Old Candle Jars Repurposed

I love re-purposing things! I love making old food containers into pots for my plants, love making old wood into new signs, and most recently, old candle jars into bathroom storage. I had a couple of the three wick candles from Bath and Body Works, that I had used up, and instead of throwing out the jars, I decided to reuse them. I cleaned out the old wax from them - this is is wonderful tutorial on how.

They make amazing jars for bathroom storage, and this really is not a new idea. So, that's what I did with mine. One for cotton balls, and another for makeup circles. I kind of wanted to use the makeup circle one for cotton swabs, but I had purchased a set, that included a container for swabs. I may have to toss that one out, just so that I can use these candle jars instead!

They are beautiful by themselves, and even more gorgeous with some vinyl put onto them! I used a couple phrases that I had purchased from the Silhouette Design Store, and I am very pleased with them, they turned out awesome! I am getting better at putting vinyl on things, as I find little tricks to make thing easier.

I used Oracal 651, which is the waterproof, outdoor vinyl. Sadly, these also took the last of my second favorite metallic silver. (My most favorite is the gold metallic vinyl, that I used or my coasters). I have already ordered much more of it, now that I know it's one of my most used. I love the metallics! My most recent order was pretty much all of the metallic colors. And several feet of just plain white.

I really wanted "inspirational" phrases for my bathroom, because the bathroom is where I visit first thing in the morning, and some days, I just really need to hear something positive. These work well for that purpose, I think!

Persian Shield Plant

For the longest time, I have been wanting a Persian Shield plant. Ever since I saw this gorgeous photo appear on Pinterest, I have been drooling over it. I have tried to find it in any possible store I went into around me, could never find it. Last week, I decided that I was going to finally just, order it online.

I looked, and searched. The disappointing part of wanting to order it in March, is that places won't ship until after the last frost. Which, apparently, in my case, is the middle of May. Sorry, but I am a impatient person, and I want instant gratification. Besides, I fully intend to keep it as a houseplant, and not as an outside annual, as many online nursery's assume. So, I looked and looked, and eventually found a nursery that will ship it in March, at a decent price. I placed my order.

I essentially paid a little under $13 for my Persian Shield, but in the end, I am glad I went with Morris Nursery, because they even sent a little bonus plant, too!

The Persian Shield is the bigger one, and the bonus is the small one. Apparently, the bonus is a succulent, called "Mother of Million, Alligator Plant", or so said the informational paper they sent. I can not find any other information on the succulent. All the pictures that come up does not look anything like the plant I received. Anyway, They both came wrapped in paper towels, then plastic wrap, and then the whole thing was wrapped in newspaper.

My Persian Shield seems to have several crispy leaves toward the bottom, but I'm thinking that may have been from transport, perhaps? And it's leaning quite a bit, so here's to hoping it can get it's bearings again now that it's back in a pot. The top of the plant looks beautiful, and from what I have read, it roots easily from cuttings. Once it grows up a little bit more, I'm planning on taking a few cuttings so that the pot it is in, can look a little fuller.

A side note: I am really going to have to start looking for alternatives in my apartment for my plants, I have so many now, I do not have any space on my windowsill for any more! I told my husband that we need to move into a two bedroom, so I could have a second windowsill. He was not amused.

Double Delight Rose Bush

Spring is coming, and I am excited! Last year, I made a small attempt at trying to do some container gardening on my patio, but I failed miserably. This year, I'm going to try my hardest to get it right! I grow a variety of things on my windowsill year round (mainly aloe vera plants), but I'm going to try to get going with beautiful, blooming plants outside.

I decided upon getting roses. I have been frequenting the nursery, Home Depot, Lowes, and various big box stores, looking for rose bushes. I've been spending a lot of time researching them, looking at ways to propagate, different varieties. I came across one that I liked, it was beautiful and had good reviews about living in containers. I ordered it, for almost $18, but it will come to me as "bare root", which to my understanding, is a dormant plant. But that's okay! I went out, purchased a huge pot, potting mix. I was ready to receive it.

However, by some fluke, I went to a hardware store that I hadn't been to in a while, since it's kind of out of the way. Imagine my surprise when I find an ENTIRE BOX full of bare root roses. I dug around in them, found a gorgeous bloom called "Double Delight." Upon talking to someone in the store, they told me that they were better off in the ground, that they would only last so long in containers. I didn't care, I wanted something to plant... now.

And here she is, my bare root Double Delight rose bush! It's not much to look at now, but I'm hoping it grows really well, and survives for a couple of years, at least.

I also made sure that I picked one out that had a little bit of new growth on it. While frankly, I have no idea what this new growth is, I'm taking it as a good sign that the plant is still alive, and ready to live!

A lot of my gardening is just trial, error, and a ton of Googling. As for the rose I ordered... I still have a pot for it (although this one is a bit smaller), potting mix is ready, and it was supposed to have shipped yesterday. It didn't, and I have already contacted the place I bought it from, who told me they are waiting for the weather. Well, thanks for keeping me informed? Sheesh.

New Faux Wood Blinds

We have been living in our apartment for over one year now! We recently renewed our lease for another year. In doing so, we got to choose an upgrade! There were many things on the list, a curved shower curtain rod, upgraded ceiling fan, USB outlet in the bedroom, or faux wood blinds. What did we choose?

The faux wood blinds of course! Mainly because the cat had destroyed our normal blinds, because they are super flimsy, and some of the slats were bent and broken. I figured these would be just a bit more indestructible. And, it appears that we have most of the other upgrades as well. We already have the ceiling fan, the USB outlet, and the curved shower rod, from the previous tenant's lease renewals.

I love them! They are gorgeous!

Finished Gallery Wall

A while ago, I had the idea to make a gallery type wall above my couch. I cut out a variety of sizes of picture frames out of newspaper (I called them "mock pictures"), and hung them on my wall with painter's tape. I spent a couple of days moving them around, trying to get a good configuration of what I liked. Then I ordered my frames. I had shopped around a lot for a good price on frames, and found the best deal for all of them was from Ikea, even after the cost of having them shipped to me. They came with mats, and I was able to order different sizes, since I like everything to be all match-y.

Once the frames came, I used the newspaper cutouts and marked where the holes are on the original frames, and used the newspaper to measure, then had my husband put my nails in the wall. Once the nails were in, I ripped off the newspaper frame.

After those were done, I got access to my wedding pictures, so I ordered my photos (I always seem to find the best deals and coupon codes from Snapfish, I love them!). My prints came the next week, so I put them in the frames and hung them up! It definitely was a lot of waiting for the impatient me!

Now, I will talk about this for a minute. It is very far from perfect. The pictures are not evenly spaced apart, the smaller ones do not match up perfectly in a line like I wanted. However, I knew this project was going to end up like that, to be honest. I had a really hard time measuring, re-measuring, and measuring again. The newspaper looked good and lined up, but the frames... not so much.

My husband and I fiddled around with this wall for hours one Sunday, and I refused to put any more holes in the walls to get them perfect. So, I'm learning to be fine with the imperfections. I may go back later and maybe secure the smaller ones better with Command strips, because with our upstairs neighbor stomping up the stairs, and Amelia bumping into the wall, they sometimes get nudged sideways, making them uneven. It has been a struggle, walking by and straightening them out several times a week. I was trying to avoid the strips, because they are obscenely expensive for what I need - but I am starting to think I may have no choice!

But all things considered, they turned out better than I expected them to be. I like to think that you can't see the issues with them unless you try to look for them, but I'm not sure that is true. LOL!

Amelia at 11.5 Months

My love, Amelia, is almost one year old this month! She officially turns one on March 29th. I fully intend on making her a few little puppy cupcakes for her, and possibly and new toy for her to enjoy. It seems like just yesterday that we had gone to pick her up from the breeder, cleaning up her vomit when she got car sick on the way home, having all those sleepless nights, the every ten minute potty breaks... while I do not miss a lot of the puppy stuff, I would not trade it for the world!

It seems just one day, I looked at her, and saw what a beautiful, wonderful dog she had become. There was a period in her puppyhood that I got really frustrated with her, she was nipping constantly, she would pee in the house, even though we had JUST came back in from standing out there for 10 minutes. It was entirely no fault of hers, she was a puppy, and that is what puppies do. However, I thought that it would never end. But one day, I took her over to a friend's house, and would not let her out of my sight, in fear of her peeing in their new house. She shocked me when she started pawing at the sliding glass door, and ran right out to go potty outside. Since that day, our accidents in the apartment became fewer and fewer, as we finally "got" potty training.

She looks photogenic, but in reality, she is far from it. I will give you all a tip on how to get reasonably good photos of dogs: give them something to chew on. Seriously, if I attempt to get pictures of her without something for her to do, she will just waltz up to the camera, sniff it, and not go away. It makes for disastrous photos, because I really like to get at her level to take photos. I have never been a fan of taking photos from above. So, I shove something in her face (for this session, it was a deer antler), and I will just start snapping. I will probably take about two hundred pictures in a fifteen minute period, then finding which photos I love the most once I download them on to my computer.

We also recently got her officially AKC registered (which, if you ask me, was a complete waste of $40), and after another $31, she got registered with the city as well. We were definitely a little late in doing so, but money never really allowed it until now. Miraculously, we also avoided late fees. Bonus! She's all current and official now! We chose her AKC name to be "Stewart's Miss Amelia," because well... she is. :)

Our Wedding Pictures

As my readers know, I got married to my husband last year. It wasn't a huge thing, just a simple, tiny ceremony at the county courthouse, and a dinner at a fancy restaurant afterwards. I had a close friend who is trying to get into the photography business offer to take our photos. She took the pictures, but shortly after, she got incredibly busy with various events in her life. I didn't get the photos until last week. (But that's okay, I wasn't in a hurry to get them).

So, I'll share a few of my most favorites here. It was a really stressful day, I wasn't quite myself. I have trouble with being the center of attention, and having people focus on me, so I was extremely fidgety. Also, it was my wedding day, and I didn't have my family there, as they were still in  California, so it was also emotional for me. My friend photographer tried her hardest to keep my spirits up and she definitely did the best she could, with me being as (not) photogenic as I am.

She suggested this pose to me, and I was weary about doing it, because I swore up and down that he was going to drop me! But, it turned out to be my most favorite photo of all the ones she took. I love the way the dress moved, and it really looked like we were having fun! I love this photo, I definitely plan on putting an enlarged version of this on my wall.

Another one of my favorites. She had found a bench within the courthouse that was next to a window. We sat on the bench, and she snapped this one. I love this photo. I think it captures our happiness for that day brilliantly. I wanted to go around and get photos for my family, and his, and found out that this photo was definitely one of the favorites between everyone. Everyone wanted a copy of this photo. I agree with all of them, this photo is fantastic. I even ordered a print of this one for the husband to take to his desk at work.

Another sweet photo of us, outside the courthouse. By this point, my $3 shoes were killing my feet, but my friend kept me going, snapping photos the whole time. She really did a fantastic job at our photos. I don't know what we would have done without her, we probably would have had a lot of cell phone photos, really.

A full length photo of the two of us. This shows off our wedding clothing rather well. I really tried my best to match each other. I think I did pretty well, I had even tried to match my nail polish. Haha, I was completely obsessive over trying to get everything to match well.

Lastly, a solitary photo of me. While my photographer friend took fabulous photos, I find myself finding all sorts of flaws with me. I really wish that I had took longer to find a necklace that matched my hair piece better. A necklace probably would have made my chest not look so large. Should have gotten teeth whiteners, Should have put on makeup that day. I am probably the only one who feels that way about them, because I know that I'm the only one who focuses on every flaw in me.

Decorating Tiles With the Silhouette

Recently, I decided that I wanted to really make my apartment a little more like a home. We have been here almost a full year, and we have basically nothing on our walls, except for some spray painted letters. My apartment just doesn't feel lived in. So, I made the decision to really invest in some pieces to make it a little more home-y.

First on my list of things to have: coasters! Since I prefer to do it myself when I can, I went to our local Home Depot and picked up some of the cheapest kitchen floor tiles that I could find. I got four small 3x3 glossy ceramic tiles, priced at only .13 cents each. Then, purchased a design from the Silhouette store and used my machine to cut it out on permanent vinyl. I sized each design at two and a half inches, and adhered them to each tile. Lastly, I cut out little square pieces of white felt and glued them to the back corners, so they don't clink against each other, and scratch surfaces up.

They turned out great! While I had a couple issues - one has an air bubble that I can't get out, and another coaster is missing the dot for the "i". All things considered, they look fabulous. They look very formal, very wedding-like. With the white and the metallic vinyl, I couldn't have asked for a better combination. (Not to mention, these would probably make great wedding gifts!)

Next project, I wanted a tile just for a simple display. Again, a single, super cheap tile from Home Depot, and a small easel, made for a wonderful foundation to put a phrase on. The easel, I think they are most common for displaying plates, and I found mine at Gordman's. However, I did notice them to be slightly cheaper at Hobby Lobby with a coupon.

I added a different phrase, again purchased from the Silhouette Design Store, cut out in permanent vinyl. My tile was 12x12, and the phrase probably would have looked a lot better larger, but this was as big as my machine could cut. We do what we can, with what we have, right?

A good start to making a bare apartment a nice place to live, I think! It's been FAR to long since I made an attempt at decorating the place I call home.

One Year Anniversary

Can you believe that a little over one year ago, the husband and I were married at the courthouse? Seems like it was just yesterday that I was trying on dresses at David's Bridal, getting frustrated over the fact I couldn't find a hair piece I liked, and feeling like my feet were going to fall off as I tried to learn how to walk in high heels. Obviously, we have had our ups and downs, as they say the first year of marriage is the most difficult. But, we're still here!

A benefit of having our anniversary three days after Valentine's day is that all the "love" items in stores go on clearance, which make it fabulously cheap for our anniversary! (I didn't plan it that way, I swear!)

For our first year together, we decided to book ourselves a hotel room at our local Hilton Garden Inn, a treat for us, as we never got to go to our "Honeymoon," if you will. We did have a hotel booked after our wedding, but right before we were married, we got a call that an apartment opened up where we had applied to move to, and all money went to moving costs. So, unfortunately, our honeymoon never really got to happen.

We had a fabulous time, as with every time we visit the Hilton, the rooms are always clean, the sheets smell good, they have wonderful details in the rooms (like a Keurig!). We went with a special package that included a full breakfast for two in the morning, and champagne in the room.

You definitely can't beat a couple nights in a hotel room, a perfect vacation from my cats, who keep me up all night, and my super needy puppy, who takes up the entire bed every night.

Here's to the next year!