Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving.

Wow. This thanksgiving was probably the most memorable ones in a while. Probably because it was Brantley's first:) We laid low in the morning just hanging out relaxing watching the macys thanksgiving parade and I made a killer crockpot casserole that turned out amazing! You can find the recipe on my Pinterest board:) I may or may not have also had mimosas:)
We them popped over to my parents house for a 11 course meal. For the record, I had two servings of potatoes. No judgement. 
 He is very confused at what all the commotion is about...silly adults.

He slept right through dinner and then woke up for dessert which consisted of apple, pumpkin and caramel pie as well as a strawberry cheesecake! Can you say sweet overload! Then my father of course brought out the Jim beam egg nog. It was delicious. 


I designed the table for dinner and I'm pretty darn proud of the end result! 




  
For sources please see below:

Boxes: container store
Table runner and napkins: pottery barn
Flower, votives and candles sticks: hobby lobby
The rest is from my backyard! I even took pinecones from my neighbors!

I got a lot of compliments and was very happy that everyone liked it! 

My family is known for sabotaging all photos that I get to get with all of us together so this is the best one we got out of about 90. Thank you Aaron.


Hope you all had an amazing day with your families! Tomorrow the fall decorations go down and the tree goes up! Words cannot describe how excited I am. I think I'm more excited than my kids. 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Thankful decor

As promised here is a sneak peek of some of the decor I plan to use for our thanksgiving table. I decided to go a rustic route instead of the traditional orange and red pumpkin one. I wanted there to be some golds, creams and browns as part of the design with a touch of rustic details from things you can find right in your backyard! We had a set budget and I am thrilled to say we came way under budget! 


Remember you don't have to use traditional "fall" decorations, I found most of mine in just the home part of my local hobby lobby. Plus they didn't have hardly any fall stuff left so I had to improvise! Use things that you are drawn to and that you could possibly use again for other holidays! I chose to use some wooden boxes that I know my mom can use for storage when she's done with them! Simple designs can go a long way!


I also plan on using some wonderful gold garland! It will bring a nice shimmer to the table! Stay tuned for the completed look! Happy (almost) turkey day!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Christmas tree time!

Every year I decorate my Christmas tree with the usual generic ornaments from either target or hobby lobby plus my own personal ones that I have recieved throughout the years. Up until about 2 years ago that was all fine and dandy. Then Charlie, my lovely yellow lab decided he would chew every ornament on the tree, thus my start to decorating my tree differently. I design my tree like I design my house. Simple. I love the idea of making my own ornaments with my kids. Remember my salt dough ornaments that I made last week? Week here is the final product!


We also did home made cinnamon ornaments. They were both so super easy and the cinnamon ones made my house smell incredible! You can find both recipes on my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/juliej16/


This year I am also using paper garland that you can get in almost any color! I got mine from glitter and grain off etsy! 


  And of course your daily dose of the munchkin!


Stay tuned for a sneak peek at the thanksgiving decor I will be using to create a fabulous table!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Happy Tuesday!

I can hardly contain myself these days because I know that thanksgiving is almost here which also means that Christmas is right around the corner and I can finally start to transform my home into a winter wonderland! I already made my first purchase. No judgments.


I could hardly resist the dollar spot at target when I found this gem! It is currently into Brantley's room but will eventually make it way downstairs. In other news, Brantley tried rice cereal the other day and I am happy to say that he loved it! Was a bit unsure at first but then gobbled it right down!


We also bought the little man a jumperoo because he does not want to lay down any longer. As you can see, Charlie is keeping watch.

 
I am also happy to say that my salt dough ornaments came out perfect! Now I just have to paint them and tie some ribbon to them! 


I will be transforming my moms house into a thanksgiving wonderland soon and I can't wait! Stay tuned for a sneak peek of the decorations I will be using!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Life these days

Being a stay at home mom while trying to launch your interior design business is exhausting! If you haven't already, please visit my website www.julieanndesigns.net I am slowly getting our house ready for the holidays and trying to avoid the fact that Christmas is just 6 weeks away:/ I am loving this simple yet festive garland from west elm.

And love the idea of using tree trimmings I mason jars around the house!



Now that football is over for Caidan, that doesn't mean we are on any sort of break, we will jump right into basketball in 2 weeks! Brantley thinks it's time to crawl. He cannot stand to be on his back any longer. He only wants to sit up and be on his tummy! So, thus, we bought him a jumperoo!

He was so serious when he first sat in it. I think it was a bit over whelming to him! 
He is also obsessed with Sophie the giraffe, we can't go anywhere without her. So far he's passed out once with her. Adorable if you ask me.



I'm also testing to see if my salt dough ornaments turn out ok. Stay tuned for the results!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Thanksgiving re-designed!

I've always loved the holidays. They are a time where you spend time with family and friends and of course, eat a ton of food! I also love the holidays because I get to decorate and re decorate our house! My husband thinks I'm crazy but I just love transforming our home for thanksgiving and Christmas! We will be heading over to my parents house this year (one year I'll host it at my house!) and my mom has asked me to help decorate her house for thanksgiving! Here are some of my favorite ideas!




I love the idea of using white pumpkins and non traditional decor. Remember it's all about the details so don't forget those name cards! All images courtesy of Martha Stewart living. 

Thursday, November 7, 2013

DIY coat hanger

I have had this wall in my house that I could not figure out for the life of me what to do with it. It's too small to put a table and mirror, plus I have a table and mirror on a wall very close to that. And it's so close to the door that I couldn't even put a bench or coat tree without the door hitting it. Then it dawned on me, after visiting my local hobby lobby, and finding this coat rack that would fit perfectly on my wall only to find out that it was 49.99 on sale, I said, nope. I can make this myself. So with the help of my husband and a few swear words, we have a coat rack! 





 
Here's what you'll need:

1. A 1x6 board, mine was 4 ft in length
2. White paint or whatever color you want
3. Hooks, I choose bushed nickel to match our hardware 
4. Sanding blocks to sand the sides and corners
5. Drywall anchors and screws

I first sanded the board to make the edges more rounded and the surface smooth. I then added two coats of some leftover white paint we had from painting Brantley's room. We then secured the board to the wall using the drywall anchors and screws. Then we measured the hooks out every 8 inches and with a few screws, voila! I hung another wall vinyl decal above. 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

New Business!

I am soooo happy to announce that I have started my own Interior Design Company called Julie Ann Designs. After graduating with my degree in Interior Design I worked for a high end furniture store out here in Colorado but the store shut down and laid off it's employees. I then worked for a marketing firm for the last 3 years and after I had Brantley I decided to stay home with him. While I've been at home I've done a lot of thinking (and designing of our home) and decided that why not? Take a chance and open it up! I got so many compliments on Brantley's nursery I thought what can I loose?Here is my website! It is still under construction but I wanted to share it with you!

Be sure to also follow me on Pinterest for the latest design ideas!

Also, we have been busy getting all the Halloween decor up and putting the fall decor up! If I haven't mentioned it before, I LOVE this time of year.  Why? because Bath and Body works comes out with their Holiday line of candles and I wait for them to go on sale and then, BOOM! I go crazy!
My husband says that I'm obsessed, I think it's rather normal! We also went to the nuggets game on Friday and had a blast! We even got to take a limo! Let's just say that I cannot drink like I used to! 



Saturday, November 2, 2013

Halloween 2013

I am so glad it is November! It is probably my favorite month because it is full of all things FALL! Also, this means that Christmas is right around the corner! We had a fantastic Halloween filled with too much candy and lots of trick or treaters. Caidan went out with his football buddies (they grow up so fast) and we stayed home with Brantley and passed out candy. Caidan also had a halloween party at school that is always a special treat for the kids!



This year Caidan went as a werewolf and B went as a shark! Both were adorable in their own way! Here are a few pics from that night!

 Doesn't this just melt your heart! I could just squeeze him all day! Wait, I already do that! 
Caidan thinks it's funny to put silly glasses on your little brother! Brantley will surely love this when he's older
My little munchkins! I am so lucky to be their mommy!
We of course carved pumpkins like always and we each did one, well I ended up carving most of Caidan's because he got frustrated when he picked out the most intricate design, can you guess which one is his? I did a B for Brantley because I didn't have my creative hat on and just wanted to get the dang thing carved:)


 And what would any holiday be without some sort of treat! I decided that I was going to make cupcakes for caimans school for their party, however when I re read the email, they asked for mini cupcakes. Blonde moment number 435. Oh well, more sweets for me!
 And a couple more photos from Halloween, because I clearly can't take just ONE picture!


Hope everyone had a safe Halloween! Here's to Thanksgiving!