Around our home | Beauty and The Boys

Our Christmas Decor + How things were different this year

December 29, 2014 - Leave a Comment

I feel like I totally failed at Christmas this year for my kids. With the twins in the NICU, I had still wanted everything to be normal at home for Jay and Kage. I made sure to put decorations up inside the house right after Thanksgiving. I made sure to bring Elfie out this year, even though I didn’t want to add one more thing to do with everything going on. I failed at moving Elfie more often than not from pure exhaustion and forgetting, but thankfully my husband started taking over moving him. I made sure to watch a few Christmas movies with the boys. We didn’t get our letters wrote to Santa this year. We didn’t put lights up outside. We threw our old tree away last year and had planned on getting a real tree this year, but things happened and getting a real tree didn’t happen. Hubby wound up picking up a small tree almost two weeks before Christmas, but guess what, the boys didn’t even care that it was a small tree, they loved it in fact because they could easily decorate the whole thing and Jay had no problem putting the star on the top. {Our Christmas last year} We didn’t go Christmas shopping until last minute, but I did make sure gifts were wrapped and under the tree Christmas eve day. I didn’t hang their stockings until Christmas eve and I totally dropped the ball on getting Jax and Kade their first stockings. I spent part of Christmas at the hospital visiting Jax. We didn’t bake a cake for Jesus on Christmas like we’ve done every year and we didn’t making Christmas cookies. We did laugh, cuddle, play with new toys, and enjoyed having a quiet Christmas day at home instead of going anywhere like we usually do. Things were very different this year vs previous years, it impacted me more than the boys. I noticed they didn’t care about the little things that I did. I noticed they loved the decorations around the house, they loved our little tree, they loved every gift they got, and they were satisfied just being at home with us on Christmas day. They reminded me what Christmas was really about during such a hectic time in our lives. I do know though, that next year will be extra special because we will have our whole family at home next Christmas.

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A little peek at Halloween around our house

October 16, 2014 - Leave a Comment

A couple of weeks go, I hit up Hobby Lobby for some fun Halloween crafts. We haven’t completed all of them yet, but I’m hoping to get them done this weekend! I also bought a couple of adorable Halloween decorations from cvs a couple of weeks ago as well. I love decorating and I especially love decorating around the holidays. I wanted to show y’all what Halloween is looking like around our house so far!

I really love this purple spiderweb fabric and I still have a lot of it left! I would love some ideas on how to use up the rest of it!

Have you decorated your house for Halloween yet? What has been your favorite Halloween decor? If you have posted about it, I would love for you to leave the link to that post so I can check it out!

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Decorating for spring with Kleenex Expressions

March 10, 2014 - 8 Comments

“This post is sponsored by Kleenex, but all opinions are 100% my own.”

Y’all spring is coming! It is spring break this week for Jay and the weather so far is NOT doing us wrong! #fistpump It has seriously put me in the mood to decorate our home for spring, which is normally one of my favorite seasons to decorate for. It is normally my favorite because the colors are beautiful. The pastels and even the bold colors and all of it mixed together just create a beautiful scene everywhere. This time of year, my mantel, my bar ledge and even my kitchen table, is blooming with beautiful spring colors, but this year… sigh this year so far that is NOT the case. I am having a serious case of decorating block. Maybe, it’s because I can’t go shopping for spring décor just yet so I’m having to throw things together that I already have around my home, but I’m coming up with basically nothing. The few things I have been able to come up with I love though.

I got the Live Laugh Love shadow boxes {um, aren’t they totally screaming my name } at cvs. I love hitting up cvs for little things to decorate with. The adorable oval box with the sweet little bird on it is a Kleenex box! When I walked into Kroger and saw that I grabbed it off the shelf so fast that people probably thought I was crazy, along with Kleenex expression box you are going to see below. It blows my mind that I can decorate with Kleenex boxes and not what to hide said Kleenex boxes. It’s allergy season and we constantly need it within reach so, being able to display it beautifully just rocks my socks all kinds of off. Where was I? Oh yes, the orange and green things you see in the vases are water balloons. Yep, you read that right. The yellow watering can I bought last year from I don’t even remember where, but I’m trying to figure out if I want to keep it up there or not.

I also put an itty bitty bit of spring décor on my table. I love candles and I have them all over the house and I always have some on my kitchen table, I think they go perfect with that adorable Kleenex box! #ineedallthekleenexexpressionsasap

Now, here is my plea. I have an extremely long mantel and decorating for Valentine’s day was no problem at all because I already had SO many red things around the house and I was automatically able to buy a few things. For spring though, I’ve only bought two things so far and my mantel is seriously suffering! Here is the décor I have up so far, but I really, really want to fill all those empty spaces and even put a wreath on the fireplace above the mantel. Sooooo, my plea for you is… HELP me fill all those gaps. What should I put there? What can I DIY to put there or hell even buy. They just need to be filled before I go crazy.

Also, see those little eggs in the vases and the ones hung in three places on the mantel. I’m fixing to show you how to make those. If you have a circuit, you probably don’t need this DIY, but if you have to do it the long/hard way, then this tutorial is for you. Although, it really isn’t that hard, it’s just time consuming.

You will need:
Adhesive backed Vinyl
Scissors
Construction paper
A pencil
An egg printed out that you can trace

First: Cut out the egg you printed out and trace it onto the gold dotted vinyl.

Next up: Cut the egg out of the vinyl, peel it and stick it onto the construction paper. This is such a hard DIY isn’t it? Do this with either as many eggs as you want or until you run out of vinyl.

Last: Cut around each of the vinyl eggs you put on the construction paper and then wa-la, you have sturdy, cute little eggs to put wherever you like. I haven’t figured out where I’m going to put the rest yet, but I’ll be sure to share when I do!

How are you decorating for spring this year?!

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Valentines Day Mantel and a free printable

February 15, 2014 - Leave a Comment

I meant to share our Valentines Day mantel way sooner, but life happened and I didn’t get around to it. I’m finally sharing it and a little peek into our Valentines Day.. in pictures! I hope your valentines day was filled to the brim with love! There is also a free Valentines Day printable at the end of this! Hang it in your bedroom or save it for next year!

Live.Laugh.L0ve. // Valentines Day Mantel and a free printable

You can download the 8×10 printable here!

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Our clothespin photo wall

January 29, 2014 - 5 Comments

I saw this beautiful idea on pinterest not too long ago and I knew I wanted to do it. Only problem was I suck at getting pictures printed. Literally the only pictures I had hanging in our house were ones from when the boys were 2 and younger and the ones I had ordered from Persnickety. I was in desperate need of a new printer, but I figured I wasn’t getting one anytime soon therefore said cute idea was just going to have to wait! One weekend, Hubs and I loaded up the boys to head to best buy because he was getting a new stereo for his car. Well, I decided to walk around and just happened to walk down the printer isle to see if they had any good ones at a good price. I’ll be damned if we didn’t go at the perfect time because they had a bunch that were on sale. #winning

I casually pushed the cart back over to Hubs after talking to one of the sales floor guys and mentioned that they had some really great printers and I was in desperate need of one and please, just pleaseeeeee! After he picked out his new radio we walked back over together so I could show him. Within a minute he was freaking sold and I squealed and we even let the sales floor guy take our picture with our new printer when he asked to take it “because sometimes they put it on there site.” Sure they do buddy, sure they do, but I didn’t care. Yes, I was that ridiculously excited. A couple of days after we got it I had to run to the dollar store and BOOM clothespins were staring me in the face. I grabbed a couple packages, I will totally be going back for more, and when I got home I went a little printing crazy.

I grabbed my clothespins, grabbed some thumbtacks, yarn, scissors and my freshly printed pictures and got to work. It took me a little while because while I obviously loved the one I saw, I wanted ours to look a bit different. We have the perfect wall for it and I knew just what to do.

It is now my absolute favorite wall in our house! I look at it several times a day and smile every single time. That wall just reminds me of how blessed we are with the life we were given. I also bought some frames that already have 8x10s in them and the wall you see to the right is going to be getting a makeover. The hallway to the left is going to my entryway collage wall and the wall you see in the last picture, well as you can tell I’m re-doing it and it’s going to kick so much ass.

It took me three years to hang a bunch of pictures in our home, but damn it was so worth it.

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Around our home at Christmas time

December 24, 2013 - 2 Comments

Around our home at Christmas time is fun, festive, relaxing and bright. The last example I want to set for our kids is that Christmas is a time of stress and frustration because it’s not and that’s not how it should be. I believe Christmas time should be about celebrating, enjoying this season and having fun and that’s exactly what we try to make it!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas Eve!

What is Christmas like in your house?

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My husband rocks – finishing our fence

June 9, 2013 - Leave a Comment

Hey friends! Happy Monday! I’m writing this post on Sunday night and oh em gee I am tired. This post may not be all that great due to said tiredness but, I’m gonna give it my best.

First, how was your weekend?!

Ours was really good. Especially Sunday! We slept in a bit and once we were up and moving around, we all ventured outback and Hubby got to work on fixing our fence some more. Hubby’s brother came over to help him. For awhile the boys and I sat back and watched + I did some reading.

Not long after my sister in law showed up with her three kids {pictures of that tomorrow} & the boys had a blast! They were here until about ten thirty at night. To stay my kids were wore out is an understatement. Again, more about that tomorrow!

Until then I just have to say my husband rocks for getting our fence fixed today! Y’all seriously have no idea how happy I am! The whole things is up and I’ll snap some pictures tomorrow since they didn’t get done until after dark!

Goodnight or technically good morning peeps. I’m way too tired to keep writing.

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Starting a home project – fixing our fence

June 3, 2013 - 1 Comment

Hubby took Saturday off work and we he, decided to get to work on something that was at the top of our to-do list. Fix our fence. Two sides of our fence is completely messed up from the storms last year and the one we are working on isn’t even one we are supposed to be fixing but, we are so tired of having fence panels down and no privacy that we are building that side of the fence ourselves!

The boys and I totally helped out. By helped out I mean I took pictures and ate watermelon & the boys ate watermelon and played. Kage was also pretty much right by Hubby’s side because he was fascinated by what daddy was doing.

It was so nice to all be outside together even if we were having to shout across the yard at each other to talk or even if Hubs was saying you better not be taking pictures of me. He knows me too well.

See Kage standing right next to Hubby? Well Hubby started drilling and Kage took off running with his hands over his ears. I don’t blame him – it was the most ridiculous sound.

Jay and I weren’t going anywhere near that noise so, we chilled on the porch waiting for the storm to hit, a storm that never hit but, we still had some crazy dark clouds.

Have you done any projects around your house lately?

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Sharpie DIYs

April 24, 2013 - 1 Comment

The other night I went a little sharpie crazy all thanks to Pinterest of course. I was browsing sharpie DIYs to do around the house and I got sidetracked by the amazing sharipe tattoos I saw! This leads me to today’s post of the fun little sharpie things I did. These were all free handed. No planning, no tracing, nada. I simply went with what was in my head or what I saw.

I wanted to start with something small so, I grabbed a vase and drew a triangle banner on it. All the way around it and it adds a nice little touch of cuteness to a boring ole vase.

Next up, I tackled what I like to call my laptop setter oner.

Really though, I use this thing when I need a hard surface to write in my notebook, both books were started on this and I use my laptop on it daily. I wanted to put quotes all around it. Quotes that inspired me.

Last but not least, this bar stool/end table. I saw this design and fell in love with it. I pictured it in my head and went with it. Turns out I didn’t do too bad and my husband really likes it. He thought I had used a stencil and painted it on. #winning That actually made me happy because I was over analyzing the spots I messed up on.

I see many more sharpie products in my future. Would you ever Sharpie designs on something or have you?

Virtual Office Makeover with World Market

October 10, 2012 - 5 Comments

Yall I am so excited about this post today. I got to do some Virtual Online Shopping for our office. We have seriously done next to nothing with it, besides paint it. But now that I am working from home full time I really, really want to turn our office into a beautiful, functional space that I can work in – that is also perfect for my little one’s playing in their with me while I work.

I am just keeping it real with these pictures. This is the way our office looks right now, it used to be the boys playroom so you can see we are transforming into our office. As you can tell we also very rarely use it because it is just not put together right now!
But in the near future that is going to change because I will definitely be hitting up world market ASAP! These are a few things I am crushing on for our office.

1. Ryan Trash Can // 2. Langston Desk, white // 3. Ivory classic carved wool rug // 4. Red grant office chair // 5. Red punched metal pendant light // 6. Rangoli Sunrise tapestry wall hanging // 7. Ivory bori curtain
I wanted something that was simple yet had pops of beautiful color and of course sense this will also be my husband’s office, I didn’t want it too girly. I figured red was perfect for this because red is both of our favorite colors so really it’s a win win! & I am seriously dying over that wall hanging. It is perfection!& because World Market is UH-MAZ-ING they are having a sweet sweepstakes for you to enter.

- Grand Prize package includes: A $10,000 World Market shopping spree and design consultation with an HGTV Designer
- There will also be 3 runner up prize winners that will each receive a $1,000 World Market gift card!
- The HGTV Sweepstakes runs from September 22, 2012 until October 26, 2012.
- If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. This is part of the registration process when entering. Users can also enter daily for more
chances to win.
- Enter online at World Market Sweepstakes or on Facebook .
World Market also has an awesome Explorer Program & trust me you want to be apart of it! This is a customer rewards program where member earn exclusive perks, like coupons, offers, previews, and beyond. Spend $100 on Gourmet Foods and Non-alcoholic beverages and you will receive a $10 reward that you can use to purchasing almost anything in store or online. You can also earn FREE COFFEE Rewards! (Buy 6 12oz. bags and your 7th one is free!)
Want more ways to stay connected with World Market? #ofcourseyoudo check them out onFacebook : Twitter : Pinterest : Instagram : Google +
Disclosure: “This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions are my own.”

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