Valentine's Day 2012

You should know how this blog goes by now. I post and post and post and then I fall off the earth for a couple of weeks (or a month) and then I go back to the post and post and post routine.

But this time it's a little different.

I managed to drown my brand new gorgeous laptop. In beer.

Yeah.

Not my proudest moment.

The good news is that I uploaded all my photos from all of my crazy photography outings that I've been on lately. Engagement photos, new house photos, another set of engagement photos (teeny tiny mini session, but it still counts!) and pet photos. So nothing was lost, thankfully. BUT, it has hindered me in my ability to share things with you.

Things like my Valentine's Day gift to my husband. What do you give a man who has everything he wants? You make him stuff.

Like beer truffles (...ironically flavored exactly like the beer my laptop chugged shortly before its death.. so much for being budget conscious on V-Day!).

But how do you give him beer truffles?

You make a heart-shaped box out of an old rafter from your new house.





I love it. I'm not proud of it because it's perfect (I couldn't stay on the line to save my life), I'm proud of it because I made it. And it was functional. And someday I'll look back on this little rugged box and laugh, Oh, you were such a beginner.

Someday.

Screw the snow, I'm building a sewing table.

The last time I left the house was last Saturday. In the meantime, I've been making our house a disaster by pulling everything out of the drawers and closets and not putting things back. I've discovered a stash of fabric in the chaos, and it's made me really want to start sewing.

Sewing takes space. It takes a proper working area, and the only area that has enough surface space is our kitchen table. So typically I'll set up shop there, then leave everything on the table for a minimum of three days, because it's a pain to put everything back just to pull it out again. And while I really wanted to sew this last week my husband needed the table to actually work-work, so I was stuck. No sewing for me.

But now the weather is better, the roads are visible and they're no longer a skating rink. I'm building myself a sewing table. A teeny, tiny sewing table, sure. But it will be all my own.


I found this great little design here, on ana-white.com. If you've never been to her site, I highly recommend spending some time browsing it.

Holiday Cheer

So I'm in the mood to be a bit of a consumer and hunt down some holiday cheer. Earlier this year, I went on a bit of a rampage and tossed out everything and anything that wasn't absolutely necessary in our entry closet. That included all of our holiday decorations, including our fake tree. Now that it's after Thanksgiving and cheery little glittery lights are popping up everywhere, I'm feeling like our condo needs some festiveness as well and I'm seriously regretting my impulsive lack-of-space driven anger.

I guess it's a fresh start, then, huh? So where should I begin? I'm really loving the current trend of a smaller tree hoisted up by being placed in a wicker basket. It gives the tree extra height without taking more room in storage, and plus I could use the wicker basket to keep the other decorations stashed nicely away. And there's way more room for presents. Which is always a good thing. Plus, a shorter tree is typically less expensive... so not only do we save more room, but we have more money left over. Score!

I also would like to get a bit crafty. Take a look at this adorable tabletop tree:

More lovely crafts and instructions here.

At the above site she has instructions to make some incredible ornaments and gift boxes using the same style. Perhaps I should use this to decorate my tree? I'm so over breakable ornaments!

And check out this clever and amazing Kanzashi tree:

Details and how-to found here.

It's hard for me to wrap my head around the work that is necessary to create this. All those squares of fabric, folded, stitched, glued... I don't think I'd have the willpower to complete this. The person who made this had an etsy site at one point- I would be so tempted to buy one if she still sold them. They're gorgeous!

I'm always so impressed by the creativity of the people found on both sites... I wish I had planned for the holidays sooner! Perhaps if I get started on the Kanzashi tree now, it might be ready for 2012!

More Jar Ideas

This weekend I'm obsessing over jar storage. At first I was tempted to find some spice jars with metal lids, paint the underside of my shelf with magnetic paint and simply stick them on. Then I discovered the glass painting technique... I could use cute jam jars in all shapes and forms, and still have them match in color.

But simplicity often is the best route. While browsing for a more time efficient and simpler solution, I discovered this at Country Living.

Country Living

I have to say, I'm impressed. They simply screwed the lids onto the underside of the shelf. Simple. Adorable. Efficient.

And speaking of adorable, I came across this at Design*Sponge in a tutorial regarding paper scrap recycling.

Design*Sponge

This tutorial shows you how to utilize old paper scraps to decorate can lids AND to make gorgeous pencils out of it. I have a nasty habit of collecting pretty paper- I'm glad to have found a proper outlet for it! And more importantly, I'm glad I'm not alone!

So with these discoveries, I'm leaning towards recycling old cans, wrapping their lids so they're presentable (and match in one way or another), and securing them to the underside of my shelf. They might just be far too pretty to hang up though... Decisions, Decisions.