a new etsy shop obsession :: GYPSA.

i just discovered this shop the other day via Poppytalk & i am pretty much enamored. in particular, this quilt. i've decided it must adorn our future queen-sized bed that i'm hoping we will get to purchase shortly after our move (we have a full now that was mine growing up and some other family member's before that... yea, i think it's time for an upgrade). it's things like this that make me all the more motivated to continue pitching pennies in the meantime & knockin' down that credit card debt.

some other things i would really like to have prettying up our next place. they are all perfect. and also pretty reasonably priced. win, win.

speaking of our next place, we are looking to rent a 2-3 bedroom house in Portland -- for those of you that live there, do you have any recommendations of what neighborhoods we should look in? we've been told SE is a great area & we really enjoyed what we saw of it while we were there. i think this finding the right place busiiness is going to be a bit tricky, especially with the budget hubby is hoping to stay within. the plan is to go there in July to find our place/sign a lease (we move at the end of August). in the meantime, i'm checking craig's list incessantly even though it's still much to early. not a huge fan of the waiting game.

a new bathroom!

i mentioned a couple post backs that we lived at my parents for a month while our landlord totally gutted our bathroom (i'm pretty sure i was post-free during that period). though it took much longer than expected, we are very pleased with the results.

unfortunately, i never took photos of its previous state (probably because i disliked it so severely), so i can't give you the full effect. these photos aren't the best, but i'm too impatient to have another go with the camera.

it feels like a little oasis now. granite countertop, stone floors... what?! i always imagined my dream bathroom to have white floors (along with a white claw foot tub and white pedestal sink with a pretty beveled mirror hanging from ribbon :)), but i'm really liking how this stone floor hides hairs and such (we shed a lot). when we had the white floor, i felt like i had to swiffer it everyday!

EVERYTHING is new and everything is in a new spot. the tub used to be perpendicular to where it is now, and there was a wall at the end of it. this created a tiny area for the sink, which meant only one of us could get ready at a time. although it is still compact, it feels SO much roomier. it's just a happy space to get ready for the day.

notice all the rifle paper co.? yea, i'm obsessed. i mean i even hung up the insert that came with their calendar. it's simply too pretty to toss.

{glitter banner DIY}

i have been on a crazy decorating kick lately.
you'd thinki had a baby on the way with all of this nesting i've been doing.
(did i mention i reorganized our entire house last month? more on that later.)
a couple of weeks ago, i wanted something new to hang above our bed,
but i had a tiny budget to work with. what i realllly wanted was this,
but since it was not going to work with my aforementioned tiny budget,
i decided to make this instead.

i used this tutorial from lovely indeed that i pinned over a year ago.
it is super easy but also super messy. joel popped in while
i was making it and said, "looks like preschool craft time."
haha. in kindergarten, i actually got a bad marking on my report
card for my aversion to using glue because i hated getting my fingers sticky.
it turns out i still hate it. but it was worth the final results.
it was just to pick-me-up our bedroom needed.

WHAT YOU NEED ::

♥ glue
♥ glitter (i used Recollections tinsel glitter in Paradise from Michael's)
♥ printer paper or cardstock (i'd recommend the latter; mine was somewhere in between)
♥ scissors

that's it! the only think you will likely have to purchase is glitter.
and the process is super simple. i recommend doing the gluing on an old towel/cloth.

WHAT TO DO ::

♥ print out letters onto the paper of your choosing in the font of your choosing
    (i used arial bold in 250 pt).
♥ cut out letters
♥ working with one letter at a time, smear the letters with glue and then douse them
    with glitter. don't hold back. you want the entire letter glitter-fied.
♥ let dry & then shake off the excess
♥ hot glue top of letters to string

easy as pie! just be prepared for a sticky, glittery mess :) you will be vacuuming up glitter.