Hoootin It Up

Oh Louise! has some fun new owl prints...Excited to bring them & other new prints to the Etsy Fort Worth Cowtown Indie Bazaar this weekend!











They will be available on Etsy soon along with my other new prints!

TrendyTrends: Wall Frame Collages

I am a big fan of the wall frame collages... I love the potential for how cheap they can be! You can find old frames that you've given up on & either spray paint them or just leave them be...many times with the combination of lots of frames, that frame wont look so bad anymore! Also, what goes in the frames doesn't have to cost you much either... you can simply print off a cute graphic, a funny saying or a photo & stick them in your frames which is...FREE! You can also use old books with great prints (such as botanical prints or cityscapes) to fill your frames.

Here are a bunch of beautiful examples of wall frame collages... hopefully they will inspire you to get framing! Such an easy, affordable, & creative way to give a touch of style to a lonely wall in your house (or heckkk you can even fill that whole wall up with frames!). Fun fun. Check out the pictures!


Photo via Domino


Photo via Lonny


Photo via Lonny


Photo via West Elm


Photo via Gaita Interiors


Photo via West Elm


Photo via Lonny


Photo via Apartment Therapy

Look for round 2 of Wall Frame Collages coming up in the next couple weeks! :)

Tailgating with Style: Set it Up Right

With football season looming in the very near future, I feel a bit overloaded with sports.. It's different living with a boy... now there is lots of talk of fantasy league competition and many hours of TV time dedicated to teams whose states we do not live in.. for real? I feel nice just watching the a&m or cowboy games ... but states I don't live in.. puhleease
So yes, its crucial that I focus only on food, beverages, and friends when thinking of football if I'm going to survive this fall!

I have a few more posts in the future involving easy but fancy tailgating recipes, cool grills that are pretty :), and pretty outdoor accessories/decor for tailgating, but for now I will focus on the set up... if only we all had awesome vintage trucks that we could tailgate in! (clearly this is a post for girls, ha)


Photo by BHG


Photo via flickr


Photo by Country Living


Beat Michigan - Photo taken October 20, 1923 - Photo via flickr


Dad 1966 - Photo via flickr


Photo via flickr


1920's Tailgating - Photo via flickr


Photo by Country Living

Etsy Throwdowns Thursday

Would one make your dreams so sweet?
Sunny Drops Cloud Mobile by The Butter Flying
Owl Mobile by Evelyn X



Does a certain bowl make you feel whole?
Lollipop Bowls by Sometimes She Does
Baby Scallop Bowls by Element Clay Studio



Which has the sweetest tweet?
Custom Love Birds Wedding Cake Topper by Red Light Studio
Wedding Cake Topper Autumn Birds by Cotton Bird Designs


Note: This is not a real competition... just a fun way to show-off awesome Etsy items!
All images are from their respective shops.

Crib Crashing: Fab Antiquey-Texas Guest Room

With my parents new "empty-nester" status, they've started to revamp their house & its really looking amazing. Sadly I don't have a before picture of their guest room, but imagine dark, dark brown walls, mismatched furniture leftover from my brother's days of living there, and Target "bed-in-a-bag" bedding. Basically it was a room that they were happy to keep the door closed to.

Now thanks to my mom's unique decorating style of what I've named "Antiquey-Texas" and her new found ability of redoing furniture beautifully, the room is a little piece of Texas-heaven with charm and personality.



-The 3 botanical prints above the bed were in a book that belonged to my dad's mom's family...my parents have used many prints over the years from that book as artwork in their house.
-The bed is an Eastlake style bed... it was my mom's grandmother's & my mom slept in this bed when she was little staying at her grandmother's house.
-The bedding is from JCPenney.



-Bedside table is from Canton.
-Pitcher lamp is from Uptown Country.
-Clock is from Pottery Barn.
-Ceramic bottles from my grandparents (mom's parents) bottle collection.
-Tile (sorry you can hardly see it!) is from Saint Marks Methodist Church where my mom and dad got married. Also my mom's parents were founders of the church.





-Bedside table is an old pine chest my parents had...my mom painted it cranberry and stained the top.
-Lamp is from Sample House.



-Table is an antique table that was my aunt Ellen's. It needed refinishing so my mom painted it in a high gloss cranberry paint.
-Copper tea pot was my dad's moms.
- Roosters were my mom's grandmothers (Lou's mom).
-The book is titled "Historic Homes of Gonzales". Our family home, the Braches house is featured on the front and 2 family homes are featured in the book, the Braches house and the JBKennard house.



-Wire picture holder is from Canton.
-Old postcards were my grandparents and some are from Curiosities. There are also old pictures of my grandparents and of the JBKennard house.



-Loveseat belonged to my grandfather's mom, Mimi (my mom's grandmother). She had it in her living room covered in mint green. It was left to my mom's sister Ellen when Mimi passed away, & Ellen recovered it. The cranberry and cream print of this loveseat was the inspiration for the entire room.
-Magazine box is an antique pine chest that came from Lou & Hart's (mom's parents) antique store. My mom used to keep our doll clothes in it...at the time she had it recovered in Laura Ashley fabric (so early 90's!). To use as a magazine holder she took out the fabric and draped an antique napkin in the box.



-Hutch is from the Forestwood Antique Mall.
-Plates: cranberry "Come and Take It" & Betsy Ross with flag plate were on my grandmother Lou's kitchen wall. Others are from antique malls and ebay.



-My mom saw this flower holder at Sample House & asked the employees if she could purchase it... they said it was too damaged on the inside to sell to her, so they gave it to her!





-Clock in glass dome was my great grandfather's (on my dad's side) pocket watch.
-Silver spoons were my great-great grandmother's and are engraved with a K for Kennard (mom's maiden name).

Didn't my mom do a great job? Her use of accessories & furniture that have family history is so much more charming and meaningful than a room full of store-bought stuff! Also, like I said.. her new skill of redoing furniture made this room really come together without spending much money... great job anners!

Allie's Cupcake Invites!

When Laura (sis-in-law) came to me wanting some cute 3rd birthday invitations for my precious little niece Allie, I knew I had to come up with something super girly and super sweet in order to fully represent the bday girl. :)
Here are the final invites complete with their matching pink envelopes!







Laura also needed some coordinating stickers to put on the waiver for Pump It Up... here's what we came up with.. so fun! Now I want to eat a cupcake, dangit.



Look for them on sale on Etsy & on my website soon! :)

Canton Finds: Old Lanterns

I saw this old lantern in Canton & just love its summery vintage charm...and they're cheap too! I got a couple a while back in Canton and only paid $8 for 2 of them!



After researching online a bit, turns out there are many types of vintage lanterns and lots of things you can do with them... hang them from trees, paint them bright colors, use them as a centerpiece, put a candle in them for real lighting...the possibilities are endlessss!









Had to end on a turquoise note of course... :)
Happy Monday!

Our Home: Bathroom Cabinet Overhaul

The word overhaul may seem a little dramatic for a bathroom cabinet organizing session, but if you look at the picture below you will realize that this was quite a hefty job... For some reason when we moved in, I thought it would be a good idea to simply throw every bathroom-related item into my cabinet. Of course in the beginning I tried to neatly line things up, but clearly as time went by that went out the window.





Ok I feel like I just exposed way too much of myself... don't judge me for my disgusting bathroom cabinet! Actually, its really bad. You can judge me a little..

Oh also, here are the old knobs on the cabinet.



So when I finally decided the time had come to really get down to business with this horrible unorganized situation, I first hit up Big Lots & then Dollar King to see what types of storage options they had. There were decent options at both, but so expensive! I don't know why Dollar King even has dollar in their name, because everything I saw was at least $5... and when you have a lot to organize, that adds up quickly! Finally I went to Dollar Tree, and ah... sweet relief. Everything there is literally a dollar so I made it out of there with lots of stuff & didn't break the bank.
I also went to JoAnns and got a cheap pack of scrapbook paper that I decided would line the back of my cabinets... I knew the the things I bought at the Dollar Tree were all white & a tad boring so I thought a little color and pattern would brighten things up a tad!
After measuring, here I am getting my paper perfectly sized & stuck together for each shelf backside using my handy dandy glue lines (usually for scrapbooking - but they work like double stick tape only wayyy better).



I used Elmers Spray-On Craft Adhesive... I bought the intense version & seriously... that stuff is crazy... just from spraying it in my cabinets, I had a thin coating of glue in my hair for a couple days. It was lovely.



For each shelf I put towels down to cover up the parts of the shelf I did not want to cover with adhesive spray.. then I had my scrapbook-paper backing all ready to go and sprayed the back of the shelf... as quickly as I could I stuck the backing to the shelf.



And voila, a cheap and easy touch of pretty & color.



Then it was time to organize. I discovered with much joy when I got home with my new Dollar Tree finds that they could all be written on with dry erase markers. This was perfect for my bathroom cabinet organizing, because I know myself... and I know my first round of organizing is never perfect and might need a little tweaking at some point. See how easy? Write a label..



Decide that label is lame...



Oh the joy & freedom of not feeling the pressure to label with permanent markers. Simple pleasures people.

I also bought these 4 boxes at the Dollar Tree to organize all my medicine, bandages, vitamins...all that exciting stuff. I had it all shoved in one box (or scattered around my cabinet) before & it was just a big stressful mess & trying to find some Pepto was way harder than necessary...not anymore, woohoo! (and these are dry-erase friendly too!)



And here are the rest of the pics...



I got that little "silver" tray at the Dollar Tree too.







Oh and the new knobs! (anthropologie)





Hope you feel inspired to organize... life is so much better when you can find stuff!