holidays

Weekend Links (Easter Edition)

March 30, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 21 Comments

Greetings, friends!

Here’s some last minute inspiration for your Easter celebration, in case you fly by the seat of your yoga pants, like me. Otherwise, pin for next year!

1. Gilded eggs

My girls loved this new take on an old tradition. We saw this idea on Pinterest and just figured it out for ourselves. (The pin led to a spam site). We colored the eggs and then used liquid gilding to add some bling. We painted the gilding on with a brush by dabbing it and then wiped off some of the gold with a paper towel. Golden eggs. It’s a beautiful thing. (Gilding is toxic and should only be used by adults or very mature young ones who can be very careful and follow directions. This is grown-up egg decorating! I barely qualify.)

gilded eggs

2. Cabbages and Hydrangeas

So, we planted cabbage last fall and we only harvested one small cabbage. The plants were gorgeous though, and have hung on all winter. I dug a few up today and put them in pots and added them to my Easter table. Cabbages are very underutilized in decorating, don’t you agree? I bought small potted hydrangeas from my grocery store and cut off the stems and used them to decorate each individual place setting.

3. He is Risen! placecards

The very talented Emily collaborated with the very talented Lindsey to create this beautiful collection of Easter printables. And they’re free. This is something you can definitely do before tomorrow, if you need to add some joy to your Easter table. Thank you, Emily!!

4. Food, for the foodie in all of us.

Here’s part of what’s on the menu:

Smoked ham (smoked today by Stevie, on the Big Green Egg)

Roasted Turkey Breast (Cait doesn’t like ham)

Scalloped Potatoes (I do half sweet potatoes)

Corn salad (thank you Miss Amy!) Yes, it has Chili Cheese Fritos. Don’t judge me.

Cowboy {Boots} Beans (my own special version) (they didn’t make me an honorary Texan for nothin’)

Roasted Asparagus

Bedeviled eggs (courtesy of my chickens and my sisters’ recipe)

Homemade Rolls

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie (I’m doing something like this but kinda different!)

Carrot Sheet Cake

5. Hair do’s by Kate
Okay, remember last week when I was yammering on and on about how young and adorable the new generation of bloggers were? Well, meet Kate, from The Small Things Blog. And stalk all her hair tutorials. She’s fantastic and I love her. By the way, I saw her hair at Blissdom and it is bayou-tee-full.

You might like the triple topsy tail or the pretty and simple undo . My girls did the double side twist on me last night.

It was super cute. I was all dolled up with no where to go. Unless you count the chicken coop as somewhere to go. Which you should. Chickens like cute hair, too.

So, basically, I have my own stylists. And you better believe I’m gonna abuse the privilege! I was the same way when I was young, having grown up in my mom’s beauty salon, styling everybody’s hair that would sit still. It’s in the genes.

This is my version of the double bun, which adds a little wa-wa to my signature bun. Go forth and style. And be prepared to buy some new product.

And last but not least, for those hurting, who feel like Easter is a world away, here are some words of comfort.

Love y’all.

He is Risen!

My Cottage Christmas

December 12, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 62 Comments

If you’re new to life{in}grace, welcome! And especially if you’re from Nester’s Home Tour or Melissa’s Home Tour or Sarah’s Tree Party! Thanks for hosting, friends! I just updated my about page and don’t miss my newly painted stri-ped bathroom! Thanks for visiting! Hope you find something that makes you smile!

I’m 42 years old and I’m pretty sure I’ve never decorated for Christmas tree the same way twice. It’s a blessing and a curse. Thankfully, I like to use simple, natural, easy- to-craft items. Otherwise, I’d spend a fortune changing my mind every year. I also never really ‘finish’ decorating. I’ll be spray painting pine cones and adding fresh greens until it’s time to take it all down. In a way, my Christmas decorating is a lot like me—-it’s never really ready to meet the Christ child.

I love every last square inch of my new house even though I never meant to spend last year rebuilding.

There are two problems with my house. 1. I have no dining room 2. There’s no room for a tree in the living room.

I get around those obstacles by soupin’ up the mantel and moving my lemon tree (WHICH IS BLOOMING!) by the fireplace.

Rabbit trail:: I need to do a whole post on the amount of baby-ing we do to that lemon tree. I almost got my mom one for Christmas but then I remembered that it would be the equivalent of giving her a small child to care for. Okay, not that bad. But our lemon tree is so baby-fied that we take her outside to sit in the sun when it’s nice and then hem and haw about whether or not it’s gonna get too cold for her to stay out overnight. We’re hoping for lemons by February.

Okay back to the tree. SO, that means that my *real* tree has to stake its claim in the eat-in kitchen. It makes for happy dinners and a floor full of fir needles because someone brushes past it approximately every 3 seconds.

I wanted a tree that looked relaxed and cottage-y and natural. My Christmas Pinterest boards helped me decide what I liked. I used large starfish, pine cones, paper birds (template here), paper garland (inspiration Miss Mustard Seed), dried orange slice ornaments (Shannan gave me the idea), newspaper print leaf garland and magnolia leaves (I don’t know where I saw it first), and my cowhide rug for a tree skirt (spotted under Nester’s tree last year!). In my humble opinion, it needs something outrageous but I haven’t quite decided what. I’m thinking giant paper antlers but I’m taking suggestions!

I poked little lights through the orange slices for effect and I made the banner garland out of book pages that I cut and stapled onto twine.

And there’s a few honest to goodness ornaments just to keep up appearances:)

And apparently, I can’t be suited when it comes to paper bird patterns. I looked through eight million until I finally found this one on Martha’s site. Of course, it’s the perfect shape. I would expect nothing less from Martha. Which I like to pronounce Mah-tha. I made my girls make these today for ‘art’. In other words, so I didn’t have to make anymore.

And I’m having fun this year with the packages.

I wrap them in white or brown paper and then look around for something to stick on them.

It’s all very exact and calculated—-branches, left over pom poms from the wreath project, burlap, or whatever else is in reach!

This one is my favorite so far. I used this template for the antlers, spray painted the paper gold, added some fresh greens and then wrapped it in twine.

I used the free printables here for the tag.

Now, here’s what I need to know from you. Do you always decorate your tree the same or do you do it different every year? If you always decorate it the same, do you know exactly how much money you have in your checking account right now. That’s what I thought. We can still be friends. I’ll come change up your tree and you can balance my checkbook. Deal? (Actually, I love sentimental trees filled the same ornaments year after year but that’s not possible for me now, so I make the best of it :)))

Because I may in fact be insane, I decided to paint the bathroom last week. I love how it turned out and you can read all about it here.

I added some fresh greens and a rosemary tree to make it even more festive for the season.

The girls and I also made a cute pom-pom wreath and then added a Christmas cactus and a pink poinsettia to this little vignette.

And one more thing. Did you see the preserved boxwood wreaths at Lowe’s?? They’re already on clearance.

I LOVE them and have two hanging in the kitchen!

It’s beginning to be festive around these parts!

And since I now have a partial tear in my calf muscle and am gimpy, Grannie’s in the house, making fudge and all kinds of yummy treats.

And due to said injury, I won’t be putting a tree on the screened porch this year. Which makes me very sad.

So, here’s the fun from last year!

Happy preparations dear friends!!!

DIY Pom-Pom Wreath

December 7, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 44 Comments

If you’re new around here? Thank you for visiting my blog! I’m honored you’re here and I hope you’ll find some encouragement (and some laughter!) for your days. Join this community of grace lovers and get fun, free stuff every month delivered to your inbox, along with access to free printables, meal plans, and my 31 Days to A Heart of Hospitality ebook!

For a tour of our house this Christmas season, click here!

And now, for the wreath……..

My jaw dropped the first time I saw the snowball wreath from Anthropologie. It’s beautiful——of the drop dead gorgeous variety. And it’s $298.

Then my friend Nester posted about her snowball wreath. Which is all kinds of awesome. Just like she is. I knew I had to find a cheap, easy way to do it.

Side note: She’s the cornerstone of my internet world. Hers was the first blog I stayed up until 3am to read ALL the archives from. I love everything she does. I love seeing the world through her eyes. I love that she works hard but also guards her margin. After our house fire in 2010, she made a video for us that I’ve watched over and over again and has been such a source of healing for me.. And then I couldn’t believe it when she did this for our rebuild. I adore her and feel privileged to call her friend. I hope she knows how much we all appreciate her generosity and her willingness to use and share her gifts. She’s one of a kind. And she’s hosting this Christmas crafting shindig, which will inspire to make something beautiful this weekend. And while you’re at it, visit Cate’s crafty party too. Let’s just party in glue sticks and yarn and pretty fabric all weekend, whadaya say?

(I recently hosted a 12 Days of Christmas crafting and you’re looking for great tutorials for gift making!)

Now, back to the wreath. First, you’ve got to make 10 or 12 pom poms.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 skeins of chunky yarn

1 10 inch string of yarn

10 inch wreath form (or whatever size you wanna make!)

scissors

a piece of cardboard ( I used a 2×4 inch piece but the bigger you make it, the larger the pom-pom.

Place the ten inch string through the slits so that there are equal tails on each side. (When you make the pom pom, you will use the tails of this string and tie them into a tight knot around the wound string.)

From the full ball of yarn, start wrapping around the cardboard. The more you wrap, the puffier your pom pom will be. I wrapped my chunky yarn about 100 times for my snow ball pom poms. If your yarn is normal weight (thinnish) you may need to wrap 150 times to make full pom poms.

Once you’ve wrapped it as many times as you like, take the two tails from the string that is in the slits of the cardboard and pull them up around the ball of yarn.

Gently slide the yarn off the cardboard, holding the tails up and being careful not to let them slip out from in between the newly formed ball of yarn.

At this step, you now have a ball of yarn with a string in the middle. Most tutorials will tell you at this step spread the yarn out towards the ends of the string. I didn’t do that. I just tied a tight knot in the string and double knotted it for extra security.

Then insert your scissors through the middle of all those loops you wound and cut right through them.

And tada! You have a snowball pom pom!

You can give him a trim if he’s got some straggly uneven spots. We also pulled the ends of the yarn apart a little to make it look a more frayed and cozy.

Now all you need to do is make a dozen of those and attach them to the wreath. I used a 10 inch straw wreath form and it took exactly 2 skeins of yarn to fill it up. You could hot glue them or just wrap string around them and tie them on. I chose the latter because I’m a little lazy with my crafts and didn’t feel like firing up the glue gun.

This project took about an hour an a half , cost about $14, and was definitely worth the explosion of yarn and fuzz in my schoolroom. Actually, the girls did 90% of the work, while I flitted around with a host of other (very ordinary) things, including my collaborative mantel project. The girls did a great job!

And for all you friends who gave it your all trying to help me with my Christmas mantel, I want you to know that I had paint on my grannie pj’s by 5:30 this morning.

I was mixing paint like nobody’s business.

Check out the coral-ish/pinkified/sal-mon colored mirror here!

diypompomwreath

Christmas Mantel 2012, (i think?)

December 5, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 101 Comments

And the winner is——coral-ish!!!! (If you’re confused, read start reading the post after the 2nd photo first and then come back up here!)

Do you hate me? If so, blame it on Ruth. She took us down the dark and twisty alley of ‘black is dead to me.’

So, what I did was—-I spray painted the black mirror gold first and then mixed up the craziest concoction of paint you ever did see, using every tube of acrylic paint in this house until it was just perfectly coral-ish. I painted over the gold with a brush and then when that was almost dry, I rubbed the edges so some of the gold would show through. All this I did at 5:30 this morning in my peejammers, fully prepared to paint over it if need be.

Because why? Because this is all perfectly normal in my world. It ain’t easy living in this brain of mine.

Do you like the mirror painted a coral-y color?

Or do you like it black? You can pick your favorite and imagine that I kept it that way. We all win!

That was the question I posed to my very insightful readers.

Do y’all have any idea the haphazard throwing around of things that goes into making my Christmas mantel? I wish I was one of those people who packed things in a box labeled ‘Christmas mantel’, to reuse year after blessed year. If you do have a box so labeled, I want to be you. I covet your organization and discipline.

But I don’t have a box labeled Christmas mantel.

We all knew that, right?

And every year, I cipher and clip greens and move mirrors and spray paint stuff. All in an effort to make beautiful Christmas mantel music.

This year, let’s make this a joint effort, whatdaya say? Here’s what I need to know from you.

I’ve been hemming and hawing all day about whether or not I should spray paint that mirror. Well, maybe not ALL day, but in between laundry folding and dinner making and Latin chanting, it’s taunting my weary mind. So here’s the deal. Leave a comment and tell me whether or not I should spray paint the black mirror gold (or maybe you have another color suggestion?) and I’ll count the votes and follow the moral majority. Give me all your sophisticated reasons cause y’all are smart and will school me on why I should leave it/paint it.

And to be totally fair, here’s what the gold mirror looked like before I moved it to the newly painted bathroom. Just looking at this picture makes me wanna paint it gold. But DON’T let me sway you.

I know you want that antique federal mirror back on the mantel and I do too. But he’s in the bathroom, loving on the striped walls.

While we’re at it, here’s a sneak peek of the newly striped bathroom. It’s all kinds of cozy up in there. And David wasn’t missing out on all the fun. He may be there to stay. There’s a whole post coming soon on that little project.

But you can’t have the mirror for the mantel. Okay, one more viewing.

Please take note of my Meyer’s lemon tree, WHICH IS FINALLY BLOOMING!!!!!!!!!!!)

And never mind the wad of lights that I didn’t bother to spread neatly under the greens. If I had done that then we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all because I’d have a box labeled ‘Christmas mantel,’ remember?

Now, give it to me straight. Black or gold? Which shall it be, my dear internets?

And I’m linking this crazy mantel post with Layla’s mantel party! Thank you hosting, sweet dear!

Holiday Tablescapes 2012

November 29, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 48 Comments

I wasn’t even gonna post about my Thanksgiving tables because let’s be honest, y’all have moved on and are knee deep in Christmas decor. But then I remembered that the beauty of using non-traditional colors is that you can use them for any occasion. I think I may just use the same ideas for Christmas. And dinner next week. So, here goes a bunch of holiday tablescape ideas!

We had a sit-down dinner for 34 people on Thanksgiving night. Mercy. It was wonderful and chaotic and beautiful. I do believe that every dish and cup and piece of silver ware I own was used that day.

1. Use non-traditional colors

I was determined to have deep pink napkins and couldn’t find any that color—-so I bought some wonderful fuchsia cotton fabric at Joann’s and made my own.

This was the only table I had envisioned before the big day. I love the nontraditional colors and the pink napkins just make me happy.

2. Use natural items

Not only did the artichokes make for beautiful table decor but they also made for hilarious table conversation.

I’m not gonna mention any names but a few people wondered if they were pomegranates—-which we thoroughly ‘discussed’ and kept bringing up at random times.

3. Everything is more fun with help.

I totally winged the other three tablescapes. But setting tables is fun so don’t be afraid to let your guests help!

With a lotta help from my eager staff, (the poor girls stuck with helping me) they turned out cute too!

I bought this chevron fabric back in the summer from Hobby Lobby. It was used the Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot when the darling stylist, Elizabeth, duct taped it together. (The January issue should be out in a couple weeks!)

For Thanksgiving, I cut (or rather tore) the fabric into 3 equal pieces (the girls looked at me like I was performing sacrilegious acts on the fabric) and then draped them across a huge white king duvet cover (which I pretended was a table cloth) and voila!

It nearly looks legit. And now, the girls will never wonder where to find a huge white tablecloth. They’ll immediately think king duvet.

4. Make it personal

Name cards make so much sense. Noone has to wonder where to sit. And let’s face it, everyone loves their name, whether it’s in print or out loud. Names are important. Use ’em!

I subscribe to Emily Jones’ monthly printables and I think these bird cards were in one of the past month’s subscription. Then, I printed the names in the Albemarle swash font and taped it the bird cards. Easy as pie but packs a punch!

Then I sweet talked these two little ladies into printing and cutting and hole punching and assembling all the menus and name cards.

I used this tutorial to make the menus.

They were happy to oblige, for the most part. I kept adding people and running out of paper so they became a little flustered with me.

I’ve always liked having little individual menus and that-away, if someone doesn’t recognize one of my concoctions, they can consult the menu in the privacy of their own place setting.

This year’s mystery item? Mashed potatoes. They looked like hominy or grits or something. But not mashed potatoes. I can’t even explain to you what happened but they looked funny.

So, to accommodate a sit down dinner for 34 people, we moved some of the furniture out of the living room and set up two tables. I pulled chairs from everywhere. And then told my trusty helpers, Jordan and Ali, to find something to add to the plates. The oranges were perfect and it ended up looking like I planned the whole thing out.

Edie is my name; Helter Skelter is my game.

from the front door and featuring my cute little momma:

We even pillaged around and found enough stuff to set the young adult table. The weather was beautiful (if not a little chilly) for outdoor dining. And noone was impaled by the driftwood.

And see JamieKnoxville over there by the fire? That was her happy place. We spent as much time as we could squeeze in huddled by the fire. I think I’ve built one nearly every day since Thanksgiving and the girls and I sit out there to read our Greek mythology.

The kids table was cute too, in its own little way.

Nothing like dinner in the laundry room. I can tell you that the only thing these wee ones were concerned about is whether Aunt Gina was making mac and cheese.

There was a big sigh of relief when she walked in with the Velveeta. They were saved from brussel sprouts and broccoli casserole.

(Polka dot napkins from Hobby Lobby.)

And the labor of love to set all this up and take it all down was provided by my two lovely helpers, Jordie and Ali.

I just had to snap their picture when I saw them take a much needed break on the screened porch.

Thank you, girls!!!! You were awesome and so much fun!

Christmas in Dixie

December 25, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 31 Comments

To all our beloved friends and family who have seen us through this year of tragedy and rebuilding—-we are so thankful for you. Your thoughts and prayers and words and meals and gifts have meant more to us than you will ever know. We celebrate with you God incarnate, come in the flesh, to bear our sins and suffering. He is our light and life. May you be blessed with His everlasting love and peace, this Christmas, and always.
Merry Christmas from our house to yours! Love to all!
xoxo