Happy HoliDIYs

If you caught my last post, hailing the little details of my Christmas mantel, then you saw some of the last month's proudest accomplishments.  Dan and I found ourselves heading into this Christmas season stockingless.  And even if we'd had stockings, it would have been a hopeless case, for we had no stocking holders. But now, oh, now we do.

I'm fairly proud of how these came together, mostly because it was not something I saw on Pinterest first.  Nothing really drives me to be creative than being...well, required to be creative.  I would have been totaly okay with buying some stocking holders, but we couldn't find any.  I didn't see any at World Market, Target,  WalMart...the Dollar Tree had some, but I'm not sure they would have been able to hold up a paper snowflake, much less a stuffed stocking.  So when push came to shove, I decided to make my own stocking holders. Take that. 

Merry Christmas Mantle

If you do not already know this, know it now: I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. I have unashamedly been listening to Christmas music since just after Halloween. (No, I do not hate Thanksgiving.  I sing "Happy Holidays" with gusto on that day, and pass the Turkey with joy.)

Even more specifically, I love decorating for Christmas.

DIY Dropcloth Curtains

***Welcome Pinners!! Thanks for showing some interest and pinning this! If you decided to try out this project for your home, please email me a picture or leave a link to your blog in the comments, I'd love to see it! Also, if you're interested in purchasing a set of panels like these, I'm interested in making them for you. :) Click on the "Comments & Contact" tab and shoot me an email! Thanks for dropping by!***

Before anything happens, let's address the yellow elephant in the room.

Horrible pictures. 

I know, I know. I'm like a bad picture menace.  And those that are in this post are particularly awful.  I'm so sorry.  I am a big Apple fan...but an iPhone camera can only do so much. If you stick with me for, oh, nine or ten years, I'll be able to afford a nice DSLR camera and provide you with decent quality photos.  As for now, please just accept my most sincere apologies, and know that the quality of my pictures are as embarrassing to me as they must be disappointing to you. *Sigh.* 

Moving on. Don't you wish there really were a yellow elephant in your room? Me too. 

Moving on again. When Dan and I first moved into this house with all of its big beautiful beautiful windows...I immediately felt a desperate desire to cover them up.  I blame that on my mother.  There are two things that can always be expected of her: 1.) She will always turn down the music and, 2.) she will always close the curtains.  I can't blame her.  She values both her ability to hear and her privacy.  What are you gonna do? 

Either way, we had all of these big beautiful windows and were in need of some curtains.  For months, we settled for screws in the walls that held up several of Dan's old curtains from his apartment.  It looked awful. I don't have any pictures, but just believe me.  The curtains weren't so bad in and of themselves, but they were pretty much the exact color of the couches and so the whole living room was like this big den of dusty blue.  For a girl that thrives on contrast, it made me sad. 

And so I made myself some new curtains. Out of a dropcloth. Hoo-ray. 

Brand New Fall Decor

As Dan and I continue to settle into our house, taking my time on the little details is becoming increasingly important to me. Since we moved in, I have been making a conscious effort to fight that little voice that has been screaming, "DECORATE EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW RIGHT AWAY!!" And do you know why I fight that voice? Because that voice is the one that I can blame for my far too large, totally uncoordinated, paid-too-much-for, didn't-really-even-match-or-work--in-my-space-when-I-brought-it-home collection of weird, punched tin "wall art" that was big time trending when I moved in to my first apartment. Anybody else been there? Anybody else caved in to that awful pressure that is a new, empty space?

I learned my lesson. With our house, I'm trying to be thoughtful. I'm giving things time. I'm thinking of decorating our house as a lifestyle of projects instead of a one time event.

(It's been a big help in saving money...If I'm out, I don't buy decorative things just because I like them. I have a rule that a decorative purchase has to have been premeditated...I need to have had some previous notion that a certain space needed a certain thing. If I can't look at something and know exactly where it would go and that it would definitely work, then I don't get it. It's so good for me.

Sorry for that tangent...)

Anyway, in light of that commitment to slow, thoughtful decorating, I am really excited to share with you a few things that have been coming together! Keep reading after the jump to get a little more up close and personal with the decor in the Hig house.

DIY CHAMP!

We have been super busy the last two weeks trying to get everything in the kitchen "done enough" so that we can put our appliances in next Thursday. That means going from bare drywall and subfloor to a mudded, sanded, painted, trimmed, cabinet-ed, floored space...in very little time. Dah.

I say all that as an explanation for this post, which will be really easy and quick on my part.

I'm just going to brag a little.
Because I am a champ.
A DIY champ.

Weekly Five

As promised in my last, more serious post, I am back for a second time in one day to post and link up to a Weekly Five party going on over at Redirected Dreams. I even made a special trip to WalMart to purchase a card reader so that you could see my weekly five. (I figured since I deprived you of pictures earlier, I couldn't do that twice in one day...)

So now, without further ado, I present to you my weekly five - that which has blessed me the most in the last week.

Coming in at number one on my weekly five are two of my favorite people in the whole wide world.  My brother, Jonathan, and my mom, Mary Beth, both celebrated birthdays this past week.  I love my family beyond anything in the whole world, and I am always happy to see them make it another year. So thankful for them!!

Numero dos of the weekly five can be summed up as: Project Success. I don't know if you've seen this Sharpie on ceramic bit on Pinterest (I haven't...I heard about it via another blog...) but it's awesome. All those doodling skills you racked up in high school can finally come to something concrete. I'll do a little How-To later this week...not because you can't just look it up now, but so that I can show off some more of them. Because I've been making bunches.

 A surprise blessing was waiting for me at church this past week from my Secret Sister: a brand new journal and Diet Coke for me, and Triscuits for my adorable husband. I don't know who she is, but she knows me. If you're reading this, thank you!!! You are so in my top five favorite things!!

I always think that recipe success is a good thing, and the flavor fest that worked itself out on Saturday for my mom's birthday brunch is DEFINITELY one of my favorite things from the last week. I am beaming with pride and fond, delicious memories over this spinach, bacon, and goat cheese frittata and raspberry ricotta cheesecake. Yes. Please.

Last but not least, my top five includes the fun Dan and I had at the wedding of two good friends of ours. We are so very thankful for the Lord's leading in their lives and are looking forward to what He'll do next.  The wedding was beautiful - they did me the immense honor of asking me to sing and I didn't screw it up - and I danced so much at the reception that my thighs are still sore.  If you add that to the fact that my (free!!) spray tan ended up with my getting compliments instead of Oompa Loompa comments...the day is so worthy of inclusion in this weekly five.

This has been an incredibly fun post.  What a good habit, to reflect on the blessings in life. How about you? What are your five favorite things from this past week?  Let me know. :)

Tune in later this week for an answer to the question that thousands are asking...What's going on with the house??

I.Will.Let.You.Know. For now, I'm going to go and work on it with the hubs. Peace and blessings. 

Challenge Accepted

Hey all! This post is going to be a special one, because it incorporates a lot of things that I'm super jazzed about.  One of my favorite blogs, Centsational Girl, is hosting a link party inspired by Pinterest! I am going to link up with a post that involves a little DIY furniture remodel I did for my wedding. See? Favorite blog, Pinterest, DIY, paint, wedding...it's bound to be a good time.