A Pinteresting Party

I'm protesting Pinterest. Okay, calm down... I know - EVERYONE is on it. 
I'm aware of how terrific it is... One place where you can view and categorized pictures and ideas for just about anything. You don't have to tell me - Pinterest is where it's at.
But to be honest, I just don't have the time to devote to a new time waster hobby. As I look at my google reader, I already have about 30 blogs that I follow. At lets be real, I just do not have the time to devote to my blogs and my reality TV addiction. As it is, I already get tons of ideas from my Martha Stewart Magazines and the blogs I follow... and although I'm sure there are endless ideas on the Pinterest, I don't need yet another reminder of all the crafts/recipes that I don't have time to make, decor ideas for rooms that I can't afford to decorate, or wedding color combos for a wedding that I'm not planning. Okay so now I've said it... I'M NOT ON THE PINTEREST! 


With that said, I do enjoy making crafts and getting ideas from lots of different places for said crafts. I also have many girlfriends who like making crafts too, and my friend Jessica had the great idea to throw a Pinterest Party. I offered to host the party at my house. And I apologize for not getting this blog up sooner, but this was in... February :)


We sent out an evite inviting some girls over on a Saturday afternoon, instructing them to each bring an idea for a craft they'd like to make as well as the supplies to make their craft. We set up the dining room for crafting by covering the table with newspaper and bringing in a card table for extra seating. 

I also made some yummy foods, which included Pioneer Woman's Pop Pulled Pork and these delicious peanut butter cup cupcakes with the famous Magnolia Bakery chocolate icing.

I substituted half of the amount of butter in the recipe for peanut butter, making the icing chocolate peanut butter and topped each cupcake with a peanut butter M&M

Surprisingly, I only managed to take pictures of these delicious cupcakes... maybe it's cause I spent so much time around the cupcake display :)


After the girls got their snack on, we moved to the dining room for craft time. 
Jessica discovered this yarn wreath craft on Pinterest, and I looked around to see if I could figure out how to make it. I found the wreaths for sale on etsy.com. They're for sale in many different etsy shops, however the ones I liked the best were in the Itz Fitz shop. 
From looking at them, I decided the base was probably one of those foam forms wrapped with some type of batting. On top of that, yarn is wrapped around, and felt is used for decoration. Here's the look I was going for:

This picture was taken from the Itz Fitz shop on etsy

 Below is the list of supplies you'll need:

• Foam wreath form (I got the biggest one I could find, and I got one that was more flat on one side rather than rounded on all sides like a pool noodle). I got mine at Hobby Lobby. 
• About 1/2 yard of batting for each wreath
• Plain silver push pins (found in the sewing isle)
• 2 colors of yarn (one big roll and one smaller one)
• 2 colors of felt (2 sheets in total) if you want to do the argyle print. You'll need more if you want to do the flowers too.
• Hot glue gun

I got a one pound roll of yard for the base color in my wreath because I wasn't sure how much I'd need. This was really unnecessary as  you could probably make 3-4 wreaths with a huge roll like this.

You'll first want to cut 2" wide strips of batting and wrap them around the wreath form using the pins to pin it in the foam along the way. 

Then you start wrapping the yarn around the wreath, using a pin and hot glue to fix it in the back. This step ended up taking FOR-EV-ER. It really takes about an hour to and hour and a half. But this is perfect for a crafting party cause that's when you get in your girl talk.

Once you get your wreath wrapped solidly... you might have to go in and fill in the gaps with more of your base color... then you are ready for your felt decorations. I decided to just do the argyle print, so I cut enough shapes (6 of each of the 2 colors) to go around the circumference of my wreath. We used a self healing mat with a wide ruler and a wheel cutting tool like this these.

Now this is VERY IMPORTANT! When you are cutting your felt with your wheel, cut AWAY from yourself. I know this sounds obvious, however 3 girls ended up hurting themselves at the party.

Once you've cut the shapes for your argyle print, use your hot glue gun to stick them to your wreath. Then lastly, use your second color of yarn to finish your argyle print.

Jaime and her completed wreath... she was done first out of all of us.... she's so crafty!

And here's my wreath.

Here's how it looks on my front door. I love it!!

And close up....
I like how it plays off the front porch light fixture.

These wreaths make great gifts too! I can't wait to make one for the holidays... maybe I'll try flowers too!


Peace, Love, and Pinterest,
Engineeringirl

My Blingy Tree

I've gotten a live tree for the last three years. It's a tradition that I love. What's so great about it?... The ceremonious selection of the tree, decorating with my favorite ornaments, and enjoying the smell all season long. And the warm feeling it gives off to the outside of the house as it sits inside the front window... Yeah, that's pretty great too. 

Here's my tree from 2008... the first year I got a real tree, and also the first year I had grown up ornaments (from Pottery Barn of course)

With all the tantalizing reasons for having a Christmas tree this year, I started to remember all the downsides too. Like the challenge of getting the tree to my house. I don't own a vehicle big enough to fit it inside, and getting it to the house would require me to ask one of my girl friend's wonderful husbands... And let's face it, being a single girl, I feel a teesny bit bad about all the times I've called them to 1) unclog my garbage disposal 2) haul something for me and 3) hang blinds etc. So, I decided to save up my karma for when I really need a favor. And let's not forget the constant watering required so the tree doesn't lose all it's needles all over the carpet or become a fire hazard in my house. And speaking of those needles... Oh those needles! The cleanup is constant! And finally, I've been out of town so much, that I just couldn't validate getting the approximately $65 tree this year. So with that, I decided to skip the tradition of a real tree this year... But no need to worry folks, I've come up with a glamorous solution, and it was... FREE!

Hoot Hoot, Merry Christmas!

This year I was inspired by the trends I'd been seeing in stores like Restoration Hardware. The basic idea is a bunch of branches stuck in a big vase with ornaments hanging off them. I realized I already had the branches. They were in this vase in my powder room.

Side note....Is this ugly? I really love the vase, but I'm not sure about the leaves anymore... They're sort of 1970s as they are velvet... Please someone tell me what you think of this. 

Anyway, the sparkle branches used to be in this vase, and consequently would get glitter and sparkles all over my bathroom floor if they were to be moved. So that is why I conducted the careful operation of removing said branches from the spotted vase into the owl vase upon the toilet in the powder room.


This is how the branches look if you just stick them into the vase...

Big empty spaces... just rollin' around in there...

Also, the toilet is the perfect working height for this project... ;) I got an A in ergonomics people.

So how do we make it look professional like? BTW this is the goal of my life...
We use this:

Bubble wrap and packing paper.

The goal here is to get the branches to stand up by themselves, not touching each other, in an artful arrangement. I put a couple pieces of bubble wrap in first both to pad the bottom of the vase and give some height to the arrangement and also to create some space in between the side of the vase and the branch. Then I just jammed in packing paper all around to create this:

Ta Daaaaa!!

Now for the decorating part.

I added some moss around on the top to create a finished look. And I hung some of my favorite ornaments on the branches.

I've got a woodland creature thing going on this year

A glass birdie ornament from Pier One after Christmas last year

A gift from my fabulous sister - a fabric owl from Crate & Barrel 

A gift from my friend Lindsey last year - a glitter owl from Pier One

A rustic looking bell, a favor from my friend Pam's wedding... I'm not sure if they were meant to be ornaments, but I thought they were perfect for this. And for some reason I had 2. Sorry to whoever is missing theirs... :)

Look how fab it looks with the presents stacked up next to the table!

And I love how it compliments the mantle next to it! It's a sparkly Christmas!

Speaking of the mantle, I couldn't wait to reveal my stars this Christmas...

The Pottery Barn Reindeer! I've been coveting them since 2007, but I'd been resisting buying them for years... always waiting until after Christmas when I think they'll be on sale. So far, it's never worked out as the price + shipping combo was never just right. But this year, I noticed they were on sale for cyber Monday, and with free shipping, I couldn't resist. So here they are in all their glory... And I must admit, they are everything I had dreamed of, and more...

Yup, pretty spectacular

Continuing with a break down of the mantle, the candle sticks are the regular mercury glass staples from Kohls that I use all year long. And the silver urn is another decor staple from Marshalls Home Goods. The candles were 75% off after Christmas 2009 at World Market.

The tree on the left is from Marshalls Home Goods, and I use it on my mantle every year

The mantle is finished off with 2 strings of crystals that I got on sale at Crate & Barrel after Christmas last year and a Bath & Body Works candle in a silver sleeve.

Side note: I am loving white candles this year. I just think they look so fresh and clean burning through the pretty silver  holders that you can get at Bath & Body Works. I stocked up after Thanksgiving cashing in on their 3 for $30 sale and using a $10 coupon, bringing my total down to $20 for 3 candles and pretty much making my year...
And now a look at it all together.

I'm very happy with my Christmas tree work around this year. Does anyone else have any long standing traditions they aren't doing this year? ...Any Christmas tree substitutions out there?

Have a very Sparkly Christmas!
Engineeringirl

Validating my need for a craft room - Christmas Present Wrapping!!

I have an entire room dedicated to crafting, which I use a few times a year. You see, I have the intention to use it more, but somehow it just doesn't happen. Sort of like when I mark off all the pages in Martha Stewart Living with good craft and recipe ideas and then end up completing about 2% of them... The intention is there, but sigh... the time is not. So I get super excited when Christmas comes around, and I get to use my craft room for its intended purpose. Years of after Christmas shopping has helped me accumulate gift paper, bows, ribbons, tags, and cards. And I have managed to keep my decorations closet in nice order, storing the gift wrapping supplies neatly in plastic bins for easy access each year.

On the table is a box of ribbons and bows, wrapping paper rolls, packing paper, cards, and gift tags. At my feet is a waste basket and a bin full of gift bags and boxes.

Don't try to spy now... I made sure none of the identifying boxes were sticking out.

I save up boxes through out the year both for shipping gifts as needed and for Christmas time gift packing. Underneath the gift boxes is a stack of packing paper that I also save from shipped items through the year.

Then I put my collection of ribbons and bows as well as gift tags and cards in the corner of the craft table. Of course the tools of the trade (scissors, tape, a pen, and glue for gluing down some pesky bows) are at hand.

The bows and ribbon are kept in a box by themselves to stay easily organized. At the end of the season, they go right back into the plastic bin and are easily accessed next year.

The end result is an ecelcitc mix of wrapped gifts, each one wrapped individually with care.

Don't you wish you knew what was inside these lovely gifts?

So does anyone out there have any gift wrapping tips? I always have to use a lot of tape on the ends... That tri-fold thing is a work in progress :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Wrapping, Engineeringirl

The Look For Less

Shells are all the rage these days. At stores like ZGallerie, decorative shells are going for anywhere from $60 - $120 depending on the size. I saw one similar to this months ago at ZGallerie.

Large Atlantis Clam Shell - ZGallerie, $60

I love the shell look to decorate around the house like these inspiring shots from Young House Love and Emily A. Clark:

I had been searching Home Goods and similar stores for months keeping my eye open for something similar.
And I found it! In Canada of all places. I found it while I was perusing an antique/thrift store while working in Clinton, BC in July. Here it is in its original form.

It's actually a man made shell. It looks like it was made from pottery and then glazed and put in a kiln for extra shine.

I got it for $15, but it was super shiny and definitely not the white ceramic look that I wanted.

So off to Lowes I went to find a solution to my problem. I came home with this.

Valspar interior primer in white and white gloss paint. My total was $8.19.

The paint guy at Lowes recommend I start with the primer since the shell was already really glossy. He said that would allow me to be able to spray the white spray paint and have no problems with it sticking. I laid down some cardboard scraps in my garage, making sure to stay as far away from my car as possible. If it hadn't been 105 degrees outside, I would have done this outside, but I immediately started sweating once I stepped foot into my driveway, so I set up shop in my garage instead. Here's what my shell looked like after the first coat of primer.

Pretty good!

After 2 more coats, it looked like this. I waited about 30 minutes between each coat. I will say I had to get kind of aggressive with it. Since the inside had been so shiny, I had to really get in there, and make sure the primer was going on really good in all the crevices.

I still see shiny....

I flipped 'er over and sprayed a couple more coats. I didn't want to risk any of the glossiness shining through, so I probably ended up with about 4 coats on the whole thing. I kept the project setup in my garage, and over the course of a few days, just sprayed a coat every time I walked in or out of the garage and had some extra time. Whew... finally it was ready for the real paint.

Primed and ready!

After a couple many coats of the white gloss paint, the final product looked like this:

I realize it's difficult to see the glossy-ness of the paint with the garage lighting

Here's the final product inside. I decided to put in on my kitchen table for now... I've realized that basically all I do to decorate my house, is bring in white ceramic items and move them around from room to room periodically.



I like the freshness of the white ceramic look on the dark table.

For now, I've put some wine corks in it. Eventually I'll figure out what to put in there... I hope.

The total for this project was just over $23 plus some of my time spent spraying in my garage.
So while I think about what purpose this project serves... Did I make a fruit bowl? A wine cork holder? Maybe a candy dish (Halloween is just around the corner)? Does anyone out there have any suggestions for how to use my bowl... or where I should put it?

Shiny Ceramic Love,
Engineeringirl