Thanksgiving Fun

Happy Monday All! It is always hard to get back into the swing of things after a long holiday weekend. We had just a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had my whole family together, which doesn't happen often, since my older brother, his wife and the cutest lil boy live in Wisconsin and my youngest brother is at Grad School in West Virginia. It was such a special Thanksgiving for us all to be together especially with a new baby in the family. 

The 4 days were full of food, laughs, fun and family. I couldn't of asked for a better time! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Now bring it on Christmas! 

xoxo, Jess

Easy DIY Wreath Makeover

Finally, the temps have changed and we have officially started Fall here in Phoenix, and it is heaven! I just love the cool, crisp days and snuggly nights. I really love this time of year especially with the holidays coming up it is really just my favorite of times. 

With the temperature change also comes my decor change, since it is no longer Halloween it was time to give the Skull Wreath a Fall Makeover! 

It was a pretty easy project. I took all the Halloween goodies off the wreath and spray painted it Ivory. I actually have a lot of decor odd's and ends hanging around so I just went trough my craft closet and pulled some stuff out that I have used to decorate in previous years. 

After I gathered the goods, I brought out the big guns AKA my hot glue gun and got my makeover on! I actually ended up leaving off a few of the gathered goods and went with all gold and found some old ornaments that worked perfect in place of the pine cones.

I was at first worried about the contrast between the yellow door and an all gold wreath, being since there really was none, but I actually ended up loving it. I think it is nice and subtle, but elegant at the same time. 

 Any fun Fall decorations you have done this season?

xo, Jess

DIY Backyard Pergola

My hubby loves to build things and be outdoors, so when he was driving by and saw a guy unloading a truck full of wood into a dumpster what did he do...he asked to have it, and the guy was super nice and actually ended up driving to our home(it was only a few blocks away) and unloading this truck full of wood for free. Let me just tell you, Jon was on Cloud 9 and ready to build. He decided that he was going to build a pergola(I kept calling it a Gazebo, but I guess that is not the correct term). At first I had my doubts because honestly all I saw was a big hodge-podge pile of wood, but Jon definitely proved my doubts wrong and whipped this thing together like he had done it a million times. I was quite impressed!  

                   

 

So, this is what the finished product at first looked like, though I was really proud of Jon, it wasn't the prettiest thing. I envisioned something more elegant and whimsical.

We both felt like it need some type of coverage, so we decided on putting up burlap curtains. Thank goodness we have a bulk discount fabric store right down the street from us and we picked up some white burlap for $0.99 a yard. We had to cut it ourselves, but really burlap is pretty forgiving and doesn't need to look perfect. Jon strung it up on a cord line and stapled it and then trimmed all the excess fabric hanging on the inside top and bottom.

I knew I wanted to create some type of chandelier hanging from the middle, but wanted to keep it earthy looking so I ended up using a wooden wreath that I got from Goodwill(first had to rip all the junk it had on it) wrapped it in a strand of the mini white lights and added a crystal garland I had gotten from Michaels. 

Then for some finishing touches I tied the curtains back with some fabric we had also picked up from the discount fabric store and added some candles to the front that have battery operated led lights so that we don't have to worry about the thing burning down. Placed the chairs and table we already owned and called it a success. 

We are looking forward to spending many days and nights in our homemade pergola. And to think this all started from a free pile of wood. I am so lucky to have a talented husband. I think we make a pretty good team! 

Did you do any fun projects this weekend?

xo, Jess

Weekend Getaways Are My Fave

This past weekend my hubby(Jon) and I had a little getaway, to Prescott AZ, which is about an hour and a half North of Phoenix. Prescott’s town tagline is Everybody’s Hometown….and let me tell you that is exactly how it felt. 

We stayed right downtown at the historic Hotel St. Michael (which I highly recommend if you are ever in the area) right across from the Courthouse Plaza, which was surrounded by a beautiful park with tree leaves transforming in all those fall colors I had been craving.

 

This town was so FRICKEN CUTE...I probably said that a trillion times!  There was a Fall Pumpkin Patch festival in the Courthouse Plaza the Saturday we were there. The park was full of lil families with parents and kiddos dressed in costume. 

Jon and I bought a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and found a bench across from the historic post office and just enjoyed our surroundings and cool crisp air. 

Jon and I both fell in love with Prescott and it really was such a special weekend. We will definitely be making the trip again sooner than later! 

                   

 


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well! 

xoxo, Jess

Fall Apple Cocktail

My maiden name is Redd and I have been wanting to try out an apple cocktail, so of course I had to use Redd's Apple Ale in this recipe. At first I was going to pair it with Fireball Whiskey, but that stuff is just too sweet for me. So, I decided to try to take matters into my own hands and create my own cinnamon infused liquor. Since I had never infused booze before, I stuck with something budget friendly, which actually the Scotch/Whiskey blend from Trader Joe's is pretty decent and a great deal. 

At first I poured about half the booze into a decanter and dropped in 3 cinnamon sticks and let it sit over night. Tried it the next day and there really wasn't much of a cinnamon-y flavor, so I added ALL the cinnamon sticks and let it sit for 2 more days. Welp, that did work...so well, that I had to add the rest of the booze to cut it a bit. 

Now that the cinnamon booze was ready all I had left to do was pour some of it(1 part) and the apple ale(3 parts) over some ice, stir and garnish with an apple if you choose. FYI...this cocktail is strong...it will warm you up quicker than that burning fire on a cool crisp day.

Enjoy! 

xo, Jess

Painted Pumpkins

This weekend was my time to get our place all Halloween-y! I originally planned on carving pumpkins, but our neighbor advised me to wait since it was still in the 90's and they would probably rot. Welp after my quick heart crushing moment I decided on still getting crafty with my pumps and painting them.  And of course painting, turned into glitter bombing, because everything should be covered with glitter. Duh. 

 I think they turned out pretty cute. I am still determined to carve a few pumps, but will just have to wait till probably Hallo-eve! 

xoxo, Jess

Skull Wreath

OMG...it has been a cray cray week, so I am excited for a weekend to get our place into full HALLOWEEN/FALL effect. Whoop whoop I am pumped for some pumpkin carvin, apple spiced cocktails...and maybe a bonfire. What up Midwest, the Southwest can hang with your Autumn lifestyle too! 

To start the weekend off I have a fun DIY Halloween project to share. A few weeks ago at a Goodwill 50% Off Saturday sale (my favorite day) I found a wreath that was in pretty good shape, a bag of skulls and an impulse buy...a rubber rat. 

Oh how fun does this look right?!?!  So to start, I pulled off all the plastic shit from the wreath, which like I said was in really great condition. 

I know...I debated keeping this pretty lady all natural, but ended up dressing her up in a little black glossy dress. At first I didn't plan on alternating the skulls, but got a bit spray paint happy and decided to make those dead heads silver. 

Welp, loved the silver dead heads...but they had lost all definition...who knew that happens when you become a skeleton. My lil guys need some glam and glitz, which was easily taken care of with some sparkle infused black paint. 

Then came out the guns...the hot glue gun that is. I originally planned on doing a all skull wreath, but I quickly changed my mind when I was like...this is so boring I need some color up in here! Well remember those fake ass flowers I ripped off in the beginning...a few of them made the cut. 

And remember the impulse buy...the rat...she ended up the star of the show! 

See...I told you it would be fun! 

What fun Halloween decor are you all doing? 

xoxo, Jess

Sparkle Pumpkins

I have held out long enough, but now that it is October, and the temp as dropped to under 100 I can officially start FALL & HALLOWEEN decorating! This fall I plan to do some legit decorating, because this is the first year that we live in a single family home rather than an apartment complex for the season...and I am so so so excited to get my craft on for it! 

Fall Decorating Phase 1: Pumpkins Sparkle Pumpkins
I usually do some sort of Sparkle Pumpkins around this time of year, and this year I am starting with some small ones for indoor, but plan on doing some larger ones for the front porch area. 

In the past I have used loose glitter to decorate the small pumpkins, but that gets real messy, even for this glitter lover...I draw the line when it is all up in my throat and eyeballs. This year...sequins! I initially started out hot gluing the sequins on, but that did not work well with the pumpkins waxy surface, so I quickly switched to Elmer's Craft Bond clear dual tip glue pen, which worked great.

I had picked up some roses from Trader Joe's and arranged them into clear vases, added the pumps and a couple gourds and wha lah...sparkly fall centerpiece. Oooohh how I love fall! 

And if you want to add a Halloween-y touch, throw in some skulls...or spiders...or zombie eyeballs....or blood sucking vamp fangs....what ever tickles your halloweeny! 

Happy October & decorating to all! 

xo, Jess