Fotini, Author at Farmhouse Chic Blog

Chalkboard Holiday Printables

November 25, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas printable, free printables, printable 86 Comments

If you love printables as much as I do, I hope you enjoy these that I’ve created for you to enjoy! Right click the image and “save image as…” to save to your computer and print! If you have any problems printing please let me know!

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{ Fab Pins of the Week }

November 23, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas printable, decorating for Christmas, fab pins of the week, Pinterest, printable 2 Comments

1. {source, Dear Lillie} 2. {source, AKA Design}

3. {original source unknown, Pinterest } 4. {source, Restoration House}

1. We decorate our house for Christmas, the day after Thanksgiving every year. I’m in LOVE with this stunning Christmas tree by Dear Lillie!!

2. If you know me, you know I’m crazy about printables, and this “Oh, holy night”.. printable will be making its appearance somewhere in my decor 😉

3. I love it all.. The garland, gallery wall and neutral colors!

4. I’m a sucker for burlap stockings this year, and these are right up my alley; oh, and the mercury glass, eek!!

Are you following me on Pinterest yet? If not, click here 🙂

Book Page Wreath

November 17, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: book page wreath, diy, DIY crafts, diy project, DIY wreath, home decor, up-cyled books, wreath 57 Comments

So, I attempted to do a coffee filter wreath this week.. Major fail for me 🙁 I used a foam piece I already had and you could see the bright yellow right through the filter. The filters laid beautifully, but I think the next time I try it I will use the brown filters! Any who, I was feeling a little bummed my project didn’t work out, so I decided to try something else.. How about a book page wreath?!

Here’s what you’re going to need:

foam wreath
unused book ( at least 200 pages )
brown craft paint, paintbrush
glue gun, glue
twist tie

To give the pages a worn feel, brush the edges with brown craft paint, let dry. Rip pages out, one by one, and begin to twist into a cone shape, and glue into place. It’s best to start on the inside, bottom of the wreath. Work your way around the entire piece. At this point, flip your wreath over and press firmly on a hard surface, causing your pages to lay flat. Start the next row directly behind the previous, adding them to the center of the other ones, creating a pattern. Once you get to the “top” of your foam piece, you will still want to create a cone shape with your page, but at the bottom you will create a crease and glue into place. Continue in a pattern for the rest of your wreath. Go back and fill in any spaces you feel is bare, just by simply adding glue to the bottom of your book page and sticking it it ( it will blend!). I glued a twist tie into place for hanging! You could also use a small piece of ribbon and two push pins to create a loop for hanging. This works well for me 😉

I love the fullness of this wreath! What a great gift this would be for a book lover or teacher!! I hope you enjoy it, it’s a beauty to look at!

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{ A shoe box that gives hope }

November 15, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: gifting, giving, giving back to those in need, giving hope, OCC, Operation Christmas Child 14 Comments

Do you give back during the Holiday season? I think it’s so important to teach my kids the importance of giving back to those in need. Something we look forward to doing each year is filling the O.C.C (Operation Christmas Child) Boxes from our Church. You have the choice to chose the age group and gender of the child you’re providing for. We do the age group that our kids are that year, so this year we did a 6 six old boy and a one-two year old girl.

Here’s a list of the items we added to our shoe boxes:

{ Boy }

Wet wipes
Tissues
Hair and body wash
Toothbrush and toothpaste
6 pack of mechanical pencils
Jump rope
Toy Story puzzle
Child’s book of Prayers
Christmas flip book
Small stocking
48 pack of crayons

{ Girl }

Wet wipes
Tissues
12 pairs of socks
Hair and body wash
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Bath sponge
First Bible book
Christmas flip book
Small stocking
12 pack of large crayons

As we filled the shoe boxes, we prayed for the children who would receive them and my son told me how much fun he had doing this. Made my heart smile 🙂

Picture Makeover

November 13, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: diy, diy project, easy project, fabric, home decor, picture makeover, up-cycle 40 Comments

Is it just me, or when you move do you want all new decor for your house?! I have some one-of-a-kind pieces I could never replace, but some things I just want to toss.. Instead of tossing them out, give them a makeover! I had three pictures in particular that I had in mind for this project… I purchased these about 5 years ago when I got my first place and I just wasn’t into them anymore. Last week, I showed you a no-sew French-inspired pillow I made, and I used the same fabric for these!

For my large canvas picture, I spray painted it with an almond color paint, and let dry. Then I taped four horizontal lines completely across the canvas, and spray painted the canvas white. Once dry, remove the painters tape. I decided to add a canvas I made here a few posts back, for a special pop! Simply grab your glue gun, heat and add glue dots in numerous place and press into place. This picture looks SO different now!

For the two smaller pictures, I wanted to wrap them with the pretty fabric I had, so just lay your fabric out, grab you picture and cut to size leaving an additional 2 inches on each side. Make sure your fabric isn’t bubbly or wrinkly, pull taut. Attach to the picture backing by gluing with hot glue to the top and bottom. For your sides, fold the insides in as if you’re wrapping a present and glue into place. And that’s it! You can give any old picture a whole new look with any of your favorite fabrics and a little bit of glue 😉

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{ 20 Thanksgiving Centerpieces }

November 12, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: centerpieces, Holiday centerpieces, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving centerpieces, Thanksgiving decor 8 Comments

I’m getting super excited for Thanksgiving! I love coming up with stunning centerpieces each year. I’m still not completely set on what mine will be this year, but you will be the first to know 😉 I do know that mini white pumpkins, branches, vases and crystals will be coming into play! Where do you get your centerpiece inspiration from? Do you stick with the same details each year or switch it up?

Here are 20 incredible Thanksgiving centerpieces that will have you craving to re-create them!

Thanksgiving inspired floral by Poppies and Posies | Photo by Jen Huang for Camille Styles

{ source: Camille Styles }

{ source: Design Sponge }

{ source: Bunches and Bits }

{ source: Shelterness }

{ source: My Heartsdesire }

{ source: The Polo House }

{ source: Sophia’s }

{ source: It’s All About the Flowers }

{ source: The Berry }

{ source: This is Happiness }

{ source: Midwest Living }

{ Original source unknown }

{ source: Shelterness }

{ source: Bellasoiree }

Fashionably Southern: Thanksgiving Centerpieces....

{ Original source unknown }

{ source: All You }

Thanksgiving Centerpiece Bouquet - Organic Bouquet.com

{ source: Style Hive }

{ source: Bravo Bride }

{ source: Tinyprints Blog }

{ Original source unknown }

Thanksgiving Crafts

November 10, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: crafts, diy, holiday crafts, holidays, kids crafts, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving crafts 15 Comments

I have just been itching to start decorating for Christmas, but instead I’m embracing the important Holiday before Christmas, Thanksgiving! Let’s not forget about it people, it depicts a very important message to our children about being thankful and spending time with family!

Enjoy spending time with your little ones and spark their creativity…Here’s a few adorable crafts to make with them!!

1. {source} 2. {source} 3. {source}

4. {source} 5. {source} 6. {source}

Scrumptious Apple Pie

November 4, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: apple pie, apple pie recipe, fall, pie, recipe-1, recipes, Thanksgiving dinner

Who doesn’t love a good apple pie?! Well today I felt brave enough to attempt one by scratch. Yes, that’s right, I didn’t use a recipe and it turned out delicious!! Last Fall we went to our local fruit farm (Lynd’s) and picked way too many apples, so I froze some in our deep freezer. I went to the basement two days ago and brought them up to thaw. They felt a little mushy but perfect for cooking!

Here’s what you’re going to need:

pre-made pie crust- 2 rolls
at least six cups of sliced apples
1/2 cup of sugar
a pinch of salt
a dash of cinnamon
5 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons stick butter
caramel sauce for drizzle

The thing I love about this pie is we had a variety of apples we picked, so some are tart, and some are sweet . Great mixture! Anyways, start by washing, peeling and slicing your apples into slices and place them into a saucepan. Add your sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and stick butter to the pan over low heat. Let this cook and thicken, it will smell like heaven!! While your pie filling is cooking, grab your pie plate and crust. Unroll one piece of the crust and place into the pie plate, thumbing off any extra dough. Grab your second roll of pie crust, roll it onto a flat surface and cut it into about 1/2 inch pieces, length wise. I wanted to do a braid design for my crust, so I grabbed three pieces of the dough and simply began to braid them. I cut off the top and bottom and pressed it onto my pie pan, continue this until completely finished. I did about three sets all the way around. Grab some foil and gently cover your crust. By this time, your pie filling should be thick and fragrant. Remove from heat and pour into your pie crust. I cut a few additional strips of dough to place on top of the pie filling in a criss-cross design. Drizzle a little bit of caramel sauce over top of the entire pie. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, remove the foil from the crust and bake an additional 7-10 minutes. And ta-da, you have a beautiful pie that it looks like you’ve been slaving over all day to make!

My husband and dad both had seconds, and my husband requested that I make this again for Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy this recipe, I’ll be keeping it around 😉

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No- Sew Ruffle Pillow

October 31, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: craft project, diy, diy pillow cover, glue gun, no sew pillow, ruffle pillow 44 Comments

I love ruffles, and pillows! I bought some beautiful french-inspired fabric the other day at Hobby Lobby to re-do some pictures I have, (that will come later!). I had lots of extra fabric left, so I decided to get crafty, can you believe it?!

I had a plain, small pillow that came with my bedding, that just wasn’t doing anything for me.. So, I decided to give it a little face-lift!

Here’s what you’re going to need:

fabric
pillow
scissors
glue gun, glue

The best thing about this project is it’s NO SEW, and it’s pretty quick too! Grab your fabric and cut it into 2 inch by 16 inch strips. These measurements will vary depending on your pillow. Flip your fabric design side down, and begin by placing a small glue dot at the very top of your fabric and pinching it together. Continue to do this the entire length of your fabric, leaving about a half inch between each glue dot. At each end of you fabric, fold a small amount over, glue and press. I did four rows of ruffles and secured them in numerous places with a little hot glue. On my fourth piece of fabric, I made it about 3.5 inches wide since this was going on top, but still used the same method!

And there you have it, a ruffled pillow! No sew, no mess and all in about a half hour, can’t beat it!

Top piece, about 3.5 inches wide

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{ Portrait: A documentary by Andy Newman }

October 30, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: documentary, photography, portrait by Andy Newman, Portrait: A Documentary on Photographers 5 Comments

A documentary that explores the question, ” In the age of Instagram, what sets a professional photographer apart?”

This is a fresh approach to the direct passion people have for photography, whether it be with an expensive photo camera or an iPhone. It’s the feeling you get, the result you provide, the reactions you produce and the memories you capture!

Portrait from Andy Newman on Vimeo.