don't worry about a thing.

You know what I do?  I beat myself up over the fact that I've been too busy to blog.
seriously?
Blogging about decorating and crafts is not that important.
No one is anxiously awaiting what I have to say.  No one is paying me to do this.  No lives are being saved.

The world will be just fine if I never blog again (oh but I will!)

So once my life settles down I'll be back, possibly tomorrow. who knows.
As for now I'm wrapping up my time in Grenada... packing, cleaning, saying my goodbyes, and crying myself to sleep....

Want to see some insanely awesome pictures I took this week with my friend Amber? yes!

Saturday Afternoon Picnik

I am one insanely blessed woman.
My Lee will be the most wonderful father someday... we already love these kids more than we know how to say.  My heart aches to think about leaving Grenada.
I am so thankful for him, these children, and this experience.

Decorating a Rental Part 3: Tying it all together

The 3rd and final installment of decorating a rental apartment is up at Newlywed's Bliss!!
I'm sharing how to make a space feel less temporary and more like home.  Check it out!!

Also go see the other articles written this week -

Finding a Crowd Pleaser For Thanksgiving

Entertaining on a Budget

10 things I love about you {link up}


 Happy Wednesday!

10 Things I Love About You

Today over at  Newlywed's Bliss we are having a link up party!  We are asking you each week for the month of November to write a post with 10 things you love about your spouse! 
They say that 10% of things about your spouse drive you crazy... the other 90% are the things that you love and made you fall in love with them in the first place, but sometimes we focus on that 10% too much.

To my Lee:

1. I love that you study and work so so so hard and you impress me every single day.
2. I love that you are so smart and properly diagnosed my Mom by what little info I relayed to you. 
3. I love that yesterday you said "there are more important things in life than a tidy house" 
4. I love that you think I am the world's greatest cook.  and I secretly like it when you say things I make taste better than my Mom's.
5. I love that you didn't mind that I put up a Christmas tree even though we are getting ready to move and won't even be in this apartment for Christmas.
6. I love that you offered and slept on the floor Sunday night and gave my friend Amber the bed (long story) and were genuinely happy to do so.
7. I love that you always, every single day of your life have the very best intentions about everything.  You have such a sweet heart and I want to be more like you.
8. I love that you include me in every single decision you make.
9. I love that you like to watch football and sometimes get into it so much that you're out of your chair yelling something.... and I love that you try to include me and tell me when they are fighting! 
10. I love that you love the Limes kids as much as me and are taking time out of your busy schedule to come spend time with them.

 Want to join in on the fun?? Head over to Newlywed's Bliss and link up!!

Our 1st Christmas

As Lee and I are approaching our 3rd Christmas together as a married couple {7th otherwise!}
I thought it would be fun to take a look back at our first Christmas together.
We were living in my sister's basement apartment because we were about to move to Grenada!
I was thrilled to decorate for our 1st Christmas.... all our decorations came from the Dollar Tree or were handmade!
{I'm so glad I took all these pictures even though I didn't blog then, whew}

Mom loaned us the tree :)

ignore the rustic fishing lodge boarder, this room was formerly my brother-in-law's man cave before Lee and I took it over for 4 months :)

my Willow Tree Nativity set my mom got me for Christmas that year!
& you can sort of see my awesome vintage mirror I got for $5 behind it! Can't wait to have house where I can use it someday.

Our ornament we bought on our honeymoon in Mexico.

I worked at Pier 1 Imports this Christmas and when it was slow I would select ornaments I liked, like the elf boot and the birds, and trace them on scrap paper!
Once I got home I'd re-trace them on cardboard and cover with scrapbook paper!
haha! sneaky!

I was also inspired by a wreath I saw at Pier 1 and decided to make my own!
The silver ornaments are all from the Dollar Tree and I hot glued them to a metal wreath form and stuck tinsel in to fill any gaps and covered up all my glue marks!
This may be one of my favorite things I've ever made.

Oh and the outside looked like this....

should I mention that my husband is 6'5? 

I'll share some of our "Christmas in the Caribbean" pictures soon! :)

a piece of home...

Hey guess who has reached 30,000 views? me!  I don't know if that's good or not, but it's an even number so it sounds big to me!

I have more pictures from my sister's A-dorable house!  Read my first post about the bunting around her home {here}.
The reason this wall in my nieces' room is so special is because this old window literally came from our childhood home.  My sister went up to our old house and took the window!  I am TOTALLY doing that as soon as I get home in December!
Background on that - our parents built a new home on the same property and our old house is still sitting there {and totally falling apart.... like it was when we lived in it.lol} so I will be de-constructing quite a few relics from the old place soon!

On to the window, like I said before my sister and I share a love of vintage goodness and her kids are lucky enough to be surrounded all of her amazing treasures!

And yes the baby girl who sleeps in this room is just as sweet as the decor eludes.

Decorating a Rental Part 2!

Part two of my series on Decorating a Rental is up over at Newlywed's Bliss today!!
I'm talking about how you can furnish an apartment with free or nearly free furnishings!  Serious.  All you need is a little elbow grease and maybe some paint.

Also be looking for a new link party coming up next week - 10 Things I love about You.   A lesson in loving and appreciating our spouse, and what better time to do a series on Thankfulness!







Who changes their blog layout 3 times in 1 week?
The me that is never satisfied.

adorable bunting 4 ways!

I am excited to share a few pictures with you from my older sister's house! {not the one who is doing a vow renewal, the other one}
She is a {young}30something wife and mommy with 3 absolutely beautiful daughters.  They recently moved to California for her husband's job and she has been having a lot of fun decorating their new home!  I love her style and her new-found creativity!  {this is the sister who didn't know how to decorate before and so she just didn't}
I asked her if I could feature some of the projects she has done because she no longer blogs {long story, but basically people are creeps} and I don't have a ton of projects currently going on nor do I have a camera. 
Win!

Today I am going to be featuring the adorable bunting that she has scattered throughout their home.  I love it!

1. story book bunting - perfect for a little girl's room, and great if you have some books that are torn or the binding is falling apart.

Her girls love Alice in Wonderland!

       2. paint chip bunting - aka free bunting!

Isn't her fall mantel the cutest thing you've ever seen!  candy corn bunting!

This shelf is set up in the room that her step-son uses when he visits.  I love how she designated a special boy space just for him!  I'm sure he loves it with all the pink in the house!  Bunting aside, isn't this skateboard shelf awesome!! Good job Sister!

rainbow!

          3. handkerchief bunting!
 

this is the window above her kitchen sink.  The dainty hankies allow lots of sunlight to come in and doesn't block the great view of the woods she has!  She says deer come right up in their backyard and will eat out of your hand!

        4. Scrapbook paper bunting!

I am so thankful my sister allowed me to show her home to the world... and I have so many more great things to show you all!  Bunting is just the beginning!


ps. what do you think of this new blog header? 

New Years Eve Vow Renewal Centerpieces

I've mentioned my sister's upcoming vow renewal ceremony this New Years a couple times before - most importantly - what am I going to wear?! haha. just kidding Sister.  And also the save the dates that I made using Picnik.

Now onto the decorations! yay!
For the centerpieces I have a few different ideas, most of which haven't really been run by the sister yet, but all she said was that she wanted it to be pretty! Check!

Source: cleverlyinspired.blogspot.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

Bottles rolled in Epsom salts to look like snow!  I love these!  So easy, cheap, and beautiful!  Does anyone at home drink wine??  I'll be accepting bottle donations!

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Kelsey on Pinterest

Keeping with the Epsom salt theme... in jars or vases it looks like snow!  I'd like to combine this idea with these hurricane vases -

Source: youhadmeatcraft.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

I also think that Christmas ornaments make great table decorations and can be bought by the dozen at the Dollar Tree!

Source: realisticwedding.wordpress.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: infobarrel.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

One the things I made for my wedding was tissue paper flowers and I think that white and silver tissue paper flowers will be so pretty with a winter theme.

Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

And one final cheapo decorating idea is to gather a bunch of branches and spray paint them silver.  I think these could be beautiful on the stage during the ceremony if done in large bundles as well as dispersed through the dining room!

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelsey on Pinterest

I am so excited to get home and dive into making decorations for my sister's big celebration!! I will have 1 week to make all the decorations! haha! easy right?  Thankfully I have all the vases left from my wedding to use and finding Epsom salts, branches, and silver and blue Christmas ornaments will be an easy task... I hope.

Stay tuned for many, many more ideas!  Next I'll be sharing my idea for a huge lit up ball to drop at midnight!  Have you ever had a New Years Eve party?? Any great ideas to share?

Hey latest followers!

When I'm feeling uninspired I like to look at what others are doing and I'm usually left in awe at how talented some people are.

• Standart - shares pictures of amazing art work and recently posted a group of oil paintings that I literally drooled over.  I wish I could paint like this!

• Sandra - the Frugal French Girl has also caught the Picnik bug! 
  This is a picture she did using the Halloween effects - love it!
  AND the tagline of her blog is "bringing the beach home on a budget"
  Great minds think alike Sandra :)

• Shelly at What the Shell (hahahaha yes that is the name of her blog!) shares my love of beach finds!  She finds the most incredible stuff!  I can't wait to organize and display all my finds in our future home like Shelly did her in her house! looks so good!  I just want to explore her finds!

• Two Sisters blog over at Design DNA and had way too much fun with Halloween!  They threw the scariest/best Halloween party I've ever seen.  The shower scene made my skin crawl... but I love the glass bottle & candle covered table, I'm keeping this in mind for next year for sure.

Thanks for the follow guys!!
Everyone visit these fun blogs and share some love!

Decorating a Rental

Check out my post over on Newlyweds Bliss today about decorating a rental apartment!!
I'm going to be doing a 3 part series starting this week with the walls!
Let me know if you have any great rental decorating tips!

Can you believe these strips are a vinyl wall decal?!

Happy November!