home decor and garden are very famous in the world

As I have mentioned, we are getting ready for Miss M's Garden Party 1st birthday coming up this weekend.  I'm really hoping to be able to have the party outdoors (fingers crossed for good weather).


I have been working on some of the decor for her party and wanted to share these fun tiered party trays that I made from items from our local dollar store.


Now I cannot take credit for this idea.  I saw the tutorial for these trays by Julie on Joy's Hope blog and knew I HAD to make these!


These are made from silver dollar store trays that have been spray painted to match the party decor.  They are attached to one another using dollar store super-glue and each tier is a dollar store crystal candle stick holder turned upside down.


Julie at Joy's Hope spray painted the candle stick holders which looked super-cute.  She also used a rainbow of colors that made them look so fun and happy.  I decided to leave my candle sticks clear to up the elegance factor - I like the way the crystal looks.


I made three different sizes.  All of the candle stick holders are from the dollar store, except for the tall one which I just happened to have on hand.

Joy's Hope has a great tutorial and will show you everything you need to get started making these pretty tiered party trays.  I think these would be so fun for the holidays - can't you picture black and orange for a Halloween party or red and gold for Christmas?  For $4-$6, why not make them for all the seasons!?!

Cottage Mama's Note:  Now if you plan to serve food on these trays make sure to put down some decorative paper or a paper doily - these are not considered food safe due to the spray paint that was used.  These would also make a great place to store your jewelry or in a girls room for all her hair bows and accessories.

Hi everyone, I have a special guest today! If you haven't met Christie from Lemon Squeezy today is your lucky day. She has a very fun and inviting blog that is filled with her ideas and tutorials. You can purchase her creations at her etsy store too!

She is going to share her newest tutorial with us. I am so excited to have her!

I am so excited that Sachiko asked me to guest post today on her lovely site.  I love the stories she tells that help us get to know her better.  And I of course LOVE the awesome tutorials for so many cute and beautiful things!  She is such a sweet and creative person--I just love her blog!  Thank you so much for having me!!!

I thought initially that this tutorial would be better during the winter months, but with allergy season in full swing, tissue pouches are great any time of year!  They are so easy to make as well.  You can whip one up in less than half an hour (probably closer to 15 minutes!).

 
The main tutorial will show how pouch A was made.  Steps for pouch B and C are included at the end of the main tutorial.
What you’ll need:
-one 6” x 7.5” piece pattern fabric
-one 6” x 7.5” piece fabric for the lining
-one 6” x 7.5” heavyweight fusible interfacing
-For pouch A:  two 6” pieces ribbon.  
-For pouch B:  one doily.  
-For pouch C: two 1” x 12” strips knit, that have been sewed with a basting stitch, and stitches pulled to create two ruffles.

 
Step One: 
Iron the interfacing onto the wrong side of the lining fabric. 

Step Two:
Take your outer fabric and place the two 6” strips of ribbon onto the 6” sides of the fabric.


Take your interfaced lining and place the right sides of the lining and outer fabric together, making sure to have the ribbon still in place along the 6” edges.


Step Three:
Sew the two 6” sides together through all layers with a 1/4” seam.


Step Four:
Turn right side out and topstitch along both sides with the ribbon.


Step Five:
Take one of the sides with the ribbon and fold in to the middle of the fabric.  Repeat with other side.



Step Six:
Stitch a 1/4” seam.  Maybe straighter than mine:).


Step Seven:
Clip corners and turn.  All done!  SO simple!



For pouch B, sew the doily onto the outer fabric before doing anything.


Sew the interfaced lining on the same way as pouch A in step three.  Turn and topstitch along the 6” edges.  Finish with steps five through seven.



 
For pouch C, take your two ruffled knit strips and place along the two 6” sides of outer fabric.  Sew along the basting stitches on the strips, onto the outer fabric.


Fold the ruffle over for the next part.


Sew on the interfaced lining with right sides of outer and lining together, making sure not to catch the ruffles.


Topstitch the same way as step four, making sure to fold back the ruffle so you don’t catch it.  Finish by using steps five through seven!





Thank you for letting me come today, Sachiko! It was fun!

So darling! Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us Chritie. It was such a delignt to have you!

Note: I will be taking a break from the link party this week. Come back to see me on Wednesday for a regular post! :)

{historic battery}

hi everyone!

this week is going to be a little different here at charmhome.  billy and i left town saturday morning to take a much needed vacation.  we are now in charleston, sc, which is one of our favorite places to be on earth.  we couldn’t be more excited about spending time with our friend kevin, relaxing on the beach and eating yummy seafood.  well, actually i’m way more excited about the seafood than billy is (billy doesn’t like seafood), but you get the point.

{folly beach, sc}

anywhoo, since i’m relaxing in the sun i’ve decided to have a couple of guest bloggers over to post at my blog so that you have some entertainment.  i’ll be back thursday and friday with new posts but today and tomorrow you’ll get to meet some new faces.

first up, miss blayne beacham from this photographer’s life.  blayne and i met last year shortly after i discovered her blog and became obsessed with her interior photography.  once we met we were instant friends.  at the age of 26, she has quite a portfolio under her belt.  she has photographed some of the most amazing homes in the atlanta area.  not only is blayne super-talented but she’s such a sweetheart.  her stories always make me smile. 

since blayne’s blog is mainly devoted to photography, she hasn’t been able to share many stories about her chickens.  {no, you didn’t read that wrong. I did say chickens.}  she also hasn’t been able to share any photos of her newly redesigned home.  when we started talking about what she should do the guest blog about i was so excited when she wanted to blog about her home and her chickens. 

i hope you all enjoy blayne’s post!  be sure to check out her site if you haven’t already.  you’ll be floored by her amazing interior photography.

xo, Cristi

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Stop waiting and just do it + Meet my chickens

Hey Guys!  I spend so much time photographing other people’s houses, that I jumped at the chance to photograph my own.  Thank you so much Cristi for giving me that opportunity.

I bought this house three years ago, and at the very least I can say it has been a labor of love.  We have moved the furniture into so many arrangements you would not believe it.  Finally I gave up and decided I needed a professional interior designer’s help but I had no idea how much it would cost!  After months of procrastinating and feeling like I couldn’t do it myself, I snapped.  I just decided it had to be done and no matter what I would do it myself.  No more living in a half finished place and waiting for someone to bail me out.  I only had $1500 to spend and one weekend to do it.  If you are afraid of changing your space because you don’t know exactly how it with turn out, I say JUST DO IT!

So here it is .  This is the living room.  Before this was so cluttered.  We had the TV in here, but it was so far away from the sofa we wouldn’t see it.  We ended up never watching TV or using the room.

And this is Sister.  How cute is she?  This is her favorite chair ☺

Here is the entryway.  I wanted to put that piece of furniture there because I always want a place to put mail and keys as soon as I walk in the door.

The two paintings were figure studies I did in high school.  They were rolled up behind the couch, but my interior design friend came over and thought they would be great in the house.  She got them framed for me, and we hung them here.  Do you like them?  The piece of art on the right side is a piece from my dress series.  It is printed on a metallic surface, so it almost acts as a mirror.

Here is the new room we created.  We hung the curtains in the back to block off my studio space, which had been spilling out into the room.  We bought these two leather chairs from IKEA for like $200 a piece, and the table came from Scotts for $100.

So here is the bookshelf that was a thorn in my side forever.  I literally had a brain block about how to arrange them.  I got some motivation from the new Sex and the City movie.  I loved how everything was in the same color scheme, and since I hat tons of green stuff I just went with it.   A lot of this art I did, and a lot is from my friends Kenson and Melissa Payne Baker.

I got this mantel from a house we sold three years ago!  It was this beautiful home that was built in the 20s.  This mantel was left after a garage sale, and they were going to send it to goodwill.  I was so excited to take it off their hands.  I do not actually have a fireplace, so this mantel was leaning against the wall for the past three years.  Literally.  I had no idea what to do with it.  I asked my friend Laura from L. Green Studios, and she suggested putting a large antiqued mirror in the place where the fireplace would have been, I waited and waited to find the perfect mirror, but they were all so expensive.  These are those square mirrors from IKEA.  I really like how they look.  What do you guys think?  The art above the mantel is from my dress series.

And finally, this is the master.  Until a few weeks ago I was sleeping on a mattress and box springs.  I had been looking for a white Lenin bed and a white comforter for so long. I also found this bed at IKEA.  I think it works for a few years.  It’s not exactly what I want, but it sure beats the box spings!  I am thinking of getting a huge fluffy blue comforter to go at the foot of the bed.

And finally, here is the chicken coop.  I got Easter chickens, and they are big now.  We built this coop from scratch, and I just love it!

This is where I will be gathering eggs in just a few days!

Here are the chickens!  Their names are Moose (a girl), Alice and Sally George.  They are very nice and just sort of hang out and roost all day.

Thank you so much Cristi!

If you guys want to hear more about my adventures, please come on over and visit me at my blog, www.thisphotographerslife.com

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blayne, thanks so much for sharing your newly decorated space and for introducing us to your chickens.  your home looks so lovely.  i know you have to be so proud of what you’ve done to it!