another inspirational blog

blizzard #2 of the month the past few days. not much else to do than blog :)

another great blog that really captures the look i would love to have in my house. one day. maybe. check it out! i love the name. the old painted cottage.

inspiration blog

wow. stumbled upon this one. must say i am hooked! i love all the white in her beachside cottage. simple. beautiful. gonna copy it.


check it out. maybe you will see some ideas you would like to try too! i know i want to do the suitcases stacked as a side table. oh and the pots and pans and lanterns hanging from the ceiling, oh and the ...


a beach cottage

winter "one"derland part 3: food tags

about a week to go until the big party. so excited. i mean, snow excited!

the menu is set. i think. originally i planned on a dessert bar but have since changed it to include some appetizers that are white {basically a lot that include cheese}.


so here is what i came up with for tags for the food. easy. cute. perfect for a woodsy winter theme. just a few items needed. corks. toothpicks. tape. cute winter themed names for your food. voila! winter "one"derland food tags!

christmas craziness

i can be a bit impulsive when it comes to decorating. i want results quickly. even if it isn't perfect.

i first made a suggestion to a friend last week on a paint choice for her house {chalkboard}. that was thursday.


wow. i like that idea. i should do it in my house.


out of town friday until monday.


tuesday- find this picture on houzz.com {check it out, but be warned - it is addicting!}


wednesday morning woke up and did this to one of the walls in my own home...

a christmas tour of the copy cat cottage

welcome to my house! not really a cottage, but i can pretend right? after seeing my sister give her tour at everything that is nice and nestor having a linky party {which i am not attending} i've decided to give the tour a chance. enjoy!

here are some examples of how i've decorated for the season.

first off are my photo ledges made lovingly by my hubby our first month of marriage. i spruced them up for the season with some fake greenery, some reindeer ornaments, red balls and my favorite mirrored stars. the stars were my biggest holiday splurge for my house. $20 at bed bath and beyond for the 3 stars.




here is a thrifty example. my sister's old skates with some greenery and a few wintery ornaments. the winter wonderland sign was a christmas gift from my sister two years ago {you will notice a lot of my decor are gifts. my sis and sis in law know me well! plus my bday is a month before the holiday season and so many times i ask for decor.}




speaking of gifts, this was my birthday gift from my sister this year. just put it on a cake stand with some greenery as my christmas table center piece.



more from the dining room. christmas greenery, white berries {i have SO many of these picks. like maybe 60 of them? they were part of the centerpieces at my december wedding!} and a few ornaments decorate the top of my craigslist hutch. i took a bunch of branches and painted them silver to add height and texture.



the chandelier.. garland "acquired" from my mom.


i love reindeer. i have some reindeer candle holders i got from my sis in law a few years ago for christmas... {which go a long side some fake mercury glass trees i bought at walmart for 90% off - $1 each!}


and an addition to my reindeer collection this year: two glittery reindeer bought for 50% off at hobby lobby with my birthday money. i also got some candles that look kind of like birch at hl for 50% off - that was how i spent my mom's birthday money this year!



the tree. a splurge every year for a real frasier fir {our other tree was a freeby we picked up by the side of the road. it is fake and was lacking a base, which my hubby fixed}. decorated with silvery white ornaments, a few fake pine cones and some beaded icicles. christmas to me means red, so a few glass red balls.

inspiration blog

not for decorating, but for the kitchen. around this time of year i get really bored with my recipes, so i was super excited when i found this blog. the food looks yummy and easy! check it out!
http://www.ourbestbites.com/

DIY: terrarium ornaments

not my idea. found it. love it. gonna save it in the file for next year! click here for the DIY instructions!

DIY: nativity hurricanes

this isn't my DIY, although i wish it was. there are two steps to this project that i absolutely loved.


the first step is making your own hurricane glasses by buying vases and candle sticks from the dollar store (even cheaper will be garage sales. i'll start looking for them this summer!)


just as simple as taking a vase and hot gluing it to the top of a candle stick. brilliant! click here to see how.

being that we are all a bunch of copy catters, searching the web for ideas to make "our own" another person found the homemade hurricanes and took it a step further to make her own hurricane nativity.


click here to find out how!

simple wooden village

love this idea i found this morning on one pretty thing. too late to use this for this year. definately keeping it in mind for next year though. check out here to see how this wooden village was made.

entry sneak peek!

our entry is finished. almost. ok, not really. sure there is a little painting and tiling and patching of the ceiling to do, but i can feel it. my vision is coming to fruition. my hubby did an amazing job!

before:



after sneak peek!




click here for a complete before and the inspiration.

more thoughts on wrapping gifts

i love wrapping gifts. do you? even when i can combine two smaller gifts into one box, i still wrap them separately. that is how much i love it.


here are a few of my tricks.


i usually buy one new roll of wrapping paper each year - usually at hobby lobby 1/2 price. 100 feet of heavy duty paper for $4 is way better than anything at target or walmart. i keep with simple colors. all white. brown kraft paper. red with white dots. this year i used some of my fancy scissors and cut out a second type of wrapping paper to layer.


for ribbon i use real ribbon - not the paper kind you just throw a way. every year after my family opens gifts i scavenge all of the ribbons and reuse them. year after year after year. it is cheap and it is green. plus my sister and sis in law all use the same color scheme. this year one thing i bought for embellishing gifts was some yarn. again, on sale at hl and you get like 100 yards of it {or something... it goes a long way.} this year i also found some random lace in my house to use with my gift wrap.



for gift tags in previous years i've used different basic tags from hl and embellished them with letter stamps {chocolate brown usually}. again my super creative sis and sis in law have done some cute monogrammed gift tags. my sister printed stickers on her computer and my sis in law cut out letters and glued them to the top of the gift. {from my sis's blog.}


this year i bought a pack of little snowflakes for $1 to add to the gift wrap and to continue with my wintery theme. other ideas? bells. pinecones. candy. greenery.

i hope this encourages you and excites you about wrapping presents. it doesn't have to be complicated. you don't have to be martha stewert. just collect a few things {including ideas!} and wrapping presents can be enjoyable!

creative christmas tags

courtesy of picnik. com! just change your size to wallet size when you go to print. super cute and easy! i used modge podge to adhere it to the red cardstock. perfect gift tag for this wanna be photographer! enjoy! use this idea!

great gift idea!

this is my cousin crysten's etsy shop. she is so talented! she designs her own jewelry and it is very affordable!

this is one of my favorites:



Click here to check it out!

decorate with paper!

with a bigger house this year my christmas decorations aren't going too far...

so i went to my favorite inexpensive decorating trick - use paper!

i cut the words "joy" out of white glittery paper and put them in frames with red cardstock in the background.

i also took that same cardstock and framed some snowflake ornaments.




voila! christmas decor for cheap!

quick thanksgiving table

it was 2:00 this afternoon. i was just waking up for a quick nap. i looked at the clock and thought "i should think about what i want to do for my thanksgiving table."

better late than never.

so i started getting out my plates. my square green plates from target. the family heirloom china. the brown napkins my sister got me for christmas a few years ago.

that part of setting the table is easy. now for the fun part. the making the table festive. this is always my favorite activity to do with my mom. sadly this year we aren't making it back, so in the back of my mind i kind of tried to think like my mom.

that got me thinking about something i saw on martha as a kid (i know, i've been watching martha for over 20 years!) jack 'b little candle holders. so with a knife and a spoon i got to work.



not too bad and i didn't cut myself!

next step. place cards. i hate it when you go someplace for a nice meal and have that awkward feeling of where should you sit. parents need to be by their kids, the cook close to the kitchen, some people need coffee cups, some don't...

place cards solve those problems. here is what i came up with. jack 'b littles, tags, brown stamp and some raffia.


and for the kids, well, i didn't have enough jack 'b littles and i had two gourds left. this is what i came up with:

(supposed to be turkeys...)

so now it is 4:30 the day before thanksgiving, and if you are like me you need some last minute ideas. well here you go. simple. cheap. cute. go ahead. try them out yourself!

holiday baking

for the first year ever i have time to do so many holiday activities. in previous years i've had to balance holiday fun with a full time job as a teacher. now that i stay at home and have an 11 month old who takes two naps a day, i am looking forward to the holiday season and doing "traditional" holiday baking, crafts and christmas wrapping.


so, my question to you: what are some of your favorite simple holiday candies, cookies, appetizers or desserts?

serving platters

guess what i am gonna do for serving platters at a certain girl's winter one-derland themed birthday...


saw this on hostess with the mostess. we have logs waiting to be used for our fireplace that can first be used at the party.

i gave in...

to temptation. i started decorating for christmas tonight.


i am even hosting a thanksgiving meal. oh well.


this is what i decided. i am ready. this is our house so i can decorate for christmas when i want to (as long as hubby is ok with it, which he is). that is the beauty of having your own home. you get to make it look how you want - WHEN you want.


so the reindeer have made their appearance at the copy cat cottage. are there reindeer or nativity's at your house that are ready to be brought out? these items are some of my favorite possessions, so why only used them for a month?


if you are ready - i say go ahead! decorate!

to continue or not...

are you out there? is this blog giving you ideas? things that you can copy in your own home? then i need to hear from you! whether i know you or not! for me to take up my time doing this i need to know that it is worth it...

picnik

my friend melissa informed me of this great photo editing site: picnik.com! look at what i created in minutes!

stockings from sweaters

here is my first christmas craft i have planned.

i have lots of old sweaters laying around from my teaching days...

christmas is coming; the goose is getting fat!

oh how i tormented my siblings with that song when i was younger. i would play it over and over on our record player. did i mention it was miss piggy singing it?

anyway, christmas decorating commences at the copy cat cottage in 10 days. what does that mean? well, i need to finish a few projects first{paint 2 dressers and my bedroom and hopefully our entry way bench!}

that way i will be totally free of house projects during the holiday season so that i can do holiday activities all month long: bake, decorate, make gifts, wrap presents. oh, and work on a special little girl's first birthday celebration!

so with the big baby shower done, i used some of my time this morning on bh&g website as i drank my coffee and listened to christmas music on pandora.

a wonderful morning.

here are some pictures i found that i would love to incorporate in my house. i am planning on using my daughter's birthday theme {winter wonderland} as my decorating theme in my living room. lots of whites and silvers for colors. tons of greens and branches for textures. reindeer, pinecones and snowflakes for themes.




i found these pictures today but i had just asked my hubby yesterday to make me some of the log candle holders! simple enough and free to make from our log pile in back!

tea party baby shower: the decor

this weekend was the baby shower that i've mentioned before. i think it was a success: good food and great fellowship and the mommy of honor felt very loved. all the components necessary for a successful party in my mind.




i decided that to have a proper tea party there must be no plastic present at the party. that meant i had to find enough tea cups and saucers for 30 people. oh boy. thankfully the endeavor was not that difficult - i had so many friends that have china {all white with gold!} and with my white dinner plates and white napkins the table was set!


as i have blogged about before, i made the centerpieces out of pink tissue paper. very cheap yet looked stunning against the bright blue tablecloth. i used paper doilies underneath the centerpieces. total cost for all the tables: $5. the key to keeping it so cheap was using paper. i had selected several scrapbook papers as my color inspiration and used every inch of those papers. i cut out tons of circles to sprinkle the table with and to place on the napkins as a pop of color. simple and cheap yet it was a nice added detail.

the final bit of decorating that i did was made pompom flowers for the ceiling and made a garland out of ribbons that matched my color scheme. 1/2 price ribbon at hobby lobby, so final cost for the garland was maybe $5 too.



the one "big" expense for the party was the tablecloths. $15 for a king sized sheet at target, then cut into 3 pieces and the edges sewn. for me though this was an investment. i love the color of the tablecloths and can see it being used at birthday parties and easter celebrations. and for a special someone's bridal shower i am planning for in march...