it's the little things: chevron art and summer fruit

Today I'm linking up for the first time with Lindsay for "it's the little things!" I'm looking forward to using this space on Fridays to post little meaningful moments from the past week. Here's what's making me smile lately:

Fresh cantaloupe is one of my favorite summer fruits. It always reminds me of being at my grandmother's house in North Carolina...she served lots of cantaloupe in the hot summer months.

Another special treat this week was a bumper crop of fresh, tart raspberries from Karl's parent's garden. We made a yummy raspberry and strawberry pie that turned out more cobbler-like but was still delicious.

I ran across this photo of cheery bicycles in my phone this week--I took it when we were up at the north shore with my family in April. A sweet reminder of a great weekend and lots of family love.

Inspired by this photo, I made a fun banner for our bedroom last Saturday. We still need to work on building a headboard, but this little reminder is a lovely start to each day.

Karl gave a nod to all classy nappers out there when he rocked my sunglasses during his nap last weekend. You can't tell, but his shirt is from a mentoring program and says "will you be my friend?" :)

Tonight I just finished painting my first chevron canvas. Love it already...can't wait to hang it up in my newly clean cube at work. Tutorial coming soon...it's so easy!

What little things have inspired you this week?! It's been sunny and sticky here in the Twin Cities...hope you are loving summer in your neck of the woods too!

Organize it

There are very few things more staisfying than a huge deep clean that results in a well organized closet, kitchen, dresser or desk. Sometimes I think I subconsciously create messes so I have the opportunity to clean them up. I'm so not a clean freak like Danny Tanner from Full House or Monica on Friends (read: I frequently have piles of clothes sitting on random pieces of furniture in our bedroom and shoes all over the entryway and the kitchen counters aren't always spotless), but I definitely find some sort of natural high when I'm knee deep in an unorganized pantry or digging out the boxes piled up in our basement.

{big milestone! I'm including a video for the first time in a blog post!}

Karl knows that I prefer to put away the pantry groceries just so and that every few days I'm bound to be pacing the house looking for items we no longer use, need or wear that I can donate to Goodwill.

I don't have a lot of spaces to organize at this point in my life - namely just a little pantry, basement craft room and a couple of closets--but I love love love any reason to visit The Container Store. We bopped in there recently to pick up a few gift bags and I drooled over cupcake boxes, cabinet organizers, miniature measuring scoops, and the rainbow of colorful clothes hangers.  I told Karl that if he ever surprises me with a .99 miniature scoop, it would probably make my week, let alone day.

Am I alone in this love of organizing? Do you like to organize too?

For some sweet organizational inspiration, check out these sites:

iheartorganizing (I am ob.sessed. with the colors and layout of Jen's blog!)

orgjunkie

The Container Store

My favorite organized studio (love The Cottage Mama blog! And that collection of fabric! Swoon!)

Hope you are having a great week!

Summer berries

Love picking fresh raspberries from my in-laws' lovely garden! I think it's time to make a raspberry pie...

Midtown Farmers Market: Hola Arepa

We spent Saturday morning at the Midtown Farmers Market in Minneapolis, spontaneously catching up with several of our best boos and munching on some delicious food truck treats. Emily introduced me to Hola Arepa, an amazing food truck with delicious latin sandwiches. I had the chicken avocado salad...delish. Karl noshed on tacos from Taco Taxi and then went back for a made to order burger called the Sassy Sarah. It was amazing...at least the little bite I stole was!

Had it been a little warmer, I would have loved to try a homemade popsicle from 10,000 Licks Farm Fresh Ice Pops (how cute is their little popsicle banner!) Flavors like strawberry lemongrass, raspberry rhubarb and lavender lemonade were unique and sounded delicious. Next time, for sure.

If you live in the Twin Cities area, stop by the Midtown Market on Saturday mornings! It's located on Lake Street near Hiawatha and managed by my college friend Amy!

Farmers markets are quickly becoming my favorite summer tradition...Mom, Dad, and Emily - when you visit in July, this is definitely on our to-do list!

New House Decor: Hey Ya'll

{oh hey, blinding beacon of light from the side door}

Ever since I saw this wooden "hey ya'll" sign on Pinterest, I couldn't get it it out of my head. As soon as we started to tour new homes to rent, I thoughtfully took in each room in the homes we visited, trying to determine which wall I wanted to put this sweet southern greeting on.

Once we got slightly settled in our new place, I went ahead and purchased it from Slippin' Southern on Etsy. What a cute shop...there are all sorts of fun slang sayings, letters and wooden objects and creatures painted in bold, bright colors. Ideally, I'd love to have a beach house or a bright white kitchen wall that I could add more of these to! I love the grits, yes ma'am and button cut outs especially.

{mmm, love me some southern cheese grits}

{on the craft room decor wish list}

{mind your manners, please}

It only took a week for my "hey ya'll" to get here and was so easy to hang, thanks to pre-cut grooves on the back! It's very light weight and the sunflower yellow is absolutely the perfect patina. I love having one more touch of "home" on our walls!

Go check out Slippin' Southern...I highly recommend shop owner Gregory's work! What creature or saying would you pick for your house? Maybe the ampersand, aloha or a trio of little fish?

{all images via Slippin' Southern on Etsy}

Guest Post: Quick Summer Wreath

I'm thrilled to have my sister Emily posting on the blog today. She just finished making a gorgeous summer wreath for her front door so I asked her to share a little bit about her inspiration and process!

Take it away, Em!

I am in love with Pinterest. I seriously visit the site at least once a day, pinning beautiful images of inspiration for everything from yummy desserts to crafts and classroom tips and ideas. Since I'm lucky enough to have the summer off (YAY for teachers!), I decided to use some of my extra free time to pretty up my life with some delightfully fun Pinterest projects...first up, a monogram wreath for the front door!

This project was SO easy and actually very inexpensive (less than $10 to be exact!) I bought all my materials at Hobby Lobby on sale. Starting with a brown grapevine wreath (on sale for $2.50), I began my search for the perfect flower accents. I actually found all the little sprigs of these flowers in the bottom of a container holding larger bouquets of the same item. Stince they were already the size I wanted, I began poking them into the wreath into a design I liked. In just a matter of minutes, my wreath was halfway complete before I even left the store!

Next, I got this curly wooden capital H and painted it using a coordinating shade of a purple/pink acrylic craft paint. I sprayed a layer of clear acrylic sealer over the letter after the paint dried, and then simply attached the letter to the opposite side of the wreath with a hot glue gun. Here it is looking pretty on my front door:

To see more of Emily's Pinterest inspiration, follow her here.

Happy Friday, y'all! I'll be back later today with an update on our house decorating and unpacking.

The Big Gallery Wall Reveal

Several nails, pins and lots of level use later, the gallery wall is up! I finished it in time for our housewarming party this past weekend and am really happy with how it turned out. Everything featured in the wall has a story behind it or is symbolic in fun or important ways. It's so sweet to look at this wall everyday and be reminded of things we love. 

I've tried to upload this post all week but have been plagued by bad camera angles, too much sunshine (rarely a problem! but caused major glare on the photos!) and a mistake by the phone company that cut our phone and internet service the very moment I wanted to hit "publish!" while watching the Bachelorette. Yikes! Here's a quick peek for now!

Here's a little guide to what's on the wall:

1. Hard to see the details, but this is a framed little picture of awesome key print paper from ReproDepot.
2. Handmade Minnesota silhouette. That's a little heart near the Twin Cities!
3. O for our last name, found at Michaels.
4. A framed Thanksgiving card from Amica insurance (no special connection to this!)
5. Fat quarter from my newest favorite fabric designer, Anna Marie Horner (she's from TN!)
6. Cardboard M from our wedding made by rafty and creative Aunt Catherine Anne!
7. A sweet picture of Karl's sister Katherine who we miss everyday.
8. Aunt CA made this K too...we had these letters on our guestbook table at our wedding reception!
9. Framed Kansas Seal flour sack from my recent trip to Kansas for my grandmother's memorial service.
10. Teeny tiny embroidery hoop with a scrap of Anna Maria Horner voile fabric that I used in my favorite winter scarf.
11. Awesome southern wall hanging from my momma!
12. My favorite engagement picture, taken by the talented Lauren.
13. A framed piece of fabric from Amy Butler's recent line Lark.
14. Cardboard star from Michael's, painted red.
15. Cafe Terrace at Night postcard, Van Gogh
16. Another flour sack, this time found at Hunt and Gather. Love that place.
17. Embroidery hoop with fabric remnant found at Treadle Yarn Goods in St. Paul. Awesome little store.

All frames are from Target and Ikea, with the exception of frame 12 (it was an awesome personalized wedding gift!)

In my next post I'll show you a few other house decor projects we've been working on, including something very special from my new favorite etsy shop, Slippin' Southern!

Stay tuned!

gallery wall - sneak peek!

{please ignore the askew white frame at the top...}

Here's a sneak peek of the first decorating project in our new house!

I spent several hours this weekend hunting around the house for new and old things to feature in a gallery wall for our family room. We're lucky that we can hang things up on the walls - something that's not always allowed in rental properties.

After a few days of measuring and filling in the gaps, the majority of the gallery is on the wall. I just need one or two more items and it will be complete! I'll be sharing photos very soon, along with a guide of what's featured, where I found it and the significance of each item to us.

Hope your week is going well, friends!

Old Try - after my southern heart

A college friend recently sent me a link to Old Try, a print shop in Boston run by southerners. If you love the south, wish you were from the south or need some prints with southern patina to add to your gallery wall, ya'll should check it out. These folks make me simultaneously homesick and wish I was a graphic designer.

p.s. Old Try calls their online shopping cart a buggy. Oh how I love the south - where a buggy is for pushing groceries, not just babies.

Here are my favorites!

via

 For all the lightning bugs we kept in mason jars with holes poked in the lid

via 

Tennessee state flag

 via

Love me some shrimp and grits. Come over and I'll make you some.

via

 If God wasn't a Tar Heel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue? 

Diary of a slow quilter

We're getting a little more settled here in our new house! We picked up a new couch today and I'm excited to start hanging artwork tomorrow. It definitely feels like home already, minus the random boxes of miscellaneous things still in many corners, begging to be unpacked. I'll be sharing photos of our progress soon!

In the meantime, I realized I never shared photos of the quilt I've been slowly making for the past year. I have all my quilt strips sewn and now need to sew them together, add batting, quilt and bind it. Whew...here's hoping I get some serious crafting mojo this summer and finish it! Can't wait to show it off in our guest room!

These pictures were taken several months ago, in our old apartment. I spread the completed quilt strips out on the bed to resemble what it might look like when it finally gets sewn together....what do you think? I opted to do a simple design for my first ever quilt. Maybe one day I'll tackle something a bit more intricate and creative!

It almost looks like a real blanket! Except for the ridges and gaping holes...

Patchwork pillows created many, many months ago. 

Check out Film in the Fridge to see some amazingly beautiful quilts! If I had three wishes, I'd ask a genie to give me this kind of quilting talent!