Pinned It, Made It

I know, it's been forever. Forgive me, I had a baby and very little time for pinning and blogging since the end of June!

But I HAD to report on this one. Two of my girlfriends (R & A) and I decided to occasionally get together, pick one thing we each pinned to do (I have a "Do This" board on Pinterest that's full of these hypothetical projects), and actually do it. I've made recipes I've pinned for sure, but I keep storing away great little DIY ideas and not actually following through, so here was a self-imposed call-to-task, made easier by the allure of good company and companion craftiness.

Here's my first project:

Was a blue-glass Ball mason jar, is now a lovely hand soap dispenser in my kitchen! Woot! (my pin; original link here)

Have you made anything you've pinned yet? Or have you pinned something you're definitely going to make?

What should my next project be...?

Who Wants to Make Me Some Pillows?

Or, fine, I'll just order some. But here's where this all started...

I'm in love with so much of Jonathan Adler's designs, it's borderline frightening. I've never indulged, but I want so many of his pieces so much that when I see them my tummy hurts. Recently I walked by the JA Chicago store, and saw these lovelies in the window display:

Logically, I fell in love. (see what happened there? like that "falling in love" play on words? it's clever, but also true.) I want to add them to our daybed, which doubles as a comfy lounging couch, in our multipurpose second bedroom. Alas, I just cannot justify a splurge on these, as much as I love them. So I need another solution. My sister in-law suggested scouring Etsy. Here are a few possibilities:

(here)

(here, also available in capital letters, as seen here)

Where else should I look? Or is anyone reading this crafty enough to create some magic for me? Or should I just splurge? No, I daren't! Dare I?

Love

Just popping in for a quick visit because I hate being so MIA over here. Things are still very topsy turvy in our world, but I think a little distraction de blog couldn't hurt a bit. Anyway... in light of this and other happenings, I've been thinking a lot about love lately. And with Valentine's Day approaching, it's hard not to think about it as it's everywhere commercially.

I've never been a celebrator of Valentine's Day in my romantic world. When Dave and I first started dating we were very poor grad students, and agreed then that we'd never buy into it, especially since we love each other every day, and tell each other multiple times a day. But with friends, I've always really liked the little love notes that St. Valentine inspires. My grandma and I used to always send each other cards on February 14. And I loved writing Valentines for my classmates, and decorating shoe boxes to collect Valentines on my desk in grade school.

Here are some simple and pretty little love tokens to share with friend loves (or romantic loves, if you do that!) in my style - I like to keep it to cards and homemades, myself...

(for just $4, this lovely postcard print from one of my favorites, Little Brown Pen, would make a sweet Valentine's card, or you could frame it and give it as a gift. There's also a beautiful 16X20 print of this graffiti art for purchase!)

(made on recycled paper and with veggie-based inks, cards like this one, by Sweet William on Etsy, are pretty special)

(I've shown love for Sparrow's Nest Script before, and my love of cards and stationery is no secret, but how sweet is this number?! Emily of SNS has some other purty Valentine's Day cards over in her Etsy shop.)

(friendship bracelets came back in this last year... they're fun and easy to make, and sweet and nostalgic to boot! what about a Valentine's Day-color-themed bracelet? nothing says love quite like homemade...)

(or another bracelet idea, the knot bracelet *symbolizing everlasting unity*, with instructions courtesy of the oh-so-crafty-and-creative Martha Stewart)

 (doodle/paint/draw your own card or image, and, as seen here-courtesy of the blog decor8-and use it as a card or ornamentation for wrapping a meaningful book or print you've found for your friend/love. )

(you might remember this photo from this post last summer... it's totally in the spirit of this post, too. plus, I love the idea of using a photo of you and a friend (or lover) as your Valentine... write an inscription on the back, or print with a border so you can etch something below or around the image, and mail it as a card, or pop it in a frame to say I love you in art.)

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Do you go traditional gifts, or get crafty and creative with your Love Day tributes? What's your best Valentine's Day gift - given or received?

Thanks for the love...

Making Things

I know my posts have been a bit scattered lately, and inconsistent. My apologies. Feeling a bit all over the place and just trying to get my feet back to firmly set on the ground. To that end, I am committing to some creative productivity. I need to indulge my creative side, as well as my need to grasp onto some semblance of control and accomplishment. So, in addition to a chandelier makeover I've been imagining in my home, I'm also going to take on two small, and easily completable DIY creative jobs.

1. Mason Jar Soap Dispenser
I saw this on Pinterest recently and totally loved it, and therefore pinned it onto my "Do This" board. There's a great little shop of vintage homey goods and random salvaged bits nearby where we live. It's called Roost. One of their big ever-growing collections is original blue-glass Ball jars, so I decided I had to give this a try. I went over a couple weekends ago and scoured the collection for a good one with a top in good shape. If I succeed, it'll go in our second/guest/public bathroom and I'll go back and get another one and make one for the kitchen. Tutorial from Blissfully Content:

2. Earring-to-Necklace
Don't you hate when you lose one earring without realizing it? Just out and about during your day? Or one breaks and then who knows what to do with the other? This has happened to me too many times to count, and sadly, it's almost always a pair that carries some meaning that gets separated. Last week I was running out to grab a bite at lunch and saw this guy on the ground. I picked it up and tucked it away and I am thinking of getting a cool chain and making a necklace out of i. The front is interesting - not stunning at all, but interesting:

I actually like the back-side better, though:

So I'm thinking about doing something over the "front" to make it white all over, and then featuring the current "back" as the charm in my make-over piece. Hopefully whoever has this guy's partner isn't too sad over her missing bauble... I'll put it to good use, or at least try to.

Any creative projects on your agenda?

Random Updates

I know you've been dying to know if I bought those sunglasses and if I figured out what to do about the friendship bracelet trend while my wrist heals and before it's taken over the world again and I'm not ahead of the curve but behind it! Good news: I have updates on both. (let that breath out!)

I did buy those sunglasses this week, after I got a few virtual kicks in the pants regarding their cost (you'll recall they were just $10). However, they didn't work. Adorable they were, but too wide for my head they were, too. Sigh. Big one. I was very disappointed. So I went back to Nordstrom today to return them, and instead found another great replacement! Whee! Check out my rad cheap shades:

(they kind of make me feel a little Max Headroom-y)

(ooh la la!)

(i'm hot 'cause i'm fly.)

So that's solved.

And as for friendship bracelets, I have succeeded in jumping on that trend/mindless diversion/trip-down-memory-lane train in spite of my silly injury! And not only do I remember how to make friendship bracelets, but I remember how to make the fun fancy ones! AND they're the greatest fun in the world!

(this is the early stages of my first attempt from earlier this week)

While playing with these this week, I recalled that at age 12 or so, I made myself a board to make my bracelets on. It helps to keep your strings in order, keeps your bracelet taught while you're making it, and gives you easy storage if you need to pause mid-bracelet so your strings don't get tangled:

Just take any good sized piece of thin cardboard (I recall I used to cut mine out of shoe boxes), and using scissors, make a short cut in the middle of the board at the top. Hook your knot at the top of your bracelet through the cut, and secure with scotch tape behind the board. Make similar short cuts along the bottom of the board, evenly spaced, for the number of threads in your bracelet. Easy, right?! Seriously, it's way better than your big toe, I promise.

Everyone can expect a bracelet soon. This is a perfect replacement for my excessive TV schedule that's now on summer vacation.

(Aren't you so glad to hear how I've solved these two major issues?)

Friendship Bracelets

My friend A tells me (via shares on Google Reader) that friendship bracelets are back! If that's true, then I'm on board for two reasons: 1) FUN! 2) I have that "skill"/"talent"!

(via Rikshaw Design)

Last year I was determined to get back on board with embroidery, and while I still would like to do that, I haven't made much progress. I do, however, have a JoAnn's Fabrics bag full of unused embroidery thread, so I might as well do something with it, right?!

I'm going to try to revisit my summer camp youth this weekend and fancy-up some friendship bracelet-making.

I do have an actual embroidery project in mind, though, but that one's top secret. So for now, updated friendship bracelets it is!