Jul 30, 2014

To color, or not to color?

I can do a lot of things pretty well.  I'm crafty.  I have an eye for home interior design. I have pretty good handwriting.

There are two things that I don't include in my list of "things I do well."  In fact, they would probably belong in a "things I can't do at all and barely struggle to grasp the basics" list.  Hair and makeup.  They're completely foreign ideas to me.  Kudos to you, girl that watches YouTube videos on contouring and experiments with different colors and types of makeup.  I wish I was you.  I don't know the difference between a lipstick and a lip stain.  I have no idea what colors look good with my skin tone.  I've had pretty much the same makeup routine since high school because I don't have a clue how to vary it.

Don't even get me started on hair.  I am so envious of you, girl that can get up each morning and do different things with your hair.  You know how to French braid?  to do a messy, but adorable updo?  to make your plain ponytail look fancy?  Teach me your ways.  I have three hairstyles:  down, pinned back and a ponytail.  That's it.  I have recently started using a lifting spray, thanks to a recommendation from my cousin.  Other than that, my hair routine is pretty basic.   The idea of changing my hairstyle gives me a slight case of the panic attacks.  I don't know what style looks best with my face shape.  I've pretty much always had the same two hairstyles....long or a bob.  I don't know how to make my hair look better when it's curled.  I had a perm once.  Can we not talk about it?  I still have emotional scars.  I highlighted my hair for a small period in high school.  That took a week's worth of convincing myself that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I put a little color in my hair.  Even so, while my hairstylist was putting the highlights in, I felt the very strong urge to throw up.  I don't do well with changes to my appearance.  You see, I don't have a very good image of myself.  My self-confidence is almost in the negative numbers and I always see the flaws in myself when I look in the mirror.  Maybe that's why I struggle with an update.  I think that, no matter what I do, it's really not going to matter.

Lately though, I've really been feeling down about myself.  I don't have many new clothes that I feel good about.  The clothes that I do have make me feel frumpy.  When I look in the mirror, all I can focus on is my acne that has decided to plague me in my adulthood.  No amount of makeup I apply will cover it and make me feel less self-conscious.  So, I've decided I need a change with my hair to hopefully pump up my self-worth.  My hair is a dark brown color.  It's very, very thin.  Has almost zero volume to it and lays flat on my head.  I'm dying for a new color.  I want to add dimension to my hair to where it doesn't seem so flat and one-dimensional.  Plus, I looked in the mirror on my way to work the other day and saw this:


GREY HAIRS!!!!!! 
I'm 28!  I'm not supposed to have grey hairs!  Curse you, dark hair and the tendency to go grey earlier!! 

So, now I'm freaking out.  I cannot have grey hairs.  Nope.  Nope. Nope.  I'm really feeling the urge to go color my hair like yesterday.

Except, read above where I explain where I'm basically illiterate when it comes to the language of beauty.  

So many colors.  So many styles.  How the heck is a girl, with basically no beauty/cosmetology sense at all, supposed to decide what to do with her hair??

Part of me is tempted to just go to my stylist, plop down in her chair and say "Do your thang."   Except 1.)  I never actually use the word "thang" in real life.  And 2.) I'm too much of a control freak for that.  

Here's where you come in, my totally awesome readers.  Help. Me. 

What you should know:  I have shoulder-ish length hair right now.  I'm working on growing it back out.  I cut it short about a year ago and loved it, but I want it long again.  I have "grass is greener when my hair is whatever my hair isn't right now" syndrome.  I have short, I want it long.  I have long, I want it short.  Oy.  

Back to the color.  I do want to stay in the brunette family.  Don't go suggesting that I go blonde because I have plenty of fun as a brunette, thankyouverymuch.  Red is off-limits.  My sister Dayna is the only redhead in the family and she rocks that shizz.  No way I could ever compete with that. 


Dayna has people come up to her often and ask what number her hair is.  God-given, baby.  I hate her a little for it.  How did my sister get awesomely unique and totally thick hair while I got what I got??

Anyway.  My original thought was to keep the dark shade of my hair and put light in it.  Kind of liking these examples: 


Really love the girl on the left.  But that seems like a big change from what I have right now.  Wuss.  Right here.

So I'm kind of gravitating towards a style that is a little more even and blends really well throughout.


Basically, I'm a chicken and I have no idea what to do with my hair.  Help??


Jul 28, 2014

To my Avery, on your 3rd birthday.

My Avery girl:

1095 days.  It sounds funny when you break it down like that.  1095 days ago, I was laying in a hospital bed, willing my contractions to speed up so I could finally meet you  After all, I'd spent the last 7 months dreaming about this moment and what it would be like.  Would you look like me?  Would you have much hair?  Will I know what to do?  Will you grow up and be shy like me?  Before I knew it, you were here.  All 8 pounds of you.  They laid you on my chest and I loved you from the first moment I met you.  I never knew a human heart could contain the amount of joy I felt.  You were mine.  They were actually going to let me take this beautiful baby home with me to keep.

And here we are.  1095 days later.  Some days have been easy.  Your first steps.  Your first words.  Your first giggles.  The days where you play all day and tell me you love being here and love all your toys and your Mommy and Daddy.  But some days....they're not so fun.  The days where we fight.  I tell you that you have to be a good girl and you push back and assert your independence.  The days where we butt heads from morning to sundown and I go to bed feeling like I've failed you because I don't know that I made you feel loved that day.  Give me the bad days with the good days too, because they're all worth it.  Good days with you and you make me laugh and feel beaming pride and so much joy I think that there's no one in the world that is happier than I am in that moment.  I would take 10 bad days with you in exchange for one good one.  That's how good our good days are.

For 1095 days, I've watched you grow.  Not so very long ago, your little fingers couldn't reach the top of the bathroom counter.  Now, I watch those same little fingers get out your toothbrush and paste and get your stool to go brush your teeth by yourself.  In the recent past, I watched your little feet struggle to fit into even the tiniest of shoes.  Now, your feet are bedazzled with Dora and Minnie kicks that sparkle and shine and I marvel at your fashion sense because you picked them out yourself.  Just a few years ago, I watched your little mouth struggle to form words, learning the language that the big people around you all spoke.  So we developed a language, you and I.  You could say a few words and I would know exactly what you needed.  Now, I marvel at your ability to carry on a conversation with me.  You're constantly amazing me with the new words that you've learned and how well I think you talk.

1095 days.  Three years.  Seems like a fairly short period of time when you put it into numbers.  But for me, it's been a lifetime.  I can't remember what life was like before you arrived and turned the Gaddie household upside down.  What was life like before Disney Jr, Dora, potty training and giggles at the silliest things?  I can't remember.  These last 1095 days have been the happiest, most stressful, most fulfilling days I've ever experienced.  I hope God blesses me with many, many, many more days exactly like these.

Happy 3rd birthday my sweet girl.

Love, Mommy.





Jul 23, 2014

Doc McStuffins-inspired Invitations

I am crazy.  I will be the very first one to admit this.

My Avery is turning three very soon...and I handmade her birthday party invitations.  Again.  As if the first and second years weren't lesson enough.  Do we need a recap?

Year One  (tutorial: part 1 and part 2)



Year Two  (tutorial here)



 About a week ago though, I admitted defeat.  I faced reality and the fact that I had absolutely no time to make Avery's invitations this year.  In the past, it's something that I've done and taken pride in.  This year however, I have a lot on my plate and I did not see how it could happen.  So I got on Etsy and started looking at ready-made downloadable PDF files that I could just pay for, send off to Walgreens to get printed and call it a day.  As I started looking around, I wasn't finding anything that I liked as much as the idea I had in my head for handmade invitations.  Then I talked to my friend Heather, who is super crafty and has her own business, Sincerely Sunshine, and she was all "Devan.  You can do this.  You love making things and it'll be a special touch on Avery's party."  And I'm all "Gosh dang it.  She's right!  I love making invitations for my girl's birthday parties."  So I closed out my Etsy browsing window and Heather and I started brainstorming on how to make these invites.  Heather, do you hate me?

The result was a very, very time consuming, but I think very adorable invitation.

Doc McStuffins jacket!  Complete with lots of freaking glitter.  You're welcome, every person that opened their envelope to be greeted with a pile of glitter in their lap.  

In case you need a recap, we're going on three years now of time consuming, handmade invitations.  Obviously, I have issues. 

First, you gotta buy the paper.  For the jackets, I saved money by picking up a packet of cards and envelopes together, instead of buying pieces of white cardstock and envelopes separately.  I purchased this set of 50 from Michaels.  With a 40% off coupon, I paid $6 plus tax.  Not bad.  Then, it was time to make some doctor lab coats.  Again, thank you to my friend Heather, who whipped up something at work and then sent me step by step directions on how she did it.  I can't take credit for the idea for the folding of the jackets.

First, lay out your unfolded card landscape style (long ways). 



Next, fold the bottom part of the cards upwards.  I did probably a 1 1/2 inch fold.  Just eyeball it.


After you've folded the bottom up, flip the card over, placing the folded piece on the back side.


Then, fold your outsides into the middle, creating the flaps of Doc's jacket.  Since I purchase pre-folded cards, I used the center fold as a guide for how far to bring the sides in.  Repeat for both sides.



See how when you've folded it in, it's created the pocket's for Doc's jackets?  Genius, Heather.

Now, you're just going to fold down little flaps on the top for the lapels.


Now that you have your basic jacket, it's time to add accessories!  I used Doc McStuffins herself as a guide to decide what I wanted.  Of course, Doc's stethoscope was a necessity.


For all of my shapes, I used my handy Silhouette Cameo machine.  I'm telling you. This is only the fourth or fifth time I've gotten to use this baby, but I'm in love with it.  It makes projects like this soooooo much easier.  I wouldn't have even attempted it without one.  I just wish I had more time to sit down and learn about all the cool things it can do!  

I was a little bit rusty on how to use it and create shapes, so I did have to play around with the sizes of things first.  In the beginning, I made the stethoscopes too small (tip:  always have extra paper laying around so you can play with sizes and shapes until you find exactly what you want...that way you're not wasting the paper you bought for your project).  

Too small.
So I went back and adjusted the size.  Too big. 


Once I finally got the size just right (I feel ya, Goldilocks), I loaded my glitter paper into the machine and started cutting a crap ton (yes, that's an official unit of measurement) of these babies.  I offered to pay anyone in leftovers if they'd come help me remove them all from the sticky mat, but no one took me up on it.  Curious.  

To place the stethoscope on the jacket, I wanted to make sure that the envelope could still be opened.  So I chose to do the scope at an angle so I could cut it down the middle and glue it to both sides of the jacket.  I set the stethoscope down, cut it right down the opening line and then glued the two pieces down. 



After that, I just added my other accessories.  I chose to do a nametag, pen and the bandaid from Doc McStuffin's show.  I know a bandaid isn't usually stuck to the outside of a doctor's coat, but it did make it look more "Doc McStuffin-y."  You can add whatever you want....Doc has a variety of tools to choose from.

A blood pressure cuff would have been funny.

Once you have all the pieces cut out, just start assembling.  It's a time consuming process and you'll have glitter in every opening on your body (I think my pores sweated glitter for a week), but I think the end result is worth it.


You could use this basic model (without the pockets) for a variety of different characters.  Having a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party?


Get some navy blue paper, fold the same way (without the bottom fold) and then trim with yellow to make Jake's vest.  Add buttons and his famous sword.

Having a Sheriff Callie party?


Follow the same steps with a brown piece of paper.  Add pink trim, pink bandana and sheriff star.  Maybe even a belt buckle.

Tune in soon for a how-to on Avery's birthday party favors......Sheriff Callie's Horse!

Jul 14, 2014

Living Room Curtain Tests

Maybe one day I'll start posting things that aren't about my house decor anymore, but today isn't the day.

Because today, I'm talking curtains.

First though, if we're friends on Facebook or you follow me on Instagram (@supermessy_mom), you might have seen this picture last week:


This is my child, in Target, picking out accent rugs.  I pointed to the pattern on top with the blues and greens and mentioned that it would go with the colors in our kitchen.  Avery jumped right on this.  She agreed with me (since when do almost-3 year olds know what "goes" together?) and proceeded to pull the other two rugs off the shelf, telling me she "yiked dese rugs togever (you can read Toddler, right?)."  A couple weeks ago, I was lamenting here on the blog that I am not very adept at mixing patterns.  And here my toddler is doing it in the aisle of Target.....like a boss.  It should also be mentioned that we walked over to the curtain aisle, where I picked up a white and coral printed curtain panel and Avery wrinkled her nose and told me "I don't reawwy yike dat one.  Dat doesn't look berry dood wif our rug."  Point taken.  Curtains went back on the shelf.  If you're interested in inviting Avery over to do an interior design evaluation on your home, we will rent her out for a flat fee.

Anyhoo.  Back to curtains.   Awhile back...June 28th, to be exact....I found the curtains for our bedroom.  They're black and white elephant curtains from Pier 1 and I'm in love with them.  They were delivered to the store last week, I just haven't had a chance to hang them yet.  I can't wait to see what they're going to look at in our room.

The living room, however, has been a bit trickier.  You see, I've kind of got a different color scheme going on in each of my "rooms," even though it's technically one big open room.  I think it all flows together, but I want to bring different elements back and forth into each room so it definitely is all connected.  Awhile back, I posted that I was on the hunt for throw pillows for the living room.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to buy different pillows in the different colors that were in my rug or if I wanted to pull out one color and buy pillows in a variety of patterns in that color.  I still hadn't decided, so my one pillow purchased from Pier 1 has sat alone on my couch for a couple of weeks now.

Instead of deciding on pillows, I had shifted my focus to curtains.  Now, these are not going to be "functional" curtains.  I have two sets of french doors and I'm wanting to frame the doors with curtains.
Originally, because of the navy wall, I was thinking yellow curtains.  But I couldn't get anything with too much print.  There's already a whooole lot of print happening in my living room.


Houndstooth chairs and a seriously printed rug.  P.S. don't mind the Little Tykes basketball goal.  It's not normally there.  Marty and Avery have been having one-on-ones in the living room---she's Michael Jordan and he's the Monstars.  Can you tell we watch a little too much Space Jam in this household?  P.P.S., don't mind the terribleness of this picture.  My only camera is on my phone and the lighting in this room always turns out so orange whenever I take pictures of this room.  The actual room is lighter, more white with the trim and the mantle and the grey wall on the opposite side, but in pictures it always turns out so blah.  P.P.P.S., did you notice my brand new entertainment center in the left of the picture that my husband surprised me with from Kirklands after I posted a picture of it online about how much I loved it?  It goes SO well with my decor.  It's like it was meant to be. :)

So I've been trying to find something that goes with the color scheme I have going, but the yellow options just weren't panning out.

I originally bought these gold stripe Threshold brand curtains first.


In the store, the stripe looked like the green that's in my rug.  Plus, I thought a stripe would be a way to bring pattern in without it being super overwhelming.  I bought it, got it home and held it up.  It was.......okay.  But it was just boring.  It's a plain stripe.  Not really what I want.  I want to be able to pull off a fun pattern that also wasn't too much with everything else I had going on.

So I went back to Target and started again.  I picked up another yellow option.  Again, from Threshold, these curtains had yellow, grey, white.  I thought they were perfect.  I brought them home and loved them up against my navy wall, but was less than thrilled with them when I looked at them up against everything else I had going.


So I've decided to nix the yellow.  I love it against the navy and the white trim, but it just doesn't look right when everything else comes into play..  My next choice was immediately red.  I looked at a few options before finally finding these red Medallion Threshold (duh) brand curtains


They've got some dark reds, regular red and oranges in the medallion patterns.  I love them.  They're exactly what I was wanting.  Print, without being too crazy, with the background being mostly white to brighten up the room full of dark colors. 

Plus, look how awesome the curtains go with the throw pillow I had already purchased. 


I don't think I could have planned it any better.  So I'm now on going with pillows in the same color scheme--the rust/dark coral color of the pillow and that's in my rug.  Bonus on these curtains?  They're only $19.99 (everything else is $24.99) and I have a Cartwheel coupon for 20% off until Saturday AND there's a $5 off home decor coupon on target.com.  Yay saving money! 

My living room is (very slowly) starting to come together!

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