Be Inspired: Mother’s Day

My mom is down, homie-g

Yes, the time to celebrate that special lady in your life is now and what better way to say “I love you” than to make her something homemade!

This year my mom wanted something to put her herbs in so my sister & I spent an afternoon making these little treats!

Materials:
Clay pots
Paint
Vinyl chalkboard (found at most craft stores)

Thus project was super easy. First you paint, then get a fancy label template and cut out your vinyl, stick it on & you’re done.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Thank you, thank you very much! The lovely and kind Ann of CraftingIsMyBliss nominated me for this a little while back, but I was stuck in the library working on a 30-page paper so I didn’t have a chance to thank her right away.

These are the rules:

You must thank the person who has given you the award.
Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
Nominate 7 other Kreative Bloggers.
Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been  nominated.

Seven things about me:

1.) I am a newspaper reporter — I go to murders, fires and basically anything else that happens. It’s a pretty exciting life, sometimes.

2.) Tiramisu is my all-time favorite dessert of all time. I used to work at a retirement center and the residents didn’t like it so I would take home to-go boxes full of the delicious treat.

3.) I like running. I’ve only done 15Ks up til now, but I have a dream of doing a half-marathon soon.

4.) I’m in graduate school. It’s hard and I love it. I graduated with my undergrad in 2008, took some time to save money and now I’m working full time and going to school. I should graduate next spring (yay!)

5.) You’ve Got Mail is the best movie of all time. You can try and debate me, but you’ll be wrong.

6.) I like nerd things: Star Wars, Space Cowboys, Archie Comics, and the like. It matches my best friends who are nerdy guys.

7.) I feel 100 percent certain that water cures everything: flu, sadness, pain. You name it, just drink some water and it’ll be A-OK!

Now, I’m sharing with you the bloggers I find to be super Kreative bloggers:

1.) Amy from Aprons & Ambition – I might be biased, since I consider Amy to be one of my besties, but I also love everything she posts on her blog. She’s absolutely hilarious and makes some of the most beautiful diy crafts.

2.) Kaysie from her book reads blog Good Reads: Kay – Kaysie interned with me last summer and has about the cutest taste, well, ever. She’s smart, quirky and basically a mini-version of me (You’re welcome, Kaysie!)

3.) Veronika  from Girl and Closet is so cute. She mostly does fashion blogs, which I love. But she also has some killer crafting ideas too!

4.) Elsie of A Beautiful Mess is about the cutest person ever. Her blog is oh-so popular and she covers a ton of different topics from fashion, food and crafts.

5.) Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky is a nightly read for me. Her premise is on her fashion blogging, but she’s also got some really simple and tasty recipes and great diy crafts.

6.) Kaitlynn of Wise Wes is absolutely hysterical as she shares in the stories and antics of her father, Wes. Her writing is humorous and witty.

7.) My sister I can’t resista, Autumn of Put a Fork in Me is my last blog of the day. She likes to take pictures of food, art and other random happenings. She’s a little behind in her posts, but have faith – she’s awesome.

May the Cupcake be with You

Ever wanted to add a little something-something to your parties? Well, how about a cupcake stand. Plus, this particular stand is so cheap and easy you won’t even feel a little bit bad about painting it a different color for whatever occasion you are at.

Now, I’m going to warn you. This is about as ghetto a cupcake stand as you will see … but it’s also cheap and easy so I encourage you to read on.

Materials:

Buckets of varying sizes, or anything round

Wood of varying circular shapes, which can be purchased at your local hardware store

Nails

Nail gun

Paint

First up is a math lesson, which was the hardest part for me. I’m a journalist, not a mathematician.

Measure your wood and bucket/round sturdy center piece so that its in the center of the bucket. You could attempt to eye it, but I tried that and I’ll tell you my eye is a little off.

Once you have measured the center of the wood, place the bucket down with two chunks of wood screwed into the wood. Repeat throughout the stand until you have the number of layers you want.

Once you’re cupcake stand is assembled its time to paint. You want to make sure no one can tell your stand is made of bucket parts, or whatever you came up with to use.

Now with any cupcake stand comes cupcakes. Of course, I wanted to add a little more to them to make the cupcakes special for my friend.

Materials

I wish I had more time because I would have made my cupcake decorations myself, but alas papers were do for school so I turned to the mother of diy, Martha Stewart. She has some super cute cupcake accessories.

Cupcake toppers

Cupcake liner

Permanent marker

Tip

For the toppers, I wrote random sayings such as “We’ll miss you,” “Don’t leave us” and “Toodaloo.” Then when I set up I added them in random cupcakes throughout the stand.

 

Happy partying!

 

 

Make Your Own Banner

One of my besties is moving in five days with her adorable little girl and husband so I decided to throw them a little party before they left. The theme: We’ll Miss You.

Kim, Whitney and myself and Whit's party

 

Whitney has a one-year-old daughter and tons of family who we wanted to come to the party so Kim and I decided the best location would be a local park. So we kept the decorations simple and did a potluck.

First up is my “We’ll Miss You” sign:

I grabbed some scrapbook paper that matched my cupcake liners but had a variety of designs. From there, I used a Ellis machine to cut out the letters.

 

I cut out letters along with large hearts that we later used to write well wishes to Whitney along with everyone’s address for her address book.

I used brown paper to make pendants for the sign and used the same piece of paper to trace and make sure each pendant was the same shape.

We folded about a 1/2 inch at the top of the pendant and taped it over some twine that we used later to hang the sign.

 

I glued the cut out letters to the top of the pendant and used hearts to space out each word. Then the day of the party hung the sign at the pavilion.

(Those cupcakes are a sneak peak for the next post!)

DIY Phone Cover

If you’re anything like me you’ve Googled phone covers for your perspective phone dozens of times, only settling on the absurdly expensive choices. So you just stare at your computer screen in vain.

Well, stare no more. I know how you can get the phone cover of your choice for cheap!

Simply get a clear case and the scrapbook paper of your choice. The possibilities are endless. Just remember to hold onto the cardboard cutout that comes with the phone cover so you have something to trace.

Sunshine Award

I just have to say that the blogging world is so stinkin’ nice. Wouldn’t it be nice if in real life we could tell people, “I’m giving you the Sunshine Award because I think, in life, you’re doing a great job!” Something to think about.

The lovely Julie of Outtakes from the Outskirts nominated me for the Sunshine Award! This award requires me to answer some incredibly in depth, heart-wrenching questions. It was tough, but the mission was completed:

1. What is your favorite color?  Yellow – I sadly look terrible wearing yellow, but it’s such a happy color.
2. What is your favorite animal?  Hamsters! I’ve pledged that if I’m not married by 40 I’ll become the crazy hamster lady and be completely content.
3. What is your favorite number?  You know, I’ve never really had a favorite number. I’ll go with 7 if I have to choose.
4. What is your favorite non-alcholic drink? Chai tea latte – Iced.
5. Do you prefer Facebook or Twitter?  I’m really enjoying Twitter these days – @AngelMcCurdy & @AngelMnwfdn
6. What is your passion?  Can I only have one? I love people. In work and life people are my passion whether its my amazing family to the people I speak with at work. I especially love people I get to craft with!
7. Do you prefer getting or giving presents? Don’t judge me – but I took a test and my gift was receiving gifts … and I’ll tell you, I do it well! But I also like showing love through giving and making.
8. What is your favorite pattern? Old lady floral prints are the bomb-digity!
9. What is your favorite day of the week?  I like Saturday – no work and another day of the weekend left. But for some reason they are so much shorter than all the other days!
10. What is your favorite flower? Daisies – to quote Meg Ryan in “You’ve Got Mail,” “Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower?”

Now is the time to pass on the kindness to five worthy bloggers:

1. Ann of Crafting is my Bliss

2. Kearney of A Detailed House

3. The Modern Home Economist

4. Simply Delicious

5. No Telly No Trouble

Here Comes the Bride(smaid): Quilting

I’m sad to say, but this is the last wedding post … at least until the next wedding Leslie will be asked to do (which coincidentally is her cousin’s and she’s making the invitation for her).

For her best friend, Leslie took on the biggest project yet: A quilt. Yikes! Each step is documented so welcome along on the 5-month quilting adventure.

Step 1: Choosing fabric

Step 2: Cutting fabric

Step 3: Piecing blocks

Step 4: Sewing blocks

Step 5: Sewing rows individually

Step 6: Completing quilt front

Step 7: Sewing the back

Step 8: Layering the quilt

Step 9: Pinning the quilt

Step 10: Flipping the quilt

Step 11: Admiring the work

Step 12: Personalizing the quilt

Step 13: Quilting the quilt

Step 14: Binding quilt

DONE! Yay, Leslie

Here Comes the Bride(smaid): Lingerie Invites

With every wedding comes, of course, the lingerie shower!

Leslie is the maid of honor for her BFF Whitney (who’s wedding I’m super psyched for!). The two have been friends since, well, forever.

Here are the homemade invitations for Whitney’s lingerie shower. Leslie was shacked up in the apartment just a cutting away. She used scrapbook paper and ribbon then printed out her invites and glued them on.

Here Comes the Bride(smaid): Part III

 

 

For her friend Claudia, the great Leslie B. decided to make a tray for her — and when I say make I mean there was wood and hammers and nails. Yeah, she’s pretty intense.

For this, Leslie built a tray, then used cut-up paint chips she got from a local hardware store to decorate. Then she topped it with glass to make for a beautiful gift.

Here Comes the Bride(smaid): Part II

Since its that time of year when the white veils go down, the cha cha gets danced and the cake gets smashed — wedding season — I thought it might be nice to share some ideas for diy wedding gift ideas.

There is no better person to get these ideas than from my good friend Leslie, the most popular bridesmaid of all time.

 

Here we have the lovely Leslie and her friend Amy.

Amy’s a photographer so Leslie thought to make her a calendar full of adorable photos for Amy and her hubby, Mr. Hall. She simply set up the images took a photo and used PhotoShop for the rest.