DIY Monogrammed Spring Wreath

Let me first start by saying...I have discovered a new love: the love of making wreaths! The first wreath I did was this past year for Christmas and now I have two under my belt. {See that first one here.} This wreath is one I've wanted to make for quite some time, but didn't get around to until mid-April. I love the final wreath though and am glad I got it made!

Gather your supplies!

You Will Need

a wreath

hot glue gun

fake flowers

cardboard

twine

a sharpie and scissors

Lets start with the monogram!

1. Before you work on cutting out the monogram, plug in your hot glue gun and make sure it's got glue in it ready to go. It might also be a good idea to put something under the glue gun, as it will drip as the glue melts and gets ready to use (for those of you who haven't used a glue gun yet).

2. Using the sharpie, draw out the letter you wish to display on the cardboard. As you can see, I did mine free-hand so it wasn't perfect on paper, but that doesn't effect the finished letter.

3. Use the scissors to cut out your letter. This part can be tricky. Big scissors work best here I think. Also, shape up your letter anywhere you need to once you've got it cut out. The sharpie letter is just to assist you in cutting it out.

4. Flip the letter over and give it a few quick swipes with the hot glue gun. Start the twine wrapping on the back of the letter. Make sure to put the twine just over the edge so it will cover the end.

5. Using the glue gun, work small spaces at a time. First run some hot glue (only needed on the top side of the letter) and then wrap the twine around the cardboard and secure in the hot glue. Careful as the glue can burn fingertips before it's completely dried! Continue gluing & wrapping until the letter is finished.

6. Here is my finished 'S' monogram letter. I was quite pleased with how well this part of the project turned out!

Flower time!

7. In the 'gathering supplies' photo you saw two different flowers. When I started making this wreath I wasn't sure which flowers I was going to use, obviously I went with the pink peony's. Take apart each flower. The stem should pull right out of the base of the flower so no wire cutters needed here!

8. Now attach the 'leaves' to the base of each flower with a little hot glue. Arrange the flowers on your wreath and then glue in place. Arrange first though in case you end up not liking the way it looks the first time (I did mine 3 times before I ended up with the placement I have in the final photos). Glue the flowers down, glue the monogram down (that will take TONS of glue by the way).

9. Display your new wreath on a pretty hook for all the world (or just your neighbors) to see!

More photos of the wreath!

I think the twine blends in a little too much with the wreath, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

New Springy Clothes!

That is our cat, Emerald, at my feet.

I am SUPER excited about the new shirts I bought from Walmart recently ($5 each on the clearance rack!!!) and all the new skirts I've made for myself. Since having a baby none of my old clothes fit which was really depressing at first, but I did gain quite a bit of weight...especially near the end of the pregnancy (about 50 pounds total). I wrote another post talking more about After Pregnancy Style so read more about that there.

My face looked funny in this pic, but I wanted to show off how cute this new shirt is!

I really loved this outfit! I felt so cute when I put it on and that's a rare thing since giving birth. I am super excited to have new clothes in my closet to 'play' with this Spring. I am working out now on a regular basis so maybe one day some of my old clothes will start to fit too, but at least I have some fun stuff to wear until then (and they should still fit even if I do lose a little weight).

Striped Pink & White Shirt: Walmart clearance rack.
Black denim skirt: Made by Me!
Blue watch: Gift from my sister.
White sparkly sandals: JcPenny.

I've recently discovered that I LOVE wearing a watch! It's much more practical than keeping track of my cell phone (which I am always losing). And it's also one less thing to juggle in my hands when I'm out and about. My little sister found two watches with sparkles around the face and gave me the blue one. I love it! I love anything sparkly or glittery!!

Related Posts
After Pregnancy Style

Sister Style | Stripes & Grey

Stripes are SO much fun to wear! If you don't own clothing with stripes on them then I highly suggest you at least go and try on a some that do to see if you like the way they look on yourself! Stripes in the form of shirts, cardigans or tank tops are a great way to to step away from wearing all solid colors.

Striped Shirt: Max Rave.
Grey tank top: Arizona.
Denim skirt: Old Navy.
Sparkly Shoes: Faded Glory.

I just love the lace detail on the edge of the tank top my sister is wearing! I think that adds a little something extra to this outfit. This shirt is nice and thick so the grey underneath isn't as visible as it would be in a thinner shirt, but that's not really a bad thing! Many shirts these days are made too thin I think. The grey goes well with the sparkly shoes too:

Candy Filled Easter Eggs

Over 400 hundred eggs and almost as much candy!
Notice our cat, Demi, in the background sniffing all the eggs. I swear he thinks he's a dog!

As this Sunday is Easter I thought I would share with you a few photos from stuffing our eggs with candy for the hunt we will be having at our house this year. I am really excited and do hope the nieces and nephews are able to come to find all these eggs!

I bought the 'good' candy as well all call it. I got one bag of chocolate candy and the rest is all tootise roll stuff. I didn't realize until later that the dots & suckers don't fit in even the giant eggs so I just put an empty egg in the mix for each of those items and will let the kids pick out what they want if they get empty eggs when hunting.

The peach egg is a 'giant' egg and holds most of the bigger stuff like the big tootsie roll logs. The yellow egg is the medium size and holds almost everything except the big stuff. The green egg is a miniature egg and holds most of the small tootsie rolls and nothing else.

Hubby wanted the eggs counted so we wouldn't end up with eggs in the yard for months to come. As I filled them I set them to one side until I had a new set of ten and then I'd add them to the box below:

As I filled the eggs I would put them in the big box I had for them. As you can see, it was quite empty to start with, but it filled up fast!

It's probably gonna take awhile to get all these eggs hidden, but I'm sure the kids are going to have a blast!! We have one 'secret egg' which is a giant egg with a miniature egg and medium egg inside it (like those Russian dolls). The person who finds that will get a giant 2lb. Chocolate Easter Bunny. I can't wait to see who ends up with that!

Ship An Easter Themed Box!

I have a sister who lives in Oklahoma and I miss her A TON! At Christmas I sent her a box and put tinsel in it {see that post here} and the other day I was at Walmart shopping for Easter candy and thought I'd put together another box to ship off to her. She got the box already so now I can publish this post and it won't ruin the surprise!

What You Need

A box to ship

Easter grass

Stuffed bunny (optional)

Lots of Easter candy!

A card (not pictured)

Because I had several different colors of Easter grass on hand I decided to use three and put it in stripes in the box. I think doing it like this made the box more fun!

Next add in your card (not pictured) and Easter bunny. This bunny has been around for years! I found it when I pulled out the Spring decor box. I'm not sure how this got missed when she moved, but I was glad to send it to her in the box.

Finally, add in the Easter candy! I think I put five handfuls in here and it was the perfect amount for one person.

I had fun putting together this themed box! I might have to do some more of these because she totally loved it! In fact, the day before she got the box she was shopping at Walmart and was talking to me on the phone and saw the Easter candy. She almost bought some but luckily I was able to talk her out of it since I knew what was coming in the mail!

Sister Style | Spring Purple & Black

Spring can be a tricky season to dress for! One day it will be nice and warm and the next it'll be windy and cool. Light sweaters, jackets & cardigans are the best way to get through this season. Picking jackets/cardigans in bright colors is a great way to spice up any shirt/denim skirt combo. Today's outfit is a regular short-sleeve shirt with a cropped sleeved jacket over it to keep off the chill:

Black Tiger Shirt: F.A.N.G.
Purple Cropped Sleeved Jacket: Miley Cyrus: Max.
Skirt: Old Navy.
Sparkly Shoes: Faded Glory.

The nice thing about layering jackets with casual outfits like this is if you get warm, you can always take off the jacket! When shopping for jackets DO make sure you try them on to make sure they aren't too tight in the arms/shoulders since you want freedom to move around easily. Something to keep in mind when shopping for cardigans: pick one in a size that will layer nicely over sleeved shirts as well as tank tops.

This jacket is several years old, but you really can't tell. It was purchased off a clearance rack at Walmart (my one weakness! lol.) and has been passed from sister to sister as one outgrows it. The silver in the shirt goes well with the adorable sparkly shoes which were also purchased from Walmart:

Sister Style | Spring Green & Blue

Back in the Summer of 2012 I put together some Sister Style outfits with one of my sisters. We had a lot of fun creating them and recently I was talking with another of my sisters (I have 7 sisters!) about how much fun it was to do those and she suggested we put together some more outfits to share over the next few months.

We used a basic denim knee-length skirt (Old Navy) and two different style shoes with different tops to create thirteen different outfits. The outfits we put together are for Spring, Summer, and Fall so they will be shared throughout the coming months as the seasons change. March 20th marked the first day of Spring. With that in mind, here is our first outfit which is perfect for this season!

Green Shirt: Faded Glory.
Floral Tank: Hollister.
Skirt: Old Navy.
Sparkly Shoes: Faded Glory.

Layering a tank over a sleeved shirt is not my favorite style, but some combos like this actually turn out pretty cute. Most of this outfit was thrifted. Thrift stores are a great place to find good deals on used clothes. Of course when shopping for thrifted clothes always remember to check the seams, and whole piece of clothing for holes and/or stains. Floral's and bright colors are great for wearing during Spring months!

These shoes really do go well with lots of different outfits!

Date Night | Go To The River

So I realize that this is really NOT a 'night' thing, but it's still a date idea and that's what this series is all about. The photos in this post were actually taken back in March & it wasn't a date at that time, but it is something we like to do together and I thought that a few of you might like the idea as well...especially with the hot summer weather being here!

Autry & I like to go to the river. We don't get to go very often because it's a bit of a drive for us, but when we do go we make a day of it.

Black River is gorgeous! The water looks so green and clear. I love it!

The day we went up to the river it was really windy.

Obviously it's not the middle of summer here because I'm wearing multiple layers lol. It was still a cute outfit though and perfect for going to the river in.

I took my shoes off and stood in the FREEZING cold water...more than once I might add. Autry said I was a crazy woman. I said he was a scardy cat since he wouldn't put his feet in the water.

Lunch time at the camp ground area. Autry making is usual silly face.

This beautiful little girl was wandering around on K Bridge. I was able to call her off the highway and she came down to the campground area for awhile. She was quite hyper. I think she was a stray. She wandered off eventually, much to my sadness.

I ended up pulling my hair up on the way home. I thought it turned out pretty cute. :)

So if you're going to make a Day At The River I'd say pack a lunch, bring swim suits & beach towels and go have some summer fun!! If you're really wanting to make it a 'date night' bring camping gear and spend a night at the camp ground too!

This Post Was Shared!

• Clever Chicks Blog Hop #44

Spring Style | Lifeguard Trainer

This outfit is one I wore earlier this Spring but was unable to share then because of the laptop issues I had going on at that time. It's still one of my favorites and of course it could easily be a summer outfit too so that's why I've decided to go ahead and share it!

Life guard shirt: Old Navy.
White long sleeve burnout: Maurices.
Black knit skirt: Maurices. (Thrifted)
Black flats: Rue21.

Hairstyle: I pulled my hair up into a ponytail,
rolled the ends around my hand and pinned it in place with bobby pins.

Top view.



Side view.

 I have a few more photo posts leftover from this past spring, but I'm not sure if I'll be sharing them or not seeing as it's now summer. We'll see. Maybe a few of them can be multi-seasonal. :)

Spring Style | Navy, Grey & Red

Good morning/afternoon/evening! :) Today's post is an outfit that I wore for church a few weeks ago. I really thought that it turned out quite cute since I kind of pieced it together at the last minute!

What do you think?

Headband: Vanity.
Scarf: Thrifted.
Grey Cardigan: Julie's Closet (Thrifted).
White Lace Shirt: Made by Me!
Navy Pencil Skirt: Preston & York (Gift from Friend).
Red Peep-toe Heels: Alex Marie (Thrifted).

Yes, I really liked this outfit!

Just a close up. I really love that scarf! It was a thrift store find, of course!

And my hair: Big poof up top with a headband and then I just did a big roll and tucked all the ends under and used LOTS of bobby pins!