Home…be Inspired

Autumn Pumpkin Planter

I recently showed you my ideas on Halloweenish styled succulent planters. I also thought I was going to repurpose all of the succulents into an Autumn planter for the Thanksgiving table. Well....I changed my mind a bit as I was browsing my local garden center. When I saw the mini ornamental cabbages my heart did a little happy dance. If you know me I love everything in mini size, well except for chocolate I like those in the extra big sizes.  For the last several years I've planted some kind of plant in a pumpkin for our Thanksgiving hosts.  I posted a reference in the top image of some of the white pumpkin varieties as those are the ones I'm drawn to. I like how the green color of the plants pops off the white of the pumpkin, but any colored pumpkin will do and fit in with your color scheme that you choose in you fall decor.

I reused the string of pearls {that where Skullys dreads} in my Halloween Planter.

That way I could extend the use of it's decorative purpose.  I also reused the little succulents that are in the urn next to Skully into a on clearance white pumpkin bowl from World Market because it was missing it's lid, got it for a meager 2 dollars.

Here is a top view of the pumpkin planter.  I always like to change up my pumpkin planter for my host/hostess so they get a surprise every year.

The 1st time I did this was in 2013, I was happy with the results.  I had a little chalkboard that I wrote GATHER on it and glued a stick to it.  In 2014 I found this mixed herb plant with the ceramic turkey in it and hollowed out the Jarrahdale {the blueish-grey pumpkin} and put in the herb plant, I fell in love with the ceramic turkey when I saw it.  Then this years pumpkin planter in the bottom pictures, I'm very pleased with how it came out.  I hallow out my pumpkins and but small rocks from the dollar store but I've seen where you can hot glue succulents to the top of them with moss so the pumpkins last longer.  I've only heard that you do that with succulents not plants like cabbages or the herbs. After you've gutted it and the rocks are on the bottom you add potting soil. I love plants that drape so I'm loving how the string of pearls cascade off the side of the Lumina Pumpkin. In fact this pumpkin was so hardy that it lasted all year from 2015!  I've harvested the seeds so I can attempt to plant my own white pumpkins!  So if you need a great hostess gift or you are hosting dinner at your home this makes a great addition to your Thanksgiving table. You could use some of the mini pumpkins and use tiny succulents and put them on your dinner plates and your guests have a take home gift.  I've been decorating my Cottage on Cullen for the fall but won't start pulling any Christmas décor up until I'm out of my tryptophan coma. I'll be sharing my Fall Home soon.....hope you come back to see it.  Here is a sneak peak.

 

A Witch Brooms Sign Tutorial

 

Like I shared in the last post I finally made a Witch Broom sign that I have been wanting to create since I saw it on Inspired by Charm Blog.  If you have been following me for a while you'll know I love all things Witchy...I dress up as a witch for Halloween every year and so my décor matches my Halloween character. In the last several years I've been adding things here and there to my Witch Themed Halloween décor in my Cottage on Cullen. And the newest addition is the Witch Broom sign.  I'm very happy how it came out.  Here it the tutorial if you'd like to make one too. Since Halloween is Monday, you can whip this up in a couple of hours.

Here is the materials I used.  I had this old frame that I repurposed, it's been many things over the years since I acquired it from a friend.  I bought some Masonite from The Home Depot and Mr. Incredible cut it to size to fit inside my frame.  I had some leftover chalkboard paint from when I painted the chalkboard in the kitchen.  I bought a stencil for some lettering, Bistro Chalk Markers, white chalk, a pencil, a sponge roller, and ruler.  That's it! Your local craft store should have all these supplies. 

I rolled the chalkboard paint over the Masonite and I needed about 3 coats.  Let it dry.  It rolled on navy blue and I thought it was too old and changed colors but it was fine.

I seasoned it with the edge of the chalk going one direction then the other like crosshatched pattern.  Then wiped it with a rag.

I printed this banner out from PicMonkey because I was going to use it but changed my mind because I wanted to use a banner that expaned across the length of my board and this was too short.  I'm not quite sure how I would of made the banner longer so I used the pattern of the scrolls on the end and connected the curvy lines to them.  {in the end I used a different style of banner} that I printed and the letter stencils.

I traced the end pieces of the ribbon and then free handed to join each end. I stenciled the "Ye Olde Salem Broom Co." so the title would follow the bends in the ribbon banner.

Mr. Incredible is a much better artist than I am {I'm a good copier}  so he drew the witch brooms on the board.  He was getting carried away so I had to stop him from going overboard.  We used Bistro's Chalk Markers in a medium width tip in varies shades of browns for the brooms.  He used Inspired by Charm broom images to create all the brooms.

Then I chose a script font on PicMonkey and typed out some names that sounded to me like the names the Witch Brooms would of been labeled; The Wicked Witch, Swift Sweeper, The Lowrider Flyer, Cauldron Caddy and Haunted Hog. I tweeked some of the names on the original sign.

When you write over the letters with a sharp pencil it leaves an impression that is barely visible, you trace over the letters and Bam. Iggity Biggityy Boo...your done.

There you have it....I've added some spider webs and spiders to make it more spooky.   I'm still taking pictures of the rest of the house I'll dressed up in it's finest Halloween attire.  We have had so many problems with our Wifi service going down it's been hard to go online at times...the tech guy has been out here 3 times in the last couple of weeks.  It's been very frustrating.  I hope he fixed the problem.  Anyways...hope to have pictures of the Spooky Cottage on Cullen soon.

 

Halloween Succulent Planters

It seems like succulents continue to be so popular these days...no wonder they are so easy to grow and especially in drought ridden Southern California.  We received quite the downpour yesterday morning, I awoke to the loudest bang of thunder at 5:30 in the morning it shook the whole house, woke up both my girls and the poor dogs were scared to death.  We are expecting more rain at the end of this week so that's good for us here in So Cal.  My Hydrangeas are going to love it, but we were discussing succulents,  they are so good for our mostly sunny and dry weather after all we are considered a desert here in Southern California.  Since it is the spooky time of year I'd like to share with you some fun, spooky style planters for your Halloween decorating and they are really, really easy to do.

This is a real mini boo pumpkin that has been spookified with some tiny succulents, an itty bitty tombstone, some black, glittered, branch twigs, and black and white leaves.  Most of these items can be found in your local craft store. 

You might of remembered Skully from a couple of years ago, Mexican inspired {Dia de los Muertos} but this year I changed him up a bit. He is from Jamaica....

 he is sporting some dreads...{String of Pearls} Isn't he cute, Mon?  My idea here is to take Skully's dreads after Halloween and turn them into this...

I came across this darling Jarrahdale succulent-planted pumpkin from Stone Gable Blog. I love Yvonne she has such a great sense of style and up the kazoo creative!!  I want to be her when I grow up!  Seriously check her out.  Like the mini boo spooky pumpkin above this also uses smaller succulents.  Both pumpkins were NOT hallowed out, they were planted in the indent where the stem is located at.

Here is the one I did several years ago as a gift for my Thanksgiving Hostess. In this case  the pumpkin was gutted out and the succulents are planted inside of it, I used some small pebbles for drainage.   I always love trailing plants in my regular planters so I thought using the string of pearls from Skully's dreads will look fantastic when I do Yvonne's version next month in November.  And as a bonus the String of Pearls will be doing double duty.  Love that! Stretching my crafty buck.

Here is another version from Inspired by Charm, Michael is another creative mind with awesome décor styling skills.  He did this awesome Witch Broom Chalkboard that I fell in love with from the first time I saw it on Pinterest.  For the last couple of years it's been on my "DIY to do list"...finally I created my own version, I tweaked mine a bit to make it m own but it is very similar.  Here is a little teaser on what my Witchy Front Porch is looking like for this years Halloween.

 We had this old frame that I've used for several years on all kinds of things, it was used in our House of Horrors at the Middle school so I thought lets use that for the Ye Olde Salem Broom Company witch broom sign.  Another inspiring DIY blogger is Brooklyn Limestone, every year she does the most fantastic Halloween themed party.  This year she is doing a Witch Supply company theme,  check out her REAL Broom sign HERE.

Hope you liked these fun, easy, spooky planter ideas and come back soon so get the full Spooky Cottage on Cullen tour, I think Friday the pictures should be up on the blog.  I've been posting some tidbits on my Instagram. 

 

 

Have you ever been BOOed?

No no, not that kind of booing where the audience boos you for a bad stage performance.  This is the good kind of BOOing were you give or get treats..that kind of  BOOing. I'll tell you how...right now.

Well it has been around for about 20 years according to this BEEN BOOed website  and there are so many versions of it, office BOOing, neighborhood BOOing and school BOOing.  The school I work at has been BOOing for the last several years now.  One teacher starts it and leaves a bag or a bucket of treats for a class at the school and maybe a little something for the teacher too {wine is always nice, Oh I didn't just say that} by the door. They put the "We've Been BOOed" sign out by their door and they in turn find another classroom who has not been BOOed by seeing if they have the sign out or not.  It's also very popular in neighborhoods across the country and I'll share a couple of versions with you if you want to start this fun Halloween tradition in your neighborhood.  This poem is probably one of the originals where I found at the above website which had quite a bit of info on the subject of BOOing. A ghost or phantom usually accompanies the Boo Bucket and that's where the whole "booing" thing came from. Here is the poem but their are lots of other versions floating around the internet.

                                                              Here to Download this version

You are supposed to put together a few treats in a container of your choice; a bucket, a seasonal decorated bag anything that will add to the spirit of Halloween and contain all your treats you've made or bought.  I've seen cones you can hang on  doorknobs, I've seen decorated boxes, anything that will hold some goodies will do.  There is also an adult beverage version, where you drop off a bottle of alcohol or wine, NOW that's right up my alley.  Then the sign says "We've been BOOZED"...Haha!!  World Market and Trader Joe's have so many Halloween themed labeled wines you'd have a great selection to choose from to do the "We've been BOOZEd version here. But out of all the printables out there this BOO printable for my neighbors was just perfect.  It had the cutest graphics of Frankie and the li'l red haired witch and I really liked all the detail that when into it, perfect for a family with small children.

 I have some "littles" who live across the street that I  have gotten to know quite well and they are also fellow teachers too.  I've written about them on my blog several times. Once when I gave them a "Welcome to the Neighborhood Gift" and several birthday parties that our family have been invited to. Recently, I shared the Country Living's Blue Truck Pumpkin I carved for them for their son's birthday in September on my Instagram.  It came out really cute and I love looking out my kitchen window seeing it on their porch as I do the dishes.  That's WIN WIN in my book!

Their children LOVE to read books and this little Apples and Pumpkins book by Anne Rockwell is one of my favorites to read to small children, I read it every year to the students at school.  I have quite the collection of Halloween books, my newest one is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson.  Yes, I have a thing for Witches, some people Mackenzie who will remain nameless feel that my Witch obsession is becoming disturbing. Humph...I say to that!

Did I tell you how cute this  little "We've Been BOOed" Free Printable is?  Oh I did, I found it on Pinterest but go here if you want more of a selection to choose from.   Pinterest is loaded with great ideas, there are now "We've Been Elfed" and "We've Been Pinched" for St. Patrick's Day and a "We've Been Egged" for Easter.    Anyways...this FREE printable was perfect for my need especially since it matched the Frankie cookie I found at Homegoods. Next time I think I'd like to make some homemade sugar cookies for the BOO baskets instead of store bought.  I saw this cute Owl Sugar Cookie I've been wanting to bake and decorate.

Here is the breakdown of items I used to put together for the "We've Been BOOed" Jack O'Lantern Bucket.....

I had this Jack O'Lantern bucket already from the last time we got BOOed in our old neighborhood and it fit all of our chosen treats perfectly, so free is always good. 

The Apples and Pumpkins book I found at the my local bookstore, since they are 2 and 3 this cardboard version is very sturdy for little hands.

The sugar cookie Frankenstein and Jack O'Lanterns I got at Homegoods.  Like I said, I'll have to make my own sugar cookies next year or take on another BOO recipient in the "hood" in the next couple of weeks. Halloween is just two weeks away! But isn't Frankie cute?  Oh how I love his sweet face.  One year my eldest daughter was The Bride of Frankenstein, it was homemade costume and was one of my favorite costumes to date...I think she should do it again this year, her boyfriend is 6'5", he would make a great Frankenstein, it would make a great couple costume in my opinion but they never ask for my opinion.

The Glow in the Dark Saucer Flyer, the Vampire Gummies, and the Dia De Los Muertos measuring spoons { a li'l something for the cook in the house} I got at Cost Plus World Market.  They have a great selection of Halloween treats and décor, my go to store for all seasonal items. 

Don't you want to start this tradition in your neighborhood or school or even your office, it brings out the kid in all of us.  It can fit any budget or your creativity as you see fit.   Just make sure you ring the doorbell and leave your li'l surprise and run like a Bat out of Hell!!  Happy BOOing everyone!!  BWWWHAAAAA!!!!

 

10 Spooktacular Front Porch Ideas

I am loving all the Fall Home blog hops all over the internet, everyone is so talented and I am inspired by more ideas than I can ever do in this lifetime.  But when it comes to Autumn decorating right now I fall into the spooky décor type as I gear up for Halloween in October and I save Autumn decorating for November. There are so many ideas that are buzzing in my head and a few new DIY projects I'd like to tackle for Fall.  My  Fall décor DIY projects with the color palette of reds, rusts, marigolds, and browns will have to wait because I'm all about the black, orange, white and the witchy.   I've started to pull out my gazillion Halloween boxes and in the last few weeks I've been picking up a few things for my "Witchy Porch" theme.  Last year I didn't post any pictures of my home in October as I was working a lot and never got around to taking any pictures, but here are some pictures from two years ago. I've always had a "thang" for being the Wicked Witch of the West, it's on my bucket list to play her one of these days on a stage or something.  Yes, I'm a dreamer.

My trio of witch hats flying in the air.

 I love how my Creeping Jennys were so long and my Jasmine was crawling up the wrought iron post, it doesn't look like that now.  My broom parking will most likely have to be moved since the Big Pumpkin is now sitting there.  I posted on my Instagram about Big Pumpkin. For years Mr. Incredible has wanted to grow his own humongous pumpkin but he says you need a big seed from one, so hopefully we will have our very own Big Pumpkin this time next year. He was so excited to bring it home like a little boy, I thought it was so cute.

Isn't he huge?  I've had the plants in these planters all summer and just added the lipstick plant to the white terracotta planter and when Big Pumpkin moved in I had to add some friends for him so he wasn't lonely.  So this little bit of space is the only area that is more fallish than spooky.  I've been working on my porch all day and typing this post in between as my internet was down for most of the day and yesterday too, it's finally fixed and now I can post. So are you ready for some Halloween Spooky Porch décor?  I have 10 Spooktacular Porch Ideas I have rounded up for you...

The house in the this picture has to be one of my favorite Spooky House images ever, I'm sure you've seen all over the internet but I first saw it on the blog  Between Naps on the Porch.  I love all of her tablescapes that she does and she has some cute DIY projects too.  Check her out.

 1.} The first one is from Pottery Barn's  tumbler page the black lanterns going up the steps, a few hanging bats in the rafters and trees.  I like the white pumpkins of course with the grey ones give it a more darker look.

Can you see the skeleton on the bench? He is chained to the metal gate grid, trying to escape.

  

 2.}  Spiders, spiders, spiders....they are creepy!!!  Can you see the corpse in this picture, the arachnids are devouring it. 

3.} The Birds Theme Look is by taking a big black urn or even a cauldron and sticking branches in them with lots of menacing crows at the ready to peck your eyes out.  Remember the movie The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock? My Aunt is terrified of birds ever since she saw that movie, still to this day. Look at the skull book page on the door with more pages hanging from the branches. If you have an urn and just cutting some branches from your tree painting them black, add a few pumpkins to the urn and bam insta Halloween décor.

4.} The Graveyard front porch entrance...with it's scary Jack O'Lanterns in a variety of faces and sizes. This spooky graveyard entrance comes from My Home Ideas .  Lots of little details went into creating this chilling porch.  The tombstones can be picked up at any of the dollar stores in your area and in no time you have a graveyard just had an urn or two with planted mums and paint some fall leaf garlands black and trail them up the porch posts. A great graveyard is done.

 5.} I love the glowing lights in green and purple with luminaries made up of paper bags sitting on the lawn.  If you don't like the idea of lighting real candles there are so many battery operated options these days.  The dormer window silhouettes look like they are having a party upstairs.

6.} This door entry is very simple with the a skeleton greeter waiting new arrivals to the cemetery. All you need is some good painting skills.  Use an old cardboard box and recreate the cemetery door and picket fence.  Go Here to see how it was done.

8.} Another simple porch idea from "the other Martha" {that's an inside joke, my family is always teasing me how I have Martha Stewart Standards and yada, yada, yada} well not matter what kind of standards I have or she has the girl has great taste and I appreciate it.  I love the simplicity of this porch with a few upside down bats and a couple of witches' brooms at the doorway and pumpkins in a variety of shades of oranges on the steps. Sometimes simple is best.  If you like to do a batty theme on your porch go Here to get a tutorial on how to create bats and place them across the door and a few to hang upside down as they are sleeping.  To me there is something so cute about Bats. 

9.} This happens to be one of my all time favorites from Better, Homes, and Gardens lots of Mums and the trio of skeletons climbing up the rooftop to get inside the house.  I know the skeletons run about $100.00 a piece depending where you purchase them but picking them up at a discount after the season will most likely get them at a great price.  I keep thinking I'd like to put a couple of them  on my Adirondacks with witches hats but I use those chairs way too much so not too practical for me.

10.} Over at Tatertots and Jello's  Porch is really cute and I love how fresh it is with it's Jack O'Lantern topiary, go HERE for the tutorial and did I say I'm all over that dutch door in cheery yellow.  I love her gray and yellow color scheme on her house and it looks great with the orange and black Halloween décor. She also has quite a few tutorials on how to achieve this look. 

And there you have it...some great ideas to get your spell binding abilities to work.  All right I'll leave you with a sneak peek...

Skully will get some succulents added to him like I did here in my Dia De Los Muerstos post from 2014 . Hope this has been a bit inspiring for you folks that like to do the spooky and I should have the whole Porch Post up the first week in October.

 

 

 

 

10 Must Haves for a Boho Chic Bedroom from World Market

This post was sponsored by Cost Plus World Market  but all opinions are 100% my own.  #sponsered #worldmarkettribe

 My daughter's Bohemian Chic room is coming together quite nicely and it has a mixture of things I've shopped our home for and décor we went shopping for.   You might of remembered a few posts back I created a dream Bohemian Chic board to visualize the direction we are headed to take her bedroom from Hawaiian to Bohemian.  The room started with a few key pieces; my chippy, Jenny-Lind, childhood bed, my family's desk from my home {that was already in her room but has been painted several times, it's such a sturdy well built piece of furniture} and the button chair my neighbor gave us was the basis of our Boho refresh. The Bohemian Style is very popular right now with young and old alike whether it be in fashion or crossing over into the home décor world. I know I have quite a few pieces in my wardrobe that are Bohemian style, my scalloped sandals I got last spring, as well as my peasant patterned paisley dress and lots of embroidered tops keep popping up in my closet. They are bright and colorful and have a handmade quality about them. Many time fashion crosses over into home décor and vise versa.

In home décor think unique and exotic fabrics, disheveled throws, an abundance of cacti or succulents, a few sentimental keepsakes, knickknacks, and handmade collectibles lovingly layered to create a worldly space. The Bohemian style is a layered, textural, patterned look that takes you to the 70's decade  and  has quite a few collections from Cost Plus World Market that will give you that Boho Chic Vibe.

Here are just a few key pieces from The Nomad Collection of the 10 Must haves from World Market to create a Boho Vibe in your bedroom or living space.

        Shop this Bohemian Chic Look

1.} Wooden accented mirror, one or a collection of many  mirrors either a carved wooden one or one of the many gilded golden ones such as this Antique Sunburst Mirror, I love it's aged gold patina.

2.} Patterns,  this Cute as a Button Chair provides lots of texture in it's linen fabric as well as the different and colorful patterns on the tufted buttons. This chair is so comfortable and sometimes when I'm sitting in my daughter's room and she is on the bed on her phone or sitting at her desk doing homework it give me a place to sit and chat.  We LOVE this chair!

3.} Textures, this colorful and nubby Multi-colored Chindi Throw Pillow just screams Bohemian style, it adds a lot of colorful and textural pizazz.

4.} Metallics, using Gold, or Copper or something that is made out of metal like the teal blue Arianna Filigree Lantern , the pierced metal throws light around the rom and I'm digging the teal blue color.

5.} Layers with different textural looks comes into play with this Overstuffed Mongolian Faux Fur Pillow in Ivory yep, and quite cozy too!

6.} Handwoven art piece, either a macramé plant hanger or using this Macrame Runner and putting it up on the wall will make a major Bohemian Statement on the room.

7.} Bling, a touch of gold or copper with this stacked Audrey Lamp will add much needed light on the desk and the golden color add a bit of bling.  

8.} Natural pieces like baskets or several baskets to contain plants, every Bohemian space needs some kind of greenery, usually  succulents, cacti or even something like the Spider plant that was so popular in the 70's would fit the bill and the Natural Hyacinth Baskets would be perfect for that.

9.} Multi-tonal prints, think patterned scarves in different prints as is in this warm, multi-colored Pink Suti Pouf which can have several uses, as a place to rest your feet or put a tray on it and it's a side table.

10.} Rugs, and last but certainly not least is the Boho Kilim Rug , it ties all the colors together and grounds the room.

When I think of Bohemian style there is one in particular blogger that always comes to mind.  Justina Blakeney from The Jungalow Blog, she is redoing the cutest little Bungalow with a ton of character and Bohemian Pizazz..she is one creative individual, do check her BLOG out.  Her home is eye candy for the Bohemian Eye. Here is a little video where Justina's personality shines....she is such a bubbly personality with a ton of creativity and energy.

 

 Are you diggin' Boho Chic style? Well hold on to your macramé, Cost Plus World Market is having a Refresh that Global Space Sweepstakes!! 

 That's right you "wanna be hippies" you could win a GRAND PRIZE Package of a $5,000.00 Shopping Spree from Cost Plus World Market AND a design consultation with Celebrity Designer Nicole Curtis from HGTV's Rehab Attic Fame or Three { 3 } first prize winners could win a $1,000 Cost Plus World Market gift card,   ENTER HERE to win a chance to win one of those Refresh Your Space prizes.  Hurry up the Sweepstakes ends September 30, 2016.  GOOD LUCK Global Peeps! 

 

 

I've Been Bloggging for 9 years but I used to Scrapbook

                                                                     {Sept. 2007}

 Apple pie, apple cider, applesauce...apple with caramel...to head on to Oak Glen, Calif. (The link is at the botoom,)...so be ready to put on your jean overalls and bring out your Cameras...ya'll. Lots of Pumpkins and Apple Orchards. These pictures are from a couple of years ago and man have my girls grown! Another place that is beautiful to pick apples is Julian, near San Diego. I loved that town. We went a few years ago and we had just gott there and MacKenzie peed her pants..I had no spare clothes, she was like 4 and fully pottied trained, so I didn't think to bring an extra pair and it was a chilly day, so we had to turn around and go home :( We were in the town approx 15 minutes so we didn't get to see much. I loved what I saw though and plan to go back. I could actually see myself living there in the country..I am such a country girl at heart even though I have been raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. I loved living on Kaua'i..it was so country. People would ask, " do you get rock or island fever"...I never felt like that at all., it was so beautiful on Kaua'i.

This is an excerpt from one of my very first posts I ever did in 2007, can you believe it? I've been blogging for 9 years!  I've grown as a blogger but probably not as fast as I could or should have, I wish I was better at it and was able to attend some of the conferences that many of the "superstar bloggers" go to. I think you learn so much from the blogging world and would really improve my blogging game, I know there are keys things bloggers do to have a successful blog and make some or a lot of money at it. When I started Home be Inspired blog it was a way to journal about my life, I was really big into scrapbooking before I had children and when they were very young.  Somewhere along the line I stopped scrapbooking, I miss that a lot.  I was even published in some of the major publications at the time, as was my scrapbook room, Mr. Incredible built for me. It was huge and had air conditioning and cable television,  It overlooked the backyard with the jungle gym the girls played on, it even had a creative space for them to paint and play along side me. But that was in the first house we lived in when we moved back to California.  Some of my best work came out of that creative space.

Scrapbooking was such a creative outlet for me to do when the children were little and it gave me something else to do instead of tending to all my Mom and housewife duties 24/7.  Being creative was very therapeutic  as it still is to this very day.  I have to do something creative.

When I look back at this page, I can't believe I hand painted all the brads white to give them a shabby chic look, boy I was a bit nuts!

As you can see I loved patterns and it's been transferred from my scrapbook pages to my home décor.

That little metal box in the top page in the left bottom corner opens up to reveal an accordion book of mini pictures. Yes, I put a lot of details into my pages. I don't know how it happened but my scrapbooking time ended up being replaced with blogging about my family life, crafts and DIY projects for the home.  Shopping yard sales and thrift stores and repainting furniture to turn my house into a home.

I belonged to a scrapbook group and we called ourselves The Scrapanos and we would meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month and scrapbook ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT and sometimes go on excursions like French General or The Rose Bowl.  We always had such a fun filled time and I cherish those relationships that came from that time in my life.  Soon those Saturdays got replaced with Soccer or Volleyball games and slowly my scrapbooking ceased which is so sad but such is life as a Mom.  My Scrapanos group are split from living in San Diego, Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties so we don't all live close together,  it has not been easy to keep this creative group going.  I know we miss each other and we have been trying to carve out a girls weekend together., it quite hasn't panned out yet. Quite a few of us have used the scrapbook world to springboard to careers into something else, one of the girls has a photography company, one has taken calligraphy and started a company with her fantastic penmanship.  Some have gone back to teaching and I've continued to substitute and kept of this blog and work as an Ambassador to World Market. 

I know that I'll never be a Superblogger because My Home...be Inspired blog was never created to be a place where I make an income, it was a replacement for my lack of scrapbooking.  That creative outlet has moved to DIY projects in the Cottage on Cullen, gardening, renovations and the interior decorating that I enjoy to do.  Maybe as time opens up to me I'll come full circle and go back to finishing the Albums I've started and begin scrapbooking again, you never know stranger things have happened.

 

 

Bohemian Chic Dream Board

It's best to start with a vision board when redoing a space especially since I'm not the "client" but my daughter is.  I see things that my eye is naturally drawn too but she will have an idea what is inside her head and I try to guess what she wants to do or what she likes, what is her vision? So instead of guessing, I've been "pinning" images to the Bohemian Chic board and asking her if this image or look is what she has in mind.  She gives me the thumbs up or says, "no, I want it more simple" or "that's too cluttered of a look".  I believe I tend to be more cluttery, yes I think so.  I created this vision board on Pic Monkey so I can "see" as I listen to what that vision is or hopefully be transformed too.  That's what so great about Pinterest, I'm a very visual person so seeing something I like or don't like really helps.

So what are we going to do in this Adult {ish} Bedroom?  We will keep some key pieces, such as my childhood bed with it's chippy white paint as seen in the top picture.  The desk which she repainted white a couple of years ago. We may shop for a new chair or I think I have one in the garage that will work. The Button Chair came from my neighbor, it's from World Market and is so comfortable.  I love it's different patterned buttons and the linen material. We added a patterned pillow from Homegoods and a tandem bicycle pillow I shopped the house for, I got it from So Vintage Chic this past year, blues and corals are one of my favorite color combos and who doesn't love a tandem bike full of flowers? .We have had this log for a few winter seasons and I've always had in sitting in the fireplace grate just for looks.  I had Mr. Incredible cut it straight and flat and then I tapped it off and painted the bottom 1/3 white for a cute little side table.

That's what we have done so far, we did pick up  some bedding from World Market and a few more pillows from around the house.  Here are the links on a few of the items we plan on incorporating into the décor of her Boho Chic Bedroom.

1.} the crochet edged pillow case is from Pottery Barn to add some texture, Bohemian style has lots of textures and patterns and a very organic look

2.} globe terrariums with moss and air plants along with the copper geo terrarium

3.} I loved these succulent ceramic candles I saw at Anthropologie and they are sold out now and when I went into the store they a 2 left but the flowers were broken, :(  but with lots of faux and real succulents in her room it will be ok, I just thought they were adorable

4.} the beaded light from HERE I think would make a great statement but we may go with something a pierced tin  lantern, a more Indian look

5.} the micro lights with the mini clothespins and the Instagram photos for some ambiance and pizazz

6.} the log table was easy and free as well as the little jug the Billy Balls are in, I think they are so adorable, came from Trader Joe's

That jug the Billy Balls are in Mr. Incredible made in Ceramics class in high school.....and we have a few more vases and cups that might make an appearance in the her room.  The links are highlighted in blue to the items we got already or plan on getting. The colorful hand painted floor I'm in love with, I'm not at all artistic but I'm a good copycat, I wouldn't put it on the floor but a wood piece and hang it up as art.  I'd like to get some kind of macramé art or make up some dream catchers. 

Her dream bedroom  is coming along and it's kind of fun for me to do something out of my comfort zone....Boho Chic here we come!

Concrete Hands with Planted Succulents

 

I shared in my last post about the Concrete Hand Planters we made for a Celebration of Life event.  It was a joint effort between 2 of my girlfriends.  We needed to make about 20 of them for the tables so as the old saying goes, "Many hands make light work."  They all came out unique in their own way, no two were exactly the same.

We used a variety of mosses and succulents to achieve their unique look.  So how did we make them, would you like to know? We first saw the video on Nifty on Facebook and decided succulents with shells would be the best representation of Brandon, whose life we were celebrating on this day.  He was a lover of nature and all things to do with the Ocean, succulents and shells say Beach to me so we went to work.

This is my BFF Mary Jo since high school, we are sometimes like an old married couple.  Ha!  Anyways she is mixing a combination of quick-set cement and regular cement with water.  The regular cement takes 24 hours to harden so we went with the combo, we didn't have that kind of time. We used medium strength gloves, you can get at Home Depot and filled them with the cement mixture and milked the cement in the fingers as well as tapping the air out of them, we didn't want air bubbles. This was the most tedious process. 

This is Monica, I've known her since Kindergarten.  She was filling the gloves with the cement mixture and after she milked the cement into the fingers and tapped out the air bubbles she then tied them at the bottom with twisty ties.  She then formed the gloves into a small bowl for the one hand or if they are two hands into a bigger bowl as she separated and shaped the fingers into the correct shape. They took about 2 hours to harden, you can feel them they are warm to the touch but once they are cool they are good to go.  We cut and pulled the gloves off and this is what they look like.

As you can see its very smooth and you can see the glove indentations where so we "muddy" them up by adding some cement on the edges, you don't see the inside when the plants are in them so no need to add it to that part.

See how rough for  they look now?  Now for the fun part!  As you can see we used a variety of materials such as different colored and textured mosses and succulents.

You fill the bottom with rocks for drainage otherwise they get root rot. 

You then start filling the hand in with the succulents, I like to put the longer taller ones in towards the back and the ones that trail such as String of Pearls off to the side.  I wanted them to have different shapes and textures that's how I chose the succulents, some tall, some spikey some short and squatty.  Ours were on sale at Home Depot , $12.00 for 3 five gallon buckets but I also put in some of the Echeveria because I like how they remind me of roses. 

Here is a little chart of some of them, so many different varieties, I really like Helveticum, it's common name of Hens and Chicks.  They are too cute to me.  Monica liked the spikey ones and Mary Jo liked the tall or trailing ones, we all had a different preference.

You fill in the empty spaces with Reindeer or Spanish moss and then you add a few shells here and there.  You could add rocks instead if you wanted or sand it all depended on what look you want.

Then you have a unique garden piece which requires minimal watering and looks great!  It took us about 2 days to make 20 of them.

So I would only take you a few hours to make one or two.  Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  You can go HERE  or HERE to my Pinterest Boards and you can see I see I may have a slight Succulent Fetish!!  I know..but they are too cute and it's something I can't kill!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terrariums and Succulents, Faux and Real

Aren't these terrariums adorable?  I'm planning {or maybe teaching Madison how to make them}  to sit on her very high shelf in her new Boho Chic bedroom redo.  Now, I'm sure she doesn't want to get a ladder every time she needs to water them but guess what she won't have to, they are Faux Succulents!!  That's right peeps, faux.  That is a maintenance free terrarium. If you would like a NO maintanence option to add a little greenery and nature to your décor this is the way to go.  And it so happens if you live in or near Brea, California I'll be teaching you how to put them together this Saturday from 2-4 p.m at World Market.  So I hope you'll be able to join me in this class as I demonstrate how easy they are to put together you'll be so very happy you came.

In other succulent news...

I've created these concrete hands in conjunction with a few friends for some centerpieces for a Celebration of Life that took place on Wednesday for a dear friend's son who passed away, way too soon. He will be missed and leave a whole in everyone's hearts. He was a gentle spirt with a giving heart.

Here are the concrete hands that we made, filled with succulents and shells sitting on the tables.

 

 They all came out different with the different variety of succulents planted in them and depending on what filler you put in to help keep the soil moist.  We added seashells since he was a big lover of the beach and anything to do with nature.  I'm very pleased how they came out and will have a tutorial on the blog next week on how we put them together and tips and tricks we learned.  HERE is a great website that has a quite a bit of info on plants and a guide to succulent care, please check it out!