gimmeakiss*

Party In My Mouth

2012-01-24T13:23:00.000-05:00

Alternate Title: Sometimes I Make Food

In my house hubby does the cooking and I do the dishes. It's not a perfect arrangement - sometimes he gets bored with cooking, sometimes I get bored with dishes - but it's better than the alternative. I'm not creative in the kitchen and he loads a dishwasher like a blind monkey.

That being said, every now and then I plan to cook a meal. Even rarer, I actually follow through with my plan.

Yesterday I got a wild hair and decided to make a giant batch of couscous that I could bring to work for lunch for the next 2 weeks. Verdict: I have a winner. It's tasty, and filling and I made that giant batch in well under an hour. I'm particularly proud of myself because I didn't follow a recipe and yet it isn't terrible. Huzzah!

In case you want to try it too, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
4 C dry couscous (I bought plain couscous in bulk, not the flavored side dishes)
1 t salt
4 t butter
3.5 C water
1/3 C red wine vinegar
2/3 C olive oil
filler:
--1 can diced tomatoes, drained
--1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
--1 can garbanzo beans, drained
--1 bunch parsley, coarsely chopped
--3 handfuls shredded carrots
--1/2 C feta cheese

DIRECTIONS
- bring salt, butter and water to a boil
- add dry couscous to boiling water, stir quickly
- remove couscous from heat, cover and let sit for 4-5 minutes
- fluff couscous with a fork, add vegetables and toss in oil and vinegar

yields 10-12 lunch sized portions

The great thing about couscous is you can make your filler out of just about anything in the pantry or refrigerator. Old canned veggies? Throw em in. Leftover salad carrots? Throw em in. Random 2 year old feta that mysteriously doesn't go bad? Throw it in. And like I said, this is really fast to make. The couscous itself cooks in about 10 minutes, then the rest of the time is in prepping your "filler" however you like it, and then combining the whole she-bang.

So what do you think? Get cooking!

The Official Christmas Re-Cap

2012-01-20T16:00:00.001-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, but that's because I've been enjoying all the amazing stuff the family got for Christmas. We got practical stuff, fun stuff and everything in between.

Christmas Eve the hubby's family got together for perogies and presents. We all were thoroughly gifted, but my big gift was this super swanky wet/dry dust mop. It's like a robotic swiffer, but better. I think it officially makes me an old lady when I get this excited over receiving a floor cleaner as a gift.

buy it here

Luke's big gift (and when I say big, I mean BIG) was this bouncy castle from the whole family. It has a bounce area, climbing wall, slide and ball pit. Even better, we can add a hose during warm weather and we get a water slide with a splash pool. Seriously, could this gift be any cooler? Unexpected gift? The mini-shed we had to put up to store it :)

buy it here

The next morning, the whole family convened at our house for the opening of stockings. Luke's not really old enough to understand Santa but just in case I wanted us to have full stockings to open. Steven and I made a deal that we would stuff Luke's stocking together, but that we would buy each other a few surprise stocking stuffers. Luke got a Nerf gun that was not-so-secretly for my husband. So what if the package says Age 8 and Up? Hubby thought it was best to start him early.

buy it here

I got a drying rack and a hand-made coral ring that I pinned ages ago. Now, before you go scolding my husband through the internet, getting a drying rack was actually exciting. Thrilling even. Prior to Christmas I had a flimsy wooden drying rack that was on its last leg and fell apart every time I tried to use it. This guy is sturdy and will be around to dry my sweaters, bras and cloth diapers for years to come.

buy it here

Steven got some stainless steel soap (it removes cooking odors, like garlic and onions, from your hands), a really, really big clamp and (drum roll please) tickets to the Belk Bowl. After Christmas was wrapped up, we head to Charlotte and watched the Wolfpack whoop up on the St Louis Cardinals. Don't worry, I didn't go into debt over those tickets, they were free - my friend got them free from her work, yada yada yada.

buy it here

After brunch we loaded up the car and headed to my uncle's house to have Christmas dinner with my mom's side of the family, where we continued to rack up the pressies. Luke got lots of gifts, but my favorite one was a board book that teaches everything you could ever need to know about being a Wolfpack fan. Let's just say our ENTIRE family is on a mission to add one more State fan to the fold.

buy it here

I got a piece from the new CorningWare Etch line from my aunt and uncle. I've had my eye on them for a while, but pretty bakeware isn't high on the priority list when money is tight, so I was glad to find it under the tree. Also, the color is much brighter and lime-y in person which I love.

buy it here

Not to downplay the CorningWare, but my favorite gift this year was a collection of owls from my Grandmother. I've mentioned before how much I love owls because they remind me of my Granny, and my grandmother gave me 3 owls from my Granny's collection: a metal owl lantern, a mug with an owl on it and this fantastic gray and navy cutie (that is already making a home on my mantel).

Steven and I got a few joint gifts, including a luxurious new sheet set and a rugged fold-up wagon both from my mom and step-dad.

buy it here

i can't find the link for mine, but this one is similar

Last, in the Christmas gift-a-palooza is this Electrolux stick vacuum I bought with my Christmas money. Someone else I know has one and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. After scoping out Electrolux's website I found out that the base model is $100 and the fancy-schmancy version with the built-in hand vac is $120. Imagine my surprise when I stopped by my local Bed, Bath & Beyond and found the fancy version on sale for the same price as the base version. I whipped out my 20% off coupon and took this bad boy home for $80. Don't you just love getting things for 2/3 the market price? I do! I love, love, LOVE this vacuum - it is lightweight and convenient, meaning I actually use it frequently. With the frequent vacuuming it makes it that much easier for my new dust mop to do it's thing. What was I saying about being and old lady who gets cleaning appliances for Christmas? It's totally true.

buy it here

So, what did you get for Christmas?

Note: I wasn't paid or perked in any way to mention the above products or companies. I just love this stuff and thought you would, too! Although if Electrolux is listening, I wouldn't mind a new refrigerator or washer/dryer set.

New Year, New Job

2012-01-03T20:05:00.002-05:00

Guess what? I'm employed again! I know you guys are probably tired of the hired/laid-off/hired roller coaster. Well, I'm tired of it too. But life goes on and I blog about my life, so that's that. I had some behind-the-scenes training last week and today was my first day on duty. All my co-workers seem very nice and the job itself seems straight forward and stress-free.

I won't tell you where I'm working, but let's just say it rhymes with "Shmow's" and I have to wear a red vest. No, my current position isn't really related to by design background but it's a company I believe in and I'm happy to be there. Plus, they are big on promoting from within and I could see myself moving up and getting comfortable over the next several years.

What's new with you in 2012?

A Very Southern Christmas Card

2011-12-25T09:00:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas, dear readers! To round out the 8 Days of Christmas I wanted to share a Christmas card I designed for one of Carolina Pear's favorite wedding planners, Leigh Pearce. The card is just like Leigh - fun, sweet and so very Southern!
That's all, folks! See you in 2012!

Merry Kittymas!

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

By now we're all well aware that I'm a crazy cat lady. In case you want more proof, here's my cat and my mother-in-law's cat getting into the Christmas spirit.

Does this snow village make me look fat?

Mee-yow.

Who Doesn't Love Presents You Can Eat?

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love the idea of holiday baking - pouring all of my heart and soul into something delicious to be enjoyed by my family and friends as they gather to celebrate. Notice I said the IDEA of baking. In reality, recipes that have more than 6 ingredients make me all nervous and twitchy and then I run screaming from the kitchen. To overcome this I have collected several stupidly simple recipes over the years. I prefer things that are off the beaten path, a breath of fresh air amid a sea of cookies and cupcakes. Here's a few of the staples that get me, sanely, through the holidays.

SEASONED OYSTER CRACKERS

Ingredients:

1 bag (12-16 ounces) oyster crackers

1 pack Ranch Dressing Powder

1/4 t lemon pepper

1/4 t garlic powder

3/4 t dill weed

3/4 C oil

Steps:

- Mix ranch and oil, then add other spices.

- Pour over crackers, stir and spread in a casserole dish.

- Bake at 250 degrees for 15-20 minutes, stirring periodically.

- If you choose to double this recipe, just bake for 10-15 extra minutes.

WINTER BARK

Ingredients:
3/4 C dried cranberries or cherries
3/4 C natural almonds, broken into pieces*
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (2 C)
8 ounces white chocolate (1 1/3 C)
*I prefer sliced almonds because they don't require breaking, and they're easier to bite into

Steps:
- In small bowl combine almonds and fruit, set aside.
- Melt semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate separately, according to package directions.
- Stir slightly more than half of almond mixture into semi-sweet chocolate. Spread chocolate mixture to about 1/4 thick on a large ungreased cookie sheet.
- Drop white chocolate by tablespoons onto chocolate mixture. With tip of a knife, swirl chocolates for a marbled look.
- Sprinkle with remaining almond mixture.

Bon Appetit!

'Tis The Season to Re-Purpose!

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

You might think that with all this holiday celebrating I haven't had time to make stuff out of garbage and scraps. You would be WRONG! I'm not just talking about my cheap and easy wreath, either.

What's my mystery trashy craft project? Making reusable gift bags from random fabric! I read this blog post on Choose to Thrive and decided that I, too, could and should make reusable fabric gift bags. So, faster than you can say "Why are you doing that? You know you can just buy wrapping paper, right?" I got my kiester to the thrift stores to round up my supplies.

According to my inspiration post (which I highly recommend you read, because she can ACTUALLY SEW) you can use just about any fabric you want: clothes, linens, scrap fabric, etc. However, I am a novice seamstress so I stuck to fabric (shirts and linens) that have the maximum amount of finished edges so I didn't have to, you know, finish them myself. As you can see from my handy little diagram, I sourced my materials from many different thrift store departments.

The easiest thrifted-fabric-to-gift bag is the pillowcase. Buy a pillow case and tie it shut with a ribbon. Done and done. I did go the extra mile by tacking the ribbon to the pillow case - strenuous I know. This isn't really necessary, but it keeps the ribbon from getting lost when the gift is opened. Honestly, it took me longer to Photoshop this diagram that it did to actually finish my pillow cases.

Shirts are only slightly more advanced. I ran a line of stitching across the top of the shirt to create the closure (bottom) of the bag, making sure to start just below the armpits. To get a little more room in my gift bag sometimes I curved my line toward the collar, as shown in the diagram. The existing finished hem of the shirt will be the opening (top) of the gift bag. Then I just added a ribbon, like on the pillow case. Again, I know almost nothing about sewing or constructing garments. This seam would undoubtedly fall apart with frequent washing or regular use, but for this purpose it will probably be OK.

Here is one of the gift bags I made using the above method, both closed and open.

I could have broken out the sewing machine for attaching the ribbon, but I'm still lazy. Why use a sewing machine when a whip stitch will do? Bonus: if the ribbon gets all wrinkled and gross after a while, I can easily snip it off and replace it.

The last type of fabric I used was something flat and square like a napkin or place mat. The napkin can either be tied furoshiki style...

... or tied with a ribbon...

... which is tacked onto the napkin like so:

As for gift tags, I go the cheap and easy DIY route with those, too. Each tag is a rectangle (about the size of a business card) cut from card stock with the corners trimmed with my corner rounder. I use a mini-hole punch and some baker's twine to make a hang loop and then I hand write the inscription. A regular hole punch would work just fine, but I have a small one so that's what I use. Then I just run the ribbon through the hang loop before I tie the bow.

The one thing I haven't told you is WHY I am doing this. I have multiple (equally crazy) reasons:

1) I don't enjoy wrapping presents. It's not like I despise the act of wrapping presents - I'm fairly good at it - I'm just not the sort of person that delights in finding the perfect wrapping paper, crafting the perfect bow or adding the perfect finishing touches. Plus, it makes me sad to see all that effort ripped apart in seconds. I would rather sew a few dozen gift bags once than have to wrap presents year after year.

2) Wrapping presents in paper is INCREDIBLY wasteful. The paper, the tape, the boxes, the bows - so much stuff! Many people have made an effort to switch to fabric shopping bags because it's wasteful to bring home plastic or paper grocery bags. To me, wrapping gifts is no different. Buying paper gift bags is better, but you still need tissue paper to hide the gift. By using fabric wrapping materials I am keeping wrapping paper out of landfills and recycling centers AND I am giving new life to thrift store items.

3) It helps me save money. In total I spent $30 on thrifted fabric and $5 on ribbon. That's not change you can dig out of the couch, but I feel it's on par with what others spend on paper/bows/tags/etc. BUT if I get use those bags again next year, my cost moving forward will be $0, unless I have to replace some ribbons down the line.

4) I like to be weird. I am that person that gets a kick out of saying "oh, I made that" even if it earns me an odd look. I often make things I could easily buy, but that's the fun of it. I like that my pile of presents looks different from everyone else's. Plus, I get a smug satisfaction knowing I wrapped a gift in about 10 seconds - put gift in bag, tie bow. Easy peasy.

Of course, the one down side to this hair-brained scheme is the possibility that someone will keep or *gasp* throw away one of my bags. To prevent this, I am not using a fabric bag for anyone whose gift will be dropped off and opened without me being there. In those circumstances I will either use a paper gift bag, saved from gifts we received in years past, or a brown paper lunch bag. Don't feel too bad for my friends, I jazzed up the lunch bag with a stamp and some ribbon. For those opening gifts with me, I have already dropped hints like "... that's the nice thing, I can take the bags back and re-use them next year." So I've indicated I'd like them back without having to say "I'm glad you like your gift, now hand over my bag." But I will totally keep you guys in the loop if this whole thing blows up in my face and all of my bags get trashed. And not in the fun, drank-too-much-eggnog sense.

The Rest of the House Gets Dusted With Holiday Fairy Dust, Too

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

Another day, another dose of Christmas cheer. I've already share my manicure, my mantle decorations and my wreath tutorial. Now it's time to let the rest of the house join in the fun, too.

When I walk in the front door I am greeted by this pillow, a family favorite, resting on my vintage bentwood chair. I blogged about this pillow last year, but I couldn't resist sharing it yet again. Last year it sat in a chair by the fire, this year it mans the front door. I love a pillow that doesn't mind a change of scenery.

Speaking of vintage bentwood chairs, the twin of the guy above is sitting next to our media stand holding a present that was too large to fit under the tree. Some may like to cram everything within the confines of the tree skirt. Not me - I like to spread the presents around the room to double as decorations. Guarding the present are two ~~ferocious~~ cuddly stuffed bears. I am not a fan of stuffed animals in general* and also try to avoid decorating with anything that seems precious or childish. However, I make exceptions during Christmas and my inner-softy comes out.
*I read the Velveteen Rabbit too many times as a child and therefore am convinced stuffed animals have feelings and know they've been outgrown, abandoned, etc. Feel free to have me committed after the holidays.

Just around the corner from the media stand is our wine bar which also got the Christmas treatment. I put out Luke's Santa plate (just waiting for cookies), a copy of The Night Before Christmas that was mine as a young girl, my milk glass pedestal candy dish (stuffed with Andes mints) and my year-round fruit bowl sitting atop a stack of Christmas books and filled with - you guessed it - pine cones. I'm tellin' you, you really can't beat free stuff.

Next up: the guest bathroom! As you may remember the guest room got decorated last year, and this year is no different. Some people find it odd to decorate a bathroom, of all places, but I like to be lazy and only decorate the rooms that visitors interact with. So that narrows it down to the living/dining/kitchen (you also may remember that I have an open floor plan and that all those are essentially one big room) and the guest bathroom. I also like to be lazy with my decorations. All it took to get this room into the spirit was swapping out some wall art. Bathroom - framed pictures + wreath = decorated.

I added a cheap yet adorable felt basket from Target's Dollar Spot, filled with pine cones (it's really a sickness at this point) and a swanky red candle to one side of the sink...

... and another of my childhood Christmas books on the other side. If you haven't read The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree I highly recommend it. It is a sweet story about a little girl living in the Appalachian Mountains during the Civil War and it is, hands down, my favorite Christmas book. Heck, it's one of my favorite children's books in general.

Last, but not least, we have an item that has been hotly disputed in many an online forum: bathroom reading material. Some find it gross that a book or magazine lives so close to the toilet and is handled by folks while they do their business. Others find it courteous to leave things in the bathroom for guests to peruse while they sit a spell. I look at it this way: my grandmother, one of the most polite, most concerned-with-etiquette women I know has reading material in her guest bathroom. If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me.

Long story short, my usual reading material tableau - a stack of books with a spare roll of TP on top - got replaced with a Christmas book and a fancy gold basket. Swanky, no? So if you come to my house and have to use the restroom you will see that I was thoughtful enough to supply you with something to read AND some holiday cheer. You're welcome.

Handmade Holiday Wreath

2011-12-20T09:00:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I showed you the wreath I made to go over my holiday mantle-scape.

Now I'm back to show you how I put it together. I knew I wanted to use some brown craft paper I had leftover from an old project, so I headed to Pinterest in search of paper wreath tutorials. Holy cow, are there a lot of them out there! After sifting (and sifting, and sifting) I finally found my inspiration:

Now that I had my inspiration, I set out to scour thrift stores for the cheapest possible materials. Some people go the obvious route and buy a wreath form when they make a wreath, but - hello? - those things are expensive! Not me, I looked high and low for anything that was round, lightweight and cheap. The winner:

... this wicker basket, charger thing. I'll give 1000 bonus points to anyone who knows what that basket thing actually is. My favorite part? The 99 cent price tag.

"But wait," you're surely thinking, "who wants a wreath with a basket-weave center?"

Nobody, that's who. Luckily for me the basket oddity was constructed from 2 main parts so the basket-weave middle could be separated from the wicker band with just a few dozen pries with my flat head screwdriver.

In the end I was left with this round, lightweight yet oddly-asymmetrical (which I didn't even notice until I got the middle out) base on which to construct my wreath. Ta-da!

This is the part where you're all impressed.

Not as impressive is the fact that the edge of the basket was a wee bit broken. I wrapped the joint with tape to stabilize it and keep it from breaking further and called it a day. I knew the fullness of the leaves would hide my patch job entirely.

My inspiration didn't provide much of a tutorial, she only mentioned how long it took her to glue all of those little paper leaves. I made the executive decision to simplify my life by using fewer, bigger paper leaves. Most tutorials I read included making a cardboard template to trace so that all the leaves would be the same size. I did not do this because A) who has time for that? and B) who cares if all the leaves are identical? The answer to both A and B is not me. So my method was this:

-Start with several sheets of craft paper that are 22" x 32".
-Meticulously cut the sheet into 6 even strips using a ruler, a pencil and an x-acto blade.
-Realize that you're wasting your time and that speed is key. Also realize that paying close attention to your task is distracting you from the finer plot points on Glee.
-Haphazardly cut strips of craft paper that are roughly 5" x 22".
-Shoddily cut strips into 8 similar but not-at-all equally sized rectangles.
-Fold (but don't crease) each rectangle in half, lengthwise.
-Think to yourself that the someone in charge must be smoking crack because no teenage boy, gay or not, would wear Kurt's ridiculous half-sweater.

Where do you even BUY a sweater as dumb as this? It's a partial sweater, with a TURTLENECK!
image source
Also, this is stupid, too.

-Cut an arc along the open side of each folded rectangle, creating a symmetrical leaf shape.
-Using a glue gun, attach leaves to the wreath base in neat rows to assure even coverage.
-Panic because the coverage is NOT even and just start stuffing extra leaves everywhere until the wreath is finished, or until you burn yourself with your glue gun, whichever happens first.

I never kept an official count, but I think I used somewhere between 75 and 90 leaves. It is important to note that the fold in each leaf serves two important functions: it allows you to make symmetrical, non-wonky, leaves quickly AND it gives the wreath lots of depth and shadow once you're done. No one wants to look at a flat, dull wreath. And I mean no one.

You could do this with a number of different papers - patterned scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, book pages, black and white photos, whatever butters your toast - to change up the look. However, I would recommend a fairly stiff paper if you want fullness without having to make a zillion leaves.

You likey? Stay tuned for yet more Christmas goodies tomorrow. More than one post in a week? Who am I and where is the writer of this blog?

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Let's take a peek at what Christmas looks like at my house this year:

I love Christmas. Love, love, LOVE it. Give me hot cocoa and Bing Crosby and color me happy. Unfortunately being jobless doesn't pay well so I was determined to break out my not-so-inner cheapskate and do Christmas the frugal way. I pulled out my already owned Christmas decorations, as well as some things that aren't typically used for decor and went to town.

My vintage ottoman is the perfect place to lay out a few holiday books, some new and some that were mine as a kid. Luke loves to read so I like to have books stashed around the house for him. Speaking of Luke, he is the reason our tree is rocking the lights but no ornaments this year. He seems to do pretty well staying away from other people's Christmas trees, but I didn't want to risk it. Don't worry, our ornaments will be back in full force next year.

My mantle got the free and easy treatment, too. My first step was to mentally sort through what I had to work with and decide on a color scheme of clear glass, white and brown. Christmasy, right? Sorry, I've never been one to drape red and green everywhere.

On each end of the mantle I placed a glass vase (originally bought for my wedding reception) filled with pine cones from my back yard. That's right, these babies only cost me the 4 minutes it took to scavenge in the yard. And that was at night - I bet I could shave at least a minute off my time in the daylight. And I only found one spider. For those of you that prefer to buy your (spider free) pine cones at the craft store, where's your sense of adventure? One measely spider is well worth getting a whole basket of pine cones for zero dollars. Then I layered in some texture and a contrasting shade of brown with a pair of rattan votive holders - one for each vase o'pine cones - that I snagged at a thrift store for a whopping 35 cents a pop. I continued my brown scheme with some bronze sleigh bells (which made an appearance on my door wreath in years past) in a flower vase. Is it just me, or do you love unique vase fillers too?

To balance out all the brown I added a pair of vintage white tree candles and my newest milk glass bowl filled with - you guessed it - pine cones. Are you sensing a theme here? Then I finished everything off by tucking in some sprigs of greenery. I have a shrub in my yard that seems similar to a holly tree - dark, waxy leaves and red berries - so I was able to snatch up some more free holiday garnish.

Last, but not least, I whipped up a wreath to fill the open space above the mantle. I don't want to give everything away, because I have a full tutorial to share with you tomorrow, but this baby only took $0.99 and a few episodes of Glee to come together. Yes, I'm a Gleek. Is anyone surprised by that?

Subtle texture, simple color scheme, delicious shadows. Come to mama.

Well, that's it for my living room. Except for one last look at my hearth, because I couldn't help myself. I'll be back tomorrow for even more Christmas details!

Christmas Goodness, As Promised

2011-12-18T21:00:00.001-05:00

You've heard of the 12 Days of Christmas, right? Well, times are tough so let's do the 8 Day recession version instead.

Let's start with my festive holiday manicure. I didn't want to go over the top, in-your-face-Christmas, but I wanted a little sparkle. I've blogged about this smoky grayish purple color before, and it is really hard to capture in pictures, but this is as close as I think I can get. I love that it's dark without being black, and color without being bright.

To provide the aforementioned sparkle I added a glittery topcoat. I think it looks like the night sky. Even better, I had a second job interview on Friday - I'll spill details if I hear any good news - so maybe these stars will be festive AND lucky.

A Shameless Request for Votes

2011-12-10T16:22:00.003-05:00

Hey guys, remember me? Probably not because I'm a terrible blogger. My days have been filled with applying for jobs and forcing a toddler to eat his vegetables - which is thrilling, trust me - but it isn't exactly blog fodder. I have some Christmas posts coming your way, but in the mean time let's talk about my ~~harrier~~ better half.

When my hubby isn't busy being an architect or spawning adorable babies he likes to invent things. Not in the kooky guy with gears and springs way, but in the awesome build stuff in our wood shed way.

not pictured: my hot hubby

He is also just a bit obsessed with playing video games and being no more than 3 feet away from his iPad at any time. So he came up with a nifty device that will allow him to ignore me while doing both of those things simultaneously.

graphic by my hubby, who is more awesome than yours

"iPad games are limited by the touch screen. The lack of tactile response and poor ergonomics makes some games (i.e. first person shooters) annoying after a few minutes of game play. By creating a case and controller combo that connects to the Ipad port this will allow game developers to create games like Call of Duty for the Ipad and get the same experience as an x-box. By concentrating on the ergonomics of the handle, players can play for hours without their hands cramping. The ICade is a similar product that solves a problem for retro-style arcade games. This concept is trying to do the same for more modern games."

To spread the word he posted his idea to Quirky, a website that helps form introductions between developers and inventors. If you think his idea is nifty, too, click here to view his idea page and then vote for him! You get 1,000 bonus points if you share the link on twitter/on facebook/on your blog/via skywriting. Or if you're a bazillionaire who loves to invest money in awesome ideas, email me and I'll be happy to relieve you of some of your money.

Back In The Saddle Again

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

photo by Creative Commons user Wonderlane

Friday was the last day of my temp contract at the architecture firm. As a temp, you hope the client loves you to pieces and wants to bring you on full-time, but that's not always the case. I enjoyed working there, but I have to say the commute was painful. But the beauty of the temp system is that you get to try on lots of different jobs until you find something that feels right.

So now I'm back to looking for work, still with my temp agency but open to other opportunities as well. If any of you guys want to start your own business and hire me to be awesome and do awesome stuff, you just let me know. In the meantime I'm going to throw a lot of time towards Carolina Pear and the freelance design work I'd been doing.

Sidebar: Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a picture of a saddle, an actual horse saddle, with all the hipsters posting pictures of their stupid bikes on flikr? It wasn't easy my friends.

Come On, You Know You Want Some

2011-11-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

Remember, a while back, when I told you guys Carolina Pear was going to sponsor a giveaway over at THRIVE?

Well, I did - you guys clicked over and entered, right? - and Nike selected 2 lovely ladies to each win a 10-pack of custom note cards. One of the winners requested some cards chock-full of monogrammed, chevroned, ombre faded goodness.

I think these hit the mark, no? I love them so much I may have made myself some too! They're just perfect for thank you notes. If any of you want some I may be persuaded to set you up - you can even pick your own colors! Just drop me a line at info@carolinapear.com.

I Hate You, Rain

2011-11-02T16:57:00.004-04:00

I don't know what happened in your neck of the woods, but I had a cold and rainy Halloween. Which means NOBODY went trick-or-treating and EVERYBODY bought too much candy. What to do with extra candy? Bring it to the office so fatties like me will eat it, of course. I'm trying not to eat it but, didn't you hear me? THERE'S FREE CANDY AT WORK!

That sentence sounds weird, as if the candy is working. Oh, but it is. Working on making my pants too small.

Wherein I Am Compared To Starchy Vegetables

2011-11-01T16:30:00.004-04:00

Saturday, as a belated birthday present, my mom treated me to an afternoon of shopping. I returned the favor by springing for $7 worth of frozen yogurt. That's fair from where I'm sitting.

On said shopping excursion I tried on a sweater dress. Those of you who are pear-shaped (like me) probably already recoiled in horror at the phrase "sweater dress" but I am apparently an idiot because I put the demon dress on my body anyway.

Not the exact dress, but similar. I promise it would be equally unflattering on me.

While staring at myself in the mirror, I said "Ugh. Could I look more like a sack of potatoes?"

Without missing a beat, Mom shot back "Yeah, that dress could be brown."

We fell into a fit of giggles - saying that I probably smell like Thanksgiving - and it made me want a daughter someday. Don't get me wrong, I adore my son, but I will never get to call him fat in a dressing room and call it bonding.

Love ya Mom.

What The F*@& Universe?

2011-10-27T13:45:00.001-04:00

Just yesterday I was telling you all how wonderful my birthday had been, that the Universe banded together to make my day. It was a day so perfect I wanted to meet it at summer camp and become pen pals with it.

Apparently the Universe had one more gift in store for me because I woke up this morning with something strange growing out of my head. I hesitate to call it a gray hair - I don't want it to become too familiar with me and invite its friends - but it's definitely lighter and more wiry than the rest of my hair. Not cool, Universe. GO TO YOUR ROOM.

I didn't pluck it because, for the moment, I'm choosing to refuse it exists. Except for the whole 'telling the Internet' part. You see, this alleged gray hair is throwing a wrench in my plans. I had always thought of myself as someone that wouldn't fret over gray hairs and wrinkles, someone who would just age naturally and gracefully. But that was assuming I wouldn't get a gray hair until I was 30. This rogue hair is AT LEAST 3 years premature and I don't know how to deal with it - dye it, pluck it or fuck it?

At least it's in the front so maybe I can rock a saucy gray streak, a la Stacy London.

image source

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-10-26T13:30:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I turned 27 years old and the Universe banded together to make sure I had a fantastic day.

- I gave myself a shot of birthday confidence by donning my red skinny jeans (a birthday gift from the hubby)...

...and my most bad-ass high heels.

clearly, my shoes are very mysterious.

- The hubby took me to lunch for some yummy pizza.

- When I got back to work there was a big brownie parfait in the kitchen that just happened to have one serving left. I took that as a sign and devoured it. NOM.

- Around 3:00 some flowers were delivered and they were *gasp* for me! I've never had flowers delivered to me, so that was a very, very nice treat from Luke and the hubby.

not pictured: how jealous you are

- I answered my office phone and it was Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Happy Birthday" to me. It turned out to be a birthday wish/prank from one of my co-workers. How funny!

- My Mother-in-Law gave me a gift certificate for a massage. I've only had one massage before, but it was when I was pregnant and could be considered painful but productive. I'm very much looking forward to a massage of the soothing Swedish variety.

- I enjoyed dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants with the hubby, Luke, my mom and my step-dad. On the menu: Roasted Tomato Soup, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Creme Brulee. NOMx2

- I got a bazillion birthday wishes on Facebook. Nothing make you feel like you have loads of friends like the Internet.

Festive

2011-10-21T14:38:00.003-04:00

Like a lot of gals, I like having a little polish on my fingernails. But I hate how most manicures chip within 5 minutes of leaving the salon. It's like just the thought of me reaching my hand into my purse makes the polish flee with terror.

For I while I was getting gel manicures - which are super durable - but then I read that the UV gel-setting lights can cause wrinkles and HAND CANCER. OK, not hand cancer. Skin cancer on your hand. Still... no, thank you. Fortunately I came up with a cheaper, and less cancer-y, solution.

I now swear by Sally Hansen Hard as Nails. It does pretty good on its own, but if I get it applied at the nail salon with their super-strong top coat it will last me 2 weeks. Yes, I may have to do a few touch-ups at home but since the polish belongs to me, that's no problem. I still like my fast-drying options for a last minute manicure, but they're not built to last.

UGH. Why do hands look so scaly and old in close-ups?

For fall / Wolfpack season I picked this sparkly deep red that may or may not make another appearance at Christmas. Festive, no?

Free Stuff!

2011-10-18T16:06:00.005-04:00

I just wanted to pop in real quick to share some awesome news with you guys...

One of my favorite craft blogs, THRIVE, is turning one! In honor of the occasion Nike (THRIVE's creator) is throwing a week-long blog party, complete with presents! Carolina Pear is joining the fun by hosting one of the seven, yes SEVEN, awesome giveaways. Stop by THRIVE to enter to win. And while you're there, stick around, you could probably learn a thing or two about thrifty crafting from Nike!

My Brand-New, Old Ottoman

2011-10-11T17:00:00.003-04:00

If you read my baby blog, then you already know I hit up the yard sales on Saturday. If you don't read my baby blog, WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME?

Anyway... In addition to the amazing deal I scored on a jogging stroller I also got this gorgeous vintage leather ottoman for $25.

Well, technically my father-in-law bought it for me for $25.

As soon as I saw that ottoman I fell in love with it. At $25 I thought it was a bargain, but there was something holding me back. A certain something that I happen to be married to and that can be quite closed-minded when it comes to decor.

Admittedly this ottoman may be a bit of an acquired taste. It's more than a bit quirky, but I love it for its style as well as what it represents to me. You see, when I was a kid my grandparents had an ottoman very similar to this one that they bought when they lived in Peru in the mid-1960's. So seeing this guy instantly brought back memories of my childhood. But what really sealed the deal was that, by some strange coincidence, my grandfather's initials were stamped into the leather on the bottom. No, I don't think this ottoman belonged to my grandparents, but I do think fate was trying to give a little shove. Despite all that I couldn't bring myself to buy it knowing the hubby could hate it. And since yard sales don't really have return policies, I was prepared to walk away but my father-in-law sweetly bought it for me. Maybe he couldn't stand the way I was awkwardly staring at it hoping no one else wanted it.

Luckily, once I got it home the hubby said it could stay. He was lukewarm at first but after an hour he decided it was pretty cool.

I am quite curious where the ottoman came from and when it was made - no, I didn't think to ask the woman who sold it to us - so I sent an email to Apartment Therapy. I'll keep you posted if I learn anything new!

Project Closet

2011-10-05T10:59:00.006-04:00

I am embarking on an adventure to wear everything in my closet. I have lots of clothes that I like, some I even love, but I am very bad about gravitating to a few favorites and leaving the rest hanging unworn. Well, no more! I plan to break free of my old standards and learn to see my clothes in a new light.

To help me keep track of what's been worn I whipped up some closet dividers (one for tops, one for dresses) out of cardboard from - you guessed it - the recycling bin. The process was so simple I didn't bother to photograph it. Instead I made you this handy illustration:

They look exactly like that. Except imagine them colored with sharpies and shoddily cut with scissors.

There are lots of ways to keep up with which clothes have been worn or not - rotating the item on the hanger, a hidden safety pin, etc - but I wanted the easiest possible system. I hung the divider at the back of my closet. After I wear an item I move it behind the divider. Easy peasy. As I mentioned before I am keeping track of tops and dresses, but not bottoms since I rarely build an outfit around skirts and pants.

I decided to make it easier on myself and only keep up with the clothes I wear during the work week. Which means I am still free to adhere to my weekend uniform of skinny jeans, ribbed tank and cardigan. That's not changing anytime soon.

If I were a super-fantastic blogger (HINT: I'm not) this project would include outfit posts, accessory close-ups and such. Sadly my new work schedule - four 9-hour days and a 4-hour Friday - means there is no daylight before I leave and when I get home I want to play with my son before he goes to bed. Sorry, Internet. You're playing second fiddle to an adorable, giggling toddler. I might pop-in if I come up with something particularly inspired, but this is not some sort of 30-for-30 type deal so don't expect daily documentation.

That being said, I'm looking forward to dusting off some beloved but neglected things from my wardrobe. Care to join me in the challenge? All you need is a closet, some cardboard and mediocre scissor skills.

Bring It On, Fall

2011-09-26T13:19:00.003-04:00

Fall is upon us and I am pumped! I can appreciate the seasons and the changes they bring - except for winter; winter can suck it - but my favorite season will always be fall. I'm a sucker for apple cider, tights with boots, football, hot soup and scarves. Oh, how I love scarves. This year I am welcoming my beloved fall with the perfect autumnal color, rich smoky purple. I picked a dark grayish purple for my manicure on Saturday and bought a blouse on Sunday that coordinates perfectly. I don't know what I like better, the perfect pleats or the unexpected color!

What's your go-to color this fall?

Does This Job Make Me Look Fat?

2011-09-20T14:13:00.004-04:00

Holy paycheck, Batman! I'm employed! See, here's proof:

photo not-so-stealthily snapped with my phone in the middle of the day

No, I'm not important enough to have my own name plate. Why do you have to bring that up?

After months of fruitless job searching I signed on with a temp agency ~~to make them do the work for me~~ to expand my horizons. I sent a resume, did some skills assessments and met with a recruiter. Much to my dismay she was all "I'm not sure what to do with you. You're trained as a designer yet you're trying to find administrative work." Well, yeah. If there was design work available I WOULD BE APPLYING FOR IT. But there's not, thus the temp agency.

Jump forward 2 weeks and I get a call from my recruiter. There's an opening for a temp-to-hire* receptionist at an architecture firm. Is that something you would be interested in? Hell yes, lady! Sign me up! Granted it would be admin work, but I'm all about keeping a foot in the door. The temp agency forwarded my resume, the firm liked the look of it and invited me for an interview. At my interview they were super pleased that I have a design background, told me I would be able to assist the design team with various architect-y tasks and offered me a job on the spot. All I had to do was swing by my temp agency and fill out the paperwork.

I wanted to shout my good news ~~from the rooftops~~ on the internet but the hubby was more than a bit wary after my last job offer. For someone who claims not to be superstitious, he is very weird about sharing good news too soon for the fear it would jinx something. No matter how many signs pointed to yes they actually intend to let me come to their office and pay me for it he said he wouldn't consider me "having a job" until I was actually there and working.

Today was my second day, so I'm officially allowed to broadcast it. Heh. I'm getting settled and everyone seems very nice. There are even some familiar faces amongst the crowd, so that helps me feel more at home. Plus, you have to love a job where you're allowed to read if you have downtime.

*That means the job listing is for a short term contract, facilitated by the temp agency, and the company is free to hire me at the end of my contract if they think I'm cool. Which they'd better.

If Dog Is Man's Best Friend...

2011-09-12T13:00:00.000-04:00

... then cats are those friends that REALLY can't take a hint that you need some space.

Most days I sit on the daybed in the playroom with my laptop. It lets Luke have supervised play time while also allowing me to do Carolina Pear projects, bloggy stuff, or general internet ~~goofing off~~ research. I research A LOT of stuff. Typically Pop-Tart lays at my feet and naps like a normal cat.

Other times she decides she has to be as close to me as is physically possible. You see that black mass at the bottom of the picture? That's Pop-Tart, laying across my wrist, making it darned impossible to move or do anything productive.

You know how most cats get pissed and run away if you even flinch near them? Not Pop-Tart. I wrestled my hand free to take a picture, but she's still holding down the fort. Here's another angle to illustrate just how persistent she is.

Luckily Yo-Yo likes to amuse himself by cramming into small boxes/bags and going to sleep, which is way more hilarious than irritating.

Are you pets clingy too? Dish the dirt!

Are You Ready For Some (Fantasy) Football?

2011-09-08T14:30:00.000-04:00

*If you didn't read that as sung by Hank Williams, Jr then there's just no hope for you.

I was talking about football over on my other blog, which did 2 things:
1) It gave me an excuse to post some pictures of my kid.

Whoops, there I go again.

2) It made me realize I have some football-related awesomeness to share with you guys.

pictured: awesomeness

That bug wearing boxer shorts is the mascot for my fantasy football team, Bloomer Crickets. For those of you not well-versed in ridiculous Southern slang, bloomer crickets is another way of saying crabs. The STD, not the kind you serve with butter. Don't ask me why that's my team name, but it makes me laugh and that's good enough for me.

I have played fantasy football in the past, but this year my best good friend Rachel and I started a women's only fantasy football league. We named it... wait for it... A League of Their Own. Awesome, right? We got 6 football loving ladies to join our league, but the hubby strongly felt the league would be more fun if we had 2 more teams. We were fresh out of actual women, so he suggested that he and Rachel's hubby join the league. But to keep with the women-only part, the guys would play on behalf of our female cats, Pop-Tart and Eureka.

That's right, I run a fantasy team AND shit in a box. What can you do?

Since he was officially playing as Pop-Tart, hubby wanted a cat-centric team name. And what hilrious team name did he come up with? Hans Cougar, an homage to Die Hard's famous villain. That's right, the family that puns together stays together. To hammer the point home I photoshopped Pop-Tart's face onto Hans' head, which is a sight that is equally awesome and terrifying.

Hans Cougar in the ~~flesh~~ fur

We have our league set for this year, but we hope to expand (and kick the boys out) in the future so if you are interested in playing next year let me know!

Well, That Was a Piss Poor Idea

2011-08-31T14:01:00.005-04:00

I don't just put curse words in my blog titles because I love cursing. Which I do - it's fun for all ages! In this case the swear word in question is relevant to the topic at hand: pee. Cat pee, to be specific.

Remember when the hubby and I thought really, really hard about the best possible way to keep stray litter and that ever-so-pleasant litter box smell from overwhelming our house? Our solution was a cheap DIY project that solved all of our problems and then some.

Or so we thought. What we actually accomplished was a connected series of litter boxes. Who loves hiding their pee in tiny, cave-like places? Cats do! The fact that we didn't realize this sooner is hugely embarrassing.

Not long after we installed the litter box we discovered one or both of them were peeing in the vanity, right in front of the litter box. We couldn't figure out how to stop them, but we put down a plastic mat to protect the vanity cabinet. You see, my lovely husband has a stubborn streak and instead of giving up on the idea, he was GOING TO MAKE IT WORK, DAMMIT. So we forged ahead, determined to salvage the seemingly-awesome hidden litter box idea.

While cleaning the litter box last night the hubby noticed the smell was much worse than usual. Come to find out, the reason it smelled so bad - SO, SO BAD - was because the cats had also been peeing in the linen closet and the pee had SOAKED INTO OUR WOOD FLOORS. Which we now get to rip out and replace with something ~~water-repellant~~ pee-resistant. Just typing that makes me feel gross. The whole time he was cleaning up he kept muttering under his breath. I couldn't hear all of it, but what I could catch made a compelling argument that our next pet should be a dog.

As an added bonus, the linen closet got a complete organizational overhaul. Apparently the smell of cat urine is so strong that it permeates everything around it. In this case, in was wafting up the linen closet and made all my clean linens and towels smell like piss. So everything had to be removed, washed, folded and moved to another location. Now the no-longer-aptly-named linen closet only holds paper towels, toilet tissue, first aid supplies and other things that nobody will put their face on.

The current plan is to leave the cat door into the linen closet, block the tunnel between the closet and the vanity and place a plain litter tray on the floor of the closet. It will still contain the smell (somewhat) and the litter (somewhat) but at least they'll stop pissing on my damn floors. But yeah, cats are still awesome. Adopt a kitten today!

[Insert Austin Powers joke here]

2011-08-24T21:32:00.002-04:00

Why Austin Powers? Because I've lost my blogging mojo, that's why.

At least that's my excuse for my lack of blogging lately. I've been hard at the job search - had an interview today,actually - which seems to have sapped me of all my blog writing powers. Seriously, job searching is the pits. The hubby and I actually just over-hauled our ~~junk storage facility~~ office and turned it into a guest room and play room for my newly mobile toddler. Sadly, I can't work up the energy to photograph and write about it. Maybe this weekend, because let's face it, I got to organize and label things and I want someone to know about it.

Also, to fill my time (and make a little cash) I've been doing some freelance design work for a local restaurant. Mostly menu design for now, but I've been told there are other projects coming down the pipeline.

Funny story: last weekend the restaurant's electrical meter caught fire, causing a power outage, and the restaurant had to close and they lost $20,000 in business and product. OK, ok, I know that's not funny. At all. I'm getting to the funny part. After the fire my (conservative) father-in-law proclaimed me a jinx and ordered me to go get a job in Washington, DC. Heh.

Fun With Sun Prints

2011-08-11T11:00:00.001-04:00

Almost two years ago my sister-in-law gave me a sunprint kit. It took me a while to get up the nerve to use it because I was afraid I would waste it, but I finally started playing with it. I'm in love!

The instructions are fairly simple:

My first subject was a fern frond from my yard.

I accidentally moved the fern while I was exposing the paper, but I actually liked the offset result.

Too bad I over-exposed the paper and ruined the image. Also I allowed the rinse water to pond on the paper leaving a horrible water spot.

I tried the fern again but the second time around I made sure to remove excess water before I set it out to dry.

My next subject was a cluster of pine needles, also from my yard. I loved how the dimensionality of the needles caused a shadow, gradient effect.

I still didn't like the little bit of water staining, so I decided to dry the next batch face down.

Speaking of the next batch, it included carrot leaves (from my garden!), some baby toys, our house key and a fruit basket. I tried to branch out and find interesting shapes and textures that weren't necessarily identifiable in print.

What do you think? I haven't decided how to mount them or where to display them, but you know I'll keep you in the loop when I do!

Finally, A Project That Doesn't Involve Trash

2011-08-08T14:00:00.002-04:00

But it does involve free stuff.

Let's talk about my new bag. It was posted on Freecycle and described as "military style, but not camo, messenger bag." I can always use an extra bag or two and it was free so I figured "why not."

As soon as I picked it up I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was in good shape and not ugly - always a risk when someone gives something away for free. It's definitely on the military/utilitarian end of the style spectrum but that suits me fine for a day-to-day, not-going-out-for-drinks bag. As you can see it has a handle so that it can be carried like a briefcase.

It also has this handy wrap zipper thing going on so that you can keep it slim...

... or open the zipper and make it nice and roomy. I am all about organizational flexibility.

I kept thinking "Who wouldn't want this bag? Why was this free?" My answer came when I discovered that the clips for the detachable strap were missing. The previous owner had "solved" this by tying the strap to the bag with some sad little rusted wire. That just won't do. Luckily I know my way around a hardware store* so this would be an easy fix.
*That sounds dirty, doesn't it?

All I had to do was buy some new clips so that my strap, now freed from it's wire shackles, could be clipped to the sides for a messenger bag...

... or to the back to get some backpack action going on. Oh, and it's also missing a ~~D-ring~~ ~~delta ring~~ whatever that metal triangle is called. I can fix that too.

My original plan was just to replace the one missing triangle, but I couldn't find them anywhere. So I bought 6 old school D-rings (for 55 cents each) and replaced them all.

Let me tell you, that part was not fun. It wasn't impossible but it required almost more strength than my dainty little hands could muster. But I did it. Bonus: I got to play with 2 SETS OF CALIPERS. AT ONCE. Go me.

I also bought 2 new clip rings to replace whatever used to hold the strap to the bag. I didn't intend to buy something quite so bulky, but I also didn't want to drive to every hardware store in town so I bought the best option Lowe's had to offer.

You may notice the tag is still on that clip. That is because when I got home I found 2 of these guys that have a smaller profile and look less obtrusive, so the other ones are going back to the store.

After I got all my hardware replaced and my bag hung up to photograph, I saw one last adjustment that needed to be made. Can you spot it?

If you guessed the floppy strap, you win 10,000 gold stars.* I photographed the bag with one side as it was and one side fixed so you can see the difference.
*Gold stars not redeemable for cash, design services or anything of value.

And, just for fun, here's a shot with both sides fixed. Ahh, much better.

I guess the only thing I haven't talked about is what I plan to use the bag for. It's a little too rugged for me to use as a purse, but it makes a perfect laptop bag. The main pocket holds my neoprene laptop sleeve. The right front pocket is the perfect size for thumb drives, camera cords, etc and the left pocket holds the strap when I'm not using it.

What do you think? Not bad for a $3.30 bag, right?

I Can't Catch A Break

2011-08-06T22:45:00.001-04:00

I try not to overwhelm you readers with my personal life. I know you're here for DIY craftiness and sarcastic rants. HOWEVER, it's about to get personal.

By now you're all well aware that I am unemployed and pathetic. Architecture isn't exactly recession-proof. Every time I feel like things are looking up, I just get knocked back down yet again. You've already read about my (seemingly) positive interview last month - only interviewed 2 candidates, referred by my cousin - that turned out to be a dud. But hey, on the bright side, it got me a Pity Kindle.
P.S. Kelly arrived in the mail this week. She and Kendall are BFFs already.

Jump to last Thursday afternoon: my old boss (2 lay offs ago) e-mailed me out of the blue to ask what my employment situation was. He said the firm is desperate to hire people and my name came up in a team meeting. I called him back IMMEDIATELY and he asked me to come in the next morning. I showed up on Friday wearing my most kick-ass interview outfit, portfolio in-hand. He barely flipped through my portfolio because "we already hired you once and we know we like you." Also, in addition to architecture, he was looking for someone that can take on some interiors work. I can TOTALLY do that. After a quick run-down of the projects they had on the table he offered me a job. On the spot. It was only a 3 month contract job, but he was optimistic they would extend it if the work was there. He had to run some numbers by his accountant but I could expect a formal job offer early the following week. I headed off for my beach vacation on cloud nine.

Meanwhile back at the ranch... ECONOMIC TURMOIL! Debt ceilings, and stock markets and national credit ratings, oh my!

It is now the following Friday and I still haven't heard anything. I call my neighbors who have been checking my mail; I haven't received anything from Supposedly Awesome Architecture Firm, LLC. I call my old boss "just to check in" and try not to sound too desperate as I leave him a voice mail. Two hours later I get an e-mail...

"I am sorry to communicate back to you so late in the week... Several things have occurred this week... I regret telling you to expect an offer... There is just too much volatility in the economy... I wish you success in you continued search for a position... blah blah blah"

So yeah, this isn't my ~~week~~ ~~month~~ year.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not mad at my old boss. At all. Our economy is turning to shit and there's nothing he can do to stop it. He's doing the best he can to protect the employees he's already got. But, guys, THIS BLOWS SO HARD. Also, after this many lay offs and almost-hires you would think I would be immune to it. But no, I still cry like a little bitch. Every. Single. Time.

So, uh, what's up with you?

Is it so wrong to take color inspiration from a bruise?

2011-08-04T13:00:00.000-04:00

Because I totally did.

belt from J Crew / dress from Old Navy / bruise from a life of spastic tripping

Jewelry Storage Gets An Upgrade

2011-08-01T14:00:00.001-04:00

I've talked about my jewelry storage already - here, here and here - but as usual, I have re-organized it. Again. Also as usual, I took on multiple tangent projects at the same time which makes it REALLY HARD to write a cohesive post about it. This is me trying my best.

PART 1 - THE OLD WAY

When we moved into our house I basically duplicated the exact set-up I had at our apartment: necklaces on the branch or the board, rings in my industrial jewelry holder. Or at least that was the plan.

You guys remember my cheap yet awesome industrial jewelry holder, right? Wasn't it cool? I thought so, too, unfortunately the movers didn't realize it was delicate and so it got damaged when we moved. So sad. It's not entirely ruined, and I might fix it someday, but for now I have learned to live without it.

Rest In Peace, my friend
at least until I re-purpose you

So what does that mean to you? It means my rings went back to being stored in my hideous, dying-to-get-rid-of-it jewelry armoire. Remember this. It will ~~be on the quiz~~ come up later.

shudder

Another unfortunate incident: I broke my necklace branch. But I was able to repair it with some [alleged] quick-dry epoxy and now it's almost as good as new.

PART 2 - THE EGG CRATE

I have this tendency to fixate on things. Like, the second I decide I want something I have to have it YESTERDAY. It's a sickness, I know, but sadly I have no intentions to deal with it.

So, when Sherry from Young House Love tweeted that West Elm had ceramic egg crates on clearance for $5 the wheels started turning. "Some ceramic egg crates would be perfect for storing my rings. They'd be so pretty sitting on my vanity." When she posted a follow-up tweet with a 15% online discount I whipped out my wallet so fast I left skid marks in my purse.

image from West Elm

Then yet another tragedy* struck: I got an e-mail from West Elm saying the egg crates were back-ordered with no plans to be re-stocked anytime soon. No! The horror! HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT SOMETHING I'VE BEEN OBSESSED WITH FOR 48 HOURS?!? I was furious. How can a company think they have something in stock, sell it, then later realize they had oversold the item? THIS IS THE INTERNET AGE, PEOPLE.
*I may not have a rational grasp on what constitutes tragedy.

I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind, but I was still ~~obnoxiously~~ inwardly sulking. The universe must have been rooting for me because the very next day I stumbled upon a ceramic egg crate while browsing ~~and hating myself for not being rich~~ at Anthropologie. It wasn't as much of a steal at $14, but they had stacks and stacks of them all laid out in front of me, with no one trying to fight me for them. Sold!

[sound of angels singing]

In a turn of events that won't shock any of you, I sorted my rings by color.

[more angels singing, this time with Bono and Elton John - it's a benefit concert]

You know me, I can't resist the detail shots.

PART 3 - THE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY DRAWER UP-FIT

As you can tell from all the pictures and babbling, the project could have ended there. I had fixed the necklace tree and I had somewhere to display my rings. But was that good enough for me? No.

As I was dusting the vanity and putting my things in just the right spot, the itch to keep organizing set in. As I've said in an old post "I originally thought I could store my jewelry in my vanity but the drawers were too big to keep everything organized and visible." Well, not anymore. I was no longer content to have ANYTHING still in my jewelry armoire so I set out to make the very deep drawer work for me. I say "drawer" because I left the other 3 drawers alone. Someday they might get the up-fit treatment, but for now I need the deeper drawers to store socks, long underwear, etc. Yes, I wear long underwear in the South. I AM THAT COLD NATURED.

Echo... Echo... Echo

So I carried my drawer out to our wood shop. At this point I would like to point out that this project involved drill bits, power tools and absolutely zero husbands. Girl power.

To make the drawer more functional I wanted to create a false bottom within the drawer, which would effectively give me 2 smaller spaces instead of the one cavernous one. To do this all I needed to do was install some spacers (all the same height) to support the false bottom, and then the false bottom itself. I just grabbed some pine scraps for the spacers then stood them in place so I could get an idea where to pre-drill my holes. Pre-drilling was necessary because I didn't want to risk splitting the (old and brittle) drawer sides when I screwed in the supports. I also ended up pre-drilling through the pine spacers after I split the first one with my wood screw. Live and learn, right?

Here's a shot of my drawer side after the installation of the spacers. Since I drilled through the sides only - and not the front - of the drawer no one will ever be the wiser about my little modification. And for all you vintage furniture lovers out there, I would not have drilled into the dresser at all if I thought it was worth lots of money. But since I got it for free from my mom, who got it for free when the previous owners of her house left it behind, I don't think I'm at risk of ruining anything priceless.

After the spacers were installed my next step was to create the false bottom. I grabbed this already stained board from our scrap pile. It used to be a shelf several apartments ago. The matching brackets were long since lost and it's too small to hold much anyway. Plus, what was I thinking with that hideous olive brown stain. Best to hide it in a drawer.

A few quick cuts with the miter saw and I had my false bottom. For those of you without power tools, A) this could be done with a hand saw and B) what's wrong with you? power tools are awesome!

You may notice my false bottom has 2 pieces. That is only because the dimensions of my existing board weren't big enough to cover with one piece, so I cut it in half (length-wise) and then rotated the pieces 90 degrees so the length became the width. If you're confused, just look at how the grain runs on the long board and then in the drawer - you'll get it. If I was buying new materials to make this I would just get a bigger board, but I was trying to make it work with what I had on hand.

You also may notice that it would be very hard to get the boards back out to access the bottom of the drawer. I have a solution for that, too. I just used a 3/4" bore bit to cut a notch on the end of the board.

TIP: It is impossible to drill only half on a hole, so I rigged this up to help me out:

It's just the board I want to drill into clamped together with a scrap board (which has to be the same thickness, btw) to create an easy-to-drill-into solid surface. To make ~~myself look smart~~ my life easier I also started with a pilot hole before I broke out the big bit.

After that all the hard labor was done the drawer and I got to come back inside and enjoy the sweet miracle of air conditioning again. Remember how I told you nobody would ever see my modification from the outside? I was totally right.

Here's the empty drawer just waiting to hold my treasures.

And here's me demonstrating the false bottom action, Vana White style.

And lastly, here's what you see when you remove the false bottom. Fascinating stuff, I tell ya.

PART 4 - CAN'T. STOP. ORGANIZING.

So even after the drawer building, branch gluing and ring sorting I still had the urge to keep organizing. Also, I still had the urge to pull craft supplies from the trashcan. In this mini-project I made a bracelet box using a toilet paper tube, a paper grocery bag and a decorative paper box (which I never photographed because I suck at life).

I wrapped the brown paper around the tube (logo side in), secured it with tape and then stuck the tube inside the cardboard box. I intentionally cut the paper slightly too long so that the tube would hold itself in place with tension.

pictured: tension

My dainty bracelets are clasped around the tube while my bangles just fit in the sides. At this point I should mention that I don't wear bracelets very often so this solution works for my lifestyle. If I was a wear-bracelets-everyday gal this little project would probably fall apart in no time flat.

PART 5 - THE BIG PICTURE

I finally stopped organizing stuff and took pictures to show you my progress. Hooray!

The new and improved vanity top. Forgive the baby monitor; facts of life, yo.

My earrings are stored on an earring stand I picked up from Urban Outfitters a while back. As usual, UO put a bird on it.

Inside the modified drawer - make-up, perfume, travel jewelry clutch on top...

... scarves, bracelets, old earring stands on the bottom.

I used my repaired necklace branch to display short/chunky necklaces...

... while my long necklaces - which I am amassing at an alarming rate - are on the necklace board.

So that's what I did today. What did you do?

Who Has Two Thumbs and Too Much Time On Her Hands?

2011-07-29T14:00:00.000-04:00

This gal.

Most people clean up the mess when they spill their face powder. Not me. I take a picture of it and post it on the internet. Sheesh, what a weirdo.

Wherein There Are Lots of Puns

2011-07-28T09:30:00.002-04:00

So, last week I was whining about my job situation, celebrating my newly gifted Kindle and trying to decide which cover to get for it.

INCREDIBLY DORKY SIDEBAR: When I set-up my Kindle I was prompted to name the device. I could have stuck with the default - Allison's Kindle - but I went out on the pun-covered limb and named it Kendall. Get it? Kindle, Kendall? Homonyms? Anything? [crickets]

After ~~loads of research and thought~~ reading other people's opinions on Facebook and Pinterest I decided to go with the Amazon cover, in kelly green. The hubby even sweetly offered to pay for it and let it be ~~part~~ most of my birthday gift.

Anywho, I did not want to spring for the non-free shipping so it won't get here for 5-9 days. Which means it likely won't arrive in time for our beach vacation. But since I fully intend to use Kendall all week, even with my toes in the sand, I needed to come up with an interim cover. If only I knew someone who likes to rummage through cabinets and drawers then craft with whatever she finds.

Enter, stage right, FABRIC NOTEBOOK FOLDER THING!

I bought this some time ago on Etsy. I mainly bought it because I fell in love with the fabric, but I justified the purchase by designating it my notebook for Weight Watchers stuff.

It has all these little pockets that were great for holding my points guide, my food journal and all the other crap you have to keep up with when dieting. Sadly for the folder thing I got pregnant right after it came in the mail and I had to quit Weight Watchers. Not sad for me, we were thrilled, but now I had no use for my lovely little fabric notebook. Until now...

It just so happens that the larger pockets are the EXACT SAME SIZE as my darling Kendall. OK, if I were being picky it would be a half inch taller but I'm not being picky. This project is meant to be quick and dirty and just a stand-in until Kendall's BFF Kelly gets here. You know, like kelly green? More crickets? Dammit! Nobody appreciates a good pun these days.

Just how did those two perfectly placed security loops get there, you ask? Sit tight, I'll show you. But before I go any further I should give credit where credit is due. This part was my husband's idea. I came up with a much less elegant solution, but he politely told me how dumb I was. Wait, he doesn't read this blog. Ignore that other part. This idea was mine, ALL MINE.

First I found 2 small hair elastics in my bathroom. And yes, it kills me that they aren't the same color. For the sake of my sanity, I'll focus on the pretty blue one that matches the fabric.

I lined it up with Kendall and pinned it in place, then I whip stitched over the metal connection to secure it.

I put Kendall back in place for a test-run but the elastic wasn't exactly providing a secure hold.

To reinforce things I also tacked down the 2 sides of the elastic. Bear in mind I am no seamstress. I can embroider my little heart out, but I don't have many skills in the fabric + thread = something that can survive a good washing department.

Luckily when Kendall is all snuggled in her cover my shoddy craftsmanship doesn't show. It even holds tightly enough that I can turn the cover upside down and she doesn't budge. I later realized, while editing my pictures, that it looks like I just rotated the right-side-up picture, but I promise it's hanging upside down in this one.

When the cover is closed you can see the elastics peeking out just a teensy bit, but that's a small price to pay for knowing my new toy isn't going anywhere.

As I mentioned earlier, this was intended to only serve in the interim until Kelly shows up. Luckily all my sewing was ~~so basic a monkey could do it~~ minimally invasive I can always take the stitches out and the folder will go back to normal. But now I'm thinking I might keep it around. I always like to have storage/organization options and I really like having a use for this little pouch again. Which means, of course, I'd have to name her. What do you think? I need names, people!

Quick and Easy Necklace Fix

2011-07-25T15:00:00.000-04:00

My mom was getting rid of some of her things and she gave me this necklace. I don't remember if it belonged to my grandmother or my great-grandmother, I just know it's a little on the vintage side. I think it's cute - maybe similar to something from Anthropologie or J Crew? - but something wasn't quite right. That pearl was killing it for me.

So, what's a girl to do?

I grabbed my box of jewelry stuff and worked my magic with some new beads and headpins.

Much better, right?

Take The Good With The Bad

2011-07-22T12:43:00.006-04:00

So, remember last week when I told you guys I was kicking ass all over the place? You know. Awesome portfolio, positive job interview, ARE pass letter #3.

Well, my portfolio is still awesome and I'm still 3 for 3 on my AREs, but I got passed over the job. Bummer, I know. Friends and family have being trying to cheer me up left and right, so I have already heard the following:
- Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.
- At least you're getting more time at home with Luke.
- You'll find something even better.
- Well, you avoided a bitch of a commute.
- If they aren't smart enough to hire you, then you'd probably not want to work there anyway.

All of those are cycling through my head in my own personal "No really, you don't suck" motivational mantra so if you want to make me feel better, at least get some fresh material. My misery needs your best one-liners.

But, I did say there was some good today, so let's talk about that. Hubby's grandmother, who treats me so well I think of her as my grandmother, took pity on me and bought me a Kindle.* I was thinking about asking for one for my birthday - October 25 for those keeping track - but she got it early so I can take it to the beach next week and drown my sorrows in the sweet, sweet words of Tina Fey.
*For those that are curious, I picked out the Wi-Fi only model with special offers, i.e. advertisements. After moderate research I determined the 3G wouldn't be necessary for my lifestyle and that the ads really aren't annoying. In fact, some offer really good deals on Amazon and Kindle products, so it seems like a bonus to me.

Help me Tina Fey. You're my only hope.

I have already heard having a Kindle is going to be amazeballs, but it brings up my latest dilemma. WHICH COVER DO I GET?!? You would think still being jobless would be my latest dilemma, but no, it's all about the stuff.

OPTION 1
Kindle Lighted Leather Cover - $60

PROS
-Integrated attachment clips, no elastic straps, assures a good fit
-Integrated book light that draws power from the Kindle (no need for batteries) and stows away when not in use

CONS
-More expensive
-Only available in 7 leather colors, no prints

OPTION 2
E-Reader Hardcover Case - $25

PROS
-Less expensive
-Available in attractive fabrics, even customizable with fabric choice

CONS
-No integrated attachment, relies on 4 elastic corner loops
-Fabric will be less durable than leather

I posted my query on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and have gotten a resounding "GET THE AMAZON COVER!" but I wanted to poll this sector of the internet, too. I don't want buyer's remorse, so help me out!

Where The F*@K Do The Towels Go?!?

2011-07-21T11:00:00.002-04:00

I'm usually quite the Wordy Wendy* but it's late and I'm tired so this is going to be brief. Ish.
*Shut up. That's a saying.

It's hot. We've been swimming a lot so I stocked up on towels. I have nowhere to store them so they've been living in my laundry sorter. Not so hot.

I finally got fed up and decided to put them somewhere. Anywhere. The top shelf of the coat closet was available but not exactly user friendly. Probably why it was empty to start with, except for two lonely rain ponchos.

not pictured: tumbleweeds

But how can I add functionality without spending lots of time or money? When in doubt, raid the recycling bin. Diaper boxes to the rescue!

I won't give you play-by-play photos of the next few steps because they are crazy simple: cut flaps off box; put box on shelf; put stuff in box. Awesome, right?

I also put some over-the-door hooks on the linen closet to hang the towels while they're wet.

And while I was on an organizational hot streak, I added a hook on the wall to hang our ponchos.

I promise, as soon as I get a job I will ~~try to~~ stop raiding the trash for craft supplies. Really, I do.

CAKE!

2011-07-19T14:23:00.001-04:00

We interrupt your usual broadcast to show you this picture of my baby covered in cake. I posted a party recap over on the baby blog if you're interested.

Luke's Birthday Invitation

2011-07-17T11:00:00.002-04:00

Today Luke is a year old! I could go on about how much he's grown, or about how this year has flown by. But I won't. Instead let's look at his party invitation!

To save paper (and money) I designed an invitation postcard. I was inspired by the Dick and Jane books, so I mimicked the font and used several Photoshop filters to make some photos of Luke look like hand drawn illustrations. Here's the front:

The back of the postcard had all the party info, as well as a spot to write the guests' address.

When I was a kid my mom always prided herself on never giving me a store-bought birthday cake. Now that I'm a mom (with a small paper goods business) I hope to never buy him store-bought invitations. And because I'm an overachiever (with a BFF who is excellent at decorating cakes) I'm going to try an uphold my mom's cake tradition too.

His party is later this afternoon, so I'll be back in the next day or two to share photos of the cake, the decorations, and of course the birthday boy!

Kicking Butt, Architecturally Speaking

2011-07-16T10:45:00.000-04:00

I have a super busy day planned today, but I wanted to pop in with some rather good news. Yesterday I had a job interview - for an actual architectural job, not just flipping burgers or folding sweaters. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

I re-did my portfolio for this round of job searching and I think it turned out nicely. The interview seemed to go really well, and my prospective boss even took me out to lunch. That's a good sign, right? To add to the "good" column, there is only one other candidate being interviewed and the firm is considering adding 2 team members not just one. So my odds are miraculously good. Then when I got home I finally got my results letter saying I passed my 3rd architectural exam. WINNING!

Old Hooks Get A New Use

2011-07-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

If you've spent even 5 minutes in the South during the summer then you know that swimming pools are ESSENTIAL. I don't have my own pool but my in-laws have a community pool in their neighborhood. Luckily for me their neighborhood is just down the road from our house and they JUST HAPPENED to leave their pool key at our house, um, all summer.

What with all our pool lounging we frequently have wet swimsuits laying about. I'm a hippy who likes to save water so I generally like to wear a swimsuit twice before I wash it. I also can't stand putting wet clothes in the laundry hamper so I have to dry them first. Sadly I don't have anything fancy to hang our swimsuits on. What's a girl to do?

Luckily for me, I'm kind of a genius. Remember these:

I had a few leftover after my closet re-do project and I thought they would be perfect for drying wet swimsuits.

I just hung them on my incredibly useless over-the-toilet towel bar. You see, we're casually-hang-your-towel-on-a-hook people so this towel bar has seen zero action since we moved in.

Have I mentioned how much I like free solutions? What do you think?

Nursery Art - The More The Merrier

2011-07-11T13:00:00.006-04:00

Most of the decorations in Luke's nursery haven't changed since last summer. In honor of his upcoming birthday I added a few items to his little frame collage, which used to look like this:

and now looks like this:

Forgive the funky shadows, that's what happened when I used the flash. I swear I didn't add a cheesy vignette thing in photoshop.

The first new addition was a print I got for free. It's a long story, but but it's cute and I didn't pay for it. Throw it in a cheap-o dollar store frame and it's good to go.

The second new addition is a framed print of his first birthday invitation - more on that later. I just made a little gray card stock mat and threw it in another cheap frame. Done and done.

But, wait. What's that gray rectangle in the middle? Oh, it's just the hospital bracelets from when Luke was born. Luke how tiny his ankle was!

I just cut a little card from some gray card stock - same as from the birthday invite frame - and rounded the corners with my... wait for it... corner rounder. I hung it on the wall with some t-pins to minimize visual impact then used 2 more t-pins to display the bracelets. At some point I might want a more permanent solution - shadow box, anyone? - but for now it gets the job done.

I'm trying not to personalize the nursery too much because I want to use the same nursery scheme for future babies - Luke will just move into the other bedroom when the time comes - but I couldn't help adding those decorative touches. What do you think?

Nursery Decor - Round Up

2011-07-07T14:00:00.000-04:00

I was recently rummaging around in my archives looking for a certain nursery decor post and I realized there are A. LOT. OF. THEM. So for any new readers (or old readers who want to admire the nursery again) I compiled this handy post for you (and me) to keep track of everything.

THE BASICS mood board - wall color - nursery layout

NURSERY ART part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6

NURSERY FURNITURE
crib - dresser - recliner - bookcase

NURSERY DECORATIONS bedding - mobile - quilt - lamp

The Day We Celebrate the Land of the Free (Stuff) and the Home of the Brave

2011-07-04T21:00:00.002-04:00

Happy Fourth of July my fellow Americans! To you international readers,* um, happy Monday?
*Do I have international readers? I don't know, but I'm going to assume I'm cool enough to have at least a few.

In honor of ~~the fact that my best friend was in town for~~ the holiday I decided to host a clothing swap. For those of you too lazy to click the link, a clothing swap is a type of swapmeet wherein participants exchange their valued but no longer used clothing for clothing they will use. Clothing swaps are considered not only a good way to declutter and refill one's wardrobe, but also are considered an act of environmentalism. Thanks, wiki!

Just a little something I designed for the invitation. Cute, no?

In retrospect it was probably dumb to plan a social gathering for a holiday weekend, but in my defense I think of July 4th as a stay-home-and-eat-burgers holiday not a traveling holiday so I assumed people would be around and bored the day before. I was wrong. I was hoping for 15-20 people but only ended up with 5 swappers. And, sadly, that 5 included me and my mother who only agreed to come out of pity. Or was it that I only invited her when I didn't think I'd have enough real guests? Either way, one of us (probably me) was being a prick.

In the end I think 5 was a good number, mainly because it required WAY less organization and rule enforcement on my part. I had all these schemes in my head for how to keep the swap moving swiftly and fair for all the swappers, but luckily I didn't need them. Even better, the actual clothes sharing was more successful than I had thought, considering the 5 swappers had very different body types and size ranges.

The most fun was when more than one swapper wanted an item and we would have a "model off," which is basically exactly what it sounds like: whoever is competing for the item tries it on, everyone else judges and then whoever looks the best in the item wins it. I would now like to point out that my mom - who is taller than me, has bigger boobs and smaller hips than me, AND just lost a ton of weight - battled me for a dress and I won. HA! Take that, Mom! But also, congrats on the weight loss. You look kind of terrific.

But enough business chatter, let's talk about my free stuff! I walked ~~away~~ to my closet with 7 tops, 2 pairs of shorts, 4 pairs of pants, 3 dresses, 4 sweaters, 1 leather jacket, 2 kick-ass skirts and a pair of sandals. And, of course, I got rid of some items that I just didn't wear much so now i have room for the new stuff. I won't show you everything I got, but I will hit the high notes.

DRESSES
LOFT, Kohl's, Target

SKIRTSTarget, Vera Wang for Kohl's

Just look at these gorgeous patterns. I could eat them with a spoon.skirt, skirt, dress
which is like duck, duck, goose only way more fun

PANTS
H&M, Kohl's
Admittedly the brown pair look a little sad on the hanger but they are quite flattering on, AND they're super comfortable.

TOPSTarget, LOFT, Old Navy

I intentionally set up the red, white and blue for all the patriots out there. Except for these Patriots. Coaches who ~~cheat at football~~ wear hideous sweatshirts get no love from me.

Speaking of red, white and blue today's 4th of July outfit (except for the shoes) was entirely from my swap loot. I normally don't do "theme" outfits, but this patriotically plaid tank was just begging to be worn today.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part - the shoes! I have been looking, and looking for a pair of gray or silver sandals but coming up with nothing. I have 4 or 5 pairs of gold/bronze summer shoes - seriously - but no gray shoes, so that situation clearly needed to be remedied. But as I said I have been looking with no luck. Imagine my delight when my mom pulled this pair out of her bag:

I may or may not have shrieked "MINE!" and hid them in my room before anyone else saw them. Whatever. I'm the hostess, I'm allowed to cheat.

So that's the tale of my surprisingly successful clothing swap. It was loads of fun so I am already thinking about hosting another one in the future. To keep with my (poorly thought out) tradition I'll stick with holiday weekends, so mark your calenders for Thanksgiving and Easter. Heh.

Have you guys ever hosted or attended a clothing swap? How many people participated? What made the swap really successful? Go ahead, spill those beans.

Good-Bye Straps, Hello Savings

2011-06-30T10:33:00.000-04:00

The other day I just happened to be in Old Navy. What? I can't resist their clearance section. My favorite part is the damaged section. Sometimes an item is stained, ripped or otherwise ruined. Other times the so-called "damage" is a broken strap or a small shirt tagged as a medium. I can live with "damage" like that!

My most recent find was a sundress with a broken strap that had been condemned as damaged. So sad, right?

You won't find it so sad when you see this:

It's non-damaged sisters had just arrived on the sales floor and were priced at $40. It's not an unreasonable price, but it's a bit much for little old jobless me. The $20 version was much more my speed. I could have easily reattached the broken strap - they were only tacked on - but I decided to remove both straps since that seemed faster and easier.

After just a few minutes with my seam ripper, I had myself a half-price strapless sundress. This probably won't surprise anyone, but I am LOVING the gray and wine floral-but-not-too-feminine print.

Do you guys love to shop in the reject section? I can't be the only one.

Fabric + Cause For An Intervention

2011-06-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

I just bought a yard of this fabric. I can't tell you what it's for yet, but isn't it gorgeous?

I know, I need to stop it with the camera apps, but everything looks so much cooler when it's pretending to be a polaroid!.

Combat Hospital

2011-06-24T16:30:00.000-04:00

Have you guys been watching Combat Hospital? It starts out with a trauma surgeon, on her way to Afghanistan, who thinks she might be pregnant. Who doesn't love a good pregnancy scare? Also, it's like Grey's Anatomy, but with men in uniform. It's my new summer show.

Also also, the head of the Trauma Unit is played by an actor whose face looks like Christopher Meloni and Robert De Niro smooshed their faces together and made a third face.

Sorry. I do this obnoxious thing where, every time I watch tv or a movie, I always lean over to the person next to me and say stuff like "Hey, that's the guy from that movie;" "She played so-and-so's mother on that tv show;" "He really looks like that guy. You know, the one from the commercial." I'm like a human IMDB and I can't turn it off. I don't know why anyone is still friends with me. Really, I don't. And apparently I'm so obnoxious I even do it while blogging. Sheesh.

Free Art Supplies In The Mail

2011-06-23T13:45:00.000-04:00

You're probably tired of hearing about me making stuff out of trash, but guess what? I did it again. I guess it's just what happens when you're both bored and broke. Since you guys have to read what I post, or at least I don't know whether you're reading or not,* you're just going to have to deal with it.
*Google analytics, you say? ~~I can't figure out how that works.~~ That's voodoo magic.

Back to the content...

Tools:1- cutting mat
2- metal straight edge
3- paper trimmer
4- scissors
5- circle punch
6- corner rounder
7- pencil
8- x-acto knife
9- glue stick

Materials:

1- 2 cheapo frames from the dollar store
2- gray card stock
3- check envelope paper

Wait, what? Check envelope paper? Allow me to explain. Remember how when you mail someone a check - you know those paper things that aren't money, but you can still use to buy stuff - and you put it in a special envelope that obscures the account numbers. The next time you come across one, pay attention, the patterns can be pretty interesting.

See? I told you it's cool. I loved this DIY by Melancholy Smile, and as soon as I decided to ~~take inspiration from it~~ copy it I started collecting bank envelopes. Why buy patterned paper when you get it free in the mail? This would also be a great way to get some extra mileage out of newspapers, magazines and wrapping paper.

True to my nature I diagrammed everything in AutoCAD to commit to a layout before I put blade to paper.

nerd

The one with the circles was super simple to make: choose paper, cut circles with a circle punch. DONE.

Because I can't help but pick favorites, here's a few of the patterns I like the best.

don't tell the others, but you're my favorites

The one with the squares was a tad more complicated. First I cut out 2" squares with my paper trimmer...

... then I finished each square with my corner rounder...

... and then I cut each square diagonally in half. I'm not sure why I decided to cut them in half, it just felt like the fun thing to do. For that matter, I don't really know why I do half the things I do.

My next task was to prep my card stock. I cut it down to 8 x 10 (to fit the frames) then lightly penciled in a grid to help me place my paper shapes. Luckily for me, the pencil came right off with an eraser when I was finished with it. But I made sure to draw it nice an neat in case I ended up being stuck with it.

I chose to use a glue stick because I wanted a glue that wouldn't wrinkle the paper. If I didn't put the piece behind glass I would want a stronger hold, but since the glass is there I didn't worry about it.

Aren't they pretty all framed up?

I'm thinking I'll put them on the mantle, which used to look like this:

but is now starting to look like this:

That big empty frame is the start of yet another DIY project that I've had in the back of my mind for a while. I have big plans, people. I'm well aware my mantle looks sligtly ugly right now. Everything will reveal itself in due time.

Fedora

2011-06-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

This hat is my best friend this summer. It keeps the sun off my face and hides my hair when the humidity takes over.

That is all.

Art You Can Vacuum - Part 3

2011-06-17T13:31:00.001-04:00

Now it's time for Part 3, which is mostly many gratuitous photos of my latest art project.

I inserted the cylinders into my boards and secured them with some plain old Elmer's glue.

After the glue was dry I added a self-nailing picture hanger to each board, which cost me $3 for a pack of 4. I used picture hooks, which I already owned, on the wall to hang the boards.

Aren't they marvelous?

This is the gratuitous photos segment I warned you about.

I think the texture of the carpet adds an interesting element to wall art. Definitely not something you see everyday.

Here they are at night, illuminated by lamp light. Usually the hubby's reaction to my DIY endeavors is "Eh, it's nice" but this he really likes. He even said "It looks really cool, with the shadows and stuff." Coming from him, that's a HUGE compliment.

as usual, cat provided for scale

What do you think?

Everything Is Better In Miniature*

2011-06-16T11:00:00.000-04:00

*That's NOT what she said.

Sometimes when I go shopping or run errands without the baby I just zone out for a bit, enjoying my solo time, and wander around looking at things I don't need. On one such occasion of wandering I spotted these mini-cans of spray paint at Michael's.

Is that brilliant or what? I often need only a little bit of paint for a craft project and the paint world has finally started to catch up with me. The color selection isn't amazing - around 9 shades, I think - but they have black and white, which are my normal go-to spray paint tones. Color me happy.

Also, I love that they're called Short Cuts. I love a good pun.

Art You Can Vacuum - Part 2

2011-06-15T13:00:00.001-04:00

I'm back with Part 2 of my recent art project. Now that I have shared all about Part 1, I can finally reveal my mystery objects. Here they are!

You still don't know, do you? That's ok. They aren't exactly common household items. My friends, you are looking at a pile of carpet samples. That's right, carpet samples. Thus the whole art you can vacuum thing.

I got these 5 years ago when I interned with an interior architecture studio. You see, to advertise their product most carpet companies distribute little squares of actual carpeting, like this:

image from Berber

But there was one particular carpet-sample kit that contained hundreds of little tubes of bundled carpet fibers. I thought that was just too unique to pass up. Luckily for me, the studio was thinning out its material library and more than happy - albeit a little confused - when I offered to take it off their hands. I had no idea what I would do with them, but they came home with me all the same.

After I had my boards all set up (a 5 x 5 grid, if you remember) I got to the task of sorting through A LOT of cylinders to create my patterns. I decided I wanted to make 3 color gradients, and with so many similar carpet shades to choose from I knew it would be easy. Naturally I chose to do gradients for blue, gray and yellow to match the color scheme of my living room.

After I had my pattern set I used small adhesive labels to number each cylinder in case something (most likely one of the cats) messed them up before I could install them in my boards.

OCD to the last drop

The carpet cylinders were free and I already owned the labels, so this portion of the project cost zero dollars keeping our project total to just $3.

Stay tuned for Part 3, where everything comes together!

Happy Trails, To You!

2011-06-14T19:32:00.003-04:00

I am a fan of all things trail related: maps... splendid views... time to let your mind go blank... an excuse to wear shorts and a bandana. I like everything except the actual hiking - that mess is hard work!

But the best part? The trail mix. I made a batch this morning and I'm having trouble staying away from it. This batch has peanuts, pistachio kernels, dark chocolate dusted almonds and assorted "fancy" nuts (almonds, pecans, cashews, etc), as well as craisins (the raisin's younger, more attractive sister) and plain and dark chocolate M&M's. I'm somewhat of a trail mix purist. I just a good blend of salty and sweet; no granola allowed.

Also, over the years I have figured out that mixing trail mix is a lot like stirring compost. You can try to stir it, but it's best to just put the lid on and give it a good tumble.

Art You Can Vacuum - Part 1

2011-06-13T11:00:00.002-04:00

I have a new art project to share with you guys, but it's such a long post I broke it into 3 parts. Here's a sneak peak of the final piece to keep you guessing.

I have to start by saying I've had this project rolling around in the back of my mind for a long time. 2 months? 6 months? How about 60 months? Yep, I've been wanting to do this for 5 years and finally made it happen. Without giving away too much of parts 2 and 3, let's just say I had some objects to display but I couldn't decide how to display them. All I knew was I wanted to do a series of smaller art pieces instead of one large piece. When the scraps from our recent shelf installation left me with 3, perfectly square wood boards I knew my (soon-to-be-disclosed) objects had met their soulmates.

true love

The objects I had in mind to display were round - a 5/8" circle to be exact - so I used a drill press to cut lots and lots of 5/8" holes in my boards. Twenty-five in each board, for those of you keeping track.

Next I used my electric rotary sander to sand off the pencil lines and give my boards a smooth surface. I only used 2 types of sandpaper - coarse grit and fine grit - because I was feeling lazy. I should have used at least 3, but since this isn't a piece of furniture I gave myself a break.

While I had the sander out I flipped the boards over and sanded down the rough parts left behind by the drill press. Again, if this were a piece of furniture I would have also filled the gaps with wood filler and re-sanded, but nobody was going to see the back so I let it slide. My only goal was to get the wood shards out of the way so my objects would slide smoothly in place.

Aah, much better.

My last step for this phase of the project was to prep and paint my boards white. I decided to leave the edges of the boards unpainted, to give a nice contrast to the crisp white paint, so I used painter's tape to mask off the edges. As you can (sort of) see in the picture, cat litter buckets make excellent spray paint tables.

Just a few quick coats of spray paint later, my boards were painted and ready to show off some mystery objects.

Remember, my boards were scrap from another project and the spray paint only cost me $3. Not a bad start, right?

Stay tuned for part 2.

Garden Beans

2011-06-12T19:20:00.007-04:00

These beans are the first harvest from our little garden. It's not much but they were quite delicious roasted with potatoes and carrots for lunch!

Dumpster Diving In My Own Home

2011-06-09T11:00:00.000-04:00

[EDITOR'S NOTE*: This project was completed, and photographed, weeks ago then forgotten about until the author found the images on the camera. Don't you hate when that happens?]
*There is no editor. It's just me. Well, me and the voices in my head. Heh.

This is yet another project from my From Trash to Slightly-Better-Than-Trash series wherein I make stuff from items I find in my recycling bin. I swear this keeps happening because I'm environmentally conscious, not just super cheap.

Several weeks ago I was MOH for my bestie Rachel. As any good friend and MOH would do, I got her a wedding gift. Next I was tasked with ~~beautifully wrapping it~~ disguising its identity from the naked eye. Even if I had a job, I would never consider gift wrapping to be something worth spending money on. Oh sure, I buy a few rolls of wrapping paper at Christmas, but if you ever get a present from me, and it comes it a gift bag, I GUARANTEE YOU someone else gave the bag to me. Being unemployed just gives me extra incentive to be ~~a cheap bastard~~ creative and thrifty.

This looks like (somewhat decent) wrapping paper, right?

WRONG! It is a DSW shopping bag. I had some wrapping paper in my stash, but I hated to cut off a piece for such a small present. Good thing I saw these bold stripes peeking out of my recycling bin. I don't think this would have looked nearly as chic using a plastic grocery bag.

To create a tag I just used my craft punch to cut a circle from some leftover paper, and folded it along the stripe to give the tag a little tape flap.

Sweet, right? Luckily the bride knows me well and loves me, quirks and all, so she wasn't the least bit shocked when she saw this at her bridal luncheon:

*shudder* I really did try to hide the DSW logo, but I couldn't make it work. *sigh* Don't feel too bad for her. I gave her a second gift that I actually wrapped in a gift bag... that may or may not have been leftover from my baby shower.

Indicator Towel

2011-06-08T15:12:00.003-04:00

You guys know how a toothbrush has that blue indicator strip that turns white when it's time to change your toothbrush?

I do the same thing with the hubby's towels.

I stack them in the closet with the new, white ones on top and the old, blue ones on the bottom. When I see a blue towel hanging on his towel hook I know it's time to wash towels. It's the little things that make you a genius, right?

A Car Modification To Make Dad Proud

2011-06-06T14:00:00.001-04:00

You guys remember my dad? In addition to his talents at driving in reverse and climbing mountains, my dad is a bit of an amateur product designer. He doesn't make anything from scratch, but he is no stranger to modifying something to better fit his needs. Whether it's clothing, camp gear or his own truck almost everything he owns has been tweaked in some way. This post is in honor of dear old Dad.

The hubby and I recently swapped cars and I had to do a few modifications to make it feel like my own; change the radio pre-sets (goodbye, sports radio!), add a pro-bluegrass bumper sticker and wedge my yard sale trashcan in the backseat.

The last modification took a bit more time, but not much. Like a lot of my projects lately, this one was quick, simple and done with stuff I already had on hand.

My "new" car has lots of little storage places - can you tell why I wanted to trade? - including two little cubby things in the dashboard:

Here's a close-up:

I have no idea what the small one is for. It seems a good size for a pack of cigarettes but I think auto companies have stopped catering to smokers. When was the last time you saw a new car with an ash tray? The wide one, on the other hand, is perfect for stashing sunglasses and cell phones.

The only problem is that the cubbies are made of hard, slick plastic so whenever I accelerate or go around a curve my phone, glasses, etc (also made of hard, slick plastic) go flying. Not cool. Thus the modification.

This may or may not strike you as odd but I have a grocery bag full of rubber bracelets I got from Freecycle. I wanted them for another project (more on that later) but I figured I had enough to spare for this project, too. Also, Freecycle is amazing.

I thought the rubber bracelets would be the perfect material to create a friction strip on the edge of each cubby. The rubber is flat, so it won't hinder the storage capacity, but it is grippy enough to keep things in place. The only hard part was picking a color. I narrowed it down to transparent blue (to match the car's exterior), translucent blue (to coordinate with the exterior, but better hide the glue), translucent yellow (for visibility) and solid blue and green (to best hide the glue).

Based on aesthetics alone I preferred the transparent blue. See how nice it looks?

However, after I cut it up I discovered the transparent plastic is much flimsier and less dimensionally stable than the solid bracelets. Wop, wop.

I returned to my bag-o-bracelets hunting for a matching pair of solids, but none were to be found. Mis-matched blue and green it was. The color combination bugged me a little but not enough to go out and buy two matching bracelets. In this case my cheapness bitch slapped my OCD.

After I settled on a color scheme all I had to do was glue my bracelets down. For my adhesive I used E-6000 because it is strong, heat resistant and smells super-good in a small confined space like a car. It's a good thing windows roll down.

The smaller cubby was configured so that I could be all fancy and use things like BLOCKING and CLAMPS. I love a good clamp. But not in the kinky way. Clamps belong in my wood shop, not my bedroom.

The wider cubby was a bit more awkward, so I went with the less-official-looking-but-still-tried-and-true tactic called put something heavy on it.

After allowing the glue to set overnight my friction strips were complete! Here is one of them, living the dream and keeping my glasses in place.

I still have no idea what is supposed to fit in this cubby - deck of cards? can of sardines? - but when I figure it out you can be sure it will stay put.

So now we know this apple didn't fall far from the OCD, stuff-modifying tree. Like father, like daughter. Have you made any modifications lately? What do you think goes in the smaller cubby? Inquiring minds want to know!

Pics From My Mini-Vacation

2011-06-02T14:15:00.001-04:00

Just like I ~~threatened~~ promised, I'm back with some pictures of my Memorial Day beach trip, as seen through the lens of my beloved polaroid camera app. To amp up the cheese factor I downloaded a sharpie-esque font just for the occasion.

We played, we sunned, we ate, ~~we ignored each other while we played on our iphones~~. Isn't that what a good vacation is all about?

Hats On A Wall

2011-05-30T13:15:00.002-04:00

Even though we've lived in our house for over a year and a half, my hats hadn't managed to find a home. For the longest time they laid in a pile on my dresser. Pitiful, I know.

One day, in a fit of productive frustration, I grabbed my hammer and some finishing nails and got to work. Within minutes I had 3 hat hooks next to my mirror.

I liked it so much I hung up two more hooks on the other side for my old-lady sun hats.

This may cause me to try more display-as-storage solutions.

P.S. Happy Memorial Day!

I Have Crossed Over To The Dark Side

2011-05-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

The Dark Side being the world of novelty camera apps. I resisted for quite sometime but then my need to be cool got the best of me. First I bought Camera Bag, but I was not impressed. It is nice to have multiple "lenses" in one place but I thought the interface was slow and clunky. Biggest pet peeve: you had to take a regular picture first, then apply the "camera" filters to it, causing you to have duplicate photos on your camera roll. There's technically nothing wrong with that, but it made me twitchy.

This week I downloaded ShakeIt Photo and I am much happier. With ShakeIt, I just snap a picture and it works its magic; I don't have to choose any lenses or settings. Here's a few test shots I snapped of some ~~willing subjects~~ things that couldn't run away from me.

baby

sleepy kitty

olive oil canister

baby

I am heading to the beach tomorrow for an anniversary mini-break - has it been 3 years already? - and I know I'll be snapping away all weekend. You guys have so much to look forward to.

Self Depricating Humor Is Where It's At

2011-05-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

I like to consider myself an organized person. If you've been reading this blog for more than ten minutes you already know that.

When Rachel asked me to be her Matron of Honor, I jumped at the chance. It is the MOH's job to do whatever the bride needs, even if that means being a bitch to get it done. That's definitely in my wheelhouse (or occupies my entire wheelhouse) so I knew, as a MOH, I would be ON. TOP. OF. THINGS.

And I was, for the most part. I designed her invitations and programs. I made some last minute change of address cards for her new home. I wrote one hell of a toast. I packed a tote bag with any and every craft tool I though we would need for wedding prep; how many people do you know that pack a metal ruler and x-acto knife "just in case?" I even brought 4 different options for her something borrowed.

But what didn't I bring? My MOH dress and the dress I had planned to wear to the rehearsal dinner. FACEPALM. The MOH dress wasn't a problem because the Hubby could just bring it when he came for the wedding, but since he wasn't coming until Saturday he couldn't bring me anything to wear the day before. Rachel offered to let me borrow a dress but she, uh, has bigger tracts of land than I do so that wasn't really an option.

So what's a MOH to do? Go to Wal-Mart at 11:00 on a Thursday night, that's what. (Open 24-7 y'all!) I snagged a sundress for $12, and for the price it's not half-bad. Let's judge it, shall we?

Man, that is one flattering picture. It doesn't get any better than bathroom lighting. I almost cropped my head off, since I didn't think you were prepared for that much beauty, but it looked even wierder that way so the head stayed. I love, love, love the abstract pattern. I'm not a huge fan of ruffles, but this one I can live with. Here's a close-up of the print, to give you a better idea of the colors:

P.S. I also bought some hot pink lipstick - I blame Katy Perry's influence - and I'm pretty much obsessed with it. It's perfect for summer and quite a departure from my usual clear chapstick.

Pardon the smirk. That was the only decent facial expression I could muster.

The color is 'spellbound' by Cover Girl. Aren't I just too clever, displaying my lipstick in the q-tips like that? Doesn't it make up for the fact that I left my dresses at home? No? Oh, my bad.

I Told You We Started A Garden

2011-05-26T11:30:00.000-04:00

See, photo proof our garden.

I don't claim to know anything about growing plants, so I will just hit the high notes.
- we are following the square foot gardening raised bed method

- we have 2 4' x 4' beds, for a total of 32 plants
- we used a mixture of potting soil and home-grown compost
- we are growing only vegetables, with the exception of a lone strawberry plant, plus a few herbs in a separate pot

Until I have the pleasure of eating something that came from our garden, I won't have much to say on the matter. If we can keep the plants alive all summer, then maybe I'll share some 'expert tips.' Hah.

Perhaps the most notable part of our garden is the raised bed itself.

When we bought the house it came with a "garden" that looked like this:

Since we're so ~~cheap~~ crafty we pulled up the old pavers, turned them on their sides and used them to make 2 raised beds. Smart, eh? Of course we had to spend some dough to buy the soil, plants, fences, etc but the beds themselves were free. That was a big savings: those pavers cost $1.18 each, for a total of almost $38 for both beds. Ok, ok $38 isn't HUGE savings, but $38 is a lot when you're jobless.

Like I said, I won't ~~talk your ears off~~ type your eyes off about the actual plants until we prove we can grow anything.

My Other Cute New Swimsuit

2011-05-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

Remember the other swimsuit I blogged about?

this one

I didn't mention this at the time, but the reason I went for a one-piece is because I was self-conscious about my post-baby body. I've lost all the baby weight, and then some, but I was still nervous about exposing my stretch marks and loose skin. The hubby convinced me that I had worked too hard to get my body back and that I should flaunt it. Isn't he sweet? I struck a bargain, and told him I would agree to buy a bikini if he would come with me to shop for one. Shockingly, he said yes.

So I bought this bikini, again from Old Navy, and I love it. I don't normally go for girly florals, but I thought this print was fun.

I tried some other swimsuits at other, more teen-oriented, stores and they just didn't cut it. You wouldn't think a slightly lower rise on a bikini bottom would make much difference, but it does. Also I learned very quickly that the girls don't look their best in bandeau, boob-smashing tops. Triangle tops, on the other hand, are great at faking a little bit of (much-needed) perkiness. Yay!

We Built A Rain Barrel

2011-05-19T11:00:00.005-04:00

And when I say we I really mean we. This was not one of those situations where I sweetly said "Honey, we should have a rain barrel" and then my husband built me a rain barrel. Nope, I bought the barrels, cut the pipe and helped with the PVC cement. What can I say? I'm a gal that likes to build things. Perhaps even more impressive than it's woman-built status, this rain barrel cost us $75 and was built in less than 3 hours! Yeah, my husband and I are pretty much awesome.

And why did we want a rain barrel? We started a garden this spring - more on that later - and we were eager to give our plants some watering attention without adding to our water bill.

Each barrel holds 60 gallons, giving 120 gallons of garden-watering capacity. The barrels are raised up on some concrete blocks because the higher the barrel the greater the pressure of the water coming out of the spigot - yay science! We leveled the blocks with kitty litter - we don't exactly keep sand lying around - then hid the kitty litter with mulch.

The barrels are connected with a manifold which has two good points: 1) it allows both barrels to be filled with only one downspout, and 2) it allows us to utilize the water in both barrels with just one garden hose.

There are several ways to get water into a rain barrel, but we went with the "drill lots of holes in the lid then cover the whole thing with mesh" method that works well with a 2-part lid (similar to a canning jar) like ours does.

That goofy, bent piece of PVC is our overflow pipe. When we drilled the hole for the pipe fitting we wanted it at the highest point possible, to collect as much water as we can before we send it out the overflow pipe. Sadly, it didn't occur to us that the top of the barrel is curved and would point the pipe away from the barrel. DOH. Eventually we might fix it, but for now we remedied the situation by adding a 45 degree elbow and directing the pipe back toward the splash block. Lastly, we wrapped some mesh around the bottom of the overflow pipe to keep mosquitos out.

Supplies and Cost Breakdown:

$30 - 2 food-grade barrels

found on Craigslist

$45 - trip to the hardware store

10 feet of PVC pipe, various pipe fittings, PVC cement, 12 concrete blocks

$0 - already on hand

water-proof mesh, drill and bits, saw, dremmel

I won't give you a step-by-step breakdown (shocking, I know) because none of the ideas were original to us. We did some internet research and based our design on these three YouTube videos. I had planned on embedding them for you, but either Blogger or YouTube (probably Blogger) is being a dick, so you'll have to settle for the links.

some rain barrel basics

building a multi-tank barrel with a manifold

simplifying the lid

Some Whining and a Bridal Show

2011-05-16T11:33:00.014-04:00

Ok, so I haven't posted in an embarrassingly long time.

First it was because my days were super boring: wake the baby up, feed the baby, play with the baby, put the baby down for a nap, clean some stuff, watch some shitty tv (CSI is addictive, people!), wake the baby up, feed the baby, etc. You don't want to read about that, right?

Then I couldn't post because I was super busy with Carolina Pear stuff. Isn't that how it always is? Busy or bored, never steady. So to make amends I've got some posts lined up for you.

First up, I want to show you what Carolina Pear has been up to. To kick off wedding season we had a booth at a small bridal show to make some connections and peddle our wares.

our booth

some cute (and, yes, trendy) bunting thank you cards

thumbprint tree - our fresh, new guestbook alternative

Mr & Mrs note cards

sampler pack for our spring collection

our business card display - isn't it fun?

I just love our booth! Not bad for our first show, if I'm allowed to say so. All of our glassware came from goodwill and thrift shops, which adds to our country chic vibe. As always, to check out more of our portfolio or to place an order visit Carolina Pear's website!

I'm Outta Here!

2011-04-28T08:18:00.003-04:00

Readers, I'm packing my bags and getting out of town for a long weekend. Although when you're unemployed aren't they all long weekends?

Anywhoo, I'll be spending today, Friday and Saturday at Merlefest and Sunday I'm going to Belmont to represent Carolina Pear at a bridal show. Normally I subscribe to the motto "don't tell the internet when you go out of town" but in this case I'm not worried. 1) Hubby's not coming with me so the house isn't unattended. 2) If you stalkers can successfully find little old me in the giant crowds at Merlefest, you should join the FBI because you've got tracking skills.

Of course, I'd love to see lots of people at the bridal show so if you're in the Reidsville, NC area Sunday morning come on by! We'll have some note cards for sale so even if you're not a bride-to-be you can find some good stuff at our booth.

Catch you on the flip side!

Thrifty Finds In Unexpected Places

2011-04-27T21:59:00.004-04:00

Hey guys! Did you miss me? I know my last post mentioned how much free time I have, but this past week or two I have been busy, busy, busy getting Carolina Pear's spring collection ready. I can't divulge the goods yet, but here's what my ~~desk~~ lap looked like this afternoon as I was in full-on packaging mode.

Even though I've been working my fingers to the bone (folder)* I'm never too busy to snag a good deal when I see one.

*See what I did there? I'm so clever.

Case in point: I was at my local bulk sales warehouse, buying tubs of baby formula when I saw the perfect coat: a knee-length, lightweight Kenneth Cole trench coat for $20. I know, right? The coat came in a variety of colors, but I picked red because it would be good for Wolfpack tailgates. Plus, wouldn't it be fun to be the girl in the red rain coat on a dreary day? I thought so.

Next, I have to show you my new sunglasses. I was out picking up supplies for Carolina Pear when I spotted these at Office Depot. Yes, Office Depot. I saw them on my way out the door and I actually stopped in my tracks, yanked them off the display and got back in line to pay for them. Total impulse purchase, but I love them so.

They're just what I needed. I love vintage looking glasses as much as the next ~~hipster wanna-be~~ girl, but unfortunately most retro styles are too big for my tiny little head. I've actually been lucky enough to find small-ish aviators not once, but twice. Sadly the first pair broke and the second pair ended up lost in a creek during a camping trip. *sob* So, knowing my track record I'm going to be extra careful with these. I rather like how they look on me.

Pardon my hair, and my language, but it is humid as shit here. There's no point in trying to make it look decent. Tragically, in the South, humid as shit is a regularly occurring meteorological condition and there's nothing I can do about it. Well I could move, but until they build a Bojangle's in the desert, I'm staying put. Mama likes her biscuits.

This little green jacket is my latest find. I was scouring thrift stores for plates/bowls/cake stands to use as display pieces for an upcoming bridal show when I happened to see the jacket. I wasn't even looking at clothes, but someone had just happened to hang it on the end of a rack and the bright green called to me.

Now, I know finding a jacket at a clothing thrift store isn't unexpected but for $4.50 it's still a heck of a bargain. I just love the fabric-covered toggle buttons. Although if the humidity keeps up - and it will - I won't get to wear it for a while.

Have you found any steals lately?

Closet Re-Do On The Cheap

2011-04-14T13:00:00.008-04:00

Since I have so much free time on my hands, I've been taking on some projects at home that I wouldn't normally have time to finish in a timely manner. I've been wanting to re-organize my closet for some time now. Me, re-organize something? I know, shock of the century. This isn't a typical how-to post, since this project was designed around the particulars of my closet and possessions. However, I thought the best way to explain myself was through pictures, so I'll let them do the talking. Speaking of pictures, let me preface this post by apologizing for the awful photo quality. A windowless walk-in closet doesn't really provide the best lighting, so we've got pictures with the flash on, pictures with no flash, and crappy pictures all around. BEFORE: in diagram and photo format, naturally The before isn't terrible, I admit that. My biggest problem was that most of my shoes were being stored in their boxes. Since I'm a lazy ass, 98% of the time I wore the shoes that weren't in boxes while my other shoes sat well-preserved but unworn. I decided that if all my shoes were out in the open, in one place I might actually wear some of them. So I set about doing just that. The only problem was I didn't have enough shelf space to accommodate them all, but I figured out a way around that. All I had to do was add extra shelves, in between the existing ones. Buying new wire shelves to match what I have would be ideal, but that costs money. So I scavenged and came up with a solution that only cost me three dollars. Yes, three. I scavenged some cardboard box lids from my mom's office to serve as the shelves. A flat piece of cardboard is fairly sturdy on its own, but by leaving 3 sides in tact the lid would maintain most of its original rigidity and strength. Everything else I raided from my craft supply stash. DURING:

My cardboard lids, before they were reborn as shoe shelves

Making sure the lid would fit on the shelf. It did.

Measuring where to make my cuts.

Using an x-acto and cutting mat, I made my cuts that would position the support structure.

Eye-balling where I wanted the shelf to hang.

When I said support structure I meant leftover ribbon and duct tape.

See, duct tape.

How I wanted the shelf to hang.

How the shelf actually hung. wop wop

After some adjustments, the shelf is behaving.

The back of the shelf sits flush against the wall, adding extra stability.

Taking shelf #1 for a test drive, making sure that the shelf holds weight and leaves room for shoes underneath. Check and check.

As usual, Yo-Yo provided quality control.

After a successful test drive I had to move all my shoes to the bedroom to make way for the "construction" and allow for the super fun organization. That's not sarcasm, I enjoyed that part.

Cutting lengths of ribbon and marking where the ribbon should hit the shelf - this ensured each shelf had equal spacing.

I tied the ribbons into pairs to organize (and cat proof) them, but don't they look sort of pretty? No, just me? Moving on.

I hung the rest of the shelves exactly the same way, so just look at the above pictures 5 more times. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Hooray! The shelves are done!

I know what you're thinking. "She said this project cost her $3, but so far she's only used free stuff!" Hold on, I'm getting to that. My old system didn't have a good way to store my handbags, so I figured I'd work on that too.

I took some shower curtain rings (left by the previous owners of our house, so free) and bought some metal washers (the mysterious $3).

I threaded the washers onto the shower curtain rings to create hooks that would hang from the wire shelf over hubby's hanging rod. (If the knobs on the curtain rings were bigger I wouldn't have needed the washers, but they were small enough to slip between the wires. Doh!) Hello, handbag hooks!

AFTER:

Now all of my shoes are out in the open, just begging to be worn. I grouped my shoes by type/occasion so I could easily find the perfect shoe for every outfit. Except I'm a girl, so I never feel like I have the perfect shoe for any outfit. *sigh*

All but 3 pairs fit on the narrow shelves (and adjacent hanging cubby thing). For the sake of over-organization, I pulled out my business-y heels and put them on the shelf above hubby's hanging rod, so now I have a little room to expand in the main section. I laid down some extra cardboard sheets for the heels to rest on. This serves two purposes: 1) it keeps the shoes from dropping dirt onto the clothes below, and 2) it keeps the skinny heels from constantly falling between the wires.

As a final touch, I arranged my handbags in color order. Would you expect anything less?

So that's my latest trash to ~~treasure~~ slightly better than trash adventure. What have you been up to?

My New Best Friend

2011-04-11T14:00:00.002-04:00

You know how people say they can't imagine their life without their spouse or child? Well, I can't imagine doing laundry without my New Best Friend. Last month we flew to Maryland to see hubby's sister, C. While we were there we paid a visit to Ikea - that's right, I don't shop at Ikea, I visit Ikea, like it's friggin' Disney World - and I spent some time wandering around the clothes organization section. I was admiring all the beautiful baskets, bins and hampers when I found my New Best Friend (NBF). My NBF is 5 feet tall, enclosed on 3 sides, has 5 storage compartments and is on wheels. It seemed perfect for sorting clean but un-folded laundry. For only $30 there was no way this thing wasn't coming home with me. Only one problem. My NBF was available in the self-serve warehouse, but the tag was torn so I had no idea what aisle/bin to look for. I asked an Ikea employee for help, but I'm pretty sure I sounded like a giant idiot. "Yeah, I want to buy this thing and I need to know where to find it. It's white, and it has shelves, and it organizes clothes." I had just described 75% of Ikea's inventory, which would explain the blank stare I was receiving. It took 3 salespeople to help me, only because the last one was smart enough to ask me to point out my NBF in the showroom. Why didn't I think of that? After I tracked it down, my happiness was short-lived. I had my NBF in my greedy little hands, but the bag was going to be too big to fit into our suitcase. Hubby didn't appreciate my suggestion to drag it through the airport and gate-check it with the stroller, so it had to stay in Maryland until C drove down to NC for a visit in a few weeks. But I had just found her! How could I leave without my New Best Friend? Sob! As promised, C took good care of my NBF and we were soon reunited. Look how happy she is, sorting my clothes for me:

I swear, this thing makes all the difference in the world with my laundry. One thing I cannot stand is to have a giant pile of clean clothes that has no home, but migrates from couch, to bed, to dresser and back to the couch again. Mainly because my cats LOVE to lay on clean laundry and shed all over it - it gives them some sick satisfaction, I'm sure. Also, I hate when hubby wakes me up just to ask where he can find clean boxers. My NBF takes care of all of this and more. Whenever it's time to unload the dryer, I just wheel my NBF to the laundry closet, and put all the clean clothes into the appropriate compartment. Then I just wheel it into our room or the nursery to put away the clothes. If I don't fold them right away, as is usually the case, the separate compartments help narrow the search if we need something specific. The 3-sided enclosure works wonders at keeping the cat hair at bay. Lastly, it is the perfect size. It is large enough to hold 2-3 loads of laundry, but it isn't big enough to allow me to REALLY get behind on folding clothes. The only thing it doesn't do is fold the clothes for me. Surely one of you can invent me an automatic clothes folder? Pretty please?

Little Black (MOH) Dress

2011-04-07T14:00:00.001-04:00

You guys remember Rachel? Not only am I in charge of designing her invitations, I have the pleasure of being her Matron of Honor.* Instead of picking out boring old bridesmaids dresses each bridesmaid gets to pick out a black, knee-length dress. Yes. Any dress I want as long as it's black, knee-length and not strapless. OK when I write it that way, it sounds a bit picky but it really was awesome.

I know every bride tells you "you can totally where this again!" but I really will wear this again.

It's an adorable little dress from Old Navy, with an adorable little $35 price tag. Can't beat a $35 bridesmaid dress, right? Between the ruffles, deep v-neck and eyelet fabric I can see myself wearing this to brunch, parties or even work - if I ever get another job.

Do you want to see the best part?

That's right ladies, I can fit into a medium! Granted, it's Old Navy so their sizes are all over the place, BUT it's a medium and I don't care.

To tie all the dresses together, all the bridesmaids are going to wear the same shoes - yellow patent pumps.

These I will absolutely wear again. I love me a pair of slutty shoes.

*Can I just say how much I hate the term "Matron of Honor?" I know it's because I'm a married lady, but matron just sounds SO EFFING OLD.

What A Crock!

2011-04-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

Once I moved some of my kitchen gadgets and claimed some new counterspace, I finally had the space for a second utensil crock. I'm not a big fan of cramming 20 spoons into one crock; they don't really fit and they get all tangled. Who wants that?

I went to the store to buy the crock, when I found myself in a dilemma: do I save money and buy the simple ceramic crock or do I buy one of the fancy stainless steel utensil caddies. It's amazing how many options you have for organizing your spoons and spatulas. You can get a caddy that spins, a caddy that pivots, a divided caddy and a caddy with a built-in spoonrest. Seriously. This will hardly surprise you, but I decided to buy the cheap one and do some quick and dirty DIY to make it work better for me.

I grabbed some scrap cardboard out of the recycling bin - diaper box, maybe? - and cut two rectangles to fit inside the crock and cut a slit in each.

Then I inserted one into the other, to form an X, then put the X into the crock to divide it into 4 smaller cubbies.

Is it pretty? No. But it gets the job done and you can't see the cardboard unless you look down into the crock.

Something Sweet, Take Two

2011-03-31T14:15:00.003-04:00

After I made myself a nice springy brooch, I still had lots of old bedsheets, er floral fabric, leftover and I just couldn't stop myself from crafting.

The "pendant" part is just fabric wrapped around 3 large beads and I braided red thread for the chain.

Sorry for the boobalicious picture. I'm not really that stacked, but wouldn't it be great if I was?

Cupcakes

2011-03-29T21:40:00.007-04:00

cupcakes

What's one of the best things about being unemployed? You can make cupcakes on a Tuesday afternoon. Don't worry, I'm still looking for a job, I just like to point out the bright side. Silver linings, people.

Can I just say how much I love this cake stand. Love. It.

They're just yellow cake (from a box) and butter cream frosting (from a can) but they are very tasty. It doesn't matter whether or not I made them from scratch, my kitchen still smells amazing, i.e. like cake. You know how candle companies make candles that smell like pie or frosting? They're for fatties like me.

CUPCAKES!

Also, how precious are these cupcake liners? I snagged them during a random trip to Michael's and they were $2 for 75 liners. Not too shabby for something as cute as that. Confession: the only reason I bought a cake mix on Monday was because I wanted to use the liners as soon as possible. But also, cupcakes = yum.

The bottom is even cuter.

That's what he said.

The cupcakes looked fine on their own, but I couldn't resist adding some sprinkles. Because apparently I am an overgrown eight-year-old.

CUUPCAAAKES!!!

P.S. Here's my secret for putting sprinkles on cookies or cupcakes. Hold the dessert over a bowl or dish, something slightly larger than what you're sprinkling - and shake the sprinkles onto the dessert.

The bowl catches all of the stray sprinkles so you don't A) waste sprinkles and B) make a huge mess. Then just pour them back into your sprinkle jar for later.

A Little Something Sweet For Spring

2011-03-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

I have a confession: when I'm home all day, i.e. unemployed, I get the urge to craft. A lot. The problem is I don't have any money to buy supplies, which makes me sad. When I'm sad I want to spend money, but I don't have any money, which makes me sadder. Vicious cycle, right?

Sooo, I raided my craft supplies and, searching for cheap and easy projects, I ~~scoured the internet~~ found this craft in my blog reader. Evie designed it as a bracelet, but I changed it to a brooch. I'm not a big bracelet wearer.

All I had to do was wrap some fabric - old Martha Stewart sheets - around some beads, trimmed it down to a rosette-ish shape and finished it with Fray-Check. You guys, I am seriously addicted to Fray-Check. I put it on EVERYTHING.

To turn it into a brooch I just stitched the fabric to a safety pin.

I have enjoyed wearing it as a brooch (obv) and as a way to fancy up a simple ponytail.

I have lots more of that fabric, a whole sheet set actually, so stay tuned for more floral sweetness.

Soap Gets A Makeover

2011-03-24T15:00:00.002-04:00

By now we all know I like to hide functionality behind something pretty. Wait, you didn't know that? Get thee to the archives!

I apologize. I'm easily distracted. Anyway, this post is about my fancier-than-necessary kitchen soap. May I present to you dish soap on the left and hand soap on the right. Don't you just love the clean lines and absence of product labels?

OK, now that we've handled the introductions, it's on to the details. The dish soap is the easier of the two makeovers and, sadly, I can't take credit for this. I totally stole the idea from hubby's grandmother when we stayed with them a few weeks ago - Hi Grandma! All you do is pour dish soap into a cruet with the handy drizzle spout. Seriously, that's all you do.

As you can see, the spout makes it easy to drizzle just the right amount of soap into the sink, which is great for me because I am a terrible over-squirter with a regular dish soap bottle. Also, I realize the demonstration would have been easier to see had I not chosen clear dish soap. My bad.

As for the nitty-gritty how-to details, there's not much I need to tell you. Any liquid dish soap will do; I personally cheap out with the unscented grocery store brand. The nice thing about the cruet is you can save some dough by buying your dish soap in bulk, but you still have the convenience of a small dispenser. I'm also pretty sure any old oil cruet will work. I didn't buy this one for the project, I just happened to have it on hand.

Enough about that, now let's talk about hand soap! Thrilling, I know. Again, I can't take full credit for this because I was inspired by this genius design project by Nathalie Stämpfli I'd seen floating around the interwebs. You can click the link for more info, but here's the gist: liquid soap is mostly water. That's bad because water is being transported unnecessarily; the liquid soap is heavier, larger in storage and the packaging is made of plastic. Bar soap would be the answer if it weren't so slippery and generally icky. Take a peek at Nathalie's brilliant solution:

image source

A soap dispenser that creates flakes from bar soap! As much as I love her design, I can't sit around waiting for it to be mass-produced. So, armed with some DIY spirit and a rock-what-ya-got approach, I decided to modify the idea and make it my own. Even better, my version didn't cost me any money and I like free things. Being unemployed will do that to you.

The container is an ordinary canning jar - left over from some homemade apple sauce Luke got for Christmas - and the soap is grated Dove brand bar soap. For those following along at home, you can grate your soap with a plane or box grater...

... or with a fancy rotary grater.

I tried both but I preferred the rotary grater - it was faster. If you don't have a rotary grater, the box grater worked just fine. Just make sure you use a fine-toothed grater, because you want to end up with nice, small flakes like this:

After I had my flakes in the jar, I made holes in the lid to create a shaker. For those following along at home, I drew my hole pattern with a marker, punched pilot holes with a hammer and nail, then made the holes larger with a power drill. I could have used a special bit made for drilling through metal, but the lid was soft enough that it wasn't necessary.

Here's where I have to admit that you could very easily use a parmesan cheese shaker - you know, the kind on the table at pizza restaurants - instead of making your own. I didn't because I would have had to buy one and that would require a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond and I can't ever get out of there without buying stuff that wasn't on my list.

Once you have your shaker all loaded up, it's not hard to figure out how to use it.

I will say this: you're less likely to drop some flakes if you wet your hands first and the hotter the water, the easier they melt and lather.

I didn't bother, but you could always match your soap dispensers to your kitchen (or bath) decor by using stickers, ribbon, decals or colored soap. Me, I'm a sucker for clear glass and crisp white soap.

Extra Kitchen Storage

2011-03-21T13:00:00.001-04:00

Even though our house is plenty big for the three of us, we don't have the biggest of kitchens. I do okay making the most of my cabinets and pantry, but I desperately need more counter space. I have been wanting to add some shelves over the trashcans for some time now and we finally took the plunge with these from Ikea. Yes, they're mounted assymetrically and, yes, it bothers me. They could be symmetrical if I was willing to cut the shelves shorter, but I wanted every last inch of space I would get. I just try not to dwell on it, otherwise I get all twitchy.

top: stand mixer, cookbooks :: middle: rag bucket, drying rack, green box, flour canister :: bottom: empty wine bottles, compost bin, bread box

I actually didn't help install these, but hubby said it was easy. My stand mixer, bread box, flour canister and grass drying rack moved from the counter tops and the compost bin came over from the kitchen cart that serves as a teeny, tiny island. Since I still had room to spare I added my cookbooks, previously living in the office, and a small bucket for dirty rags and dishtowels. Lastly I added a few decorative items and this green box (the one hanging out under the drying rack), which might be my new favorite thing in the kitchen.

It looks simple enough, right? It's just an empty shoebox (zero dollars) covered in green wrapping paper (zero dollars). I started out trying to add some height to the drying rack - it just looked so pitiful between the taller rag bucket and flour canister - and thought about a stack of books. Then I realized I could use a shoebox instead and snag some concealed storage. What do you think is hiding inside the green box?

A tool box! Of course most of our tools are out in the woodshed (I promise I'll take pictures of that someday, but it's ugly and not nearly organized enough yet.) but I like to keep a few things on hand in the house; safety glasses, hammer, multi-head screwdriver and some picture-hanging nails.

Last, but not least, I want to highlight my bookend. Well, it's not really a bookend, it's a brick. Anything heavy will do the trick and I am a nut for using non-bookends to prop up my books if it helps me inject some personality into a space. This particular brick came from Biloxi, MS - the same trip as when I looted, er found, this wood board that ended up being a wedding gift for the hub. I found a pile of bricks lying on an empty lot - the building probably got torn down after hurricane damage - and no one seemed to be using them for anything so I dug around until I found a mostly undamaged one. I'm a sucker for interesting building materials and this "ST JOE" stamped brick was too cool to pass up. I have a guess about why the brick says "ST JOE" but it's long and architecturally nerdy and would probably bore you to tears. If you have trouble falling asleep tonight, give me a call and I'll tell you all about it.

So, that's a wrap. You like?

Cute New Swimsuit

2011-03-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

I just snagged this swimsuit* from Old Navy. Now that we've had a few warm, spring-y days I am already jonesing for some full-fledged pool weather. Yeah, I'm greedy like that.

*I would link to it for you but it sold out really quickly. Glad I got it when I did!

Yummy In My Tummy

2011-03-14T13:30:00.000-04:00

We've been having some dreary weather lately and nasty weather makes me want chili. And, lucky lady that I am, my hubby found a way to make chili even better. He served it in a biscuit bowl. That's right, folks, a bowl made out of a biscuit!

Pay attention, this recipe is so easy and you're going to want to make it RIGHT NOW.

Step 1) Make biscuit dough, mush it around the bottom of a muffin pan and bake. We used Bisquick cheddar garlic, but you could go old school and make yours from scratch.

Step 2) Put your biscuit bowl inside a regular bowl to contain all the impending deliciousness.

Step 3) Fill with chili and top with sour cream, shredded cheese or your favorite chili toppings.

Step 4) Stuff your face. Then go back for seconds, I won't tell.

P.S. My nerdy little heart loves how my chili exactly matches my utensil crock. Why else do you think I included it in the picture?

P.P.S. If you want more precise recipe instructions, e-mail me (www dot gimmeakiss dot blog at gmail dot com) and I will send it your way!

The Wedding That Wasn't

2011-03-10T15:54:00.001-05:00

As soon as Carolina Pear was official, our first order of business was to throw a fake wedding. OK, not really. Sort of. Let me back up.

Brettany, my business partner, works as an events coordinator for the Belmont Estate. Last fall the Belmont had a booth at a local bridal fair and Brettany laid out her booth with tables, chairs and linens as if it was a reception hosted by the Belmont. She thought it would look much better if we had some paper goods to jazz up the tables, so she enlisted me to whip up some place cards, menus and table numbers. Although we couldn't officially advertise - Carolina Pear didn't pay to be a featured vendor - it was great to have so many brides see our work.

For the sweetheart table we used a love bird motif for the place cards and table number card.

On the guest tables we used the same cage but swapped out the birds for the table number. Cute, no?

Each place setting got a menu card outlining the dinner courses.

All of the brides I have worked with, myself included, have more contemporary tastes so it was nice to do something with a hint of classical style.

Homemade Baby Shower Card

2011-03-07T14:00:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we went to a baby shower for my good friend and I whipped up this card for her. I'm not a fan of store-bought greeting cards - especially when they cost up to five dollars! - but I still needed a way to identify myself as the gift giver. The best part? It cost me nothing.

The polka dot paper is actually cardboard cut from some toy packaging. It's easy to work with cardboard if you peel off the backing and corrugations. The brown paws are cut from the cardboard backing I peeled off.

Is it the most sophisticated thing I've ever made? No. Will I put it on my website? Probably not. But it's cute, it was free and it gets the job done.

God Bless The Internet

2011-03-05T11:00:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite blogs, The Coterie, has a new feature where readers can submit fashion questions and the stylish ladies answer them and make recommendations. Since I love clothes but often feel like I don't know how to style myself, I jumped at the chance to get some free advice. Click on over to see my question and their response!

Be Careful What You Wish For

2011-03-04T12:37:00.005-05:00

I was just complaining that I don't have enough time to blog because of test taking, baby wrangling and business starting. Well, I shouldn't have said that because now I have lots of time to blog because I got laid off.

I got the bad news last Friday afternoon, just a few hours after my whining post was published, but I've had too much on my plate to tell you until now. Tuesday morning we took ARE #2 and Tuesday afternoon we flew to Las Vegas to visit hubby's grandparents, which meant we spent the whole weekend cramming info into our brains and clothes into our suitcases. While in Vegas we have been spending time with family and helping around the house. Well, I'm helping when I'm not glued to my laptop. Resumes don't write themselves, people.

I already have some leads, so I'm feeling hopeful that I will find something that's right for me. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Pardon Me While I Whine

2011-02-25T08:36:00.003-05:00

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH*

There, now I feel better.
*No, it's not wrong to exploit my crying baby for my personal gain. I needed a funny picture, dammit, and he was already crying. Oh, stop calling social services. This picture was taken when he was 3 weeks old. Otherwise known as the time when ALL HE DID WAS CRY.

I have to apologize for my light posting. On top of studying like crazy - test #2 is on March 1 - I've also been trying to wrap up Rachel's invitation suite and squeeze in a last minute invitation for our first official (yay!) Carolina Pear bride. Oh, and take care of a 7 month old. No biggie.

The actual work hasn't been kicking my butt all that much. I even have time to watch a little tv. Is it just me, or is The Office back to its original levels of awesome this season? What I don't have time for is blogging. Ugh. On the rare occasion I have time to do something creative, it is almost always at night and I don't have the luxury of good lighting to photograph it. I do have a few posts floating around in my head, but they won't make their way onto the internet until March. But when they do - watch out! - they will happen all at once. Because I'm a terrible, impatient blogger incapable of pacing posts or saving ANYTHING for a future blogging drought.

So yeah, it's either feast or famine with me. Sorry 'bout that.

Do You Pin?

2011-02-17T11:15:00.000-05:00

I recently discovered Pinterest and I am in love! Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can "pin" anything and everything from around the web.

here's a screenshot of one of my boards

Prior to Pinterest, I was really bad about thinking "Ooh, I might buy/cook/DIY that someday, so I should e-mail the link to myself." From DIYs and recipes to shoes and decor inspiration my inbox was cluttered with stuff for someday. If you know anything about me you should know that I can't stand even digital clutter, so the endless links had to go.

Pinterest is just what the ~~doctor~~ OCDer ordered. I now have a place to store and organize all the links and photos I might want to reference in the future. Even better, Pinterest allows multiple boards so I can keep things corraled into groups: decor ideas, recipes, kid stuff, etc. Be still my Type A heart!

Interested? You can check out my pins for inspiration then start your own boards! It's quite fun.

Another Year, Another Wedding

2011-02-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

One of best friends in the world, Rachel, is getting married and she asked me to do her stationery! Here's a peek at her save the dates:

Her colors are yellow, black and white as a nod to Appalachian State University. She and her hubby-to-be both graduated from ASU (but never crossed paths) then finally met at an ASU football game. Following the color scheme, Rachel picked daisies to be one of her main flowers. This girl has loved daisies as long as I've known her, so that was no surprise to me. To play off the daisy, I created this geometric flower pattern and served it up in shades of gray and yellow. I also love, love, love her yellow envelopes! So cheerful!

The geometric flower will probably pop up again in her invitations and programs, so stay tuned!