on some recent projects...

Lately posts have been a little scarce around here. Well, I've been busy alright! Last weekend we threw my mother in law a surprise 50th birthday bash. My sister in laws and I were planning this secret for two and a half weeks and through out that time my anxiety was spiking! I get like that when planning events. I'm really great at party planning or planning anything for that matter but I do tend to stress out a wee bit. Anyways, I was off doing all sorts of things and actually I handmade the invites for this shindig!

I handmade 25 of these bad boys and I was pretty happy how they turned out. The party was a nice size too and the best part about the all of it was that we had the party right in her own house! HA. If you don't think that is talent then I don't know what is...and she had no idea what so ever. You should of seen her face :) It was a success and I was so happy be a part of it. 


Another project, as slow as it is going, is my chevron afghan that I've been crocheting. With planning the party I put this project on the back burner and so now I'm hoping to nip this thing in the butt and go all crazy. 

This is what I've got so far. I will show you the finished product in about a year. Just kidding. I really love the colors! Don't you?! What sort of crafty things are you working on? Get out there and make something. 

♥A.

on a DIY project...

I've been meaning to do this little project for quite some time. I seriously could use chalkboard paint on everything! Eventually would love to add a wall of it in my future bedroom. Yes, I have my future bedroom all mapped out. Don't judge me. A girl can dream.First you need the following things...

Flour/sugar jar (I got these simple glass jars at Ikea), a sharpie, small paintbrush, stencil, & Rust-oleum Chalk Board paint (find it at AC MOORES). Now I've tried many chalk board paints & spray paints and this one tops all of them. I highly recommend using it for any propose.  

For your stencil you can use anything your heart desires. I happened to find this cute little design via the world wide web somewhere. And yes, that is my Christmas tree still up. Some of us seem to never find time to drag the dang thing out the door. It might still be up for Valentines Day. Yikes..Anyways, once you have your stencil take the sharpie and simply stencil the design onto the jar. You will be covering the sharpie with the paint so it really doesn't matter that it's permanent. 
Next go ahead and mix up your paint. I just used a piece of heavy duty cardboard that I cut into a imagination paint stirrer. Hey, it worked!! Then dip your paint brush into the paint, however, make sure you drip off excess because you don't want to brush on too much paint. Your first coat will look like this:

It will be thin and streaky but don't fret because two more coats will be needed. With it being glass it takes sometime to get it just right. Too much paint and it will drip down the jar. Avoid that at all costs, it will not look pretty. 

Three coasts worked out for me. Use your judgement you might need more. The drying process is pretty quick for this paint. I was able to do three coats in one night and let it sit over night until I wrote on it. The result turned out awesome:

It's something fun to add to the kitchen. I love little do-it-your-own projects that just give things a splash of character! Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did :) Have fun!

♥A.

on pot-pourri...

During the Holidays I love candles! All the warm delicious scents that make your house all cozy. This past weekend I killed my last pumpkin spice candle. Ahhh tragedy strikes again. Here is a little trick to make lovely, and what I like to call, pot-pourri. It's easy and most of the ingredients are right in your kitchen! First you will need some orange peels, cinnamon, cloves & a pot of water.

All you do is peel some oranges (I used about four in my medium sized pot) and then add the rest of the ingredients into the pot of water. For my medium pot I used about 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, now if you have cinnamon sticks they would work even better (just didn't have any handy this time) and about a bunch of cloves. Toss everything in the pot, give it a stir & boil. Once the water starts to boil is when you will notice the fragrance of all the ingredients taking over your house. After it comes to a boil just turn the burner down to a simmer and let all this simmer for as long as you like. Ta-Da!
I did this yesterday before I started on my to-do list of cleaning and organizing and I will not lie to you it gave me an extra skip in my step as I was bustling around the place doing this & that. You can even get creative with it. I know I'll be picking up some cinnamon sticks and even some vanilla sticks to add in there. The best part is when your through just leave everything in the pot and use for another day. I like to do all this in a pot that I know I won't be using in the next couple days. A word of caution though, always make sure there is plenty of water in the pot because eventually water does evaporate and then you'll have burn crisp orange peels :)
It's a wonderful way to greet guest when you have your holiday parties this season :) Thanksgiving is only 15 days away!!

♥A.

on a romper to shirt...

My sister in law Brittany came to me with a floral romper that she had bought at Target that ended up fitting but was just a little too short for her taste. She handed it to me and asked if I could transform it into a shirt. And so I gave it a try. I'm happy to say that it was a great success! 

There's my lovely stitching :) 

In love with my Singer!

I think for my next project I'm going to make some pillows for our couch.

♥A.