sweet treat swap day!

happy sweet treat swap link up day! 

(('))

first, i'll share my package from sweet lauren! 

 

1. dove milk chocolate  2. pumpkin spice candle  3. a maroon mug!  4. fudge!! pumpkin pie and chocolate  5. a magnetic dry erase board  6. autumn greetings sign! :)  7. burts bees!

 

and now, my package from courtney!

1. peanut butter filled bugles with chocolate ganache  2. salted caramel candies  3. homegrown praline pecans, right from her farm!  4. a mini pumpkin!! everything is cuter in miniature!  5. pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

 

guys, i've got a confession to make.

i may or may not have put myself into a sugar coma eating all of my yummy treats.

yup. i didn't even share with bub-hub.

i can't wait to see what you guys got!

 

if you participated in the swap, link up below and share what you got! :)

 

 

how to paint like a non-professional

here are a few thought on how to paint like a non-professional:

tape everything and protect your floors.

taping was such a beat down,

but i'm so glad we did it.

so worth it.

invest in the tools of the trade.

we picked up two kits and a few extra rollers from the paint section at home depot.

we decided it was worth the extra $2 to get extra rollers instead of rinsing them out between colors.

paint with a buddy and leave them happy notes to cheer them up.

don't be cheap. buy a few samples.

you don't want to end up with highlighter yellow walls.

unless you like that sort of thing.

we ended up choosing the fourth one! :) and it is amazing!!

pick a good playlist. 

something to keep you focused and in the painting mood!

and last but not least...

paint messy.

at least i did...

somehow, bub-hub managed to remain spotless for the entire two day affair.

i had paint everywhere.

#messyisfunner

we worked so hard on the tape and protecting the floors...i wanted to put them to the test.

this was such a fun project, and i'm so glad bub-hub and i did it together

even though it took forever,

and even though i have blisters on my hands.

#worthit

#teamchastainforthewin

p.s. don't forget to link up your sweet treat swap packages tomorrow! yay!

painting the days away

well, our weekend can be wrapped up in two words:

painting marathon.

that's right folks. 

friday, we painted.

saturday, we painted.

i don't know why i thought it would only take us a few hours.

good thing bub-hub is a realist and planned for it to take the entire weekend.

and extra good thing i bought t-swift's new cd. 

#onrepeat #sorryimnotsorry

saturday morning, we made a shipley's donut run, and got ourselves pumped up for the day ahead of us.  nothing better than overdosing on sugary fried goodness. 

#halloweendonutsforthewin

when we got back to the apartment, we kicked it into beast mode.

 i think i might have started crying when we finished.

i've never been so happy in my life.

#teamchastainforthewin

how was your weekend??

p.s. i have so many new friends on instagram and i love it!!!

i wanna follow you too, so leave your name in a comment!

or add me @mrschastain

high five for moving day!

it's moving day people!

i'm so excited i'm about to jump out of my skin. :)

 

here are a few highlights from the week:



1. new favorite handcream. love it. my hands feel like butter.

2. when we were cleaning up the cabinets, we found a giant bag of hershey kisses we stashed away after the bachelorette party. there were like over 100 kisses in the bag, and bub-hub and i may or may not have eaten a large amount of them. #notashamed

3. chick fil a chocolate chunk cookies make any day a perfect day. especially when paired with a sweet tea. plus, i love their stickers. so cute and clever.

4. multi-grain cheerios are my new obsession. yummmmm.

5. as i said before, it's moving day! our apartment has been a disaster for the last week. i'm ready to settle into the new place. organize and survive y'all!

 

if you're curious to know if bub-hub and i survive our move, or if you just want a few things to chuckle at, you can follow me on instagram: mrschastain 

 

what cereal are you obsessed with right now?

what do you have going on this weekend?

 

 

thankful for thursday

Source: moonshineandwool.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

today, i am thankful for

for chick fil a sandwiches and sweet tea,

for pumpkin fro-yo at yogurtland.

for supportive and encouraing friends,

and a kind and loving husband.

 

what are you thankful for?

 

 

pinning paint chips

bub-hub and i are moving into our new apartment this weekend!

yay!

i'm super excited and having more space and transforming this new place our home!

one of the things i'm most excited about is painting the walls.

but it's also the thing i'm most nervous about.

i've never really painted before, so i've been reading so man how-tos and tutorials,

but i'll probably just end up winging it and making a mess.

i think we have our colors picked out:

a yellow kitchen

soft gray living room and bathroom

soft blue-gray bedroom

i know, we're super exciting, wild and crazy people.

 

 i love that this wall color is on the blue side of gray.

Source: roomzaar.com via Sarah Grace on Pinterest

or maybe a lighter shade of gray...

Source: houzz.com via Sarah Grace on Pinterest

 

doesn't this yellow kitchen make you so happy?

 

 

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Sarah Grace on Pinterest

 

i'm obessed with this blue.

i think it's so calming and peaceful.

a perfect room to come home to at the end of a long day.

 

Source: la-belle-vie.tumblr.com via Tara on Pinterest

but the again, who knows what i will actually walk out of the paint store with...if anything.

 

do you have any tips for painting?

how do you know what shade of paint to select?

 

 

booo-box

birch box, booo-box....get it?

#tryingtoohard

the first few months of my relationship with birchbox, there have been a few ups and a few downs.  and so far, i think this month is an up! 

my favorite items were the luna bar, yummy!, and the luminizer. 

here's what i got this month

1.  harvey prince hello, perfume sample

the perfume sample is always my favorite part.  this one smells so refreshing and clean, and it has a push-spray top, which is super fun.

2.  luna protein bar, chocolate peanut butter

yummmm!

luna bars are my favorite, and i really love this one. 

3.  mox botanicals lip butter

4.  the balm cosmetics mary-lou manizer

5.  benta berry G-1 moisturizing face cream

do you have a birch box??
what was your favorite item in this month's box?

aggies and tigers and sunburns, o my! :)

what a weekend.

friday night, bub-hub and i celebrated five months of domination.

we had yummy tortellini with champagne sauce for dinner, and shared a bottle of of our favorite wine, Cakebread Cellars chardonnay. yummmmm.

after dinner, we headed over to houston's iconic "house of pies" to satisfy our sweet tooth.

bub-hub had his favorite, apple, and i had mine, cherry! both were topped with the most giant scoop of ice cream i had ever seen in my life. 

fantastic way to celebrate if i do say so myself! :)

saturday morning, bub-hub and i headed to college station to watch the Fightin Texas Aggies take on the LSU Tigers.

beautiful blue skies, nice cool breeze, great company, perfect day.

minus the aggie loss....

but it was such a great day to be in aggieland.

and no game day is complete without a little sunburn.

i promise i put sunscreen on, a lot of it. 

i guess i should have reapplied after the first two hours of standing in the direct sun.

#rudolphproblems

on the drive back, we passed a roadside farmers market, so of course bub-hub, being the sweet softie that he is, stopped for me. :) 

i may or may not have wanted to buy every single mini-pumpkin in the place, but i had self control. i only bought two giant bags of grapes, strawberry preserves, and some apples.

yum!

how was your weekend?

do you ever stop at road side stands?

merry october-mas! :)

i know it's only october,

but guys,

it's almost november, and then it will be december, and then it will be christmas!

so why not cross your holiday cards off your list a little early this year??

over the next few weeks i'm going to be sharing my christmas card designs with you guys, and here is the first one!

this design is a 5x7, single sided custom photo card with natural chevron background.

i know bub-hub and i are pretty adorable,

but i understand if you want to swap us out for a photo of your family or puppy.

#nohurtfeelings

this design is available a custom pdf file or as a printed card.

check out this design and more in my etsy shop:

[gracefully made designs]

merry october-mas y'all! :)

high five for five months!

so many people have told me that the first year of marriage is the hardest.

i definitely understand that.

it's a lot of adjustment and there is a lot of change to get used to.

bub-hub and i are almost half way through it,

and so far, we're dominating! :)

dear bub-hub,

you are the best. i'm your biggest fan.

thank you for making me feel so loved and so supported.

i know we have many years and life changes ahead of us,

but i can't wait to take them on together as the ultimate team,

because after all, 

we are the best and we never lose.

love,

your wifey

here's to a hundred more years of silly arguments, dirty kitchens, baskets of clean, wrinkled laundry, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, laughter, and high fives.

you betta redneckonize....

sad news folks:

honey boo boo child has been banned from the apartment,

especially when mentioned in the same sentence as twitter.

99.98% of the time, bub-hub is a pretty chill, easy going guy,

but not when it comes to honey boo boo and mama june,

especially when something important is on tv like, i don't know....

the presidential debate.

he doesn't really seem to care whether or not glitzy is running for president.

strange.

Source: cookies-and-apple-juice.tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

so from now on,

i'll be watching here comes honey boo boo alone, in secret, 

like the true fan that i am.

you better redneckonize. 

p.s.
tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the sweet treat swap! :)

send me an email, gracefullymadeblog[at]gmail.com, with answers to the questions below and i'll get you set up!

name

blog name & address

email address

mailing address

favorite sweet treat

favorite thing about halloween

a wrapping wednesday

this might make me sound like a lame-o, but one of my favorite things to do is wrap gifts. when i was younger, i used to play "gift wrap store" and my dad would "place orders" for me to wrap gifts for him for family members, friends, co-workers. i even had a cash register y'all...#nerdalerttimesseveni love the final presentation. the way a gift is wrapped and presented just says a lot about the amount of time and thought that went into it.what can i say, i just love pretty packages tied up with string! :)  yes please. black kraft paper and white chalk marker. sign me up.

Source: nashvillewrapscommunity.com via Jenna on Pinterest

 personalized washi gift tape, genius. perfect alternative to a gift tag: to you from me. loving it.

Source: lovelystationery.com via Jenna on Pinterest

 patterned paper isn't just for scrapbookers! :) i love how the paper ribbons are so simlar but just enough different.

Source: etsy.com via Mallory on Pinterest

 ever wonder what to do with your paper grocery bags? wrap with some cute twine, or stamp with a pretty holiday image, or use washi tape to attach a card or note. you're golden and green!

Source: shepaperieblog.com via Leslie on Pinterest

 i also love adding "extras" to the package, like this super fun bracelet! it's just one extra place to add a little something extra for the person you're giving to!

Source: flickr.com via Leslie on Pinterest

 thank goodness the holidays are finally getting close!it's time to get wrappin! :)  speaking of gifts...you have a few more days to sign up for the sweet treat swap! so sign up now before it's too late! :)