Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I love living in the desert. The beautiful mountains, the warm weather, the dry air (I hate humidity), the sunny skies . . .

This morning, I woke up to this:

It rained all night and it's been raining all day.

Normally I enjoy an occasional gray, rainy day. It's a nice break from the norm. But this wet weather has been going on for weeks now! And it's not even monsoon season!

Of course, my planets love all the hydration . . . but so do the weeds! Yuck! And I can't get outside to pull them and spray the weed killer, because it's raining all the time!

I miss the sun . . .

Bulletin Board Makeover

I've had this one bulletin board since I was about 14. It was your standard grade, "oak" framed cork board. About 9-10 years ago, it got a makeover, complete with silver spray paint an light blue floral ribbon. Very girlie. Perfect for me age 18 . . . not so much for age 27. And especially not so much for FH once we moved in together.

So a couple years ago, it got another makeover (don't you just love items you can constantly revamp rather than having to toss out?). I don't have before pictures or step-by-step pictures (since I wasn't blogging then), but I'd like to share my project with you anyway.

This is my "new" gender-neutral bulletin board:

To start the project, I separated the cork from the frame. Then I painted the frame black and covered the cork in a sturdy cotton fabric (it looks white in the picture, but it's really more of a cream. I'm still figuring this photography thing out. Sorry).

For the large section on the left, I took gray ribbon and used push pins to secure it in back every 2 inches. This made the diamond pattern that can hold papers and such without the use of pins. I then secured the diamonds by placing push pins in the diamond corners where the ribbons would overlap.

For the area on the right, I took some more of the cotton fabric and ironed some pleats in it (deep enough to be pockets). I used a sewing machine to quickly stitch the sides to hold the pleats in place. I used more push pins to secure the edges that would be covered by the frame. To hide the remaining seam, I took a length of faux leather and used a glue gun to secure the seam to the board and the leather to the seam.

To spruce up the push pins (cuz who wants to look at plain old pins all the time?), I hot glued buttons on to them.

I used the same small, white buttons to secure all the diamond corners.

I also glued some decorative buttons on other push pins to  "pretty-up" the board.

Now my bulletin board is all grown up and FH friendly! Isn't it pretty? :o)

Where Is My Head??

What is going on?? I swear if my head weren't attached to my neck, I'd lose it!!

I'm normally very organized and together, but these last few weeks have made me crazy! Between my sister's wedding (last week), planning Kristen's baby shower (in two weeks) and trying to work on planning my own wedding, I have difficulty focusing on anything for more than a few minutes!

And I cannot find anything in this house! I swear there has to be little pixies or something that are coming into my house at night and stealing things!

For example, a couple days ago, I was making a diaper cake for the baby shower (more on that in another post). I had ordered a small pair of baby boots, a stuffed horse rattle, and a bandana printed bib to use as decorations on the cake. I put the cake together (complete with boots and rattle) but could not for the life of me figure out where I put the bib. I still haven't found it! I live in a small house. It can't have gone far, but only the Lord knows where it is!

Then today, I decide that I'm gonna make a dish for dinner that I haven't made in a while. It's a mexican lasagna tower thing that's made in the crock-pot. I have FH cook and shred some chicken while I'm at work and I hit the store on the way home to pick up the last couple ingredients I need. What happens when I get home? I can't find the recipe (maybe that's why I haven't made it in so long)!! I remember the ingredients, but I'm not sure about the time and crock-pot temp for cooking.

UGH!! I was so excited about making it too! I was gonna document the steps and take pictures and post them here so you all can give it a try. It's delicious! Now I'm guessing on how it's gonna cook and praying I don't burn it (or the house down).

::SIGH:: Does anyone know of a cure for airheaded-ness? I think I could use one right now. Please tell me this happens to other people too. That I'm not alone in my suffering.

Do You Want to Know Your Fortune?

Now that my little sister's wedding is over, planning for my wedding is now beginning to pick up. I know I have plenty of time, but I'm a planner. I don't like leaving things until the last second because then I get stressed out and stress is not my friend. Planning a wedding is stressful enough . . . I'm gonna do everything I can to alleviate as much as possible for myself.

Anyway . . . I had actually decided what I wanted my wedding favors to be a couple years ago (I told you I was a planner). Fortune Cookies!! I think it's such a cute and unique idea. How many weddings have you been to with fortune cookie favors?

After searching the web for a bit, I came across these beautiful babies:

Aren't they purddy? :o) The only problem? They're about $2 a piece. Yikes! 

I'm trying to have a nice wedding, but there's not going to be a ton of money to make this happen. We're certainly not going to go into debt just to pay for it. If we're expecting about 75 guests, then that's $150 just on fortune cookies! So I had to come up with a solution. "I'll make them myself!" I could buy a bag of fortune cookies (about $8 for 50) and then I'd dip and decorate them myself.

Of course, being the planner that I am, I had to do a trial run first to make sure this plan will work. I don't wanna be making these right before the wedding only for it to turn out to be a disaster!

So here's what I started with: a box of fortune cookies, almond bark, and some heart shaped sprinkles

I unwrapped all the cookies and started melting the almond bark (You can do this in the microwave, but I prefer to double-broiling method. I feel like I have more control over the chocolate that way)

Once the chocolate was melted, I carefully dipped each cookie half-way into the chocolate. While the chocolate was still wet, I added my heart decorations.

I tried a few different heart placement options, but I think the ones I like best are the two hearts in the center of the cookie and the two hearts on the lower side. I'm probably going to do both when I actually have to make these.

Here they are all dry and pretty:

And of course, I had to try one. I mean, I need to test my results before I feed them to others . . . just to make sure, you know ;o)

Now my only concern was that the poor uncoated half of the cookie was jealous of the delicious chocolate half. Maybe I should coat the whole top of the cookie? I sense another trial run coming on. Then I'll have to "taste test" those too. Such a hard life I live! ;o)

My First Quilt

Hello again! I know I've been M.I.A. but between Megan's wedding and working tons of extra hours since I've been back, I feel like all I've been doing is working and sleeping! I'm posting this know right after having taken a nap (I picked up extra hours again this morning). Too bad I haven't won the lottery so I can quit my job and spend all my free time here with you all! :o)

Anywho . . . I mentioned before that I'm co-hosting a baby shower for a co-worker. I'm totally going full force on trying to be as creative and unique as possible for this party. Then I decided to take it one step farther . . . I decided not to buy her a present, but to make her one.

I saw this cute Baby Rag Quilt Tutorial over at Creations by Kara. I'd never heard of a rag quilt before, but it looked super cute and really easy! This started me on my quest to make Mason's (baby-to-be) present.

I was originally going to use the same pattern layout Kara used for her quilt, but after stumbling on some really cute fabric, the plan changed.

I found the cream colored vintage cowboy fabric at my local Hancock Fabrics. I absolutely fell in love with it! I showed it to anyone who was ever at the house at any given time. I don't think FH really cared about what fabric I bought, but he listened patiently while I rambled on excitedly about it! :o)

Because I loved the fabric so much, I reworked my pattern so that those fabric squares were bigger and you could see more of my adorable fabric. Unfortunately, that was really the only cute fabric I could find at the fabric store, so the rest were purchased off of eBay (YAY!) including the super cute blue vintage cowboy fabric above (I used it for the back of the quilt).

I also purchased a denim fabric and a red bandanna fabric:

Now, when people say that rag quilts are easy to make, they are technically telling the truth. They're not difficult to sew. But, they are extremely time consuming. This project took me about two and a half days to complete. It can be a very tedious process, so if you don't have a lot of patience, this might not be the project for you. I do have patience, but I generally like to be prepared in advance that I'm going to embark on a project that requires it. So, if you're like me . . . consider yourself warned.

But, despite the unanticipated duration of this project, I'm very happy with the end result. It's super cute and Kristen (mom-to-be) can't wait to see it!

Isn't it adorable? I love it!! I'm not sure I'll be making another rag quilt anytime soon, but I'm glad I now know how. You never know when inspiration may strike! :o)

In Honor of Megan

Attention everyone! I would just like to say . . . MY LITTLE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED!!! Friday! Yes, this Friday! Congrats Meggy!! :oD

So in honor of this momentous occasion (and to leave you all with a little something to tide you over, while I'm out of town attending said event), I'm going to share with you all the bridal shower that I got to throw my baby sister.

I didn't have a lot of money to put on this party, but I wanted it to be nice for my sister. I figured that because bridal showers were all about the bride, I'd run with that theme. My main source of "decorations" were pictures of Megan growing up.

Guests were greeted by this display on my entrance table (I'm sure many of you ladies are familiar with the "M-Word" game).

To make these cute photo/sign holders I took plain white favor boxes, filled them each with some floral foam, and wrapped them in ribbon. Then, I took some wire I had (I'd say it's a little thicker gauge than paper clip wire) and bent them into cool "paper clip" type shapes like this:

All I had to do then was spray the wire with a little glue (to keep it from spinning around), push it through the ribbon and into the box, and I was done! My house was littered with these little picture holders.

I even had a Megan montage on my magnetic white board (Sorry for the fuzziness. Blame the bride. She was the photographer):

I also found a way to "Megan-ize" the food table. I had a metal utensil carrier that had 6 slots, but I really only needed to use 3.

So I added some more floral foam, covered that up with fake moss, added some pictures and PRESTO, instant decoration! (You can see it on the top, right hand-side of the table). For food, we had veggies, a fruit salad, Turkey Rollers (from Costco), a chicken ring (I'll post the recipe later - always a crowd pleaser, and super easy!), mini strawberry cupcakes, and my specialty, mini tarts! It was all so yummy!

I even found these super cute napkins at my local grocery store!

 

  

 

Love them!! Perfect for any girls-only event!

I'm happy to say Megan loved her shower and everyone had a good time.

And while it's a little sad to think that in a few short days we'll have different last names, I'm happy my little sister has found her prince. Now all she has to do is live happily ever after! :o)

Yeehaw! A Cowboy Baby Shower!! (Invitations)

A co-worker of mine, Kristen, is going to be welcoming a baby boy in a couple months. Yay! So another co-worker, Aly, and I decided to throw her a baby shower. The theme? Can you guess? Cowboys!

Of course, being that Kristen calls me Martha Stewart, I can't just throw her a regular baby shower! Ah the curse of being a creative person! ;o)

I searched the internet for "western baby showers" and found a bunch of cute ideas as well as coming up with some of my own. So far it's been a lot of work (mostly because I have a problem delegating . . . I'm working on it), but I'm still excited about my plans.

Since the baby shower's still a month away, I don't have a lot to show you all right now, but I do want to show you the invitations I slaved over!

Isn't it cute? I'm not even going to get into the complications I ran into while making these, but I'm really happy with how they turned out.

I downloaded 5 different types of western fonts to use on this project.

I used this invitation from Chelle Paperie as my inspiration for the wording of my invites.

And here's how mine turned out:

Not bad for my first time making invitations!

I'll keep you all posted on all my projects for the big event. I'm sure I'll have plenty to share! :o)

Home Tweet Home

So FH and I have officially set a date for our wedding! It's gonna be April 9th, 2011. YAY! And I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the theme for our wedding is going to be "love birds". So when I saw this tutorial, I was super excited to try it out!

I found a tutorial (complete with template) for an adorable paper bird house over at Inspired Papertrey Ink.

 I took one look at it and knew I had to make it! How cute would these be to hold the wedding favors?? So I printed out the template and got to work.

I used spray glue (following the instructions for a temporary bond) and stuck the template to my paper so it wouldn't slid around.

Then I cut the whole thing out with a precision blade and ended up with this.

I cut out the hole for the bird house with my blade. My whole punch wouldn't reach that far onto the paper. Then I began assembling the bird house by gluing it all together. I'm not gonna lie, I got a little impatient and started using super glue. It was just a trial run anyway :o)

After the bird house was together, I cut out a piece of brown card stock for the roof and used some decorative scissors to "pretty up" to edges. Sorry, I don't have a picture of this step. They came out blurry! :o(

Now I was done and had a beautiful paper bird house!

Looks like my little birdie likes it! :o)

I decided that this project takes a bit too long to do, so I won't be using it to hold the favors, but it was worth a try. It's not that the house takes a really long time to make, but it takes just long enough that I really don't wanna have to make a hundred of them!

But their idea of filling the house with bird seed and giving it as a gift is cute!

What could you use this bird box for?

Attention All Crafters! Need Ideas?

Then head over to The Crafter's File Box! This lovely blogger started this site as a way to keep track of all the awesome, creative ideas she came across. By putting all these things in one place, it makes it easier for her (and us!) to find all the awesome ideas she wanted to try.

Check out this awesome gift wrapping station she found at It's the Little Things That Make a House a Home:

Or there's this adorable Valentine's Day pillow from The Polka Dot Chair: 

 How about these cute idea for party favor bags she found at Once Wed?

 

I think I might have gotten carpal tunnel from clicking "Bookmark Page" so many times! So if you're feeling crafty, but at a loss for ideas, look no further than The Crafter's File Box.

Happy hunting!

It's a Sign! Well . . . Sort of . . .

I decided a while ago that I wanted to put a bit more effort into spicing up my kitchen. I had all this decorating space above my cabinets, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Actually, I'm still not really sure, but I'm working on it.

I was wondering around Michael's one day when I came across some wooden letters. How many times had I walked past these before and never really noticed them?? Now, I knew what I was going to do.

I thought painting and hanging the letters E, A, T would be a cute idea. Only one problem. Vowels are very popular letters. Especially the "E". So it took me about 6 months after forming this idea to actually find all 3 letters.

I originally wanted to do a crackle finish on them, with black on top and a silver base, but in crafting, things don't always go as planned.

For those of you who are wondering, crackle mediums do not work with spray paint. For spray painting crackle, you have to buy a special kit (Rust-Oleum is the only company I've seen sell them).

So I had to remove the paint and start over. This time I tested the crackle paint on the back of one letter (rather than blazing ahead with all of them, like I unfortunately did before) and actually decided I didn't really like how it turned out. Crackle was out, aging with sandpaper was in!

I started by spray painting them black.

The paint job didn't come out perfect (you can see some of the original white on the edges), but that was OK because I was going to sand all the edges anyway. (I know you can't see it well in the picture . . . sorry)

All done! Here they are in their assigned place in my kitchen:

I'm excited that I finally got around to getting this project done. It seems like it's been on deck forever! Doesn't it just make you wanna . . . I dunno . . . eat? ;o)