Jewels and Baubles and Gemstones...Oh My

Last night as I lay in bed with the intention of writing today's blog post, I found myself drawn to my new best friend...pinterest.  It's a sickness, really, how much I love pinterest.  So, instead of writing about my love of striped walls, how awesome my diy frames are coming along, or my mother's upcoming visit, I found myself enthralled in the world of pretty and sparkly jewelry.

When I awoke this morning, I realized the seduction that had occurred and I had nothing to show for it.  No pretty jewelry, no awesome blog post, not even a restful eight hours of sleep.  So, for today's blogpost, I decided to share my obsessions with you.

Etsy

I swoon for rough diamonds.

Etsy

I would never get lost with this beauty hanging around my neck.

Georgia Varidakis Jewelry

 These are my dream.

Etsy

 My wedding bouquet was a bunch of hydrangeas...one of my favorite flowers.

Etsy

Perhaps I'd name him Albert.

If only I had a birthday coming up.  Or an anniversary.  Or Christmas.  Perhaps I could make up a holiday as an excuse for John to buy me all of these? Oh, and your welcome for sending these beauties your way.

For the Love of Corks and Memories

The outpouring of comments on my heart made out of corks was amazing - it seems as though all of us has caught the cork love bug.  We all seem to agree that corks in a jar or vase or hurricane is easy and simple, but we dream of other uses for our precious wine corks.

If you look closer at our vase or corks, you'll notice something different...the writing.

A few years ago John and I started writing on our corks.  Whenever we opened up a bottle on an occasion we wanted to remember, we'd write the date and occasion on the cork and them plop it in a special vase.  Over time we've collected quite the variety of corks and memories and it's so much fun to peruse them from time to time and remember special times with family and friends or special days in our life.

Some occasions are typical such as our first wedding anniversary and a birthday dinner (complete with lobster made by John).  Others are times we wanted to look back on and smile like an evening of games with our neighbors, a dinner with our parents, or the night John finally made the big decision of where he wanted to go to graduate school.  Then, there are the times that I love reading about the most - the night I was so grumpy it was funny, the first time we made stir fry without fighting, our first night in our first apartment, a much needed lazy evening after John's first wave of grad school exams.

These are the corks I love the most...the ones that conjure up vivid memories of special times and everyday moments.  As we continue to add a cork here and a cork there to our special vase, I find myself looking forward ten years when we still have something to remind me of that evening John made creme brulee, the night we slept in front of the fire, and the day we decorated our first Christmas tree.



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Five Minute Art Alert

Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Crafting with Kristen (see episode 1, episode 2).  We've been slowly adding to our gallery wall (an updated reveal is coming soon) and while watching a movie last night I decided to whip up some new five minute art.

Using some scraps of pretty paper, I cut out butterflies and glued them onto a painted cardboard lid.  Voila!

This has been another episode of "Five Minute Crafting with Kristen."

Upcycling Project: Part 1

So, what do you do when an old styrofoam cooler is about to get thrown out? Use as much of it as possible for some crafty projects, duh!

We were cleaning out our closet and ruthlessly throwing things away when we happened upon this styrofoam cooler that was very nifty but rarely used. Hating to throw styrofoam away, I put it aside with the intentions of using as much as possible in some projects. 

For the first of many projects, I decided to make some letters (more accurately, an H and ampersand).  I printed templates out, taped them down and used a knife to carve them out.

I decided to use some beautiful paper scraps I had (which I have plenty of because I have a problem with throwing away scraps of pretty paper) to decoupage the H.

An easy-peasy, cheap, upcycled project! Stay tuned because there's more styrofoam where that came from...way more.  Perhaps there may be some paper mache-ing involved...and a frame or two...who knows.

Sneak Peak: Wedding

With wedding season upon us, my guilty pleasure has been dreaming over wedding inspiration boards.  Seeing the beautiful wedding photos has started me reminiscing about our amazing wedding. Dare I say it was the best wedding ever (not that I'm biased or anything)? I'm going through the billion pictures of that wonderful day and thought I'd share it with you! It was the ultimate DIY project and I'm still proud of what we created with our budget.

So, while I daydream over every picture and remember all the love and support I felt on that day, let me leave you with a little sneak peak of the Garza-Holt wedding. 

Happy Inspiration

Today is the type of day where I just want to look at pretty things to try and cure this uninspired feeling.  I thought I'd share a few happy links with you!

spotted on Gypsy Purple Home

- This photograph makes me dizzy...but I still love looking at it!

- I asked John if we could buy these. He just shook his head and walked away. I think that's a yes.

- If I could have this for breakfast every morning, I'd be one smiling happy person!

- I've been craving more color in my life and this inspires me to play around and be adventurous. 

- I wish I could spend my entire summer doing this.

- How amazing is this little nook?

$4 Upcycled Bench

Would you mind if I brag about my husband for a second? You see, he is the most amazing guy I know.  I tend to get some crazy ideas in my head, but it is John who takes my vision and creates something amazing.  For instance, last weekend he built an amazing bench out of leftover firewood that we hadn't been able to burn through this past winter.

While cleaning up our balcony and making it beautiful for lazy summer evenings, I was quickly falling out of love with the pile of firewood I had previously been head over heels for.  I started brainstorming ways we could put the wood to use (it had been an amazing birthday present and had kept us toasty warm throughout the winter) while getting rid of it.  It was taking up valuable garden space!

In my visionary state of mind, I began seeing a rustic bench for our containers of vegetables and flowers.  I sorted through all the wood and found four legs that were the same height.  Excited, I described my dream bench and sweetly asked John to build it for me.  Wait until you see what he created!

I sanded the legs well, stripping the bark and ensuring splinters were not the consequence when touching them and John bought a piece of wood (forgive me but I have no idea the size or type of wood) for $4.

We carefully set up the piece of wood on top of the branches to ensure it would be stable and not wobbly.  When we had decided where we wanted the branches, we flipped it over so we could pencil in where they would go.

John pre-drilled the holes so the wood wouldn't split.

While he was working hard on building an amazing bench, Layla-Butt and I cheered him on.  We're great cheerleaders!

Once the branches were screwed into place, John decided the bench needed some additional support. Taking a walk through the woods behind out apartment, he found the perfect stick.

He drilled large holes and placed the sticks between the legs to stabilize the bench with wood glue.  We then used wood filler to create a seamless fit.

After staining and waterproofing, our bench was complete.

Isn't is amazing? To think we made it out of firewood and a $4 piece of wood.

It provides the perfect backdrop for our balcony and displays our container garden beautifully!  The remaining wood is neatly stacked beneath the bench until I come up with some new ideas...suggestions welcome!



 I'm linking this project to Today's Creative Blog as well as the parties listed in the party tab.

Balcony Chandelier

Today I'm going to be showing you my balcony chandelier.  I have been cleaning up our balcony and preparing it for summer dinners, wine drinking evenings, and stargazing nights that will begin taking place as the weather warms up.  This chandelier will bring life and party to my teeny tiny "backyard."  Oh, and it follows my philosophy of easy, quick, and budget-friendly...I spent $0 on this little diy and I'm sure you have every material in your house, too!

My chandelier is made up of eleven different sizes of string lanterns in a variety of fun colors that have been grouped together to hang from the center of the balcony ceiling.  Are you ready to see some exciting and educational pictures that depict the crafting mania that surrounded the chandelier? I thought so!

This entire messy project can be summed up as paper mache with string. Notice I mentioned messy. I think this project was the messiest project I have partaken in (well, besides the oil-based primer nightmare that I don't like to think about)...so beware!  To make the ooey gooey paste, you will need to mix together two cups of flour, 1/2 cup of elmers glue, 1/2 cup corn starch, and enough water to make a thick but slightly watery paste.  Remember, the flour is what will be the main character in creating a rock solid lantern so don't water it down too much.

The next step is to hang blown up balloons somewhere where you can make a mess. I hung them from a broom that was balanced on a stool and the kitchen counter.  Here comes the very first messy step: you will need to coat the balloons with either petroleum jelly (did this for my first batch and turned out well) or cooking spray (did this for my third batch and it worked excellent).  This step ensures that the rock solid paste only sticks to the yarn/twine and not the balloon. I skipped this step on my second batch and bad things happened once it had dried.

Now, grab your string/twine/yarn and start dipping into your mixture and wrapping. I found that I could put a handful of twine in the bowl at a time, swish it around, and slowly wrap without creating a knot.  I started winding top to bottom until I worked my way around the balloon, and then wrapped side to side. Feel free to wrap as much or as little as you'd like. I did a variety of amount of yarn and each lantern came out beautifully.

Like I said before: you will make a mess.  Even if you put down cardboard or a trash bag or your dog, splashes of ooey gooey gunk will splatter on your counters, your floor, your legs, and even your hair.

Now comes the hard part - let it dry for 24 hours. This does not mean 12 hours (I tried) nor does it mean 19 hours (I tried this, too).  The longer you wait, the stronger your lantern will be. When I messed with it too soon more bad things happened.

After your 24 hour drying time, you get to pop the balloon! Do this outside because when you pop it, shards of dried ooey gooey hard stuff will explode like a party with confetti. The following step is my husband's favorite: use your finger or a stick or a small knife and start poking the dried crystalized goop that formed between the yarn.  Oh, and look below for a show and tell of what happens when you don't use an oily coating on the balloons. Told you - bad stuff.

Next, spray the lanterns with a clear protective coating; I used Rustoleum Clear Coating Spray.

In order to create a chandelier out of the lanterns, I tied fishing line to each one, knotted them together just so and hung them from a hook in our ceiling.  Holding them up in front of our mirror to see how they looked was a lot easier than getting on and off our step ladder to view the mess of lanterns, just fyi.

I think all white lanterns would make a beautiful chandelier, but I wanted a festive feeling for our balcony so I made mine with colors reflected in our potted garden.  Colored yarn worked well but created a muted color even when the original yarn was bold and loud.  Spray painting and using craft paint worked well also and resulted in bolder colors.  The two white lanterns you see are the natural twine color. 

One last piece of advice - make more lanterns than you think you'll need. I started with just five and they looked pitiful. I made another three but even eight didn't create the focal point I was looking for. Eleven was the magic number.

I can't wait to finish up our balcony projects so we can relax and enjoy the summer from our little teeny "backyard".

Editorial Note: Here's yet another big THANK YOU to Jessica for having me over at My World - Made By Hand!


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