Busy, Busy

Happy Halloween!!! This month has been one crazy month! I feel like we have had five million things going on. We have been to festivals, one of my besties got married, we volunteered at the Art of Chocolate Charity event, I have babysat some kiddos, I went on a trip to New Orleans, and then on top of all of that, I work full time and I am still a wife and have to upkeep a house! So I just wanted to share a few of the things we have been up to lately.

One of my best friends, Kayla, is got married this month, and I was a bridesmaid! I am so happy for her and her fiance, Nick, as they start this new journey. She has had two showers, one thrown by the bridesmaids and one thrown by a close family friend. Here a few of the pics from her showers.

Me and the Bride

Cute Favors made by the hosts. The hosts were a dentist's wife and a dentist and most of the guests at the shower were in the dental field. Kayla is a hygienist like me :)

Key Lime Pie from the shower

Flower Centerpieces

I made her a hanger to hang her wedding dress on. I saw these after my wedding and fell in love! I have been waiting on someone to get married, so I could make one! Mrs. Pries :)

Bridesmaids

My sweet friend, Stacia. Miss her soooo much!!!

I made Kayla a banner. I used the Cricut to cut out circles and the letters. Then, I punched holes in them with a hole punch and threaded the ribbon through.

My sister made these cupcakes for the shower. They were so yummy!!! 

I fixed Kayla this gift basket with her towels, hand towels, and bathroom accessories that she registered for. My sister did this for me at one of my wedding showers. I loved the idea, so I stole it :)

The wedding was beautiful! Everything went smooth and I am so honored that I got to be a part of it! Here are a few pics. 

Mr. and Mrs. Pries

My Hygiene Girls

Me and Stacia

A few weekends back, Ben and I volunteered at the Art of Chocolate Charity Event. Ben has to have so many volunteer hours for school, so we volunteer at this each year. It is was a lot of fun!

Me and Jackie (Ben's classmate and one of my dear Augusta friends)

I also went back to Gainesville one weekend and went to the Mule Camp Festival with my family.

I rode the ferris wheel with Jaxon. Those of you who know me, know I don't usually do heights. But how could I say no to that little cutie?! I actually did pretty good.

Such a cutie!!!

Love it!

  

We had so much fun! Unfortunately this month, I have had a lot to do and Ben has had a lot to do, but there hasn't been much that we could do together. So like always, we haven't seen much of each other :( Maybe we will get to see each other some over the holidays...not too far off. I will hopefully have the New Orleans pics up soon! I hope you are all enjoying Fall!

Halloween Shelves

Hope everyone had a great week! I am going to share what I have done inside for Halloween. Of course, I decorated my shelves and then I decorated a few other things. I had most of this stuff from decorating last year. I changed up a few things and added a few. I pretty much kept the decorating in the dining room. Hope you enjoy!

I had these candle sticks and tapers from last year. They were brass and I sprayed them with black gloss spray paint. I also got the "Boo" last year from Michael's.

I made the wreath using black tulle and then, hung it with orange, satin ribbon.

My sister made the Halloween Subway art last year for me! The skull salt and pepper shakers came from Target last year after Halloween at 75% off. The pedestal dish came from Goodwill and I sprayed it black with spray paint. Then, I used Spanish moss to fill it and placed the small, plastic pumpkin on top.

I had this tall vase left from my wedding. I spray painted it black. I bought some fake mums and spray painted them black too. I found this cute pumpkin printable here. 

The "Beware" sign came from the dollar bin at Target last year. It was actually orange and glittery. And, can you guess what I did?!?.....I spray painted it black! Haha. I covered some books with kraft paper. Then, I wrote the titles on the side and burnt the paper a little with a lighter to make it look old. The bird cage came from an Antique store in Augusta and the owl came from Marshall's. 

I think everything turned out pretty cute! Of course, next year I will probably find something else I like and will probably change a few things. That's what I tend to do :) 

Halloween Decorating Outside

We are ready for Halloween here in the Martin house! I love Halloween and love decorating for Halloween! So I have put a few things together inside and outside. I figured I would start by showing you what I have done outside. Hope you enjoy!

I spray painted a grape vine wreath orange. Then, I made rosettes out of black felt. Here is the tutorial on how to make these rosettes. I just simply glued them on with hot glue.

Ben bought me these tin Jack 'O Lanterns for my birthday a few years back. I love them! 

I made these envelope back pillow covers out of burlap and painted the black crow with acrylic paint. I thought they turned out so cute!

DIY Painted Rug

I hope everyone is enjoying Fall! We had a little bit of cool weather for the first time today. Unfortunately, I think it is supposed to warm back up by the end of the week. 

I recently painted a rug for our kitchen. We had some brown and tan woven rugs in there, but they just weren't getting it for me. After washing them a few times, they started to look faded. I have also been trying to pull some color into the kitchen to tie it to the living room. So I decided a rug would be the perfect thing to add some color.

These were the rugs that we had in the kitchen.

I found this natural, flatwoven rug at Marshall's for $7. I decided this would be perfect to paint.

First, I made my own stencil. I took a piece of cardstock and cut a 6"x6" square out. The stencil that I was making was out of a 12"x12" piece of cardstock. I drew a quarter of the design on the 6"x6" square, so that it would be symmetrical.

I took the small square and cut out the design. Then, I took it and traced it onto the larger sheet of cardstock, flipping it as I move it around.

So this is what it looked like after it was traced completely.

Then I cut the design out, creating a stencil.

I used Delta Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint in Straw to paint the rug. I rolled the paint on using a foam roller. Due to the porous nature of the natural fibers, it took a ton of paint. I think I used 4 bottles by the end.

After the rug dried, then I used a sponge brush to stencil on the design. 

Once I had the design on the rug, I went back over then entire rug with a small paint brush. I went around the design to make the image more clean. After the entire rug dried again, I painted a layer of Polycrylic over the rug to give it a protective finish.

I love the way it turned out! I think it added the perfect pop of color that I needed!