avatar by on November 19, 2012   •   14 Comments Decor Your Home

Decorating with coral

I always love adding organic elements to my home’s style – be it leaves, feathers, flowers – but coral is one of my favorite pieces to add organic texture to the look of a room.

I was sent this new coral piece to test out, and I had so much fun deciding where this little guy would live in my house. I first found some items I might like to use in a vignette on a table or shelf. I try to have contrast, so I chose something edgy and with hard edges like this purple geode, as well as something and floaty soft for the background like this vintage wooden art piece and vintage dark wine red lace doily.

I liked where this was going, but to make sure I tried this velvet pumpkin instead of the geode. It didn’t work for me, but I still love that little pumpkin!

So once I settled on the feel of the vignette, I replaced the vintage art with different vintage art, added a couple other pieces and voila – my coral looks like it belongs there perfectly nestled in other pretty things on my desk in my studio.

We are partnering with Colom & Brit who sell beautiful home decor items – and I love their blog and Facebook page for decor tips – check out their gifts under $50 especially. They sent us this lovely white coral sculpture that is not only realistic looking and awesome – it’s also affordable (yay!). And guess what? See below for how you can win coral for your home too!

I pulled together some of the other lovely items at Colom & Brit that would look great in a vignette with the coral piece. They have such pretty things, take a look:

Would you like to win a coral piece from Colom & Brit? Easy entry in the giveaway widget below – good luck!
avatar by on November 14, 2012   •   2 Comments Decor Your Home

Favorite Thanksgiving decor

Whether you are not really a fan of DIY and would rather curate your decor from the handmade artists, or if you enjoy seeing all that’s out there to inspire your DIY projects – you will love the Thanksgiving themed decor out there right now!

There’s still time to get in on some of these ideas – check out all the pretty things:

I’m obsessed with cheeky flat wear. Adore this serving spoon!

Welcome guests with this beautiful cozy wreath. Love the handmade felt flowers!

Decorate the mantel, a mirror or even the table with a colorful felt garland like this one.

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avatar by on October 26, 2012   •   2 Comments Decor Your Home

Favorite Halloween DIY from Target

We are having so much fun making crafts for Halloween, and my new favorite thing at the moment is the Kid Made Modern line by Todd Oldham at Target for Halloween.

These activities are not the usual fare – we didn’t just rip into the package and have our projects completed 5 minutes later (and the kids already needing a new activity).

No, these DIY sets are the real deal. Painting and gluing and a kid version of decoupaging – not to mention tote bag sewing that is completely fun and completely kid friendly. Everything took time, in a good way, and my boys loved being a bit challenged in their creating.

Fun Not Frightening

Everything is stylish and not too cutesy, while still not scary. My philosophy is that Halloween should be fun, not frightening. I love that these modern decor pieces fit that philosophy so well. We’ll have an amazing array of style at the house that the kids made themselves. I’m so excited!

These pumpkin decorating sets were a huge hit. The boys painted real pumpkins to create little vampires and skeletons, the sets include everything but the pumpkin!

Sewing a bat tote that he’ll trick-or-treat with next week.

Gluing on the pieces for a spooky eyeball paper lantern that lights up!

We didn’t expect these activities to be so robust, and we didn’t finish yet! I like that we have more to do, but I wanted to share these with you so you still have time to snatch some things up at Target before Halloween is here next week (these items are available until November 1st).

I’ll share pictures of the completed projects on Sunday’s post! Check out the whole line in this fun video:

avatar by on October 22, 2012   •   130 Comments Decor Your Home

Stylish coffee essentials

You regular readers know I love to find style in anything (and new readers – hi there! Let’s make things lovely). I especially love stylish kitchen items, as our family spends a whole lot of time in or around the kitchen. My desire is that the entire space reflect our style and be a natural extension (and expression) of us. I think it brings my children comfort and joy when certain things around the house remind them of family, or of their mom and dad. I want to be surrounded by things I love, not just to have “stuff”, but so that the items I do choose will bring me joy, make my family happy and have a purpose.

Style with a purpose

Choosing companies with a similar mindset is important, and I’m completely smitten with the company we’re featuring today called Mighty Nest (and so excited that one of you will be taking home a lovely set of modern, stylish items from their shop). I want you to have fun with style, too, and here’s an example of how you can.

Chances are good that you are a coffee lover. But do you just rush and make the coffee and slam it down and move on quickly? Is it a means to an end, or do you take a minute with it? Of course, some days the rush is a necessary evil. What if now and then you decided to make it a little event?

Everyday celebrations

Sometimes what’s needed is slowing down for that cuppa. Maybe even taking your coffee, hot water and mugs and making a coffee picnic of sorts. You can create a moment. Celebrating the everyday like this is something we’ve started doing at home, because why not? Why not make a special moment out of just having a cup of coffee?

We took this gorgeous Chemex glass coffeemaker outside and made our coffee there. I grabbed some of my beloved vintage coffee mugs and vintage linens to make it feel special, and we just went for it. We didn’t need to plug anything in, and we took some time together.

If you love beautiful things, oh my friends, I can’t even tell you how gorgeous the Chemex is in person. It’s a work of art.

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avatar by on October 19, 2012   •   542 Comments Decor Giveaways Your Home

Our family purpose statement, displayed (Red Letter Words giveaway)

When I first wrote about our family purpose statement, we were a younger family living in a different country. I was in the throes of depression, and we were one person short.

It’s not that we’re old hats at the parenting thing now, but I can pretty confidently say we’ve grown and wisened-up a bit in the past few years. We’ve been through a lot, and we’re a little different. More of who we were made to be.

But what’s refreshing is that I look at our purpose statement, and it still rings true. We wrote it to be as timeless as possible, while still being specific enough to be useful.

Our family purpose statement

We will:
Put each other first.
Cultivate deep relationships with one another.
Extend love to those around us.
Live simply.
Be true to who God made us.
Take care of our health.
Be good stewards of creation.
Be lifelong learners.

This summer, Dee of Red Letter Words sent us a canvas emblazoned with our purpose statement. I may or may have not teared when it arrived in the mail.

I love that her talent sits in our living room, purposed as a reminder for us to be who we are. To be the Oxenreiders.

Dee’s family purpose statement hangs in her house as well. Beautiful reminders, they are.

And this weekend, Ree would like to give a Simple Mom reader the chance to get his or her family’s purpose statement printed as a canvas as well. To remind you to be you.

Giveaway

To win your family’s purpose statement on a 20×30 gallery wrapped canvas print in any color from Red Letter Words, please use the widget below (if you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to click over to the blog to enter the giveaway):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Important: Because the cost of shipping something this size is rather costly, Dee can only offer free shipping to a U.S.-based winner. If you’re outside the U.S. and are chosen as the winner, you’ll need to pay for the difference in shipping to your country. Thanks for understanding.

This giveaway will end Saturday night, October 20 (that’s tomorrow!), and I’ll announce the winner soon after. I hope you win!