Easter Decor

Last year before Easter I was reading the blog Crap I've Made and she talked about finding these cute little bunny floral picks at Pier 1.  I remember thinking, wow, those bunny things are really cute... I should stop at Pier 1 and get some.  But alas, I never did.

A few days ago I happened to be in Pier 1 looking for a birthday present for a friend, when low and behold what did I see... The very same bunny floral picks I saw a year before on Crap I've Made.  So I bought two without actually thinking about what I would do with them. 

I can't get over how cute they are!

Anyway, I decided that I was going to make something out of them using materials I already had on hand.  I was not going to buy anything new, so I dug out some fabric, ribbon, floral foam that I used to make the manly bouquet, the glue gun, and 2 mason jars.

I put a little hot glue in the bottom of the mason jar and then shoved a block of floral foam in.  I wrapped some fabric up and over the mason jar and tied it off with color coordinated ribbon.  I stuck the bunny pick in the floral foam and hot glued some fabric scraps over the top of the exposed foam to cover it up.  The results...  BUNNY TOPIARIES!!!!!! 

Upcycled Sweater Pillows

Every time I say "sweater pillows" out loud I giggle like a 10 year old girl because it sounds like some silly euphemism for breasts... but it is not... at lease in this case.

I actually took 2 sweaters that I was getting rid of, cut them up and made them into pillows.  This was a nap time project, which means that from start to finish it took me 1.5 hours.  If you want to make a few for yourself, here is what you need:

12" pillow form (or whatever size you want.  Just make sure that it is smaller than the sweater you are starting with)

Old sweater
button to be the center of the flower

1.  Since I bought a 12" pillow form, I marked and cut out 2 13" (12" plus .5" seam allowance all the way around) squares from my sweater.

2.  I pinned the squares together (right sides together) and sewed them with a .5" seam allowance.  I left about 3" at the bottom of the square open so that I could turn it right side out once it was sewed.

3.  I turned my pillow so that the right sides were out and shoved the pillow form inside. 

4.  Once the pillow form was inside, I whip-stitched the hole in the bottom closed.  (you can stop here if you want... you have a finished pillow)

5.  I decided to make flowers to embellish the pillow.  So I went back to my cut up sweater and cut the bottom ribbing off the body. 

6.  I ran a basting/gathering  stitch through the cut side of the ribbing.  I pulled the basting/gathering stitch and the ribbing gathered itself up.  I knotted the thread and cut off the excess.  I formed a flower shape that I deemed suitable and tacked it together with a few stitched. 

7.  I sewed the flower into the pillow and then sewed a button in the flower to form the center and to cover up the gathering and raw edges.

Spring Break Projects

This week was spring break which meant I had a few days off.  Unfortunately I was sick as a dog with the cold/virus from Hell, so the plans I had made got pushed aside for some slightly lower key options.

I organized and labeled some things in the linen closet.  I cleaned up my car and removed all the boogers (thanks Nate) from the window. I did laundry, cleaned the house, ran errands, played with Nate.  And finally, I finished hanging some floating shelves in the living room.

I had been looking for floating shelves for a while now.  Of course, I saw the ones that Pottery Barn had to offer, but they were very much out of my price range.  I found these at the Chirstmas Tree Shop and at $6.99 each, decided that they were the way to go.  I think they look great and hubby likes them too.  Here's hoping they don't take a tumble off the wall!

An Open Letter To All The Republican Politicians Who Think Women are Less Than

This is a rant.  Be warned.  I will use some VERY strong language and express my opinions.  If you do not like it stop reading now and come back tomorrow.

To all the Republican Politicians Who Think that Women are Less Than:

Who the FUCK do you think you are? 

I am going to follow that up with...

Have you lost your God Damned mind?  I have read and watched and listened to all the half-assed, backward, bullshit that is freely flowing from your mouth and I have had just about enough of it.  If I was your mama I would be shoving a bar of dial into your mouth right this very minute! You think that being a single mother is a type child abuse.  You think that women are like pigs and cows.  You think that women who use birth control are sluts.  You think that women should keep their knees together.  You think that unwanted pregnancies are something women actually do want.  Plain and simple, and you have probably come right out and said it, that women are stupid, inferior animals who do not deserve civil right or human dignity. 

What you are spewing is HATE speech, plain and simple.    

Do you even realize that?  HATE SPEECH.  H-A-T-E   S-P-E-E-C-H.

Do you know how I know that it is hate speech?  Well take any other group of people, lets say for instance... men... or Christians... or Jews... or Blonds... and put that group in where you have "women."  Would you say it then?  Would you compare Jews to cows and pigs?  I am betting you wouldn't lest you be compared to the last person who did... know who that was?  I'll give you a hint... it was HITLER!!!!

Seriously... do you actually believe the tremendous sewage that spills from your gullet?  Are you afraid of losing your invisible privilege (the article talks about white privilege, but there is male privilege too) that you will try and hold onto it but running into the ground the other half of the planet???

I want to ask you a very candid question, or a couple of candid questions...

Do you have a mama?  Do you have a wife?  Do you have daughters?  When you kiss your mama, when you lie down next to your wife at night, when you tell your daughters that you love them to do see them as human beings with brains and hearts deserving of civil rights, human rights, dignity and privacy or do you see that as live stock?  As cattle?  As chattel?

Think about that.  Thank about that... THINK ABOUT THAT.  Think about how you would feel if someone else took your words and aimed then at your mama, your wife, you daughter... how would that feel?

Then I want you to remember that I, that every woman, is somebody's mama, wife, daughter. 

And then I want you to remember that "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Kitchen Organization the Cheater's Way

One of my favorite blogs for creative inspiration is Infarrantly Creative. Specifically, I am inspired by her post of organizing measuring cups and spoons which you can read about here.  I mean seriously, how great does the inside of this cabinet look?

Picture from: http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2011/08/organizing-measuring-cups-and-spoons.html

I love how this looks, and more importantly how it functions, but I didn't really want to devote a whole lot of time to cutting, painting, screwing, labeling, etc.  So, I took the cheaters way out and bought some small Command Hooks at Target, plotted a few lines just to keep things straight, and stuck the hooks on the inside of a cabinet door.  Cost was about $6 and the time spent about 10 mintues.  And the result?

Not nearly as pretty as the Infarrantly Creative version, but just as functional.  And if I change my mind... I just pull the hooks off, no muss no fuss!

The Manly Bouquet

If you are on Pinterest, you have probably seen this:

Source: Uploaded by user via Molly on Pinterest

It is a bouquet for a man... consisting on booze and cigars.  and I think it is a pretty clever idea.  My friend Amy's husband turned 40 recently and I thought that something like this would be a great gift.  So after stopping at Walmart and the Wine and Spirit Shoppe (it's a PA thing), and raiding my crafting supplies this is what I ended up with.

I opted for candy instead of cigars, but either way I am delighted with the way it turned out.  I hope the birthday boy likes it just as much!

Exercise

Oh my GOD! do I hate to exercise.  I have done it and not done it and in either situation I hated every minute of it.  But what is a girl to do?  I am active when I am at home.  I scrub my floors on my hand and knees.  I hang laundry and do yard work, I mop and sweep and vacuum.  I am on the floor playing with Nate and schlepping stuff out to the car... I am active.  During the workday, I am not so active.  I spend the vast majority of my time sitting at my desk looking at Pinterest working.

So I have decided to add a three day rotating... workout? routine? I don;t know what to call it to my life. (I am not training to run marathons, or ironmans, or whatever... so bear with me here)

Day 1:  Leg lifts (ala Thighs of Steel from the 90s...) 75-100 each leg
Day 2:  Abs (crunches working lower and upper abs and the side, whatever they are called)
Day 3:  Arms (15 minutes of weight bearing lifts)

---Rest---

Repeat

I don't know if I will see or even feel and appreciable difference since this is such a slow beginner routine, but at least I will be doing something.

De-Cluttering: The 100 Things Challenge

A few times a year I get an overwhelming urge to purge the house of the stuff that seems t collect everywhere.  Usually this happens right after New Years, when I can see all the holiday gifts that have entered the house and now have to find a place for.  I did a mini-purge in January, but for some reason feel the need to do it again.  Maybe I just don't like the fact that every closet in my house is filled to maximum capacity?  Maybe I am feeling the urge to do more food/supply storage/disaster prep...Who knows.  Anyway , I have decided to take on a de-cluttering challenge, the 100 Things De-Cluttering Challenge that I first saw on Money Saving Mom.

It is a pretty simple challenge... find 100 things to remove from your house.  You can give them to friends, give them to Goodwill, recycle them, or simply throw them away; but the number must be 100, and I am going to be it in 7 days.  I will post pics of my progress day by day.

Anyone else want to tackle this challenge with me?

Projects I Am Mulling Over

There are projects on my "To Do" list and then there are projects that I have not committed to fully, but am still considering.  These fall in to the the "still mulling them over" category.

1.  Taking the door's off of Nate's closet
2.  Taking out the lower shelf in Nate's Closet and adding one of those cube units for more storage.
3.  Dying my wedding shoes cobalt blue
4.  Staring a Pandora charm bracelet

What projects are you mulling over?

Books, Books, and More Books

As librarian most people expect that I am an avid reader, which I am, most of the time, only... not so much any more.  I used to devour books 3 and 4 at a time, but that was long long ago.  I still love books, don;t get my wrong, they are my bread and butter, but lately with the advent of Pinterest I have been spending what little free time I have sewing and crafting and not so much reading. 

That was until last week where I read 5 book in one week because they were all so good I could not put them down.  5 books in 7 days is a lot of reading... this is when took up all of my time (free or engaged):

Bossypants by Tina Fey (I read this in 4 hours and nearly peed myself on more than one occasion)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves by Robin O'Bryant (almost as funny as Bossypants)

It's Mardi Gras, Ya'll!

To celebrate I will be making these Mini King Cakes from King Authur Flour.

You can find the recipe here.

Another Pinterst Goodie

For the holidays I bought these bag caps for hubby. 

 Picture from: http://www.onemoregadget.com/the-bag-clip-vs-the-new-copco-bag-cap/

I thought they were interesting  and functional.  Maybe they could keep our pretzels from going stale.  We have been using then and we like them.  Yesterday, I saw something on Pinterest that was akin to a DIY bag cap that I just had to try.

1.  Cut the top off of a wide mouth soda/juice/beverage bottle (this is from a vitamin water)

2.  Find a small bag, like a bag of open chocolate chips and gather up the end.  Thread it trough the open bottle top so that it stick out the top where you would drink from.

3.  Fold the top of the bag back over the opening of the bottle.

4.  Screw the cap on.  Not only will it keep them fresh, it makes them pretty easy to out too.

Growing Herbs in Tea Tins

So, as you all know I am a complete Pinterest addict.  One of the first things I ever pinned were these herbs being grown in recycled/upcycled tea tins which I found on this blog: http://frangipanidecor.blogspot.com/2010/11/urban-garden-unusual-containers.html

I love the re-purposing.  I love the colors.  I love the idea of non-breakable, non-plastic pots for plants.  Unfortunately, I don't drink tea that comes in tins like this.  Or tea that comes in any kind of tin I could up-cycle.

So, imagine my complete delight when I took a stroll through the Smith & Hawken isle at target and found these beauties waiting for me to take them home.

 
ok, so it is not up-cycling or recycling and it really wasn't frugal either but... they look so darn cool!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't have a mantel so I make a Buffet-scape for every holiday.  This is what I concocted for Valentine's Day.  I am pretty proud of this buffet-scape since I made all of it for very little $$$.

The ruffled runner was made from 3 fat quarters that I picked up from A.C. Moore for $1 a piece.

The 3 frames in the center I found at Goodwill for $2 each and painted them my desired colors.

The subway art and cupid silhouette were free printables (I can't remember where I found them though), and the garland I made from yarn and bakers twine I have in the house.

The candles that are holding up the pom pom garland I had already, but they were 75% at Bed, Bath and Beyond when I did buy them a few years ago, and the read glass heart shaped vase I picked up at Goodwill for $4 probably 5 years ago.

5Things for Friday -- The "I want" Edition

Here are a few things that I have had my eye on for the house...

1.  I have loved this pillow ever since I first saw it many, many moons ago.  But with a price tag of $196, unless I find one at goodwill, I don't think it will be mine any time soon

2.  Since only Nate and I use the paper Dixi cups in the bathroom, I would love to replace them with 2 of these steel cups instead.  Alas, they are sold out at the moment.

3.  The Cup Wow (found at www.cupwow.com) aka, a drinking lid for your mason jar.  Am eco-friendly, frugal, non plastic travel mug.  Gotta get me one (or two) of these.

4.  I love the Iphone case I have right now, but how awesome would it be to have a case that I cross-stitched???

5.  I would love to be able to find another jar of Biscoff Spread.  It is so good!

Yarn Wreath

These wreaths are all over Pinterest and the bloggysphere and I have loved everyone I saw so I decided to make one for my front door.  A nice neutral wreath for in between holiday seasons.

Goodwill Finds

I made a quick stop at Goodwill yesterday on my lunch hour and made out like a bandit!  For $25 I got:

• A skirt for summer (Talbots)
• A Terry Shrug/Cardi thing (Converse for Target)
• A 3/4 sleeve, boat neck T-shirt (Coldwater Creek)
• A Brand New with tags jersey summer dress (Target)
• A Brand New long sleeve T shirt for Nate (Cherokee)
• A box set of Thomas the Train books
• A Brand New Lotion/Shower Gel set (Philosophy)
• A Brand New Bubble gun for Nate's Easter Basket

It was a good day.  Sorry there are no pics!

We took Nate sledding this weekend for the first time.  He LOVED it!  I posted the sledding pics over o his blog but thought I would post this very scary IPhone self-portrait of me without makeup here... enjoy!

Grape Ape!

I have always had a little bit of a rebellious streak.  Not full on non-conformist, but different.  And ever since I was 15 years old I have wanted purple hair.  Once, in high school I did buy some Manic Panic and dye part of my hair purple, temporarily.  But since my hair is so dark brown you couldn't actually tell that part of it was purple so I'm not sure that really counts.

So here I am 20 years later, and I decided that I was getting a purple streak in my hair... for real this time!

This is one of the nice things that come with age, you care less and less about what other people are going to say :)

So may I present to you... my new purple hair!

I LOVE IT!!!!!

Happy Birthday MaryLynn!

It's my BFF's birthday today!  

So this is my shout out to ML... Happy Birthday Baby!  

Hope its a great one... or at least better than last year!

From: http://sweetstirrings.blogspot.com/2011_06_12_archive.html