Crafts

Scenes from Last Year

by Jessica on January 2, 2013

in Crafts, Food, Holiday

New Year’s unfolded as kind of a two-day at-home extravaganza that started with Neil’s parents arriving on New Year’s Eve Eve (is that right?) for a belated Christmas overnight.

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Puppy Christmas cookies for Matilda and Clive

They brought food gifts, plenty of snacks and we made personal homemade pizzas and stayed up late watching concert DVDs and talking.

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Janice also taught me to crochet, which has been on my “must learn” list forever. I hope to tackle knitting next, but so far, I love keeping my hands busy with this.

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They also brought a few boxes of stuff from Neil’s childhood home for him to sift through. His little childhood books and collections were so adorable, and it was fun getting to see what he was like as a child. He LOVED to write and draw, and he had the same bright orange yo-yo that I had and loved as a kid. Do they even make yo-yo’s anymore?

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He’s definitely keeping a few things — like his beloved micro machines that I had to deep clean all the sand and dirt out of.

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As I mentioned in our New Year’s Eve post, our travel plans had to be cancelled last-minute as Neil was needed to be on-call. To make up for the bummer, I suggested we make all his favorite snacks — little smokies in barbecue sauce, homemade Chex Mix and Deviled eggs.

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He has unique tastes…

We played hours of computer games in our PJ’s and ran downstairs just in time to toast with champagne at midnight. We then continued watching movies under blankets on the couch until nearly 3 AM. It was heaven. I loved having nowhere to be and not having to drive home late at night!

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Coffee and hot chocolate mixed together to keep our old bones awake late into the night…

I’m still working on compiling our goals for 2013. Neil has his, I have mine, we have ours — it’s a crazy list at this point — but I’m grateful and excited, because there are so many awesome things already on the calendar.

Do you like to go out or stay in on New Year’s?

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wedding rehearsal bouquet

…or alternatively titled, “putting my BFA to good use.”

I resisted calling this a “how-to” because I completely failed to take any process shots and only pulled out my camera at the end as we were packing it for transport. Yesterday, my friend Christina “Chris” came over and we made a rehearsal bouquet for Ashley’s upcoming nuptials to Chris (different Chris) next week. I couldn’t wait to share it, and I figured it was such a “lesser” detail of her wedding that she probably wouldn’t mind me sharing with all of you.

wedding rehearsal bouquet detail

Neither Chris or I have ever made one of these, but it ended up being surprisingly simple. We threaded three white plastic appetizer plates together with some thick black bunting from her shower decorations (her colors are black + grey + yellow), which not only held the plates together in a pyramid-like shape but gave us enough leftover for the “stem.” I like the dimensional effect three plates created versus piling all the decorations onto one plate like you typically see.

I then wrapped a long strand of English Netting around the plates and glued the ends with a hot glue gun. Chris then made dozens of tissue paper flowers in the various colors, which we glued straight to the plates, much like you would with say a piñata.

wedding rehearsal bouquet

Woops…I did not mean to obscure Chris’s face with the bouquet.

Once it was filled with all the paper and ornaments it could handle, we fed the bunting through a toilet paper roll, snipped the excess (leaving about 3-4 inches), and filled the gaps in the toilet paper roll with paper and lots of glue to hold it in place. We then covered the toilet paper roll with Crate and Barrel ribbon (glued on either end), much like you would a real bouquet and tied additional wire-framed ribbon around it for decoration. The structure of the plates and ribbon also created a bonus little hiding spot for a surprise for Ashley on her rehearsal day!

We are pretty happy with the way it turned out. When you hold it, it really feels like a bouquet! Congratulations Ashley and Chris!

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DIY Any-Season Yarn Wreath

by Jessica on October 12, 2011

in Crafts, DIY

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I’ve been bemoaning the lack of wreath on our front door for months. I know, white people problems, but the door just felt lonely and I couldn’t find a wreath anywhere that I liked. That is until I stumbled upon this one via Jessica of OneYearinCali. Beautiful, simple and totally DIY? Yes!

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All you really need is a styrofoam ring, some yarn and whatever you want to ornament your wreath with. I chose some colorful felt balls I randomly stumbled across, but the options are limitless.

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It took a while to wind yarn around the ring, about an hour total. I layered a few areas with extra yarn just to create more of a texture, so it might not take you as long as it took me. I was also having a beer while I did it so I was a little distracted.

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The finished ring, whew!

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The great part about working with felt is that you can mock up where you want things before gluing.

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Freshly glued on. Hot glue guns are the greatest invention of all time, don’t you think?

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Close-up of the finished wreath. A good match for a bright green door?

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In total, I spent a total of $10 on materials, a huge savings from the $30-40 I was considering paying for a pre-made wreath in the store. It was super easy, and I only obsessed over choosing colors. I wanted to find a palette I could pull off until Spring. This palette is warm enough to pull off for fall, but cool enough and deceptively red from the street, so I’m thinking I can pull it off through the winter too. Then again, I wouldn’t mind making a few more of these!

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Mini Projects: Cereal Edition

July 12, 2011
Thumbnail image for Mini Projects: Cereal Edition

We’re quickly learning that when you undertake a massive project like an older home, it is necessary to interject some fun and easy projects between the larger ones so as not to lose your sanity and/or marriage. After reeling from news last week that we will most likely have to rewire our entire house over [...]

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POM Wonderful Dinner Pary – A Non-Traditional Holiday Feast

November 18, 2010

This past weekend, we hosted our Pom Wonderful Dinner Party that we told you about a little over a week ago. Although you might be vaguely familiar with the promotion from other participating bloggers (who by the way are completely rocking my WORLD with their entries), you might be a little entertained by how we [...]

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Why I Need to Learn Knitting: Knitted Pups

October 7, 2010

I know these are way beyond what I could ever hope to master, but I love them anyway. Especially that bulldog! {via Craft}

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Veggies to Cuddle

September 7, 2010

These adorable fruit and veggie baskets from Ikea are so cute I can barely stand it. The veggies are especially adorable don’t you think? {via Meg Kat}

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