This and That

No particular subject for this post, just a few random things I've been working on.
It took me a little over a year, but we finally have curtains on all of our windows.  For several months we've only been lacking curtains in the office and master bedroom.  I don't know why we didn't do the office sooner.  All we did was put up some plain brown valances that are accented with light brown stitching.  Simple, masculine, perfect for Josh.
The bedroom, however, has been a bit of a struggle.  For the last few years, we've had a quilt on our bed that my great aunt Ruby made us for a wedding gift.  As much as we love that quilt, we just didn't want to use it forever and wear it out too much.  Aunt Ruby has since passed away, and we want to cherish this family heirloom.  So I didn't put up any curtains because I knew we would be changing our bedding soon.  Back in June, after tons of searching, we finally found a new quilt.  We are really picky- simple is best- we don't like super fluffy comforters, lots of pillows, modern prints, too many flowers, etc.  We decided on this one from Bed Bath and Beyond without any of the extra pillows.  Although this quilt has several basic colors in it, curtains were not as easy to match as I had hoped.  I was leaning toward something navy, but ended up with brown and green instead.  I think it works ok even though these pictures don't show the green and brown in the comforter very well.

I also added some cork boards to my craft room recently.  I used fabric that matched the rest of the room to cover cork trivets I bought at Ikea for a few dollars.  Then I found some little green buttons in the $1 section at Michaels (that rang up at $0.50) and glued them to thumb tacks.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

Fabric covered cork boards

Buttons- too cute!

Thumb tacks

Finished product

One other addition to my craft room

Some of you already know why I would buy this box ($7 clearance at Pier One- love it!)  For those of you who have no clue, let me fill you in.  I grew up in Albuquerque, NM.  The mountains that border the east side of the city are called the Sandia Mountains.  Here's what Wikipedia says:

Sandía means watermelon in Spanish, and is popularly believed to be a reference to the reddish color of the mountains at sunset.  Also, when viewed from the west, the profile of the mountains is a long ridge, with a thin zone of green conifers near the top, suggesting the "rind" of the watermelon. However, as Robert Julyan notes, "the most likely explanation is the one believed by the Sandia Indians: the Spaniards, when they encountered the Pueblo in 1540, called it Sandia, because they thought the squash growing there were watermelons, and the name Sandia soon was transferred to the mountains east of the pueblo.”

Of course the box is also pink and green which happened to match my craft room, and it's perfect for holding patterns.  What could be better!?!