Super Easy Boxwood Wreath

Alternate title: How I Got Poison Ivy at Craft Night

Last Wednesday night was craft night.  We made boxwood wreaths. They are super easy to make.  Like we all finished our wreaths before leaving for the night easy.  (That says a lot.) 

Most of us in our craft night group had previously been eyeing boxwood wreaths but their high price tags kept us away.  Kim did a little Pinteresting (a verb) and found a tutorial from Liz Marie Blog for us to base our project off of.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Grapevine wreath
• I had one hoarded in the basement.  You can get them at Hobby Lobby (bring a coupon!)  You can often find them at Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc.
• A poor, unsuspecting boxwood bush
• I have a few growing in front of our house but they weren’t quite ready for mutilation yet.  Luckily Nici had a few that wanted murdered, I mean trimmed.
• Optional: burlap ribbon for a bow

Start by butchering the boxwood.  We mainly cut long pieces.  We ended up trimming some down as we went along. 

Shove the cut pieces into the grapevine wreath until it looks pretty.  This should take approximately 5 minutes. 

Fluff/prune for the next 15 minutes to make yourself feel like this project was actually a challenge.

Make Kim tie a burlap bow for you beings she embarrassed you by wearing the same shirt.

Hang it up the next day!

And then itch your feet off.  I somehow managed to get into poison ivy.  This summer is the first time I have gotten it.  Not cool.  Beware.  Craft night is dangerous.

Check out previous wreaths from the Decor and the Dog vault: Quirky Owl Wreath, Candy Corn Wreath, Whispy Ornament Wreath, Yarn Wreath

Have you had your eye on boxwood wreaths?  Any great ideas for our next craft night? Preferably something inside. ;)

Living Room Update

I haven’t shared anything house related for awhile.  Lame.  What kind of DIY blogger am I?  Oh yes, one with a job. I remember now.

We are about one weekend (at home) away from finishing up our master bathroom.  Hooray for the longest project in history! We maybe should have started this one in the fall and not during the busy Summer months.  You live and you don’t learn.

I’m also working on a new blog design.  Nothing super fancy.  Just cleaner.  It will be finished in approximately the year 2099.  Look for it.

Part of the new blog design includes taking some updated house tour photos.  And maybe a video.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We snapped some photos of our living room in its current state.  Well, its current state with the added benefit of fluffed pillows and couch cushions.  Ike is anti-fluff.  I’m pretty sure he thinks his job is to smush pillows and cushions.  If that’s the case, dude needs a raise.

Without further ado (and more nonsense on my part), here is our living room.  One of my favorite rooms in our house!

I also think I need to do an updated post on the evolution of our rooms.  Write that down.  Remind me.

We have big plans for built-in cabinets and a fancy mantel.  We keep talking like that project will happen soon.  Which means probably about 2016. 

I bought that awesome olive lamp at Goodwill.  It was love at first sight. It’s the little things in life.

I asked Nate to photograph some angles that we don’t always show on the blog.  It’s hard.  The following is called “Your View If You Eat Breakfast With Nate, Ike and Michelle”. I promise bacon will be involved.

Here’s some room info for you. Because that’s what all of the cool blogger kids do.

• Wall color: Macadamia (Sherwin Williams)
• Furniture: Ethan Allen Retreat sofa, love seat, and chair
• I would hands down buy this set again.  It’s super comfy and has held up well.
• Shelves: JCPenney Leaning Shelf
• Coffee table and end table: American Furniture
• Rug: RugsUSA
• Accessories on shelves: thrift stores, Gordman's, gifts, TJMaxx, Marshall's

Who’s going to remind me of all of this stuff I should blog about?  What’s the favorite part of your living room?  Is your pet a pro-smusher?

Iowa State Fair

Have you seen those Lifetime movies where the couple has been together for 11 years and then the wife learns something shocking about her husband?

I’m the star of that movie!!!

After 11 years of being Natchelle, my world was turned upside down.  A hidden past came forward.

Nate is almost 32 and had never been to a fair.  What???  How could this be? I wanted to know if he really grew up in Iowa. I couldn’t even trust that his name was Nate at this point.  Mind blown.

I love fairs.  So very much.  The food.  The animal shows.  The crafts.  The smells.  All of it.  Growing up, the Webster County 4-H fair was the highlight of my summer.

That’s me with my reserve champion market hog.  That’s a pretty big deal when you’re a young 4-Her.

That’s me with my duck, Roger. She (yep, that’s correct) won best pet.  Such a good duck.  Ike would love her.  I later received a red ribbon for my hair.

So, clearly the fair is a huge part of my past.  And come to find out I married a man who had never ever been to a fair.  It was time to make that right. 

We joined one of my very dear childhood friends and her husband at the Iowa State Fair last Thursday.  Nate’s life will never be the same.  And I can now remain married to him.  Long live Natchelle.

Within minutes of walking into the fairgrounds it became clear that we needed to have some sort of food on a stick in our hands or we may risk being kicked out.  We grabbed some corn dogs, cheese curds and a lemon shake-up and joined Santa.

Nate was still doing okay at this point.  We did a little wandering after our first food stop.  We checked out the wine tasting, some antiques and some crazy entertaining duo.  We then headed to the animal barn to check out the sheep in disguise.

Nate didn’t find it nearly as entertaining as my friend and I.  I love the sheep barn.  The constant “baaing” makes me laugh.

We arrived at the pig barn just in time to see the biggest boar being led to his cage.  I played city girl and snapped a photo of this 1100 pound beauty.  I mean, can you get much better than this???  The pig didn’t want to move.  I liked his style.

We then hit up the fried dessert stands.  An Iowa State Fair must.

Nate had a fried Snickers.  I had a fried Milky Way and my friend had fried pineapple.  All of which were amazingly glorious and disgusting all at once.

I then took a nap.

This post is going nowhere fast.  I swear I’ll have some kind of real post…next month.

So, that’s the tale of Nate’s first fair experience.  Overall he said he didn’t hate it.  He thought it would be more redneck.  He thinks he can wait another 32 years before he goes ago.  Ohhh, Nate.

Are you a fair fan?  Were you in 4-H?  Ever have trouble naming a duck?