A little bit of this & a little bit of that

TGIF! I'm so happy it's finally Friday. It's been a busy week for me (hence the lack of posts), but I'm here now to make up for the last couple of days. Let's get started!

I don't know about you, but it does it seem like house work is never done? Last weekend Travis and I were busy once again squaring things away in our new home. We've been here almost three months, and we still have quite a few things yet to do. We're looking forward to the day we don't have anymore loose ends to tie up! On the never-ending "to do" list was hanging some antique bird plates on the wall of our guest bedroom. I envision this room being a shabby-chic getaway, so I thought the plates were an excellent addition.

I got the idea to hang plates on the wall after seeing a number of shabby-chic rooms that had this type of decor. Honestly, I kind of thought that collecting plates was more of an "older woman" type of thing, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Do you know how many lovely plates are out there, especially vintage ones? I was blown away! I really didn't know what kind of theme I was going for until I stumbled across this gorgeous hand painted Audubon bird plate at my local antique store. Could this BE anymore me? LOL!

It was all down hill from there. I started perusing Ebay for vintage bird plates and was lucky enough to come across a set of turn-of-the-century Alfred Meakin plates at a STEAL of a deal. The seller said he found them in a box that he bought at an estate sale. The lady had packaged them beautifully, and they had been sitting in her collection since the 1960s. I love having a history behind the things I buy!

The guest room is *almost* done now. I have a dresser in there that needs a new coat of paint, so I'm sure I'll be featuring that project sometime soon.

Speaking of the house and things that need to be done, my craft room is so close to being finished! I bought some beautiful curtain panels yesterday as well as a brushed chrome rod and tie back set to complete the look. Here's a quick sneak peak:

After running way too many errands yesterday, I spent the evening with some friends just hanging out and crafting. Of course, I had to pack all of my supplies, and I ended up using one of my new storage solutions.

See that scrumptious avocado green train suitcase? I purchased that from Etsy a while back because I knew it would not only make a great addition to my craft room, but also because it holds a lot of crafting stuff when I'm on the go. It also has the perfect vintage feel for my craft room.

This baby held seven ink pads, countless wood-mounted stamps, several CD cases of clear stamps, a circle punch and all of my Stampin' Up markers and there was still room to spare! It's hard to see in this picture, but the perimeter of the inside is lined with pockets that I used to hold my scissors, dies and stamping mat. I'm in love with my new train case :)

While at my friend's house, I got a few holiday tags done. I still need to color them in and add a little bling here and there, but overall I'm really happy with how they've turned out so far.

I actually had a friend die cut and punch out the tags for me while I stamped the images. I'm not a slave driver, promise! He offered to help me out, so I put him to work :) He ended up surprising me with some really pretty beads! Gotta love me some silver, turquoise, coral and freshwater potato pearls. Thanks Fernando!

My other friend was playing around with a few of my new stamps...

...and she made me this adorable tag:

I love the glittered flocking she used for the sheep's body. I'm all about shiny things!

We were minus one body last night, and that was because my other friend is sick :( I made her this "Thinking of You" card a few days ago for her.

Finally, I leave you with my Friday Favorites for the week. As you can see, little Mr. Owen isn't so little anymore! He'll be 16 weeks old tomorrow. I'm always amazed at how quickly Dane puppies grow, and although it makes me a bit sad to see him grow so fast, I'm also very proud of how sweet and loving and smart he is.

We haven't officially weighed him, but we think he's in the 55-60 lb range. The boy eats six cups a day for heaven's sake! He's eating us out of house and home...

...but heaven help me, I love him to death as I do all my babies.

Have a great weekend, folks!