fcpint3

Happy New Years Eve my friends!! I know I've been completely absent for the past few weeks, but I have to say... it felt GOOD to completely check out like that.  It's been all about enjoying family, friends, and recovering from the worst cold/flu that is still lingering after almost three full weeks. While this blog is a little pet project of mine, my favorite thing about it (aside from seeing it grow, and making all sorts of fun blog friends) is the self reflection.  The ability to document our life, and look back at the end of each year.  Without getting all ooey-gooey, I wanted to look back at some of the most popular posts from 2013... My DIY Roman Shade  is at the top of that list... not just for this year but for all time on my little blog.  I still get emails and comments from readers about how I sewed on the loops, or what brackets I used to mount.  I'm happy to say that this little roman shade is still going strong in our hallway, and it's still on...

Who else here reads Cupcakes and Cashmere ??  Emily was the second blog that I got into after discovering Centsational Girl .  It was like my eyes had been opened to this awesome little world that I had no idea existed!! Well Emily has made quite a career for herself, having already published a lifestyle book that spun off from her blog, and she is so talented and relatable - I think that's why I (and so many others) just love her.  I look to her for inspiration for fashion, crafting, and recipes all the time, but this week she  posted about creating your own stationary , and a light bulb went off in my head. photo via cupcakes and cashmere I've already ordered my own embosser, a few stamps, clear ink, and some heavy cardstock and I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning right now...  I cannot WAIT to test it out!  For more details on how to do this on your own, by all means check out her tutorial and examples ... In the meantime, I've been ...

It's 5:00 somewhere... am I right??  Today I'm participating in the link up party at  The Lovely Cupboard , where there is bound to be quite a few yummy cocktail recipes abound! After getting our new bar cart, I went wild at BevMo, so we are stocked to the gills with delicious holiday beverage accouterments.... everything from brandied cherries (these are just AMAZING in a manhattan), to flavored syrups, whiskey, vodka, mixers, and LOTS of champagne...  To keep things feeling festive, I've devised three holiday cocktails to perpetuate that warm feeling of holiday cheer (or is that warm feeling from taste-testing three different cocktails in the afternoon...) The hard part about this post wasn't coming up with three cocktails, but, actually limiting myself to just three!!  I had a little too much fun with this one! The first cocktail up, is the Rose "merry" and Cranberry Cooler ... ya like that name?? I, for one, LOVE mixing savory and sweet flavors, and the ro...

Hello friends! I've been sick as a dog, spending as much time as I can in bed resting, but I'm stopping in briefly today to post a few pictures of the holiday decor I've added to the shelves in our dining room / office. Everything we added to this space was either re-purposed from past years, or it was free... One of my favorite parts about the holiday updates on these shelves were the "chalkboard" printouts from online.  I just took the prints that were previously in these frames and swapped them out.  So easy, and it cost me nothing - my favorite kind of update! I also took the faux holly berry sprigs that had been in our living room last year , and cut the stems short, putting the berry branches in a few small pots we had on hand.  Another super easy, free addition, and it added instant holiday cheer to the shelves. The faux potted amaryllis was a score from Target last year, and is livening up our pretty little bar cart. This is not a "Christmas" upd...

Malachite... so hot right now. Right Hansel ? But seriously... it is...  it's everywhere from wallpaper, to wrapping paper, to tabletops to jewelry boxes... Do you know which of the above jewelry boxes is the splurge??  All I'll tell you for now is that you could get almost 5 of one of these for the cost of the other. While you think about that, let's look at some pretty malachite inspiration... Source Source Source Source I think malachite really gained it's popularity last year when Pantone named "Emerald" as color of the year.  The green in this stone is so pretty, who wouldn't want to have it everywhere?? Anyway, I don't think I'm about to wallpaper my (non-existant) powder room with malachite wallpaper, but a jewerly box seems safe enough, and so luxe! Did you guess which of the jewlery boxes was the splurge and which was the save?? A pretty dramatic difference, right??  And I think the West Elm version actually looks quite a bit more pricey!!...

December is almost half way through (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!), and after getting our tree decorated last weekend, let's give it a moment in the spotlight... Pretty, right?? I feel like there are two types of Christmas tree decorators... the traditionalists, and the theme decorators. Myself, I'm a traditionalist - my favorite part about decorating the tree is to hang all the sentimental ornaments I've gotten year after year and reminisce (much to Kris' chagrin) all about when I got them, and the stories behind each... Mixed in with all the sentimental ones, I've got colorful globes, and glittery ribbon woven throughout.  I had big hopes this year to swap out the gold ribbon for a fun black and white stripe, but it was impossible to find.  So gold ribbon it was.  At least I upgraded from my sheer ribbon last year to a big, chunky glitter ribbon.  It really stands out and sparkles so much at night when the lights are on. This year, the tree is a bit different from years p...