These are a few of my favorite things....

It's a Favorite Things party at 320 Sycamore. It looked like too much fun, I just had to join in. And what a perfect day to honor the practices of Oprah the day she announced her show will be ending next season. Sorry, no freebies here but here are my favorite things!

Seven for all mankind jeans (in LOVE I tell you!) These fit like a glove and only look better with time.

My Lucchese western boots. Comfortable and amazingly cute with just about everything!

Starbucks iced coffee

iphone

Kings of Leon.

My Lisa Leonard Gromet flower necklace. (no longer sold)

Clinique Happy

Green with envy

I finally got sick enough of my yellowish walls in the living room to get up the energy to paint them. The color before was supposed to be a vanilla but was more buttery and did not mesh well with my furniture. Sorry for a lack of before pictures but here is how it turned out!

I love the shade of green. It's dark enough for some drama but still soft and soothing.

I think it ties in all of my colors without being to "matchy". Note: I LOVE all of the beachy themed, light, natural living rooms I have been eyeing in other blogs but new furnitre was out of the question and quite frankly I"m not sure that look is for us. I need colors that don't show dirt!

This shows my goodwill broken clock turned chalkboard and old shutter door to a closet. Have I ever mentioned I love stars? This is one of 3 in this room.

Because you just gotta. :)

See this lovely shelf? This was purchased at the Nesters yard sale. Yep, from the Nesters house straight to mine! :)

View to the dining room. Going to add beadboard soon.

Our Anniversary (and a homemade gift idea)

It's our anniversary! Four years married to be exact. And with the current economic times, my birthday being just 5 days prior, and Christmas on the way, I'm afraid our gift budget is always low. This year I took the opportunity to force myself to be creative and give a gift from the heart. I actually really enjoyed making this gift. I found myself reminiscing the entire time I made it and really got me in the spirit and romance of an anniversary. Store bought items and the usual "expected" gifts can take away from that I think.

So with that in mind I know everyone has holiday lists to complete and thought this turned out as a sweet little gift that could be tailored to anyone. Here's what I did.

• I simply used my photo editor (Picassa, but any would do) to choose my photos, tweak them to black and white, then added text. I found great pictures of my husband doing all the things he does :)
• I created a cover with writing only using the Paint accessory.
• Cut burlap to allow about 1/4" on each side of picture, frayed edges, and used Fabri-Tac to glue picture to burlap.
• Hole punch the corners. My hole punch went right through the burlap but I did use a pen to push through it on a couple. You just need a big enough hole for the ribbon. You could also do two hole punches on either side for more of a book effect but I stopped with just the one.
• Choose ribbon to thread through the hole, tie a knot to secure, then a pretty bow.
• Enjoy giving the gift to the receiver knowing they can keep this for years to come!

My book has about 14 photos, here are a few:

Happy Anniversary Tommy! Yes, I really do love all these things about you! You have given me the best, most important four years of my life and can't wait to say the same at our 50th! Love you :)

I am linking this to Kimb'as DIY day. Thanks for looking and go check out the other DIYs!

Also submitted to the "I can do that!" party at Just a Girl!

Giveaway @ Centsational Girl!

I am a lover of Lisa Leonard designs so I am jumping on this chance to win a gift certificate from Centsational Girls blog. You should too!