Crafty Wreath Goodness

I love being crafty! I have been having so much fun lately making some of the crafts that I have pinned on pinterest or just crafts that I have the idea for all by myself. I love working with my hands and creating something. 

This post came from an idea off of pinterest- A rag wreath. Here is a blog with a great tutorial: Halloween Rag Wreath  I wanted to an FSU wreath, but not one that was specifically football, so I could hang it throughout the year. Although, I plan to continue making wreaths so I can have one for different holidays. 

First, I picked out three fabrics. I bought a yard and a half of each (I only got a yard of the FSU one) and I have a lot left over. I probably have enough to make a second wreath if I want to as a gift or something :). My friend that I made this with also bought a polka dot fabric for an accent that we both used in our wreaths. That just sent it over the top to awesome in my book! (For those that dont know, I am obsessed with polka dots!) I also bought a wreath form from Hobby Lobby that you can see in a picture below. They have four different sizes so I bought the 12 inch one for only $2.47. I also bought wooden letters for the F-S-U. 

After you have your fabric, you need to cut them into strips. I cut mine into 7" long and 1" wide strips. Remember that they are supposed to look rag like so if they aren't cut perfectly it is okay. Some people just cut slits at the intervals they want and then rip the fabric, but I am too much of a perfectionist to go that far. (You can see the polka dot fabric on the left!)

This is when I was done tying strips

Then you just start tying. The wreath form has four tiers, but I only tied my strips on three of them. It made it really full, but not overly so. It works best if you keep the print side facing up when you thread it on the wire. I also double-knotted my fabric because I did not want it to come undo at some point. As far as pattern, I basically just alternated between the garnet and gold and threw in the FSU and polka dot fabrics throughout. 
When I finished tying the strips, I added a length of ribbon by tying to the back and making a loop.


After I finished tying all of the strips and adding the ribbon, it was time to do the letters. I had gotten packs of letter from Hobby Lobby that came with two of each letter in a pack for $1.47 each. To decorate the letters I simply used a high quality glue stick and sprinkle the glitter on, tapping the excess back into the jar. You could also use spray adhesive. Another option would be to simply paint the letters, but I like the pizzazz of a little glitter!


Once the letters were dry, I simply hot glued them to the wreath. And voila! An FSU rag wreath. 


I had a lot of fun making this with my friend while we listened to country music and then watched Mama Mia. It is a great craft to do with a friend, or a good movie, or in my case both!


Now I simply can't wait for football season! 


Oh and we just got some awesome stadium chairs for this season so now we are fully prepped for some FSU football!


Happy tying!

A Cute Way to Save Cards

My family has always made fun of me for saving the cards I get for my birthday or other events. I always said that I would figure out someway to preserve those cards. I found an idea via Pinterest (my addiction)! I found it at Something Turquoise. 

First, gather your supplies. You will need two pieces of cardboard, and the paper you have chosen for both the front and the back of your album. You will need paper for the outside and the inside. You will also need ribbon to tie your album together. You will also need brads to attach the ribbon, glue, a ring, and any additional decorations for your album. 

I gathered all our wedding cards together. I sorted them out by size and found the largest card. I used that as my sizing guide to cut the cardboard and paper. I added 1/4 inch to the measurements of the lengths and widths in order to ensure that the card doesn't stick out from underneath. Cut two pieces of cardboard to size (one for the front, one for the back). Pick out the paper, or combination of paper, and cut to size. Attach the paper you picked for the front to the cardboard (for the outside and inside of your front cover). Attach the paper that you picked for the back cover- only the outside, do not attach the inside yet as you will need it to cover the brads so they don't show.

                                                                               

Measure out how much ribbon you will need to tie around your album. If it is one that you want to add cards to as the years go by then add a couple extra inches. find the middle of the ribbon and the middle of the back piece of cardboard. Use an exacto knife or some other knife to create a hole through the ribbon and cardboard. I put three brads in my album but others choose to only do two. Attach the ribbon. Now you can attach the paper to the inside back cover to hide the brads. 

The final step for creating the cover for your album is to decorate the front if you so choose. I simply chose to use gold stickers for "Austin and Kelsey" and the date of our wedding and a black calligraphy pen to write "Our Wedding Cards".

Punch holes through all of your cards and arrange them on the ring in whichever order you choose. Add the front and back covers and close the ring. Tie the ribbon and step back to admire your beautiful album of cards!

Valentines Day = Lots of Chocolate!

This year I had so much fun with Valentines Day!

It started with thinking up ideas for what to make Austin to take in for his work. They do parties for every holiday. The past couple of parties they have had, I have sent in some sort of treat. Now for the past couple of weeks, his coworkers have been asking him what I was going to send in with him for Valentines Day.

We decided we wanted him to take in a platter of chocolate with chocolate boxes (idea came from Cake Boss) with homemade chocolate hearts, roses, and flowers and chocolate dipped strawberries. It was an adventure, but in the end we managed to make two different types of chocolate boxes to put on the platter. It turned out awesome!

(Huge platter for Austin's work)

(Single box)

We actually made extra boxes. One we gave to Austin's best friend and his wife. One we gave to my best friend. And finally one we put on top of a cake (homemade by me) and took it to our fellowship group.

(Single box on top of a homemade yellow butter cake with homemade buttercream icing)

The cake turned out wonderfully and I am pretty happy with the decorating. I am slowly improving in my cake decorating skills. All in all it was a lot of fun and a LOT of chocolate!

(We used 2- 2lb bags of melting chocolate and 1- 2.5 lb bag of melting vanilla)

I would love to hear what you think!

Pinterest = Pinspiration

I love crafting and Pinterest feeds that love... love, obsession, whatever you would like to call it. Pinterest is a site where I can find ideas for anything I wish to make. The great thing about my new situation in life- that of a housewife- is that I actually have time to do the crafts that I find on Pinterest. Here are some of my recent Pinterest conquests:

1) Ornament Wreath

This was the first craft that I did after discovering Pinterest. The directions I followed can be found HERE. *There are pictures along with the instructions*

First, buy pretty ornaments from the Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or any other store that sells packages of ornaments for $1- $3. Also find a wire hanger. (Hopefully you had not recently thrown them all away like I had). Untwist the hanger and shape it into a circle. Hot glue the ornament tops so they do not pop off. Arrange the ornament by sliding them onto the hanger making sure to vary the sizes so there are fewer gaps. The final step in the instructions that I followed is to twist the ends of the hanger back together and attach a ribbon to the wreath to hand. I added one final step to my wreath. I bought a gold garland from Michaels, cut pieces from it, and glued it in between ornaments on the wreath.

Here is my finished product:

2) Glitter ornaments with no mess.

http://pinterest.com/pin/166281411211449734/

Gather your supplies: Floor wax- I used Pledge with Future Shine, clear glass ornaments found at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, fine glitter, and a funnel.

Take the tops off the ornaments. Pour a little bit of floor wax in an ornament. Gently swirl it in the ornament so that the entire inside is coated. Do not shake it or there will be bubbles. Pour the leftover liquid back into the bottle which will coat the neck of the ornament. Pour the glitter into the ornament using the funnel. Swish the glitter around to coat the inside. Put your thumb on the top and shake the ornament to ensure that the neck is coated. Pour the leftover glitter back into the bottle. Put the top back on. I added gold letter stickers to spell "Merry Christmas".

Those are two of the projects that I have done from Pinterest. Stayed tuned for future crafting accomplishments.

Long Time No Blog

It has been a long, long, long, long, long time... LONG time... since I have blogged.

Lets recap the past year very quickly...

1) From October 2010 to October 2011, I was working as a receptionist at the office of a very good family friend. (A doctor's office). Which, BTW, is a big part of the reason I have not blogged in a long time because *here comes a list within a list*:

a) After being on a computer all day long, I did not want to come home and jump in front of another computer

b) Working at a doctor's office makes it very difficult to have anything to discuss on a blog; not because nothing happens, but because everything happens because of the patients which you cannot disclose anything about them. AT ALL. Therefore, any stories would sound like: "this one person said this one thing somewhere in the city of Tallahassee." Not very interesting.

2) In February, hubby and I enlarged our family by adopting a puppy! Brinkley is a German Shepherd. He is now 10 months old and about 90 lbs. Our friends tell us he can no longer be classified as a "puppy." In fact, one of our friends regularly refers to him as a moose. He is still my puppy though.

3) In June, we celebrate 1 wonderful year of marriage. We rented a condo on the beach and had a wonderful time... and that is all I can say.

4) In August, hubby graduated with his Masters in Applied Economics. He was very handsome in his cap, gown, and hood. And yes, he pulled the hood on top of his head to look like a grim reaper, but in gold. We followed this by a cruise to the Bahamas with my parents, his dad and stepmom, and my brother and his wife.

5) In October, hubby got a raise! Yay! And I resigned from my job to become a stay-at-home wife and have the opportunity to pursue my dream of teaching. The only flaw in this plan is how much I love being a stay-at-home wife. Fortunately, hubby is amazing and he only wants me to go back to work if I want to go back to work. Right now, I love being at home!

6) I have discovered Pinterest! I LOVE IT!! It gives me all sorts of ideas to satisfy my craft side, my loves to bake side, my desire to learn new recipes side, and my dream about my future home side... all in one amazing site! My next blog will be a couple of the projects from Pinterest that I have actually done along with pictures... I'm sure you can hardly wait!

So that is our life in the past year in a nutshell. Isn't life exciting?!?
Hubby and I at Tallahassee's Winter Festival

The Winds of Change...

Can you smell them? Can you hear them? I can. My heart is starting to flutter because it knows what is happening. The winds of change are starting to blow. Austin and I are rapidly approaching the day when we step away from the safe confines of Tallahassee and college into the great big world of adults. (Yes, technically, I have already made that step, BUT having my husband and a lot of my friends still in college makes it feel like I haven't). We don't know yet where these winds are going to blow us. We could be blown as close as Jacksonville or as far away as Costa Mesa, California. We are just beginning to feel the slight breeze. We are starting to see the leaves on the ground stirring slightly. The rustle of the trees is barely audible. We know the winds are coming. It is hard to say how long they will take to begin blowing full force.

Truth be told, I hate change. I always have. Growing up in the military, change meant moving away from my friends, my school, everything I was comfortable with and starting over. It meant going through the arduous process of packing up the house. Then it meant going through the equally arduous process of unpacking the house. It meant going to a new school where I didn't know a soul. Knowing that once again, I was going to be that annoying smart new girl. It meant going through the painstaking process of finding a new church and building all new relationships. In short, I hate change.

Right now, however, I am excited. When I think about the possibilities ahead of us, I get the tingling feeling that it is going to be amazing. I am excited about the prospect of a whole new adventure with my husband. I am excited about the prospect of establishing ourselves somewhere as a couple. Of meeting new friends who only know us as a married couple, not as single people who recently got married.

Austin has several interviews coming up in February, the most exciting of which is in California. I am currently studying for the GRE, preparing to go for my masters in English Literature. (That adventure probably won't begin until Fall of 2012 at the earliest, but I am beginning the preparation process).

For right now, we are just enjoying the early signs of those winds of change and dreaming of where we might end up.

Financial Peace or Heartbreak: Which Will You Chose?

My confidence is shaken. A year ago, I was sure of my life and my calling. I was in my last year at FSU, close to getting engaged to my wonderful (now) husband, and I had no doubt in my mind that I would get a teaching job. That confidence continued through the spring and into the summer. I graduated from FSU and Austin and I got married. I was still confident that I would get a teaching job. After all, God called me to be a teacher- of that I was certain. If that was certain, then it was also certain that I would get a job. I was wrong. He had other plans for my life. It took me a while, but I accepted it and have worked to maintain peace with that and to figure out where He is leading me. It is true that throughout this fall I have had several opportunities to help friends through things and be there for them in ways I would not have been able to had I been teaching. That fact is not something to be ignored. I am grateful for every opportunity that God gives me to serve him and help my friends. But now I've started rambling...

My point in looking back and remembering all of this comes in when I look to the future. Austin is in a one year Masters of Economics program and will graduate next August. I am so proud of him. He is working extremely hard and excelling amongst his peers. He has already started putting his name out there and searching for jobs. He is beginning the interview process with a consulting company sometime this month. I have had no doubt that he would get hired with this firm and make his career with them. They are an excellent company with a drive to help their employees excel. As I said, I am so proud of him.

The unfortunate part about it all is that he will graduate with a large amount of student loans. Should he get this job (or another with a similar firm) we will have no problems in paying off this debt. Why? Because we are learning how to manage our money through Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. His motto is, "If you will live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else!" Meaning, that if we live modestly and below our means now and continue that way until we are debt free, later in life we will be able to live like no one else because we will be, in a word, rich. That is an exciting concept. Yesterday, however, as we went through his lesson on dumping debt, I had a panic attack. Right now, we do not have the means to make large payments on his student loans. This hasn't been a cause for concern because we figure that if he gets a job staring right after he graduates, we will be able to pour our resources and knock out the debt.

This is where my shaken confidence comes into play. What if he doesn't get a job? I was so sure I was going to get a job, but I didn't. What if my high confidence that he will get a job is going to prove to be untrue? What will we do? The job market is not a friendly place for job hunters, as I have discovered. What happens if we are both in this situation of trying to find any job we can? Here I must trust God, and we must live by the principles we are learning from Dave Ramsey.

I strongly encourage any one reading this to consider attending a Financial Peace University class. You will learn how to get rid of debt, make a complete budget and live on it, as well as save and invest to the point where all of your children's (or future children's) college, grad school, weddings, etc, will be covered. You will learn that it is possible to buy nice cars and even houses in CASH. Your marriage will never be torn apart by the most common cause of divorce: money fights. Whether you have debt or not, you live outside your means, or not; Dave Ramsey can and will change your life. I have seen it in my parent's life and one day not too far in the future, I will be reaping the rewards of living responsibly. So what will you choose? Financial Peace or Financial Heartbreak?

http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/