Friday Favorites: Throw pillow obsession!

Happy Friday and welcome to my throw pillow obsession, folks! I LOVE decorative pillows and how you can change the entire look of a room by switching them up and mixing patterns and colors. I have so many bookmarked that I had to share some of them this week for Friday Favorites! I decided to focus on the pillows I've chosen for our future master bedroom because they are the prettiest! I'm obsessed with robins egg blue right now and I think it pairs beautifully with neutral creams and browns. I love that english cottage/french country/rustic/shabby chic/vintage vibe as you can tell from my wedding decor and I plan to incorporate that into the decor of our home as well! If you haven't checked out the awesome pillows on Etsy you are missing out! So many talented people out there and the prices are pretty much the same (or cheaper) as any home decorating store!  

 I love the interesting print on this pillow and of course the colors are to die for, too! And you literally cannot beat the price.... a set of 2 pillow covers for only $18! The Pillow People on Etsy is a shop full of fresh patterns and great colors. I highly recommend!

Ruffles have a special place in my heart... I just love them so much! This cream pillow is so beautiful and the linen ruffles give it such great texture. I also love how she added the buttons! So unique. Find them at Sutton Place Designs on Etsy.

I wonder if my love of burlap will ever fade?? I highly doubt it! This little nest pillow is so cute and the pop of blue color is just perfect! I love that it's hand-stamped too, which makes every pillow unique! Find it at My Adobe Cottage here.

This robins egg blue damask pillow from Pop O Color is so classic and timeless. It pairs beautifully with other colors and patterns and is the perfect staple pillow. I also love the french country vibe it has! So pretty.

More burlap, what a surprise! :) I couldn't decide between these 2 pillows from Secdus so I had to include both of them! This whole shop is full of burlap and vintage inspired pillows and I pretty much love all of them! I especially love the contrast between the rough burlap and the pretty white ruffles and how cute is that little bird and teacup?! I die!

This 'home is where the heart is' pillow is hand embroidered in beautiful Portland, OR and I love it immensely. You can fully customize it and have the heart put anywhere on the map (or even another country!) for no extra charge! I think it's so sweet and definitely a conversation starter. Check out Plumed for a ton of pretty embroidered pillows! She is talented!

Who DOESN'T love cashmere?? And cashmere RUFFLES?! It just doesn't get any better! I love how she finds sweaters at local thrift stores and turns them into these adorable pillows. Upcyling at its finest, folks! You can find this pillow and tons of other pretty colors here.


Please tell me I'm not the only one with a pillow obsession! Where do you find your favorites ones? Aside from Etsy, I love Target and World Market!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! It's supposed to storm all weekend long here in Southern CA but I plan to make the best of it and get some snuggle time in with my 2 favorite boys! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Crepe paper rosette tutorial!

I'm so excited to finally share this DIY pomander tutorial with you all! I just love how it came out and I'm happy to show you all how I did it! I really, really wanted to do something fun and different for our flower girl because I'm not crazy about the whole basket thing. I was toying with the idea of a paper cone or a handmade pomander of some kind when I stumbled upon this tutorial on Pinterest for crepe paper rosettes. She used them to make a centerpiece (which is a lovely idea, by the way) but I decided to turn it into a handmade flower girl pomander! (The original idea came from Danielle Flanders and you can see a helpful video tutorial here.) These are pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it and you can use them to make a pomander like me, centerpieces, or even hang them from the ceiling at your next get-together! I am already planning to make more for a bridal shower and I think they'd be lovely in different pastel colors for spring!

Materials needed:

1 4-inch Styrofoam ball

2 80 foot rolls of crepe paper in your choice of color

Piece of wide, satin ribbon for the handle

Low temp hot glue gun + several sticks of glue

Glue stick

2 pushpins (optional)

The first thing you want to do is cut both rolls of crepe paper into strips at your desired length. You can play around with different lengths to see what you like best, but the longer the strip is the bigger the rosette will be. For the size rosettes shown, I did 24 inch strips. Once they are all cut, take the first one and crumple it up into a ball and then carefully un-crumple it. This gives it that 'shabby-chic' look. Then, fold the crumpled strip in half, length-wise. This is another thing you can play around with to see what you like better. You can leave them as-is, fold 1/3 of the way down, or fold them in half like I did. The wider the strip, the taller the rosette. I wanted these to lay pretty flat on the Styrofoam balls, but if you want more dimension you can leave the strips wider. 

When they are folded in half, start rolling them until you get a nice center piece. Once you have the center, keep rolling (not very tightly) and then start twisting the tissue paper every now and then to get the look of petals. If you are confused by this part (like I was) go watch the video tutorial to get a better look at how she twists them. The more twists you have the more textured the rose so just play with it until it looks right to you!

Keep rolling and twisting around using the whole strip until you end up with good sized rosette. Then, using the glue stick, dab some glue on the end and gently press together.

Repeat until you have used all of your strips and you should have a great big pile of rosettes. It will look like way too many, but trust me, it isn't!

Now it's time to glue! Cut a piece of wide satin ribbon to your desired length. This will act as the handle of your pomander (if making centerpieces, you can skip this step!). Then, using the hot glue gun, glue down each side of the ribbon to the Styrofoam ball. Be careful not to burn yourself pressing down! If you have 2 pushpins, pin the ribbon down over the glue for extra security. Once the flowers are on you won't be able to see the pins. 

Now start attaching the rosettes! This is where you use A LOT of glue... put a big glob on the ball, stick the rosette on, and press down gently to secure. Be careful not to put the tip of the glue gun directly onto the Styrofoam for long because it will melt! Continue gluing the rosettes until the whole thing is covered. Start with any larger or wider flowers and save the smaller ones to fill in at the end.  

When you're done, you should end up with something like this! Be sure to let it dry for a few hours before letting anyone play with it because it is delicate! There are so many different ways to decorate with these and customize them with any color... I am obsessed! Rosette balls for everyone! You can also use the rosettes to decorate other things like picture frames or scrapbook pages. The possibilities are endless!

My sister just finished making the flower girl dress so I got to see our adorable little flowers girl all dressed up holding this sweet pomander! I. Almost. Died. She looked like such a little fairy princess and everything is exactly what I pictured in my head! My sister is talented, people! I'm signing her up for the next season of Project Runway! 

I hope you all enjoy your Wednesday! Less than 2 months left until the big day and it's so surreal! Ahhh! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Invitations

Hello everyone! I'm so excited I finally get to show you our wedding invitations! I have inexplicably had the worst luck with these invites which explains why it took so long to post about them! First the color was showing up wrong when I tried to get them printed, then the post office lost them, and then they were re-sent with some outdated information on them (which I didn't realized until AFTER I cut and assembled most of them of course!) and they had to be re-printed and cut and assembled! Needless to say, I am THRILLED to be able to check these off our list!

We asked Diana, one of my favorite designers on the planet, to design the invitations for us. I have used her services in the past for my Etsy shop, gifts, and personal prints for my home and I absolutely love working with her. She's such a doll, SO FAST, and of course oh so talented. And you cannot beat her prices! SO reasonable! I can't recommend her enough. You can find her Etsy shop Livy Love Designs here.

I showed Diana a photo of an invite we liked and she made some changes and created a custom design for us! We are so happy with how they turned out; they were exactly what we were looking for! Because we are getting married at a nature center we decided to keep the oak tree theme going and I am obsessed with our initials carved into the tree! So cute! Our venue involves a bit of walking in a forest (long dirt path!) so I also wanted to include an extra insert to let the guests know not to wear a ball gown and stilettos! We tied these 3 together with some pink and white bakers twine and stuck them inside a kraft envelope. They are perfect and perfectly us and I couldn't be happier! (Also, I realized when I uploaded these that I totally used the wrong lens so I apologize for the blurriness of the photos. I know my photographer will get an amazing photo of them on the day of though!)

So happy that these are done and we'll be sending them off in the mail soon! I'm also really excited to share another fun DIY project AND tutorial next week... it's something I've never done before and I'm so thrilled with how it turned out! Happy Wednesday everyone! XOXO 

Mini Cherry Pies

The weather here in Southern California has been gorgeous and I can't wait for spring and the continuous warm weather! Lately I've been craving warmer weather desserts including my all time favorite... PIE! I have a special connection with pie, probably because it was one of the first desserts I successfully made from scratch as a teenager. I didn't even know at the time that pie crust was something that required skill and practice, but I just followed the recipe and lucked out with an amazing home-made pie! Since then, this cherry pie recipe has been my absolute favorite and I make it all the time. The recipe comes from an old 1990's Debbie Fields cookbook that my mom has called Debbie Fields' Great American Desserts (which I can't even find anymore or I'd link to it!) and it is truly the PERFECT cherry pie. If you have a mini pie maker you can use that, but if not, you can just make them regular sized or experiment with mason jars, ramekins, or a cupcake tin. There are so many cute ways to package a pie and they make great gifts for the pie lover in your life! I made these for my bridesmaids for our wedding crafting night and everyone loved them!

Crust: 

•  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks COLD unsalted butter
• 6-7 tablespoons ICE water

In a large bowl whisk together the flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter or a knife, cut small pea sized pieces of the cold butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is course and crumbly. (These pieces are what make your pie crust flaky so don't skip this step even if it is a hassle!) Then, add the ice water one tablespoon at a time and stir with a fork until the mixture starts holding together. Do not overmix! Seperate the dough into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other, flatten into a disk shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour before using.

Filling:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 16oz cans of tart, pitted red cherries drained (reserve 1 cup of the juice)
• 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a large saucepan whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Over medium-high heat slowly add the cherry juices whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil stirring constantly until thickened. Gently stir in the cherries and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Cool slightly while preparing the crust.

On a floured surface, roll out the larger disk 1/8 inch thick and at least 2 inches larger than the pie pan. Transfer to the pan and trim the edges to a 1 inch overhang. Chill the pan in the freezer. Grab the smaller disk and roll out. Cut into 12 strips. Remove the chilled pan from the freezer and pour in the pie filling. Top with the dough strips in a lattice pattern and press the edges with your finger to seal. Brush the pie with an egg wash (1 beaten egg + 2 teaspoons sugar) and bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Lower the temp to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes or until its golden brown and bubbly.

Now obviously that is for a regular sized pie so you'll need to adapt it to whatever way you're making it. For mini pies, you would cut the dough using the cutter your machine provides and only cook for about 8 minutes. You could also fill a mason jar with the filling and lattice the top with dough. Experiment with different containers and see what you like the best! There is no wrong way to eat pie, people! Enjoy and happy Monday! XOXO