2011 July

Fancy This Fridays #33

July 15, 2011 11 Comments

TGIF!!! Anyone remember those shows back in like the late 90s??

I think it was a series of shows on ABC on Friday evenings…

Anywho… I’m BACK!!!

A HUGE HUGE thanks to Miss Bella for doing the features post for last week’s Fancy This!

She did a FABULOUS job!

Blogger friends, if you ever need a guest featurer… Hit up Miss Bella!

I’m a married lady now!! That’s right…

After having to postpone the date and all that fun stuff, we FINALLY made it!

And it was PERFECT!!

Tuesday started the recapping of the projects that I did for the wedding that I didn’t want to share before…

So as to not ruin the surprise for our guests.

Check out the totes I made for the flower girls here.

More will be coming but until then, here’s a little wedding sneak peak for you.

Miss Kayli singing during our ceremony!!! And yeah, that’s me, and the mister. ;)

And because I was, even though rightfully so, a bad blogger last week…

Please go pay a visit to LAST week’s Bloggie Bestie, the sweet and talented Miss Andrea of Bubblewrapp’d!

Had a blogging mishap last week and got her post up late…
So here’s an extra shout out for her.

AND since you’re already here… to link up of course… Please scroll down or go here to visit THIS week’s Bloggie Bestie!
The lovely Kristine of J&M’s Eye Candy!!

Since we’re talking Bloggie Besties… If you’re interested shoot me an email!!!
I’m not like those BIG blogs where you have to wait months to be featured! I’ve got spots open!!!

One more thing before the linky…
Did you see who the blog of the month is over at For the Love of Blogs?!?!

EEEK!!! That’s us!!!
Thanks to all who voted and the lovelies that nominated us!!!

We are so grateful!!!

Now, let’s party peeps!!! Whatcha been up to whilst I was away, huh??

Let’s see it!!!

Fancy This Friday Rules:

1) Must be YOUR OWN project (we’ve had a few sharing other people’s stuff… That’s awesome, but we wanna see what YOU did!)

2) Must be linked to that project’s specific post within your blog,

not the blog itself

3) Grab our party button so others can party too!

4) Share some linky love with the other participants, by visiting and commenting on their projects as well! We ALL love comments!!
(And it would be SUPER COOL of you to say your stopping by from the Truly Lovely or Fancy This Fridays link up!)

Have a Truly Lovely weekend friends!!!And thanks for linking!!!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie, Fancy This Fridays

Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap with Kristine of J&M’s Eye Candy

July 14, 2011 Leave a Comment

Hello sweet friends!!! How I’ve missed you while I’ve been away!!!

But I’m back now! And a MARRIED lady to boot!

This week’s Bloggie Bestie is one half of the duo behind J&M’s Eye Candy!
The lovely Kristine!!!
Please share some bloggie lovin’ with her and THEN pop over to their blog where I am guest posting today!
AND because they are SO AWESOME, they are offering a
15% discount to Truly Lovely readers
in their shop!!! NO Expiration!!!
Just use the code: LOVELY15 at checkout!!!

Hope you’re having a lovely week!!!

Here’s Kristine!

Hello Truly Lovely Readers!

Kristine here from J&M’s Eye Candy Blog and Shoppe!

I’m so excited to be blog swapping with the awesome Kassi today!

Be sure to check her out over at our blog, and show her some comment love!

My SIL Britney and I created our blog as a place where we can collectively archive our projects and share it with others like you. We hope that you are taking the time and enjoying crafting, whether it’s during nap time, after work, and/or late at night like we do.

We blog about crafts, our families, recipes, fashion and we love us a linky party or two! Check us out on Tuesdays for “Help a Momma Out!,” where you can link up and read fun mom stories, advice, crafts anything relating to helping a momma out! And our fun “Strut Your Stuff Sundays” party where you have a chance to show off your latest creations and of course browse amazing talent from other bloggers!

Some of our recent projects from our blog:

Jewelry Organizer

Summer Bucket List

Weekly at-a-glance Calendar

Also our most recent recipe that Britney shared:

B’s Ice Cream Pie

Thanks so much Laney sisters for having me on today to share with your audience who we are! We appreciate it! We hope you Truly Lovely readers will hop on over and party with us too!!

THANKS so much to Kristine for being this week’s Bloggie Bestie on Truly Lovely and for blog swapping with me today!!!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie

Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap with Kristine of J&M’s Eye Candy

July 14, 2011 Leave a Comment

Hello sweet friends!!! How I’ve missed you while I’ve been away!!!

Kristine here from J&M’s Eye Candy Blog and Shoppe!

I’m so excited to be blog swapping with the awesome Kassi today!

Be sure to check her out over at our blog, and show her some comment love!

Jewelry Organizer

Summer Bucket List

Weekly at-a-glance Calendar

Also our most recent recipe that Britney shared:

B’s Ice Cream Pie

Thanks so much Laney sisters for having me on today to share with your audience who we are! We appreciate it! We hope you Truly Lovely readers will hop on over and party with us too!!

THANKS so much to Kristine for being this week’s Bloggie Bestie on Truly Lovely and for blog swapping with me today!!!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie

Little Girl Tote Bag Tutorial

July 12, 2011 12 Comments

I’m excited today to show you all the totes I made for the flower girls’ goody bags for our wedding!!! And as I say that we have been married now for three days!
I am off celebrating with my HUSBAND!!!

Hope you enjoy this fun tutorial while I’m gone!

If you would like to see the goody bags I made for the ring bearers, you can click that link to visit My Road to Mrs, my wedding blog.

Anyway… this is the GIRLIE version!

With a COMPLETE tutorial even!

Cute Little Personalized Totes!

The items needed for this craft are:

Little totes (I got mine at Hobby Lobby $2.99 for a packet of four)

Fabric Paint
Small paint brush

Name stencil

Iron on decals

Iron

Old newspaper
Large paper plate

First, be sure to lay newspaper down on your table or other work surface!

Lay out your totes on the newspaper.

I used my hand dandy Silhouette SD to cut out the girls’ names in vinyl.

The Kristen font is a great one for a girlie but fun touch!

Vinyl, makes a PERFECT stencil!

It’s already sticky on the back, so peel away the backing, smooth your stencil over your little tote and your ready to paint.
Make sure if you have any a’s, o’s, or other letters with holes in the middle, that you peel the little circle cutouts and stick those in the center of your letters as well. More on this in a minute.

Next, choose your paint color, then squirt some fabric paint onto the large paper plate.

Now, use the small paint brush to fill in the stencil on your tote.

Since I used white paint on dark colored totes, I painted on several coats, allowing for some drying time in between.

Once you’ve painted all of the names, allow to dry for a few hours so the paint will set well.

Once the paint has dried peel the stencil off the tote.

Remember I mentioned earlier making sure you stuck the centers of your a’s, o’s and other letters with holes onto your tote? Well, here’s why…
If you stick those on, you can paint right over the top of those, like here on Taylor’s tote:

Then when you peel them off, your letters have holes in the middle instead of a completely painted in blob for those letters.
And that makes them look nicer!

Once you’ve finished your painting and removed your stencils, it’s time to fancy up your totes!

A SUPER easy and inexpensive way is with iron on decals.

The flower ones I used came from Wal-Mart for a few dollars a packet.

Follow the directions for ironing your decals on.
Mine included placing a cotton towel over the top, then iron to tack.
Turn the fabric inside out and iron to adhere.

Here you can see, I used a tiny little craft iron.
(that KAYLI gave me for Christmas!!! Thanks Kayli!!)
It was perfect for this craft because it was small enough to stick inside the tote without the need for turning it inside out!

Tada!!
A cute little personalized tote for each lovely little flower girl!!!

What do you think??? The girls LOVED them!

Hope you’re having a lovely week!!
See you in a few days!

Filed Under: Tutorials, Wedding ideas

Fancy This Features #32 ~ Kassis now a MRS. ~

July 11, 2011 6 Comments

Hello everyone, how was your weekend? Guess what our lovely Kassi has been doing?

GETTING MARRIED, that’s what. Her big day finally came, and I’m sure it was as lovely, and perfect, as anything she had every imagined. I’m so happy for her, and I’m sure all of you are too. I’m sure when she comes back she will have tons of pictures to share, I can’t wait to see them all.

In the mean time, I’m here today to do her weekly Features. In case you don’t know who I am, my name is Bella, and I blog over at Bella Before and After, and ALSO my new cake blog Euro Style Cakes. So if you want to stop by and say hello, I’d love that very much.

Alrighty so let me show you some of the projects that caught my eye. As always, I have the hardest time narrowing down my features, so I picked SIX blogs to feature today, YAY!!

CITY GIRL GONE COASTAL created an adorable AIR MAIL pillow. It’s just so vintage looking, so nostalgic, and so romantic. I love everything about it. This would surely make me smile if I had one.

J&M’s EYE CANDY showed us how to create a SUMMER BUCKET list. Complete with the cutest clothes pins, you literally just drop in the bucket once completed. I love the simplicity of this idea, and my brain is already imagining, how I can turn this into a CHORES bucket, lol, what a great idea, he he.

STUDENT FOR LIFE redid a beautiful VINTAGE MIRROR. While I personally really liked the red before, I must admit she did an awesome job with the redo. I adore the black, just as much, and the pretty delicate little flowers, and lace are so lovely. I think it turned out awesome!!

THE LITTLE GIGGLER reminded me yet again how badly I need a BEDSIDE CARRIER. Seriously we really need these on every bed in our house, and sofas, and chairs, lol. Just brilliant ideas, and what great ways to organize all the books and other essentials, you need at bedtime.

SO I SAW THIS TUTORIAL threw her adorable 6 year old daughter a TIKI TIKI POOL PARTY. Yeah I know, how awesome is that!! The decorations were adorable, the food looked incredible, and her kids looked so happy. I’d say the party was a total success, great job Mom!!

ALIA’S CREATIVE LIFE shared a delicious EGG CURRY recipe, and well if you know me, I was all over this, hehe. I couldn’t resist sharing it with all of you, and I should know, it sounds as yummy as it looks. I make it all the time. I urge you to give it a try people, it is so good!!

SO there you have it ladies, congrats on your features. Thanks to everyone who linked up and don’t forget to come back every Friday to share your projects, recipes, and anything else you’ve been up to.

If you’ve been featured, go ahead and grab a button, and show it off will ya.

Kassi, thanks so much girl for having me over today, I enjoyed discovering some new blogs, and now I have even more projects to add to my Pinterest boards, lol. I really love linky parties.

I’d also LOVE to invite you to check out my weekly parties. I would be so happy if you linked up.

Stop by anytime to say hello!!!

Hugs, Bella

**AMAZE ME AUGUST** @ Bella Before and After Any projects, recipes, diy welcome.

**PARTY PLANNING TUESDAYS** @ Euro Style Cakes Any party planning tips, decorations, invitations, recipes welcome.

Filed Under: Features

Fancy This Fridays #32

July 8, 2011 15 Comments

Yay for Fridays!!! Guess what I’m doing today…

I am at this moment most likely setting up for our wedding TOMORROW!!!

The rehearsal is this evening and things are surely busy busy right now!

We’re still doing Fancy This Fridays today though!

We wanna see what you were up to this week!!!

Monday we’ll have a guest feature poster!

The lovely Miss Bella of Bella Before and After will be stopping by to feature some FUN projects from this weekend’s linky!!!

I’m sure to be recuperating from the wedding weekend fun, but I’ll be back sometime next week!

Til then, it’s time to party!!!

Fancy This Friday Rules:

1) Must be YOUR OWN project (we’ve had a few sharing other people’s stuff… That’s awesome, but we wanna see what YOU did!)

2) Must be linked to that project’s specific post within your blog,

not the blog itself

3) Grab our party button so others can party too!

Have a lovely weekend friends!!!
And thanks for linking!!!

Filed Under: Fancy This Fridays, Friends

Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap with Andrea of Bubblewrapp’d

July 8, 2011 1 Comment

Hello lovelies!!!

Happy Thursday!!!

Today’s Bloggie Bestie is the lovely Andrea from Bubblewrapp’d!!

She is an absolute sweetheart!

Hope you’ll pay her some bloggie love.

And when your done go visit her blog where I’m guest posting today.

AND while you’re there check out her FABULOUS Etsy shop!

Here’s Andrea!!!

Hi to all you Truly Lovely readers!

I am thrilled to be the bloggie bestie today, and blog swappin with Kassi!

She’s over on my blog today, so stop by and say hi to her there!

I’m Andrea!

I’m wifey to my hunky hubby, and momma to two crazy boys. They are 4 and 5, and keep me busy and crazy all day long, everyday.

I blog over here, about projects, house stuff, and other random things that sneak their way in.

Today, I’m going to show you a quick project I put together.

I had a spot on my version of a gallery wall that I was wanting to fill with something. I did a project for 4th of July using some scrap bead board that the Hub’s had out in the garage. I loved how it turned out, so went with the same ingredients to make this project.

I started with these.

I painted the bead board piece black, and the little rectangle piece white. Here’s what they looked like after 2 coats of paint.

Then, I sanded both pieces with a fine grit sanding block to mess them up a little.

I grabbed my antiquing gel, and covered the whole white piece in it.

I didn’t leave it on very long, just because I was mainly wanting the gel to get into the nooks, and crannies of the wood. I wiped it down with a damp rag, and it looked like this.

For this project, I went back to my trusted method of printing, and tracing onto the wood. So, I printed my phrase out on paper, and then traced it while pressing really hard with a pencil.

After I did that, I went back, and traced the indentions with a pen, just so I could see them more clearly while I was painting the space in.

I then grabbed my paint pen, and filled it all in.

From there, I sanded the words a little, and then added my picture hanging hook on the back of the piece of bead board, and hot glued the white rectangle to it.

Time to hang it up!

I love it! Now, I just have to update the pictures in the frames, and add something to the right side! My gallery wall is a definite work in progress, and I love how it’s coming together!

I would love to hear if you try this project out!

Thank you so much to Kassi for having me as the bloggie bestie this week, and for guest posting over at my blog!

THANKS Andrea for being this week’s Bloggie Bestie and for blog swapping with me today!!!

Have a lovely day friends!!!

P.S. I’m getting married in 2 days!!!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie

What I Wore Wednesday – Navy “Vest”

July 6, 2011 3 Comments

I’m not even sure you can call this a vest… What would you call it?

Anyway… I used my bridal shower gift card to Sorella’s, a cute little boutique here in town, and bought some new shirts recently.

One of my purchases was this little navy number.

I’ve been wanting one of those “vests” for awhile.. and finally got one!
Yay! It’s SO soft and comfy!
The Mister wasn’t as impressed as I was with this outfit..
Maybe because it was so comfy it lacked in the sexy department…
I don’t know.

The black tank underneath has lived in my closet FOREVER…

It’s got a cute little bow on it that you can’t really see.

OH! And you also can’t really see it, but I’m rocking the braid to the side look there. That I pinned on pinterest… Except with bangs.

Does anyone else feel kind of like a doofus taking pictures of themselves?

I do.. sometimes. haha.

And the full outfit.

Sorry for the blur… My Android is pretty much the best camera I have right now..

I’m also wearing my zipper flip flops… They’re all I wear these days.

I have one brown pair of Old Navy flip flops that have seen better days… and need replaced.

Thinking it’s time for some new summer shoes.

I’m lame though.. mostly cause I’m cheap.

So.. Maybe if I post that I’m trying to do better I will.

So, I’ll try to do better.

Have a great rest of the week.

OH and P.S. I’m getting married on Saturday! Whoot!

Linking here.

Filed Under: What I Wore

Wrapping a gift without tape…

July 5, 2011 7 Comments

My sweet mom and sister, hosted a hometown bridal shower for me a few weekends ago.

For their hostess gifts I purchased each of them a picture frame.

A Family frame for my mom. A Sisters frame for Kayli.

Then, the morning of the shower while getting everything ready to leave I realized…

I didn’t have any TAPE to wrap their frames!!

Not to worry! There is ANOTHER way. Especially for a crafter in a hurry!

Apologies for the poor photo quality. A crafter in a hurry also has no time to get out the camera…

So phone pics it is!

My materials

My method for wrapping a gift without tape calls for…

Pretty tissue paper

Glue stick

Ribbon

All materials a handy crafter will most likely have lying around!

(Let’s face it though… if you’re that handy, you’ll have remembered to buy tape.

Wrap the gift in the pretty tissue paper like usual.

Except… Use the glue stick along the inside edge of the paper to adhere it to itself.

Instead of TAPE obviously.

Make sure you press firmly down over the glued paper to make sure it sticks.

(Please don’t glue it to your gift…. What? It had to be said…

Fold the ends of your tissue paper into two corners and firmly glue those to the main part of the gift as well.

Again, just like wrapping a gift normally… Except with glue!

Once you’ve finished gluing the wrapping paper, tie up your gift in a pretty, matching ribbon!

The ribbon helps hold it all together in case any glue happens to come undone. And it looks nice!

I curled the ends of the ribbon with my scissors and viola!

A lovely wrapped gift… Minus the tape!

You can stick a sweet thank you card underneath the bow if you want extra brownie points…

FYI! :)

P.S. I’m linking this monumental idea

to these fun linky parties!!!

And many of the others listed on our linky party page!

Filed Under: Family, Gift Ideas, Kayli, Tutorials Tagged With: Picture Frame

Fancy This Features 31 & Happy 4th!!!

July 4, 2011 3 Comments

Happy Independence Day lovelies!!

Hope you and yours are having a fun filled, patriotic weekend!!!

In celebration of the 4th how about some patriotic features today from the Fancy This Fridays link up last week!

I am absolutely going to try to make a Flag Cake like the one shared by Carlee of Ladybird Ln. It looks so neat when you cut into it!

Melissa from Love Affair with my Brother

(she means her sewing maching… FYI! haha)

shared a beautiful 4th of July quilt!

So pretty!!

Check out this neat “Flag” States print from Maria of Agape Love Designs!

The United States is really what it’s all about!!

Hope you are enjoying the holiday with your friends and loved ones!!

Special thanks to all that linked up to this Fancy This Fridays!

Here’s a featured button for those that were featured today!

Hope you’ll share it on your blogs!

Featured at Truly Lovely <a href=”http://www.trulylovelyblog.com/2011/06/fancy-this-features-29/”><img src=”http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/Kassarie/TL_Blogbutton-Featured250.jpg” alt=”Featured at Truly Lovely” width=”125″ height=”125″ /></a>

Have a lovely day friends!!!

P.S. I’m getting married in 5 days!