For the Love of Fall

This is my favourite time of the year! I love the weather changing where you can be comfortable in pants and a sweatshirt, the leaves turn beautiful colours and are crunchy under your feet, but most of all I love to decorate for Fall!

Here is our mantel down in our family room this year. You will notice we have changed around furniture, gotten rid of some, and got some new pieces.

(Nevermind the fact there are no knobs on our dresser - as you can see I'm still trying to decide on them)

(Home office area without a chair - still on the hunt for one!)

Love this owl garland that spells out "Autum"! Got it at the Supertore of all places for $4! What a steal!

More to come.

J'taime Paris!

I found this stuff on sale at Michaels for 50% off - well not the flowers, those were a birthday gift to me from Derek's Aunt - and yes ... I'm addicted to those flower tealight holders ... I know I know ...

Dreary Days and Little Pick Me Up's.

I will say that I would take rain over snow any day ... but these last couple of days of rain and grey skies make the day seem to lag. I'm ready for sunshine and the ability to head outside. For little sprouts of flowers popping up in my gardens, and to hear the birds in the morning (although today I did hear a couple chirps while I was laying in bed about to get up!).


But as I said - I would gladly take these grey, dull days over snow! I'm over snow and winter. O.V.E.R.


Anyways, I wanted to post a couple more inspirational pictures for Alexis' birthday party (which is sneaking up on us!) that I have collected.  I promise after her birthday I won't post more till next year! Stuff is just so darn cute!.

I LOVE the fabric garland - I want to do this!

and I love the look of these cakes ... we won't have cake, but are these not the most feminine cakes ever?

An Entire Post About Plants - I Wasn't Going to Post This ... But ....

Meet two of my new loves! I was sitting surfing the net the other night while Derek was watching something on t.v. and saw a little article about household plants. A study that NASA had done which said that household plants can help take household air pollutants out by something like 98%. Hmm, interesting. I looked around the room at all my fake greenery, and said to Derek that I thought we should get some plants. One for in the living room and one for the family room downstairs. 

We have had plants before but me being the black thumb that I am they just never survive - or I buy them and they are already heading towards the white light or waving the white flag and I just don't know it! Anyways I figured we should give it a shot. But first I would need planters. 

So Alexis and I headed out the next day in search of some nice planters. We went to Wallymart first because I figured they would be cheaper there - to my surprise they are quite expensive and QUITE hideous! So next stop ... you guessed it ... my home away from home - Homesense, and that's where I found these beauties...

I love the designs on them (there was another design that was equally interesting but I settled on these two) and that they came in a couple different colours. They were pretty much the same price of the size of one's that I had been looking at, at Wallymart so I figured it was a good deal and happily headed to the checkout.

Next mission was to find a plant that was somewhat tolerable to my plant skills. I went back later on in the week with my mom to check out the plants at Wal-Mart.  She helped me pick a decent looking one for the living room that liked light (which was good cause we have a huge window in the living room). So far, he likes it here. Despite the fact that Alexis hides in him because she thinks she's in the jungle, and picks at him - he's holding up quite well.

I'm still looking for our second one to go in the family room. I need a plant that's a little more hardy and that is okay will low lighting. Hopefully can find one soon!

Anyways hope you all enjoyed this really exciting post on plants. If you made it to the end without getting bored - congrats and my hat off to you! :)

(Forgot to mention I found this litte gaffer at Wal-Mart as well. I've always done well with ivy. Here's hoping he survives!)

*Updated*

We've done a little updating down in the playroom since we will be having people over in a month for Alexis' birthday party. We are trying to tie up some loose ends up. I'm not going to bore you with anymore pictures down there, but I'm really starting to love it. I use to detest coming down here to be honest - but I new Alexis loved playing, and then once Christmas hit we were also hit with a huge amount of toys. Once we got a little organized down there and purchased a couple things, I'm really enjoying coming down. I usually will do a little laundry or fold some (it's never ending I tell ya) while Alexis plays and cooks up a storm. Or I will even surf some blogs while sitting in the family room or play a couple games of Kinect while I know that Alexis is safe downstairs since adding two new doors which prohibit her from going into Derek's room or the laundry room.

Anyways, just a little update. I have a couple things left to completely finish off the room - 1. Finish painting the stairs and jazz them up a bit :)   2. Add some more hooks so dress-up clothes have a place to live 3. Find a little knob for the closet door.

*** Updated ***

Doors to Laundry room and Derek's room - still need to be painted but up nonetheless!

Hung up the pom pom's I made for now down in the playroom

I dabble in the art of tissue paper pom pom's ... Love em'.

I made these last night after the babes went to bed. It was a productive night!

The ones in the picture above are for Lexi's birthday, but I'm going to hang them in the playroom for now. I love to hang them anywhere and everywhere!

Birthday Decore Loot.

Here is some more stuff I got for the birthday decorating. It was cheap (most of it was $1.50) and I can use it after her party.


** On a side note I just wanted to let you know why there hasn't been many pictures of Alexis' lately on here. Alexis apparently does not enjoy having her picture taken anymore and I am unable to "surprise" her. Anytime she sees the camera in my hand she immediately wants it and throws a fit. Just saying .... :) **

Big Two.

So for the last little while I've been collecting things for Alexis birthday as well as some inspiration pictures. If you don't know - I LOVE gathering ideas for parties and finding inexpensive stuff to use. Last year for Alexis' birthday I attempted my own DIY tissue paper pom pom's, my own circle felt garland, my first hand a DIY cupcakes (instead of store bought ones) and I had a blast decorating and setting up for her party. I'm serious I find the whole birthday party thing for your own kids fun, and so right after her party last year (ok well maybe not right after), I started to think of what we could do for Alexis' birthday this year - the BIG 2!

At this age, I know that she will never probably remember what we did for her birthday - but for me, I have fun with this and enjoy it ... so .. that's my justification lol.  Anyways - first thing I do is decide on a theme. There are many great themes to choose from for children (if you're stuck and want some ideas please just ask me! I'm bursting with some that I would LOVE to do!), we decided on a fun and interesting "puppy" themed birthday party. Not your typical "girl" theme as I've found out, but Alexis is in LOVE with her precious doggies - both real and stuffed, so naturally we knew this was going to be something that she liked (at least we hope lol!)

I've set out to get inspirational pictures - I've shared some already and have found a few more since then. I've also bought and ordered some things. Because I know this is a party for a 2 year old I know I like to try and make everything myself to keep the costs down.

Here are some more inspirational pictures that I've collected and pictures of stuff that is one its way to us!

Love the cupcakes on top with the sprinkles and fluffy icing!

Last year I made the pom pom's - this year I'm attempting the garland!



Cake pops - the newest thing going. I think they are adorable and I'm interested in trying my hand at them!






Simple Invites. I wanted simple and inexpensive invites that I could just print off myself on some card stock paper. The little saying is almost the same as last years but I thought it was so cute so I adapted it.

I've also ordered these adorable little cupcake toppers (in the birthday colours of course) to go on some of the cupcakes. However I will be making mine own again like last year.

    As for other decorations, I will be re-using some of the stuff that I made last year as well.  Yesterday I went to Michael's and found some really cute stuff as well to use as well this year. I will do another blog post showing you that stuff soon. Anyways, hope you enjoy this little update!

Play Time.

I thought it was only fitting to share an updated version of what Alexis' playroom now looks like after Christmas. It took us a little bit to get all organized and figure out where things would go, but I think we have a pretty good area for her now - and she loves it.


We still need to get a couple doors which we plan to do soon (like within the next month or so I hope!) so that she can't venture into the laundry room or what we affectionately call Derek's "man room."  Then once down there I don't have to worry about her getting into things. From our family room if we leave the door open we can see right down into the playroom and what she's doing which is a bonus - although she does enjoy someone down there to dine on some creation she has made in her kitchen.


So here we go, onto to the big reveal lol ....

... and here is a close up of a new wall decal that my mom got Lexi for the room. We found it at the Super Store of all places and it was super cheap - but it's super cute! It is however a HUGE pain to get on the wall as it's in two pieces and the branches all stick together - hence the wonky middle part. My OCD kicked it after it was up and I tried to re-adjust it ... but it's on there pretty good right now and I didn't want to risk ripping it!

What Comes After Christmas?

So when you've taken down all your beautiful Christmas decorations because that time of the year has come and gone, what comes next?


I have tucked all the garland, balls, and glittery picks away till next year, and now I'm left with a naked mantel. I immediately went down to my shelf (this is the shelf that houses all of my knick knacky/decorating "things") and grabbed some things that I could throw up there. For now she's got some stuff on her, but what do I do from now until Spring?

So sad!

and sorry for the terrible lighting in these last couple pictures ...

Wall-rific!

So I don't think I showed what Derek and I did to our living room right  after Christmas? We've actually wanted to do it for some time but just never had the time to  I guess.  With Alexis growing we found that little finger marks were appearing on our flat screen t.v. ... something that just wouldn't do for Derek. So we decided that we would place the t.v. on the wall instead.

We headed to Wally Mart and found a wall bracket that claimed to allow the t.v. to hang from the wall just inches away. No cords hanging, no back of the t.v. showing ... I was super excited.

So we bought it and happily took it hope and Derek set it all up. It was actually quite easy to install onto the wall and once we got the t.v. up there we were kind of scared to let go of the sucker. I mean its an expensive t.v. and could you just imagine if it fell? Oh gawd ... the horror.

But to our surprise it's on there ... believe me, and it looks amazing! I'm loving the space between the sideboard and the t.v. and not to mention that now I'm able to put a few decorative pieces there to jazz the area up there (hello Mr.Hooter we meet again! and you already have read about my obsession with the flower tea-light holders. Oh and do you see my gorgeous new picture frame? My friend Robyn picked that baby up for me at the dolla dolla store ... she saw "me" when she saw it at the store - I plan to put a picture of some ridiculously cute girls in it ... and no not me and Robyn lol!).

If you're wondering we did add the legs that came with the sideboard, but we HATE this sideboard! I mean HATE it! It's cheaply made and not very attractive anymore! I've been searching kijiji for a sideboard/dresser that I can paint a bright and bold colour - no luck so far, but I'll keep looking!

So what do you think?

Hangin' In There.

Only took one picture of our new photo wall, as you can see we still need to get some pictures in them. I'm in the process of picking and choosing pictures. This was quite the task to do with a busy toddler running around trying to help! I had to do a lot of measuring and used painters tape to make the marks and level everything out. I think they turned out pretty good!