Repurposing Objects

One thing I have learned from my love of HGTV is that the best way to decorate on a budget is to repurpose items. After passing by this basket in my hallway every day for two months, the thought finally occurred to me that I should repurpose it!

While the basket sits in our bathroom holding my hair dryer and straightener...

I had another idea for the lid!

  Two nails later, the lid is now my jewelry holder. Thank goodness for the little imperfections that stick out so my necklaces can hang nicely. Hey, it's definitely better than getting tangled up in my dresser drawer. 

Not bad for FREE!

Wreaths of Fun

After months and months of refusing to give in to Pinterest, I finally gave it a try. I'm trying to be better at decorating for holidays to get into the spirit, so I thought this simple Valentine's Day wreath would be the perfect start. Plus, my door was looking empty after taking down the Christmas wreath. I combined 2 different ideas off Pinterest to create this simple and CHEAP wreath. 

Here's what you need:

-Old cereal box

-1 roll of crepe paper

-Hot glue gun and glue sticks

-A scrap of ribbon

The first thing you do is cut open the cereal box. With one of the largest sides of the box, cut out half of a heart. Then trace the shape onto the other half of the box and cut it out to create this...

Be sure to pay attention to the side you are tracing so they match up. You'll see later that I didn't do this at first. Luckily I had two cereal boxes handy!

Next you'll want to cut the crepe paper in strips 2 feet long. I used an entire roll that I got for $1! You might want to buy two rolls if you plan on making a thicker or a bigger heart.

For more of a "rose" look, crumple up each strip in a ball so it's not so crisp. Unfold the strip and start rolling the crepe paper by hot gluing at the stem every few turns. 

Told you I made the heart wrong at first :)

 After you have glued all the roses and they have had time to cool, it's time to start gluing them on!

 In order for them to stand up straight, you'll want to cut off the stems before hot gluing them on the heart. I also pushed down on each rose so they looked more realistic.

 And after they are all glued, attach some ribbon on the back with more hot glue. I just had a strip lying around so this didn't cost me anything. 

 For a total of $1...here is the finished product!

I think it turned out pretty well for what it cost. Eric thinks I should make a green shamrock for next month lol.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is my Christmas wreath I never posted.

 Eric came up with the idea to wrap ribbon around the wreath. It definitely tied everything together! What a good hubby :)

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Kuck

On January 14th our little sister Holly got married! She was the last one to go on the Walker side. I knew it would be a beautiful wedding because Holly and Phil are such an amazing pair. Eric and I were able to fly to Utah for a few days to support them. We wouldn't have had it any other way! It was great to spend more time with everyone after our short Christmas visit. 

The day before the wedding the girls got mani-pedis! The guys were busy doing "man" stuff at the shooting range.

Holly and Phil were married at the Jordan River Temple. They were kind enough to have the ceremony later in the day so I could get my beauty sleep. 

Waiting for the bride and groom after the ceremony. 

And finally...Mr. and Mrs. Kuck!!

Doesn't she look beautiful!?

Don't be fooled by the great pictures. It was FREEZING that day. I guess it could have been worse...but there's my two cents :)

After a short break (pictures always take so much longer than anticipated) we headed off to Sleepy Ridge Golf Course for the reception. The decorations were absolutely gorgeous! I was a little jealous haha. 

Where's Eric?

Us with the newlywed!

What's a wedding without our adorable nephew, Christian? Lauren and I slipped away to have a little photo shoot. 

And how could I forget about Eric?! He was the MC at the reception and did a fantastic job! Many compliments were made about this guy's skills. So proud!

 We are so happy for you, Holly and Phil!! We know you will have a wonderful marriage just like ours :)

Christmas, Christmas, and Christmas

Last year Eric and I had a quiet Christmas at home. I didn't want to bore Eric with goodies and another Criminal Minds marathon, so we decided to spend Christmas with our families this year. Five and a half days and two states later, Eric and I had 3 Christmases under our belts. 

We started off by spending a very early Christmas in Provo with Eric's family. Everyone was able to take work off for "Christmas" so it was pretty legit. Eric got an iPod nano watch that he gets compliments on everyday. And me...well I was a little spoiled with a new camera! Now I have lots of pressure to be an awesome photographer. I'll get there one day, I'm sure :) Here are some pics from our Provo Christmas.

Eric sporting his fancy new Christmas PJs. 

Holly was obviously shocked to open her new iPad. 

We were able to spend time with our nephew Christian who we had only seen once before this. 

What could be in this big box?

Classic. Enough said. 

The day after "Christmas" was another "Christmas" in West Jordan at my mom's house. My sister Wendy and her family were able to come too! I was excited to spend a Christmas with my favorite little niece, Amora! It was nice to see my family and also my mom's new house.

The parentals were chilling.

Typical Amora face: explaining something to Jeremy.

Eric and I during present opening.

My siblings Jeremy and Wendy!

Haha. Adam was not amused. 

And last but not least, the day after our second "Christmas" we hopped on a plane to spend Christmas Eve at my dad's house. My sister Audrey flew in from Florida to spend it with us. For some reason I didn't get many pics in Salem, but we had a great Christmas and an even greater day after Christmas shopping! 

Traditional matching Christmas shirts. Yes, the star blinked. 

Tis the Season!

Eric and I couldn't wait to set up our new Christmas decorations, so we got to work the day after Thanksgiving. Eric probably would have decorated in October had I let him, but I'm a firm believer in decorating AFTER Thanksgiving. Each holiday needs its own day, after all. I also don't believe in listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but I let that one slide during Thanksgiving week (mainly because it was Eric's birthday and I can't yell at him during his birthday week). I'm pretty sure he's been trying to sing Christmas songs since the summer. 

Anyway...like I said in the last post, we got new Christmas decorations! All of our ornaments are brand new. We went with the theme of red, green, and gold. It just jumped out at us when everything we liked happened to be in those colors. We love our new ornaments. Eric especially loves not having pink ornaments anymore. So if anyone is in need of pink ornaments and a star topper that changes colors, they are waiting for a new home! 

Eric and I had a plan to get a new specialized ornament every year. I decided that we aren't very good collectors because that basically ended this year (there's still a little time left). However, Eric gets a new nutcracker every year! Here's his first and best one yet! And also his Mexican Christmas decorations that I hate. But I have agreed to give him a Mexican corner so it doesn't mix with my other decor!

This is a pre-Mexican corner picture.

And along with our new Christmas decorations, we found new ornaments and topper for my tiny tree. We got the tree skirt last year that I couldn't resist. You'll see how small it really is in the next pic. I just love when things are miniaturized. 

My sister Audrey gave me this tree my first year of college so I could put one in my dorm room!

 And here is our beautiful Christmas area! I've always wanted to put garland on a stairway and now I finally can. I think it turned out pretty cute for being on a student budget! It's SO much better than last year if you look at that post. 

Christmas corner with the light on.

Please note the tiny Christmas tree on the bottom left. If you can't see it then it's because it's so BRIGHT. Apparently the lights don't come small enough.

And dramatic affect with the lights turned off!

Even if you don't think our Christmas decorations are very impressive, we still do! We love Christmas and all it brings. I can't wait to see our families this year!! 

Thank thank thankful

Thanksgiving. What can I say about it? Eric and I have so much to be thankful for--my job, his school, our home, marriage, family and friends, good health, our good looks...haha (not all in that order). But really, it's been a tough year, but we've never been short on blessings. 

We've made it a tradition here in Kansas to do Thanksgiving with Karrie and Austin each year. This year Ty, Randii, and their daughter Chloe joined us too! It's nice to be able to spend Thanksgiving with amazing friends when you aren't able to visit family. It was even nicer that we didn't host this year! :) We were able to sleep in and scan through ads rather than working our butts off first thing in the morning.

Happy about our relaxing day! 

Karrie and Austin hosted, so they got the lovely turkey duty!

Austin hard at work slicing the turkey.

Randii getting ready to make gravy!

 Eric decided that the mashed potatoes needed to be a little snazzier...

Exhibit A.

 And finally, with the help of everyone we had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner! 

Karrie is so festive with her decor! I love it. 

It was a good day full of great food, laughs, and SHOPPING! That's right. Immediately after dinner Eric and I stopped at Michael's before heading home. We took advantage of the great "Black Thursday" sale by stocking up on Christmas decor. Eric always hated our Christmas decorations, but now we are both thrilled with the results!

We hope everyone had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

26?!

He did it again! Eric had ANOTHER birthday, and now he is closer to 30 than 20. I made a delicious birthday cake (confetti with butter cream frosting) for Eric. We ate it in less than three days. But in all fairness, Eric had the majority. 

My old man with his birthday cake.

Blowing out the curly candles. 

Obviously enjoying the cake with a full mouth.

Kisses for the birthday boy!

We had a pretty low key birthday this year. I got off of work a few hours early, went to the grocery store, then came home to bake Eric's cake. I also bought him 2 different types of eggnog for his birthday, which he absolutely LOVED. Yes, those are both gone as well. 

Our activity for Eric's birthday was going to Cinema Suites at the movie theater. The chairs were super comfy, and we were served dinner during the movie. It's almost like watching a movie in the comfort of your own home/going out to eat all rolled into one. We saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 and it was so good! The movie wasn't only for me; Eric liked it as well, so don't judge me for taking him. 

Hope you had a good birthday, Eric! I LOVE YOU!!

Baby Shower Time

On Saturday I threw a baby shower with Natalie and Randii for our good friend Karrie. It was the first baby shower I've ever thrown, and I could not have done such a good job without Natalie and Randii's help! Thank you so much you two!

The decorations were so cute and all the food tasted great. Natalie picked up some great decoration ideas from Pinterest that we tried out. 

The food table. A little decor in the back corner made out of muffin liners.

The present table. You can't really see it too well, but we made a little pink and purple garland made out of construction paper and ribbon at the top of the picture.

Natalie and I took a stab at making our first diaper cake. I think it turned out pretty dang cute!

Best diaper cake EVER.

 And what's a party without games!? We started off guessing the different types of baby food. No one got it all right, so I think it was a success! Then we all guessed the measurement of Karrie's stomach. Someone guessed almost exactly right! It was pretty impressive. 

Here, Karrie chose three people to chug water out of a baby bottle with her. The bottles had the smallest hole size, so the girls drank very very slowly despite all their efforts. It was hilarious to watch!

 

Then everyone sat in a circle and they had to pass around 4 different presents every time Natalie read the words "right" and "left" from a story.

And of course, Karrie opened presents after the games. She received so many cute items!

Thank you to everyone who came to the shower. It was a great turn out and Karrie loved all the gifts!