Pinteresting Summer!

At the beginning of summer, I told my husband I was going to do one Pinterest idea a week during my summer vacation.  Four weeks of summer have passed, and a monogrammed door wreath is the only project that I truly completed myself (we have done some landscaping, and Dan made me a wine rack from the wood pallets I got off my neighbor).  All in all, I'm a little behind on my "Pinterest Summer".  

I have been looking at monogrammed wreaths on Pinterest for quite some time.  The problem - there were so many I liked.  A little over a week ago, a girlfriend and I went out to some local garage sales.  After perusing the sales, we stopped by a wholesale priced craft store, and while I was there, I decided to pick a wreath and just "do it".  Thankfully, I have the Pinterest app on my phone, so it only took me a few minutes to hit search and find one I liked.  Of course, once I picked a wreath I liked, I had to go to two different stores to find all my supplies :).  

The picture above shows all the supplies I needed for my wreath.  I found the wreath I wanted to do on a blog I have been following this summer - the writer seems to be my muse for house ideas this summer.  What I mean is, I just need her house to become mine.  :)

The wreath I picked used green moss on the monogrammed letter.  I purchased the moss, but I also picked up some turquoise paint for the letter - I have been dying to do something with turquoise, and Dan said "no" to repainting the front door.  So, I figured if I couldn't bring the door to turquoise, I would bring a little turquoise to the door.  Plus, if I hated the turquoise, I could always paint it green and hot glue on the moss.  No worries, the turquoise was perfect :)  Now, I just need to make a trip back to Hobby Lobby to return the moss....or at least to exchange it for supplies for my next Pinterest project.  

I tried to keep most of the other parts of the wreath true to the original design.  I couldn't find yellow "sprigs" at the craft store, so I used yellow forsythia flowers (a favorite), and I found some cool silk flowers with a zebra print (sounds strange but they were perfect) that replaced the fabric chevron flowers I would have had to make.  Once I got home, I started right away.  See the steps below!

I definitely hot glued like a crazy woman on this project.  The first flowers I tried to attach wouldn't glue well to the wreath, so I decided to glue my forsythia together and then glue them to the wreath.  After they dried, I added the zebra flowers.  The monogrammed letter was a little tricky to attach at the end.  I "eyed" the amount of burlap ribbon I needed to get the letter to hang at the right distance.  Then, I hot glued the ribbon to the back of the letter.  Once it was dry, I fed the ribbon through the back of the wreath - and once again, hot glued like crazy.  It's been about 10 days, and so far, nothing has come apart.  Project 1 complete - I love this wreath!

blogging days of summer

A few years back, my tech savvy husband suggested I start a blog.  I'm sure this was at a time in my life where there was just too much going on - perhaps I was going back to school, or maybe I was in my first (or second) year of teaching, or it could have just seemed too daunting at the time.  Besides, we don't have kids, and most of my friends who blog have a few of those little cuties running around their home :)  I shrugged off his suggestion and never thought about it again.

Fast forward a few years, add the world of Pinterest - where every cool idea links to someone's amazing blog - throw in my first summer vacation since high school, and voila, I excitedly tell my husband one day that I am going to start blogging.  His response, "I told you a long time ago you should do that".  Oh!  Oops, I forgot about that conversation.

Saying I am going to blog, and starting a blog are too different things.  Aside from the fact that I don't have a main purpose in mind for my blog entries, I am also VERY indecisive.  Picking out a template to use, fonts, and colors is an overwhelming task, and I am sure I'll probably change things over and over again.  I don't understand source codes, and I've already managed (twice) to mess up my template - enter tech savvy husband's role in this little endeavor.  And, then there was the task of trying to find a blog name (and address) that I loved and wasn't already taken - again, so thankful for a husband who thinks outside the box.  Luckily, the blog name thing wasn't so bad.  And, In lieu of my technological disabilities, I have begun to get a handle on things.  I've found a few free template sites that fit my style, I've managed to learn how to change templates, and add gadgets, and I also learned how to use picmonkey.com...not too shabby for only 24 hours in!

So, what will "Where Life Begins and Love Never Ends" be about?  Only time will tell.  I think that's why the quote resonates so much with me - no matter what my journey, no matter the stage of life I'm in, no matter if I end up with a houseful of little cuties to talk about, or just a wonderful husband and a loyal dog, this quote will always hold true.  I have a feeling I'm going to like this blogging stuff!