Simple Painting

This is my painting for the bathroom. It's actually lighter than it looks, but I didn't have the flash on. I like swirly designs. I don't want the typical ocean bathroom. I plan to do another with bubbles and a quote.

And those are the colors I plan to keep in my bathroom as far as towels and rugs go, so I figured I'd tie them together.

It's simple with no texture, but that's why I like it.

Christmas is almost here!

Well... 6 weeks away... tomorrow... but STILL! Christmas is almost here! You can hear Christmas music in pretty much any store. All the Christmas stuff is out, as well as the stores being decorated. I love it! It's all so pretty! And sparkly!

I'm still pretty new to the adult world of Christmas. You don't get spoiled quite as much. However, you come to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas, and that's the best gift of all. If you're lucky, you get to go home for the holidays, or have family and/or friends come to you.

In my family, if you can't be together, you get bombarded with Christmas cards, and it's pretty awesome. Even if you can be together, sometimes you still get bombarded with Christmas cards. I love it! Although, I must admit I didn't love it until I started picking out my own Christmas cards. There are so many little box sets to choose from. Very few people just randomly pick one and go with it. You could stand there for hours going through all of them and still not find what you're looking for in a Christmas card.

I've really come to appreciate Christmas cards because all the hassle the sender has gone through to find that perfect set. If you're non-Christian, you don't want scripture, or one that emphasizes the Lord, Jesus Christ. If you are super religious... "Happy Holidays" may not cut it for you even if you love everything else about the card. Or you might love all the wording, but not the picture. So many things that can turn you away from a card. It's frustrating, really. So frustrating, that sometimes you have to settle.

I won't be settling. I've got shutterfly. I first heard about it in a magazine, and then I believe it started popping up on my camera battery packages, but I'm not 100% on that. Point is, their advertising tactics work because it has been on my mind for some time. Thanks to another blogger, I discovered they have Christmas cards and finally signed up for an account! After showing you what they offer... I'm sure you'll want to make your own right away! (And all of their holiday cards are 20% off right now, as well as free shipping on orders of $30+)

Isn't this super cute?! I love it for its childlike quality of the font. If you're one of those people who buy cards, and then print off a little update, then something like the flat photo card "With Glee" would be perfect! You can add it in!

The black of this one makes the little white details, and the red pop. I also love the family initial. It's all very elegant. "Family Wall Noir" will more than likely be a future choice when we have a child. I think it's better suited for a family.

"Sweet and Retro" is another flat card that I'm in love with. I love the different fonts. I love the intricacy of "wonderful time." It's just beautiful and perfect if you just have one picture you want to use.

The folded "Paper Snowflakes" is another winner in my book. The brown and blue is very non-traditional on the Christmas color scheme, but that's why I love it so much! They also have an on-site photo editor. I love the way the brown and blue stand out in the actual photo, and you can use the effects to get a similar look.

There are hundreds of cards to choose from, and you can customize them to say only what you want. No more settling. The best part is you get to show off your fancy-shmancy photos from the year.

I already have mine picked out, and would love to share it with you now, but you're just going to have to wait until they come in the mail. It's amazing, beautiful and awesome! Since we're so far away from ALL of our family, I know they will especially cherish them. I'm excited to get them and send them out!

If you're interested, Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: here!

While this will be my first time using shutterfly, after looking around their website, I can tell it won't be my last. They are pretty darn cheap for prints and have other amazing products too! Calendars, ornaments, personalized coffee mugs... just tons of cool personalized gifts! Grandparents especially like this kind of stuff.

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

Painting is a great, yet frustrating adventure

When I was 16, my parents owned their first house. Since I had just moved back to live with my dad, they let me paint my room. I chose light blue for the walls and light green for the trim and doors. It's not as bad as it sounds. It was cute and matched my comforter. Don't judge me. See the pictures below.

That's my dad, and the only picture I have that also shows the green.

If it makes you feel better about my taste, my little sister's room was bright pink with a darker pink border (chair rail height). Just remember, I was a teenager.

Well, NB and I went to Lowe's yesterday to pick out paint to match her bed set. We took a pillow case with us, and matched about 8 different shades we thought would look nice, and she already had 4 picked out at the house. The pillow case was a slightly different color than the comforter though so we had to keep that in mind.

She was griping at me because I was supposed to help her narrow down her choices not create more haha. When we got back to her house (almost an hour later), the samples looked completely different in the natural light of the room. We ended up tossing out all but 3, until we put the sample papers on the wall next to the brown of the furniture. We narrowed it down to 1! Woo hoo!

She also had actual samples of paint for her dining room painted on the wall. She originally thought one color would look great until it was on the wall. It looked awful. We decided she should go with the lightest of the colors.

We plan on painting her dining room this coming Saturday. I'm kind of excited. I think it's fun! I can't wait to see the finished look! It'll be fabulously beautiful! I'll try to take pictures of the progress and finished product of course!

When I own my own house, I think I might just take all color variations within a color I want. It'll make it easier because I'll have the natural light of the room. You just can't trust the lights of the Lowe's or Home Depot.