DIY Mug FAIL

It has been a while since I have given this side of my life some TLC. About a year in fact! And it takes an epic fail to bring me back to my good ol' DIY Blog. There is something about Christmas that brings out every crafter and diy'er! This year is no different. I had the perfect project for the perfect present that would be cheap and easy!

You see, Pat and I have a baby on the way... and he sprained his ankle... So now, there will be a few months straight with Short Term Disability pay... one from him and 2 from me. Yikes. This was not expected. But our shrinking financial situation is no reason to give up on the tradition of giving gifts! Our family is full of gift givers... good gift givers. I won't let them down.

Now my challenge, find something awesome, and not so expensive to give to my loving family and friends! After scouring Pinterest and all my favorite blogs for awesome DIY gifts, I came across the ever popular His + Her Sharpie Mug DIY on A Beautiful Mess, you have seen it I am sure. I read through all the comments and found that if I want to do this the right way, the dishwasher safe way, I need to get the Pebeo Marker. And so I did. I did a test run for Pat and myself... I only want to give quality gifts... I followed the directions verbatim, then washed them in the dishwasher.

This is what came out...

Exactly what went in. That was the goal, right? In theory, yes. But I wanted it to DARKER, less "Hand-Made" looking. As you can see, when I went over the marker several times, it acted as a dry erase marker...  just erasing what was there previously.

Now we are on to Plan B. Find a new plan. I have 15 days to figure out a better present and make them. Any suggestions? (Baking is not my strong suit).
 
Perhaps I need to invest in a sewing machine and I can sew things for Christmas. There is always next year, right?

Easy Christmas Ornament: Wedding Invitation

After strolling around one fine day on Pinterest I came across this project. Now, after all the wedding planning we did, and the stress of the invitation wording, I was excited to pull the extra invitations out and test this project out. (Lord knows I can't throw them away)
All you need is a clear Christmas Ornament, Scissors, and your extra wedding invitation.

 

Cut your invitation into strips, select the most important parts, ie names, date, time. If you have fun scissors, don't be afraid to use those too! I used that on the design portion for a little filler!

I also had some left over Baby's Breath from our centerpieces that I let dry, just for crafts like this, so I threw that in there as well!

Voila! Here is the finished product!


 

I am so looking forward to hanging this on our Christmas tree this year, our first year as a married couple and exactly 6 months into our marriage!

This can be adapted to anything you would like to remember on Christmas day, baby announcements, graduations, engagements, first homes, or heck, just put some ribbon in!

DIY Laundry Suds

My sister/assistant found this easy Laundry detergent on Yellow Brick Home, a SUPER awesome blog. We thought we would give it a go.

Ingredients:
1 Assistant
1 Cup of Borax
1 Cup of Arm & Hammer All Natural Super Washing Soda
1 Bar of Fels-Naptha Soap (Some use Dove or Ivory soap too)
1 Cute Jar to put it in

My assistant (pictured below) and I got all the ingredients at ACE Hardware. Crazy right? Apparently, this joint has everything you could ever want! I see stocking stuffer shopping there in my future.

First, line up all your ingredients, and put your assistant to work on grating the Bar of Soap

My assistant was bright enough to bring her antique cheese grater. I can't imagine grating this on the janky plastic grater I have. This took no time at all.

Measure your powdered ingredients

Mix well and put in your cute jar.

This maybe took us 30 minutes and only cost about $10 for all the ingredients. But there is enough Borax and Arm & Hammer for many more batches of this easy, at-home, laundry detergent.

It only takes about a tablespoon per laundry load.

Try it out and let me know how you like it!

For the love of Raisins

When I was young I was fortunate enough to have joint custody with my parents. I love both sets of parents, but in my youth I thought they were surely trying to torture me, as I am sure most children do. They would make me comb out my curly mop which would dread lock itself immediately after I put my clothes on. They would make me take baths and brush my teeth, They gave me a strict bed time and made me read instead of watch TV. It was a tough childhood I must tell you.

When I would spend my two weeks at my dad's he would take it a step further. He made me eat a sack lunch made with love instead of the "Hot Lunch" that all my friends got to eat. Man I longed for those toxic cherries and chicken fried steak covered in mystery gravy. But no, my parents insisted that a whole wheat (not white bread) PB&JR sandwich was the proper meal for me, along with a string cheese, carrots and a juice box, and 3 Chunky Chips Ahoy! if I was lucky. Now, you might be saying to yourself that I made a typo above. No... it really was a PB&JR.


PB&JR = Peanut Butter and Jelly Raisin Sandwich.

After years, and I really do mean years, of consuming this sandwich, I finally persueded my father to stop putting raisins in between the slices of wheat bread. I was a bright girl though, I knew my dad well. Sometimes he would "forget" that I didn't enjoy this "delicacy" so I checked my sandwich daily. He finally grew tired of my complaining and put nary a raisin in my lunch bag.

Until one day. It was an abnormally cloudy day in the 6th grade, and I should have know something was wrong in the universe. I sat on the orange bench at the bleach scented lunch table and munched on my PB&J, when all of the sudden there was a texture out of place. My father had place a single raisin in the middle of my sandwich. I raised my fist to the sky hollering "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo" for he had truly tricked this little girl. When he picked me up from school that day I let him have it. How could he dupe his little girl in such a cruel way?

If I had known then that this would be one of my favorite memories of my dad, well I wouldn't have changed a thing, but maybe I would have cherished those healthy lunches a little more.

Now my husband makes me my daily PB&Js. He is trying to perfect them to meet my picky standards, set by my father. PFunk also bought me little boxes of raisins for a little snack... so one day, just for old time's sake, I put one in my sammie and sent the pic to my dad.

My lunch isn't as healthy as it once was, but that is the joy of being an adult

Today I am very grateful for the way I was raised, even if I thought it was torture at the time.

Put a cork in it!

What do you do when you were born and raised by winos, when all your friends are winos, and your in-laws are winos? Well, you collect corks to do crafts!

My cork board process...

First I grabbed my huge collection of corks from a few years of drinking too much wine. Also, my glue gun and a plethora of glue sticks.

Then I decide which part of the cork I like the best and ensure it will be visible

Glue two corks together and then glue 4 sets together in a parquet pattern

Then glue the parquet piece together to the desired width and height and voila! You have a new fancy cork board!

This may be my most expensive craft to date, but it is going to be AWESOME when I get it on my wall in my new fancy craft room! This is going to hold onto all the things that inspire me!

Daily Dose...

Not too long ago my sister talked me into meeting her in Old Town Scottsdale for a little Saturday brunch. If you know me at all, I rarely never pass up a brunch invitation. I love brunch. We went to a new hip joint called "Daily Dose." Outside of this restaurant there are adirondack chairs sitting out front under some misters. You are sure to get a little sun if you are waiting, which we did. But, I think this is a nice touch. You get to people watch and in Old Town, that is always a treat! Tourists, people on the walk of shame, etc...

Once we were sat our server was a little quiet and not outgoing at all, but we will let it slide. I ordered my signature brunch drink, a Bloody Mary, and Tel ordered hers, the Mimosa. (Very telling of our personalities) My Bloody Mary came with an extra large straw, perhaps to allow the bacon to flow freely. We also decided to split our brunch and we ordered the Southwest Wrap. It was delicious, but the chorizo was a little too salty. Had I been hungover I may be singing a different tune about the salt content. Splitting the dish was a good choice because it would have surely been too much for just me!




I think I would go back again to try a different dish and different serve should I be in Old Town for brunch another day. Maybe to enjoy the patio. ..

Finally... It is done-ish!

Well, tonight was an interesting one to say the least. As I mentioned in my last post, the heat of the AZ summer puts me in fight or flight mode, which also puts me in a constant state of anxiousness. When I arrived home P Funk wanted to chat about my current goings ons... but that seemed like a large order, so we went to sushi instead. Going out to eat always seems to ease my mind, or at least distract me for a bit.

When we got home I decided it was time to get my craft room put together. So I did.



This is going to be my new zen space. I have space to do yoga, I have my ergonomic chair and I am really digging it so far. I need another lamp, preferably a floor lamp, some shelves, a small cabinet and a plant. I am also going to re-screen my shoji screen for a little privacy. P Funk has his man cave, and I have this... I am grateful. He can also sit in here with me on my reading chairs, just to enjoy music or each others company.

Do you have a zen space? What makes it so?

Cabin Fever... for the fourth year

Painting by John McClusky

 

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.  ~Albert Camus

When it gets this hot out, and the monsoons and haboobs come rolling in, I truly believe my body goes into fight or flight mode. Anxiety rises, the heat stifles  and I move slower than normal and things just seem so much more difficult. At this point in the year, I stand in my closet in the mornings and start to think of my jackets and layering, open windows and eating outside. I long for fall.

But, until that time, I will dream of the golden colors and turn my A/C way up so I can cuddle under my snuggie.