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Father’s Day in Photos

June 22, 2015

Ellie’s dress: BabyGap My dress: c/o Pink Blush Maternity

Ellie and I loved spending the day celebrating Brian (and her grandpas!) As a Father’s Day gift, Ellie woke up in the cutest, happiest mood (a little earlier than preferred, but whatever 😉 and showered him with hugs, kisses, and “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY” wishes (unintentional rhyming there!) By some absolute miracle (or Ellie’s early awakening) we were ready for church a HALF HOUR EARLY. So in true Alexa fashion, I loaded up our tripod and we trekked through a weed filled park to get a few Father’s Day photos before arriving at church – on time! These two are troopers to put up with the endless photos we take. Not pictured: Hanging out with the nursery kiddos during church (hello snack time!) !our delicious dinner (Ribs! Strawberry spinach salad! Twice baked potatoes!), Ellie’s epic meltdown / timeout during dinner (two year olds! 🙂 We sure loved celebrating this guy all day! He’s seriously the best.

If you make breakfast with a two year old…

January 12, 2015

…it’s bound to look something like this.
(and this is far less messier than it usually is! 😉

5 Easy Tips for Photographing Your Home

January 7, 2015

Yay! You have a beautiful home you’re just dying to share…but ahead lies the daunting task of actually photographing it. Eek! No need to fear, it’s not as daunting as it seems! Today I’m sharing five easy tips for photographing your home. I’m a big believer that homes should be documented (and often!) I love looking back at photos my mom took when we were younger and remembering our red bunk beds or our tiny bulky tv in the corner of the living room. So fun! These tips can apply to any camera owner (iphone, point and shoot, or DSLR!) No matter how big or small your home is, it’s worth documenting (and sharing!)

MIX IT UP When photographing a room, I like to get a variety of wide angle shots mixed with closer, more detailed shots. A good mixture of the little details sprinkled in with photos of the room at large give your audience a good idea of the entire feel of the room. A variety of these types of shots are pure magic!

ADD SOME LIFE This is one key element that I’m working on. Adding a glimpse of life to your photos really makes them stand out. For instance, leaving some dishes (not dirty ones!) on the kitchen table makes it look like you’re about to sit down for a nice meal. Or leave a pair of shoes by the door or your phone and a pad of paper on the desk. Obviously you don’t want your shoes haphazardly lying on the rug, but carefully placed, these tiny objects add character to your photos. Better yet, photograph someone working or your kids playing in the playroom for some real life action shots.

FIND GOOD LIGHT And that means….turn off the light and turn off your flash! Yes, I mean it! When I leave my lights on in my house the photos turn out all warm and orangey tones. Yuck! And, I’ve mentioned before how much I dislike camera flashes. That’s a big fat NO in my book. The shadows mess up everything. Instead, try using the natural light your house has to offer. This ensures that the colors appear more accurate. When we first moved in, it took me awhile to figure out the light in each room. Our living room, for instance, gets great light in the morning time, but by noon, the good light is gone. Our kitchen has fabulous light in the afternoon and evening, while our master bedroom light time peaks early afternoon. Figure out when the best light is in each room, and photograph then. Another tip? Open your curtains! This lets in a good amount of natural light and makes the room easier to photograph. Avoid taking photos when the light is too harsh, though, you want just the right amount of soft light pouring in the make your photos magic!

MOVE AROUND Don’t just stand there, climb on top of that chair or lie on the ground. Sometimes I squat down to get eye level with the objects I’m photographing or get up really high! Different angles and views make for diverse, interesting photos of your home.

PHOTOGRAPH WHAT’S UNIQUELY YOU I love looking back at photos of our previous homes (and my house growing up!) and remembering all the fun things we had scattered about. Take photos of your wall hangings, the kids artwork on the fridge, or your favorite rug in the living room. These are what make your house your home!

P.S. If you share your home (or already have!) link them up below. I’d love to see them!! XO

An InLinkz Link-up

Ellie’s Secret Hideaway

January 6, 2015

In our playroom, we have this really long, really short crawl space. It’s essentially not tall enough to be a closet, and requires some major ducking on any adults part to get in there. Hence, it became our storage pit. Suitcases, never used toys, and other random items piled haphazardly in this space until this last weekend. It had to go, we said! After a year and a half, we finally put this space to good use. Brian cut this darling window (more on that later!) to let in a little more light, Ellie’s pink kitchen found a new home, and an extra strand of lights added the perfect finishing touches to this little corner. We found this tiny little table (aka cheap, tiny TV stand) at Ikea, which was the perfect addition. We find Ellie in here making pizza and cake daily! (Only making the best food 😉 And it has become the perfect (and one and only!) hide and go seek spot!

This little window adds much more light on the inside, and is absolutely adorable on the outside. I can’t wait to show you!

Felt balls from Hello Maypole. P.S. Taking pictures without hitting your head multiple times in here? Not possible. 🙂

I adored these fruit printables (found here) When Ellie asked what the lime was, she thought I said “lion” so now she RAWRS! every time she sees it. 🙂

The Work-In-Progress Room

December 19, 2014

Also known as the guest room, the storage room, and the Alexa Z Design production room! Previously known as the do-not-disturb room, for safety reasons of course. The door was typically shut (tight!) because this room used to be a complete and utter disaster. As in, don’t even try to walk in because you can’t see the floor. Seriously. 😉 I’m trying to find a good picture, it was a mess. It also wasn’t the best set up for a guest room and was nowhere near organized, so working in there was a disaster. I finally invested in a few key organization pieces (thanks Ikea!), gutted the room (aka got rid of a lot of boxes and junk), and now it’s so much more functional! While I choose to do most of my creative work at my desk in the playroom (as seen here!), this is where the real action happens! Printing, packaging, mailing, you name it. While this isn’t a complete before & after post, here’s a little sneak peak in one of our extra, work-in-progress bedrooms:

This little room currently houses a desk/working station, a guest bed, dresser, and about five hundred other things. I still haven’t gotten around to painting this room (though I do love how white and bright it is! just needs a little touch up) We did manage to replace the dark green carpet with our laminate flooring and this cheap rug (from Walmart!) adds a great pop of (a way nicer green) color! I’m still on the look out for a good stool or something to fit right under the desk (though, most of the time I end up standing, so maybe I don’t even need one at all!)

My DIY You’ve Got Mail mug houses any writing utensils and supplies and I like to keep a stack of mailers, business cards, and other packaging handy on this desk.

While I don’t have a good system down for organizing inventory quite yet, I do have an actual inventory! Which is crazy, because when I started, I cut and print each print individually as they were ordered. (=time consuming!) Now it saves so much time having each print all ready to go!

Above my printer, I keep a supply of a variety of papers, stickers, and mailing labels for easy access. I used to keep them in drawers but this is so much more convenient!

Our poor guests get to share a room with all my junk, but at least they get a super colorful bedspread, right? 🙂

I keep hundreds of these stay flat mailers and plastic sleeves with chipboard on hand at all times. When I first started my little business, I bought thirteen of each and thought that was SO many. It’s amazing to see how much this little business has grown since then (all thanks to you guys!! 🙂 Oh, and that Don’t Freak Out sign hangs directly over my printer for a reason. Me + electronics don’t always mix well. 😉

And of course, my favorite helper! She helps fill each plastic sleeve with chipboard (even if it does take ten times as long!) and adds price stickers to the back of each product (and all over herself!) Not to mention, she’s utterly adorable to work with.

And thus concludes our sneak peek and behind the scenes look at the production / guest room! I’ve had quite a few emails and questions lately about starting and running a business, and other questions about design work. If you have any questions you’re just dying to ask, leave me a comment below! 🙂 I’d love to do a Q&A (and share some of my Etsy secrets) in a future post!

Frames, drawers, desk, baskets, bins, and wall organizer: Ikea
Yellow Dresser: Thrifted
Striped Duvet Cover: PB Teen (old)
All Prints: Alexa Z Design

Ugly Sweaters Welcome

December 10, 2014

It wouldn’t be the holiday season without a chance to wear a hideous sweater, right? We co-hosted a little Ugly Sweater party last weekend and had a blast! (Ok, it wasn’t really little, we had over 12 kids under the age of 6 running around! 😉 We managed to NOT pick the live goldfish at the white elephant gift exchange (whew!) and stuffed ourselves with all kinds of delicious food. Unfortunately our last minute ugly sweaters from Walmart didn’t win the ugly sweater contest, but they were close. So close. 😉

Ugly sweater printables from The Dating Divas, winter banner from Catch my Party, and bulb light banner from Paging Super Mom.

The one where we decorated for Christmas

December 5, 2014

^^ Every day Ellie asks if we can open her presents, and every day we tell her she can open them when Santa comes. Not quite sure if she understands the whole Santa concept, but she runs off saying HO HO HO!” ^^

^^ We went super simple on decorations this year and our tree is 100% kid friendly and mini. Only animal and Minnie Mouse ornaments, just for Ellie 😉 ^^

^^ The tree on the desk may not have been the best idea…she climbs up on it multiple times a day. Oops ^^

^^ Ellie had a little friend over the other day and they suddenly got super quiet. I tiptoed into the kitchen to find them covered in all that fudge! Needless to say, we only have a few pieces left now. ^^

^^ Banana pancakes with dad. In the winter, warm breakfasts on the weekend seem necessary! ^^

^^ I pulled out our leftover wrapping paper from last year and wrapped only a few presents before I ran out of tape. And ribbon. And tags. Guess I’ll save wrapping presents for another day. 🙂 ^^

^^ This print from Hello Tosha adds the right amount of flair mixed with our simple lights and pinecones. ^^

^^ Even with that reminder on our fridge, I was still running around like a crazy person to get ready for the Christmas boutique this weekend (and next!) at the Riverwoods in Provo! Ha, tis the season for crazy, right? ^^

And setting up Christmas wouldn’t be complete without some Christmas tunes, right? (Ellie’s current favorites are Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town! We sing them all. day. long.)

Staying Organized | DIY Jewelry Display

October 20, 2014

When we moved into our house last year, I shoved all my jewelry in my top dresser drawer and there it has stayed for the last year. In fact, I thought I lost it all until the other day when I found it all tangled up in the back of my drawer. I figured it was about time to do something about it! After spending a lot of time untangling, a lot, I laid it all out on the dresser for a week. A week! I knew that it would start to drive me crazy (and Brian too!) so we’d come up with a solution faster. Ha. After popping into our messy, messy garage one afternoon, I spotted this lone, forgotten shelf. I picked it up at a local thrift store last year and since we’ve moved, I haven’t used it at all. It was perfect for our room!

While I loved the blue, it didn’t fit our room at all. I chose white so all the colorful jewelry would pop! I picked up some glossy, white spray paint and two tiny dowels at Michael’s and Brian grabbed the small white hooks from Lowes. After painting the shelf and dowels and letting it dry, Brian cut down the dowels to size. He bent two hooks and screwed them into the side of the shelf and from there, we placed the dowel on top. (You can kind of see it in the photos below!) It makes it super handy for the bracelets to be able to remove the dowel and slide a bracelet on and off.

The necklaces are hung on just tiny white hooks. No more tangles! And no more broken necklaces! (Ellie, I love you, but you haven’t figured out how to be quite as gentle with mommy’s jewelry as I would like 😉

And there you have it. A simple, easy jewelry organizer! On a random side note, I used to wear earrings every single day. All day long. Now all of the sudden, I can’t wear anything remotely heavy. If I do, my ears get infected and red! So most of these pairs of earrings are saved for date nights and church, where I don’t wear them for very long. Do you have any favorite lightweight earrings? I’d love to hear your favorites and while we’re at it, any of your favorite places to buy cute (affordable!) jewelry. XO

Festive Fall Front Porch Makeover

October 6, 2014

Can I tell you a secret? I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween. The candy? Absolutely. Autumn? Yes, of course. Halloween in general? Not my favorite. And when it comes to haunted houses or anything spooky, I’m the biggest baby. 😉

Brian, on the other hand, loves Halloween and all the spookiness that comes with it. Every year he asks where our Halloween decorations are and every year I remind him that we don’t have any. Ha! This year, I am attempting to be a little more festive. So, this week is the Unofficial He and I Blog Fall DIY Week. Wow, that’s a mouthful. I will be sharing a few of my favorite autumn DIY projects and recipes! Our home is looking a ~~little~~ lot more festive than it ever has been!

To kick off this fun week of DIYs, how about a front porch makeover. Our townhome has a small front porch and flower bed/garden area. The porch light was covered in cobwebs (very Halloween-y, right?) and the whole thing looked pretty bland. Our stroller was left on the porch too often, our cute “Hello” mat ripped and blew away in the wind (so sad!) and even after a year of living here, I still haven’t put up a wreath or décor of any kind. Our porch was in need of a facelift.

While I wanted our front porch to look a little festive for Halloween, I didn’t want to have to redecorate for Thanksgiving too. Let’s face it, I’m more of a Christmas person, so usually I skip Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations all together. I wanted to keep the front porch “fall” themed, instead of one holiday or the other. Brian and I also wanted some seating for front porch and I was dreaming of some added patterns and color. Here’s a few of our ideas:

I loved the idea of a hand painted sign, some cushions for the chairs, and some added light. We also wanted a new doormat. After a trip to Ikea and scouring the garage for some supplies, let me introduce you to our new and improved front porch!

Looks much better without the stroller and scattered shoes, right?! While I’m itching to paint the door and change out the light, that will have to wait for another day. 😉 One project at a time, or so I tell myself. (My garage will tell you otherwise. I always have several projects going on a time.)

These lanterns from Ikea are my favorite! We have a fake candle in the white one that automatically turns on every night for a few hours. Love having that added glow on our porch.

In the short amount of time that we’ve had this little table and chairs set, we’ve put it to good use! While the weather was still warmer in the evenings, we would eat our dinner on the front porch, talk to neighbors, and watch Ellie play. While Brian isn’t the biggest fan of the floral fabric, he’s ok with it since it didn’t cost us any extra money. I had the fabric leftover from recovering our dining room chairs and had just enough fabric to make two small pillows.

mini pumpkins, decorating front porch for fall

I figured it was high time to get a wreath on our door, so I opted for a semi-homemade wreath from Michaels. I bought the branches/stick wreath form and then some of the fall berries. I just poked in the branches of berries into the wreath, twisted and tugged a little until they were secure. I picked up the simplest $5 door mat from Ikea, and I’m dying to add some character to it. Any ideas? Pass them my way!

DIY Happy Harvest, Halloween Wooden Sign

I’m still looking for a good way to display this DIY Happy Harvest sign. I found this little stool thing in our garage. It keeps the pumpkins and signs off the ground, but I really would prefer something a bit wider. But hey, I can’t pass up free, cheap and easy. 🙂

And there you have it, our front porch actually decorated for fall. That’s a first! How do you decorate for the upcoming seasons and holidays? Feel free to pass on some ideas to me!

Table and Chairs: Ikea
Lanterns: Ikea
Pillows: DIY, fabric from Joann’s
Door mat: Ikea
Wreath: DIY, supplies from Michaels
Candles: Block candles from Costco
Pumpkins: Local grocery store
Wooden Sign: DIY

Want to learn how to make your own Happy Harvest hand painted sign? It’s easier than it looks! Tutorial will be on the blog tomorrow, stay tuned!

You’ve Got Mail inspired Home Décor

September 8, 2014

You may enjoy this post today if you:
Dream of moving to New York in the fall…
Really want a reason to tell someone “That caviar is a garnish!”…
Know what the “shoe books” are…
Frequently have the urge to send someone a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils…
Know what “go to the mattresses” means….

If you’ve answered YES to any of the questions above, then you might like today’s post. And we should probably be best friends. Did you know that I’m a HUGE You’ve Got Mail fan? Please tell me I’m not the only one. Not sure if I should be super proud of that or slightly embarrassed. Either way, I know all the lines, have Ellie singing the soundtrack, and have little hints of You’ve Got Mail inspired décor sprinkled around my home. You know, since I can’t live in New York, don’t own a children’s bookstore, and only dream that I could pull off Meg Ryan’s hair, this will have to do. 😉

“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies.”

Let’s all move to New York, right now. This print is perfect for fall and it’s available right here.

“I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

Bouquets of sharpened pencils. Is there anything more romantic than that? 🙂 I love keeping a bouquet on my desk at all times. Plus, they never, ever die.

“You’re turning my apartment into a typewriter museum!”

These typewriter bookends just scream Frank Navasky and sit perfectly on our bookshelf. Similar here.

“Can you beat that?” “Scotch tape? What is wrong with you?”

Sniff it. You’ll understand. Another desk essential.

“I’d start with Ballet shoes first. It’s my favorite. Although Skating Shoes is completely wonderful, but it’s out of print.”

It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t have a a copy of Ballet Shoes on your bookshelf. I picked up an older copy here.

“I love daisies…. They’re so friendly. Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower?”

Fresh daisies are a must! White, pink, yellow, they’re the friendliest, no doubt about it. Split the bouquet into a few small vases and place in several rooms.

“Confession, I have read Pride and Prejudice two hundred times. I get lost in the language, words like ‘Thither. Mischance. Felicity.’ I’m always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are really going to get together. Ah! Read it. I know you’ll love it!”

And if we’re really going all out, let’s stick a rose in it and keep it in on the coffee table.