Project Post: A Springtime Peacetime Wreath

Happy Spring! I guess it's officially spring but we've had such remarkably nice weather (even for here) all winter that I'm already feeling summery. Except that I still have pretty pasty legs.

So I had been wanting to make a peace sign wreath. I wanted it to be rustic and flowery and... peaceful.

There are a million ways you could make one, I'm sure. But here's what I did (and this is, I promise you, something any crafter or non-crafter could do):

Start with a cardboard base. I used the shoe box my husband's work boots came in (a pizza box would probably work well). Traced a circle, cut it out, wrapped tape around it to help stabilize it, painted it a few shades of green. Pretty elementary school-level crafting so far.

Then I added moss, which is probably the messiest part. Be prepared for that. For this project I used moss that comes on a roll held together with really thin wire (something like this); it comes pretty packed together so I had to stretch and arrange it a bit to "fluff" it. It was my biggest expense for this project and I think it was under $4, regular price. You could use a pack of loose moss as well but you'll probably need a lot more glue and time since basically every piece will need to be glued to your base as opposed to this moss ribbon which can be held on with a chunk of glue spaced around the wreath, does that make sense?

Next add layers of tree bark, I just broke mine off in small pieces. I also flipped the wreath over and added bark from the back of my base so that from the front it had a more three-dimensional look.

Not very pretty from the back, but who's looking?

I started layering on a ton of small and medium sticks I'd collected. Start with the big ones around the perimeter and to make the "structure" if you will, and then keep filling in with smaller ones. My trusty mini-glue gun was more than adequate for this. So far, still easy-peasy.

Almost done ---  I wrapped some jute twine around the whole thing to help keep everything in order, though really it's all that glue-gunning doing the work. I added the twine to the back to hang it from a hook or nail, too. Ok, and literally I almost forgot to tell you to add branches to the center to make it a peace sign. duh. This is pretty straightforward, the most difficult part was finding three sticks that created the shape I wanted and fit together, so just keep trying until it looks right. You might want to reserve a few of your longer, thicker, branch-ier sticks for this part so that you have more to work with, and you can always break them up to be shorter. Even though they're primarily held together by glue, I added more twine where they meet to keep that handmade look.  

You can see better here that the whole thing has a really layered, rustic look. It's imperfect.
I wanted it to have the feeling of something Maid Marian would have just
thrown together on a springtime afternoon in Sherwood Forest, #HowsThatForAVisual? 

Finally, add the finer details. I pulled individual buds and sprigs off of a few large stems from Dollar Tree and JoAnn's, just filling them in by working my way around the wreath. This may be the hardest step and it is still easy.

And that's it!

I have had this on our front door for about two months now and it has held up perfectly well. Granted we've had just one spring storm during that time, but you know, it experienced wind and rain. :) This was also a really inexpensive project; when you consider I used recycled cardboard, found sticks and bark, and already had the twine, glue gun and glue sticks on hand. If you needed to purchase supplies, I'd suggest searching for a Michael's or JoAnn's coupon to save a bit on the glue gun (the mini-size is usually under $5, I think), and I usually find glue sticks at the 99-cent or dollar store. I happened to find my flowers there as well although again, Michael's usually has a huge selection that go on sale, and you don't need many. I'm confident that you could make this wreath for under $15 or so.

So there's my Springtime Peacetime Wreath! What are you crafting to welcome Spring and/or get ready for Summer? Anyone working on some kind of wreath, or maybe fun Easter crafts? I feel like this is something you could use through the Easter season without it having eggs and bunnies on it --- I mean wasn't Jesus' mission to bring salvation and peace? :) Is everyone ready for Spring weather? I'm loving the 80-degrees days we've had off-and-on, can't lie :)

Happy Spring and Peace Be With You,

Easy Riders.

So E and I had been talking a lot about how nice it would be to take up bike riding. Not in a Lance Armstrong-way, just something that would be great to do on all the beautiful-weather days we have around here.

We figured the pros were:

1. It's healthy.
2. Once you get past the initial cost, it's relatively cheap (we have tons of bike paths near the beach and a really nice one at the lake literally  next door to our house).
3. It would be nice to start something as a couple that we can continue to enjoy later on as a family (I'm already picturing how cute he would be with a baby seat on the back or towing one of those kids' trailers).

There's probably others.

Anyways, since I had a few-years old beach cruiser still at my mom and dad's house (they upgraded my basket as a surprise and my brother so nicely gave it a tune-up-----THANK YOU!!!), I had decided I wanted to get him one for his birthday. After making sure we could afford it, I dropped a million hints when we saw cool bikes like "Hey, look at that cool one with the blue wheels." Honestly for as smart as he is he just does not pick up on little things like that, otherwise I'd have been worried he knew what was coming. :)

So I had a pretty good idea of what he'd want -- sleek and sporty -- and what we could manage, cost and maintenance-wise. As much as I try not to shop at WalMart because, stick it to the man, I ended up there looking at exactly what I had in mind. It was slightly on sale at the time so it was right in the range of what I wanted to spend and it had overall great reviews dating back a couple years (I read them all). From what I read from previous customers, it wasn't going to win you the Tour de France or do a good job of going up and down mountains, but was good for rides around the neighborhood or boardwalk -- perfect. They also said it was easy to assemble and to customize with various parts, if you so desired. And so with E still working during the week in LA for another couple weeks so I knew I could make it a surprise, I hit "order" and eagerly awaited the free warehouse-to-store pickup delivery.

When I went to pick it up, oh man. The box barely fit in the shopping cart. And because I was driving the old Corolla, I wasn't sure I'd get it home, either. But love conquers all and I wedged it into the backseat. :)

Also, I carried it down the block into our living room. It wasn't that it was excessively heavy, just that I couldn't get my arms all the way around it (for reference, see below). Should've planned better but that's how I live.

It came partially assembled, thank goodness, and I'm proud to say that I put the rest of it together myself. #IDidIt  Most of my assembly experience comes from Ikea furniture so this was a lesson in following directions written in actual words and not with little stick figure suggestions. Oh yeah, I dropped it on myself at one point and my entire leg was bruised but since I have a tendency to walk into furniture, doorways, etc. he didn't think this was weird, either.

before...

after!!!

Then I had to hide it. Even though E was gone during the week he was still home Friday night - Sunday afternoon and it was two weeks before his birthday. Amazingly, I got it into our closet. We have one of those shallow closets with sliding doors that runs the length of the wall and it is STUFFED because it's basically the only closet we have (#FirstWorldProblems), so I had to move the rolls of wrapping paper and our suitcase... and again, my darling thought nothing of the extra clutter in our room (and never opened that side of the closet since it mostly contains lesser-used things like winter coats, dressy clothes, and the aforementioned wrapping paper and suitcase.

The morning of his birthday he ran to the store for milk (thanks, babe!) and I quickly wrangled the bike back out so that it was right in front of the door when he walked back in. And he was surprised! It was so fun. I got a "WTF" out of him. He had nooooo idea that a bike had been hiding behind his khakis and a shoe rack.

How cute is he?
Also is that a shadow or giant stain on the side of the couch? :|

And so we ride! We've been to Mission Bay a few times now (the aforementioned miles of nice bike paths) and I've been riding around the lake quite a bit. And with summer coming I look forward to really taking advantage of being able to explore the beaches, neighborhoods, and other trails. The thing we're still trying to figure out is where to store them---I'd like to keep them covered on our patio but I've also looked at those cool wall-mounted racks. Any suggestions for keeping two bikes in a small-ish apartment?

What about you? Any avid cyclists or just weekend warriors? Anyone making a bike purchase any time soon? I can say that E really likes his, we did change out the seat to a wider, cruiser-style one because the original was waaay to narrow to be comfortable for anyone who has a butt, of any kind.

Happy Trails!

Project Post: God Gave Us Baseball - Baptism Gift

Everyone I know is having babies.

This means that many baby gifts are necessary, and (at least in my "circle" of many Catholic School Alumni friends) many Baptism gifts. I feel like a Baptism gift should be something that reflects the occasion and entrance of an individual into the Church and a life of faith, right?  I mean, I personally prefer to give something religious-related as opposed to like, toys or baby supplies or something -- for both my Goddaughters I've given Bibles (a very traditional heirloom version in one case and a bilingual baby version in another), and a few years ago I made a baby sweatshirt using a religious iron-on accented with fabric paints (I'll have to try to find the pictures on an old hard drive).

Anyways.

I had pinned the inspiration for this project (I believe the original is still available on Etsy) quite awhile ago and was looking forward to the right opportunity to make something similar. The opportunity came via our friends we met through a softball team a few years ago, and their precious little chunk of a firstborn, Matththew.

I thought this would be a great, personal gift for them -- they're both total sports freaks (we even ran into them at a Padres game a few weeks before their due date and they joked that they'd name the baby something like Tony Trevor Winfield Randy Garvey if labor started at the game #PadresFansJokes).

As luck would have it, I had a super-banged up softball in the trunk of my car, otherwise you'd have to pick one up -- I supposed you could check garage sales or thrift shops if you wanted a vintage-y looking one, or purchase new if you wanted something crisp and white. FYI - the softball, once opened up, fit almost edge-to-edge on my 10" square canvas... a baseball would be a bit smaller (I think my Pinspiration was done in an 8" shadow box) and you could go even a little smaller with a Little League baseball or search for some type of small souvenier ball of some kind).

 

Since I was going for the well-worn, vintage-y look, I didn't take much care in in disassembling it -- just scissors (a seam ripper would probably be even easier) to cut the stitching and I left the edges more or less ragged. You could do a much neater job if that's your jam.

Here's the thing -- despite being worn, the leather came off rock hard. Like, it stood up still rounded. Not sure if it would work (and also wanting to clean up something intended for a baby's room), I soaked it overnight in a bucket of water with a little vinegar and dish soap. This made it easier to work with, but I still needed it to lay flat. I laid it between two towels and then put a really heavy box on top of it overnight.  Note: you'd have more options if you're using a frame or shadow box -- for example, you could use straight pins to anchor it to the back of a box, or pull out the red stitching altogether and then re-sew it onto a fabric for the back of your frame or box.

The canvas was an easy prep -- just a couple coats of paint in a light beige. I also used my homemade ModPodge-y solution (half-and-half Elmer's glue and water) on the canvas and ball, seperately. So basically I coated the painted canvas and the two pieces of the softball. My goal was to seal each element, especially the loose ends of the red threads.

Here's where I overestimated the power of my glue gun (which doesn't happen often!). I tried gluing the softball to the canvas and the glue just peeled right off when dry. Sh*t (of course I'm working on this the night before it needs to be finished).

Ok... I run to Michael's about an hour before they close, thinking I'll pick up a shadow box frame and try attaching the softball with straight pins. Of course there's a too-small shadow box and a way-too-big and pricey shadow box.  I check out the Special Glue aisle. Among the wood glue, super glue, etc. was some variation of super glue that promised to work on wood, canvas, leather, fabric, metal, etc. A tiny bottle ran somewhere between $3-$4 (of course I brought the wrong coupon).

Hallelujah, it worked (at least it was bonded when I wrapped it the next morning and I haven't heard that it's fallen apart at all). Following the instructions on the glue bottle, I just went slow and inch-by-inch to put a bit of glue on both the canvas and softball before holding them together to bond. I wish I'd had a second bottle for back-up -- don't know what I was thinking -- because my one bottle just barely finished the job.

 

I used the Pinspired quote and added Matthew's name and Baptism date. I hope it's something that he can keep for awhile -- I can't imagine this kid NOT being a baseball fan. This would make a sweet gift for the Little League-r, coach or fan in your life. In fact I might have to make one for myself!

 

So Happy Spring Training! What are you looking forward to this baseball season? I feel like this is going to be a bittersweet time for Padres fans, since it is about to really sink in that we won't be hearing The Colonel call any more games with his gracious charm, wit and wisdom.  Also, what are some other ideas for Baptism/Christening gifts? Anything really cool and creative? Do you go with something very traditional? Something to be used as a baby/kid or something to last for a lifetime? I'm sure more babies are on the way so I can always use the ideas!!


May your feet be swift, bats mighty, and balls be... plentiful,

Project Post: A Card for the Travelers' Next Adventure

So I guess you could say card-making is kind of my thing. I mean, I more often than not make cards instead of buying them (although I do love when you find a really beautiful, funny or otherwise perfect card in the store), and several people have told me that they've kept all the cards I've ever made them or their kids.

That's sweet. Means a lot. Makes me want to keep doing it. :)

What I like about making a card is that it can be extremely personal -- you can't always find that in a store. I love finding a quote or theme or sentiment that's just perfect for the person and occasion.

We've got a few friends that are extremely well-traveled. Like, more than I will ever be. I really admire the sense of adventure and the way they say "yes" to new people, places and experiences.

When one of those couples got engaged, and the other was about to have their first child, I knew that would be a great theme for some congratulatory/best wishes cards. I guess you could say I cheated a bit by making these almost the same, but even though the words of the message are nearly identical, I felt that it fits each of them in their current, exciting stages of life.

 

 

A "Best Wishes for Baby" Card for the First Class World Travelers

I wanted to emphasize planes on this one since Dad is in the flight industry (that's as much as I could tell you to describe his job, I think it is something in logistics...?). I used softer, baby-friendly colors that I thought were still bright and cheery and chose stripes and plaids that I thought were appropriate for a little gentleman on the way (I thought the "All Packed and Ready to Go" sticker was appropriate for first-time Mom who had her hospital bag ready for probably about five months). 

 

Oh yeah, and the G'14 is for their last name and the baby's birth year!

 

 

A "Best Wishes on Your Engagement!" Card for the Adventuresome Duo

Again, basically the same concept applies here, but I played around with bolder colors -- in this case, lime green and navy blue for their Seattle Seahawks of their adopted hometown (I sent this right in the middle of the NFL playoffs).



In both cases my writing is freehand with fine point Sharpies (with the exception of the stamps I used on the first card), but a good handwriting font would be nice if you're not ready to wing it by hand. The cardstock is available at Michael's or JoAnn's, as well as any travel-themed stickers or accessories you might want to add. Here's my trick for the sketching the planes and suitcases, though (I'm not an artist by any means) --- once I find an idea of what I'm looking for on Google Image or somewhere, I hold up a sheet of plain paper over the screen, and really lightly trace it, going back and forth to take a look at the original compared to my copy... I then outline it in dark marker so that I can trace that onto my decorative paper. Your other option might be to print out a picture you like and accent it with colored pencils or markers.

In an effort to be a disclaimer; I don't know that I would sell a card using someone else's illustration... but I'm not a lawyer, soo..?

Anyways, there's a couple ways you can wish the travelers in your life the "Adventure of a Lifetime" for their momentous occasions. What kind of life events are coming up in your world? And what's on your travel bucket list? If I haaaaaad to narrow it down, mine is pretty much everywhere in Mexico, Fiji, and Alaska.

Happy Trails (and card-making!),



A Dress for All Seasons

Disclaimer: This is my first clothing-related post and I'm definitely not a fashion blogger, so please be nice and we'll see how this goes...

Hadn't really planned on making not one but two Valentine's Day-related-ish posts but as I browsed my closet I thought I'd pay homage to the $4 thrift store find that became my go-to outfit this past year.

Yep. I had coveted this dress in Target last spring but at like, $27 (I'm cheap) I figured I'd wait for it to inevitably go to the clearance rack in a couple weeks. But then I found it on an impromptu trip to Salvation Army (on our little birthday weekend getaway, of all things). I think everything in the store was 50% off for Memorial Day and this still had the Target tags on it. Consider it snatched up with about three minutes to spare before closing time.

Here is is just basic, though the belt is my own addition because it just felt like it fit better than hanging on me, especially with my short stubby legs! I've often thrown a chambray blazer on over it, or a Levi's jacket would be really cute. I love the print, sweetheart neckline and zipper going up the back.

I also hadn't really planned to wear it for three holidays but life has a funny way of working out, right? It also became my uniform for a baby shower, birthday party, sorority recruitment and a Baptism. Dresses that pull overtime duty are my friend. And styled just a little bit differently each time, I think it managed to work for each of these occasions. I mean, being red it's an obvious choice for the Fourth of July, Christmas and Valentine's Day, especially when the print looks like fireworks, snowflakes or little daisies, depending on the context.


For the Fourth of July I wore it with white and blue and what I thought was kind of country/All-American looking...

And for Christmas I wore a black t-shirt and jacket over it (with a small, skinny belt underneath to hold the t-shirt in place and keep the shape of the skirt) along with black tights and booties.

Finally for Valentine's Day I added cream tights and my much-loved creamy motorcycle jacket... I love something sweet and girlie with this traditionally tough-looking jacket on top. Oh, and a flower... I mean is there anything more romantic than flowers in your hair? #HippieAtHeart

So thanks for bearing with me.... I'm not a professional anything --- stylist, photographer, lighting expert, model, etc... --- by any means, so I fully understand this is very amatuer hour... but I do know how to work with what I got. So there's three ways that one very real person got a really bargain to work for three seperate occasions using things already in her closet.

The Little Red Dress That Could

Was this at all interesting or helpful? Would more posts like this be welcome, or does it just add to the noise of a million other bloggers who already do this and do it better? Either way I thought it was kind of fun :) And who is planning something cute to wear for Valentine's Day? I think we're staying home since the new season of House of Cards is out on Friday but maybe we'll do something festive over the weekend (if we do go out for Valentine's Day it's usually to Burger Lounge or something!).

Happy Valentine's Day and Outfit-Picking!

 

Project Post: A Brief Valentine's Day Card Sentiment

Soooo Valentine's Day is on Friday...

Still need a card for the dude in your life?

Anyone can do this. You don't need one of those fancy software programs or cutting machines or even glue.

I did use a blank card template I picked up at Michael's, they usually have packs of 8 for like, $1.50. This one had a cute little cut-out. But a folded piece of printer paper would work just as well.



"I'll be brief..."

"I think you're a stud."

This card was inspired by the oh-so-exciting gift I have planned. I usually give E some socks and underwear for either Christmas or his birthday (is that a totally parental-type thing to do?) but fell behind on that this year. So I hope he enjoys a nice value-pack of Hanes and some tube socks, woo... nothing says 'romance' better, right? :)

 

**Trip on the Wayback Machine -- our first Valentine's Day together in high school, he filled my locker with pink roses. I die. **

 



So whether you're planning on giving someone special something extra-sexy [(?) oh Lord, no] or just want to share a cheeky (haha) sentiment, take the five minutes to briefly state your love.

 

 

So what are your Valentine's Day plans? Anything exciting? Making any homemade cards, gifts or treats? I alternate between really wanting to do something fun and only caring about buying half-priced candy on Feb. 15... so I usually end up somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

 

 

But celebrating love is always a good thing, right?

 

 

Xoxo,

 



January

In summation....

I usually don't know how to decorate after Christmas and before Valentine's Day, this year I went with a powder blue and gold color scheme for our Chargers in the playoffs #BoltUp
... The game against Denver was a disappointment and you hate to get knocked out of the post season, but... I was absolutely stunned that we even made it to the playoffs at all, you never want to have to depend on someone else to lose for you to get in. For all the cards to fall into place the final week of the season was unreal -- and even then they almost blew it. People were pretty funny here, wearing Philip Rivers bolo ties everywhere... and following those two wins if you went down to the main street by the beach, people just cruise waving Charger flags out their car windows.... you can tell we're playoff-starved but it's always fun while it lasts!

Since all of the family was in town for Christmas, my grandmother requested a family portrait before the out-of-towners had to leave. Even though we weren't able to hire a photographer due to scheduling it at the last minute, my mom and I were able to coordinate a color scheme and I made some plans for staging to help it run as smoothly as possible (14 adults and 2 kids is nothing to take lightly). My awesome sister-in-law agreed to help clean up some shadows in faces on the final version, but we also grabbed some other great pictures of cousins, brothers and sisters, grandkids, etc. -- just using your basic point-and-shoot digital camera and some very amateur editing with Micorsoft Office Picture Manager.

 

 ...and naturally there were some good "outtakes..."

 

We visited the new Downtown San Diego Library... it's so cool! Awesome architecture, art and amazing views. Also, an entire baseball reference section, what-the-what. And although it's really not the point of a library, they had a really cool little gift shop with such unique things that I will have to remember it the next time I need a thoughtful gift. I want to go back to see certain things in further depth and maybe spend some time on the lovely patios with a great book.

 

The patio on the roof is pretty awesome.
And they had a special events section with beautiful panoramic views of the city.

 

They had some cool stuff in the kids' section like these vintage book copies and
an amazing Lego model of the entire library and surrounding streets and nearby trolley station

 

 

A whole baseball section with tons of really cool memorabilia!
And copies of every Padres' playoff game!

 

 

So a sad day for Padres fans was when we lost The Colonel, Jerry Coleman. Most of us grew up listening to him as he broadcast the Padres games for 40+ years. It's such a bummer knowing we won't hear him call another play but it was truly heartwarming to hear and see the great tributes to him from locals and fans nationwide. The public memorial service at Petco Park was so well-done and a very fitting tribute to him --- I was particularly touched that they brought his German Shepherd, Gus, who he spoke of often, and to listen to Ted Leitner, his broadcast partner. And his daughter offered some very sweet remarks; ending with "BEAT LA" and a good fist pump. :)

The radio left at Jerry's statue made us all cry.

 

He was a remarkable individual with a tremendously full life and was as humble and generous a man as you could hope to meet. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to learn so much about baseball from him.

I made some little stars with a goodbye/thankyou note so I could
"hang a star" on The Colonel's remarkable life.

On a happier note, we got to take our Goddaughter, Sofi, to her first visit to the New San Diego Children's Museum. We got a year-long membership for her and her mom and dad (E's brother and our sister-in-law) for Christmas and they were so excited to use the passes. I think the adults enjoyed it as much as she did, it's a pretty awesome place with lots of hands-on exhibits, things to climb on, build, drive and create, bubbles to blow, pots and pans to bang on, and even resident chickens. I also love that they put a lot of emphasis on sustainability and they have a lot of interesting information of food security. I hope she gets to enjoy going back again and again all year, she's at an age where she wants to do everything and she absolutely should!

 

 

They're such buds. #MyOvariesHurt

 

Finally, with E getting close to wrapping up his training in LA, I finally decided to go visit him and take advantage of the complimentary breakfast bar at his hotel. I had been waiting around for interviewers to call but we know how that goes. I took Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner, which I used to do a lot in college before getting a car, and if you're ever looking for a little weekend getaway or something different to do, I highly recommend it. From about Del Mar to Dana Point you ride pretty much right along the coast and the views are just beautiful. It allows you to be productive (or not) during your ride and is much less stressful than sitting in traffic. I just worked on a volunteer project for awhile and started a new book by the pool. Sucks to be me, I know.

No matter what time of day or where I'm going, when I take a train I feel like
a small-town girl on a midnight train going annn-yyy-where.... #surfliner #onandonandonandon

 

And since E had spent the last few Fridays sitting in horrible traffic trying to get home, we decided to make stops and have a leisurely drive back. We visited Chapman University and got to catch up with one of my favorite teachers as well as try a new food stand I'd heard such great (and true, as it turns out) things about. And ohmygosh it's ridiculous how much the campus has changed since I was there (almost ten years ago! *puts self into a retirement home*). We tried a local hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant across the street from his hotel one night (with Real California Avocado) and another night we took the 60 to the 10 to Santa Monica and found street parking to enjoy burgers, a walk to the pier, and some cool shops in their Promenade area (and Coffee Bean, which didn't validate).

 

 

 

So how was January for you? I'm sorry if it involved The Polar Vortex, truly, I am. Despite some big disappointments, job-prospect-wise, looking back I realize I enjoyed it (and the month is usually such a let-down for me after the holidays, so this is good!) What are you looking forward to next month? For me one thing is E's birthday and a bit of a surprise I'm working on for him... stay tuned!!

 

Hoping 2014 can only get better,