A BEAUTIFUL MESS APP IS IN THE ITUNES STORE!

We are so, so excited to announce you can officially download the A Beautiful Mess photo app from the iTunes store! Just follow this link or search "A Beautiful Mess" in the app store. We're kinda freaking out over here, because it just went to #1 on the iTunes chart... before we even had a chance to blog it! What?? You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for your support and excitement! We're completely blown away. 

To download, you'll need iOS 6 or later, and you'll need to be connected to wifi, as this app is pretty packed with features!

Here's a little more detail on what the #ABeautifulMess app can do!The app comes with fourteen cute photo border options that you can recolor to your liking!

You can add, move, resize, and recolor custom text to your photos in your choice of font!

We created several pre-drawn doodles you can customize, resize and add to your photos! 

And the app has a whole bunch of cute and fun phrases written in my handwriting to choose from!

That's not all. There are also filters and backgrounds that you can use to create cute notes and messages! 

We've worked really hard to make this app for you, and we hope you love it! Once you've gotten to play with it, be sure to tag your pictures with #ABeautifulMess, so we can browse through all your beautiful creations! So excited to see how you'll use the app.

One last thing, if you like the app, provide us feedback in the iTunes store (via ratings and comments). We really appreciate it and would love to hear what you think!

10 TIPS FOR DECORATING SMALL, RENTED SPACES

I moved into my first non-dorm apartment about nine months ago. I moved into a 400-square-foot studio apartment with my best friend. A few months later we added a cat, so needless to say our little home can get crowded! I love a comfortable and happy place to come home to, so taking full of advantage of our small space was a huge priority for me. I'm happy to say we found some great solutions, and I am especially happy I can share them with you today! Here are 10 tips for decorating small, rented spaces.1. Give everyday items a home. This tip is number 1, because it's vital for staying sane in a small place. Our front entryway has a long table where we keep three metal baskets. One is where I keep my purse, random bits of mail, or random items of mine. My roommate has her own, and the third is for scarves, hats, and whatever else makes it way in there. When we come in the door we distribute our belongs into the baskets, hang up our jacket, and put our shoes in a row by the front door. This system keeps our apartment from being overrun by these items!

2. Go vertical. Taking advantage of all your space is key, and that includes going up! Since our place is so small, we went with bunk beds. We keep the bedding simple and try to resist hanging items from the bed. You can also choose tall pieces of furniture and other high wall hooks to store items.3. Use a coordinating rug to create interest in the center of the room. Since we don't have a lot of options to leave wall spaces empty, our wall space is pretty packed. To keep the center of the room from looking too sparse and boring, we added a small and coordinating rug! I love the dimension it adds. This is also a great option if you are stuck with ho-hum carpet and cannot change it since you are renting.4. Use your stuff to decorate. You have great stuff, and you have a lot of stuff. So use that stuff to decorate! I stacked our books on the floor next to our chair, instead of adding a bulky bookcase. If you have great jewelry, an interesting collection or a basketful of cute cameras, double up your organization with a decorative edge.5. Paint your furniture. Painting the walls in our place isn't an option, but going bold with bright furniture is! I chose a bright, salmon pink to liven up a thrift store desk. Don't be afraid to choose a bold color that you love, because you can always repaint the item in a few years (or upgrade to a new item!) to suit a new space or your evolving taste.6. Use curtains to cover up unsightliness. If you have any exposed shelving, this tip is perfect for you! I created a little curtain with a vintage pillowcase, some buttons, and an inexpensive mini-curtain rod. We hide our ugly kitchen gadgets behind here. Plus it adds some color!7. Use mirrors to add depth. Mirrors are an excellent tool for elongating and brightening up spaces. The yellow mirror above my desk makes the art wall more dynamic and opens up the space.

8. Stay organized and hide it. This is absolutely vital for keeping your space tidy and pretty. I store all my organized art supplies in bins underneath the bunk bed. I can pull the bins out when I need them, and the little pieces are out of sight for the rest of the time!9. Keep wall art looking airy and light by hanging with binder clips. Frames can be a heavy (and expensive!) accessory for artwork. I chose to hang my Deb Carlos print with inexpensive binder clips and nails. I also used small binder clips to hang up an embroidered piece of fabric. Find hanging solutions that don't clutter your space and that fit your budget.

10. Go with lightweight tables and chairs. This makes entertaining guests a lot easier! Lightweight chairs are easy to move and add to, plus they keep our kitchen vignette from being too cluttered. Being able to rearrange for more people quickly and easily is key in a small space.

DIY : MAGAZINE RACK

Want to learn to make your own modern magazine rack? Today's your lucky day! Husband and wife team Josh and Sarah are here to teach you how...

Supplies Needed: one 2x3x96" stud, 14' of electrical cord (just like you see on a lamp cord). You'll have to ask an employee at a hardware store to cut it for you. four 3" screws, 2 shades of paint, sandpaper, two pieces of galvanized plumber's tape, with 2-3 holes in each.

Tools needed: a saw, a drill, a ruler

Step 1. Measure and cut your stud into two 16" long pieces, and two 29" pieces. The width of your magazine rack is going to be 16", but you can adjust the height however you like - it doesn't have to be 29"! After you cut, line them up to make sure they are even.  (*Note - to those of you that don't have a saw, did you know that if you go to Lowes or Home Depot to purchase your supplies, you can have them cut your stud for you there for a few extra cents? Just give them your measurements.) Step 2. Taking your four pieces, arrange them on the ground. Begin pre-drilling and then screwing in each side. 

Once all the sides are screwed together, we need to mark where our holes are going to be. Decide which end is going to be the top of your magazine rack, and start from there. For this tutorial, we're going to have 8 rungs on our magazine rack.

Step 3. For both the top and the bottom, measure where the middle is on your stud. Step 4. Using a ruler, draw a line down the middle connecting your two marks, so that your holes will be centered. Step 5. For the first rung, mark 4 inches down from the top of your rack, and then mark every two inches until you have 8 marks. Repeat your measurements exactly on the other side. Step 6. Drill a hole each place where you've marked. After you're done, sand down your holes and sweep the sawdust away. Step 7. Lay your magazine rack down onto some old cardboard or newspaper. Time to paint! We decided to go with two different summery shades. I love that you can get small portions of paint now.

Paint your inside one color, and then your outside your other color! Afterwards, while the paint is still wet, use a toothpick to make sure your drilled holes are clear of paint on both the inside and the outside. Let it dry overnight!

Now, the fun part!Take your electrical cord and pull it in half down the middle. You're only going to use half of your cording, so save the other half for later in case you make another one! 

Affix one end of your cord to the top outside of your rack using screws and something to hold it down. (We used pieces of galvanized plumber's tape, or you can knot the end for a different look.) begin threading your cord through the holes. (If the metal piece bugs you, you can paint over it.)

As you're threading, pull it as tight as you can! Make sure it doesn't sag or dip anywhere. After you're done threading, double check to make sure that each rung is as tight as it can possibly be. Affix the last end to your rack just like you did the first end, and chop off the remaining part of your cord. 

*A note on our electrical cord choice - you can try to use something different if you would rather, but we experimented with twine and with metal wire cording. Metal wire cording was really difficult to work with as you thread it through the holes - it unravels, bends, and shows kinks easily. Twine tends to stretch and would give you saggy magazine rungs. If a magazine rack is something you hope to have last you for awhile, the electrical cord is durable and easy to work with.

There you have it! It's ready to hang magazines on! You can make several in different sizes, as long as the width is the same, and you allow an extra 20" of cord for each additional rung. 

NESTING: CHALKBOARD PLANTERS

One of my ambitions in our new home is to cook at home more often. I would like to make it more of a hobby since we both really enjoy trying new recipes. We've often talked about how it would be convenient (and fun) to grow our own herbs. This weekend I started a small indoor herb garden along our windowsill, where they will get plenty of light. I thought it would be fun to use chalkboard paint on the planters and label each one. I got this idea from Martha Stewart! So far we have two different types of basil and parsley. I want to get a few more mint plants and we also have a lavender plant that is already too large for these tiny pots. I posted info about how to use Pebeo chalkboard paint here if you are interested in creating something similar. 

Have you tried growing your own herbs? Any recommendations or favorite recipes?

DIY : ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

I've been making some major progress on our guest bedroom! Choosing and making decorations for that room has been a major treat. Today I want to share a simple DIY that creates the look of bleached type on denim without the mess or the chemicals! So we collaborated with Pentel to make this denim canvas art, since their white marker was the perfect alternative to get a cleaner bleached look.Supplies: Thin denim fabric (works better on darker denim), clear spray sealer, Pentel white felt tip marker, white colored pencil, staple gun, and wooden stretcher bar. 

Spray your denim fabric with a few layers of clear sealer to help form a light coating on top of the fabric. Print a phrase on 13x19 inch paper. Place your print on a window and put your fabric over it so you can trace your letters onto the fabric with a white colored pencil.Press your white market tip all the way down to get the paint flowing. Use the pen to trace over your white pencil lines by first making a series of small dots along the line and then tracing back over the line again with your paint pen. Let the paint lines dry and repeat with a second coat.1. To make the wooden frame, we used 18x24 stretcher bars and put some wood glue in their joints when we assembled them. Center your frame around your phrase on the back of your fabric and fold your fabric edge up and over the bottom edge of the frame. Use a staple gun to secure your folded fabric on the bottom and repeat on the top edge of the frame as you pull the fabric tight. 2. To complete the sides, fold the side corner in (like you would fold the corner on a present). 3. Pull the folded edge up on top of the frame and staple in place. 4. Continue on all four corners and finish by stapling the fabric sides onto the frame.What quote or song lyrics would you choose for your DIY art piece?

MOCHA MINT FRAPPE

MOCHA MINT FRAPPE

The weather has all the way turned cold. It's full-on coat weather, ya'll! So, why in the world am I all of a sudden interested in ice cream treats? I don't know exactly. But it all started last Sunday morning. You see Elsie and I ran our first half marathon last weekend. Humble brag, but if you heard our time, you'd realize it's not much of a brag. But hey, we did it. Anyway, during the race, when we would feel like quitting (which was often) we'd talk about what kind of treat we wanted to get later that day. Elsie had her mind set on a donut, while I was leaning toward a hot fudge sundae. (you better believe I got that sundae)And thus, the ice cream obsession began. This time of year I really love the combination of mint and mocha. It just seems very holiday-ish to me. I decided to try and create my own version of a mocha mint frappe. There's about a million different ways you could make this, but here's what I did:First you gotta make coffee ice cubes. Brew some strong coffee and freeze overnight in an ice cube tray. I happen to have an ice cube tray that makes diamond shaped ice. It was an awesome wedding gift from my friend Margot. The shape of the ice cubes doesn't matter at all, I just thought these were sort of pretty so I thought I'd share. But it would be pretty funny if for some reason this recipe required diamond-shaped ice cubes. Anyway...Mocha Mint Frappe, makes 2.

12-15 coffee ice cubes
1/2 pint mint ice cream (or peppermint)
1/2 pint chocolate ice cream
2 cups milk
York Peppermint chocolate syrup
whipped cream
chocolate mint candy canes

Place the first four ingredients listed above in a blender and puree until smooth. Line the inside of two glasses with the chocolate syrup. Pour the frappe into the prepared glasses. Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle on a few crushed candy cane crumbs. Or...... is it too soon to garnish with candy canes? Too soon? Ok, then forget I said anything

DIY : COLORFUL PAPER ADVENT

COLORFUL PAPER ADVENT

Hi friends! I'm so excited to share a fun and simple idea for creating an advent calendar today! Since we don't have kiddos, but I really wanted to make this, I asked my friend Katie if I could make one for her little cuties! She was all for it and sent over some of her favorite photos for us to print. The photos felt like a needed touch to make it more personal, so it seemed like another great candidate for our Canon USA collaboration. It's so much fun and really simple too. You can knock it out in an evening! 

Supplies needed: 13 pieces of double-sided 12x12 scrapbooking cardstock (I used my Project Life designs), 6-8 6x4-inch printed photos, a sewing machine or a stapler, clothes pins, twine, number stickers and goodies to fill the 25 envelopes!To make each envelope cut two pieces of paper: the first 6x7 inches and the second 6x5 inches.Next, fold the larger paper over the top of the smaller paper to create an envelope.Print six to eight 6x4 inch photos. We printed ours out, 2 at a time on Canon 8.5x11-inch semi-gloss photopaper with our MG7120. We've actually gotten in the habit of using the Pixma Printing Solutions app for printing almost all our photos. You can use these in the place of the 6x5 pieces on some of your envelopes. (In case you are curious—that missing inch will not make a difference in the final envelope because the flap covers over it.)Next use your sewing machine to stitch around the bottom three sides of the two papers, creating an envelope! If you don't have a home sewing machine you can use a stapler to secure the three sides instead (each side will need 3-4 staples). I love how cute and colorful they are! Your little ones will love seeing their photos from the year included on the envelopes!

Now comes the ((extra)) fun part... filling the envelopes with prizes! We chose an assortment of party store prizes including candy, fruit snacks, tiny stationery, temporary tattoos and small games. You can also include notes with activities to do that day like "make hot chocolate", "look at holiday lights" or "shop for Christmas gifts"! 

We hung the envelopes in five rows of five. The last step is to use letter stickers or stamps to label each day. Your family will love this tradition. I can't wait to share it with our little ones someday.