DIY

DIY Crafty Project

Sure, this is normally an adoption blog, but this sorta relates. There’s been a lot of movement on the adoption front in the last month, but that’s fodder for a whole other post!

My new job starts officially full time today. I’ve been working there a few hours a week freelance since October. Since I start tomorrow, I wanted to decorate my office and be sure my creativity is not only apparent, but organized. I will be doing marketing of all kinds and need to ensure it is kept track of properly. Instead of purchasing a corkboard or dry erase board, I came up with this idea while wandering around Staples Saturday night.
What, you don’t wander office supply stores for fun?

I purchased a large black foamcore board which initially would mean using metallic and light ink pens on. Nope, this idea is better. I bought 3 coordinating roll of mini duck tape and started searching on Pinterest for memory board tutorials for the tape placement.

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My supplies:
20″x30″ black foamcore board | 3 rolls of 15mm duck tape | scissors

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Since my board is 30″ wide, I marked off every 5″ and went on to taping it off. There are 5 aqua blue vertical stripes.
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As it is 20″ tall, there are 3 lime green horizontal stripes at 5″ intervals.
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I got creative with the diagonal stripes. There are 5 on 1 diagonal and 4 on the other.
This is totally up to you how to tape it off.
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To hang this, use nails that are at least 1/2″ longer than your board.

I purchased clear push pins and will use them to secure papers to my message board. Normally ribbons are used, but that also means it’s a fabric board with some sort of batting. Maybe I’ll make one of those for the Fletchling, but for now, he or she will have one of these. Now to pick some generic colors and get to it.

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Dreaming of Decorating their Bedrooms

Last week I stopped at Target to pick up 2 items and made the mistake of not going right to the grocery section for said items. You can already see where this is heading, right? First I hit up the clothing section – picked out 2 cute tops that got put back later – then the workout clothing section – a girl needs new yoga pants – then the sock department then as I was heading to the storage container section, I walked into pink and blue heaven. I mean, the children’s room section. Seriously, there’s some cute stuff out there. Sure, I admit that I wanted most of it for myself, but that’s why we decorate kid’s rooms right? Yes, I’m going to allow my child(ren) to decorate their rooms, but don’t think I won’t have some personal mom touches in there.

Holy crap. I’m going to be a mom.

Yep, tears springing into my eyes.

Anyhow, cute stuff. See? OK, so I hit up Pinterest too.

 

My favorite idea!

I’m super peeved bc the Pinterest link-love doesn’t work so these had to be manually linked. If anyone has figured out how to get this to work with WordPress, please let me know!

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Accountability.

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Last night, I made a one-year plan. I sorta wrote it in the dark so the mega huge Sharpie helped me be able to read it.

Why am I posting it here on this blog that I’ve virtually ignored for months? Accountability. I’m putting it out there into the universe. I want to accomplish all these things.

Some are obvious (lose weight, join a gym, pay off cards) but some aren’t so much.

– Publish 3 more patterns – 2 days ago, i published a pattern on Ravelry for a Cabled Owls Hat I made. The hat was super easy, everyone raved about it, requests have been made for different colors, so I write up the pattern and published it. Within 12 hours, I had 4 sales. Needless to say, I was stoked!

– Push RSCS! – did you know that I’m a web and graphic designer? Of course you do! No really, do you? Steve and I own RS Creative Solutions and it is my goal to push it as hard as I can so that we turn a profit. I even have business cards and car magnets. Woo!

– Dump crappy friends – OK, this one is kinda obvious too. We all have those friends (or family members) that are more dead weight then beneficial. When someone drags you down, cut the rope and let the anchor sink.

– Cultivate awesome friends – you know, those ones you meet and have tons in common with and can laugh and giggle for hours? Or those that have been with you through thick and thin for practically your whole life but you have no time for. Yeah those. They need to be cherished and brought more front and center.

– Teach a knitting class – I was in Joann’s Fabric yesterday and picked up their class schedule. I have wanted to learn to quilt for some time and figured this would be a good starting point. Apparently unless I wanted to take several hours off in the middle of the work day, I’m never learning through them. All their classes save a few are before 5pm. I am going to take some of my more awesome pieces and convince them to let me teach kids, teens and adults.

– Get a better paying job with a non-assistant title – I won’t tell you how much I make (it would probably depress you), but I need to make more. A lot more. After all, I have been working since I was 12, in the “real” work arena for 15 years (holy smokes!) and have an MBA. A freakin MBA. And it’s sitting dormant and not working for me at all. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my boss. I really have lucked out having a boss that appreciates me and tries to help as much as she can. And not just bc she got Steve and I tickets to see Bon Jovi!!! But being someone’s assistant is getting me no where. Sure, the experience is phenomenal as I do want to work in development and fundraising, but…. I need a change.

– Research FL and OH adoption classes – there’s a lot more to this one than meets the eye. We want kids. We likely will never have biological kids, but that is OK as there are thousands of children out there without families in foster care. Since we have no idea where we will be living when the stars align, I’m researching both states and downloading both states home study applications. We aren’t getting any younger. We want a family. If I don’t get off my butt and do the work, this will be something else that passes me by in life.

– Have a dinner party at least 6 times – I hate cleaning. Do I need to elaborate? OK fine. Having dinner parties and friends over requires a clean house and an organized kitchen for my crazy recipe hoarding. This will push me to not only clean regularly, but keep things clean.

– Organize, clean and make office into guest room or craft space – in our “next apartment” I have all these dreams for our clean and new space. Um, we live here now. We just signed through August. Why keep dreaming of a pretty craft space with a day bed/ couch when I can do it now?

What are your plans for the next year?

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Crafty Christmas from a Jew-Girl

Disclaimer: I was raised Jewish, in a synagogue, became a Bat Mitzvah at 13, was confirmed at 16ish, worked at Jewish summer camps, and taught at the synagogue I grew up in. That said…

I love the Christmas season. I mean LOVE it. No, I don’t mean the December holidays season. I mean the Christmas season. Working at the YMCA and for a landscape company with a thriving Christmas tree decorating business certainly didn’t help this obsession. I love the music, decorations, trees, decorating the trees, decorating the house, cookie exchanges, Secret Santa’s, and the weather. OK, that last one is just the time of year and not Christmas specific. I don’t, however, care about the religious aspect of it. Jewish, remember? While I’m not a practicing Jew-girl and haven’t set foot into a synagogue since my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah several years ago, I’m still not quite ready to give up my Jewish identity. And no, having 7 tattoos doesn’t make a difference in that aspect.

Sure, I married a non-Jewish guy who technically celebrates Christmas, it was never important to him growing up. Pretty much how I feel about Chanukkah. I almost always forget to take my menorah out of my Christmas ornaments box (not kidding) and even when I do, I maybe light 3 days of candles maximum. And, my Christian friends usually have to tell me when Chanukkah is. Pretty bad, huh? By the same token, we have discussed our children’s religious upbringing and haven’t decided exactly how it’ll occur, but it will be open for them to choose. I am fascinated by other religions and cultures, why shouldn’t my children be as well?

Anywho… This wasn’t supposed to be a religious post. Back to the pretties…

If you’re one of my Pinterest buddies, you’ve seen the boards I have for Holiday Decor and Holiday Gift Ideas. There are also a few ideas sprinkled into my Crafty Goodness board that I just haven’t edited and moved yet.

So, I found this super cute tree during one of my many searches and decided to re-create it. I actually am quite pleased with how it turned out.


pretty-ditty.blogspot.com via Becca on Pinterest

And here is mine:

I also found some amazing DIY yarn wreaths and this was my choice to emulate. Lots of styrofoam balls of varying sizes, wrapped in scraps of yarn and stuck together. I bought a wire “wreath” and now just need to figure out the best way to attach my yarn covered styrofoam to it.

Source: etsy.com via Becca on Pinterest

And mine… Any idea on how to attach it? I pinned the yarn even though the directions suggest hot glue. Hot glue and my fingers don’t get along very well… I have 6 large and 12 small styrofoam balls. (I tried so hard to not use the word “balls” bc my 5 year old self is now giggling…) I also have small glass ornaments to use if I need to fill in more space. Ornament box, remember?


* wow, I had a real problem with the fonts and images in this post *

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Finally… Party Time!

Tomorrow is the day. Finally. We’ve been planning this party/ wedding reception for a little under 3 months. Ya know, had to bask in the glow of our wedding/ Vegas trip for a few weeks. 😉

Tomorrow I get to see all the family I haven’t seen in ages, even the estranged half that, quite frankly, shocked me by saying they were coming. I get to see friends flying and driving in from all over the country to celebrate with us.

Tonight we are celebrating my amazing husband’s [huge milestone] birthday with my Twitter/ FB friends Sarah and Simon. Incidentally, it’s also Simon’s birthday! Had our friends Leung and Nancy been able to make it, we’d have a triple birthday for the 3 guys. Weird, huh?

Yesterday and today were spent shopping for, buying and prepping all the food, cleaning up the yard, rolling the flatware, cleaning up our house, making all the signs, buying the centerpieces, and doing everything else required to have a rather large party at the house. Mom, dad and I hit up BJ’s Warehouse Club yesterday and spent a small fortune on the non-perishable stuff like the plates, flatware, soda, [11 bottles of] wine, chafing dishes, and so much more. Today mom and I went back for the food. Sure, we could’ve done it all in one trip, but it seems slightly less painful to the wallet this way. Hey, I did say slightly!

During all this, I recalculated our budget. I was really surprised to find that in the grand scheme of things, we spent a LOT less money than I thought we’d have spent. And, of course, we spent thousands of dollars less catering everything ourselves than had we used a professional catering company.

We have been extremely fortunate with our super talented friends and family. The main side dishes are being made by my [for all intent’s and purposes] sister-in-law’s grandmother. Desserts are being made by myself, my mom, my brother and my SIL’s sister. All the decorations, signage, favors, I am making, except for the centerpieces themselves. We’re getting plants and I really do have too black a thumb to have grown them. 😉 The tents and chairs were loaned to us by my SIL’s family and my brother’s union hall. And there’s more… That I’ll need to figure out when I write that recap post for submissions.

After everything is said and done, I plan on submitting the party to a few different wedding websites. Not just for the budget, but for the pictures and everything else.

Oh! That’s another thing. We had a photography budget of $1200 initially, but quickly dropped it to $600. We kinda figured we could find a student or something on Craigslist for $5-600. I know I know, that’s risky. As it turns out, my friend Moe has a friend that lives in Key West who just so happens to be an Emmy award winning photographer/ videographer. And they’re giving us the pictures/ video as our gift. Yeah… I’ll let that sink in for a bit. <3

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Chocolate Favors!

OK, so favors. They’re not necessary, but I still think they’re adorable. No, i’m not talking about some little trinket our guests will throw in a drawer, stick on a shelf or throw away… I’m talking about food! More specifically, chocolate Kisses!

Yep, I decided on Kisses bc they’re a lot bigger than M&Ms and they come wrapped. I don’t really want to be touching food people are going to be eating.

Here’s my next choice… the packaging. Do I buy the 2x2x2 boxes and decorate them, or make boxes? Tonight at the bookstore, I was flipping through one of Martha Stewart’s big books of crafts and found a super cute origami candy dish.

So of course, I had to rip a piece of paper out of my little notebook and make one…

Background removed in PhotoShop

I was digging around online to find out the size of standard origami paper, which seems to come in a huge variety of sizes, and found the image below. It’s made of felt sewn together in 4 spots and might just be easier to make. If I find a rotary cutter and a thick mat, I can cut big felt pieces down to size.

Another option, made of felt

The thing with the paper dishes, is I’d buy a bunch of 12×12 scrapbook paper and cut them all down to 6×6. I’m fairly sure it could work.

The other option is to buy some 2x2x2 cardboard boxes and twine to tie them shut. The paper and felt boxes have that personal DIY touch, whereas the boxes have none. Hmm… What to do? What to do?

What would you do?

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Thank You Notes Revealed

I totally forgot to post this! About a week or so ago, I ordered our Thank You notes from OvernightPrints. For those curious, I designed them in PhotoShop CS4 using their basic guidelines to ensure everything stayed in the printing lines, popped it onto their system and boom, ordered! One of the main reasons why I love OvernightPrints over VistaPrint is they don’t charge an upload fee.

After finally deciding to go with a horizontal photo, I messed with different fonts, wording, and layouts. In the end, it was down to 5 pictures. We chose the following picture and simply Thank You in a beautiful script font…

And of course gave credit to our fabulous photographers, Emeric Photography on the back of the card. I just love the blue, but maybe I’m biased…

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Post-Wedding Update Type Post (Including TTD Pictures!)

Whoops! Had that OvernightPrints link all wrong! My bad.

Wow, has it really been 3 days since I last posted? Craziness!

This weekend has been really productive for me in terms of post-wedding stuff. And considering that we bought ourselves a Hanukkah/ early Christmas Wii, that’s really saying something!

Let’s see, in the last 5 days I…

+ordered our marriage certificate
+received our CD of Trash the Dress pictures from the amazingly talented Emeric Photography
+ordered our holiday cards (using an Emeric picture) from Shutterfly
+wrote, completed, changed, and ordered our holiday newsletter from Vistaprint
+ordered our Thank You cards (also using an Emeric picture) from OvernightPrints
+just finished and ordered our 2nd Inkubook that we won in the giveaway (all Emeric pictures)
+played lots and lots of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
+spent loads of time with my amazing hubby
+began knitting a pair of socks for a test knit

You want to see some of them, right? Seriously, I am in love with these pictures!

Using my Ebates account for Shutterfly, OvernightPrints, and Vistaprint, I am expecting a nice big fat refund check soon. I will never again shop online without first checking there to see what rebates I’ll get. It’s like the best “discount” ever! For OvernightPrints, I already had a coupon (HOLIDAY) for 50% off the cards, so not only was my order discounted, but I’m getting cash back. Yes, I’m cheap like that.

Most of our stuff was dependent on getting the CD, which is why so much happened so quickly. I had everything all laid out and just waiting for the picture. Of course, even then, I was still popping different pictures into the layouts.

This post is not sponsored by any company, I just happen to love Ebates and online shopping. <3

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