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Monday, October 18, 2010

Latest etsy splurge


I bought these adorable vintage spice jars on etsy and they came today, I love that, coming home to a little suprise. I spent the evening cleaning my cute new jars, and making room for them in my kitchen! What is the last thing you bought on etsy?

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Moving day crafts

Yes, you read that title right, and no, I'm not getting crafty with my boxes. I'm putting away all of my stuff in my new place (yay!) and I am so not one for having things that don't go well together, I am also not a fan of things that look sloppy or unfinished. That said, I had to take some time out from cleaning and unpacking to make sure everything looked like it belonged in it's new space.
The major focus for this activity were my magazine holders, which are now at home in my studio. I have had these particular plastic magazine crates since high school, which means numerous labels have been applied and removed, so the fronts are just a bit gross. I took care of that by covering them up entirely with their new labels (which took a whole 15 minutes to put together.


These labels couldn't be easier to make. I measured the front of the magazine holder and cut a rectangle that size from my bright green polka dot paper. The rectangles got inked with a black stamp pad, then I added the purple strips on top. Finally I used my oh-so-wonderful Martha Stewart Crafts scalloped circle punch to cut circles from white card stock, my favorite black Sharpie Pen to write the name of the magazine on the circle, and finally, I inked the edges of the circles. Oh, and then I added a leaf stamp on top for a little extra decoration. Super simple!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Seasonal decorating

Some people go all out over decorating for different holidays and seasons, me, I'm a Christmas decorator, but the rest of those holidays, not so much. Now don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that I don't change things up as the seasons change, I think it's natural for us to want to make changed to make our homes more comfortable for the changing seasons, I just like everything to flow well all of the time.

For example, for fall I add a few gourds and pumpkins, in the same baskets that I have out all year long, and I might switch out floral arrangements to include dried wheat, but I'm not one to go over the top with garlands and banners and little witch figurines or fake scarecrows. Personally I think that pulling out the cozy blankets to lay over the edge of the couch says "hello chilly weather" just subtly enough, I really don't need fake leaves all over the place... Sorry, just my own personal rant, tell me how you feel about holiday decorations!

Organized chaos

I have discovered a new way of organizing my thoughts: my journal. To some people this would seem obvious, but I've never been much of a journal writing girl, my calendars have always been my journals, I can look back at them and remember exactly what happened that day, but in the last year I have made my daily journal entries my "me time". I get to work 20 minutes early every morning and sit in the parking lot, in my car, completely alone with my coffee, and just write. With everything that has been going on in my crazy life (because really, who doesn't have a crazy life), my journal has become the perfect place for my to-do lists and reminders, and I always have my journal in my purse, so anything that I write down is always right there when I need it, plus I can add my random little thoughts, that I might not have room for in my calendar. Do you journal? How do you use your journal? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Awesome Saturday!

This has been such a wonderful day, I have been so productive! I'm not used to that at all. But seriously, I cranked out a ton of wedding stuff, I wish I could have more days like this, but its going to make my winter break so nice to have all of this stuff already taken care of. I finished organizing all of my centerpieces (finally - I only started working on that in August, but it is soooooo nice to not have vases all over my floor, maybe I can finally sweep now, ooooo and I wont cringe every time the dog runs in), started cutting out pieces for invitations and programs, finished all of my bridesmaid bouquets, and worked on my garland (which is no longer a giant tangle mess because I gave up on that one and threw the whole thing in the garbage, because really, sometimes that is the only option). Here are some pictures from my day


The last photo is the cover of my programs, I was inspired by papercrew, and of course mine aren't finished yet, because I don't have the inside pages ready, but I am so excited to put them together because there is absolutely no glue involved, when they're ready to go, I'll just run one edge through the sewing machine and voila!

I hope you had a wonderful day, I would love to hear what you accomplished!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Free day

I was planning on going to ikea with my sister tomorrow, now we're going on Sunday, so I have a free Saturday! I'm still trying to decide what to do with it, this doesn't happen very often. Right now my choices are: work on wedding stuff, work on Christmas gifts, or go shopping. I'm leaning towards wedding projects (I really want to finish my garlands and work on my guest book) but I think I'll see how I feel when I wake up. Enjoy your Saturday! I'll post pictures of whatever I end up doing.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sunday is soup day!

I love fall, and now that the weather is getting cooler I am ready to jump head first into all things warm and cozy. I have broken out the sweaters and coats, snuggled into all my cute boots, and stocked up on apple cider - because hot apple cider almost beats out the pumpkin spice latte. So it only seemed fitting to make up a huge vat of soup. I really wanted some white chicken chili, but seeing as we just finally finished the leftovers from the last time i made that I decided to try something new. Tonight was vegetable soup, I didn't love the recipe, I will have to start looking for another one, but it did inspire me to keep trying, I have officially declared Sunday "soup night" (although i'm going to have to remember to cut the recipes in half or else every other night of the week is gonna be "leftover soup night"). I'm already looking forward to next week - tortilla soup!