Painted Pumpkin Patch

When it comes to craft supplies (and a good bargain), I can be somewhat impulsive. A recent outing with my husband had us right next door to Michael's when I spotted baskets of craft pumpkins outside the door.... half price! Rolling his eyes, I b-lined to the baskets and grabbed up as many pumpkins as my arms could hold.

Inspired by the MacKenzie-Childs Pumpkins, I started checkering. Little did I know how challenging checkering a round, not-so-perfectly shaped pumpkin would be. I finished the small and medium but my patience and weekend ran out.

The next weekend, feeling fresh and inspired I painted the two remaining pumpkins - but with more color and flair. Ikat print and orange make me happy, I think they go together and I felt the small pumpkin needed a neutral, so I went with leopard print. As far as I'm concerned, leopard is neutral.

Now that they're all done, we have quite the Painted Pumpkin Patch serving as the greeting committee for the Team McDaniel home.

**I entered the Painted Pumpkin Patch in Michael's #TrickYourPumpkin Sweepstakes and sure hope these cuties win me the $250 gift card that's up for grabs. I could have a lot fun living creatively with that kind of prize!

Fall-la-la-la-la!

It's Fall, and I love Fall. So, let's talk about some of the things I love about Fall:

Fall Fashion Inspirations

OSU Cowboys

Leopard as a Neutral 

Wearing Orange on Fridays and Saturdays 

 

Panera Bread's Cranberry Orange Muffins

 

Scarves 

 

Hand-painted Wooden Monogram

 

 

Over a year ago, I pinned this painted wooden monogram to my “Wishing & Daydreaming” board on Pinterest.

 

Fast forward to last fall when I was first introduced to the Groopdealz website; my first purchase was this 18” unfinished wooden monogram. I was so excited to check-off one of my wishes from the Pinterest board. (I’ve actually purchased 5 unfinished wooden monograms to give as Christmas, birthday and even bridal shower gifts – and they’ve been a hit!)

 

I didn’t know what color I wanted to paint it immediately, so I put it away in my craft closet until I decided on a color. After a few months, I thought painting it gold would be a good neutral option. Maybe it was my spray paint selection, but the gold was off-par and not at all what I had in mind - so, back to the craft closet the monogram went. It sat in the craft closet awaiting a new paint job for a another month or two until one Saturday afternoon, I felt the urge to paint. 

 

Inspired by a few pieces of my personal, Mackenzie-Childs, Green Flower Market Collection – I was excited to take on a personal challenge to paint a floral design on something that was not just a flat canvas.  

 

 

 

 

I was ‘in the zone’ painting, until I was rudely interrupted by storms and a power outage.

 

Sunday, I resumed painting until another round of storms came. That night, Edmond was hit with a tornado just 2 miles from our house. Also, the towns of Shawnee, OK and Little Axe, OK were hit by F4 tornadoes.

 

The next day, was Monday, May 20th the day an F5 tornado went through Moore, OK Which inspired me to paint for Oklahoma. The #prayforoklahoma painting can be seen here. 

 

This past weekend, I finally was able to focus some time to finish the monogram. With some input from miss Dixie Belle, there was still some detail work to be done before it was complete.

 

Using Mackenzie-Childs ribbon, our McDaniel Monogram now hangs on our mantel! I'm so pleased how it turned out and hope we get to enjoy it in our home.

 

 

 

 

 

Threshold for Target - The Dollhouse

What I would give to be able to visit the Threshold Doll House in NYC's Grand Central Station. 

2 stories, 7 rooms totaling 1,500 square feet. A real life-sized "dollhouse" filled with 3,500 items from the Threshold for Target collection just sounds DREAMY! 

Threshold for Target first peaked my interest with their magazine and TV advertisements.The 'springy' mixture of classic and modern style while adding pops of color and whimsy is what "had me at hello."

My first Threshold purchase was our bedding for the master bedroom update. The quality of the duvet set and bed skirt is great and the price was right. 

Then they came out with the lime green and turquoise blue ikat print and I had to have it. I purchased 2 throw pillows to freshen up our pillow mix on the couches. 

I haven't found a slideshow of each room posted anywhere yet, but of the pictures I've found, the space below is one of my favorites. Not only do I love the mixture of color on a neutral couch.... but those mirrors are awesome! 

We have a big blank wall above our couch and think a statement like that might be neat.

My want-list from the Threshold Collection is pretty long. Basically, just let B, Dixie and I move into the Dollhouse and we'll call it good. Actually, if they could just move the Dollhouse to us in OK, that would be better. 

 

Re: Want it Wednesday: Beaded Rose Necklace

Remember when I was obsessing over the J.Crew Beaded Rose Necklace? But not so obsessed with the price tag (post here)? Well I still was/am until Monday morning when I saw that GroopDealz was offering a Beaded Rose inspired necklace in 7 colors for just $19.99.

Get it while you can!

Proof that good things (or look-a-likes) come to those who wait, GroopDealz is amazing and dangerously addictive.

Momma Swann's Painting

I finally painted something for my Mom. It only took me a few years to drum up the nerve to paint something for her, but it actually came to me pretty easily. Painting something for my ever-so talented and creative mother was intimidating but I focused my inspirations from some of her favorite things. You can't go wrong with favorite things, right?

When I went home to Texas this past weekend, the painting donned a new (old) gold frame and had an official wall space in my parent's home. Seeing the painting in a frame and on the wall made me feel like an "official" artist (kinda). 

The story behind the painting is best described through pictures. So, let me show you the story.  

Mom recently purchased the ikat throw pillows to place in the den. I'm a sucker for ikat. 

My Mom has been collecting peices of Mackenzie-Childs Morning Glory (blue) since I can remember. (I guess my love of MC Courtley Check is genetic?)  

Momma Swann's all time favorite color is pink. So flower color choice was obvious. To touch on favorites - I included hydrangeas and lillies. Mom loves hydrangeas and my Dad has always liked lilies.

At one time I would have said "yuck" to gold but it's a different story now. I added gold to give the painting some pizzazz and demension.

This was the finished, signed product before I wrapped it up for Christmas.

Obviously, she is proud of it. Not just because as my mother, she has to be, but because it was placed in a room Mom & Dad always sit - they'll think of me all the time.

Pretty cool!

Paint Slinging Sunday

I felt inspired to sling paint on Sunday. My inspiration came from two random places: Pinterest find and a Saturday shopping trip.

I found this bedroom on Pinterest and fell in love with the look and feel of it. The mix of color (my favorite colors) with hints of rustic was what caught my eye.  In true stalker fashion, I wanted to see more pictures of the room so followed the sources to find that the headboard was a DIY project by See Cate Create. The ikat, chevron pattern on the headboard was actually painted onto white fabric, who knew!?

My other inspiration is really random. I went to the mall Saturday morning to scope out Dillard’s Additional 40% Sale and ended up walking around the mall. Walking by Victoria’s Secret, it caught my attention that they had swim suits in store (ordering online has had its back-fires for me) so I turned in. As a lover of bright colors, chevron and gold – I was drawn to this print:

I can't seem to find the exact swim suit I saw in store, but this is the same fabric on a different suit.

After finishing my Sunday honey-do’s and nothing on slate for my afternoon, I busted out the painting supplies. When all else fails, create.

I got stuck here for a bit. Should pink make an appearance? What about white, would it be too white? What’s the repeat going to be? 

So, I went with a little pink (Momma Swann would be pleased), a little white and another “line” of gold and found my repeat. Here’s the final product:

Fashionista Friday: March 2013 J.Crew Love

B laughs when I say I have a "passion for fashion" but it's true, I do. Did you know Fashion/Interior Merchandising was my original major at OSU? Well it was, until I worked at Kohl's for a summer in Texas and got to see first hand what my future career in retail might be like...

First thing I did when I stepped back on OSU's campus that following fall was change my major to Business Marketing. Except, I had already completed enough classes in Merchandising to make it a minor with just one extra class a semester. This meant instead of enrolling in Chemistry, I enrolled in Textiles, the science of fibers and my electives would be filled with Merchandising classes. Done!

Fast forward to today; I work in the HR department of a corporate office where business attire and/or business casual is required. Mixing the inner fashionista and "blah" business woman (on a budget) can be difficult at times but I've learned to love the mixture (and the bargain hunting).

So, as the work week ends and the weekend begins, I thought it would be fun to post about fashion! And in perfect timing, J.Crew's March 2013 Style Guide arrived in the mail yesterday.

After flipping through, wishing and day dreaming, I came back to budget reality. Budget aside, I put together a "Dream" board from the latest J.Crew Style Guide on Polyvore. (I should mention that I'm new to Polyvore and this was my first "set" called "March 2013 J.Crew Love"!)

March 2013 J.Crew Love by ashley-mcdaniel featuring flower print jeans

J.Crew j crew / J.Crew polka dot chambray shirt / J.Crew pencil skirt / J.Crew flower print jeans / J.Crew leather wedge shoes / J.Crew ballerina shoes / J.Crew leather handbag / J.Crew j crew bracelet / J.Crew j crew bracelet / J.Crew colorful jewelry / J.Crew j. crew sunglasses

Let's talk about the room I don't want to talk about (Yet)

Our master bedroom.

3 years later, I still don't have it figured out. But the good news is, we now have to make a point to figure it out because we just upgraded to a KING!  

 We currently have the bare essentials for bedding (and the room for that matter) but here's what we've got to work with. 

Duvet Cover Set: Pinched Pleat at Target. Bed Skirt: Threshold Gray Target. Euros TBD

Hand-me-down Nightstands from my Aunt: possibly paint? Lamps: TJ Maxx (Shades TBR (to be recovered)).

French Dresser: Painted with CeCe Caldwell Paints. Chest of Drawers: Brandon's Great Grandmother's

  

What are we wishing for in a bedroom? The perfect mixture of girly and manly with a dash of rustic, color and relaxed feel - my Bedroom board on Pinterest can better explain.

PB&J Stories Master Bedroom Redo Reveal 

The PB&J stories post is probably my go-to inspiration for Bedroom project. I fell in love with the "girly" pintucked bedding and the "manly' rustic headboard. Even though, yellow is not our thing - we definitely plan to pull some color in the room (obviously with a turquoise dresser) with a rug and throw pillows, etc.

Because I Like to Decorate's DIY Rustic Headboard Tutorial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source Unknown but Pinned it anyways..

 

B likes rustic and dark decor so incorporating that into my love of color and whimsy can be difficult, but I didn't hesitate one bit when we came across the rustic headboard ideas. And luckily, B is pretty handy so am excited for him to tackle our headboard in the next couple weeks! 

As far as all of the other details on my wish list besides paint, a rug, updated night stands... are some adorable, personalized throw pillows. These Custom State Pillows by Marekalaine would be perfect. A Texas pillow for me and Oklahoma for B, please!

Marekalaine's Custom State Pillows on Etsy