what did you pin today?

i have been online shopping a lot lately {okay... maybe more like online browsing}... here are just a few of the things i have been admiring {and pinning} lately...

for me:

fabulous cut-out flats from h&m

cute initial necklace from lala design studio on etsy

silky printed blouse from h&m

printed dress from tobi.com

tom's ballet flats



for my home:

shelves for our bedroom from urban outfitters

cute summer sheet set from anthropologie

sheer chevron curtains from urban outfitters

andres nightstand from target

blue glass lamp from target for the nightstand

for my friends:

cute art prints from

quirky bandages from urban outfitters

nesting owls measuring cup set from urban outfitters

personalized mugs from anthropologie

cute tote from whiteapple threads on etsy

what have you been shopping for {or pinning} lately? 

happy monday everyone... have a great week!

love, kbn

pinning=winning!

I'm PINNING! Kind of like WINNING, but better :)

I found this amazing date's for a year idea on pinterest, originally pinned from here.

from shannonbrown.typepad.com



What a great idea! I wanted to create my own version of this to give to my husband on his birthday. It worked out great since he has a January birthday. You create a different date for each month, I looked at our cities events calendar to get ideas of sporting events and free concerts going on each month, then thought up a creative date that me and husband haven't done before or at least haven't done for a while. It will be great to look forward to a different fun date each month, and it won't break the bank either. Husband decided to wait to open the date cards each month, then we will put it on the calendar so we are sure to actually go on the date!

I used things I already had lying around the house to save money; envelopes, stationary cards, tape and scissors. I also re-used a box I had from Christmas to store them. It might not be as cute as Shannon's version, and I am no scrapbook extraordinaire like her, but it's the date's themselves that really count! 

January date envelop 

July - a bike ride to a free concert at pioneer park and dinner at tasty thai on the way

date envelopes

date box


I'll update on the dates as we go on them. We already went on our January date. An IMAX movie and dinner out on the way. Tommy and I are movie junkies, but don't tend to actually go out to the movies very often, we usually watch them in the comfort of our own home. It's always nice to get out and see one on the big screen!

Thanks Shannon for the wonderful idea!

don't bother me, i'm pinning!

Pinterest is to me like cyclingnews is to my husband... when work is slow, I pin, when nothing is on TV, I pin, every time I open my computer... I pin! As I type this, my husband is on cyclingnews.com and I am switching back and forth between this post and pinterest... ha! 

I created some amazing painted mugs I found on pinterest, originally pinned from here. 

I went to Michaels and bought some Pebeo Porcelaine 150 outliner in black. I used some coffee mugs I already had at home that were plane white and kind of boring. 

My white mugs and Pebeo Porcelaine outliner with a stencil I attempted to make.

I thought it might be easier to make a stencil out of some card stock I had, but it turned out to be easier to just free hand it and accept the beautiful imperfections.

After letting the paint dry for 24 hours and a 30-45 minute bake in the oven at 350 F, my mugs were done! I used two different patterns to spice it up a bit, and I have two more mugs to paint still! (warning: the paint should not be used on surfaces that you will eat food off of or drink out of, only paint the outside).

Next up: my adventures in photography class! I am taking a class at pictureline, a local camera store that offers classes to people like me who can't figure out these fancy cameras. Hopefully ill learn how to better use my Nikon and post some better photos in the future.

a home for my scarves

I love scarves, I have quite the collection and I think it is still growing. I found a way to organize them on pinterest that is so simple yet genius... one of those, why didn't I think of that kind of ideas!

Using shower rings and a strong hanger to organize your scarves so they are displayed nice and neat.

Pinned from http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

I happened to have extra shower rings since our shower has a door and doesn't need a curtain, so I pulled them out and got to work.

 Here are all my scarves in a big pile on the floor... yikes!

 It is so very simple and easy but makes a world of difference when you have as many scarves as i do. The only thing I would recommend would be using a wooden hanger, which I will probably switch to to support all my scarves. 

pining to create more of my pins

I recently took down our Christmas decorations (always a sad day). I made a wreath using garland and a hanger to make our door more festive for Christmas and when I took it down I was feeling the door was a bit bare... so I took an idea I got from pinterest and created a year round wreath using burlap. 

I also used a hanger that I shaped into a wreath shape and found a strand of burlap at Michaels. It was nice since I didn't have to cut the burlap or hanger down to size. 

I scrunched up the burlap and strung it on to the hanger until I got a full effect. 

 The burlap wreath would be cute with a red ribbon at Christmas too, or you can switch up the color depending on the mood or season. Now I have two wreaths I can choose from during the holidays and one I can keep up all year!

Have you stopped pressing the "pin this" button long enough to actually create any of your pins? I want to hear about your wonderful creations! This blog post from the wonderful younghouselove blog helped inspire me to get off my lazy arse and actually do, rather than just dream of doing one day, maybe, if I get around to it... Thanks yhl and Bower Power for having a part in my new resurgence to be a doer!

A diy hair flower comes to life!

One of my best friends is getting married this July. She is one of those super organized, gets everything done way ahead of time kind of people (I envy her for that). I planned my wedding in a matter of months... crazy I know! I made a hair flower pin for my wedding (see below) and she asked if I would make one for her. I felt like I should get it done early, keeping in fashion with her on top of the ball attitude. I knew I could whip up a similar one to what I made for myself, but I wanted to challenge myself a bit and make something a bit more complicated, that would be unique to her. I started looking online for some inspiration and that's where Pinterest came in! Yay for Pinterest! I looked at the lovely bride-to-be's Pinterest page and found a flower she pinned that I thought I could tackle...

The flower I made for my wedding

The inspiration I found on Pinterest, pinned from Project Wedding 

My materials:

• sheer shinny ribbon that I already had at home
• alligator clip from Michaels
• feathers, still attached to the base (also found at Michaels)
• small styrofoam ball (cut in half)
• flat head pins (found in the jewelry aisle)
• faux pearl double sided beads (found in the floral aisle)
• crystal beads I already had at home
• krazy glue and needle and thread to attach everything together

I tried to follow the steps from the Project Wedding sight (except I was ambitious and made my own flower out of ribbon instead of buying one). I cut petal shapes out of the ribbon, layered them, and sewed them together with the feathers on the back once I had the look I wanted. Once I had my initial flower shape, I placed a bead on each flat head pin and used some krazy glue I had on hand to glue and stick the pins into the styrofoam ball. I also cut the faux pearl beads down and glued some into the styrofoam ball to add some more depth. 

I got the amount of "bling" I wanted, then glued the styrofoam onto the flower, and glued the alligator clip onto the back. And TA-DA! The beautiful finished product. 

Now go out and create! Don't hesitate to ask if you need more details.

Making a dream (or pin) come true!

I found some inspiration from these paper bird ornaments I found online... I of course went straight to my browser to "pin" those cute ornaments to my Pinterest account. For anyone reading that might not know what Pinterest is; it is an amazing website, created for people to share and organize all the wonderful things you come across on the web that you find inspirational, quirky, beautiful... It is pretty much the best website ever, and it is my newest procrastination tool.

I have decided to take some initiative and actually create some of these things I spend so much time "pinning".

The birds I got my inspiration from are from the Better Homes & Gardens website (I haven't figured out how to copy the photo directly to my blog yet = new to blogging)

Here are the templates I created myself... I decided to tweak it a bit and make it my own. Feeling inspired, I even created a butterfly and flower template.

The finished product! They could be cute as Christmas ornaments, a mobile for a baby (you could change the paper to make it for a boy), a gift topper, or just hanging in your windows.

Stay tuned for more creations... ill try to post a few of my "pins" a week, from crafts to recipes... straight off my Pinterest account. Ill also be rambling on about our new life in SLC. Enjoy!