My Living Room Mood Board

My mom is brave. She let me decorate my first room by myself at the age of 11. I loved it! It looked like an Easter egg threw up all over it. My walls where mint green, the ceiling was light blue and my built in shelving was light blue and the back of the shelves were light purple. My bed was a white four poster bed. I was so proud of myself, but when I look back at the pictures I can't help but laugh at how horrible it looked. But I loved every minute on if it, from picking out the bedding to the paint colors. This is where it started, from then on when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I said an interior designer.

Ok lets get this mood board started! The color palette is gray, chocolate brown, teal, and burnt orange. I would paint the walls in a toupeish-gray (yes, that is a word) like  Behr "Belvedere Cream". 

I like making my money go as far as possible so the furniture is relatively cheap, the couch is from Big Lots, the TV stand is from Walmart, and that wonderful chair that my husband will never let me have is from Pier 1. ( He says it is floweredy, yes that is a word too.)

The rug is either from Lowe's or Home Depot, the curtains are drop cloth curtains that I have added a grommet top to. For the pillows I like to mix patterns that you wouldn't normal pick to go together these are from Pier 1. The lamp I picked out is from Walmart too. Pottery Barn has one that looks almost identical but for 3 times the price.

If you are interested in getting a custom mood board for FREE send me an email I will be giving 10 away!
jekkalaine622@hotmail.com

Fall Mantel

As promised here is my "mantel"

So from left to right ...

The lamp, I found at a friends house and she was throwing it away. It did have plastic beads on the inside of the lamp shade... I don't really know what for, it just looked funny with the light on, and with the off you couldn't even tell that it had beads. So I cut them off...and saved them of course, because I don't throw anything that I might be able to use on a project later.

I decided to use the wreath that I posted earlier in the week up here and put the yarn wreath on the front door... for right now.

The picture frame that has that beautiful picture in it. :) Was my husbands it did have a picture of him in Jr. High in his football uniform but I convinced him to let me make him a scrapbook of all of his pictures so I wouldn't have to have them hung up all over the house.( I know I'm a bad wifey) 

Next is the pumpkins that I also showed earlier. I like how they add just a little bling.

The black board was a Home Interiors mirror that my Mom bought me a long time ago, I painted the frame silver a year ago, but when we bought our house I had no place for it, so it had been under the bed... So a little chalk board paint and it is good as new. I painted the frame with the chalk board paint too, I thought that I would be cool to be able to write on it too.

My Grammy bought me the ferris wheel picture frame, I love it because I think of the fair and I also like the touch silver to go with the silver on the pumpkins. 

Last is the sculpture Brian got that for me for my first Mothers Day, I love it, its iron wood and he got it at T.J Max for 10 bucks!  

Well that is my fall mantel/ the top of my entertainment center.  I'm pretty proud of it... almost everything I had on hand so it was really cheap. Always look around your house and see what you can re purpose it will save you a ton on money!  

Falling For Fall

I have been working this week on all my fall decorating projects. I don't have a fire place with a mantel but I do have a entertainment center with nothing on top of it because I couldn't decide what to do with the space. So I have I'm going to use it has a mantel and change out the decorations with the seasons, then I don't have to make one decision, I can change it out every couple of months and I never get tired of it.

William Sonoma has some beautiful wreaths, but who wants to pay $100+ for a wreath. Ummm...Not me! So I set out to Hobby Lobby and walked back and forth from the flower section to the fall/holiday section about 200 times (while my husband and Big G terrorized the store) but I found all that I needed to make a beautiful wreath.

I just took a pile of leaves and hot glued them on a wreath form. Then I took apart all of the flower bundles and arranged all of the little extras and hot glued them on. And now I have an expensive looking wreath that I payed maybe 20 bucks for.

The next wreath I made is a yarn wreath. I'm really into burnt orange and teal.(I live in Texas it is against the law not to love orange."Hook em' horns") I got some yarn in these colors and a styrofoam wreath form. All you do is hot glue the yarn to the back of the wreath form and wrap it until you want to change colors and hot glue the end. If you wanted to do a solid color wreath then I would probable hot glue the yard on the back every so often just to keep the yarn good  and tight. I thought that it needed a little something extra to finish it off so I made some fabric flowers and a bow out of some purple knit fabric that I had laying around.  This wreath cost 10 bucks... and I have a lot off the yarn left. So I'm going to make a scarf.

I'm sure that you have seen the Pottery Barn knock off mercury glass pumpkins every where so I had to make some of those! I found a bag of styrofoam pumpkins at the Dollar General ( I always find such cool stuff in there.) And I also got some bigger ones at Hobby Lobby for a buck or 2 and I spray painted them with Matte Aluminum spray paint. (Its my new favorite spray paint color its beautiful!) I got 6 pumpkins and a can of spray paint for less than 10 bucks...one Pottery Barn pumpkin was like 25 bucks. No thank you!

So that is what I have been working on for the past couple of day. Come back tomorrow and you can see what I did with all of this stuff.

Mod Podge Cigar Box

My Dad smokes cigars, we have tried everything to get him to stop, and nothing has worked so far...So he had me stop and get him some a couple of weeks ago and the nicest lady works there and she gave me a cigar box.  It has set on my entertainment center since then. The box is beautiful wood but I was not a fan of it saying that it is a cigar box on the top, so I decided that some Mod Podge would fix that little problem. I pulled out all of my scrapbook paper and found some really neat kind of tribal paper that would look great in my bedroom since I wanted to use it as a jewelry box. Its a really simple project and I'm sure that you can go into any cigar shop and get a box for free or just a couple of dollars.

Supplies:

Cigar Box

Scrap Book Paper

Mod Podge

Pencil

Scissors

Sand Paper

First trace the top of your box on the scrapbook paper

Then cut it out.

Coat the top in Mod Podge.

Then center your paper on the box and rub all the air bubbles out.

Then coat the top in another layer of Mod Podge.

Let that dry and then sand the edges of the box to make the paper flush with the box.

And now you have a brand new jewelry box!

2010 Fall Fashion Must Haves

I love the fall, it has to be my favorite time of the year. Football games, chili, the leaves changing, a cooler weather, spending time with family, and the beginning of the holiday season. This fall some of the things in fashion from summer will carry over like military inspired, lace, and skinny jeans. Other things that will be hot this year are menswear, metal tones, animal prints, jewel tones, such as eggplant, cranberry, camel, navy, and moss green. Leggings are still going to be popular, and day time sparkle in small doses. For these more trendy items I would suggest shopping T.J. Max they always have unique pieces that are priced good. Target is also a good place to look. All of the pieces that I have listed below are 25 dollars or less.

• For the military look I would go with a jacket with brass buttons. Cargo pants are another good way to go, skinny cargo's are really cute. Outfit Idea: Military jacket, a lace top, jeans, and boots.

Cardigans by Mossimo
Skinny Pants by M.S.S.P.

• 
  
  Lots of feminine textures are in such as lace, ruffles, and beading. These things should be on tops or accessories. No beaded skirts. lol Keep it pretty simple on  the bottom if you are going to do a heavily embellished top. Outfit Idea: Cargo pants, a lace top, a cardigan, and metallic flats.

Shortsleeve Tops by Mossimo
Shortsleeve Tops by Spiegel

• Skinny jeans, and leggings are both something I didn't think that I would ever like but I love them now. I have a pair of "jeggings" they are the most comfortable jeans that I own. Go with a dark wash unless you have really skinny legs. For leggings get black and brown, and be sure that they are thick enough that you can't see through them. Outfit Idea: Skinny jeans, a feminine flowy top, boots, and a chain necklace.  

Distressed Denim by Gap
Leggings by Copper Key

• Anything that says boyfriend is popular from cardigans, and jeans, to shirt dresses. Outfit Idea: Shirt dress, leggings, boots, and a denim jacket.

Day Dresses by Old Navy
Cardigans by Old Navy

• Gold, silver, pewter, and bronze jewelry and shoes. Lots of chains, and metallic beading.             Outfit Idea: When in doubt you can always throw on a solid tee, a pair of jeans, a chunky chain necklace, a metallic shoe, and you will have a complete outfit, to take it over the top add in your military jacket, and you will look like you just stepped out of a magazine.

Flats by Aldo
Necklaces by Charlotte Russe

• Animal prints in small doses a cardigan, skinny belt, purse, or shoe would be a great way to incorporate that. Outfit Idea: You can take jeans, a solid color tee, a lepord print cardi, a black skinny belt on the outside of the cardi, and boots.

Cardigans by Apt. 9
Flats by Merona

Thanks for stopping by, come back soon. I have alot planned, more crafts, sewing, cooking, and I'm going to start doing "Mood Boards" if you are intersted in getting one just let me know. I will be posting more details on that soon. 

Jekka Laine

Fall Fashion Basics

I love fashion. If money were no object I would go shopping every day. lol But... Since I count every penny and at the end of the month that leaves not so much for buying a whole new wardrobe for every season I thought that I would give my tips for always looking current but on a small budget.

• Ok there are a few things that every woman should have in her casual wear. Good quality jeans that make you feel great. They should have a straight leg and be in a dark wash.
• Next you need some solid colored tee's I chose brown, black, and white.
•  For fall you need a jacket a classic khaki trench, it will never go out of style I have had mine for 8 years and if you buy a good quality one it will last you forever.
• A denim jacket is something that I like because you can dress up even a graphic tee with a jacket.
• For shoes I suggest black and brown boots, I like riding boots because I don't like to feel like I'm towering over people, and I have a 2 year old.
• I like flats for the same reason, so I have black and brown ones.
• Last you need a good classic bag in brown or black or both, but you want something without alot of trendy embelishment because if you are going to spend money on a good quality bag, you want it to last forever. I have a Michael Kors brown bag that I got for my first Mothers Day.

You can get most of this stuff at a store like the Gap. They have good quality basics at a pretty good price. These few things will last season after season. Check back tomorrow and I will have this seasons most popular trends on a shoe string budget.

More Gap...