Trophy Mom Diaries

Decorating with Trays: {ditto} DIY Challenge

May 6, 2013 by Karin

Welcome to our first {ditto} DIY challenge!

Once a month, beginning today, nine very different bloggers are attempting to recreate in our own homes a project or design element inspired by a haute couture design selected by Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design.

If this is your first time stopping by, be sure to read about: The {ditto} DIY Challenge and how you can participate next month!

In addition to Darlene, the participating bloggers include:

Ruth @ Living Well Spending Less
Cindy @ Skip to My Lou
Jen @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
Edie @ Life in Grace
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
Karin @ Trophy Mom Diaries
Lauren @ I am THAT Lady
Kelly @ View Along The Way
Melissa @ The Inspired Room

This was our first inspiration photograph:

{A chic painted tray and vanity vignette, from the home of nina bergsten, photography by marcus lawett.}

The {ditto} DIY Challenge #1:

Create your own painted tray and vanity vignette.

Tray on Ottoman

Decorating with trays:

There is nothing I love more than seeing an ottoman with a tray. It softens the room, it’s a little more interesting, and in a pinch it doubles as additional seating! How could you not love that?

For this month’s challenge I humbly submit the tray on our Living Room Ottoman. Everything about this project used things that I already had in my house. Because Ruth didn’t think I could do it. There, I’ve said it.

Do you collect Coffee Table Books? I wouldn’t say that I actively collect them, but I have acquired a small collection over the years from our travels and I love to look through them. My plan is to rotate them on this tray. Also on the tray is my faux orchid arrangement, as well as a goat & cow bell from our time on Safari with the Masai, in Africa.

Tray on Ottoman

Master Bathroom tray vignette:

What’s this? A SECOND submission? Overachiever much?

Truthfully, I probably deserve the slacker award for this one because it’s something I’ve already had in my home, but it fits the challenge so I wanted to share it.

Oh Wait, I think that makes me frugal—using something I already have? What say you, Ruth?

Tray on stool

To create this bathroom vignette, I put a woven tray on a teak stool, added a live orchid plant, a tray of succulents, and a couple of shells.

Have you tried decorating with trays? Why not give it a try?

How to join the {ditto} DIY Challenge

Remember that beginning next month (on Monday, June 3rd) we are inviting you ALL to join the {ditto} DIY challenge!

Go for the GOLD and find out about the June {ditto} DIY Challenge so that you can join us next month.

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Links & Things: Cooking with Kids Edition

May 3, 2013 by Karin

Cooking with Kids

It’s raining in South Florida—a lot. Pools are overflowing. I realize this is South Florida Problems, or as my neighbor calls it, ‘Champagne Problems’. Normally I like the rain, it makes me want to snuggle up and read a book, or organize something. But, not this week. I have too much to do. In case I’m the only homeschool Mother you know, May is our CRAZY month. We go crazy and want to turn the school day into a 12 hour affair to fit in the last of what we had planned before the annual homeschool conventions begin. So to pass the time (and get in some Home Ec) I’ve been cooking with my kids.

Online Discoveries:

Closet Visit is an opportunity to look into the closets of some fashionable and diverse women. What’s not to love about that?

My favorite new Instagram feed is: UP Close & Stylish. I don’t care who this anonymous person really is, who she is married to, if she used a professional photographer or whether or not she edits the photos herself on her iPhone 5 (she says she does). I just like looking at the fashion…and pretending I looked like that every day.

Have you liked the Trophy Mom Diaries Facebook page yet?

I post daily finds, questions, and inspiration on there. It’s a great way connect with the other members of the Trophy Mom Diaries community.

This week I posted an interesting article about a man who gave up the internet for a year. Could you go a year without the internet?

Do you know what the most overused word in the English language is? What word do you most overuse?

Here is the recipe for the Fish Baked in Salt (shown above) only we used Branzino and I doubled the salt mixture.

Have a great weekend!

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Decorating with Faux Floral Arrangements

May 2, 2013 by Karin

There was a time that decorating with silk floral arrangements was all the rage in home decorating. Then, it became something to avoid if you were under ninety.

Thankfully, times have now changed with the introduction of realistic looking faux arrangements.

I like to mix faux floral arrangements in with fresh floral arrangements and potted houseplants.

Silk Orchid Arrangement in our Foyer Entry Way

Faux Orchid & Succulent Arrangement in our Living Room

Faux Orchid Arrangement in family Room

Faux Orchid Arrangement in Kitchen

This arrangement in our kitchen was the first realistic faux arrangement I bought. It’s the one that got me hooked and kept me buying.

I cannot tell you how many compliments I’ve received on this orchid plant. I’ve even had to stop a few people from trying to water it!

Our kids thought it would be funny to put a large snail shell in the arrangement. I think it adds to the arrangement, don’t you?

Faux Tropical Arrangement in Cabana Bathroom

This bathroom is the busiest bathroom in our home. I used to try to keep fresh flowers in there, but honestly, I think it went largely unnoticed.

Faux Floral arrangements have come a long way.

Used selectively I believe they can be a great compliment to your home and no one has to be the wiser.

Just don’t forget to dust them.

Resources for realistic Faux Floral Arrangements:

John-Richard Collection at Horchow Home

NDI, Natural Decorations, Incorporated

How to clean Faux Flowers:

Mist with water bottle and wipe with clean cloth

Use blow dryer weekly to blow dust off (on cool setting).

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My 2 Greatest Achievements as a Mother (so far)

April 29, 2013 by Karin

On Mondays I blog about Marriage or Motherhood. Since I have 5 children and only 1 husband, I mostly blog about Motherhood.

Motherhood isn’t a job that gives you instant gratification.

For the most part, most of what you say, do, and instill in your children won’t really matter until they leave your nest. This can be hard, especially on the hardest days when you feel no one is listening as you repeat yourself for the tenth (thousandth) time.

On those days I choose to focus on what I call milestone achievements.

While society would tell me that my ‘work’ doesn’t matter or that it isn’t a worthy enough contribution to society or womanhood, I focus on the buds sprouting in the lives of my family and our children.

My two greatest achievements as a mother

1. My children have a love of reading

Love of Books

I taught our four oldest children to read. I witnessed the first words and the first book they’ve ever read on their own and I feel blessed to have done so.

There isn’t a day that goes by that they cannot be found reading, or a night that we don’t have to turn off the lights and pry the books out of their hands.

All those nights I read to them, when it would have been so much easier just to tuck them into bed. It wasn’t in vain.

2. My Children are Friends

Kids in pool

People from large families always say what a gift it is to be from a large family. That there is nothing like the holidays with a roomful of siblings. But that’s taking for-granted that the siblings all get along. Not all families are close-knit.

Not all siblings get along.

I love that our children are friends. They actually like each other. I might even venture to say that more often than not, they prefer one another.

When the Road Warrior and I became parents it was important to us that our children were close. When we are gone from this earth they will still have each other.

We decided to be intentional about this goal, instead of just hoping for the best. We felt the way to do this was to not play favorites. Neither of us has a favorite child.

When parents play favorites they allow seeds of resentment to grow in the heart(s) of the unfavored as they compete for attention or praise. We make sure our kids never feel they are in competition with one another.

We don’t encourage or condone them tattling on one another. We don’t compare them to one another.

We give them room to like each other.

While our children certainly have outside friendships, it’s true they spend the majority of time with each other. This is mostly because they are homeschooled, but whenever I hear criticism about this fact, I think the same thing: You could do a lot worse than having your brother or sister be your best friend in this life.

What would you say are your two greatest achievements as a mother?

Leave a Comment >> 4 Comments | Filed Under: motherhood, parenting

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Decorating with succulents

April 25, 2013 by Karin

I’ve never really had house plants.

Well, except for that one summer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but it’s been so long that I really couldn’t say if I truly had a green thumb or if it was beginners luck.

If you recall it was all I could do to put some fresh cut flowers in the house and appease my Road Warrior. However, after reading Edie’s post on decorating with plants, I felt inspired to get some.

After all, the cut flowers and I are getting along famously, so why not the potted variety?

I think the secret is to not desire a long term relationship with them.

As Edie said, they aren’t children, so you’re not obligated to them like you’re obligated to children (or pets). Whew!

When I told a neighbor I thought my homemaking and decorating needed to include developing a green thumb, or at least making an attempt to, she told me to just think of plants as longer lasting cut flowers. Anything over a week or two is a bonus, she said!

I think she and Edie may be related.

While I’m sure there are well documented studies about this and why it happens, I don’t need to read them. Because I already feel (and see) the difference. Flowers and plants make me happy.

I think my next project is going to be an outdoor succulent garden.If you are considering succulents for your home and are looking for inspiration, please look at my Pinterest board.