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Things To Make And Do: A Journal by Nikki McClure @ BuyOlympia.com

Another happy customer! @ Jane and the ducks (Shoe box fabric shop - I would have LOVED this when I was a kid!)

Rainbow Garden Funiture with Chocolate trim @ MIY Creations

Making Flower Pins @ Make It Do

envelope pocket love. @ Enjoy It (I especially love this “Will you be my bridesmaid?” card because it outlines the expectations upfront, so there won’t be huge surprises down the road.)

Bias Toward the Pretty (Leaf Table Runner) @ Martha Stewart

Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial @ Sew, Mama, Sew! (I fully intend to make one of these for my machine now that it’s sitting out full-time.)

Newspaper basket @ How About Orange

Old spice rack = bead storage @ Craftynest

Easy Steps to Keep Your Paint Job Looking Fresh @ Living with Lindsay

Amy Atlas Events (wow wow wow)

Teacher Gifts @ house on hill road (I love this great idea for teacher gifts as a take-off from her coffee cozie tutorial!)

Grocery Bag Dispenser @ Moda Bake Shop (I really need to make a cute one of these instead of just stuffing them all inside a Target bag and hanging them from my laundry room shelf.

It’s finally up! Head over to www.shannonmillercreative.com to check it out.

Yesterday, our house was as clean as it’s been in a long while because I was hosting a little Pampered Chef get-together. So after everyone left, I took advantage of the empty, clean house to take some pictures. You can see them on flickr here. But what I am most excited about is pictures of my craft room! Check out some of these before and after shots:

I absolutely love it and I’m so happy with how it turned out. My husband can tell you, I practically live in this room. It’s so nice having my own space to get messy with crafty projects and then be able to just leave it for next time. I also really love the office/computer space — it’s nice and quiet back here, and it seems like I get a lot more work done than when it was in the living room. Anyway, hope you like it even a fraction as much as I do!

This past weekend was the first weekend in June, which meant it’s time for the annual Miller Family Reunion up on Monte Sano. Because we had family in town, Nathan, his sister Michelle and I rounded everyone up Saturday night for some barbecue as an early Father’s Day get-together for Nathan’s dad. (If you live in the Huntsville area, I highly recommend stopping by Joe’s Pitstop Barbecue in the old Ryland Grocery. Their sauce is to die for.)

Of course, it was so much fun to see our nephew Mac. He’s growing up so fast and turning new adorable tricks all the time.

I love getting out to the Miller property on warm summer evenings. It’s such a good break to get out under the trees and away from the city for a few hours. Memories of doing just this with my in-laws over the last five or so years makes me understand why they love Ryland as much as they do; they always have great stories about days like this on “the hill” next to Nathan’s late grandmother’s house, between his aunt and uncle’s and his parents’ houses. This year I plan on taking full advantage of the hammocks they have strung up in the yard before it cools off again in the fall.

Found via my artist/designer friend Jennifer Birge:

Tie-pography

Then and Now

How To Sew A Throw Pillow Cover In 10 Easy Steps @ Cottage Magpie

Father’s Day Tie @ the purl bee

Coffee Table with Antique Windows @ instructables

Tip: Chill Wine Quickly with Salt @ apartment therapy’s the kitchn

“vintage” ’60’s star remake DIY @ kfd designs

Here Kitty Kitty. Cat Bed Junk Project. @ junk camp

DIY: Seedling Kit Favors @ project wedding

How to make a knitting basket cake @ CakeJournal

free cross-stitch pattern: stackable cats @ mochimochi

Regina Spektor- Laughing With (Official Music Video)

I came home from work today feeling really inspired, and desperately wanted to work on a project with instant satisfaction. I started digging around in my stash for something quick and dirty to whip up — and now have a set of fun cafe curtains over my computer desk in the craft room:

I’m happy with them, and honestly — I’m mostly just excited that I had an excuse for using pompom trim and rickrack on a home dec project.

So sorry for the lapse in posting, but I’ve been so busy driving up and down Alabama the last few weeks, getting a magazine to print deadline at work, and doing lots of laundry. First was our Memorial Day weekend trip to my sister’s house in Daphne, AL (Mobile area) where I got to see my sweet nephews, Bridger (3) and Taplin (1):

We had a great visit just hanging out and bumming around town. Nathan and I were saying on the way home how it was one of our favorite visits down there, and we can’t put our finger on why exactly - probably just because it was so relaxed and we just had fun together. Sunday was especially nice, since after church we went over to my sister’s in-laws’ house and laid around at the pool all day…ahhh, summertime!

After our trip back from Daphne, we spent three short days at home working and doing laundry before turning back south again to Eufaula, Alabama. Our friends Blair and Laura got married Saturday afternoon and Nathan was a groomsman, so we had lots of festivities to attend - a rehearsal, wedding day brunch, and of course the wedding.

It was super swanky, gorgeous, and tons of fun. The wedding was very small and intimate at an old Catholic church. Afterward, the reception was at the Shorter Mansion with a cocktail hour inside beforehand with a magician and a jazz pianist (their “signature drink” was a Tom Collins, and they had servers with trays and trays of hors d’œuvres - our favorite was the bacon-wrapped scallions) followed by a late evening out back under the stars. There was a huge main tent with a dance floor, live band, chandeliers, and tables and tables of food - as well as smaller surrounding tents that housed champagne, wedding cake, and cocktails. Definitely a major event, and so beautiful!

We had a really nice time, but of course it’s always good to come back home. Spike missed us immensely and is sick of us leaving him at home. His meowing and crazy antics are at a high right now while he fights for our attention, but I’m sure he’ll get better over the next week. I’ve personally got to get back to my to-do list, which is huge! Hopefully I’ll have more projects to post about soon.

I’m excited to show you guys my new pillows - I finished sewing them up Sunday night, but just got around to uploading them today…

Yeah - fresh pillows! It makes a huge difference in the living room, I think - even Nathan thinks so, haha. The red flowered fabric is Amy Butler’s “August Fields” in brick red. I also took a swatch to Hancock Fabrics, where I was excited to find a matching mini gingham in turquoise for the accents and the small pillow.

I made a big pillowcase-style cover for the biggest pillow (which was just a re-cover; I bought new pillow forms for the rest. We needed new ones, badly.) Then I made some little strips to stitch on as accents for the midsized pillows - three stripes on one, and a corner stripe on the other. I think they turned out pretty well - almost straight…

The one I’m most proud of is my “M” pillow! I used some Heat-n-Bond Lite fusible adhesive, traced out a big “M” I printed off the computer, cut it out and fused it onto the pillow front. Then I did a zigzag stitch around the edges. I’m a little concerned about how it will keep up, because this particular fabric (the Amy Butler stuff) seems to fray really badly - and the color doesn’t bleed through, so it gets white where it frays or where the stitches pull. Oh well - what’s the point of worrying? I thoroughly despise the idea of a pillow you don’t use. I can always make a new one.

Next up is to finish the simple curtains for my craft room, and maybe a seat cushion too - if I get ambitious. We’ve got a really busy couple of weeks coming up though, so who knows what I’ll get done. Not only am I pushing deadlines at work, but we are travelling to my sister’s house down in Daphne/Mobile this weekend; and next weekend we’ve got a swanky wedding to attend in Eufaula. Should be lots of fun, but I’m sure it’ll all be pretty exhausting. I have to remember to take lots of pictures!

…and so proud! As evidenced by the wrinkly edges, where I had folded it up to take with me to my mother-in-law’s today…

Next up: finishing new pillows to go on the living room couch. One down, three to go.