Done! Not perfect,

During the planning of my sister-in-law's baby shower (read more about that here), I discovered a new technique for decorating wreaths. I have had this Styrofoam wreath for about 2 years. I think I found it at a Good Will. I've only used it ONCE, that was last year when I stapled on silk leaves (another GW find). That was a complete fail. The staples were too short to keep the leaves attached to the wreath. 

I found this technique at Infarrantly Creative with straight pins and thought I'd give it a try. 

Step 1: Wrap the wreath form in yarn. Beckie says it took her 3 hours to do two of these wreaths. It took me three weeks to do ONE! In between laundry, meetings and let's face it - naps, I finally completed wrapping the wreath! It was very awkward to do and I tangled the yarn on multiple occasions, but in the end it was a simple task. As you can see, the Styrofoam shows through in some areas. That didn't bother me because I knew I would be covering up those parts. I could see how that would bother a perfectionist. But my new mantra from Lara Casey is "Done. Not perfect". 

Download this image for FREE at Lara's blog

Step 2: Attach your decorations with straight pins. For some reason I bought white glass head straight pins. I should have just bought silver straight pins with no heads. The white heads were an eye sore on my first attempt at this application. I quickly realized I would need to layer the leaves so that the pins hid behind a neighboring leaf.

Step 3: Add ribbon and enjoy! 

You can see I didn't put leaves on the sides of the wreath because it hangs on my front door between a wooden door and a glass door. You can't see the sides behind our glass door. And again, I'm not striving for perfection here, so that didn't bother me. 

High Heels!


p.s. Do you like the editing and logos on each picture? It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Got it done, not perfect!

p.p.s. I am considering a logo for my blog so I can start advertising on other blogs...stay tuned. I might ask you to vote for your favorite. 

DIY Baby Shower Wreath

We are throwing a baby shower for my Sister In Law this weekend. She is having a girl. With her girl and our boy the family will have 9 boys and 9 girls. That's 18 grandchildren on his side. Our boy will be the FIRST grandbaby on my side. This will be the first family baby shower I've been asked to help as a hostess. I am very excited! We hosted a Dr. Seuss shower for my friend in Dallas which was a blast! So I am very excited about this one. This will be the 2nd girl for this SIL so she has a lot of the clothes and supplies left over. But like most families, this family rarely says "no" to a party.

One SIL is making the food, the other is in charge of games and mommy mum and I am the décor girl.  Of course, I turned to my trusty Pinterest for pinsperation!  I ran across this pin and fell in love!


Hobby Lobby has these bows for $2.99 each. There are about 20 bows, at $3 each...that's $60! For a wreath! Of course the guest of honor would take home the bows as a gift, but I just couldn't wrap my head around $60 in bows. I'm obviously not a girl mom yet.

However, I've had this Styrofoam wreath for a couple of years.

I stapled fall leaves to it last year for our fall décor. I needed some inspiration for this baby shower.

Over at the blog Infarranty Creative I found this wreath tutorial with the exact same wreath form I have:

 

Beckie wraps the form in single strand yarn, which takes about 3 hours. After that much time invested I would be sure to pick a color that would work for ALL seasons.

That color would be RED. Red works for Christmas, baby girl, baby boy, Fall (red, orange, brown, etc), Valentines Day, 4th of July....

Probably not St. Patricks Day, but I think I'd go with Red on this.

I could always cover it up with something else and keep the yarn underneath.

* a great idea from Beckie: use straight pins to pin the flowers/décor on to the wreath. You can see for my Fall wreath I used staples (turns out they weren't long enough and the leaves fell off easily) Thanks Brilliant Beckie!

 

 

Over at Mine For the Making, Kara skips the purchase of a wreath form and creates her own form out of cardboard!

(a much lighter alternative!)

 

I love this fabric idea. When I saw these wreaths I thought they were pieces of ribbon, but Kara measured and tore pieces of left over fabric. Brilliant and a cost saving idea! Ribbon is expensive!

 



 

Emily at 52 Mantels, a blog I subscribe to, had this perfect pink baby shower wreath! I think this is VERY do-able for our upcoming shower.

She didn't use a foam wreath, but I think I could "make it work".

 

In all the researching for the baby girl wreath I couldn't help but look at some baby boy wreaths. As expected, they are pretty plain and boring. I did find one I liked. I usually DISLIKE burlap but this one is kinda cute for a boy..

We have until March to decide, but this one does scream spring to me!


High Heels!

How to add a signature on each post

This blog is slowly coming together....I sincerely thank you for your patience! 

I can't decide on a background or concept for the blog just yet, so I'm still experimenting.  In my experiences I learned that changing the background also meant changing the twitter buttons, font colors, signature, etc.  What a hassel!

However you may have noticed a while back I learned how to add a signature on my blog posts. 

I stumbled upon this website that guides you through how to add this html code.  Ekk! html code? sounds scary right?  It totally isn't. 

The website I used it totally ugly, but I don't have a fancy computer or Mac. I googled 'add signature to blog' and alot of bloggers use fancy editing programs.  I don't have photoshop or adobe or any of those pretty programs.  I use Microsoft paint for most of my cropping and images.  I'm sure some of you bloggers are cringing now, but I am saving up for a Mac.  But until then you can google another way to use your fancy program or you can read my tutorial below!

Click here to do it on your own and read along for my directions:

Step 1 Enter your name

 

Step 2 Choose your font

 

Step 3 Choose the size

 Step 4 Choose the color.  I kept my background transparent so that I could revise my blog background whenever I'd like and not need to change the color of the signature box

 Step 5 Set the slope I like this option because it gives the signature a little more personality, what do you think?

 

Signature is ready!  Click on 'Want to use this signature' in order to get the HTML code

Generate the HTML code

 



Preview Code and copy (Ctrl+C)

 Log in to your blog visit Settings/Posts and Comments and insert in the post template.

Easy peasy!

Great tutorial for bloggers on how to add a custom signature to each post!

High Heels!

 

Print Your Blog??

Over at The Refinement of Rachel you'll find a beautiful blog design created by Smitten Blog Design.  I got that design over a year ago at no cost, they are now charging $115-125 for a layout.  High Heels and Grits might need to invest in one of their designs, they are just too cute!

This morning as I looked into Smitten Blog Designs, I visited their Facebook page and saw this post:

So I went on over to Blog2Print to check out the pricing.  I put in the dates Jan 1, 2010 - Dec 31, 2010 and it generated a book of my RoR blogs in a few seconds!  Just previewing the book brought back tons of memories about my life in San Antonio.  From decorating my King William house:

To the River parade when my best friend from college and I got trapped downtown when we were supposed to be bridesmaids in a another college friends' wedding!

At $34 to print all my blogs from 2010 I am sold!  This has me even more motivated to keep up with this blog and share family memories in the making so that my kids will know things like: how their father proposed, how the wedding was, who my bridesmaids were and why, what our first house looked like, etc.  You all can enjoy the ride too!

Do you have a blog?  Any suggestions on how to save memories?


High Heels!

We have no wine!

Sr. Lale sent me a link to this blog the other day.  The blog Canterbury Tales is written by Dr. Taylor Marshall.

Source: CatholicGag

I thought Sr. Lale was sending me this link because I'm a bride-to-be and this blog has to do with the Bible wedding.  Remember the wedding at Cana?  Jesus' first miracle? 

The wedding runs out of wine and Jesus' mother, Mary, tells the servants to "Do whatever He tells you" and Jesus tells the servants to serve from the water barrels, water that has been turned into wine. 

In his blog, Dr. Marshall tells us to remember this story when "life throws curve balls into your marriage".  He says "Of course, marriage is a great gift and full of joy. But what happens when the wine runs out and all you have is water?  Sometimes, you just have to turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary and say,

 "We have no wine. The joy has run out. All we have here is water. Please transform it!"

And guess what?  Jesus and Mary will do just that.  Catholics know Mary doesn't preform miracles, only Jesus can do that.  But when we pray to Mary she uses her motherly role in guiding us to the solution and challenging us to listen to Jesus. 

 

In the story Jesus turns barrels full of water into wine.  We must have the fullness of heart in order for Jesus to work within us.  If we are running on empty, spiritually, emotionally and mentally then Jesus can only change what we have.  We need to nourish ourselves so that He can completely nourish our souls.

As Dr. Marshall says: "The more water in the jugs, the more they can transform into wine."

 

Thank you Sr. Lale!

 

High Heels!

2013 Making Things Happen part 2

Hello again!

Let's talk goal setting for 2013 again.  Did you do the first part?  Do it before this next part, it won't take long.

And while I'm paraphrasing from Lara's blog, please go read her blog, she writes beautifully and explains everything very well.

She has a great point in this 2nd part: "I am not in control, God is." Meaning: don't beat yourself up if your list from part 1 was a lot of "wish I did" and not a lot of "I did".

Now Steps 4 - 6

STEP FOUR: What are the three biggest lessons you learned from what DID work?

1. If I do what I love I will get it done.
2. If I communicate with J (and others) on why I want/need to do something the decision doesn't feel like a burden, it feels like a community effort.
3. If I can't love myself, I won't see the love others have for me.

STEP FIVE: What are the three biggest things you learned from what DIDN'T work

These are not my answers, they are Lara Casey's and they are perfect.  Read them below or here on her blog (scroll down to below Step 5)

1. Worry and stress got you nowhere and just wasted a whole lot of time.

2. Busy is the opposite of happy. Too many projects spreads you thin. Slow down. Don't plan so much this year. Do less and do it very well, with great passion.

3. My favorite Bible verse: He who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. - James 4:17 Work hard at doing good always. Humble yourself. Give your authentic heart to the people right in front of you.

STEP SIX: What is your 2013 VISION

Lara asked herself these three questions (the answers are mine):

- Where do you want to be when you are 80? Surrounded by family and friends.  Proud of my children as they are serving as good citizens of the nation and the Church.  More calm and at peace than I am today. 

- Why do you do what you do? Because I don't have any tangible things to give.  I give what I can, my time (in prayer), my talent (in service and work) and my treasure (which is 10% of my measly paycheck).  And I give it all everyone in need.  Family, friends, the church, the poor, the stranger, etc. 

- What kind of life do you want to live this year?  I want to live this year as the best version of myself I can be. 

MY VISION FOR 2013: 
I cannot give what I do not have; I must pay down loans in order to share more with others. 
I cannot give what I do not have; I must pray for patience and compassion in order to give unconditional love to all. 
I cannot give what I do not have; must remain a Woman of God striving to be saint-like in order to find what the best version of myself is and I must begin sharing that best version immediately!

There is no right time to do the right thing. 

If you really knew me

Presenting 'If you Really knew me'

inspired by Texas Tanners and The Vintage Apple  

If you REALLY knew me you would know...

I plan weddings over at Kellar Concepts.com

I've never lived outside of Texas, but if the drought comes we're out of here

I do not like to eat pork (that means I don't like bacon *gasp!)

I know nothing about soccer even though my family plays on the professional and college level (Go Bulldogs!)

I shoulda, coulda, might still go to dental school

I love all things social media

I've never dyed my hair and I never plan to

I hate scary movies because of what I think they do to society

Aurora and zombie apocalypse, don't we have better things to talk about and do with our time? Like help make the world a better place

Most of the time I take myself too seriously

I also hate movies where children or animals die just because I'm a softy

I prefer to see the good in someone rather than the bad

I trust my gut

I had an imaginary friend growing up and his name was Uncle John, I think he is my guardian angel

I believe and treasure childhood innocence, it is a precious gift every child deserves

I want to craft more!!

I can't wait to be a farmers wife!

What do I not know about you???