4th of July

I have been in a headache comatose for the past two days so I apologize for the lack of posting.

The 4th of July was SO FUN despite that the city banned fireworks due to extremely high fire dangers.

We had all of our little gang over for a wonderful cookout including all the delicious American foods that are a MUST HAVE on this holiday from Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, chips and dips to Sausage filled jalapenos, bacon wrapped green beans, watermelon and topped off with My Mom's 5 Layer Delight. It was Perfection!

We climbed on the roof to watch the "laser show" that was substituting the fireworks this year. It was NOT impressive at all so we just chilled on the back porch instead.

I did manage to do one little crafty on my day off.

I had ordered a return address stamp from Etsy. I have been so excited for it to get here and last week it finally arrived from Costa Rica. The stamp came unmounted so I was debating for a week on what my best mounting option would be. I purchased some round wood blocks from Michael's with a cute little knob to top it off but it did not provide enough weight on the stamp :( So that was a bust!

I found a hockey puck laying around the office and decided it was the right weight and size for my stamp. So over the 4th of July I cutsied up my hockey puck and glued my new return address stamp to it.

I also completed a new yarn wreath for our front door last week. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I wanted something HAPPY and CHEERY  for the summer time. I tend to be a black and greys with some browns kind of a girl so it has taken me a while to find the right colors.

While searching Hobby Lobby I found this great green/yellow for $1.22 a bundle. This was like music to my ears with all the other yarn bundles being $3-5 each. So I grabbed it and paired it with some purple fabric I had left over from a necklace. I made grey felt flowers because come on we can't have TOO much color on our front door and then suprised myself by adding some pink flowers scattered throughout. Turned out so cute!

May I just offer some advice if you are going to make your own fabric wreath?!

I have found that Michael's is the best place to find the yarn. They usually have huge bins with great colors on sale for .99 to a $1.29. I have also found that Hobby Lobby is the best place to find the actual wreath. They have the wooden wreaths, wrapped straw wreaths, and foam wreaths all for under $3.00. For fabrics I am partial to Joanns. The felt is about the same everywhere. Happy Crafting!

My Momma

This past Thursday my Mom came in to Amarillo to hang out for a week. She and Nana drove up here so Nana could fly to Nashville and mom has stayed to chill, shop, eat, and hang with us here in Amarillo while Nana is away.

There is something about having your mom close to you that just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I have absolutely LOVED having her here! We have  had lunch together during the day, we have had dinners together and hit TJMAXX pretty hard together.

I know that she is facing ALOT of tough decisions about her life and is not quite sure which direction she needs to turn but I have felt so blessed to have her here for a week to just BE with. She is my absolute HERO and I hope that very soon we will be able to be much much closer to each other on a daily basis :)

DIY Anthro Lampshade

I have gotten in pretty heavy to the DIY crafting. I see something someone has cleverly reconstructed in a cheap and stylish manner and want to instantly run home to re-create it myself.

I have had my eye on this Anthropologie Lamp DIY for quite some time and at the first chance I got to sit down and do it since moving I jumped on it!

Materials:
2-3 yards of Burlap (depending on lamp shade size)
Hot Glue gun/sticks
Lamp shade

So easy and so chic looking! I LOVE IT! I got a new lamp base from TJMAXX to complete my new look.

I am planning on going back through and filling some of the gaps with some extra burlap scraps I have to make the shade look even fuller.

A little Birthday Celebration

Last week, promptly after moving into our new house, we through a little B-day party for my friend Bailey.

Bailey is one of those people who is ALWAYS there to lend a listening ear, she will ALWAYS make you smile with her chipper personality and her clothing ensembles. She is FULL of JOY and we jumped at the chance to gather our close group of friends to celebrate her!

She was coming in from a trip to Dallas where she is about to leave us to go so we had a late night cup-cake celebration for her on our back patio.

Being a bit tight on cash since we all just booked a VEGAS trip I decided to go with the "Homemade" gifts for Bailey. She is very fashion friendly and is anxious to get any of my little crafties she can get her hands on.

I made this lamp for her. I got an adhesive plain lamp from Joann's and some great turquoise/aqua fabric. I used the cover of the lamp as my stencil to cut the fabric and carefully laid the fabric on the lamp with an inch overlay on top and bottom. Obviously NOT perfect but I was pretty pleassed with it. I cut three sizes of felt flowers out and layered them and attached them around the shade to add some design. I wanted to find a cool gold broach something to put in the center of the flowers but time and money caught me short and these little buttons worked out well.

My friend Brandais got the lamp base and this little lamp will be the perfect addition to Bailey's  new apartment in Dalls.

Brandais made these delicious CHERRY-CHIP cupcakes for our little Party.

Super STOKED about the bracelet Neeley got her!

I found this great fabric from Joanns for Half off and thought of Bailey immediately. So I got a yard and sewed it together into an infinity scarf... She LOVED it!

Then we drank our coffee ate Cupcakes and hung out on our new patio. PERFECT chill night!!

 

Starlight Photos

Well If you read my post last night you may have realized I had a bit of a breakdown. I want to ask for your prayers surrounding my mom and dad, Both are struggling with aggressive dieseases that are taking over their bodies.

To take my mind off things and to keep the tears at bay I decided to do some work. Here are the photos from an amazing wedding at Starlight. I wasn't the official photographer so it's more detailed photos than event photos. Hope you enjoy!

How can I "Thank you." It is getting worse and worse with each passing day. Spreading in their bodies, the diseases. Both of them! How can I thank you for that.

I am caught up in lost time. In moments that may never come. Moments that may never be again.

"Thank you" feels like fighting against every inch of being that is with in me. I want tto SCREAM out. I want to fight for them.

This cant be hapenning.

Thank you Lord for all your blessings!

Viva Las Vegas!

Although I am 25 (UGH!) There are most times of my life where I feel like I am still 13-16 years old. I am not sure that I will ever feel like an "adult." I look at other 25 year olds around me or on tv and feel immensly unaccomplished. I feel pretty sure I will be 50 years old with children and a husband and my mom telling me what to do, but that is just life.

There are times however when I make decisions that I don't ask for any opinions on and I execute myself... this makes me feel much more adult.

Such a thing happened last night. Neeley and I and a couple of our friends have been trying to plan a little VEGAS! getaway. After scouring prices and comparing deals for weeks now, yesterday we officially booked!

I have never taken a trip like this one. With boyfriends and friends and going somewhere further and more exciting than Dallas.

I was lucky enough to get my first VEGAS (can yout tell how excited I am spelling VEGAS out in all caps everytime?!) last November for a girls weekend to celebrate Aunt Tammy's 50th. It was so much more than I could have ever imagined, only we only stayed on one section of the strip.

In August just after we get through the major hump of wedding season and in time to celebrate a couple of extra special bdays Neeley, Me, our boyfriends Lane and Drew our roomate Brandais, and friends Brent, Bailey and Colton are all headed to VEGAS! I am so super stoked I cannot even describe it!

In honor of our first "we are big girls now and can book our own trips" Trip to VEGAS, I am going to post some pictures from our trip in November.