Happy New Year! Roundup of 2017’s Most Popular Posts

Happy 2018, dear readers! 

I thought I would start off the new year with a review of my most popular blog posts. With almost 151,000 views of my blog over eight years (no big deal to some bloggers but exciting for me), some posts deserve reviewing. 

All of the most popular posts have mostly stayed the same yet there's still new traffic coming to those good old posts. However, there was a new popular post- read on to find out which one! Clicking on the links below will take you to the original posts and tutorials.

1. Triple Canvas Wall Art

2. Little Girls' Room: Green and Pink Style

3. Felt KitKat Halloween Costume

4. Cowgirl Party

5. Pottery Barn Chalkboard Platter

6. Quick and Easy Christmas Craft: Felt Poinsettas

And drumroll please...... a new popular post:

7. Harvest Blessings Pillow

Here's to another great year and many more blog posts that I hope you enjoy and inspire you.

~Rebecca

Top Three Most Popular Posts 2014

Here is Rebecca's Roundup of the top three most popular posts this year here on the blog. Click on each title to be taken to the page.

#1: Christmas Home Decor 2014

#2: Welcome Fall! A touch of Autumn Decor 2013

#3: Super quick and easy Christmas craft : Felt Poinsettas

And that's my final Roundup for 2014! Have a very Merry Christmas!

~Rebecca

A tasty costume! {Felt KitKat Halloween Costume}

Karen had a request this year for a KitKat Costume.  She let that big idea simmer for a bit, ate some chocolate and snipped some felt and turned this little number out.

She found a picture on line and printed it out full size.

Then she split it into 4 pieces and enlarged it.

She taped it to a sunny window and traced it onto felt. She had bought about 1/3 yard cream felt and 1 yard red felt.

She snipped and zigzagged on the sewing machine. Done!

Pre-Teen Girls Room: Pleasantly Purple {Before & After}

My niece was ready for a room makeover! There were a few things she knew she wanted: purple, purple, and purple! She was inspired by her new bedspread (see below), some PB Teen pics, and a pinterest board I created for her as I gathered tons of fun ideas and products to help her visualize what she wanted and make her room a reality. She also had some great pieces of furniture already in her room to start with, so she used what she already had and it worked out perfectly.

But first, lets take a look at a few of the "before" photos:

And now the "after":

She was so lucky to be gifted a great comfy chair that she loved for her birthday as this project began. My sister in law also found this cute little side table to go next to it for a perfect little lounge spot. They also made this jewelry board to match:

Here is her fun new bedspread. My sister in law made a ton of customized pillows for her bed. I love the monogrammed one! Above her bed is some new artwork, a framed "dream" and some fun fashion sketches her aunt (*moi*) made for her. These sketches were inspired by a PB Teen magazine picture they saw and showed to me.

I love how this turned out and I'm so happy they appreciate my humble beginning sketching and watercoloring skills!

My sis in law found these black sheers for super cheap! And added some fun purple tulle to bring it all together. Isn't my niece so cute?

I absolutely love how this wall turned out - how the desk and bookcases fit  p e r f e c t l y! You could not have planned that better! These memo boards are also my favorites - that fabric is just so fun and modern! They also were so resourceful by covering some file boxes with purple fabric...

...and embellished with nice typed labels and lil' purple flowers.

Good job! I know you worked so hard on this space and it turned out really great. It was fun "working" on this project with you over the phone and through emails and pinterest! Could you imagine the amazing things we could accomplish together if we actually lived close to each other?!
I hope you enjoy your lovely new purple room for many years to come!

Love, Aunt Rebecca :)

Guest Post: Summer Reds, Whites, and Blues

Thank you to Anna and Mari from Arcadian Lighting for contacting me to do a guest post on my blog! I am honored to host this beautiful article full of gorgeous pictures and great ideas. Check it out...

Hi, all! I'm Mari, a writer for Arcadian Lighting, a fantastic place to discover sparkling pendant lights, chandeliers, and lighting fixtures of all styles and finishes online. I'm so excited to be visiting here at Rebecca's Roundup today with a guest post about reds, whites and blues for summer.

The Fourth of July has come and gone, but its colors lively red, white and blue are here to stay through the summer and beyond. I've brought along eight images that illustrate my take on summer reds, whites and blues. Please enjoy!

What says summer more than a visit to the beach? Here a lovely retro kitchen in red and white opens onto a wide deck and the blue waters of the ocean beyond.

Reds, whites and blues are just right for a cottage porch that's all set up for a bit of relaxation and a refreshing drink. A pale blue quilt and striped textiles are charming additions. Can one ever have too many potted blooms? I love the shiny blue pots!

Not all red, white and blue rooms belong at the beach in a cottage, this stylish living room shows just how chic that color palette can look. Aren't the blue and white patterns gorgeous?

Rooms for children, both boys and girls, are wonderful places in which to go red, white and blue for the summer or all year round. The blue on blue plaid carpet is charming and so is the striped fabric used on the window shades and pillows. A beautiful Moravian star pendant light tops off the room's design.

This lovely feminine bedroom is decorated in faded shades of red, white and blue that give the whole space a soft gauzy feel. This one may have a beachy theme, but it's a distinctly creative and original look.

Don't want to commit to red, white and blue all year long? This traditional kitchen illustrates a quick and easy way to add red and blue to an all white space for a look you can enjoy for a day, a week, a month or more. Slipcovers, textiles and accessories will do the trick nicely.

Here's another beach cottage room that uses stripes to great advantage. Joining twin white lamps is an unexpected green ceramic one. The white-fringed slipcovers are something I want to tryósuch a great look!

We leave you with a summer dream in reds, whites and blues. This beautiful tablescape may be set on a yacht with an ocean backdrop, but it would also work beautifully for a summertime gathering on a city patio or country porch. Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

What do you think of these red, white, and blue designs? Let us know your thoughts below, and visit our website for more ceiling fixtures, wall sconces, and other lighting fixtures!

Before and After: Master Bathroom

I have been working on our master bathroom. I was going to wait to post pictures until it was COMPLETELY finished, but who knows when or if that's ever going to happen :) Ideally, I would love to change the light fixtures, frame the mirror or put up a different one, add beadboard, replace the floors, do some stenciling in the little toilet space and replace the door with a pocket door. But for now, I love the way it turned out.

Here are some BEFORE pictures we took before we bought it:

This was when I decided to paint and had to make sure I got a pic of that lovely purple flower wallpaper border before I took it off!

This was the first coat of paint. When it comes to wall colors, I love neutrals. I'm not a huge blue person, but I loved the idea of a blueish gray for the bathroom. I fell in love with Benjamin Moore's Glass Slipper, however that is an old color which I couldn't find a paintchip for. So then I saw a picture of Woodlawn Blue on pinterest and someone had written that it was a good substitute. I did have a paintchip for that one so I decided to go for it. This is how it turned out :

A little too bright blue and not enough gray for me. Not what I was going for and hubs didn't care for it either. So I went back to my paintchip stash and found one that I had originally liked before we even moved in when I was picking colors, one that my dad had picked out for me. I should have listened in the first place to dear old dad :) 

This color is Benjamin Moore's Coventry Gray and we LOVE it. I was nervous because it looked very gray on the chip and in the store and I'm not a huge gray person either. But once it was on the walls, it's  very blueish gray. It looks great with black or espresso, it feels very "metro" and modern to me. You could also go the other way and do very white, silver and beachy.
We did replace the towel bar and hand towel rings with a satin nickel finished, beaded hardware. It looks really great. (You can see the bar still in the package in the pic below :) ) They are Better Homes and Garden brand and were on clearance at Walmart. (Score!) I still have not got the guts up to buy the matching vanity light sconce for $45. I'm just SURE I can get one cheaper on Ebay!?!?

The monogrammed hand towels were from Kohl's on clearance which I bought with one of those awesome $10 Kohl's cash thingies you get in the mail. So they were basically free. I love the espresso wood frame above the towel bar, I think the brown and blue combo looks great. It is an art print of one of me and hub's favorite Renoir paintings which we saw in the Musee de'Orsay a' Paris :) The rug (you can't really see) in front of the vanity is one I got along time ago from Target that has the blue, brown, and black colors that works so well in here. 

So there you have it. And once again for kicks, here is the BEFORE:

And the AFTER:

Pinned & Tried: Triple Canvas Whale Art {low cost project}

I had pinned this adorable canvas art awhile ago and now that the kid's bathroom is being updated, I was ready to do it! It was my first time trying out paint and canvas and it was alot of fun!

source

 I started by opening up my pin on the computer screen so I could look at it while drawing free hand with a pencil on the canvases.

I then mixed three basic colors I wanted to use to match the colors in the bath and make it customized to my taste. I added a little brown to the gray, a little blue to the turquoise and a little red and white to the yellow. 

 After drawing, I painted and then went over it with a second coat.

And this is how it turned out! I LOVE it. It's super fun for my super fun kiddos and it makes me smile every time I walk past their bathroom.

This project cost me $1.50 for one bottle of the acrylic paints. Everything else I had on hand or was given to me. Score!

Check back next time to see their new updated bathroom!!!

Linking to these fun parties:
http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/2012/05/delightfully-inspiring-thursday-party_16.html

http://www.jenniferrizzo.com/2012/05/my-painted-project-linky-party.html
http://www.happygoluckyblog.com/2012/07/pinterest-challenge-its-time-to-link-up.html

Happy Halloween! {how to make a Rapunzel yarn wig}

To make a yarn wig: cut legs off old stockings. Turn inside out and trim into a nice curve shape to conform to the head. Sew up (I handstiched). Then take yarn, I used Red Heart brand yarn worsted medium 364 yards on sale for $. 2.50,
I turned my coffee table upside down and after taping one end to a leg, wrapped the rest around he legs until the end. (sorry no pic, I forgot). Then I tied a string around the center of the lengths of yarn, opposite the leg where I taped down the start, then cut all the yarn on the leg where it started. Pick up from center and place center where you want the part to be. I chose a side part. I hand stiched every yarn or two from the front of the stocking head piece until I ran out. Then place on your model and try to straighten and untangle as much as possible. Holding tightly, put yarn into 3 sections for braiding. Start braiding making sure yarn covers "scalp" and is taut. Tie off braid at desired length with same color yarn. And there you have it!

Little Girl's Room: Green & Pink Style

My BFF is expecting her third! {Congrats} It will be girl #2. So girl #1 will need to move to a big girl bed soon, and decisions must be made for a big girl room and another nursery. So fun!

She was originally inspired by this adorable set from Land of Nod called "Bedding of Roses." Not only do I love this set, but I think it really expresses her style and what she likes and can coordinate into her already lovely home. The room is already painted a lovely pale pink, however, so we are thinking something like this, but white so it's not too pink in the room.

Then she scored this cute "Katie Nursery Bedding" from PBkids off Craigslist for a mere $10! If she uses this and the girls have the same color scheme, it would be really easy to transition the baby into the big girl room in a couple of years. And so the idea of pink and green is born....

I found a ton of great ideas! Most are from decorpad or just google images search. I LOVE the plushness of these beds!

A good way to incorporate the colors is to keep everything else simple, if you change your mind or want to change it up, and find some accessories in this case a great print or boards covered with fabric, to bring in the colors you want and pull it all together.

antique french with ivory leaf and rose

She loves damask. However I think this room (above) is our favorite of all!

She found this GREAT chair and bench set on Craigslist. As you can see, the chair is already the perfect color (score!) and she could recover the bench to match or use a great coordinating fabric.

I hope you enjoyed all this beautiful eye candy for a little girl's green and pink room!

What colors do you think look great in little girl's spaces?