So much to do, so little time!

5.23.2014

The past week has just flown by! I have so many crafts that I’ve wanted to blog about, that I’m a little overwhelmed. One step at a time…

My birthday last week was above and beyond the best birthday I’ve ever had! My mom flew out from Wisconsin and surprised me for the weekend, which was just about the best way I could imagine to spend my birthday weekend. My mother is all around fabulous, but one of her biggest and best talents is her ability to interior design. She does so much with so little, and is able to recreate whole rooms in a short time. Because we weren’t really happy with our tiny living space, she did a “quick makeover” and helped us get a little more excited about it. We decided to go with a beach theme (because we miss San Diego so!), and she got started quickly.

We had this very large red vase in the apartment, which worked well before with our color scheme. Because we changed to orange and turquoise, it didn’t fit anymore. I decided to give it a quick makeover. This is so easy I almost feel bad giving to-do steps, but here goes.

You will need:

Spray Paint (A type that covers all surfaces) – Michael’s or Home Depot

Twine (if you want to add a little decoration) – I bought 3 rolls for $1 at the Dollar Tree

Flowers/Reeds to fill (if wanted) – I bought mine at Michael’sGet Started!

1. Wash/Clean the vase (I just used water and a cloth)

2. Spray paint the vase – I did about three full coats, but you’ll be able to tell when it’s done. I finished my whole can of spray paint!

3. Twist twine around and around the vase until you get the width you prefer. I started with tying a knot, and twisting around from there. At the end, I cut the twine, and tucked it under the previous layer. I didn’t want to use glue, because I may want to do something different with the vase at some point! Tip: The twine that I found at The Dollar Tree was NOT in the craft section, it was in the ‘automotive’ or tool section of the store!!

4. If wanted, fill your vase with reeds or flowers. Mine came in a package at Michael’s, and they fit in great with our beach theme. I also used the tie on the package to wrap around the twine in the bottle neck. Just gave it a little extra oompf.We liked our red vase before, but I LOVE the turquoise one even more. It fits in with our theme so much better, and fills up an empty space quite well. Now onto finding more pieces to match!

Birthday's, DIY, Lifestyle

Paying it Forward

5.15.2014

The day is finally here! I am turning 30 today! It seems like such a milestone, but in the same breath, it feels exactly the same. I had so many ideas of who I would be at this point in my life, all of which I am not. However, one thing I think that has stayed consistent would be my somewhat crazy personality. I haven’t always known who I am, but when I figured it out finally, I embraced it! Watch out world! Here I come!

If you had asked me fifteen years ago where I’d be in 15 years, nothing I would have said would have come to be. I think when we are young, we have all these preconceived notions of who we will be as adults, and all the ‘accomplishments’ we will have checked off our lists. We also think 30 is old.

Now I think 60 is young! I feel great, and I know I’m in my prime! Nothing that I thought was important at 20 is important today, and the things that are, mean everything to me. I feel blessed every day of my life to have everything I have, and my birthday is no exception. I’ve had 30 wonderful years, and I hope for 30 even more wonderful more. Well…I hope for at least 60 more. Hey, my great grandma was 99 when she took her last breath. That gives me 66 more to go.I wanted to pay it forward a little on my birthday, so I contemplated a few different things. Thirty one dollar bills to thirty people who could use it? Or Thirty Acts of Kindness? Or maybe 3 Blessing Bags with 10 items each for homeless? Because I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time today, I went with the Blessing Bags. I’ve made them before, and they’re super easy.

I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up a few things for each bag. Here are my ideas for each:

Toothbrush/Case (DT has packs of three brushes and three cases for $1!)

Toothpaste

Soap

Deodorant

Tissues

Hand Wipes/Hand Sanitizer

Peanuts (Protein!)

Crackers

Water

I put one of each in a sealable freezer bag (should have had larger bags, couldn’t fit the water inside). Now my mission: I need to find three individuals in need of a Blessing Bag! I’m hoping that I see a few on my way home from work today, or before my birthday dinner tonight. I’ve been way too spoiled today not to give something. I hope that it puts a smile on three faces today, it’s the least I could do.

DIY, Lifestyle

Lions, Elephants, and Rhinos? Oh My!

5.13.2014

I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a craft I’ve made in a really really really long time!! I LOVE these magnets. Since I made them on Saturday, I’ve tried to think of anyone else I can gift them to. I would make them for everyone if I thought they’d put them on their fridges. However, I think they’re reserved for people with a special (amazing!) taste. I made them for my sister-in-law, and I think she loved them as much as I do. That’s why she’s so fabulous.

I saw something similar to these online (for $12 each can you imagine!?!) and thought about how EASY (and cheap!) they would be to make myself. Because I have experience cutting plastic animals in half, I knew I could somewhat easily cut the heads off of plastic animals. I used a serrated knife, and sawed them in half. Just something to keep in mind: make sure your plastic animals are hollow, or it will take you a lot longer than a few minutes to saw them in half! You should be able to tell by the weight of each animal. That, or if you are like me and buy them at the Dollar Tree – they’ll most likely be hollow.

Ingredients Used:

* Plastic Animals (The Dollar Tree) $1 each

* Gold Spray Paint (Michael’s) Small Can $2.40 w/40% off coupon

* Serrated Knife

*Magnets (somewhat heavy weight) – (Michael’s) $2.99

* Glue gun

* CardboardThe steps are easy (and pictured below):

1. Cut (or saw) the animal in half. I chose to keep the front legs as well, just in case my elf Reuben wants to go for a ride.

2. Trace the animal shape onto cardboard; cut out.

3. When you’re sure the cardboard is perfect size, hot glue to animal. Use glue generously! Better to have extra than not enough (isn’t that true for most things in life!?)

4. When it’s dry, just make sure it doesn’t show at all from the front view, you can trim the excess off with a razor if necessary.

5. (not pictured) Glue the magnet to the cardboard using glue gun.

6. (not pictured) Just spray paint the animal! I used a few coats, and had to do them at different times to get all sides. I also painted the back, including the magnet, so the whole thing was golden.Now you have your fun animals for your fridge! Or your friends fridge. Or your parents fridge. Maybe I’ll make one for my mom and insist she hang it right in the middle of her fridge. She would love that…

Birthday's, DIY

Birthday Wreath

5.12.2014

I’ve forgotten what normal people do on Saturday nights. Me, I spend them holed up in our apartment making crafts. I also do my grocery shopping, but that’s a whole different story. This weekend was a very successful one, I might add.

Because I don’t have a wreath for our front door until the 4th of July, I decided to put one together for my birthday! It will most likely stay there until after B’s birthday too…it’s only a month, the neighbors can deal.

I tried looking on Pinterest for ideas for birthday wreaths, and didn’t find anything I really liked. So I thought I’d put something together myself. I ended up starting with some ribbon that I loved at Michaels (these spools are $.50 a piece, and they have fluorescents now!). I went from there. Grabbed a foam wreath (used my 40% off coupon, so it was only $3.60), and picked up some curled ribbon at the Dollar Tree. I didn’t really have any idea where I was going with this project, so even though this is what I started with, it ended completely differently:My original idea was to tie knots with ribbon around the whole wreath, and then add the curling ribbon. When I was going through the box of ribbon I have at home, I found this cool numbered ribbon (perfect for a birthday!) that I had bought from Michael’s Dollar Bin a while back. You could use any ribbon you’d like, I just suggest a thicker ribbon for easier covering. Then I just went from there. I took the curling ribbon apart, and tied the individual pieces in knots around the wreath. After I completed with all the curling ribbon, I just tied knots with the real ribbon, only I didn’t use as much of it as I had thought I would. I just wanted to add some of those fun colors for a better look. I was going to add the yellow bow with the cupcake, but it ended up looking better without the bow, so I hot glued the cupcake to the wreath. The finished product (cost me less than $12):Yes, it looks like we have a child’s birthday party going on at our house, but it’s birthday celebration week, so what the hell! Only three more days!!!