O' Christmas Tree

Last year I was tooling around a local antique gallery and fell in love with some reclaimed wood trees that some vendors had made.  About a month ago I found some old painted wood boards at the Flowery Branch Auction and snatched them up.  This year I would make my very own tree to add to my Christmas Mantle display.

I started with these boards, laying them out on the floor.  They were pretty dirty so I had to clean them up a bit.  Then I used a straight edge and drew diagonal pencil lines down the sides where I wanted to cut the boards.  I recruited hubby to do the cutting for me since I'm not exactly a whiz with the power tools.  He was a sweetie and used wood glue to attach the painted boards to a vertical plank we had in the garage.

Up on the mantle it went, but it was balancing on the "trunk".  A few days went by and then we heard a loud crash.  The tree had tumbled off the mantle and was laying in pieces on the floor.  I decided to go ahead and nail the planks on and added a base to the bottom so it wouldn't tumble down again.

I love the end result - it's exactly what I had pictured in my mind.  A great rustic addition to my mantle display!

XOXO

Linking Up To:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Create & Share @ The Trendy Treehouse]
Tuesdays Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia 
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello 
Weekend Bloggy Reading @Serenity Now 
Happy Hour @ Craftberry Bush 
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Utter Devastation

I was going to post pictures of my Halloween party today, but it just seems so trivial compared to what all of my family and friends back in NJ are going through today.  You may have seen my hometown, Tuckerton, or neighboring town, Long Beach Island, on the news over the past couple days.  Sandy completely destroyed everything in her sight.  Thank God my family and their homes were spared, but so many of my friends lost everything.  Sandy completely leveled sections of my town - it makes me want to cry looking at all of the images I have been seeing on Facebook.

These are some of the images I have seen of Tuckerton:

This is a link to a video that the reporters mistakenly thought was Long Beach Island, it was actually a section of my hometown, Tuckerton Beach.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone back home in NJ.  Thank God everyone made it safely through the storm.  I pray that recovery will be swift.

All I can say is please donate to the Red Cross or other recovery funds.  These wonderful people need any help you can provide.

Friday I'm In Love with Spooky Projects

Tomorrow night is our big 4th annual Hayes Halloween Party.  This year, we're doing a Haunted 80s Prom theme.  In honor of our party, I wanted to share some of the spookiest halloween projects I found out there in blogland this week.

This Haunted Ghost Walk from Gail at Gail's Decorative Touch is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen!  I may be stealing this for next year's Halloween Bash!!

 I LOVE Lucy's Halloween Mantle over at Craftberry Bush - it's actually the first one she has ever done!  It looks like something out of a Martha Stewart magazine.  Head over to check it out.

Jill's Nevermore Wreath from Create. Craft. Love. is so awesome.  From the fabric to the black roses, I love every bit of it!! 

I thought this Boo sign was so cute!  Love the newspaper as the backdrop for the letters.   Cheryl shares the tutorial for this project over at her blog Tidy Mom.

 And last but not least, this this super spooky Arachnophobia wreath from Eclectically Vintage.  I love how Kelly spray painted the whole thing to make it extra creepy!

Hope you enjoyed my picks this week!  I have a lot of work to do before tomorrow to transform my house into a Haunted 80s Prom!!

Happy Haunting!

Getting Dressed for Fall

I think the thing I love most about fall is dressing for the newly crisp air.  There's just something about warm sweaters and boots that makes me giddy. Now that I'm finally losing my baby weight (only 4 lbs to go till I hit my pre-preggo weight!), I'm all about the skinny jeans. 

I decided to put together some fun, versatile fall looks.  Most of these pieces are way out of my budget, but I definitely think you can find the look for less on any of these items.

I like this first look for pretty much anything.  Wear it to work, out to dinner, running weekend errands, anything really.  How cozy does that sweater look?

This second look is what I call "Rainy Day Chic".  See those Wellies?  I have my eye on them right now.  I need a pair of rain boots in a big bad way and those are the ones I have been lusting over since last spring.  This outfit would also be great to wear to the Pumpkin Patch on a chilly fall day. 

 

Finally, my going out look.  In case you haven't guessed - I love jeans.  This could go as a daytime outfit as well, but it's totally something I would rock out to dinner or drinks with the girls.  LOVE that scarf!

 

Happy shopping!!

XOXO

Pinterest Challenge #3 - Macrame Bracelets

I fell in love when i saw these  Macrame Bracelets from Honestly...WTF on Pinterest. So pretty, right?  So I used her tutorial and made a few for myself.

I couldn't find the exact cording she used in Hobby Lobby, nor a large color selection, so I ended up going with a neutral colored hemp.  I also searched high and low for some little gold charms.  Nope, couldn't find any of those either.  I ended up finding the gold rings (blue bracelet), and improvising with the rest.  The other three were joined together with a fourth ring, and hubby had to use pliers to get them apart for me.

In the end, I liked the way they turned out, but I like the original better.  Maybe next time I will order the supplies from online as recommended.

XOXO