Back at School

What I'm doing: I have been back at school for over a week now, and I am going to try my very hardest to continue making things throughout the year.  I have already found how much harder it will be, though!  My goal is to participate in the 52 Weeks of Lists challenge.  I hope to devote a little time each week to make something creative.  I need to start this new challenge this week.  :)

What I'm making:  These cards are so cute and easy to make.  Just take a doilie and use it as a stencil on a card!

Here is my last summer index card.  I have honestly loved this challenge, and I cannot wait to start it again next summer.  I am not going to continue this fall, though since I am too busy!  The quote on the bandaide box was perfect to remind me that it will all be okay, even if life does not go as planned.  

What I'm reading-blogs I love:  As I was reading about the 52 Weeks of Lists (52 WoL), I discovered this blog.  Her post from Wednesday is about blogging, and I loved reading her tips.  So inspirational. 

What my dorm looks like:  I thought it would be fun to post some things about decorating dorm rooms since I live in one like 9 months out of the school year.  Decorating is my favorite part of the school year.

I love the shelf we got for my desk area.  Since I am an English major, I have a ton of books, so the shelf makes it a lot easier to keep everything organized.  We got it from Storables; my favorite part about the storage system is that you can make it taller and buy more pieces for it!  I also love the tie rack we got to hold my necklaces. 

We have an old desk or sewing desk thing at my house.  My mom had an idea to pull out one of the drawers to hold all of my perfumes and lotions.

I saw these flowers from PBTeen, but they were pretty expensive.  So I went to Michaels and bought two boquets of fake flowers.  I cut the stems off and added a small strip of white ribbon on the backs of them to hold them in place.  I used sticky puddy to hold them to the walls!

I cannot seem to find the link to where I discovered this idea, but I took a plate and painted it with blackboard paint.  I painted the clothes pins and hot glued them along the edges once the paint dried.  Then add photos and cards.  :)

These photo mats are my very favorite dorm accessory.  I love displaying photos, so these work perfectly and I can put them up with command hooks and not poke any holes in my walls.  I think the collage look on walls is so cute, so that is what I have on the right side.  I need to add more to it, though. 

I will try to do another post later this week.  :)

Much love.

Stained Glass

What I'm creating-stained glass:  This was seriously the highlight of my beach vacation this weekend, besides getting to spend time with my wonderful aunt, uncle, cousin and sister.  We got to meet my uncle's mom, Pat, who has been making stained glass for over 30 years!  Here are some of her past projects.  And these are just some of the ones they have up at the beach cabin.

They also had these cute little hummingbirds up everywhere.  My cousin, sister and I decided to ask if we could make one, and Pat said yes.  Here are the steps and the final project.  :)

Step 1: Pick out glass for project.  I ended up leaning towards pinks, purples and blues. 

Step 2: Cut out glass into the shapes you want.  For the hummingbird we used five shapes: the head, two wings, a body, and a tail.

Step 3: Grind the shapes so they fit perfectly together and have smooth edges.  This part was difficult because the pieces need to fit together like a puzzle.

Step 4: Copper foil and burnish the edges of each indivdual piece.  The copper foil is how the whole thing is held together.

Step 5: Lay pattern pieces together and saughter.  The saughter is basically a fat wire that you melt and spread along the copper foil.  It cools quickly.

Step 6: Add hook, hang and enjoy.  I am going to hang it in my dorm. :)

What I'm creating-projects:  Today was my best friend's sisters birthday so I made her this photo collage frame as a present.  I love making presents like this because I believe time is a much more meaningful gift than spending a million dollars on someone. 

What I'm creating-ICAD: Here are my index cards from the past few days.  I cannot belive the project is almost over.  I love watching the cards change with my mood throughout the summer.

What's inspiring me:  STAINED GLASS!

from: here, here, here, and here

Enjoy tomorrow and make something pretty.

Much love.

Busy Saturday

What I'm eating: A friend showed me this recipe two months ago and we made them and they were soooo good!  I decided to make them for today as well.  The second time turned out just as good and I wanted to share the easy recipe with you all! 

What I'm creating:  Here are my ICADs from the past few days :)

What I'm making:  I saw this idea for colored tissue paper on another blog, (to see it, click here) and I never had thought to make it myself!  I save random wrappers and gift wrap all the time.  And this summer I had saved some white tissue paper that something I bought was wrapped in.  It was perfect for this project.  I will post after pictures in the next few days after they dry a bit.

Also, I have a special project in progress.  Here is a sneak peek.  I will show more once it is finished. :)

Well tonight I am dancing at halftime for an alumni football game.  Gosh that makes me sound old.  Have a wonderful Saturday!

Much love.

Arrows, Watercolor and Love

What's inspiring me: Arrows are so simple, but they make a wonderful point (literally and figuratively :] ).

from: here, here and here

What I'm creating: Here are my ICADs for the past few days!  I have been using watercolors for the background of my index cards lately.  I want to take a class or something to figure out other ways to use watercolors. 

I made time today to work on some art journal pages, which I have not done in a few days.  Whenever I am just sitting and making things, it is my break from the world.  A few seconds to breathe and put my creativity to the test. :)  The first page is from art journal #1.  I used the same theme of arrows on this page.  The watches were a part of the existing page, and I painted around them.

These next two pages are from art journal #2.  I mostly used paper scraps on these pages.  The only thing I wish I changed was the first page you can see the words from the other side of the page, but other than that, I love how these turned out!

What I'm reading/sites I love: I love reading books and discovering new sites and articles!  I found Womens Health magazine has a great website with tons of workouts and advice.  Here was a quote that I found very interesting.  "Dating success relies on you embracing your life, even if it's not exactly the life you had planned," says Michelle Callahan, Ph.D., a Women's Health contributor and author of Ms. Typed: Stop Sabotaging Your Relationships and Find Dating Success. "Radiating self-assurance makes people want to join you for the ride."

from: here and here

Much love and enjoy Wednesday tomorrow!

Harder than it seems

What I'm creating: It is much more difficult to get back in the swing of things after being on vacation!  Its taken me all week to clean my room and still it is not very organized.  But here are my ICAD from this week.  I used mostly pieces of envelope and office supplies.  I also made a page in art journal #2.

What I'm listening to: The finale of So You Think You Can Dance is next week!  Not only do I love watching the amazing dancers, but I love discovering new songs from the show.  My favs from this week were:

-After Tonight (Justin Nozuka)
-Wonderful World (James Morrison)
-Schoolin' Life (Beyonce)

Much love.

index cards galore!

What I'm creating: Here are all my ICADs from over my trip!  The first few days I did not make one, but by day three I was back in the swing of things.  It is nice and strange being home now.  Today I've finally caught up on laundry...almost. :)

I had to use my limited resources while on the road, so the top index card has an ice cream wrapper on it, and the bottom one has a quote from a speach about bears.

The bottom index card has stickers from fruit and a smoothie that we got at a deli in Montana.

The flag came from my moms hamburger in Idaho, and the tic-tac-toe game was from the same dinner.

And last, but certainly not least, the wonderbread packaging!  I have always loved the polka dots on it.



Much love.