Craftgawker Bracelet Tutorial

Yea!!  My etched plexiglass bracelet tutorial has been featured on Craftgawker!

Check it out!  Craftgawker is another great craft website, featuring creative projects and wonderful ideas.  Projects are constantly being added and updated.  I'm so thrilled to be included!!

The tutorial for this bracelet can also by found on my Hubpage. 

Trying to Fashion Blog It

When I first started this blog, I considered making it a fashion blog.  I'm very interested in fashion and I like reading other fashion blogs.  But, let's be honest, I'm no fashionista and I don't have a life that requires the latest styles or expensive clothes.

I did, however, want to share a recent scarf purchase and a cool way to tie a scarf.

I bought this pretty scarf, which I love, for $15 at Target.  I love the color (it comes in a red design and teal too) and the paisley print.  I see myself wearing this scarf a lot this fall and the coming winter months.  And I recently learned a neat way to tie a scarf around your neck:

Step 1: Fold the scarf in half lengthwise, and hang it around your neck with the loop on one side and the 2 ends on the other side.

STEP 1

Step 2:  Holding the end of the loop, take one loose end of the scarf and weave it through the loop by putting it over one leg of the loop and under the other leg of the loop.  With the other loose end of the scarf, do the opposite - weave it under one side of the loop and over the other side.  Refer to the photo below:

STEP 2

Step 3:  Pull on the ends to tighten and shift the knot as you want to wear it.

STEP 3

Ta-da!!

Blog Envy: Another Great DIY Blog!!

Here's another great blog that makes me wish I lived within her world:  DIY with Heather's Help.

from http://www.diyheather.com/

There's three things I really love about this blog:


1.  Heather shares really wonderful recipes and ideas (with gorgeous photos)!

2.  That she has the energy to make all these things (and blog about it).

3.  She has such beautiful plates and kitchen accessories (I'm jealous!)

Heather was so sweet to try one of my recipes from my Hubpages and blog about it.  (She even worked out how to modify the recipe using regular oatmeal.)  Thanks so much, Heather!!

{Food} Blog Envy

Every once in a while (well, really more often then that), I come across a blog that I just want to move into and stay there.  RavieNomNoms is one of those blogs.

baked zucchini chips from RavieNomNoms blog

Everything on her blog looks so wonderful.  Looking at the recipes, I'm not always sure I would really like them, but her photos are so gorgeous that I STILL want to eat it!  It all seems so perfect.

from http://ravienomnoms.com/2013/07/10/blueberry-rolls/

How does she do it?  Check out her beautiful drool-worthy blog here.

Strange Alien Plant Form

We recently noticed these green vines growing in our flower garden and across our yard.  They did not look like the flower seeds with we had planted, but we had used some compost from the composter that the previous owners had left.  We though we might have some unintended squash or volunteer cucumbers growing from seeds in the compost.  That's fine.  Great!

Then, we noticed this:

This isn't a cucumber.  Not one that I've ever seen!  Any ideas?

And the vines are taking over our little flower plot (please do not judge how flithy our siding is.  I'll clean it soon, I promise).

Best Laid Plans Go To Waste

I thought I was SOOOO smart this spring when I laid out my list of craft projects for the rest of the year.  This list didn't look too daunting and I thought I was giving myself plenty of time to accomplish my plans.  It seemed like it would be a productive, yet reasonable schedule.

WRONG.

From the beginning, my plans kind of hit the fan.

First, I found out that some friends were expecting a baby and had to sneak in another knitting project to make them a baby blanket.  You can see it on my list, added later, but now it's complete and I've sent to the expectant parents.

And then the painting I was doing as a present for my husband for our anniversary took much longer than I expected.  To be honest, it's still not done and our anniversary was in May (ugh).

Then, the yarn I wanted for my shawl projects was backordered so I had to find some other knitting projects to keep my hands busy at knit night.  At least I've completed the Chevron Cowl I have listed to work on this coming fall :)  And I've made a bunch of shawl pins for when my yarn does arrive and I can start my planned projects.

I have other excuses for not finishing (or even starting) the other projects on this list yet.  But in the end, it is now July and I haven't even finished some of my projects from April :(  I still plan to take on all these projects (maybe not painting my bureau), but my deadlines are on a rapid slide downward.  Sad face :(

First House Guest: Keep Calm & Make Do

My husband and I just passed our first anniversary in our new home and our now hosting our first house guests - my parents.  This is exciting, since now we have a somewhat guest room for them to use.  However, up until this point, our "guestroom" was the repository for all the furniture we didn't have a place for and probably needed to get rid of.

So, with our guests soon to arrive, we needed to transform our guest room into someplace they would want to stay - but we also didn't want to spend a whole lot of money.

First step - a cheap bureau.  I found this white 6 drawer bureau at Big Lots for $99.  We had to put it together (ugh), but it came with a choice of drawer pulls.  I like how we used the crystal pulls on the top row and the plainer pulls on the bottom drawers.

Next, I added a vintage scarf to cover the top of the bureau.  I bought the little mirror for $5, then painted the frame silver, changing it from the original brown color.  The middle painting I bought on clearance from HomeGoods, and  I already had the blue matted painting in my collection.  It's not showroom perfect, but it will do :)

I then found a nice storage basket for the guest bathroom.

This basket was just the right size to fit on our bathroom vanity.  I filled it with hand towels and toiletries for my parents stay.  I added some little packages of ear plugs and bath items from hotels we had visited.  I hope I have everything they might need.

What do you think?  Will it do?