A summer of new beginnings!

It seems that summer always holds so many possibilities. There seems to be so much time, so much opportunity, with the longer days and warm nights anything is possible. Even a thousand different projects that I insist I have time for when in fact, I do not. Hubs always looks at me like I have gone crazy when I drag another thing home from the thrift store and say, "Oh, this one won't take too long. Just a fresh coat of paint. Maybe some new fabric..." And suddenly I am redo-ing a room...or at least I am trying to redo a room...most of the time, time runs out. At least lately.

There have been great and wonderful things happening for our friends lately.

To begin, in May, our friends The Alfano's got MARRIED! They were beautiful (and still are!). They gave me the honor of taking photos of there special day/weekend. It was torture, but I got to go to Florida for this wedding. Here are a few of my favorites from the trip.













Another great weekend was just this past weekend. Our dear friends Beau and Cara got married. Their wedding was absolutely gorgeous, decked out with hydrangeas and crisp Tiffany blue. It was a treat to say the least! And I am happy to call them Mr. and Mrs. Porter! Here are a few of the photos I snapped from their special day! Cara is gorgeous don't you think?!












Beau's mom and dad are such a lovely couple. They look so in love! I love it when couples look they did (or as I assume they did) when they first got married. These two have it going for them! Here's to you David and Lisa!




This gorgeous lady is Annie. She is amazing at a lot of things, but she is exceptional at design! You should visit her website at poshdiggs.com




Last, but certainly not least, I take the honor of welcoming Miss Lillie Caroline into the world. Congratulations, Hillary and Cody. She is precious in every way. What a doll!








We have been busy, but it has been a blessing. We are so happy for all of our friends and their new adventures in life.

So tell me, what new adventures or projects are you up to? I love comments and I love hearing about happiness and projects! Let me know!

Happy Father's Day!

Well today is a beautiful warm father's day!

On Friday I had the pleasure to help move The Hubs's uncle. It was great to be able to spend time with him and the in-laws! I am so blessed to have great ones! It was a long hot day though! We worked from about 10 AM to 10 PM getting the house and two storage sheds cleared out and packed up. We were hot and filthy in the end but boy did it feel good to have it all done! There were some diamonds in the rough discovered too! The Hubs' family is so great. They tolerated my junk rummaging so well. A lot of the times they would look at me with one eyebrow raised and say, "REALLY?!" and to that I would say absolutely! It is amazing what some people find as trash another will find as treasure! As many of my friends know, I love old things! Well this was a hay day for me!

The storage shed held things from The Hubs's grandma and grandpa and great grandma. There were some really cool things in there and it had me dreaming of a storage unit of my own so that I could keep everything that I loved! However, this just isn't possible. So I had to choose what could make it back to our little home (and still have room for us to walk around).






I love that the things come from The Hubs's family. It means so much more to me. I love knowing the stories behind the items or if the story isn't known, making one up for myself. The cameras for example. I have no idea when they were used, but I imagine my father-in law running around during high school and these capturing some of his glory days in sporting events and such! Or maybe even one of them captured my mother and father in law just before their senior prom!




This Crate actually held Crate speakers. It was The Hubs's Uncles from way back. He was so kind to let me have the lovely!



The old ironing table is fantastic. It is more sturdy than my current aluminum one! I love it!




The jingle bells are great too! They have some aging on them that has turned them turquoise in spots that makes them all the more wonderful and fun. They are currently bound by a shoestring but I am going to add twine instead and put them in a special spot. I again can only imagine a story behind these little lovelies.




The type writers are oh so special. The Hubs grandpa was a pastor and he wrote his sermons one these now antiques. The hubs is exceptionally excited about these finds.



This is a part of an old furnace front from The Hubs's Grandparent's house that burnt down...so cool!


Not at all sure on the story behind the fan, but I have been looking for one for our bedroom just like this for quite sometime!



I had so much fun spending time with my family, hearing stories and just getting to know them all a little better. The family history is always a pleasure. The best part about old things is that they can spark memories that are long forgotten and once again warm your heart to the people that have passed. It was an honor to be involved in such a memorable day.

These are old frames and they will make into a great project, not sure on their story either.



With all of the treasures that we discovered that were once everyday items, it makes me wonder what we throw away or cast off as mundane items that will one day be thought provoking and a treasured item.

Here is my mother-in-law and I at the end of the very long and dirty day...excuse us for our unsightly appearance.

Happy Father's Day from this happy Daughter!

Mail Organizer

I have for the longest time swooned after wall organizers. I love this one by Pottery Barn, but our budget doesn't allow for it, nor do we have the space for it in our little home.



So I have tried a thousand different things that didn't work and have left me with more junk drawers than socially appropriate.


So, guess what this is! It is a cabinet door that had a metal mesh on the panels! Guess where I found it! Yup, the Habitat for Humanity Restore!



When I brought it home it was brown and had the hinges and such on it. I quickly took the hinges off and spruced it up with a little bit of spray paint! Then I had the mail box already so I fastened it on there and the hooks to right I did the same thing. I was lacking magnets that would work for this project but we had some old ones, so I took some magazine clippings, buttons and glued them on there. I also added a pouch for pens and pencils to go in. It was left over from a set of pillow cases that I had gotten a while back. I love my new Mail organizer. It is a catch all in our kitchen.




Because I paid $2 for the cabinet door and $2 for the spray paint, I felt like I could splurge on a little something else. So I got these lovely measuring spoons from Anthropologie. I love it when the ordinary can become glamorous and these certainly do that!

A place to hang our hats...

So the hubs and I are mid semester for the summer. That is right we are plugging away at the keyboards and books while the rest of y'all are out having fun in the sun. All I can tell myself about this is that it will have a good pay off in the end...I think... :)

Anyway with all the school work, you gotta take a break right! RIGHT! So here is one of my recent creations! I made these little lovelies out of old cabinet doors that I found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore (if you haven't found this place yet, look for it! There is usually one in every major area and the profits go to habitat). I then sprayed them with some spray paint, distressed them with some good old sand paper, put some new hooks on them and ta-da! I have that coat rack! (Not that we need a coat rack at this point, it is 99 degrees outside!). I hung one low because I hate leaving my purse on the floor or on the table so now it has a place! It has been nice to have a place to hang our hats!

A Howdy Hello!

Welcome to The Shabby Blue Ribbon. I am new to the blogging thing, but am excited to get to work with it. I hope that you will enjoy the blog. I hope to have a blog up soon about my home redo's and pictures to. Please come back soon!