Onesie, Twosie, Redsie, Bluesie

I'm that person who doesn't really love to shop from a registry. Yes, I know you chose the exact items you really want and combined them in a neat, easy to find list for me. Yes, I appreciate the ease of you already having your address online so I can click one button and be done. Yes, I made several of those same lists for my own wedding. But you know what? Not personal enough.

So here's my usual: One or two items from the registry, one item of my own doing.

This time around, I have a baby shower to attend. Purchased from the registry: Some seriously adorable hooded bath towels and the requested brands of lotions and potions. My touch: Some hand-painted onesies. Who doesn't need more onesies?

I'm no fine artist, so I embraced the "hand-made" emphasis and went for cute rather than perfect. The kitchen table was covered with a towel, some Martha Stewart all-surface craft paint (leftover from this project) and a small craft brush dug out, and each onesie stuffed with a folded paper towel to grab any paint leakage, and away I went.

The whole shebang took me about an hour and a half, mostly because I would pause with my brush in midair to catch some NFL playoff action (go 'Hawks!). Depending on design, you could knock this out in even less time.

I let the little guys dry for a full 24 hours before washing on gentle cycle and drying as normal. Now the paint is set, the onesies are clean, and all that's left is getting that little man out of his mama and into his new fashions!

Just can't wait to meet him.

Remembering 2014

Nope, that title isn't a typo.

Do you remember what happened in March of 2013? How about February? May? If you can't pinpoint any memories like that, this project may be for you.

In my childhood, I was a voracious journal-er (journalist? journalizer? anyway...). As the years passed, I became less and less regular about it, only keeping a journal during especially important or focused times, such as my semester abroad in college. And you know what? I can't even count the number of times I've gone back to that notebook to relive some of those traveling memories. So why not start it up again?
2014: The year of the journal. And since it's your memories, let's personalize it, shall we?

This entire project cost me under $5 for the notebook and the washi tape.

The paper cutter pictured above certainly is not a must-have. It's a scrabooking tool I've had for years and would highly recommend to anyone who does anything with paper, but scissors will do just as well for this project. A straight edge like a ruler would be helpful too if you're going the scissor-only route. The tape squares could be easily replaced with a standard glue stick or other glue medium appropriate for paper - Use what you've got!

First step? I covered the front and back of the notebook with plain colored paper. I wanted the binding of the composition book to remain flexible, so opted not to adhere anything to the black spine. A few double-stick tape squares and the paper was stuck. A quick trim around the edges with my scissors and the paper was perfectly sized to fit my covers.

Trim all paper and photos into triangles. Perfection is NOT a must!

Play with the loose triangles until you like the layout.

Now it's time for tape. My washi tape* was wide (about masking tape width), and since I wanted to include more images, I decided to make it a little smaller. All it took was a slice down the middle and I had thin strips perfect for my creation. Then it's just a matter of taping down the edges of every triangle.

I taped all the triangles, then ran one single strip down the middle and along the binding edge to cover all the torn tape ends and make my journal look a little more 'finished'. Then I used the full width of the tape to go around each outer edge of my journal, wrapping the excess around the cover's edge and adhering it to the inside of the cover (see below).

The finished front and back covers are seen above and below. For good measure, I gave mine a spray of clear coat meant for paper maché (not pictured, but grab it here or at your local paint supply store.   You could also brush on ModPodge instead if you don't want to mess with a spray paint.) The clear coat spray only takes a few hours to dry and off-gass, and voila! A moisture-safe, handmade journal, personalized just for you.

What an easy gift for next holiday too, right? The one pictured here I created for my Oregon-dwelling uncle who loves to write, and all images were found by typing things like "Oregon wilderness" or "Oregon scenery" into Google images. 

Under an hour of time and under $5... Can't beat it! I'd love to see what you create if you try - Post a link to your work in the comments!

*My washi tape is Scotch brand, found at Target. Search "washi tape" on Amazon or Etsy.com for THOUSANDS of options.

--> Get a paper cutter similar to my ancient one here.

Last but not least, my triangle design inspiration is via the amazing and creative sisters behind A Beautiful Mess. Check 'em out!

'Tis The Gifty Season

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That pretty much kicks off this post in the right way.

Do you shop online for the holiday season? I do - Pretty much all of my gifts end up arriving at my door (I get to open 'em first, fun!): No crowds, no hassle, and I can get it done whenever I think of doing it with no parking lot spot stalking.

Thought I'd share a couple of my favorite online resources (no perks, I just love 'em) in case you're still on the hunt for a perfect gift. Click on any company name listed to be taken right to the site!

Mom/in-law, Sister, Friend, Any-Woman-In-Your-Life-Of-Any-Age:

Laura Bee Designs

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Jewelry Galore: Both fashion or made with a special custom photo.
Ready-Made Handbags: From wallets to work totes, each is one-of-a-kind.
Custom Handbags: Grab a gift certificate and gift that special lady with a real treat. She chooses the shape/size she likes, then gets to pick everything that goes into it, from colors to pockets to lining!

The Fashion Hound:

Jeweliq

 For $25 or less (for real.), you can get any number of on-trend necklaces, earrings, or bangles. So affordable  you may accidentally play elf for yourself while you're at it (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...).

Group of Gal Pals:

Sephora

This place puts out a ton of gift packages, chock full of a variety of whatever the product is. Buy one and break them up into individual gifts - Everyone gets the same gift, but still personalized by you choosing who gets what. Paired with a little chocolate, this is pretty much my perfect co-worker gift.

The Ever-Hard-To-Buy-For Guy:

Café Press

 From t-shirts to beer glasses, anything can be personalized on this site. Bazillions (yes.) of designs already exist, or if you're techie, you can upload your own creation. Search a keyword (Harmonica! Puggle! Bacon!) and be amazed by the options.

The Can't-Be-Pleased:

Amazon/Zappos/Target gift card

Because these guys have everything, that's why. Not to mention Zappos has a 365 day return policy, so your tough cookie can get their mind-changing money's worth.

Hope this helps - Happy shopping, little elves!

Deck The Walls

Christmas in August? Kinda. Especially since the last time I mentioned this project was back in December...

Remember the rope-wrapped letters I made as Christmas gifts (tutorial here)? Well it was finally time to treat myself and take care of some blank wall space.

And another blast from the past: The metal horseshoe 'wreath' I bought aaaaages ago (literally a whole year) also finally found a home in the family room.

For the record: The wall color is not this weird in real life.

Love having these pieces in our most-used room so we can see and enjoy 'em often.

A little room context.

The art above the 'J' is by an insanely talented friend of mine, Caitlin Hansen. See more of her work here. 

Make It: Gorman-Inspired Print Hoodie

There's little I love more in my wardrobe than a good hoodie. Zip-up or pullover, lightweight or thick, they all have a use and a place in my heart. So when I saw an amazing triangle-print crew neck floating around Pinterest recently by the Australian brand Gorman, I drooled, I ogled, and I found out it was not only no longer made, but about $150 originally anyway.

Nope.

But it got my wheels turning, and inspiration struck: Sponges. One shopping trip later (Target and Michael's), and I was home with everything I needed.

I played around with paper first, figuring out how large I wanted my triangles to be, then simply traced the pattern onto a sponge, and sliced with a ruler and an X-acto knife. Stamps: Created.

Queued up the Project Runway and Fashion Police on dvr, stuffed my hoodie with an old torn apart shoebox, and away I went.

painter's palette = plate covered w/foil

Slip cardboard inside to protect from paint seepage!

Due to dry time (about an hour+), I ended up finishing the next day in a few spurts: Each side, then the back. My protective cardboard inserts collected any paint seepage, and those were dry by that time too so I could re-use them as I flipped the shirt around from section to section.

Just when I thought I was ready to show off my creation to the world, I realized just how ugly the inside of that hood looked from the paint seeping through. Ack! But easily fixed: A scrap of soft gray waffle knit in my remnant pile was pinned in place, and a couple runs of the sewing machine* was all it took to be problem solved.

The finished product was official:

The Gorman version is oh-so-much chicer and more beautiful in every way (which is as it should be for the price), but I'm pretty stoked with my results. A cozy hoodie that I can throw on and look like I tried - at least a little bit - is what I was going for, and I think I got exactly that. DIY success!

Cost breakdown:
Hoodie: Target men's department, on sale, $8.49 (orginally $12)
Paints: Michael's, $1.99 each ($8 total)
Sponges: Target, pack of 4 for $1.75-ish (and I only used one)
Total Cost: About $18



*I'm happy to break down this hood lining process further if anyone's ever interested. I developed it myself, and it's quite easy and can really change the look of a basic hoodie. I've done it a lot - No pattern-making skills required! Let me know.

Just Brew It 2 - Bottling

 First things first: Happy Birthday Dad!!

I talked about our adventure in brewing our own beer for Nate's 30th a few weeks back, and this weekend was our allotted time to come back and bottle our concoction. Armed with a smaller group (just 4 of us this time around), we came, we assembly-lined, we conquered.

Bottle sanitizer (even though they're new it's still required)

Loaded up and ready to get squeaky clean!

Picking out the cap color - 1 for each of our 2 brews.

Nate filling, Roger "quality control", Adam capping, yours truly boxing.

Go team!

I, of course, made friends with Winston, the giant shop dog.

Packed up and ready to enjoy!

 ...Thank goodness for a cold garage.

But it will be fun to share with friends and family in the coming months. And yep, Nate's already saving the bottles we purchased this time around for the next brew-your-own excursion. I guess that means it was a birthday hit!

Just Brew It

How do you properly ring in your 30th year of life? By brewing your own beer, of course! We grabbed a gang of friends and reserved a kettle at a local brew-your-own place, and it was such a good time. Really. I don't even like beer and it was fun. Check out the process:

First the Birthday Boy got to choose a recipe from the archives. He landed on a Belgian White Bier, which brings in the flavors of orange and coriander (think Blue Moon if you're a brew-lover). And away we went!

Glucose. Not so appetizing, but necessary.

All kinds of dry flavor ingredients - Others were refrigerated or liquid, like the glucose above.

Measuring and then grinding the grains.

Our friend Adam with one of two drawn ingredient pitchers.

In go the coriander and orange in a separate mesh bag.

Dry ingredients added at specific times.

Once the kettle hit it's alotted time, the pros did something with all these...

...and then the whole shebang went in a keg to ferment. Yum..?

The whole process took 2 hours start to finish, and we go back to bottle and tote it home in two weeks time. There was a pleasant amount of time between each batch of ingredients being dropped into the kettle, allowing our group to chat, taste the brews on tap (including an amazing root beer for me!), and just generally enjoy eachother's company.

And even though I won't be partaking in the results, it was pretty fascinating to see all the ingredients in their various forms knowing what the end result would be. The place we went also offers wine and hard cider brewing, and we had so much fun the chances are good we'll be back! Highly recommend finding something similar in your own neck of the woods next time you want a new, fun experience for you and your pals.


Jump ahead to two weeks later and check out the bottling process here.