Stephanie Howell

Christmas Vignettes

I just wanted to quickly share some photos of the Christmas decorating happening in our little Italian apartment.

My favorite thing about this apartment is the ceilings. The thing that's taken the most getting used to? Italian marble floors. They are COLD. And hard.

When I purchased these OOOOOLLLLLD cubbies from the antique market downtown, I had no idea what to do with them. Turns out they are perfect for the Christmas treasures I've gathered over the years! :)

A few detail shots:

Well, that's it for today. It's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas around here and I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

Haven't done a single page in my December Daily, didn't get around to wrapping the 25 Christmas books this year, and I don't have a mantel to hang my stockings on (they are on our coat tree).

But you know what?

I am okay with it. More than okay. Because none of that really matters. I'll get to it when/if I get to it.

My heart is full.

xoxo

S

 

p.s. I'll be back tomorrow with the giveaway winner from last week!

Planning Our Future Home- Shared Bedrooms

So I just realized that we will be in Italy in 10 weeks. And no. We don't have our orders yet. But don't even ask me about that b/c I don't want to talk about it. :)

It will work out. It always does. The question is how much hair (and sleep) will I lose before then?

Anyway...

I've been dreaming. And scheming. And planning. About our Italian home.

A few things I know. It will be smaller. MUCH smaller. And there probably will not be closets or storage space. It might be attached to another home.

So the overarching theme is this...less space.

I want to make the space count. Our girls have always shared rooms. And they will continue to do so.

I want to give them something happy. And warm. And cozy. And something that is theirs.

I'm thinking white walls with pops of bright color.

Let me share some ideas I've found.

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Jenny Lind beds for the bigs, little Ikea beds for the babies.

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These are pretty much my DREAM CABINETS for my girls. Too bad I married a soldier and not a carpenter. j/k. HAHA!

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I can't wait to get started. Three years? That's unheard of for us.

I'm totally going to make this house a home.

xo

S

 

Share My Space Sunday : Entryway

 

Good morning y'all! We are off to a Red Sox game, but I wanted to share a new series with all of you.

I realized that I need to get better at documenting the homes I live in, since I move so often. I remember the homes I've lived in...but over time the details escape my mind.

Each week I'll be sharing parts of this home that I love.

Today I'm sharing the entryway.

I smile every time I walk into this house. It's bright and happy and the natural light is amazing.That's something I'll really miss when we move.

Right inside the door is this table and what is probably my favorite "happy spot" in the house.

Last week (which is in the photo above, the little table had fresh daffodils in a milkglass vase.

Here's what it looks like this week:

Table: Pier 1//Print:Please Be Still (Jen Renninger)//Harney and Sons tea tin//Annie Liebovitz at Work//Domino:The Book of Decorating

This little table is my favorite place to put fresh flowers. Every time I walk in the door they are the first thing I see and so totally worth the price.

My favorite local spot is Chaves' Gardens. The flowers are fresh and absolutely gorgeous. I love building my own bouquets. And when I check out the ladies always say "Oh! Who is this for???" and I say "me!".

Happy, Happy, Happy.

Hope you all have a beautiful and blessed Sunday.

See you tomorrow!

xo

S

Halloween/Fall Home Decor Tour

cinderella pumpkins/mums (there was a bumper crop of mums this year and they are CHEAP. five dollars a piece.)

Happy Wednesday, y'all! Instead of doing Wordless(ish?!?!) Wednesday this week I thought I'd do a tour of my fall/Halloween decor!

Fall is my favorite season. It always has been,but this year I have reason to really celebrate.

It is the first time we are experiencing a REAL fall as a family.

I'll do my best to share where I got everything,

but please ask any questions you might have and I'll answer them right in the comment section!


feather wreaths(joAnn from last year)/glitter pumpkin(target)/monogram pumpkin(the christmas tree shops)/blackpumpkins(michaels)/text pumpkin(marshall's from years ago)

This is the vignette on top of the bar in our sun room. The feathers are actually wreaths that I purchased last year. I love collecting pumpkins and have so many. I had fun grouping them like this.

place mats(joann)/fake gourds(hobby lobby)/assortment of real pumpkins and gourds/wicker pumpkin(i've had this for a REALLY long time and have no idea where it is from)

This is our centerpiece right now. It will likely stay up through Thanksgiving. We are hosting my brother and my sister in law and I think that with a few additions,this centerpiece will be just right.

gold pumpkin(tj maxx) /spooky plate(target last year)/owl and cat(the christmas tree shops/vintage "6" letterpress/gold h(hobby lobby)/vintage silhouette needlepoint and frame/felt jack-o-lantern(gift)/fall berry garland/feather wreath(joann)/halloween sign(hobby lobby)/antique mirror

You see this little table when you enter our front door. It makes me happy every time I walk in the door. :)

Here are some detail shots:
 

gourd from produce stand/squirrel (two smart cookies in savannah)

This is a little squirrel that sits on a table to the left of the front door. Yes,the babies always play with him. And I am okay with that. :)
halloween banner(target)/circle garland(made by my mother)/starburst mirror(belongs to homeowners)

It's no secret that I love decorating our mantel. It's kind of decoration central in our home.

Here are the details:

glitter pumpkin to right (the christmas tree shops),assortment of Hs/jack-o-lantern to the left(marshalls from years ago)

fall pillow(gift)/fake pumpkins(hobby lobby)/"halloween is a hoot"owl(the christmas tree shops)/glitter feathers(michaels)
mercury glass pumpkin(tj maxx)

And last but not least, I just kind of have pumpkins scattered all over the house. This one is my new favorite. I haven't found the perfect place for it yet, so I just kind of move it all over.
This hand-painted polka dot pumkin (a gift from my mom) is in the bathroom).
And I have these black pumpkins (from Michaels) all over the house. I am going to paint a few of them this week and I'll share the results!

Well,that's it. Hope you enjoyed it! Some of you have asked for a decor tour, so I though I'd share. :)

Have a beautiful and blessed day.

xoxo

how i organize my craft space

so here are a couple of disclaimers. my room is not fancy. i wish i had the martha stewart crafting furniture-i dream of that furniture!!. nope. my furniture (besides the fabulous sideboard) was found at garage sales. one of the tables is actually a computer desk from college!

my room is NOT pristine. nor is it like the ones you might see in magazines. never will be!

and i wish we weren't renting. if we owned this house i would paint the walls a beautiful robin's egg blue. :)

i am also not a photographer nor do i know anything about photograpy (or editing). so these aren't pretty pictures, but they do the job!

several things have changed since last time i blogged about this. i've really been paring down my stash so i've moved things around. i've found that if i don't SEE things...i don't USE them. so i try to display as much as possible.

if you have any questions, ask in the comment section and i will answer there. for some reason, not everyone is notified when i respond to their comments, so make sure and check back.

 

here's one wall of the room:

this is a fabulous sideboard that my friend nancy gave (yes, gave!!!) me. it is the perfect height for standing to work, even though i do most of my scrapping on the floor.

the drawers are big and deep. they hold magazines, crop bags,punches. and the one to the right is my giveaway drawer. :)

the crop bags that are hanging on the front will hold my SC kits and add-ons when they come.

i store albums underneath (the black/white damask one is my project life album!!) so that they can easily be looked at by the girls.

that box on top of the albums is my "misting box".

 

closeups of the work space:

small containers (got these on zulily) that hold adhesives, often used paints,and embossing supplies.

three tiered basket holds stamps, stamp pads, acrylic blocks.

floral frogs for pens, cups for scissors,etc.

 

one of my project life areas.

 

milk glass holds die cuts, brads,chipboard pieces

 

more milk glass holds doilies,and miscellaneous items i don't want to forget to use.

 

i have 2 muffin tins that sit atop sewing machine drawers. they hold buttons (i have another HUGE apothecary jar of vintage buttons in the living room), clips, resin pieces,flowers,etc.

 

on top of one of the drawers is my tin of washi tape

 

inside of the two sewing machine drawers. one holds pearls and the other holds extra adhesives.

tucked my my work space is the bigs art corner. they love to "srapbook" with me, as sadie likes to say.

 

by the window is a bookcase. it holds stacks of unsorted layouts (my specialty), photos, and these things:

on top of the bookcase is a box of JBS inks in front of a vintage flour tin full of thickers.

 

on top of the bookcase is also an old convenience store gum rack with extra stickers on it.

on one of the shelves is this dish drying rack with punches in it.

 

my doily basket sits on top of a suitcase full of mini albums

computer desk (crib bed spring displays layouts)

in the corner by the computer is my mannequin and a few other things:

the greeting card rack holds letterpress cards,greeting cards,and misc. items (crepe paper?!?!?!). the basket on the floor is an old ball basket and has lots of JBS items in it.

next is a long table that has storage underneath:

these 12x12 iris boxes hold cardstock, studio calico stamps, studio calico chipboard, letter stickers,etc.

there are always lots of extra empty boxes. i put guest design supplies in them or they are handy to hold projects that are in progress.

next to the boxes are my 2 cropper hopper boxes full of patterned papers.i need to pare these down even more.

the top of the table:

the piece to the right is an awesome box my mom gave me. it's an old drawer set from a paper mill. right now it holds important papers (power of attorney), notes,address book,etc.

 

next to the drawers are my mists (in an old card catalog drawer) and a basket of twine.

here is another project life stash. on the left is tags and a few rolls of washi tape.

on the right is tickets, sticker sheets,etc.

one last thing i wanted to share:

i found this zig zag box at target. it holds PL memorabilia. wish i would have gotten more than one, i love it.

so there you have it!

almost everything here is repurposed. i love to look at flea markets, junk stores, and secondhand shops. i love that so many things have found a second life in this room.i don't have a professional, perfectly coordinated room. and i love that. that's not "me" anyway.

happy wednesday y'all...it's back to school for us.

and i want to wish my mom/aka "bb" (the most creative person i know!) a beautiful, beautiful birthday. i love you and miss you!!!

xoxo

s

all that glitters

yeah yeah yeah...as much as i LOVE valentine's day i'm not ready to put up pink and red just yet.

i modified our christmas mantel to make it more fitting for a new year's eve/winter theme.

first i took off anything red or green, anything that said "christmas" on it, and got rid of the stockings.

i took a gold and silver jewel/pine cone garland and hung it through the stocking hooks:

 

next i embellished the ornament wreath with a glitter feather and a "six".

i flanked the mantel on either side with arrangements of peacock feathers, silver/gold feathers, pearls, silver pinwheels (found locally), and other shimmery goodies.

and last but not least, i gathered all of the glittered accents from the christmas decor (reindeer, snowflakes, angels, "joy",etc) and scattered them across the mantel:

 

so there you have it! ready for 2012! happy friday! xxo

it's (finally!!) beginning to look a lot like christmas!

some new, some very old.

all of it collected lovingly over the years.

and walking in my front door puts a smile on my face every single time.

lit christmas tree, christmas cottage candle burning, vintage twinkle lights above my kitchen sink flashing...

i love love love this time of year!

and to top off this holiday post...

how about an ode to sadie's favorite movie elf!

happy tuesday!xxo

 

 

 

spring/easter garland

when i was in the dollar general this weekend, i picked up a bunch of these sweet doilies.

they were in the easter section, one dollar per package of 40. i got two packages of pink, two of yellow, and two of the white eggs.

i wasn't sure what i was going to do with them, i just knew i loved them.

then it came to me...a banner. inspired by papel picado. i grew up in texas, and you see this kind of mexican folk art EVERYWHERE. i have always loved it.

so using the thin (almost tissue paper-ish) doilies,

 

 

 

& regular old twine,

i made a simple banner that looked like this. and i loved it. it took about 20 minutes and cost next to nothing.

 

 

i looked at it for a good while as i was feeding the babies and decided that it needed something else. so i added some notions to the eggs.

and didn't really like it, but didn't have time to fix it. my attentions were soon called elsewhere (you know the drill...watch me mommy! watch MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!).

i obsessed about it all night long, b/c that's how i roll...and it's not like i was sleeping anyway ;)

and when i got up in the morning, i added these:

and then it "felt" right.

i love it!!

 

and oh- no sewing required. these doilies have holes in the perfect place at the top, i simply strung the twine through two holes on each doily.

so there you have it!

 

 

 

up next? i plan on making some all pink banners for birthdays, etc.

the hoarder in me kind of wants to go buy MORE MORE MORE of those doilies. i can't control myself. hehehe!

and another project in the works?

a peeps banner.

see you soon, happy monday!

xoxo

s

 

 

around the house 3/2

a lot of you email asking how i actually *use* my flea market finds.

whether i use them, or whether they are just in cabinets...well i try to use them as much as possible!

there is nothing more fun than re-purposing old finds.

for example...i actually use my milk glass collection.

do y'all remember harper's pinkalicious party last year? well, candy looks pretty cute in milk glass!

 

 

 

i also use my milk glass to hold q-tips, cotton balls, etc. in the bathroom:

lanterns on my bedroom dresser:

 

and of course they are PERFECT for holding scrapbooking goodies:

 

 

i buy a lot of old books too. i find they look lovely stacked around the house in random ways:

 

 

 

stacked under the tulips in this photo (you can't really see, sorry)

 

 

by the fireplace:

platters can be hung on the wall:

 

old  crates hold coloring books and coloring supplies:

 

 

i also stack old suitcases around the house

 

okay. that's it for today...random i know. but i think the sickness i'm just now getting over sucked all of the creativity and good ideas out of my brain. ugh.

today was dr. seuss day at the girls schools

thanks so much to the AMAZING maggie bunch for these phenomenal dresses. :)

how cute are these frocks??

oh and one last thing i am SO trying to remember right now (i saw this in the land of nod catalog!

ha! that made me laugh out loud when i saw it. especially since i'm stuck in the weird limbo where i can NOT wear my pre-baby clothes. Vom. I need to phase away from the leggings, tees, and buns. I think I'd feel so much better about myself. Know what I mean?

 

Hmm. Apparently today is rambling Wednesday. Sorry about that. :)

love you all!

xoxo

 

 

completed downstairs tour

i can't even believe it, but we have pictures on the wall,

curtains on the windows,

books on the shelves...

this may sound silly to some of you, but my last five homes or so haven't had all of these things. before we moved here i decided i wanted to make this house a home.

i wanted curtains on the windows, dang it!!!

and two weeks after moving in, we have these things. i couldn't be more grateful to my fabulous mama for all of the help she's given us the past two weeks. thank you doesn't even begin to cover it.

the upstairs is more or less done as well. :) i will photograph and share that portion of the house later this week, as well as our office/scrap room (which is downstairs, but NOT done at this point!).

look at what i saw this morning before jimmy left for work. how sweet is this? nothing better than a daddy that is HOME. we are so grateful to see him each morning and to see his smiling face walk in the door at night. so grateful.

 

that bottom photo is my favorite. HA!

okay. on to the house photos! sorry if you are tired of seeing house stuff, but i'm just really excited that we got this done!

i won't be sharing a photo of the dining room, b/c we unpacked my china/milkglass/cake pedestals yesterday and the table looks like an estate sale. heee! i'll share that later, along with the scrap room.

den:

 

wood piece: purchased from jenni bowlin at vintagefest

h collection: gifts, paris market, honey's home+style, hobby lobby, flea markets

clock: flea market

 

lamp: target

six: gift from my mother

books: vintage

photo holder (holding ephemera): anthropologie...many many years ago  :)

 

china cabinet, tv stand (trunk)- nadeau furniture with soul

basket- target

 

 

curtains- target (LOVE these burlap panels)

burlap lamp shades: home goods

 

couch pillows: home goods

 

Entry Area/Sitting Area:

 

tray: john derian

six collection: paris market

more of my vintage alarm clock collection :)

 

couch and chairs: pier 1

bar: cost plus world market

mirror, parasol: flea market

 

hallway between kitchen and office/scrap room:

 

so there you have it! i want to note that all of this is mostly things i've found over the years at flea markets, supplemented with affordable pieces from target, home goods, and even walmart.

i love pottery barn, restoration hardware, etc...but it's not feasible for us to have a home completely furnished from those stores. as much as i'd LOVE that!! so i try to mimic the look of these stores using items that are more affordable.

this afternoon i hope to get the milk glass, etc. into the red china cabinet.

 

i can't believe i'm 35 weeks pregnant this week. where does the time GO???

i hope you are all having a beautiful, blessed monday. i'll be back soon!!

xxo

s