Bloggers are so creative...

I love reading blogs for so many reasons. First, I'm nosy and I like hearing the triumphs, trials, and tribulations of others. Second, I'm often stunned at the creativity out in this big, wide world. What amazing women (I don't really read any blogs by dudes unless you count the manly half of YHL)! Third, I love looking at the beautiful photography. Mostly the pics of people's homes. Regular stay-at-home mommas like myself can capture the beauty of a single moment so well. So this post is about a few of those things. Here are some things/projects that I want to try that are currently floating around on some of my favorite reads.

First, I want to take better pictures of my home and projects (and my kids... I claim that I mean for the pics of them to be blurry because that's true to life and its my version of being artistic...really I just don't know what I'm doing :-). So, my first read is from Centsational Girl. She talks briefly about talking Better Brighter Blog Photos and I'm going to be doing some practicing (and hopefully improving) in the coming weeks. You will thank me. My Canon will thank me. My parents will thank me (although they enjoy any and all pics of the girls even with the blur factor).

Next up, I want to add some more function to the inside of my pantry doors. Melissa at Houseography inspired this and I'm excited that she hung the cork using 3M stickies (we all know that nothing can be too permanent at Casa de Carrie). Now to find somewhere else to hang my collection of aprons...

Its also definitely time to get some herb action going here. I'm sick of running to the store for basil or thinking I have some and finding it super mushy and sketchy looking at the back of the fridge. I already have a collection of terracotta pots and Scissors & Spatulas got the ball rolling on this idea for a cute display.

Then I saw this image over at Chasing Shiny Objects (thanks Cara!) and knew this was more the route for me. These pots from Two Farm Chicks are an Etsy find and the lettering is carved but I'm thinking I can do the same thing with paint or a Sharpie (I love Sharpies!).

Finally, this moss covered ampersand is callin' my name!!! I just posted yesterday about decorating my shelves with some apple green accent pieces and lo and behold, I see a tutorial for this beauty over at Two Twenty One! Its providence I tell you, simply providence!

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the projects I'm itching to try. But first I have a few unfinished items calling my name.

• Have to paint G's room. HAVE TO.
• Need to hang hardware and hem new curtains for living room.
• Need to deal with stacks mountains of clean laundry (yes, its clean).

Bah. I should be putting away clothes right now. I think I'll go look for more fun projects online. Just for 3 minutes. I'm setting a timer. Seriously. OK. 5 minutes more, that's it. I promise.