Upcycle last year's wreath into dozens of mini-wreaths! Supplies: ribbon, mason jar lids, and an old wreath! *I mounted mine on a wood plaque that I found on clearance in the Target Dollar Spot! $0.30 each! Simply snip the wreath sprigs off, wrap them around the mason jar lid, and tie a bow at the top!  I am so excited to hang mine from each of my kitchen cabinet doors!
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| Our wedding would not have been the same without the help of our family and friends. Family members came all the way from California to work and help make our day special. My Aunt was our rock star in the weeks leading up to our wedding. She made all of the bouquets and flower arrangements, recreated and altered my Grandma's dress for me, and made a matching dress for my flower girl out of a vintage wedding dress we found at a thrift shop! On the day of she took on the role of wedding planner and even offered to yell at anyone I wanted! ("They can be mad at me all they want, I'm going back to California!") The work she did leading up to and on the day of our wedding was the best gift she could have ever given us. Her creativity and attitude of selflessness allowed my mom to relax and enjoy the day and left me without a care in the world. Love you, Aunt Keely! |  |
thrift stores, yard sales, DIY projects, and hand-me-downs...
I am so thankful to have been raised in a home where we grew up shopping at the thrift store. When we'd go with my Grandma she'd call it "the fun store", and when we went with my mom it felt like a treasure hunt..."what will we find this time?!" We grew up thinking creatively about just about everything: instead of seeing a store of discarded items, we saw opportunity; when something broke, we figured how to fix it or we used it in a new way. This is something we still do - it's how I've furnished our home and it's how we decorated our wedding.
Each table had a variety of jars and vases layered with bottles, pink depression glass, and small trinkets, all sitting on a burlap sack. Vintage books were stacked to provide varying heights for the table decor and vintage buttons were scattered throughout like confetti.
The gift table had a vintage suitcase where guests could put cards or other small items so that they did not get lost in the shuffle, and we used a vintage pickle jar as our "Honeymoon Fund". One of my favorite things from our wedding is our tree stump that Dan carved for me. It's such a classic gesture of love and looks great in our living room!
Each table had a variety of jars and vases layered with bottles, pink depression glass, and small trinkets, all sitting on a burlap sack. Vintage books were stacked to provide varying heights for the table decor and vintage buttons were scattered throughout like confetti.
The gift table had a vintage suitcase where guests could put cards or other small items so that they did not get lost in the shuffle, and we used a vintage pickle jar as our "Honeymoon Fund". One of my favorite things from our wedding is our tree stump that Dan carved for me. It's such a classic gesture of love and looks great in our living room!
Collection of jars, vases, and bottles - Thrift Stores and Yard Sales
Vintage Pickle Jar - Yard Sale
Lace, Burlap Ribbon, Burlap Sacks, and Vintage Buttons - Amazon
Vintage Books - Thrift Store (Tip: When looking at old books, remove the dust-cover! These beautiful designs were hidden underneath - and they're all different!)
Mini Bird Houses and Hanging Birds - Target (clearance Christmas ornaments!)
Pink Depression Glass - Mom's Collection
Tree Stump - Dan Eno
We used our wedding cake as a nod to JMU, where we met and both went to college. Our cake topper was Duke Dog getting married, handmade by my sister! She worked so hard creating this sculpture for us and it was a very special addition to our wedding. Our mini-cake and cupcakes were made by a family friend and, as you can see, the icing had perfect face-smearing quality!
Duke Dog Sculpture - Chloe (created with colored clay, beads, wire, and left over lace)
Cake and Cupcakes - Georgie Culley
Cupcake Wrapper - Amazon
Thank you for taking this walk down memory lane with me. I hope this helps you dream up ideas for your future wedding, plan your soon-to-be wedding, or reminds you of your special day. Wedding days can be such a whirlwind and making plans can be stressful, but looking back I wouldn't change a thing. Happy July 21st!
We LOVE to visit Old American Barn whenever we get the chance! Unique items, hidden treasures, a quaint town, and an entire room of "found items" - barn wood, bottles, vintage tools, remnants of a life once lived - it's perfect. Go there.
Last time we were there we were buying barn wood to use for a stage design at our church. We were going for a comfortable, relaxed look and the barn wood panels turned out to be the perfect fit!
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For our next stage design we decided to repurpose our repurposed barn wood to create an ombre wood panel with a 70's string-art-inspired oak tree. The series art coordinating with this design featured an acorn and we thought the series art and the barn wood would play well together. Learn MORE.
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We are currently working on our next stage design and have taken apart the barn wood panels for good. Now these barn wood pieces are being repurposed, for possibly the final time, into coat racks! I'm selling them through local venues in hopes of fundraising the remaining balance for our upcoming mission trip to the Dominican Republic. My husband, myself, and 7 students from our church will be partnering with CIY Engage to love on the people of the Dominican Republic. We will be working with a women's shelter, helping with VBS, and running a soccer camp for the kids in the area - we are SO EXCITED!
Here are the coat racks that I am currently creating. Each coat rack is about 2.5 ft. long and features 3 double-sided garmet hooks. It would look great in an entry way, bedroom, or bathroom! Please contact me personallly or via twitter if you would like to purchase one! ($25, Local pick-up only.) @hillside2b
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 |  * Here is a completed coat rack; long, black screws easily secure into the wall! |
I had so much fun planning this shower! Here's a final look at at this special day!
The Menu
     | Breadstick SnailsThese turned out to be my favorite thing on the menu for this shower; super quick, easy, and delicious. *The recipe calls for refrigerated bread sticks - which I looked everywhere for...ended up buying refrigerated pizza dough (in the tube) and cutting it to the size I wanted. S'more CupcakesI have no insight into how to make these - all I know is that they were delicious! A friend of ours is a fantastic baker and made these beautiful cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. ToadstoolsSo simple, but ended up taking awhile to create. This would be a great job for a kiddo who loves to help! I used cubes of white, sharp cheddar cheese, which ended up giving a nice flavor! CaterpillarsGood idea in theory...didn't end up working out like I'd hoped. If you're going to make these make sure they are eaten right away. As the shower went on I noticed they turned brown quickly...so that was a bummer. Veggie CupsI was so excited about this! Clear cup, plop of hummus in the bottom, and veggies, cut long, standing in the cup. I love how pretty these turned out! They almost look like mini floral arrangements - tasty, mini floral arrangements. |
Acorns (halved nutter-butter rounds and hershey kiss) | Catch of the Day (swedish fish) | Scat (chocolate-covered raisins) |
Woodland Berries |
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The Onesies
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To help make painting easier for the guests I provided some templates for them to use! I've linked a couple of the favorites, but other ideas can be found on my Pinterest page! When the ladies were done painting they hung the onesies up on a clothesline. This allowed the onesies to dry and become some sweet decorations!
The Extras
 | Here are the squirrels I used as food labels; I was shocked that these were free! I discovered a trick while I was making these: each sheet really only makes 1 sturdy squirrel. *Make sure that you glue both the legs and the arms together before assembling; this will keep the squirrel from becoming wobbly and will remove the plain white paper on the inside of the arms and legs. |
 I had to google the answers to this game! Some of them seem made up! Try it; how many can you get correct!? |  We also played "The Price is Right, Baby Edition"! This was such a fun baby shower game plus our mommy-to-be got to keep all the items! *Unfortunately I did not get a picture of ours...but here is a super cute one from Pinterest if you're interested! |
 Thanks for stopping by! | Throughout the shower, we asked guests to addressed an envelope to themselves. This is an easy way to help out the mommy-to-be! With the envelope, she won't need to hunt down or write the addresses in order to send thank you notes! Before guests left they were able to snag a take away gift as a small "thank you"!  |
When I saw these paintings on Pinterest I thought they were the cutest things ever! They combine 2 of my favorite things: barn wood and woodland animals. I thought they would be a fun touch of whimsy to my friend's woodland nursery! Here is my most recent high-low project.
High | Low *I decided not to attach a sawtooth mount to the back of mine because they can easily hang from the connecting brackets. |
Simply cut your barn wood to size, connect your pieces together, and paint!
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renew.
recycle.
reclaim.
repurpose.
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