More sneak peak!

Another sneak peak at the other stuff I did this weekend. Let's just say I feel very accomplished :)

Getting my craft on

Here's a little peak at what I did this morning. Tutorial coming.





Sorry for the shadow/pic quality. It was taken with my iPhone instead of my Cannon. I was being lazy because my SD card has a TON of photos that I need to save/file/delete and I didn't feel like looking at them all. Hah.

decorating

I'm in a decoratin' mood. We still don't have an answer on the house we put an offer on 3 1/2 months ago. It's scheduled to foreclose this Friday (it's a short sale...which is why it's taking so long). We requested an extension on the foreclosure, but of course, we don't have an answer on that either. They ('they' being the bank) say our offer is still being reviewed. We're simply requesting that they hold off on foreclosing until the finishing reviewing our offer. If it forecloses, it goes off the market and will go to a cash auction (and we don't have that kind of cash)...so that means no house for us.

anyway


I'm tired of renting and not being able to paint. Although, we can paint where we're at now...they just require that we paint it back white before we move. My hubby isn't a fan of painting, so he would prefer I don't paint. But I am sick of looking at undecorated white walls. Which is why I'm going to start decorating. I just ordered this fabulous print for my kitchen from Rifle Paper Co:

And these assorted cards (I plan to frame them):

Adorable, no? I also love the artwork in this etsy shop. These are my two favorite prints, but I'm waiting for the hubby to concur (or pick something else from the shop):

I have also been collecting thrift store picture frames that I plan to spray paint and random glass bottles. I'm not a beer drinker (I don't like the taste), but they come in some really cool bottles at the market by us. So I buy the beer for the bottle...I either wait until my brother-in-law will be over so I can give him the beer or I dump it! (wasteful, I know, but what else am I going to do with it?) I also love the Fentiman's bottles. And their drinks are delicious. I'm a particular fan of the victorian lemonade and the mandarin and seville orange jigger.

Aren't these cool?

I'm also in the mood to bring out the fall decor! I want to get this wreath for our front door:

And I want to make this wreath for inside (the flowers are made out of dyed coffee filters!):

Ok. I'm done. Sorry for the picture overload. I've been obsessing with crafts and decorating while the hubby is gone for work (gotta keep busy some how!).

craftgawker

Anybody else out there a big fan of craftgawker.com? Oh.em.gee. I find the cutest stuff on there!

My hubby is out of town for two straight weeks for business, and I've got an itch to craft while he's away! I've already made birthday cards for my mom and mom-in-law, customized plain brown bag style gift bags to match the cards, made rolled fabric flowers to put on a headband for Eden, and now I'm finding more reasons to hit up the craft store this evening and get my craft on this weekend!

Check out a couple of the super awesome things I plan to make:

tutorial here

tutorial here

Are those not the cutest ornaments you ever saw?? I'm going with a random homemade theme for our tree this year, so these will be perfect! Plus, it's time to do away with the breakables. We have a baby in the house now. I'll still keep a few of my treasured fragiles for the top half of the tree, but I won't have to worry about little Eden chewing on/batting at/pulling these guys. I think I might go a little felt/embroidery crazy and make a bunch for Christmas gifts.

Yes. I said Christmas. It is only 14 1/2 weeks away, you know.

Maybe I should start thinking about decorating for fall first, eh?

Tea Party Bridal Shower

My sister-in-law's bridal shower was this past Saturday. Her best friend and I worked hard to make it special and fun. We made it an "afternoon tea" and incorporated her wedding colors into our decorating. She and her soon-to-be-hubby are extremely untraditional. They're having a Beetlejuice themed wedding, and her wedding dress is black. Totally different from the norm...but who says you have to be normal to have an amazing wedding?? :) Here are some pictures of what we did.


These are "hanging paper flowers," and I got the design from Martha Stewart's website. They are SUPER easy to make. All you need is paper bags (I got mine in various colors from Michael's). Check out her instructions to make your own here.

I wanted to personalize the prizes, so I took the labels off the candles I bought and decoupaged their names and wedding date on!

The finished product :)

Baking some gluten-free black and white chip cookies (regular chocolate chips and white chocolate chips). I adapted this recipe to make it gluten-free for my little sister-in-law and mom-in-law who have Celiac's disease. I also replaced the macadamia nuts with regular chocolate chips because macadamia nuts are so ridiculously expensive, and the black and white matched our colors. This was the first food item I made. By the time I was all done, it was 1am and I just wanted to sleep...so I forgot pictures of all the other baked/cooked goods. 

The finished product. They were an absolute hit and sooo delicious! A little crumbly though, so I'll add more xanthum gum next time (gluten-free baking/cooking can be a little tricky!). 

Food tags

A banner I made. I bought some gorgeous twine from Whisker Graphics in red and white. I hung the paper hearts and wallet-sized pictures using mini clothes pins. 

Some of the hanging paper flowers and gifts.

The food table. A heart garland made by my mom-in-law, more hanging paper flowers, red and white daisies (her fave) in mason jars, heart doilies (make them using these instructions) and all the yummy food! Plus, of course, the tea :). I forgot to get a close-up of the teas and cups and saucers before everyone got there, but they were all a bunch of mismatched teacups and saucers from thrift stores that we collected for a couple weeks before the shower. 

And the invitations I made. I know it looks weird and you're not getting the full effect. I had to blur out last names, addresses, and phone numbers. I tea-stained the invite and let them dry under heavy books to keep them flat. Then my wonderful and talented hubby designed the text layout and I printed them at home. After that, I stamped them and stuck a bag of my sister's favorite tea in the envelope (vanilla chai). I also pulled the tea tag off (the one on the end of the string) and replaced it with a heart that I wrote "C&A 9.10.11" on. The tea bags in the envelopes made the invites smell delicious!

Sorry for some of the poor quality pictures. I don't have time to edit them right now but I wanted to get this posted before I forgot about it. I'm heading out on a mini 2 day vacation to see one of my best friends in the Portland area while my hubby is traveling for work. 

The complete food list included mini tea sandwiches, veggie sandwiches for my vegetarian sister, gluten-free lemon sugar cookies, a gluten-free minted fruit salad (another big hit and SO easy to make), gluten-free almond ricotta lemon cake, and chocolate dipped strawberries (in addition to the gluten-free cookies pictured above). I also brought raw organic sugar, organic half and half, and some blackberry honey from the local farmer's market to use for the tea (I'm kind of all about organic stuff in case you can't tell). 

The favors were candies wrapped in red, white, or black with a coordinating bag of tea. 

I think that about sums it up! It went great, and I think my sister had a wonderful time :)

Nursery decorating ideas

I've been daydreaming about decorating the baby's room a lot lately. Unfortunately, I can't really act on any of it until we know the gender...which won't be for another 6 to 7 weeks...which seems like forever, but I know it will come faster than I realize. I've decided that if it's a girl (because I think this just might be too girly for a boy), I'm going to decorate with paper pom poms. Have you seen those? I'm in love with them. My best friend used them in her wedding, and I absolutely loved them. The more I thought about it, the more I decided they would be adorable for a baby girl's room. I'm inspired by these pictures. Don't you just love them?

Homemade Air Freshener

So I totally got this off Design*Sponge (you can check out the original post by Halligan here). But I'm posting my version and process, which is only slightly different.

Here's the inspirational product:

The major differences between mine and theirs...I didn't use their template. I made my own. Also, I left off the girlie touches since my husband also has to drive my car. He refused to be seen driving a car around with something like that hanging in the window. I didn't use glue because it didn't work well for me, and I also used cloves and cinnamon sticks instead of lavender. Here's my how-to:

Materials:

• wool felt
• all-purpose thread (or embroidery floss)
• embroidery needle (a regular needle will work just fine too)
• scissors
• ribbon
• your choice of "freshening material" (I used whole cloves and a crumbled up cinnamon stick)
• fabric marker, pencil or chalk

I didn't end up using the hole punch or the craft glue, so ignore that part of my picture

 You'll want to trace your template and cut out the bottom portion of the acorn, and then do a blanket stitch all the way around as show below.

 Next, you'll fill your acorn with your scented product of choice. You could use dried lavender. I chose to use whole cloves and a cinnamon stick that I broke up in pieces.

 Next, trace and cut out the top of the acorn and blanket stitch all the way around it also. Something to keep in mind that I forgot to do on my first one...if you want to hang it in your car, you'll want to attach the ribbon during this portion. I tried attaching it after and found that too difficult, so I made a 2nd air freshener. I simply blanket stitched to the middle tip, stuck the ribbon in, did another couple stitches and made sure the other side of the ribbon was coming back out (you can see in the bottom picture) and continued my stitching.

 I attached the top by doing a simple straight stitch along the bottom edge to grab the open side of the acorn bottom. This is a picture of my first finished acorn. I didn't end up liking the top. I thought it was too small, so I decided to stick this one in a drawer and make a 2nd one for the car.

Sorry, picture quality on this one isn't that great. I took it with my phone before I put it in my car, but this is my second one.

Hope those instructions were clear enough. Let me know if you have any questions! It was really simple and easy to make. And now all my friends want one :). I guess I know what I'll be attaching to gifts this Christmas!

A couple quick tips:
-If you want your stitching to be thicker like mine and you're using regular sewing thread, just double it up (so you're sewing with two strands of thread instead of one).
-Make sure you cut your ribbon at least 15 inches so you have room to tie a bow in your car.
-Don't overfill your acorn or it will be too difficult to attach the top.

Happy Crafting, loves!

Dreaming big...and my vacation!

Maybe I’m dreaming big…but I’d really like to start my own business. After a week-long vacation, it’s REALLY hard to go back to work! I’ve been thinking of all the things I could make and sell on Etsy to earn a living from home. I’ve got ideas for various sewn goods, paper goods, knitted goods (although I only recently learned to knit…like a few days ago, so that would be later after I gain more experience and confidence) and a few other misc. crafty goods. My oh so supportive husband is all for my ideas. It’s just a matter of getting started. And where do you begin?! Oh, and I need a company name. I have yet to think of anything clever (suggestions are welcome). And I still want to go back to school for interior design and/or digital design. I guess I feel like not having a degree in that stuff makes me less talented or less capable in some way. But maybe I don’t need a degree. Maybe I can just take a few classes that would be helpful. It’s a goal…maybe a long-term one…maybe I’ll achieve it faster than I realize. Who knows. It all sort of depends on the timing of life and other things going on, I guess. And money. You need money to get a business started. Not lots, but I need enough to cover my initial start-up expenses before I start making a profit. Most small businesses don’t make a profit for the first year, so I should be prepared for that. I suppose my Business Management Degree might come in handy after all :) And I thought I’d never use it…I entered the corporate world and realized that this was NOT where I wanted to spend my life and my career, so I felt like my degree and schooling was all in vain. But maybe God has a plan for it all. He’s awesome like that ;)

My vacation was MUCH needed and not long enough, as always. The weekend before I left was spent at the beach (Ocean Shores) with my hubby and in-laws. We just relaxed, walked the beach, rented mopeds, watched movies and napped. I fell asleep on the sand for a good couple of hours. It was wonderful. We had a little pod of whales swimming within view of our condo. I had never seen whales in the wild before, so that was an exciting experience.

Last Monday I left for California and spent the week with my best friend, both catching up and planning her wedding. She’s getting married in September, so we were getting our craft on and shopping for apparel basically all week. Aaaand we took a pleasure trip to Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie in San Francisco…because they have the best stores around. Their UO is four stories! Four stories of awesomeness! The Anthro is two stories. Lots to look at and drool over. It was a good week. Less than four months to go for her, and I’m so excited! She has an awesome guy, and they’ll be so great together. He gets extra points in my book because her marrying him means she’ll only live a little under 2 hours away! In our entire lives, we’ve never lived closer than 8 hours apart (how we ever became friends in the first place is another story for another day). Being two hours away is basically like being neighbors for us! I’m so stinking excited!!! :D

And now I’m back to the grind. My dear husband rearranged our bedroom while I was away…and I actually rather like what he did with it! It’s got me inspired a bit…now if I can just rake in a little extra cash to buy some things and finish our bedroom. I’ve got lots of ideas, just not enough resources (ahem…money…) to accomplish it all. I’m planning to do a lot of it myself to save us money and make it more unique, but even that can get pricey. Urban Outfitters has a huge influence on the inspiration for our room, so if you know their style, you can pretty well picture my plans.

And I’m off to clean my house and wash me some laundry! Projects and picture posts coming soon!

letting the creative juices flow!

The Saturday after next (so the 13th), my sister and I will be going craft crazy! Well, after we get some manicures and pedicures, of course. :) My wonderful hubby got me a Gene Juarez gift card (it's a really nice spa/salon in Washington for those out-of-state followers) for Valentine's day, and it's enough for me to take a friend to get their spa mani/pedi treatment. Who better to take than the sis? Woo! SO excited! We both REALLY need the relaxation. 

Afterward we're going to be up to our necks in crafts. Literally. My sweet little niece will be one on April 17th, so we're busting out on the homemade decorations for her party. We plan to hand-make all the invitations (Minnie Mouse themed of course since Kahla is in LOVE with Minnie). And then we're going to make one of these banners with thanks to this wonderful etsy shop. Except ours will say "happy birthday" and then there will be a second smaller one hanging below that says "kahla." Amanda wanted to be able to hang the "kahla" one up in her room afterward. Should be an insane day, but oh so fun! I love homemade decorations. So practical and reusable! 

 

Isn't that seriously the cutest banner ever? I'm thinking about making one for my house. Without letters. And maybe making it with triangles instead of rectangles. I think I'll hang it either in the eating area/kitchen or in my office/sewing room. Or maybe I'll make two. Who knows. But I have to finish the quilt first! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here... 

I seriously have an obsession with etsy. I'm thinking of starting my own up eventually. When I have a little more time. But that's a whole different post... 

Check out some of my favorite shops/products: 

 

[caption id="attachment_420" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="http://www.etsy.com/shop/DearGoldenVintage"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_421" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="http://www.etsy.com/shop/annajoyce"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_422" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="http://www.etsy.com/shop/annajoyce"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_423" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="http://www.etsy.com/shop/RevisionDesignAus"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_424" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="LOVE these baby clothes - http://www.etsy.com/shop/cocosailore"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_425" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="http://www.etsy.com/shop/cocosailore"][/caption]

 

Can you see why I adore Etsy??