We're engaged!

That's my man down on one knee at the beach where we met in New Jersey!

A picture is worth a thousand words, and I am so happy that my honey's proposal was caught on camera! How many of you ladies have seen the pin on Pinterest where there's that couple in the snow, he's down on one knee and she's beyond elated that the man of her dreams is proposing to her? You know the one. The caption on it says something about how the pinner hopes her future husband sees this and will capture their special moment, too?

That is not me nor my man, just a bit of pinspiration for those future hubby's to be!

Yes, that's the one. Well my honey didn't need to see that pin for any pinspiration. In fact, it was my awesome little brother and him who hatched the plan to get the picture the exact moment my honey proposed. You see he told him the night before of his plans to wed his sister, and my brother plotted to have our friend (who is a professional photographer) follow behind us up to the beach. They hid behind the dunes and with his long range lens was able to snag this shot without us ever knowing. How cool is that! I'm so lucky! Wish I wasn't dressed like we were in frozen Siberia! Even our dog Franklin is perfectly posed without even prompting him to. We are the perfect little family and I can't wait to marry my man in May of 2014!

So I imagine in all the months leading up to the big day, I'll be sharing some of my pinspiration here, but not too much. Wouldn't want to spoil all the surprises! I plan on doing a lot of DIY projects for this wedding. Thank goodness for Pinterest. What did folks do before it came along?

Save the Date Ideas

I know the day is way away, but I can't stop trolling Pinterest looking for some pinspiration for my upcoming nuptials in May of 2014. Yes, we got engaged on Black Friday (more on that later). Who needs a sale when you can snag yourself a fiance as wonderful as mine! Its going to be a long 18 months for sure as we plan this bad boy out! I do know one of the first steps will be getting out my Save the Date cards. Since this wedding will be in New Jersey at the beach where we met, I know I'll need to get them out sooner rather than later since its almost like a destination wedding.  I'm going to be doing a lot of brainstorming on these because I want something that encompasses the wedding location, but also reflects the laid back style I'm going for with the entire wedding theme. So here's my first mock-up using someone's idea I found on Pinterest for the back portion of the card. We would need to take a similar shot this summer. In the meantime, I'll keep searching Pinterest to get ideas and find the perfect fit for us.

Wine Cork Memo Board

I love wine. I really do. But I just can't seem to drink enough in order to create some of the awesome projects I come across on Pinterest that incorporate wine corks in the design. So what's a girl to do? Enlist her family and friends, of course! I started asking around, and low and behold, I learned that I am friends and family with a bunch of lushes! No, just kidding. But I did find that many people keep or collect wine corks, just like me! I was in luck!

So this past Easter, my wonderful wine drinking Aunt Carol and my sister's aunt-in-law (is that even a real term?), provided me with large bags filled with wine corks. I know you're thinking "Easter! That was like six months ago!" Remember how I mentioned that I juggle lots of projects at one time? Well here's proof. Six months to tackle a project that took me just a few hours. But alas, I did finally get around to finishing my pinspirational project! I couldn't be happier! And here it is!

Photo on left is Pinspiration and the photo on the right is my creation!

So here's all the deets! The pinspiration is on the left and my version is on the right. I loved the herringbone pattern that they used in the pinspiration and decided that was the way to go when creating my own wine cork memo board.

My version was a lot larger though. I already had an empty frame taking up space in my utility closet. It was left over from a map project gone awry, but I just knew that I could find use of it somewhere else. There was no glass to contend with, just a plain, wooden brown frame. Perfect!

I started by cutting a piece of foam core with a utility knife that would serve as the back of the frame and would be where I hot-glued the wine corks to. Once I measured and cut, I started laying out my pattern on the board before hot-gluing anything down. I learned that a perfect herringbone pattern was not to be for me, but the good thing is since my frame was so large, I was able to hide pretty well the fact that I had to triple up the corks in some places.

Since wine corks really do come in different shapes, sizes and designs, I made sure that I used similar sizes and shapes when pairing the corks together. Its really a bit of trial and error and I made sure to test each pair to see how they stacked up to the pair I glued down before them. Does that make sense? That way it limits the amount of gaps that can occur if they're not matched up right. Thankfully, the corks given to me were full of variety, so I really didn't have to worry about placing two brands of the same wine close together.

You'll notice that I decided to include a dry erase calendar with my memo board. The rationale behind this was that the space this memo board now occupies in my kitchen, was where I used to keep a wall calendar, which I did like to reference. I figured I didn't have to lose out on that functionality and could add a $7 dry erase calendar from Walgreens to my memo board. I just hot glued that down and was able to squeeze in some wine corks around it to keep the look cohesive.

I am so happy with the way my wine cork memo board turned out. I already starting using it to pin up bills, coupons and various items that I don't want swept off the counter and into the trash. The whole process was so easy and cheap! It took just a few hours over two nights to complete and cost me under $30 for the frame, foam core and the calendar (that does not include the wine that everyone had to drink!) It was so easy in fact, that I think that I might have to tackle another wine cork project I found on Pinterest. For this one though, I think I might have to recruit a few more lushes to help me get enough wine corks!

wine cork back splash with picture frames from Houzz

wine cork back splash from Landmark Finish

Cheers!

Welcome to my new blog!

I've dabbled a little bit in the land of blogging, but I've never been able to stick with it. Seems like a lot of things in my life these days! Oh well! But I hope that I've hit on the magic formula, and that is a topic I am truly interested in... Pinterest! 

I feel like I must be one of the original users of Pinterest. I read about it through one of the blogs I follow (can't remember which one) and immediately thought, "why didn't I think of that?" I hate when someone beats me to the next big idea! Grrrr! But I pushed my hard feelings aside and promptly sought out an invite to the site.

Pinterest was still trying to work out its kinks when I first joined. More often than not, I would try and pin something and would get an error message "Fetching Pin." Remember those? But me and the geniuses behind the site forged ahead and its been a wonderful, albeit addicting, experience ever since. 

If you follow me on the site (well go ahead and start following me already!) you'll see that my own pinspiration leans toward home decor projects for my house in Norfolk, whether its sprucing up the interior spaces of my 3 1/2-year-old house or trying to reinvent my backyard oasis once again. My house is a never-ending work-in-progress. I always want change. I love tackling new projects, and usually am juggling two or three at the same time.

Pinterest has also changed the way I look at food. I am not joking when I say that I used to eat Ramen noodles for dinner every night. I am a chicken fingers and fries kind of girl. Thankfully, for both my health and my boyfriend's taste buds, I discovered the never-ending buffet of recipe pins on Pinterest. I pride myself in trying several new recipes a week and in the process expanding my food repertoire.   

I also ride horses, which I think pretty much defines me. "Hi, I'm Blair. I ride horses." And so the horses always seem to creep into my projects somehow. When I first set out decorating my house, I thought I'd try and be a grown-up and get away from the ponies and ribbons that dotted my rooms growing up. But, over time my tastes have evolved back to the horsey set, and I find myself pinning more and more equestrian pinspiration projects to tackle. It doesn't hurt that equine chic is so on trend right now.

So if you've read this much so far, I might as well get to the point of this new blog. I want to show folks out there lurking in Pinterest-land, that you too can actually turn a pin into a project of your very own. I'll show you my pinspiration, and then walk you through the process of how I make it my own. I'll share what did and didn't work and what tweaks I had to make to come up with a project I am proud to call my own (with a little help from my Pinterest friends, of course!). Whether its trying out a new paint color, creating a new seating situation in my back yard or trying out a new way to prepare zucchini, I'll share it with you. 

I hope you'll find some pinspiration from me, too!