Craft(supply)aholic

I have a problem. I buy craft materials. Lots of them.

I have grand plans. I have good intentions. I have pins of inspiration. I start the project. I work on the project.

And then I don't finish the project.

SERIOUSLY. I have a problem. So. Many. Partially. Finished. Projects.

Just to illustrate my problem I thought it would be a great use of my "Five on Friday" for Oh Hey Friday post to illustrate five of my many many incomplete projects I have floating around.


1) Tassel Garland

image via 

Inspiration: Cupcakes and Cashmere 
Year Project Started: 2013
Supplies bought: Fancy cord. Glue sticks, tissue paper in many many colors
Status: I made a total of three tassels, burned my fingers multiple times on the glue gun and have since used the tissue paper for gift wrap
Want to try it yourself?: Instructions here

2) Deer Paint By Number 

Inspiration: Hey Natalie Jean

Year Project Started: 2014

Supplies Bought: Paint by number kit from Amazon

Status: I've painted approximately a leg of that front deer, but the kit is complicated and makes you mix you own paint to get different shade variations. I clearly need to get an easier kit.

Want to try it yourself?: Save yourself some paint, get an easier kit

3) Orchid Cross Stitch

Inspiration: My grandma. She taught me how to cross stitch and I used to do little tiny projects

Year Project Started: 2007

Supplies Bought: Cross stitch product 

Status: Slowlllllly making progress and not giving up!
Want to try it yourself?: It is therapeutic. Great activity to do when watching TV, I say take it on. You can also self teach yourself this pretty easily.

4) Modern Friendship Bracelets

image via

Inspiration: Pinterest
Year Project Started: Does buying the supplies count?
Supplies bought: Embroidery thread, beads
Status: Haven't even attempted one.
Want to try it yourself?: Sure, and can I buy one when you complete one?

5) Glass Etched Plates 

image via

Inspiration: Martha Stewart
Year Project Started: Again, bought supplies, never started
Supplies Bought: Glass Plates, Etching Cream, brushes
Status: I had very good intentions of making my Idaho friends plates with their initial on them with homemade cookies for Christmas. Didn't happen.
Want to try it yourself: I think the only thing that concerned me was having a place where the etching cream wouldn't ruin any fixtures or things like that

These Are Some of My Favorite Things

♥ I had no idea Hanes made such cute, simple clothing! Considering I favor solid colored cotton clothing as a work-from-home employee, I could totally get on board. They had an amazing hoodie that I wanted, but sadly it is gone- those dresses/tunics look awfully cozy though!

♥ I discovered Matthew Parker's work at the Del Ray art festival last summer and then went to purchase a Caps print for N. I love his work and would love to own more of his amazing pieces!

♥ Stamps are some of my favorite craft supplies to hoard. A few favorites right now are this versatile one, this cute one, and this scenery one.

♥ If I had a little one right now, these prints would be so adorable for a nursery. 

♥ There are some issues training the pup to stay off the couch. I wonder if this product works?

♥ Still so excited to have this back in my life. 

♥ My type of meditation. 

♥ IKEA is always been a favorite. I love that store. Once they released their paper product line here in the US, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Their latest items are making me want to go jump in the car right now. I want it. All. All. Of. It.

These Are Some of My Favorite Things

♥ "If you’re waiting for the right day, the right time, the right amount of money, the right age of your children to be, the right moment—it will never come. You are going to have to do it knowing you can’t go back. Trust."

♥ We all know I think my state is the most beautiful. But I won't be above it and will fully admit that New Mexico is also pretty freaking beautiful. 

♥ My dream would be to have a space like this where I could create beautiful things and do something creative with myself. 

♥ An easy, beautiful project that I can wait to try on another weekend when it is too hot to do anything but stay in the apartment. 

♥ Sparkles. Unconventional wedding ring that could be a great option for the person who doesn't love a bit stone. 

♥ How common is your birthday?

♥ I want to have an excuse to make a fancy dessert where I can add some of these. 

Getting back to Getting Crafty

I've been in a creative wasteland for...weeks...Months....YEARS! Ok.ok.ok. not years, but it feels like it. When you hate where you live, you tend to not do a lot of things. Which is funny...when I first moved to DC (and hated it even then!) I threw myself into crafts, blogging, cooking, baking, sewing, etc.. Just about anything to distract me from the fact that I hated my surroundings and the decision I had made to move across the country. Well...fast forward six miserable DC years...now I've just resorted to glasses of wine, TiVo and a puppy to distract myself from the awful aspects of my geographical location.

But, the streak had to break. I've been feeling off. Robbing a part of myself that is natural...and just me. So I conned a friend into going to a paint-your-own-pottery studio this weekend. Naturally, I picked the day where there were flash flood warnings and there was so much water pouring from the sky, it was virtually impossible to stay dry. Nonetheless, we had an amazing time and created some wonderful pieces.

I used to do this all the time growing up for birthday parties and "mommy and me time" back in the day, but I'd forgotten how relaxing and therapeutic it was to just paint, overthink colors and develop a crick in your neck from crouching over your masterpiece. It was lovely. It made me feel better. It made me realize how tired I am of sacrificing myself for some awful place. (If you haven't picked up on it...my days are number here in DC).

We spent the afternoon at Paint This! in Old Town; and it was perfect. It was cute, stocked with so many options of pottery pieces and colors I could have stayed for days. The prices were amazing...an entire afternoon of entertainment...less than $30!

We created some pretty amazing masterpieces if I do say so myself!

I was inspired by this and this for my bowls.

Ashley painstakingly did every single one of those polka dots on hers!

I'll definitely be back for some more craft therapy!

Using Fabric as Wallpaper

I have doing some more research on temporary decorating options for apartment dwellers. I really love the idea of temporary wallpaper or renters wallpaper, that I wrote about earlier this month, but as I mentioned in the post there are a few drawbacks 1) cost and 2) unknowns of how clean it actually removes. While white walls can be crisp and provide a modern background for an apartment, the option to personalize a space with paint or wallpaper is a great option to add a design element. Lately, I have been hearing about another alternative that seems to be the most affordable and easiest to remove option! Enter...

Fabric!

As wallpaper!!

The options are greatly expanded, as my reading seems to suggest that a medium, to heavy weight cotton fabric and some liquid cornstarch will transform a wall. With places like IKEA even selling bold printed fabrics for purchase by the yard, this can be a cost- effective and low-commitment project. 

Some great posts that I found on how this works and what the expected outcome can be are here, here and here. 

Seems simple, but I am sure there is some time (and a buddy) needed to get it up on the wall. I also think being smart about the design is key here. Lining up repeating patterns can be tricky! I also read some comments about the fabric shrinking once it was wet, so the panels would pull away from each other, and also that some fabrics would bleed the color onto the wall. Perhaps prewashing your fabric would be smart.

Via Number Street Designs

I am impressed by how permanent the results look and the fact that it really does sound like there is very little residue or issue with removing it when it is time to pack up and move. 

Has anyone tried this? Would anyone try this DIY?

As another option, albeit a very temporary one, wrapping paper seems to also get the same affect but with very little permanence. A quick and easy solution which you can read about here.  

Read about my original ideas of using temporary or renters wallpaper here. 

A Modern Christmas

I am attracted to pretty much all things Christmas when it comes to decorating. Growing up, and even now, our house was always decorated very well. My mom always has the inside feeling festive with the main floor of our house full of centerpieces, garlands, nutcrackers and all sorts of festive decor. My dad takes on the outside, and always has one of the classiest and most attractive light displays in the neighborhood. 

See? Classy, AmIright? (This also makes me really miss Theo as he would pee on the reindeer and sometimes almost electrocute himself by aiming for one of the electrical plugs...such a crazy dog)

I don't buy a tree out here in DC. Mainly because I don't stick around for much of the holiday season, and I am sure like anything else here, they are crazy expensive (I also don't do fake trees...I just don't). I do try to bring some festive to my apartment regardless of being sans tree.

Last year I did some ghetto-esque decorations, that certainly not up to standard of my childhood roots, but I guess that is what you get living on a budget in an apartment (and last year I lived in a room, not an apartment, just a single room that functioned as my entire apartment). 

This year, I got a jump start on a few ideas I had for holiday decor. I am currently on the hunt for some sticks so I can attempt to make something similar to this.

Source: Anthro? But Unknown

I also wanted to do something a bit more more visually attractive than the tiny handing ornaments I did last year. After thinking it over for awhile, I decided to try to make some of my own. They are a work in progress, but I have big plans for these.

Stay tuned for the final product!

These Are Some of My Favorite Things

►Apparently these bobby pins will make a huge difference when doing your hair.
►I am thinking these will have to made for some sort of winter get-to-gether.
►Make your own gift bags?!? Amazing! Now just to find the right type of paper and a big enough printer!
►I usually get drawn to a certain craft medium when I see something I just know I have to make. This blanket may having me taking up a new craft here soon.
►Not only do they make beautiful printed paper products, they also made a super great resource for wedding correspondence etiquette.
►Feeling in a funk or irritate by life? This is my new go-to for getting myself out of my head and changing my thoughts into something more productive.
►These amazing libraries make me want to travel, and spend some time browsing the stacks. (Also note that Seattle highlight!)
►I want some of these stamp sets. Namely the city and winter sets!

Posted with Blogsy

Pumpkin Drilling

It has been awhile since I carved a pumpkin. Three years to be exact. Last year I didn't even think about it. Halloween came and went, sans pumpkin. The year before, the BF showed up at my apartment door with a surprise pumpkin. It was a beaut! It was the perfect big pumpkin I had when I was little. It made my apartment so festive, which I loved.

This year I had seen a whole bunch of pins floating around on using a power drill to "carve" a pumpkin.

Three words:

Sign me up.

One of the perks of co-habing...having access to power tools. You can just call me Martha....

The starting point. Let me tell you... I forgot how much effort it is to cut the top off a pumpkin!

My weapon of choice.

 

 

All done!

 Final product in all its Halloween glowing glory.

 

If only we had a stoop or outside space to put my amazing work of art. To enjoy I turn off most of the lights while I eat dinner and dine al-la pumpkin light. #apartmentlivingproblems.

 

Anyone else getting in the mood for Halloween this year?

Magazine and Inspiration Organization

Like many of us "crafty" and "inspired" people, I have a lot of papers I keep around for "when I have time to make that cake" or "when I throw a 1 year old birthday party". Recently I have been organization, sorting, throwing out and trying to make sense of all of the "inspiration" I want to keep. I was able to throw away two huge piles of magazines after I took the time to tear out all the articles and snip its of inspiration I wanted out of each.

Now the problem is...I have a stack of torn out magazine pages! What does one do with that! Amen for Pintrest.

Ideas for binders, accordion files, sketch books that you treat like a scrap book, and for the overzealous magazine hoarder... plastic bins for each subject matter.

I not being a huge magazine reader, but being a loyal MS Living and Real Simple reader (oh and let's be real...I buy the occasional wedding magazine), have accumulated my fair share of pages and clips of inspiration. I don't need a major organization system, but something better than stashing them in a file box that I open once every 6 months.

I like the idea of a single binder. Organized with tabs for each subject matter area.

Source: make-life-lovely.blogspot.com via Katie Howard Clemens on Pinterest

I like the clean look of the tabs in this one. My goal is to keep my magazine hoarding contained to one binder. When it gets too full-time to purge.

I also want to take it one step further.

Source: paper-source.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I want to buy one of these and jazz it up al la PaperSource style with some fancy paper and maybe a ribbon embellishment!

 

Source: paper-source.com via Andrea on Pinterest

I mean look at that! So beautiful! Perhaps the prettier, the more likely I am to stay organized and use the system!

Also on my list to consolidate, reduce and organize.... my personal files, my keepsakes box, and physical photos that I have from the days before the iPhone.

As a ps...who ever thought this girl would be one to post about organization and how to get her messes under control? I guess we all grow up right?

Getting Our Bob Ross On

A sad time is nearing and I am getting weepy just thinking about it. One of my closest friends I have had since starting my adventures (and we even go back before that) has made a massive success of herself and is headed off to get a fancy schmancy P to the Hd. While I a, thrilled for Erin, I am undoubtedly sad and will miss her a ton. To celebrate her last day at work and her upcoming transition to studenthood, we relieved one of my favorite DC memories and utilized a coupon to take a 2 hour painting class ( complete with the needed inspirational glass of wine). We expanded the date and I finally got A and E to meet.

We started the evening grabbing some drinks at JPaul's in Georgetown and then stuttered around trying to find the location of the class, which was less than obvious.

The class was smaller. Around 15 people and we lucked out by getting to sit all in a row with a great ledge to set out or spread of cheese and grapes. Not even 10 minutes into the class we were already laughing and chowing down on the cheese plate.

We were attempting to paint an "abstract" that we later learned was a sunsetty skyline, a body of water and some creative looking rocks that looked like poop at first attempt.

Our instructions were a la Bob Ross-esque, but replace "some happy little trees" with " we are just going to tap that" (yes. We died laughing. So did the poor schmuck that got dragged to the class with his over-controlling and self-loathing girlfriend. We then couldn't keep it together and with each " tap that" we became even more like 6th graders.)

Soon our masterpieces started taking shape and we put on our serious Bob Ross faces.

Then the aggressive "taping" started as we developed our sky.

Then came the rocks. Now if you are saying " the look easy"- guess again. Some looked like little poos, I had one end up looking like a dead Phoenix, rather than the rocky mass I was going for.

After some fine tuning things started really coming together.

In all seriousness I was crazy impressed with our work! As a set, they look pretty awesome together!

It was a great night and another memory I will put in my favorites!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Happy Easter Weekend

Well this is a bit belated but...Happy Easter Weekend everyone! I hope that you all got to enjoy treasured moments with friends and family and to share in the joy of such a special day.

Holidays, as I have learned in being far away from the people who I love to celebrate with, are all about creating what you want out of them.Growing up my mom made every holiday completely special and memorable. From decorations, to meals, to gifts, to photos--she really went out of her way to make sure holidays always were special. My family is also big on certain traditions. We always dyed Easter eggs as a family and I always enjoyed seeing the different kits we would get each year. Living on my own, and clear on the wrong side of the country I have tried my best to keep up with the egg dying. Last year I missed the eggs. But the year before Ben and I did some pretty awesome eggs. My first year in DC was another good egg dying year as well. Complete with using natural ingredients like wine as dye!

This year, I decided to take a solo Saturday night to make some eggcelent creations! I only did a dozen eggs this year (6 for me and 6 for my protein needing bf) and my level of Martha Stewartness caused this process to take over 2.5 hours to do just 12 eggs! I even ditched my complicated idea to make some eggs based on some things I found on Pintrest!

Sunday morning I woke up, met the bf and we walked down to meet Ben to head to a Methodist church near my old apartment. The scene at church was crazy! Straight up Royal Wedding style with women rocking fascinators, men in an array of pastels and little kids decked to the nines. The service was pretty good. Now let me tell you what really rocked our worlds....iPads in the church. Yes. iPADS!! The pastor had to swipe and enter a password to read his sermon. We were all a little taken back by 1) the thought that church money was spent on iPads and 2) Isn't the Bible what you should read scripture from? We were laughing and couldn't help but talk about it for the rest of the day.

After church we headed to Starbucks and enjoyed some sunshine and coffee before walking home. Before heading over to Ben's for an Easter linner the bf and I exchanged Easter Bags. I got spoiled with my favorite candy in the entire world (Nerds Ropes), lots of candy, cute cupcake/muffin holders, cupcake liners AND being the best bf ever....he got me the third book to the Hunger Games. (But I can't read it until I am caught up on my studying for my PHR class...he is making sure of that!)

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out, watching Mad Men and making chocolate mouse from scratch!

Hope you all had wonderful a wonderful Easter and a great start to your week!

Felted with Love

It all started when:

My sister made this amazing pillow for me--I love it so much!

It is made entirely out of felt! Which got me really attracted to other craft ideas you could create with felt. I found some wreaths that used the same technique that Nicole used to make this lovely delight. This is what I created for a little Valentine's Day decor:

(excuse my very ugly mauve painted door. Trust me, if i could change that, I would!)

The process went something like this:

I cut 1/2 inch strips and used a hot glue gun to wrap and cover a Styrofoam wreath form I got from Michael's with a 40% off coupon. (Felt is fairly cheap as well- like 10 cents or so a sheet).

Get your wreath covered. Worry more about the sides rather than the top since that gets covered up. Also, if you can find a rounded edge circle wreath, go with that. This squared off one was not ideal.

Cut out a LOT of these 1-1.5 inch felt circles. I used one of my small drinking glasses as a circle template. I think I cut out around 300 of them. But it depends on how tight you want your felt "buds" to look. I liked the more bunched together look.

Fold your circle in half, twice. Then spear the end with a straight pin and then place into the top of the wreath form. Work your way around the form and Voila! Add a ribbon and hang your masterpiece. What I love about using red is I can change out the bow for Christmas and use this two times a year. A white one would be even more versatile and you could just switch out the ribbon year round to reflect the holiday.

It's October and that Means Pumpkins

I eyed this last year on Martha Stewart.com and kept saying I would go buy a pumpkin and give it a shot. Obvis. we never got around to it or I wouldn't be sitting here saying I need to really do it this year. Anyways how classy would a monogrammed pumpkin be?

Photo from MarthaStewart.com

Classy and fabulous. I think yes.

Would it be overly ambitious to think I could do two initials? Or maybe even three?



Till DC Do We Part.

At the start of August I reached my 2 years in DC. eep! Who would have ever thought I would have survived (and we can say kinda-sorta-thrived if we are being generous) for two years here! I have done a ton in my time here in DC and honestly if you would have asked me two years ago if I thought I would be sitting in my own lovely bed, with just my things surrounding me, thinking about my job I have been at since I moved here, I would have laughed at you. Very very hard. And probably cried at the thought. There have been a lot of times in the last two years that I have been scared out of my mind. Times where I didn't know what was going to come next. Times where I had to make some choices. Times where I didn't have choices. Times where I loved being here. And times when I still just don't.


But for better or worse. I am here. And somehow doing okay at taking care of myself. I do have to say I would not be here for sure if it wasn't for both my worlds of friends in DC and Seattle/Idaho who have kept me laughing and looking forward.


In a few weeks I will also hit my one year in my current apartment. Most of you know the situation with the apartment and that ideally I would like my own place sometime in the near future. But it is a wonderful, adorable apartment, and I can say for being the first apartment that I have picked to live in entirely on my own...it has worked out well.

I also am just about to cross my two year mark at world. Yea that's right! Who's wearin' big girl pants now!

(Ok well maybe they are like dress-up big girl pants...but still)


All of these "anniversaries" correspond with some pretty personal "anniversaries". And I promised myself that while this is a public forum and I am letting anyone read this. I would not shy away from at least recognizing some of these personal and emotional things, just to preserve them along with all my other memories over the past couple of years. So to put it out there for myself: this all coordinates with the ending of a long-term relationship that spurred both of these other "anniversaries". Again, if you asked me what my life would look like two years ago, where I am living now, what I am doing, well it would not have been anywhere close to what I thought. I say that recognizing that some of the best things have come to me in the last two years, even if not planned or anticipated. And also some pretty tough things have happened. But it is all about the journey, right?

But for the grand finale!!!!




The last and final, really really reallyreallyreallyreally BIG anniversary is.............


The Blog turned 2 on 8/30!!!! Happy Belated Birthday TFWDC!! Hopefully this is some blogging motivation to make the time to really start documenting again. But to all my readers, family and friends....Thanks for keeping me wanting to blog for two years! I love the written record of my life here and I love sharing it with you all!

                                                           image courtesy of: http://whipup.net/tag/card/

This card is a must-make for me! I love a good pennant/bunting and the miniature on a card. Dar-ling. Ps...someones BIRTHDAY is coming up!!!! 2 word to guess: Peanut and Love.

Anyways.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!

I have had a glorious day eating brunch, dying Easter eggs and buying Easter candy to take over in an "Easter Bag" for Ben (since I felt like that is something my mom would do- it oddly felt needed). Ben cooked up a delish brunch of french toast, and quiche. I brought fresh fruit and champagne for some classy Easter mimosas. After we polished off brunch sitting on his rooftop deck we dyed some fabulous Easter eggs, which has always been a favorite holiday past time of mine growing up.

Ben and I have celebrated many a Easter's together ( a specific memory of Sun Valley, an Easter egg hunt and getting our picture taken with the Easter bunny when were much too old for such things jumps instantly into my head).

The eggs turned out fabulously. And I was especially excited to see two of the eggs turn out in a very Barbie-appropriate pink shade! The photos hardly do those ones justice because they were the color of Barbie's corvette and pink motorcycle...A-mazing. Tonight I am enjoying an Easter dinner complete with Stawberry Shortcake!

In the spirit of Easter I have to say a few words about my faith and what it has meant to me over the past year:

I had no idea that I could ever have gotten to this point in my life on my own. And by on my own I mean without my family, without my girlfriends/sisters being in the room next door to rub my back and watch Friends marathons with, and being unfamiliar with my surroundings. And I will be the first to admit that my faith and my conscious effort to explore that faith have been put on the back burner in comparison to other aspects of my life. But I do look back and see in all those dark times, where I was unsure if I would come out on the other side alive and functioning, I was there silently praying and relying on my faith to guide me and provide the support when I felt completely unsure of what I am doing. And I must say that my decisions have turned out well...and I have ended up in a fabulous point in my life where I know I am doing ok and learning and growing each day. Today was a prime example that the Lord provides, and even when you are not actively seeking Him, He doesn't forget you. I have been provided with such wonderful friends and I know that there are people watching out for me, which is one of the most comforting things in the world.

Monday? Again? Didn't we do this last week?

I am writing this this in anticipation of tomorrow. It is our annual staff retreat, which last year was this new exciting first-time-work-experience thing, this year I am really just kind of not excited about the day. I definitely didn't get enough weekend this time around. I am feeling just tired in general these last few days (ok maybe most of this last week). Must be that high-strung stress level creeping up on me.

I did a lot of work for the speaker that is presenting tomorrow and I am nervous that I feel that people are going to bitch and complain about it to no end. I put a lot of effort into organizing, researching and working with our presenter and I just hope people don't talk about what a waste of time it was, or that it wasn't relevant. So please keep your fingers crossed for me. I am really trying to step outside my role at work and make some sort of contributions that people notice and are different from my day-to-day maintenance.

I am excited that a large group of people from the office are going to go get dinner at Founding Farmers (one of my top places to eat) after the day. Hopefully I won't be in an awful mood and I can in a way celebrate the organizing of my first big training session.

A couple points to ponder:

1) This little thing I have in my room. I had originally used these canisters in my old kitchen to hold flour, sugar, and powdered sugar and I would love to use these again when I have a bigger kitchen that is all mine in the future, but for now they hold candles and this bundle of wheat that I had originally purchased as decor for my Thanksgiving Feast that ultimately didn't happen as planned thanks to the roaches. Anyways, the bunch has always looked awkward to me, it needs some help. Any ideas?

2) I am dried out like no other from this winter weather. I lather lotion and lipbalm on and to no avail. Anyone have any magic winterization tips to keep me from getting all sand-papery

3) I need people's favorite quotes about love/friendship/romance etc. for a project I am working on. Post 'em! It would be greatly appreciated!!

4) SM I am so proud of you tonight, AND I can only hope that I will muster as much courage as you!!

Well an early morning for me and I am exhausted! Wish me luck tomorrow people!!

Mother's Day Craftyness

Trying to be resourceful and find a gift that was meaningful and not expensive I got to idea to make my mom a mini scrapbook highlighting her trip to DC with her friend Victoria to visit myself and Ben. I first bought a mini accordion book making kit from papersource (Love!) some beautiful spring time paper, ribbon, and then printed out mini pictures from her trip at Target. I also stumbled upon some beautiful sparkle letters to add into my creation. Below is my final product

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the book folded up. The paper really is beautiful and the book was really fun to make!