Random Round Up: Puggle Patrol

Warning: This post contains copious amounts of self-indulgent "my-dog-is-so-cute-ness".

Because he is. So there.

New rug is HERE! More on that later.

'watching' Nate's soccer game

new fave perch

Okay, it's not all puppy. Did some sewing!

I'm never happier then when this logo is everywhere!!

Quick Craft: Chevron Bobby Pin Necklace

In my last post I mentioned making Emily a chevron bobby pin necklace for one of her birthday gifts. It's gotten more attention than I anticipated, so thought I'd throw up some instructions on how to make your own if you're so inclined.

Needs:
Spray paint
Nail polish (I used 3 colors: Black, Olive, and Gold)
Chain
3 Jump Rings
1 Lobster Clasp
1 Eye Pin or Piece of Thin Wire
Painter's Tape
Jewelry Pliers (or other small, round-nosed pliers)

Ready?

I used these eye pins, but you could easily use wire and form your own loop at the top.

 Create one side of your triangle for your bobbies to hang on by bending an angle into your eye pin or wire. String on bobby pins (I used 8 in this example), making sure the flat back side is facing forward. The flat side is a much better medium for painting your chevron stripes.
Once your bobbies are on their hanger, bend the other side of your wire upwards, creating a triangle (or in my case, a rounded-triangle-like) shape. Fix the two ends of the wire together. This is what your jump ring will attach to, allowing your chain to be strung through it and your necklace to face forward.

I tipped the bobbies in black, just to make them look more uniform.

Add a jump ring to each side of your chain, adding the lobster clasp to one side.

The longest part is waiting for the spray paint base to dry, which you could probably skip if you left the bobbies their natural brown color, using lighter and brighter tones of nail polish so the stripes still stand out.
Tada! Enjoy your new jewelry!

3[0] Cheers!

I've been dying to share what's been being whipped up behind the crafty scenes of late, but had to keep it under wraps as it's all been in preparation for my besty Emily's 30th birthday celebration!

It all went down this weekend in Oregon, and after some prep work and a 4-ish hour drive, the Day-O-Celebration went off without a hitch. Check it out:

Em's friend Allison created a beautiful invite for a fun-packed day.

I was asked to create a ready-to-fill Emily-themed scrapbook. With pleasure!

Page Layout Fun

Tucker "helping" create the scrapbook.

Em starts the wine making process with sanitizing and pouring in the juice.

Party planner Allison stirs as Em's parents look on.

Kendra and Debbie & John watch the specific gravity being measured.

Em sprinkles in the yeast before the container gets sealed.

I made Em a Wire Heart Bracelet ~ tutorial here

I also made these bobby pin chevron necklaces (one for me, one for Em).

 

 

 

 

Similar tutorial here.

So three (times ten) cheers for the birthday girl - She's the best and deserved all the most wonderful things on her special day. Thanks for being you, Em - Happy Birthday!!

Rug Redux

First the bad news, then the good.

Bad news: The rug I ordered and was on tenterhooks waiting for to be shipped in mid-August from Urban Outfitters... Cancelled! So, so sad. I'd been creating little vignettes for the family room in my head knowing it was coming, and even Nate had brought up looking forward to it's arrival. SIGH. I actually talked about my excitement in placing the order here.

Good news: After looking through literally hundreds of rugs online, plus visiting some in person at places like HomeGoods (one just opened nearby, eep!), Target, and Ikea... We've found one!!! Who knew it was so hard to find an interesting-but-not-crazy, colorful-but-not-floral, sedate-but-not-grandma rug... for under $200.

Okay, well, seeing that list of criteria listed does make it look a bit more like the challenge it's been.

But without further adieu:

Thank you Overstock.com! Quite the thorough selection they have (uh, 131 web pages of 5'x8' rugs alone), and even though their shipping on everything is only $2.95 every day, this purchase qualified for free shipping to top it off. Still a pretty hefty investment in my mind, but the reviews are great and it should last pretty much forever with good care since it's hand-tufted wool.

This rug is ultimately a much more logical option as it has a non-white base color, and with it's destination being the most used room in the house plus the dog roaring around, I think we really have a winner.

Now, just keep your fingers crossed that this order comes through!

Random Round-Up: Summer Breeze

... Makes me feel fine...! The season is finally starting to show up around here, and I have a couple snap shots to prove it:

Hydrangeas in the Kitchen

Nate cooling off post-run

It's a dog's life

Morning sun peeking through the blinds

Roses from the garden

New discovery: Tree in the backyard bears plums!

Quick Craft: Tee-to-Tank

I found a super fast, no-sew project while surfing Pinterest a week or so ago, and after finding myself a too-big t-shirt in a drawer, I decided to grab my scissors and go.

All you need for this project - truly - is a tee and a pair of scissors. If you'd like to see the original tutorial in a step-by-step format, click here and make your own version!

Here's mine:

The entire process took about 15 minutes, but will be faster now that I know what and where I'm cutting. I think I may go back and make the neck a bit deeper, but the too-big-tee is now much more flattering, and look how cute this style is thrown over a sports bra:

image

The Wall

Sorry, Pink Floyd, but not yours. I'm talking a wall of bushy leafy-ness taking over one corner of our back yard.

I've been putting it off, not being able to make heads or tails of how many plants were actually there, what could be cut back, and what it would even look like once those things were done.

Plus I was pretty sure there were spiders in there with evil lurking in their hearts.

It's still not completely finished, but some major headway was made, a few hidden azaleas found (three, to be precise), and - with Nate's help shuttling armloads to and fro - another completely full yard waste bin.

Please excuse the terrible too-bright lighting, but:

 Bet you didn't even know there was a tree behind that giant bush on the left, eh? And a fence? That rampart of leafy intimidation (center right in the first picture) turned out to be a kind of tree, which I'm much more excited about than another hedge-y something or other. The now-hedge-y bush on the left is the Wedding Veil - aka Spirea - I talked about before, which was taken down to about half it's original size, exposing the tree and pretty variegated... something... behind it.

There were other pictures, but believe it or not, the two above were by far the best. Another couple'a hours of hard work and some decent results. I never thought I'd say it, but yard work is pretty rewarding stuff.

And hopefully I took a couple spiders out of commission with the HedgeHog. Just saying.

Random Round-Up: Pretty Things

A mix of pretty tidbits for this week's round-up. Enjoy!

4th of July Feast: Copper River Salmon tacos

Rainier Cherries

Nate had a soccer game at Strawberry Fields park... Gorgeous

Tucker exploring Strawberry Fields at sunset

New super fun ear cuff from asos.com

new addition to the backyard!

Finally over 80 degrees = Kiddie pool on the deck

Hedge Hogs

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July! We decided to take advantage of a truly gorgeous day and get some yard work taken care of. Seriously, this whole untouched-for-years thing is really taking some dedication to get under control.

Enter: The HedgeHog (no really, it even says it on the blade.)

Borrowed from Nate's parents, I for some reason thought it would be the best idea for the power tool wrangling duties to fall to me, and Nate could tackle the massive tear-up of a creeping pile of vines around our flowering cherry in the front yard.

Idiot.

No, I really did enjoy seeing the results I created, and finessing it all became really fun once I got the hang of things. However, two and a half hours of finagling and I feel today like I've been run over by something much, much larger than a hedgehog.

But. Major results!! Check it out:

Aside from the hedge itself, I also went after an enormously overgrown azalea (you can see it on the right in the photo above). It's blooming cycle is done, so it was the perfect time to have at it.

See Nate photo bombing in the window on the right?

It kind of cracks me up how much the sunlight has shifted from the before to the after - Proves how long we were out there I guess! And while I was busy reclaiming the front walkway and cleaning up some small hedges in other beds, Nate tackled this crazy vine situation:

 So gung-ho was Nate on getting down to his destructive business that I didn't quite get a chance to snap a true 'before' shot, but you get the idea there in the 'Mid-Rip' visual. I had to point out my center-bed hedge shaping action too, I guess just to prove I earned the full body soreness I have today.

We had plans to do the (larger and even more overgrown) backyard yesterday too, but our bodies and our stuffed-to-overflowing yard waste bin had other plans. So hopefully our muscles are recovered by the weekend, because that's what's on the docket. 

Oh and of course, it just wouldn't be our house if we didn't unearth something random. Nate found the large rock under the vines in the picture above, and along with that we found....

 Three non-functional solar lights and a hockey puck. Excitement, eh??


Now. Where's the ibuprofen...