DIY: Spring has Sprung!

So we are living in the bottom apartment of a ladies house. It is ours, but she has a door that comes into our place. It stays locked...unless she has a reason to come down :/ It's kinda weird, but we have just learned to deal with it. It's only 4 months right!? Anyways, she uses it for family parties, so it is all decorated. For that I am grateful, but it is her style. Ever since we moved her, I have slowly been hanging up a few things here and there, but it has NEVER felt like home to us. I kept telling myself it is just temporary, don't think about, etc. Well the flowers started blooming, the trees are turning colors, and it is beautiful outside! Plus, my mom finally booked her plane ticket to come visit!!!! So, I got a little decor hungry :) I have so much time on my hands, I have so badly been wanting to craft! However, we have a tiny car and a lot of stuff! It seemed silly to expand our belongings and risk having to either throw things away or pay to ship them home. That is until I gave in :) I just couldn't help it! I want my house to look like I live there when my mom comes, and who doesn't need a little spring fever floating around in their house right?? So I made a quick little diy and found some awesome pictures at... drum roll.... the dollar store! It was a pretty sweet find :) SO here is my step-by-step project, and the little bit of decor I just couldn't live without :)

So I had two DIY project ideas from Pinterest that I have been really wanting to make!

 I decided to combine the two ideas and use the first layout, but steal the season/holiday idea from the second one!







I bought my supplies from Goodwill, the Dollar Store, Lowes and Walmart.

$0.48 dowel rod - Lowes          

$3.00 3 gift boxes - Goodwill (also available at the Dollar           Store) Pinterest suggested shoe box lids!

$1.00 ribbon - the Dollar Store (also available at           

          Walmart)

$1.50 3 paints - Walmart

$1.97 paintbrushes - Walmart

$0.98 sponge brushes - Walmart

$2.00 tissue paper - the Dollar store

$10.93 total .... but really the paints, paintbrushes, ribbon and leftover tissue paper are worth more than half of that!

(I ended up not using the cute butterfly & flower, but they were only $0.58/ea. at Walmart)

I would paint the box and quickly set it on the tissue paper while it was still wet. (I could have used modge podge or glue, but I wanted the paint to show through the tissue paper a little)

Once I had all of the painting/tissue paper wrapping done... I painted the dowel rod. The paint dried really fast, so I held it vertical to paint & dry.

Next I painted on all of the letters. I just free handed it by doing a thin line as a guide and then painting in the edges. It is not perfect! (I won't let anyone get close enough to inspect ;)

Cut 6 strips of ribbon (they don't have to be exact lengths) ....

Use a hole punch (or have your husband use his knife ;) and thread it through.

Use command hooks to hang your dowel rod...

And voila! Spring has sprung!

This literally took me 45 minutes start to finish! It is not perfect by any means, but it sure was fun to get crafty :) Plus it brightens up my life just a little bit more! :)

Here are my other awesome decor items... not so girly... a little more "homey"!

I put these up in our kitchen! 

These are hanging above our bed :)

Our bathroom....

this should have been in there too, but the hanger is on the wrong side!!!

All I could think of when I realized was the "You had one job!" memes that have been going around Facebook...

You had one job!

Here are a few other decorations I already had...

I bought this frame after Breanne & Jesse
gave us their wedding pictures :)

Gary & Raylene gave us this for
Christmas this year!

Josh gave me this for Valentine's Day.
It is one of our engagement pictures :)

I found this beautiful hand carved
cross in Guatemala

Now it feels just a bit more like home :)

New Look on the Blog!

Ok so call me crazy, but I was kind of getting bored of my blog already! I preview my posts about a million times before I publish them, so I see it a lot :) Also, I really wanted a more fun, colorful look!! Let me know what you all think. After all, the whole point of putting our lives out there for the world to see is so that our friends and family can be apart of our lives in one more way :) 

Of course I wanted to show off the new look, but I didn't want to dedicate a specific event to it. My compromise... a short funny post! Hopefully this will be some entertainment for you all :)

Nicknames!

Everyone has a nickname at some point in their life. It might just be honey, daughter/son, sweetheart, dearest, or any other general names people call each other. I would like to share a few of our nicknames as well as comment on a few of my favorite nicknames of family & friends!

Josh: best known as Vanny

to his nephews... and now just about all of our family... Joshy!
to many different people... Josh-uhwa or Josh A-W-A

to our college friends J-Bone given to him by our good friend Jamie :)
to his classmates here in NC Coffee :) 

to me he has many :) ... honey, babe, honey pie, love, etc.

Janae': best known as Nae

to my daddy Witchy Poo (after my crazy morning hair when I was little :)

to my aunt "Nan" Missy Prissy 

to my friends Nae-Nae, Naener-Noodle, Naeners

to Josh's classmates here in NC Mrs. Coffee :)

to Josh himself... honey pie, babe, sweetheart, my love, etc. 

Some of my favorite nicknames of others... 

My best friend Hanky! She grew up as Hannah Millson, but to me she is Hanky or Hannah Hanky Millson :)

My friend Heidleman (yes w/ an L) aka Nance or Nancy Heideman 

thanks to GUM (Great Uncle Mel for that!)

My cousin Casey Chaos! It fits her perfectly :)
Her brother Jussin or Cuzin the two names I have always called Justin!

My cousin Ash aka Shlynn, Shlime, and many other variations of the name. I prefer Ash :) 

Our friend from college Mr. MacQ. AKA McQ, McHugh, Mikey, & Kid. To us he is Mr. MacQ :)
Josh's sister Breezy! AKA Breann. It fits her so well, and it is just fun to say!

I am sure their are many more I am forgetting, but I am getting kicked out of my little nook in the library :) Till next time!