industrial-feeling, crisp white walls, and super pet friendly! 

Here are some sneak-peek photos I took while we were signing the lease...

 

 

A big guest bedroom! Aka man cave. 

 

 

And a HUGE master bedroom! Tons of windows and big tall ceilings! I see a lot of sewing in my near future, those windows will need some drapes if we plan to get any sleep at all.

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I'm so happy the hunt is over.  I was getting emotionally wrecked this last month, the push and pull of finding a place you love, then realizing that it won't work given whatever circumstance - no parking, unsafe neighborhood, not dog friendly, not big dog friendly, or not friendly at all!  It's over, and now I can sleep at night.

My BF and I both fell for this place the minute we walked in, which was HUGE because we both had majorly differing opinions on the kind of place we wanted.  We have so many ideas on how to make this place ours, but it will take us a while since we're pretty much starting with nothing.  Yesss! I love a new blank canvas!

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On a side note, Rocco's lady is having puppies ANY MINUTE! OMG baby Frenchies, I think I'm going to die.  I'll share pics as soon as I go and visit!

I'm going to HAVEN!

Breaking news! It's official, I'm going to HAVEN! Weeeee!

I am beyond excited! I'm going all by myself, which makes me a little nervous but it's going to be perfect.  I'm going to meet so many amazingly talented ladies.  I'M SO EXCITED!!!

How did I find a ticket, you ask?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on Haven's Facebook page, asking if anyone had an extra ticket.  Sure enough, Sara Park of Sara Park Events messaged me back saying she wasn't able to attend and if I still needed a ticket.  YES! A trip to the post office, an expedited payment, and a phone call to Haven later, the ticket was mine!

And I just booked hotel and flight! (Although my wallet is empty now... sadface).

I keep telling myself the experience and getting to meet all these ladies is going to be worth a thousand times more than the investment. 

I have a lot of prep work ahead of me, that's for sure!

I Spy a DIY - #10

I'm happy to finally admit, thanks to this I Spy series here, Monday has now become one of my favorite days of the week!  I spend all week hunting for a project to feature.  That's the easy part.  The hard part is choosing from hundreds of killer DIY projects.  I like to choose a project I think is the most mind blowing.  A project that makes me say "WOW!" (with the jaw-drop and everything). 

This week I stumbled on Kristin's brilliant blog - The Hunted Interior.  I can't believe it took me this long to find her blog! She was recently featured on Centsational Girl's BOTB for her cinder block planter DIY.  Serves me right for not clicking thru! Kristin is a pro (literally!) at high end design on a budget, and she has wowed us again with this mastermind DIY! I must give her a thousand thank-you's for letting me feature her project on this week's I Spy installment.

Let's check out Kristin's project...

 

 

ZOMG YES!  Kristin DIYed this live edge table! It looks so professional, and REAL. You'd think she paid a few thousand bucks for it! Kristin and her hubby make it look so easy too.  My hands are shaking, I think I need to DIY this too.

 

 

It all started when the glass top on Kristin's outdoor table crashed and shattered.  She and her husband immediately decided to make a new one.  They took 2 large pieces of pine, with a narrower piece in the middle, and joined them using liquid nails.  Then they glued and screwed a couple scrap pieces of wood on the bottom side to secure the top pieces.

 

Kristin and her husband also decided to add an ice bucket in the center of the table.  You can see the bucket above, but check out her tutorial to see how they got that guy in place.  So smart!

 

 

Now for the fun part! Kristin grabbed her belt sander (one of those tools just chillin' on my wish-list) and went to town! Belt sanders are SUPER powerful and can tear through any piece of wood.  The perfect tool to create this faux live edge!

 

 

Next, Kristin pre-conditioned the wood to avoid any blotchiness when staining.  Then she stained the entire table, which she says "brought the edges to life!"  Once the stain was dry, she sealed the entire table, top and bottom, with 4 coats of varnish.

 

 

Lastly, Kristin and her husband attached the table to the base with some thick metal braces.  This step ensures the table wouldn't go anywhere!

 

 

Gorgeous! Now Kristin and her family can enjoy outdoor eating in style! You'd think this table stepped out of a West Elm catalogue!

 

 

And that ice bucket! SO Smart!

 

 

Check out that detail.  These edges looks alive to me!

 

 

Kristin used this image above has her inspiration for her table.  Remarkable results, right? Seriously, she is a pro.

 

 

Wow, right?! Kristin is amazingly talented, to say the least.  Check out her blog, especially her tutorials and "Get This Look" design pages, you'll be hooked!