When I was in elementary school and junior high, I took sewing lessons and learned all the basics, but until last year, I never owned a sewing machine of my own. Over the years, my mom {who is a very talented sewer} asked me many times if I would like a machine, but I always said no because I had no where to put it and knew that I wouldn't really use it if I had to drag it out to the kitchen table and then put it away each time. I knew that in order to justify owning a sewing machine, I needed ... View the Post
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{gifts with style} Beckett’s Big Brother Kit
A few weeks back, I shared a sneak peek of one of the special gifts I made for Beckett to give him when our new baby arrived - a custom designed board book featuring hand drawn animal silhouettes. Today I'm back to show you the entire Big Brother Kit that we gave to him at the hospital after Cooper was born. The idea for the Big Brother Kit started with my desire to make Beckett a special Big Brother shirt using iron-on transfer paper. I bought a plain black t-shirt from ... View the Post
{gifts with style} Teacher Appreciation Coloring Card
It's Teacher Appreciation Week! This is a first for us, as my son is now attending a preschool program a few days a week. I scoured Pinterest and found so many cute ideas for teacher appreciation gifts, but then I learned that each teacher had already put together a list of "suggestions" of the gift cards they would like to receive. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about a gift registry of sorts for teacher appreciation week, but I decided to go along with it and bought each ... View the Post
{decorating with style} The Easiest Way to Create a Mood Board
It's been a little quiet on the blog this week because I've been so busy behind the scenes to get ready for our next big project. The One Room Challenge kicks off again next week, and this time we'll be tackling our master bathroom. Putting together the mood board and design plans for the bathroom makeover reminded me that many readers have asked me to share a tutorial on how I create my mood boards, so today is the day! Whenever I begin designing a new space, whether for ... View the Post
A Simple, Modern Painting Tutorial
Growing up, I didn't have a middle name, so I used to beg my parents to make my middle name "Artist." Angela Artist would have had a nice ring to it, don't you think? Fortunately my parents thought better of it, and instead of making it a legal name change, they got me a set of pencils with that name engraved on them. I still have those pencils, and I still love to paint and draw! When I was starting to decorate for my spring home tour, the sideboard at the end of the kitchen table felt ... View the Post
Two Super Easy Train Cake Options
When you have two boys less than two years apart in age, they are bound to have similar interests, and in our house that currently equals TRAINS! When Beckett turned three a few months ago, he requested a Thomas the Train cake and I happily obliged. Then last week when I asked Cooper what kind of a cake he wanted for his second birthday, I wasn't surprised at all to hear the same answer - a train! But I didn't want to simply make him a duplicate of Beckett's cake, so I came up with a fun ... View the Post
Top 10 Most Popular Decorating & DIY Posts of 2016
It's been a very busy year here at Blue i Style with more than 120 blog posts and some major accomplishments! I can't wait to see what 2017 holds... But first, I wanted to take a minute to look back at the most popular posts of 2016, as determined by you, the readers! Today I've rounded up the top 10 decorating and DIY posts. You might just find something here that you missed the first time around, or something worth a second look! METALLIC GARAGE FLOOR FINISH The most popular DIY ... View the Post
Stylish Home Gym Ideas for Small Spaces
This post is sponsored by Cost Plus World Market, which you know is one of my favorite places to shop! This post also contains affiliate links. Before having kids, we used one of the bedrooms in our house as a home gym. It wasn't very stylish, but it was certainly spacious. Fast forward a few years, and that exercise room became a kid's bedroom and we pared down our workout equipment and shoved it {quite literally} into the corner of the guest room. It's taken me nearly four years to finally ... View the Post
Sesame Street Birthday Party Ideas
I am relieved happy to report that our second attempt at Beckett's birthday party was a huge success! {If you missed all the drama, you can read the full story of why the first party had to be cancelled, leaving me in tears.} This past Saturday, we managed to entertain 30+ toddlers without too much chaos, and I heard more than one little boy declare it "the best party ever!" on his way out the door. Now I fully realize that this is one of those "you say that to all the girls" ... View the Post
{swap it like it’s hot} Thrift Store Finds Turned Gift Giving Pretties
I have something super fun for you guys today in place of my normal Five Minute Friday post. The uber talented and stylish Charlotte, from Ciburbanity {aka City Suburb Sanity}, invited me to participate in the fall round of Swap It Like It's Hot, and after having followed this awesome series on other blogs in the past, I jumped at the change to be a part of the fun! Here's how it works... bloggers sign up on a list, and then each goes shopping at local thrift stores to purchase one or ... View the Post
{seasonal style} A Very Colorful Christmas Home Tour
Happy Holidays! If you are new here, welcome! I am thrilled to have you stop by today for my very colorful Christmas home tour. Our home is very colorful all year round, so you'll find just about every color of the rainbow in our holiday home tour. But rest assured that our red and teal living room and our orange and gray family room are in completely separate areas - different floors even. As I lead you around the house, if you find yourself wondering how all of these colorful spaces fit ... View the Post
Affordable and Modern Gray Dining Chairs
I have a love/hate relationship with shopping for home decor. I love looking at ALL the options and I start designing a room around each in my mind. When I'm shopping to buy, and not just shopping for the the imaginary rooms that I dream up, it's usually pretty easy for me to zero in on the one. But when it turns out that the one is either out of my price range, or worse, is no longer available, I get pretty frustrated. There could be a million other options out there, but once I've found what I ... View the Post