Monthly Archives: July 2012

Why flowers make me smile

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So you may remember me mentioning in a post before that I have a thing for the flowers and actually own my own company {MOSS Floral} doing floral & event design.  Well my “journey” into the world of flowers was never something I expected to venture into and certainly didn’t happen overnight.  But as many other things in life that are just meant to be, my love of flowers…well…Blossomed {ba dump bump chaaa}  I owe a TON of my skills and knowledge to my fab business partner Annie {otherwise known as Miss A here at HSE}, who has a killer eye for all things beautiful and is quite literally the worlds BEST bow maker…seriously…the woman can tie an insanely gorg’ bow.

But back to the how and why; Annie and I literally fell into the world of flowers helping out a few friends back in the day.  After working on our friend’s weddings we realized that our flower power was just too strong to not be shared with the world.  Now I am still {and will forever be} learning when it comes to flowers but let me tell you the over pouring creativity and pure joy that comes from working with flowers and making other people smile from our flowers is indescribable!

The best way to really make an impact with flowers is to add little personal touches.  Incorporating these little touches brings life and personality to any kind of arrangement!

We are so blessed to work with some of the most amazing vendors on the planet!  Check out the MOSS website to see some of our favorites as well as the photographers for the images featured here today!

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you’ve always wanted to know about the beautiful world of flowers!?!  Want to know how to care for these pretty things?  When flowers are in season?  How to plan for your next event?  Leave a comment with your most pressing questions!

Happy Flower Power!
~ Jillian

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Monday Mantra: be Busy

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Morning!  Hope you had a lovely weekend.  We sure had a fun {and slightly crazy} one.  First we had a little house guest for the weekend, our neighbors sweet and snuggly little pup P-Nut.  Layla & P-Nut were not in-love took some warming up to each other but made it thru the weekend with a few extra treats and snuggles.  To make it slightly more chaotic for us {cuz that is how we roll} we packed up these two little munchkins and headed up to visit with our new little niece {and her 3 little chihuahua brothers & sisters}.  So just to be sure we are clear:

1 Doodle + 1 P-Nut + 3 Chihuahuas + 1 baby girl Alys = a crazy but snuggle filled weekend!

So today’s mantra seemed like the perfect fit for such a busy and hectic weekend.  No matter how crazy life gets when you have moments with the one’s you love most…it makes all that insanity completely worth while!  {you know I stole as many baby Alys snuggles as I possibly could all weekend long!!}

“Be so busy loving your life, you have no time for hate, regret or fear”

I must admit…I LOVE my crazy life!

~ Jillian

The Perfect Pin {and Giveaway winner!}

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Morning all!  Its a crazy one over here so I decided to take a little break to look at a few of my favorite things this week {the obsession with Pinterest continues!}  They are TotAllY random…so prepare yourself {and stick around ti’l the end for the GoodBelly giveaway winner!}

{This NEEDS to be mine…seriously}

 

So now its giveaway time!!  Huge thanks to the wonderful people at GoodBelly for putting together this great price and to all my readers for participating!  Stay tuned for MANY more giveaways to come!!

And the winner is {drumroll please…} Robin Knutson!  Robin’s favorite HSE posts are the Monday Mantras {especially Meant to be – also one of my favorites too Robin!!}   

Cheers {and lots of love to all!}
~ Jillian

Showered with Favors: Baby Herbs

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So I told you yesterday that my precious little niece is finally here…and then  I realized that I still have lots of details from her baby shower to share with you {sorry for slacking on this one!!}  One of my favorite little details of the shower to celebrate Baby Alys {and her sweet momma} were the take home favors for all of the guests.  I collected empty baby food jars from a few friends with babies and turned them into little mini herb planters!  As usual these days my inspiration came from none other then…Pinterest.  I knew as soon as I saw the inspiration pic that these were just perfect!!

{Inspiration found on Pinterest}

Tools & Supplies

  • Baby Food Jars {with labels removed}
  • Ribbon & Paper
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Paper Cutter & decorative punches {or scissors}
  • Dirt
  • Herbs {or other plants}
  • Spoon

How-To

  1. Collect baby food jars, remove labels & glue {To get off the last little bits of glue and goo I used the peanut butter trick  - also found on Pinterest…shocker}.
  2. Pull together decorative items {ribbon, paper scraps, stickers, etc}  Cut the paper using a straight edge paper cutter.  Choose the width of paper based on the size of your jar and desired look.  For me I wanted to still see the dirt thru the jar and also have room to add ribbon and other embellishments.  I also used a decorative punch to give some of them a “fancy” edge {the paper punch I used is a Martha Stewart punch I found at Michaels}
  3. Once paper is cut and punched, using a dot of hot glue affix one end of the paper to the jar, wrap paper around the jar and secure with another dot of hot glue.  Use the same method for any additional paper layers or ribbons.
  4. Next step is planting the herbs {or other plants}.  If you are using baby food jars, be sure to choose plants that have several stems and can be separated into smaller plants to fit in the jars.  Using a spoon add some dirt to the bottom of the jar, add the plant and fill in with dirt to secure.  Water and Enjoy!

* I used culinary herbs but you can really use any type of plant or flowers that you want!

These little jars also make great party decor!

Happy Hosting!

~ Jillian

Monday Mantra: Love

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Oh what a weekend!  We had aLOT of reasons to celebrate love this weekend.  A wedding shower for my sweet friend Annie {Miss A} & her handsome fiancé Jeremy and…I’M AN AUNT!!  My adorable brother-in-law and sister-in-law welcomed little Alys into the world early saturday morning and {if its not already completely obvious} I could not be more excited!  She is absolutely a perfect little bundle that I am totally in love with!!

So in honor of all this LOVE going around…today’s Monday Mantra…

“If not for love then why?”

I stumbled on this story at one of my favorite design blogs, More Design Please.  A 70 year old farmer planted thousands of oak trees to create this beautiful tribute to his late wife.  The heart points in the direction of her childhood home.  If not for love then why?

{full story found here}

If not for love then why?  Can you imagine our world if we did all things with love in our hearts?  Take a second to look around you and remember all the reasons you have love in your life and be thankful!

~ Jillian {with love}

the Perfect Pin – goodies

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Happy Friday!!  Hope you had a wonderful week and have a fab weekend in front of you.  This week was a hectic one, I was all over the place… so in honor of that here are some of the “random” but lovely pins from the week.

{For image details…check out the original pins here}

Happy Friday!!

~ Jillian

**Don’t forget to enter to win the fab freebie coming to us from the lovely people at GoodBelly!!  Check out this post for all the details!!

{Giveaway!} – Good Belly (closed)

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This giveaway is now closed.  Congrats to our winner Brittany!

{Brittany please contact us to collect your goodies!}

Remember this post when I shared with you what I consider to be a LIFE changing find with the FABULOUS products from GoodBelly?!  GoodBelly is a probiotic juice drink with a specialized probiotic strain that helps balance your intestinal microflora {the good bacteria}.  All GoodBelly products are certified organic, dairy free, soy free, vegan and kosher.  They are available in the GoodBelly quarts, GoodBelly+ 2.7oz shots, the Big Shot which has twice the amount of cultures, probiotic coconut water and the straight shot.  My personal fav is the Blueberry Acai GoodBelly+ but so far I haven’t tried one that I don’t like!!

The wonderful people at GoodBelly want to make sure that all of my readers have the chance to give their digestive system a boost!!  Try the GoodBelly 12 Day Challenge. It’s super easy and fun – just drink one serving of GoodBelly each day for 12 consecutive days straight and see how you feel! It’s a great way to truly give GoodBelly a try and see how their probiotics work for you.  Click here to find a store near you that has jumped on the Good Belly train!

**Giveaway time !! 

  • Prize: three VIP vouchers for GoodBelly product {in other words you can do the 12 Day challenge free o’ charge cuz the GoodBelly+ come in packs of 4!!}
  • To Enter: Leave a comment telling us your favorite Her Split Ends post so far…{just click on the comment bubble at the top of this post!}
  • Bonus Entry: To increase your chances of winning, earn a second entry by having a friend subscribe to Her Split Ends. {Then, simply leave a 2nd comment with your friend’s user name}
  • Giveaway Closes: Wednesday, July 25th at 8pm
  • Details: The winner will be randomly selected using random.org & announced next Thursday morning as an update to this post. {so be sure to check back!!}  Giveaway is open to U.S. readers only {GoodBelly is currently not available outside the U.S.}

Good Luck! {and happy health!}

~ Jillian

Chip it good

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Chip it….Chip it good.  STOP time and prepare yourself for the coolest little app EVER!  {ok that might be slightly dramatic}…but for this color loving girl the new Chip It button from Sherwin Williams is AmAzInG!

Super simple: follow this link to the Sherwin Williams website and drag the “chip it” button to your toolbar.  Then just use it like you would use the “pin it” button for Pinterest, when you find an image that inspires you {for ANY reason} click the “chip it” button and roll over the image to see the color palette inspiration…if you love it then CHIP IT!  so lovely.  Here are a few of my favorites but stop by the SW site to check out my chips so far.

Color Your World & Chip it up!

~ Jillian

Color me Happy: Cool Palette

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It’s hot outside…there’s just no way around it.  So today…a little design inspiration to cool you off!!  There is something so relaxing and refreshing about a cool color palette AND so many different ways to combine these lovely colors.  So grab your greens your blues and your purples and start mixing them up!!

{Images from West Elm, Z Gallerie, Crate & Barrel & CB2}

{Image found at Belle Maison}

{Image from Studio of Decorative Arts}

{Image found at Interior Design Files}

Stay Cool

~ Jillian