New Age, New Look

Hello! Tomorrow I turn the big 2-6 and with a new age, I decided to try a new look on the blog. Check it out and let me know what you think! I cleaned up the lines and made the title easier to read. Looking at the millions of blogs that are out there, very simple looks are in. For some character, I couldn't have it be completely simple - that just wouldn't fit my personality! I love the floral pattern and you all know I'm obsessed with the chalkboard situations out there, so I used one of my fun chalkboard labels. Since I'm trying something new, your thoughts and opinions are much appreciated - you are the ones reading it, so you should probably like how it looks!

Now back to the fun part, my birthday! Birthdays always make me think of cake, of course, so I wanted to share some of my fav cake finds from Pinterest. That way if you want to make me a birthday cake, you know what I like...totally kidding! You should, however, attempt these at some point and share your pictures with all of us. I would be madly impressed with your baking skills!

Hearts Edged Cake

Floral Painted Cake

Pink Cake with Floral Edge - My grandma actually did make this for me last year and it was so cute!

Sixlet Polka Dot Cake

Hot Pink and Gold Cake with Sparklers!

But what we all really love on a birthday after turning 21...

Birthday Martini!

Hope you all have a fabulous week! I have some birthday shenanigans this week, so my postings might be a little sporadic. If anything good happens, I will definitely let you know! Thanks for making 25 such a fabUlous year!

Lots of Love,

Kansas City Weekend

This weekend we took a little trip up to Kansas City. It was a fabulous weekend and I'm so sad it's over! We did a lot of eating, shopping and hanging with good friends. Dustin got us a wonderful room at the Raphael on the Plaza (yay Marriott points!) and it was so nice being right on the plaza. We were able to walk over whenever we wanted, which made the weekend so easy. I know this probably makes me weird, but I had to take pictures of our room because it was so gorgeous and the warm tones were very inviting.

How fun is this wallpaper? If you have a blank wall behind your bed, this is a fun idea.

I took a picture of the bathroom because I love the subway tile and want it in our hall bathroom. Plus, I love how they framed the window with tile. We have an awkward window in our shower and I wasn't sure how to frame so it looks pretty.

Very comfortable and inviting sitting room. Plus we had a Plaza view - upgrade!

While on our shopping excursion, we found some very fun items. Here are a few of my favorites:

I found this pillow at HMK on the Plaza. I was obsessed the minute I saw it! HMK is a fun new store Hallmark started. It has custom wrapping, fun home items and monogram services. Sarah Watts is the designer of the pillow. They also have a cat on a couch pillow if you are a cat lover. Love her work.

We found this cute guy at Homegoods - he was just so fun, we had to get him for the sunroom. Of course, Teddy FA-REAKED when he saw them and barked for a good five minutes :)

A trip to Trader Joe's for some wine was a must! La Finca is our favorite (red cap) and then we got some others to try.

We stocked up...per usual!

The Little House is an adorable store in Kansas City that carries amazing kid/baby clothes. I had to get a present and look how cute they wrapped it!

Love random finds for my house, plus we did score some good clothes (Dustin even suited up at Halls - they are having good sales). Saturday night we had a delicious dinner at Cooper's Hawk - wine flights for under $15! The next day we went out to brunch with friends and Dustin's family. After that we did a very fun tour of Boulevard Brewery - best free tour ever! Thanks again to Hailey and Jake for going early to score our tickets. Sunday evening, we headed over to Megan & Leo's couple shower at his mom's house. Great time and loved seeing my KC gals!

Bridesmaid pic - Katy, Laura, Megan (the bride!), me & Sammy Jo - we missed you Emily & Jacque!

My hot date for the weekend!

Overall the weekend was a great way to start my birthday week! I loved hanging with all of my friends and eating so much yummy food. Definitely a great weekend getaway!

Happy Memorial Day and thanks to all of our amazing American heroes!
Lots of Love,

Bathroom Organization

Sometimes it feels good to get some organized. It can be as simple as a drawer or as crazy as a basement. My task was to conquer our bathroom drawers. Luckily, at TJ Maxx I stumbled upon some great bamboo/wood organizers. I loved the look from a pin I had pinned on Pinterest - granted the cabinets and counters are also in my dreams! At least I was able to score the wood organizers at a low price. Once I put them in our drawers, they worked perfectly:

The brand I found at TJ Maxx is Lipper International Inc. Bamboo. If you hurry and check out TJ Maxx, they had quite a few. Looks like you can also find them online. They look really nice and you are able to move around some of the slots to make them bigger or smaller.

On my counter top, I have a fun tray to keep some of my other items:

Photos via me

Since we have double sinks, it fits perfectly in between and I am able to keep often used items on it - well the ones that are in pretty containers! Those are just a couple suggestions. I have also seen these fun ideas while scouring Pinterest...

Clear organizers from Ikea

White organizers

Now go get organized!

Lots of Love,

PS: Don't forget to check out my sale on LeLePets through tomorrow or use the promo code to my Etsy shop, which is good through the rest of the weekend!

LeLePets Sale is Tomorrow!

Just wanted to remind you all about my fun sale tomorrow!

Since I love all of my readers so much, I also wanted to give you a special promo code in case your pet or shape isn't one of those on sale at LeLePets. You can use this code on the Love of Character Etsy shop!

Happy sale week! Hope you check out my sale on LeLePets tomorrow and find something you like. I'm very excited for the chance to sell on their website, plus they have other fun sales that you should check out. Thanks again for all of your support and please let me know if you have any questions.

Lots of Love,

End Table Makeover

Last week I stumbled upon some fun, little end tables at Invio, a great furniture consignment store. If you follow them on Facebook, they post pictures of the new arrivals at their store. The minute I saw these, I knew I had to go buy them, so I could spice them up. They originally came from Target, which is funny because if I had seen these at Target, I might not have thought to give them a makeover. That's the great thing about finding second hand furniture, it inspires you to make it work!

Before:

I had to decide what color would work best. I wanted something fun and colorful, but it needed to match the living room. The room is blues, grays and greens. Staring at the spray paint for a while, I finally decided to go with a turquoise, icy blue. The other tables in the room are a similar color, so I thought it would be a good match up. I also wanted to spray paint the hardware on the pieces so they were a bright gold, plus I hated that the screws weren't matching the original copper color - made them stand out.

My big lesson from this project: If you have a product you trust, do not change it up. I went with a different brand of spray paint because I liked the color. It was awful and runny. Waste of money and time. Luckily, when I went out to Home Depot, they had the brand I trusted and a perfect color.

Below are the colors I used and the handy spray gun that I finally invested (big $3) in. Sorry I didn't take a pretty picture before using them. 

Rust-Oleum - Metallic was used on the hardware, blue on the piece and lacquer was to make it shiny.

Make sure to remove the hardware before spraying the piece.

I sprayed the hardware with metallic gold and it looks so much better!

After:

I love how they turned out! They are a fun pop of color and I love the gold accents. If you love how they turned out and want to make one of your own, there is still one left at Invio!

Lots of Love,

Pet Silhouettes

I have a very exciting announcement to make! A fun pet company called LeLePets asked me to make some pet silhouettes for them to have in a sale! Their website is similar to other sample sale websites where they have daily sales that offer fun products at a discount. Their website is focused around people's love for their pets. They have fun sales that include items such as fun collars, pet toys, personalized pet portraits and other unique items from small businesses.

www.lelepets.com

When they e-mailed me about a month ago, I was very excited to work with them and to start making some fun pet silhouettes. I think that my silhouettes are a great and playful way to incorporate your pet into a room. I got busy and made quite a few. I wanted to give you all a sneak peak at some of my favorites before the sale, which is next Wednesday, May 21st. If you see any that match your pet or that you like for fun, this is a great time to buy because you will get them at a discount! Here are 5 out of the 11 that will be for sale:

photos via me

Check out the sale next Wednesday, May 21st to see the rest of the designs!

Also, remember that you can always custom order one that is of your type of pet with colors/designs that match your style. Check back on the blog next week for a special deal just for my readers!

Lots of Love,

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to say a very Happy Mother's Day to all of the fabulous mothers out there in the world. I have a wonderful mother, grandmother and a new mother-in-law! Love them all very much!

Photos via Mark Luterman

Today I took my mom and grandma out for a delicious brunch at Tanya's Soup Kitchen. After stuffing our faces, we decided to try and walk it off at Botanica. It was a beautiful day and the flowers there are gorgeous. Overall, wonderful Mother's Day!

Hope you all enjoyed your Sunday as well! Happy Mother's Day!

Lots of Love,