Deck the Halls... with Camouflage?

Hey all! Sorry I've been pretty AWOL from blogland over the last two weeks. The 15th of November marked the start of hunting season here in Michigan, which here in the UP is akin to a national holiday! They even call off school for opening day! And for two weeks straight, EVERYTHING and EVERYONE, it seems, is wearing camouflage!

This, of course, means that for two weeks straight, my entryway looks like this (see above). In case you were wondering, the orange vest in the middle is mine; and yes, I've gotten out to the hunting blind two times so far; but, no, no fresh deer antlers to show for it-- yet. Hubby, however, was more successful, shooting a buck the day after opening day, with his PISTOL, no less! (Yes, that's legal; it's just a lot more difficult-- my Superman likes a challenge!) ;)

In spite of the "Great Camouflage Takeover", I've still managed to get our Christmas tree up, and most of my Christmas decorating done. I mean, really, how are you supposed to decorate around "hunter orange" and camouflage? But somehow I managed it! Here's a sneak peek:

This has to be my favorite Christmas tree yet! It also happens to be my first foray into decorating with non-traditional Christmas colors (no red in sight!) I feel like a positive heathen! LOL ;) I also spy a kid's tree decor craft that I can't wait to show you!

(Hint: it involves soda can tabs--LOTS of them! Don't worry, we didn't drink all those cans of pop-- they were all given to us) ;)  HOPEFULLY I'll share that project, and the full Christmas tree "reveal", before the end of the week ;) (I've also got a couple of proofreading jobs I'm working on, hoping to earn some extra cash for hubby's Christmas present-- so I'm trying to get those done ASAP)

Anybody else experiencing the great "Camouflage Takeover" for hunting season? ;) Any other ladies out there participating in the hunting experience? Or do you prefer to take your two weeks and hit the malls, like the rest of the "Hunting Widows"? :)

Adding Color to My Neutral Fall Bookshelf

Sooooo, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, that means I can officially start decorating for Christmas on Friday!!! (Well, as soon as we get home from the in-laws, that is... although truth be told I'll probably have to wait through the weekend till I get time to drag out the tree!) So I figured I'd better show you the tweaks I made to my "neutral" fall bookshelf, since I'll be changing it all again in the next few days!

Wanna play "spot the difference?" I decided that I wanted some more pops of color along this wall, so I brought in more of my current fave color: AQUA!

The "Virginia City" plate was already there, so I just brought in a few more aqua things to create a "visual triangle"...

My beloved aqua Ball jar (a $2 rummage sale find, and hopefully the first of many!)...

...and a robin's egg blue picture frame for the lower shelf (it's plastic, and the glass is already gone, so I don't have to worry about Monkey being able to reach it!)

Oh, and I stuck Matt's boutonniere (from a beautiful outdoor fall wedding he performed a few weeks ago) into the little milk glass vase. It provides the perfect coordinating pop of autumn orange!

So that's the final edition of my fall bookshelf (only because I'll be changing it out for Christmas in just a few days!) Until then, I'm planning on enjoying a fantastic Thanksgiving with the best in-laws ever! (No, I'm not saying that because my MIL reads my blog-- she doesn't) I'll leave you to your Thanksgiving with a little quote that challenges me in my thankfulness EVERY DAY:

Source: livelovelaughhope.blogspot.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours!

I'm In Love... Again!

I'd like to introduce you to my newest love: Krylon Metallic Silver spray paint!

Yes, I know I'm risking sounding like the latest Bachelorette, professing my love to a new object-of-affection every week. It's just that there's so many things I love! But honestly, this one's serious, like head-over-heels, forever-and-ever! (Well, at least forever in Kim Kardashian time...) ;)

Okay, all joking aside-- Metallic Silver spray paint is my new BFF! Check out my Makeover Victim #1: this cutesy, colorful Dollar Tree owl!

Adorable, yes, but not really my style (I did, however, go back and get one to leave original for Princess's room, since she loved this one so much!)

 It took me forever to decide what color to paint him... first, I painted him glossy white, to match my owl twins (which totally washed out his features). Then I tried Krylon Hammered Silver, which turned out WAAAYY too dull and drab for my tastes.

So he got a coat of  Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze, and stayed that way for a while. Until I decided he needed something more glamorous and neutral to fit with my fall decorating... and that's when I found the Metallic Silver!

Check out the cool crackled finish! I honestly have no idea what caused it-- whether it was the frigid garage temperatures that I painted him in, or the undercoating of Hammered Metal (possibly oil-based?) spray paint-- but I LOVE it! It looks like silver leafing!

Now meet Makeover Victim #2:

Just a plain, everyday, run-of-the-mill glass pumpkin candy jar, that cost me all of $1.99 at Goodwill! . But glamorous? Not on your life!

Enter Krylon's Metallic Silver spray paint.

I really wanted to turn into fake mercury glass, like Karianne's-- but my search for Looking Glass paint came up empty. :( So Metallic Silver it became-- and though it's not quite so shiny, I love my pumpkin's new glamorousness!

So there you have it: two totally different makeovers from one can! And now you can see why I love it so much ;)

So do you love spray paint as much as I do? Do you have a favorite go-to-color? Or maybe you're a spray paint newbie! Trust me, once you try it, you'll be hooked ;)

...at least for 72 days!

P.S. I have absolutely NO connection with Krylon or the people that make it-- although if they saw how much I love spray paint, they might consider it!

I Got A Facelift!

No, no, I didn't get plastic surgery! ;) But my blog did! Now the changes may not be monumental, but as a  newbie, self-taught Blogger, I'm pretty excited at the stuff I was able to tweak without totally crashing everything! ;)

Grab my new button here:

<center> <a href="http://aheartfulhome.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src="http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u474/kesiegwart/aheartfulhomebutton2.png"/></a></center>

I kept the same header (created by my awesome blog-designer sis, Sharon), but I added some aqua brackets around it (with my ultra-fancy photo-editing program, AKA Paint), and updated the blog button to match. I also swapped out the turquoise gingham background for a more neutral sage quatrefoil design (not a big surprise, seeing that practically my entire house is green!) ;) Yep, pretty basic changes.

I also created a blog Facebook page and Twitter account! (I know, it's about time, right?) I feel like a real blogger now! ;) With a little help from Google, I even figured out how to add the Facebook widget on my sidebar-- and the Twitter and Pinterest buttons as well! (Go check 'em out... you know you want to!)

But the most exciting change, to me, is the addition of the "Recent Posts" thumbnails at the top of the page! Woot woot! I was totally jealous of the ones on Karianne's and Trish and Bonnie's blogs until I found out that there's a Blogger gadget for that, too! It took a little bit of experimenting and tweaking, but now you can see at a glance what's been going on here lately! ;)

So whaddya think? My little blog might not be quite as fancy as others, but I'm still all kid-in-a-candy-store excited!

P.S. Check out my "Project Gallery" up on top bar, and see if there are any projects you've missed!

Pumpkins and Family Pictures!

Last Sunday we had Family Picture Day at our church. Nothing fancy, just some pumpkins from our church's pumpkin patch in the front yard of the church for a backdrop, and yours truly as the "photographer" du jour.

It was the perfect day for outdoor pictures, gorgeously sunny, if a bit nippy! It actually turned out to be the last beautiful day we've had, since we started getting nasty weather (including the very very outskirts of Hurricane Sandy).

But the best part? In between taking pictures of the church families, I got to snap some pics of my sweet little kiddos!

Little Princess was the first to have her picture taken, and she wasn't at all sure that she wanted it!

My handsome Mini-Superman didn't mind posing, though!

When did my first baby turn into a sharp little man? :0

Even my littlest monkey sat still just long enough for me to snap a couple pictures!

Some of the church kids were begging to use the camera, so we even got a few snapshots of the whole family! :D

Isn't my Superman handsome? ;)

(There may or may not have been a promise of a special treat from Daddy to Princess for smiling!)

A funny story about these pictures: I took them to Walmart to have them printed (we gave a copy to each person that had their picture taken), and the kid working the photo counter (okay, he was MAYBE 20 years old) got all uptight-- I think he thought I was printing some other photographer's copyrighted pictures! 

He flipped through the pictures, then pointed to one and asked me very seriously, "Can you tell me who took this picture?" "Uh, me," I replied. He got even more uptight... "THIS one???" He was pointing to our family picture (which obviously had me in it)... "Ummmm, one of the other kids took that one... but I took the rest!" You could tell he TOTALLY didn't believe me, but thankfully he gave them to me anyway! :) Maybe I should have offered to show him the originals on my little $50 point-and-shoot camera? LOL

Speaking of, does anyone have any photography tips for getting good INDOOR pics with a plain-Jane point-and-shoot camera? That seems to be what I'm having the hardest time with-- getting good pictures of projects and furniture makeovers (especially since the lighting in our north-facing parsonage/apartment leaves a LOT to be desired!) I've tried the whole just-drag-it-outside-for-pictures thing, but even in the summertime the weather can be iffy-- and you can totally forget about that in the winter (unless pictures of an object buried in snow are your thing!)

So did anybody else get any nice fall family pictures in before the weather got nasty last week? Are you having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that it's already November, like I am? I am soooo not ready for winter to be here! :) But I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, and hunting season! (I hope I can get a nice buck this year! We love venison!) So, I guess I'll go ahead and say it: Happy November, y'all!

P.S. Check out my "Project Gallery" up on top bar, and see if there are any projects you've missed!