Lamp Before and After

I want to start off saying that this post is coming to you a little late. This is a project that I completed in one day around a month and a half ago. So sue me!

I am working on my indecisive nature. Making decisions is not something that I do easily, but I am getting better. This is one reason that I have not decorated much in my house...do you know how many color combos there are that look great together? So while visiting my local Home Goods I came across this:


and decided that it would be an accent color in the great room.

A few weeks later I visited my local Habitat for Humanity Restore and came across this fine specimen of a lamp. Btw, I had been searching for a lamp that looks like this for at least six months, and it was only 5 bucks at the Restore!

As you can see, there is a little rust damage on the base.


Since I knew what my accent colors were going to be, I headed to Lowe's to find spray paint to fix this baby up. I also found a drum lampshade at Target for seven bucks on clearance! All of that together created this:


I am so in love. So proud of myself as well. This little project jump started my decoration frenzy. I love spray paint. Love it. I found these candle holders at Value Village:



With a little spray paint, this is what happened:


I still have a half of a bottle left...I wonder what else will fall victim to the nozzle?

Christmas Decor

Wow, it has been a busy month! Between packing orders, Christmas shopping, family visits, parties and decorating I am SPENT! And to think, Christmas isn't even here yet. It's okay though, I'm planning on enjoying the last few weeks of the year.

Just to give you an idea, here is some of the madness that I have been going through:

- Decorated two wreaths
- Decorated our tree
- Made a gift tower for the mantel
- Put up lights outside

The colors this year are turquoise and black, and I'm loving every piece of it. Here are a few shots of the house:

I'm baaaack!

Greetings! I promised I would be back and that exciting things were underway. Well here I am with my latest project, wedding invitations and response cards for dear friends of mine. Since I am not complete with everything yet, I am not going to post the full suite until after they have been sent out. Until then, enjoy the snippet...

Party Like a Rock Star!

What's better than a party with a creative theme?

A child's party with a creative theme of course! My latest project was designing backstage passes for Zoe's 4th birthday party. It is a rock star theme, so all of the kids will be dressing up in rocker gear. How cute is that? Here are a few shots of the passes:

Rock on!

Jewelry Launch {finally}!

You may recall a post about a sneak peek. Well, I'm happy to announce that I have posted a couple of jewelry pieces on my shop. Here are a few images: I hope you enjoy!

Ashton's Sweet 16!

I remember when I turned sixteen. I felt like a new person, and when I looked in the mirror in the morning before school, my face looked different. My face looked more mature. It was strange. Even more strange, my face still looks like I'm sixteen according to a lot of people. That's kinda good and kinda bad. Good because it seems that I am going to age well, but bad because I look crazy buying alcohol {stare at my face, stare at my ID, stare at my face again}.

Anyway, I wanted to share the "sweet" sweet 16 birthday party invitations that I completed this week for Ashton. I wanted them to be elegant and fun but still reflective of a teenager. Her favorite color is pink, so of course pink was incorporated. Enjoy!

Nyla's Favor Tags

I had the pleasure of designing the favor tags for 3 year old Nyla! The theme for her party was "The Princess and the Frog", so I designed the tags with a princess crown and a little jewel embellishment. Hey, she calls herself a princess all of the time, so it's fitting! My sister baked the cookies (chocolate chip and snickerdoodle...yum!), and I dropped some M&M's at the bottom of each bag for a burst of color.

Sneak Peek...

I started a new venture, and I'm going to see where it takes me. Graphic design is my number one love, but hey, I can add new things to the roster! Here is a sneak peek...

More details to come :)

Crafty Christmas III

Another year has gone by, and it is already Christmas week! Since my husband and I are new homeowners, we are trying to be more conscious of our spending. I always do something for my coworkers, but this year it had to be something that was not too expensive. I decided to attach a tag to a candy cane, and write a little note on the back. I used scissors with scalloped blades to cut a design on the edges of each tag. I then finished it off with a red ribbon which was tied to the candy cane. I am very pleased with the results!

A little tardy

It has been a busy month, but I wanted to post a few pictures from Thanksgiving. The actual turnout looks a tad different from the inspiration board, but that's okay, life is all about changes!

Thanksgiving Inspiration Board

Since we have a house now, we decided to host Thanksgiving this year! My grandma got us a beautiful set of china (similar to the image below, but our set has a beautiful red, gold and peach design on it), so I am going to base the rest of the design off of it. I created an inspiration board at Polyvore to try to get started with ideas of the feel that I want.

Thoughts?

Modern + Elegant = A Sweet Invitation

Hello out there. This is the latest invitation that I have completed. It is a booklet style invite with a band around it to keep it closed. The inside has a pocket which holds the rsvp and directions, and the physical invitation is on the opposite side. I hope you enjoy! Remember, if you or anyone you know has a special event coming up, send an email to Occasions@LrnMDesign.com to find out about our Event Branding!

Adieu!

Crafty Christmas II

Since I love crafting and cute things so much, I decided to recycle the unused Chinese take-out containers from the wedding and redecorate them as a Christmas treat box. I filled them with holiday cookies and candies...and I'm sure all recipient's dentists will thank me!

Wedding Details

To end the day of wedding related posts, I will be showcasing my design details that made the day even more personal, special and unique.

First, our programs were mini scrolls tied with an espresso, pool or green ribbon and all sat in an espresso and pool basket.

I wrapped a watercolor book with espresso fabric, then designed a cover slot that showed our names and our wedding date. This was lined with a ribbon that had an espresso, pool and green design on it.





The table name cards were designed to encourage movement. Each table was named after something that resembled us either as a couple or individually, and the story behind each name.

For the escort cards, we put tree branches in pots and hung the tags from the branches. Each card was hand stamped with a design in brown ink.


There was a table diagram on the escort tree table that showed the layout of the reception area as well as each table name/number so that guests would easily find their seats.


The dinner menu listed the buffet selections as well as a diagram for our wedding cake for dessert (yes, that is my husband and I smiling for the camera!).




We had a snack buffet for our favors. I decorated small Chinese take-out containers with our wedding logo and a green or pool ribbon. The items on our buffet were brown, blue or green to carry out our color scheme.




(some photos courtesy of our wonderful wedding photographer Marlo Herring and some photos courtesy of me! )

I hope you enjoyed and were inspired!