Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

...How does your garden grow? It's finally starting to feel like spring, so I decided to plant some spring flowers! I didn't necessarily pick the best day to plant considering the wind outside is reaching 45 mph, but I did it anyways. For spring, I love planting Pansies and Wal-Mart is actually a good place to get them for a good price - I know, that place makes me crazy too, but the garden area is separate. I also love the little flowers called Violas. For my front planters I mixed the two together:

While I was in the Garden Center, I also found some really pretty Gerbera daisies and I got some Asylum to plant with them. Since they were bright and colorful, I needed to find a fun pot to plant them in. In the Better Homes and Garden line, I found a really cute green pot to plant in.

I think the flowers will add some much needed color to the house and I hope they last through the rest of the spring. If you have some empty pots, get out there and stock up on some pretty flowers for spring!

My gardening buddy had a good time hanging outside and was treated with a walk:

Photos via me

Lots of Love,

Washi Tape Packaging

So last night I needed to wrap Rachel's shower gift and freaked out a little bit when I realized I was out of ribbon. I decided to get creative and make use of some fun washi tape that I have! I think the final results turned out pretty cute for a 10 pm wrapping job:

Photos via me

I used a fun polka dot paper I found at Target - 50% off, so go now to snatch it up! And I used the glitter washi tape I found in their dollar section - Target has seriously been rocking lately! I wrapped it around and connected the tape on the bottom of the package. I put regular tape on top of that to make sure it stayed. I then looped the tape together with tails hanging off to make the bow. To add a finishing touch, I stuck some rhinestone pins through the middle. Viola! Wrapped gift with no ribbon. Something fun and different to try, plus carrying in the gifts to work, I didn't have to worry about crushing the bows.

Lots of Love,

PS: Posted some new silhouettes on my Etsy shop! Make sure to check them out: Love of Character

Target's Done It Again...

My whole life, Target has been my favorite store. Ok that's a lie, I worked there for a few months in college and during that time it was not my favorite because I was there too much. But... BACK TO THE POINT...it is seriously such an awesome store because they have so many fun finds! Tonight my fab friend Hailey and I were there and stumbled across a very fun little party section: Oh Joy! for Target. As I was looking at it in aw, I remembered a fun pin I pinned on Pinterest:

All I could think was "Holy *bleep* that stuff came from Target!?" How cute is that table and you can get that fun bright stuff from Target! I of course had to get a couple items for a dinner party I now want to throw in honor of how cute it is.

In person these are so bright and fun! They will make the table and I think look so cute with my gold polka dot china. Plus, they are great plastic cups for outdoor drinks!

I had to get the emerald green pitcher....it is just so me!

I honestly wanted it all, but help myself back a little...mom if you are reading this, I would love some of those pieces in my Easter basket! Here are a couple more pictures shared from the Oh Joy! for Target party Oh Joy! featured on their blog:

I love their idea of using the cake letters in flowers.

Such a fun place setting.

Can't wait to put together a fun dinner party using these fabulous items! Of course I will share the pictures. Need some warmer weather to use the fun bright colors...

Lots of Love,

Emerald Ball Table

Today I was able to help out a great organization's charity ball. The Emerald Ball is an event benefiting the Gerard House and the Via Christi Cancer Institute. At the ball, they have people volunteer to decorate the tables and I was excited to help out. Check out the fun gold and emerald table I put together:

Photos via me

The amazing place mats and napkin rings are available at The Plaid Giraffe. They also donated the gorgeous flower arrangement. The gold animals are from my Gold Animal post and for my place card, I used a knife to cut a slit into the back. That made it possible to slip the card it. Fun alternative to a name tent. The emerald votive holders are from Dandurand Drugs. The gold lanterns are the usual ones that I love to use from Z Gallerie. I love the rich colors and how the table turned out. I hope the guests sitting at it agree!

Lots of Love,

Gold Animal Stampede

I am decorating a table for this weekend's Emerald Ball and I decided to try one of my favorite Pinterest ideas: spray painting plastic animals! You all know how much fun I've had spraying painting things gold and that fun continued tonight. After work I ran by the Dollar Tree to find some plastic animals. Luckily, I found a few! Major score at only a $1 each. I unfortunately couldn't find the elephant at mine, but I ended up finding one at Michael's and was able to use a 40% off coupon to make it $4. They have a really wide variety of plastic animals and figurines if you are needing something specific.

All you need for this project is your plastic animals, gold spray paint and your protective gear (paint clothes, rubber gloves, plastic sheet, etc.)

This project turns a plastic toy animal into a classy fun home accessory in only two minutes!

Rust-Oleum Metallic Gold is the best gold spray paint!

Photos via me

I can't wait to use them on the table this weekend and I will post pictures of everything together. I'm then excited to use these beauties in my house - randomly set them around for fun!

Here are some fun ideas I spotted on Etsy for golden figurines...

Make them into name place cards!

Love the idea of making them pushpins!

Now get out there and start spraying things gold!

Lots of Love,

Guestroom Inspirations

Many people have asked what our next house project is and I think we have narrowed it down to our guestroom! Those poop brown walls need to go....yea not really my color! Here are a couple pictures I took when we first got the house:

Since my little brother was the first resident of this room, the hot pink curtains didn't last more than a couple hours. Now the room has our guest bed, along with boxes of stuff we need to go through (yes...some of these migrated over from the office...don't judge!). I want to make this space pretty and inviting for our visitors! Here are my favorite inspirations to add some much needed character to the space:

Love this color combination - bright and cheery, but soft.

The headboard is a bit much for a guestroom, but love the color combos.

They used great pinks here and made it feminine, but simple.

Simple, but fun with the striped headboard.

Simple and classic.

Let me know your thoughts, favorites and other ideas you might have! We are most likely going to paint the room the same color as our living and dining rooms downstairs since we have the extra paint. A couple fun touches I love to keep in mind for the guestroom:

I love this print I found on Pinterest! These are great tips to follow for a fabulous guestroom.

I think this is an adorable and genius idea because I hate staying at someone's house and not knowing their WiFi.

I'm excited to get those walls painted and get my juices flowing on bedding and decoration ideas. I will keep you all posted as I search around!

Lots of Love,

Etsy Shop Grand Opening!

It's official - my Etsy shop is now open! I am so excited and cannot wait for you all to go and check it out:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveofCharacter

Please let me know what you think of the shop and I hope that you like the work I have done so far. I am very happy with the pieces and I am excited to make some more to post. I also added the "Custom Made" listing, so if you are wanting to order something in particular you can order from there.

Local or nearby friends: if you want to order from my Etsy shop, I can refund your shipping cost and just have you get it from me here!

For the millionth time, thank you for your support and any advice/feedback is greatly appreciated!

Lots of Love,

Change of Etsy Banner

Ok folks, looking around on Etsy today, I decided that I maybe want to change my banner. What are your thoughts on this one:

I used the elephant from one of the pictures I made for the shop and I changed up the font a little bit. There are some great free fonts out there in the world! Check out this blog post of fun free fonts: http://www.yellowblissroad.com/favorite-free-chalkboard-font-combos/


Happy Friday everyone & Rock Chalk!

Lots of Love,

Cute Etsy Shop Finds

So on my quest to making my own Etsy shop, I have stumbled upon some other great fun ones. Thought I would share with you all:

Love the pillows from iviebaby - how cute would this be in a nursery!

DBN has awesome and hip graphic designs.

This Little Loft Studio card is classic and personalized.

These pencils from The Carbon Crusader are amazing!

This is great for a nursery or kid's bedroom. Printable Wisdom has lots of great prints to hang.

These invitations are equally amazing!

Woman Shops World has amazing finds from all around the world - love these colorful tassels!

If you have 30 minutes...or a couple hours...to waste, search around on Etsy and see what fun finds you see!

Lots of Love,