Tattoo Dreams

 

My dearest friend Erin is coming into town for my graduation. She has been one of my best friends since 6th grade, and she is also going to be the matron of honor for my wedding. She lives in New York with her hubby and two beautiful children. Because of all the miles that separate us, I miss her very much and love the time we get to get together. It's like we have never been apart. 

Anywho, she has an old tattoo she wants to get covered up by a new one while she is down here. My maid of honor, Kaitlyn, has a boyfriend who owns a tattoo shop, and we are going to take a trip there! And I feel like this might be perfect timing for me to finally get the only tattoo I would ever get for myself. I admire tattoos and love the stories and meanings behind them, but I will never have the guts to get more than one tattoo. I don't even know if I have enough guts to get one!! 

I have always wanted to get my mother's name (Anne) in all lowercase on my wrist. I found an example of how I want it to look from Pinterest, of course. I love the font for the "love" wrist tattoo [above], but I think I may want my mother's name to be a little smaller. I want to be able to carry her around with me wherever I go, and I want to be reminded why I am living my life to fullest. 

Kaitlyn and Erin are, of course, both down for the idea! It's something I have wanted for a very long time, but we will see if I ever go through with it. 

I will definitely keep y'all updated! Graduation is almost here! Are you annoyed yet with my excitement??? 

May Obsession

Now that I have a three bedroom house, I am constantly wishing I had more furniture. I am always dreaming about what I could do with these spaces, but I do not have the time or money to be making these dreams come true. Once graduation passes, and my big girl job officially starts, maybe I can start planning and organizing the way I want to! 

I will always be obsessed with IKEA. My favorite thing to do on the weekends is drive to the store in Atlanta and wander around. Everything is just decorated perfectly! I want to hire some of their designers to come to my house! 

The four pieces I really want right now:

1. This adorable cabinet is perfect for my kitchen. I have this empty corner in my kitchen that is calling for this piece. It is perfect because all my kitchen stuff is red, and this cabinet is red. It even has an adorable yellow striped lining on the inside. It is technically called a linen cabinet, but I want it for more a decoration in the kitchen. I also want to use it to put some of my cake baking things in it.
2. My next project is finding pictures for a big multi frame wall in the living room. I want these plain black frames with thick white matting. Depending on how many pictures I decide on, I want to get these and either have four or six of them lined up to cover up the naked wall in the living room. 
3. I spend a lot of time in the office, and especially after last weekend when I was crafting like crazy, I really need a large organizer drawer set to have somewhere to put everything away. I have two desks in the office (also from IKEA), but I don't like how everything I own is put on display because I can't really put anything away and have it hidden.
4. We finally have a fully functional guest room, and I still think it needs something. I would love to have this small drawer chest for the front of the room. I really think the room needs something else, and I would like a place to put away extra sheets and blankets. I also want to paint it yellow and change the knobs! I love painting furniture, and it can really bring out this piece even more. And plus, it will make the guest room have more pizazz! 

Well, let me know what you are currently obsessing over! I am always in the mood of making a new list and collage.

Tomorrow is my last day at my college student work job. The bosses are also taking all the graduating seniors out to lunch to celebrate. I'm excited, but I know it's going to be sad to leave that place for the last time. And graduation is almost here!!!!!  :)

Mother's Day Crafts

Mother's Day is this coming up Sunday, the day after Ricky and I graduate. For all of you who don't know, my mother passed away from ovarian cancer when I was 16 years old. This past April marked six years since she left us, and it is always something I struggle with, especially since Ricky and I got engaged. Wedding planning has been fun with my stepmother, Julia, but I can't help but miss my mom during the whole process.

I have been blessed with three different mothers in my life: my stepmother, my future mother in law, and my teacher from high school. Whenever I mention my teacher from high school, I always get the weirdest looks. When all my mothers went with me to go wedding dress shopping, I got the looks there too. Mrs. Frost was the mother I needed when my mom was taken away from me. She was there for me every day after it happened, and she was my guardian angel through the whole healing process. We are still close today when I am about to graduate from college. I am close with all three of the mothers in my life in different ways. They all get me, and they are all there for me when I need them.

I always send Mrs. Frost flowers for Mother's Day; she has two older boys, and she claims me as her only daughter. I know she loves receiving flowers, so it has been a tradition since my first mother's day without my real mother. Ricky and I have not decided what we are going to get his mother, but we always think of something cute!

But for my stepmother, I decided to be crafty! I wanted to make her a personalized wreath for the front door of their house. I sifted through millions of wreath ideas on Pinterest and finally decided what I want to do. I love the wood vine wreaths the best because I love rustic chic decorations! So of course, I adore burlap and bows too!

I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby and bought the following:

• vine wreath - $4.99
• regular burlap ribbon - $4.99
• patterned burlap ribbon - $9.99
• wood letter - $1.50

Of course, I used my couponing skills and did not spend that much at all!

First, I painted the letter because I knew it was going to take time to dry:

I then followed two different tutorials. They were both spectacular and easy to follow. For the burlap flowers, I followed the tutorial from this adorable blog Under My Umbrella. Then for the bow at the top of the wreath, I followed the tutorial from On Sutton Place. Thanks girls for the help!

For the flowers, I made three of them with the regular burlap ribbon and only two in the patterned burlap ribbon. Then I hot glued everything to the wreath. I did several layers of this because I wanted to make sure nothing would fall off from the wreath being on the door.

I cannot wait to give this to my stepmother on Sunday! We are having Ricky and I's graduation party on Saturday night, and then mother's day is the next day. I have not decided if I will just give it to her before the party, so she can hang it and show everyone! We will see!

I hope everyone hugs onto the mothers they have in their lives this Sunday! They definitely need to fell appreciated.