We needed a fall wreath for our door. A couple weeks ago I found some berry stems from Michaels that I bought to put in a vase inside. They make me happy so I decided they would be perfect to make a wreath out of.

I bought 9 more berry stems ($1 each), some 18 gauge wire wrapped in paper ($1.99), and some orange ribbon ($1) to make this project. If you have an old wreath that you could repurpose, use that - I didn't so I got the wire to make the frame for the wreath.

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We really needed some fall decorations around these parts. Since we were in school last year we really didn't decorate our old apartment... at all.

For our new home I wanted some glamorous pumpkins. Can pumpkins be glamourous?  I don't see why not. I saw a white pumpkin at TJ Maxx awhile ago that was covered in glass beads and sparkles. I loved it but I didn't want to spend $20 on a fake pumpkin.

So I waited and looked around for some plain white (fake) pumpkins. Hobby Lobby was a big disappointment when it came to plain pumpkins so I headed over to Michael's. I found a plain white pumpkin, 50% off, for $4. Not bad. A little glue and epsom salt later - this is what I ended up with.


So you want to make one? Here is what you will need.

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We needed some artwork for over our bed - artwork that wouldn't cost very much. What is a girl to do? Go to Hobby Lobby of course! I picked up three square canvases along with some green paint. Here is the finished result:

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So how in the world do you find the perfect lamp base... the perfect blue lamp base. If you are me, you stumble upon beautiful blue lamps (for under $25!) and immediately order two. Wait anxiously for your beautiful lamps to arrive.

Now this step is very important: open up the package when they arrive and be super disappointed when one is smashed to pieces. Become even more disappointed when you find out that they have zero left and can't send you a replacement.

It was really difficult to find other blue lamps for a reasonable price... almost impossible. Since we really needed the extra lighting in our living room I decided to take matters into my own hands. On Pinterest, I saw that you could paint small glasses and vases by swirling paint around the inside.

Enter IKEA.

They have big, clear, glass lamps with a big hole for the bottom. These beauties are pretty much screaming to be painted.

Before.

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So awhile ago my cousin, Jessica, posted a picture of toilet paper roll art on her blog, My Cute Little Life. I did a google search for more ideas of toilet paper roll art and decided that it would be the perfect medium for decorating our living room wall. Now this wall in the apartment is kind of large and I wanted something to span the whole length. So we ended up getting 4 canvases to hang equally spaced along the wall. By the way, Hobby Lobby is the place to go for canvases. The canvases we got came in packs of two and are super cheap when they are on sale 40% off or if you use one of their 50% coupons.

Here are the steps to do a project like this:
1. Depending on your design, you may need a lot of toilet paper rolls. Ask friends and family to save up toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls for you. (You will probably get some funny looks.) Explain to them what you are going to do with the rolls and get a few more funny looks.

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Did I tell you all that I passed the NCLEX? Well I did... back in June. I have been waiting all this time for my Texas nursing license to come. So this entire time even though I knew I was on my way to becoming a nurse, it wasn't official yet. But yesterday I finally got an envelop from the state of Texas that contained my license. So I am now officially Erin Davis R.N., BSN. * jumps for joy* Now the job hunt is officially on. Hopefully I won't have too hard of a time finding something that is a good fit for me. I will keep you posted.

On a completely different note. Split peas. These little guys are my new favorite decorative filler. At less than a dollar per bag they are great for filling up large vases. I also really like how they look compared to marbles or rocks. Currently they are filling up space in three vases on our living room mantle shelf thing and in two smaller vases in our bedroom.

These vases were left over from my bridal shower centerpieces. In our last apartment they were filled with flour, sugar, and pasta but we didn't really have the space to use them like that in our new place. So they ended up empty on this ledge just to get them out of the kitchen. I had been debating on whether or not to keep them or replace them with candlesticks or hurricane vases. I just didn't like them with the lids on and I didn't like them with the lids off because you could see the threads and that they were meant to have a lid. To solve that problem I wrapped the top of the vases with jute to cover up the threads and I am super pleased with how it turned out. I like how natural the look is and I am really enjoying having the candles lit in the evening.

Now I have to admit that this was not an original idea of mine. I saw the split peas in a couple of different places on Pinterest as suggestions for fall decor and the twine was originally shown wrapped around the middle of flower vases as a diy wedding centerpiece. I love the combination together and how I didn't have to purchase new vases for the ledge.

Have you heard of Pinterest? It is only my absolute most favorite website right now. It is a website that is like a huge photo catalog with links back to interesting stuff on the internet. Currently I am pinning a ton of craft projects, recipes, inspiration for home decor, and fashion inspiration. Oh how I wish I would have known about Pinterest when I was planning our wedding. It is seriously awesome. You can click here to see my pinboards and look around. Let me know if you like the site and think you would use it... I can send you an invite.

 So for the past couple of months I have been crafting and creating like crazy around this apartment. You have already seen two of those little projects and I have at least three more to show you after this post. One of the projects that turned out pretty well was adding padded seats to some stools.

I started with two saddle stools that we ordered from Walmart. Our goal for these stools was to use them when we have company over for extra seating at our dining room table. The only problem was that our dining room table is a dark brown and I couldn't find saddle stools anywhere that would match our dining room set. We went ahead and ordered the black stools knowing that I would add some fabric to the top and that hopefully the black and brown difference wouldn't be too terribly noticeable.

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A while ago I got this idea to change a picture frame into a chalkboard frame and use it in the kitchen. I had a picture in my mind of the perfect frame and wanted one of those really chunky ornate ones. Since we have moved into this apartment I have been looking all over for the frame but couldn't seem to find the right one. Will put his foot down and said no to this one from IKEA.

And honestly it wasn't quite what I was looking for and the $30 price tag seemed a little high for an IKEA find. Also, Will didn't like the chalkboard idea and instead wanted to use dry erase board which I wasn't really too fond of. So I started feeling like this project was never going to happen and the wall in my kitchen would forever be bare. But then I spotted it! I was walking through the aisles of Hobby Lobby and found this adorable cork board with a great frame. Bummer that it was a cork board and not a picture frame though.

 After a little investigation it turned out that it actually was a picture frame but instead of putting glass in it they replaced it with cork. So I went to their framing department and had them cut a piece of glass to fit. A quick stop by the fabric department for some burlap and voilà! I decided to paint the frame green to give a nice pop of color in the kitchen.

Don't be fooled by the picture. This job definitely should have been done with spray paint but I don't really have an ideal place to spray paint and didn't feel like carrying the whole project down to the grass in the Texas heat. So after many coats, throwing away many cheap paintbrushes because they left bristles behind, a trip to the store to get a better quality brush, and a coat of protective enamel it was finished! 

Right now it is being used as a to do list and a place to write down things that I need to get. When we have guests over I write the menu for the night on it.

There it is in our apparently very dark kitchen. Hmm I really should take better pictures of my projects.

I am going to start posting pictures of our apartment and the projects that I have been working on to make this apartment feel more like our home. "But Erin, how do you have time to work on these projects and get back to blogging?" you ask. Why because I passed the NCLEX! Yep, no more studying for me. Now I just need to find a job.

So one of the first projects I made for this apartment was a picture for the entryway. I wanted something simple and that would be easy to do. This is what it turned out to be:

Sorry that the pictures aren't very good. It is in a funny corner to photograph and right next to a window. I just love how this turned out and it was so simple to make! I took a picture frame with a mat from IKEA, some fabric, and a piece of tan cardstock and made this in just a few minutes. Will and I created the monogram on our computer and printed it out. I lined that up on the fabric and used a little hot glue to keep it in place. I centered the cardstock and fabric in the picture frame and Hubby hung it up for me. That was all it took to add a little welcome to our apartment.

Will and I are so excited to move into our nicer and newer apartment in Austin. We will always have a special place in our hearts for our current apartment since it was our first place together. Here is our old apartment:

Our bathroom with one sink.

Our kitchen with plenty of counter space and storage .

What use to be our dining room. My sister took our old table for her new apartment. Let's just ignore the fact that we have two folding chairs sitting there and instead look at my new purse!

Will's domain.

Our bedroom. We neglected to get a bed frame for this apartment and are really looking forward to having that luxury in Austin.

Current closet jam packed. 

Our living room with the horrible vertical blinds and ugly slip covers.

And here is our new apartment in Austin that we will officially be moved into on June 2. If anyone would like to come down and help us assemble some furniture and unpack our things just let me know!

Our beautiful bathroom with tons of counter space.

Our wonderful living room and dining room with lots of space and natural light (and no vertical blinds.)

Half of our master closet.

The other half of our master closet. Do you know how many shoes I could fit in this thing?!

Our slightly smaller but updated kitchen.

So that is what we have in store. I will have to post more pictures when we get down there and have it all furnished and decorated.