My Weblog

It's cold outside...

Stay warm and drive safe. I'll talk to you Next Year!



~Chelsea

   **2 TuRtLe DoVeS**

Who would have thought you could get some of the Cutest ornaments EVER at Old Navy?
I was just there picking up a few last minute items and found myself 2 Hot pink, jeweled turtle doves! Well actually, I got way more than 2 and Oh! how I love them. They had them in teal, orange, and silver as well.

They also had these stunning fringe balls in teal, pink, and green! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! I couldn't help myself because all the ornaments were 50% off! I bought a bunch of stuff, came home, and re-decorated my tree! My daughter helped me...again and I had another opportunity to teach her another something new about Christmas.

"Mommy what are these birds called?" My reply, "They are called Turtle Doves and they represent Peace on Earth." Her reply, "Oh." LOL!

~Chelsea

~My FaVoRiTe Time of Year~

Those of you who know me may ask yourself,
"What is up with Chelsea and the boy bands on her play list?" 
I have no excuse except for the fact that I totally love them!
There is something about those choir boys when they get
together and sing christmas songs. They just melt me....like butter. And Josh Groban!
He gives me chills and makes me cry almost every
time I hear him sing. His voice is like silk. mmmmmmm.

Okay, enough about that. I LOVE Christmas time!
It is my favorite time of year.
I love all the yummy smells, the pretty lights, ornaments,
wrapping paper, Christmas songs, drinking hot cocoa by the fire with my hubby, and making Ginger Bread houses with my family.

I love when my doorbell rings and I open the door to see one of my neighbors holding a holiday treat!

I love all the yummy party foods and spending time with my family and friends.
I love watching Christmas shows all snuggled up in my bed with my kids. Not to mention all the awesome movies that come out in December!

I love the white glow of snow and how it shimmers in the moon light. Making snowmen,slay riding, watching snow ball fights and all the laughter.

I love the focus on giving, sharing,
being kind to others and helping those in need.

I love reading the story of Christ's birth and pondering about what it really means to me.

Usually the day after Thanksgiving we decorate the Tree and house as a family, but this year my boys were gone, my husband was working, and my two baby girls were the only ones who wanted to help. We had so much fun! As I pulled out the ornaments and some of my special decorations, (the sculpture of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, and my wood carved Santa) I had time to talk to my 5 year old daughter about how I got them and what they mean to me. It was a special time to bond with her and it really meant a lot.

 

I have a lot of random decorations. I use to have a more traditional way of decorating in green, red, and gold, but last year I was inspired my amazing decorator friend Sandra to get a little more funky! So now it's all just kind of crazy. My husband says it looks like a candy land in our house:) One of these days I'll figure out what I want and make it flow, but for now we just go with what we've got!

I hope your Holiday's are merry and bright!
I have a few more things to share on my blog before Christmas day arrives. Like our little trip to see Santa today and a good recipe or two, but other than that I'm going to take a break from Ebay and try to leave the computer alone for the next couple of weeks to spend more time with my family and I also want to figure out my camera. My good friend Amie has been giving me tips on how to use my settings and I really want to get better.  Hopefully I'll get the new lens I want for Christmas and maybe when I list again in January you'll be able to tell a difference in my pics!

Merry Christmas!

XoXo,
Chelsea

My Funky Valentine!


I am honored to be guesting with the sweetest group called the
PrimRoses on December 6th for a fun and funky valentines launch.
This group of girls and the guests they invited is
pretty amazing!

You won't want to miss it. Click HERE to see all the
auctions.   Here is a a sneak peek at my set:

Click HERE to view it and all of my current ebay listings!

XO,
Chelsea

Not Too Shabby....

I have had a few requests to post some pictures of some of the rooms in my home and share some of my ideas of how I decorated them. For those of you who don't know, before I started sewing children's clothes I did a lot of home decor sewing for myself and for others. Decorating quickly became a hobby of mine and I still enjoy doing it when I have time.
The last room I did was for my 5 year old daughter. Her now bedroom was previously occupied by her Star Wars loving brothers. It was painted a very masculine tan with stripes painted around the center of the room. It had 2 brown beds with Giant Star Wars posters above each bed and a Navy Blue ceiling covered in glow in the dark stars. Here is a little peek at what it looked like after they moved out. It's not really like I just described because it's torn apart, but you get the idea:



My daughters first room is my favorite in the house. I painted it a soft green and free hand painted some sweet vines and flowers on the walls, made the bedding, put tons of little decorations all over it and made it totally sweet for my new baby:) Here are a few shots of her "Baby" room (now occupied by her baby sister):



 





 

She loved her room, but wanted something a little more "big girl" for her next room.
Her 2 requests were Pink and Princess. You would think that would be pretty easy,
but I really struggled with how to go about doing it without making it look like a Disney Themed room. So I started with just painting it pink.

The pink I chose is a bubble gum pink and it ended up being really bright.
Anyone who walked past it would say, "wow, now that's a pink room!" 
It started to bug me so I decided to go and find some bedding that would help tone it down. I love anything Shabby, but I also like to keep it modern and I didn't want her room to look like an old lady lived there, so I chose bedding that had a lot of white in it. I found this beautiful quilt and 2 pillows at Target that were pretty afordable. I also bought a pair of simple cute white curtain panels for the window:

I wanted to fnd a way to incorporate her baby quilt that I made
her, so I just folded it over the edge of her bed.
I really like the way the blue's stood out against all the pink
and it helped tie her Princess idea in because her favorite
one is Cinderella:

After adding all the princess stuff, the bedding, and the curtains, it was still too bright. I felt like the walls needed more things on it, the curtains were to plain, and I needed to add some white paint somewhere on the walls to tone it down. Keep in mind this process is taking a couple of months. I didn't have much of a budget so I just bought stuff when I could. Most of the knick Knacks were under $10 each excluding the large wreath and a few other things that I saved up for or purchased as one of those crazy impulse buys. I found the 12 inch porceline cinderella doll at a yard sale for $6! The Cinderella painting was given to her for her 4th b-day. The fairy dust is one of my favorite things. It came with a little star stamp that you can dip in the dust and stamp it on her face or hand as a reward when she does something good! CUTE!!!!

The next thing I found was a wood headboard at another yard sale for $20. I decided to paint it a soft princess blue to compliment the quilt and dolls. I also found a gorgeous wreath at a nearby shop for $24. I had originally bought it for my room, but loved the way it looked above her bed:
Here is a shot of the headboard before it was painted and one after it was painted. What a difference a little paint makes!

Next I painted a white stripe along the bottom of the room and then added some more things to the wall. The white stripe wasn't quite enough so I free hand painted some sweet green vines with little budding flowers hanging off it. It's a lot easier that it sounds! I just drew it out on paper first and then copied my idea onto the wall. To dress up the curtains I took a needle and thread and tacked each bottom corner up about half way and then the middle. It caused the curtain to bellow a little at the bottom giving it a softer look. I had purchased some rose bud trim for an outfit that I never made and decided to tie it around the middle of the curtains to accent. I also took out the 2 sliding closet doors and replaced them with curtains. I just bought 4 white panels with tab tops and hung them on a shower curtain tension rod.  Here is the outcome:

Here are some of my favorite small purchases for the room and few more shots I took a couple of weeks ago:

The Gorgeous fairy wings were a gift from my sister in-law. She made them!!! Aren't they amazing. I actually have the space they are in reserved for a painting that I will very soon purchase from one of my FAVORITE boutique artists and have another spot for the wings. I will be sure to post a picture once I purchase my painting!

 

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe have some ideas for your own home. I'm not an expert by any means and I definitly have my own style. I know it's not for everyone so I'll just leave you with a little advice if you are thinking of redoing a room anytime soon.

1. Take it slow and make sure you do it the way you want. Purchase things as you can afford them so
that you don't go into debt:) I'm still not done with her room because I need to paint that ugly brown dresser white  or maybe green!

2. Start with a color you like or a piece of fabric, a pillow, a picture or something you love and want to put in the room and then build around it. If you try to plan the whole room out right from the start you might get too overwhelmed and it will just stress you out. Add a few things here and there and then sit back and look at it for a day or 2. Add more as you find it.

3. I like to look in Pottery barn and other home decor magazines for ideas. I tear out pictures of things that I like and put them on the book shelf to look at later. I love to draw inspiration from a lot of different places.

4. Enjoy the time you spend redecorating. Involve other people in your decisions and don't be afraid to show it off when you're done! I love going over to my friends and neighbors and checking out what they have been working on. There are so many creative people out there and we can all learn from each other!

~Chelsea