new bedroom layout + diy artwork

Hey hey, happy Wednesday! Over the weekend, Landon and I rearranged our room, and I love how it turned out.  Our bed has been at an angle across one of the corners of the room, but it was taking up a lot of space, and since we don't have a headboard, not having a wall to lean against when we're reading wasn't really the best. We moved it to be centered under a window, and I like it much better. I bought some cardboard letters for half-off at Hobby Lobby a few months ago to make the "BRIGHT" sign, and covered them with some striped fabric (using Mod Podge) that I had from IKEA. Easy peasy!

I also took two of our dining room chairs and turned them into nightstands, since we don't have any. Add our new $12 Target lamps (on sale this week, score!) and a stack of books, and voila! 

(I have a great little stack of books that I'm reading right now...The Lost Art of Real Cooking, The Help and Start With Why)

Now to the really fun part: my mom gave me the most thoughtful gift for Christmas. Using newspaper, she cut out little symbols of our beloved Portland and framed them...

I cried when I opened them, she knows me so well!

Aren't they cool?

So, with the new layout and new look for our bedroom, I'm thinking I'll hang the pictures to the right of the window. What do you think?

xoxo.

P.S. A very happy birthday to my wonderful sister Jen! Love you Junie!

Jen and I at our brother's wedding, 2009

a handmade christmas: diy fabric flower necklace.

 Happy Friday! Today is the third (and final) day of my little handmade Christmas series. As part of my mom's present, I made her a fabric flower necklace. 

 I already had the fabric and beads, and just had to buy the jewelry chain. I cut long strips of fabric, braided three together and hot glued them into spirals to make each flower. I attached the beads with hot glue as well. The chain is hooked to a piece of felt on the back of the necklace, which is holding the flowers together.

Just like the last two, this is a fun and simple gift to make. I think it's time to make one for myself!

xoxo.

Day One: DIY Glitter Champagne Flutes

Day Two: DIY Flower Pots

a handmade christmas: diy flower pots.

Welcome to day two of our little series, A Handmade Christmas. I'm sharing a couple of the projects I did to put together handmade gifts for my family. Today's project is DIY flower pots. I made one for my mother-in-law, DeAnn, and one for my sister-in-law, Ashley. 

 I followed this method to make the pots, and I would recommend a somewhat sturdy fabric. I filled each pot with some paperwhite bulbs from Portland Nursery. 

And there you have it! DIY flower pots for a fun, handmade gift!

xoxo.

a handmade christmas: diy glitter champagne flutes

 It was part of my 12x2012 list to make Christmas gifts that were handmade. I wasn't able to do that for everyone on my list, but I did do a few. I thought I'd share them this week, now that they've been given  out. I made these glittery champagne flutes for my sister, inspired by this DIY on Something Turquoise.  

The flutes were pretty simple (and a lot of fun) to make. You can even cure them in the oven to make them dishwasher safe! The champagne flutes and the glitter paint are both from Michael's. 

You can make your own by following the instructions on Something Turquoise. This is a great way to glam up any type of glass surface, like wine glasses, juice glasses, or even glass jars!

xoxo.

in the shop: wedding scroll.

Friends, we've made it to Friday! With the new blog post themes I've got going, every Friday I'll feature an item from our shop. The first up is one of my all-time favorites. Renee crafted this gorgeous wedding scroll for our wedding, and she would love to do the same for yours! She hand-draws and hand-writes the entire design, and then sends it to me for minor digital touch-ups and color changes. The listing is for white card stock with black ink, but you can contact us about additional colors and designs if you're interested. 

We had our wedding party, immediate family and grandparents sign our scroll, but you could also include extended family or all of your wedding guests. I love that ours has my grandpa's signature on it, which brings back so many fond memories of him!

The lines pictured in these photos are drawn in pencil. We can either leave the lower section blank or include as many printed lines as you'd like...

 Seriously, isn't Renee's handwriting some of the most beautiful you've seen?

For more of Renee's handwritten goodness, head over to our shop!

Happy Friday!

xoxo.

hats for monday.

love these. and everything else on the purl bee, for that matter.

happy monday.

or, happy manic monday.

whichever suits you best.

xoxo.

cutie booties!

precious, right? my mom made them for babies and grandbabies of her friends. love love love.

i've already put in a request for a pair in women's size 8.5.

xoxo.

jars in sweaters.

love this little tablescape of jars in knitted cozies via dottie angel! 

xoxo.

embroidery love.

hilarious, right?

more here.

crochet love for saturday.

 my lovelies, i hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start. i had a nice night of movie-watching, laundry-folding and bon iver pandora-listening [which i highly recommend] with landon. i love relaxing weekends. and i love these crocheted beauties from silvia66 on etsy. don't you? that first photo is my favorite. how about you?

gorgeous, right?

happy saturday. xoxo.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

yes, please.

so, i'm usually cold at least 72% of the time, so i was naturally drawn to these beauties.

i'm taking orders on who would like to make them for me.

i'll even give you the pattern. isn't that nice?

xoxo.

[via handmade portland]

oh my squash.

come on, martha. quit showing us all up! how amazing are these butternut squash bowling pins? do you think she used a pumpkin as the bowling ball? or danish squash? anyways, i think they're precious, and it just so happens that my mom has plenty of extra butternut squash hanging around. guess what i'm doing this weekend...

xoxo.

ps. don't forget to enter the g-g-g-giveaway!

little winter giveaway!

remember the cutie-cute twigs & honey bobby pins i told you about yesterday that i got from little winter?

well guess what...i got a pair for you, too. that's right, it's time for my very first giveaway!

i'm keeping it sweet and simple for you...here's how to enter:

1. be a follower of the bright life

and

2. in the spirit of thanksgiving, leave a comment on this post telling me what you're thankful for this year.

that's it!

i'll pick a winner using random.org a week from today [monday, nov. 15].

so hurry, hurry, hurry! the bobbys are waiting! and tell your friends!

xoxo.

sunday lovin: little winter.

 oh my little winter! the handmade market was a-mazing! i felt so inspired after meandering through, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all of the beautiful things! did anyone else get a chance to go? i went with my mom, sister and aunt, and let me say, it was definitely worth the drive from lebanon!

 the vendors were all very sweet and very talented. it was easy to see that everything had been made with care.

 i especially loved all the adorable business cards...

 i scooped up a couple pairs of these beautiful bobby pins made by myra callan of twigs & honey. aren’t they sweet?

 my mom got this beautiful necklace from sulu. i’m loving that deep wine-y color. my sister got a couple of pretty necklaces too, but i didn’t get a chance to snap a photo of them.

 i'm really hoping chelsea and abby are planning to bring little winter back next year.

i know last week was a little skimpy on the posting side, but i’ve got lots of fun things planned for this week, including my first pair of jeggings (!!!) and...shhhh...a giveaway!

much love bloggies. xoxo.