new old lamps

Here's a simple lamp switch and some day-dreaming about the future state of our bedroom.

I'm on this slow and steady process of a project that I've imposed upon myself. Project Eliminate Color.

This is where we're at on your typical day. 

The wall color kills me, but alas, unchangeable per landlord.

Mint colored lamps. I loved them the day we brought them home, and I love them to this day, just not in here anymore.

  Blake's mom gave me these new lamps a while back and they've been hiding out in the attic until now. They were brass at first, but with a little spray-paint lovin' they have a new life. A colorless life. 

 Also - someone found their white balance button on Photoshop - woo hoo! So, please excuse some of these photos, I was messing around with all the different ways to balance! I'm probably a little too exited about this. 

 So I didn't know about the old lamp shades on the new bases, but I think they need to be smaller, and whiter?  hah.
Still debating.

Also - naked duvet insert! Shield your eyes!

 I'm trying to see what it would look like with just a simple white duvet cover. 

 The shape is kinda pretty, right? A little romantic even?

 These little babies are growing a muck in our back yard. One point for free flowers!

 Here we are at the end. How about a before and after of my quick weekend project?

Here's the day-dreaming part. Squint, can you see it? White duvet, new lumbar pillow in THIS fabric, an Ikea throw at the end (I have my eye on two potential candidates) and I think we're getting somewhere! Next, maybe color eliminate that ledge.

valentine's day

This may not be interesting to anyone, but since this is my blog and I want it to serve as a sort of online diary of sorts, here's my valentine's post. 2013.

Bear with me...

I've been wanting to try my hand at creme brulee for a while now, and after a few dropped hints, I finally got my culinary torch!! what a perfect valentine's gift, fire-maker + butane. :)

Blake picked us up my FAVORITE pizza, white pizza from Coal Vines, and after we devoured it, I started on my Pioneer Woman recipe.

It was really quite simple. (I think the name just intimated me)

PS. Those precious sky blue ramekins were a V-day gift to myself! How did I not register for those when we got married?

I also tried my luck with these dinosaur planters that I've seen all over the blogs. I not sure if anything could be more perfect for Blake.

I bought the two dinos at Dollar General, spray painted them Key-lime from Home Depot, then cut a whole in their back with a box cutter, and finally, planted a cute little succulent.

It sits on his desk as we speak, now, just to keep it alive. Fingers crossed!

DIY office christmas gifts

This year I needed something co-ed, easy, wallet-friendly, and somewhat personal.

Chalkboard painted office plants.

I bought two 6-packs of these mini clay pots from Hobby Lobby ($3.99/pack), a can of chalkboard spray paint from Lowes ($5.98 Valspar - my new favorite), pack of chalk from Target ($5.00), and a couple indoor plants from Lowes ($4.98/plant).

- First, I laid out my pots on an old sheet in the garage, applied 2 layers of chalkboard spray paint, and let dry.

- Second, I repotted the plants, taking one indoor plant and dividing it among 3 of these mini clay pots. So 3 plants from Lowes makes 9 gifts, then I bought two extra succulents for the odd number of presents I was giving.

- Third, with some twine I already had I tied a piece of chalk to each pot. Be gentle with this step, I broke a few pieces in my attempts.

- Fourth, add a little design, I did initials on some and Christmas cheer on others!

Total for my office Christmas gifts - $37.90. For 11 gifts, I think that's $3.45/gift. Not too shabby.

I already have requests and orders for more, from other work folk! That's a good sign, I think!

outdoor pillows

spoiler: I put the finished product right here at the top of this post.

Guys, I sewed. On a sewing machine. Pressed the peddle, moved the fabric, and actually sewed something! I have been eyeing this fabric from JoAnns for a while, and finally, with coupon in hand, brought it home. I thought about using my trusty method of iron-on hem tape, but then decided, why the heck not, I'll try to do this all professional-like.

(I only brought my iPhone, so the pictures are in Hipstamatic, making the colors look pretty dark, hopefully you can see the goodness that we call navy in the photos at the bottom)

So we started by laying the BEAUTIFUL navy and white trellis printed fabric out to cut. We decided on making the back an envelope-type enclosure for an easy pillow insert and removal. I had no idea how this was going to pan out, enter my great friend Hope.

(she also made us wear sewing hats, please notice beanie + tank top = hello Dallas in February)

She owns this, and a ton of knowledge regarding all things, especially sewing.

Here's some pinning... that part was really fun to me, don't know why.

She let me use her beautiful red thread to make this gorgeous fabric come to life!

Look at that first line!!!

Then we flipped it around - or inside out - to make the side stitches.

Look at that, look at that! This is when the giggles started, can you see? It's starting to look like a real pillow case!

move forward one day, and...

Here they are in real life. Please excuse the standing shutters, it's starting to look pretty "canton-y" out there, maybe when summer rolls around I can get crafty and figure out what I really want to do with those. I digress, back to the pillows.

here's a prettier depiction of the navy.OK, whoa, stop you pillows, I'm beginning to blush at just how awesome you turned out!

A great big THANK YOU to all of those involved in this pillow odyssey, Mimi Johnson for the initial direction, Marty Johnson for going shopping with me to pick these out, Hope for teaching me everything you know, and Blake for always being optimistic about all my creations. And, Dakota, just because I love you dearly.

updated mantel - moss edition

One time I read that Ashley Olsen's favorite flower/plant was moss, and I totally understand now. It has taken over the house this year.

Here's a little vignette I'm adoring right now... Most of these supplies are from Hobby Lobby, (thanks to Blake's Mimi - for my birthday I received a gift card, and it's been supplying me with things to do for a whole month now!)

I painted that box (from HL) picked up that metal stand (from HL) and purchased that glass bowl (from HL) for my first and very beginner terrarium.

Succulent from Home Depot.

Moss in mason jars - what could be better??

maybe, moss in a glass hurricane, plus candle?? oh, it's getting out of hand.

I've had that poster "Theatre du Chat Noir" since college, for some reason I can't get rid of it. It's black and I don't have black anywhere in the house, but I just like it so much! good purchase college Lauren!

DIY: mock Anthro necklace

I have actually never dished out the Benji's (ok, maybe not Benji's - maybe Hami's) for the coveted Anthropologie necklace, the Urban knock-off is the closest I've gotten. It just doesn't seem right to spend that much money on one of those - especially when I found out I can make one, almost identical, for less than 5 bucks!

Crystals, gold chain (so thug), connecting hoops, and nail polish. Everything from Hobby Lobby minus the nail polish I already owned.

It's so fun being able to say I made this for less than 5 bucks, I wore it out last night and loved every second of it!

PS. that "I found out" link has the tutorial

pallet art: christmas edition

Pinterest (ehhh.. Pinterest.. I'm beginning to shudder every time I hear the word) is ruining lives. Or maybe just mine. I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with this website. Can't live with it, can't craft without it. I still peruse the pages late at night when I should be sleeping, finding the cutest craft ideas with tutorial after tutorial flowing at my finger tips, and I hate myself for it. Instead of being imaginative, I just click "re-pin" and watch my creativity slip from my soul...

I'm being extremely dramatic. I'll stop.

I just loved this pallet art that has been dominating the blog world. Even though you see it everywhere, for some reason, I find it so homey and heart warming each time. I made my own, and for free!

Scrap wood from Blake's little shop outside + white and brown paint + bark and twigs from the yard + nails and hot glue = one homey and heartwarming piece of Christmas home decor. Or in my case, front porch decor.

some of the last words from "O Holy Night," I love seeing those words. It's such a powerful song, and singing those hymns on Sunday night church service is definitely in the top 2 or 3 of what I love most about the season.

We're doing an in-depth study of the Advent with our church, and it is so joyous to remember why we have "the holidays." We are, day in and day out, lovingly and patiently waiting for our King to come and restore us and bring us home.

our christmas wreath!

Wow. November has been a terrible blogging month.

With that, Thanksgiving was spent in Dallas this year and we had my parents up. No, no way did I cook Thanksgiving dinner, but thanks to the free turkey I received last week, we had our own, smaller, second thanksgiving after the real one. I am thankful for leftovers. My mom and I ventured out on Black Friday, we wild. My mom had seen the target commercials way too many times I think, because any time a sales person told us something favorable, she'd scream, "it's herrrreeeeeee." We spent the rest of Black Friday decorating the house with Christmas JOY!

Here is my first installment of "The Johnson's Second Christmas, but Really Kinda Like the First Christmas, Since the Real First One was in the Midst of Becoming Husband and Wife and Traveling to the Beaches of Mexico for a Dream of a Honeymoon"

I made a Christmas wreath.

Very simple and easy to make. All from Hobby Lobby: Styrofoam circle, Navy and Cream yarn, and two bundles of red berries. Yarn wrapped tightly around styrofoam in an alternating pattern, then hot glued berries to the front. Done and done. Merry Christmas and here's to early decorating and getting to enjoy every last minute of the season!

seasonal mantel.

after this. I'm done. I swear... until Christmas that is :)

I've got everything in line for the fall season, now all we need are those crisp cool nights, my popcorn tin, trick-or-treaters and some pumpkin whoopie pies.

our mantel, ever slightly changing, hopefully stable until Thanksgiving.

a hand-me-down window pane from Canton, Texas.

twig wreath (bought at Joanns - with 20% coupon) hung by my favorite navy and white striped ribbon - previously used in our wedding.

ball jars spray-painted a soft dull yellow, mini pumpkins, stacked "vintage" harry potter books. hah. some fall florals.

two twig trees, and an old wire pumpkin.

and, with renting came two rubbed bronze sconces, which don't look too shabby alongside the fall decor, eh.. eh?

i love it.

Porch: Fall addition

Before I begin, we transported the flea-market found chairs that my dad re-did for us to the backyard to make room for some comfy adirondack chairs. So, our big front porch is a tad bare right now until the perfect affordable pair-o-adirondack find me. The most promising answer to date would be Garden Ridge, but I'm still holding out for Roundtop and Warrenton this weekend!!

Something got into Blake and me the other weekend. It was yard overhaul time. I de-weeded our beds, trimmed the small bushes, dug up some BIG weeds that were formerly living as "plants" and spruced up the porch. Enter reason for blog post.

Fall Porch 2011

After some riveting adventures through the aisles of both Lowes and Home Depot we ended up bringing home 2 clearance 6 dollar pots, 2 purple mums, 1 orange and 2 yellow mini mums, one barrel-inspired pot, one pumpkin, and some potting soil.

and, the DIY wreath to bring it home.