Pinterest Turtles

While Mr. Snoop was gone for two months, I crafted my little fanny off. Pinterest is so marvelous for unrealistic inspiration. This project, which I made for Jeremy's 8 month old housemate in Texas, was one that I found there. Here's the pin:

Source: makeit-loveit.com via Emily on Pinterest

And here's mine:

So mine looks a little sad next to the example. Ha! But I'm no expert seamstress, and it's for a baby, so I doubt that he will care. Really, I dumpster dove for the fabric. It came out of one of those little sample books. Don't worry, I washed it all. Someone left it at the dumpster behind my work so now it is mine! I've gotten a lot of mileage out of those sample books: beanbags for work, doll mattresses for a friend's children, and now they are becoming turtles and burp cloths.

Now that I've made one, I will probably make another for my sister-in-law, who is expecting a girl in December. She has issued a fatwah against the color pink, so I'll have to control my extremely girly instincts. While we're at it, any ideas for a big brother gift for a 2nd grader?

Pinterest Skirt

Yes, I actually made something I pinned on Pinterest. Last night, even! After making slipcovers for my sister-in-law, I have caught the sewing bug (again) big time. Plus Jo-Ann's is having a huge September Sewing sale, so after spending nearly $70 there (WITH coupons, y'all), I was feeling (p)inspired. No, I'm not even sorry about that pun.

Here's the pin:

Source: whatwouldanerdwear.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

And here's the skirt I made, which I am wearing today (sorry about the selfie, you know how I roll):

So if you should choose to use the tutorial on Pinterest, know that the girl's yardage is wrong. She calls for 3/4 of a yard of fabric, which must be a mistake. I'm a size zero (probably smaller around the hips) and that would not have been enough fabric for me. Unless you are a small child, you'll need more fabric. So mine has some awkward side-seam placement issues from the mis-measuring, but hey, I'm not pretending to be an expert here.

I just realized my skirt is polka-dotted too! This is actually old fabric that a friend gave me when she was cleaning out her stash. I'm glad I used it... I think I'll be able to wear the skirt with brown boots + tights when it gets colder and then wear it all summer, too.

Just a warning, there will be more sewing projects coming up. My sister-in-law (not the one I sewed the slipcoveres for) is having a baby. So, yeah, get ready.

Then I Went Crazy

So everyone has their own reactions to stress, right?  Some people eat, some people exercise, some people drink, whatever.  I organize.  Like a crazy person.  And that's what I did all the long weekend.  There is a family situation back in Tejas that is causing lots o' stress for me.  Naturally, since I can't control that particular situation, I have to control everything else around me.  Via organization.

Like my cabinets:

This bad boy is my erstwhile nemesis.  Tupperware above and vases / candleholders / candles / decorative dishes / paper napkins / party supplies below.

Are you loving the old school paper cabinet liner?  Don't judge me, we're renters.

Or my scrapbook:

That'd be Thanksgiving.  2010.  I am behind.

Also don't judge me because I scrapbook.  Controling my world, remember?

And finally, my coupons:

Yep. After a long resistance, I gave in. $20 at Staples later, I now have a coupon binder. In my defense, it is a) small and b) adorable.  Because I totally scrapbooked the cover.  I hear you snickering.

You can totally judge me now.  But it has made my life much easier.  And Mr. Snoop, lover of all things neat and tidy, adores it.

Off to obsessively clean things now...







Thank You, Pinterest

Anyone who follows me on Pinterest knows that I have a real problem.  But to be fair, I've also found some awesome ideas for work.  Like this one:

pinned it here

Since one of my programs at work relies on volunteers, I am always trying to find easy (and affordable) ways to thank all 45 of them.  Here's what my co-worker and I did:

I hope they like them, even if the amount of money on the card is a little bit tiny.  We sure had fun putting them together. 

If you decide to do this for someone, I recommend hot-gluing the entire coffee sleeve onto the card.  Then you can just glue a dot at the bottom, in between the layers of the sleeve to create a pocket.  That way the gift card fits in perfectly.  Also, these are 5x7s and you can mail the whole creation with a regular 45¢ stamp.  Cute, right?

Now let's see if I will ever get around to making these fabric easter eggs I've been drooling over:

 pinned it here

Probably not.  

Painted Ornament Craft

I don't know if I've told y'all this, but Mr. Snoop is not only a medical student, he is also getting his Masters of Public Health.  Because medical school is not hellish enough as is.  Anywho, I'm really super proud of him, but the MPH means that he has classes at night in addition to his rotations.  The other night, instead of sitting on my butt and watching the E! True Hollywood Story: Casey Anthony, I decided to sit on my butt and watch the E! True Hollywood Story: Casey Anthony while making a crafty craft. 

Here's what I made.  For the record, these are not any of yall's Christmas gifts, but I think they'd make pretty good gifts: easy and cheap.  Using the Michael's 40% off coupons, making 12 ornaments was under $10.  Can't beat it.  At least in Nueva York.

1. Start with a clear glass ornament.  Like so.  I got mine from Michael's on sale, yo.  (rhymes!)

2.  Then take some paint.  Also from Michael's.  The Great White North has severely limited craft store options.  Oh how I miss you, Hobby Lobby.  I used glitter, obviously.  Why wouldn't you?

3. Take the tops off your ornaments (girls gone wild!) and then dump a bloop of your paint in the ornament.  I don't have a picture of this step because I needed two hands.  Swirl the bloop of paint around your ornament till it coats all sides.  This takes a little while.  I found that tapping the ornament in the palm of your hand helps spread out the paint.

4.  Then turn the ornament upside down on your crappy free local newspaper and repeat:

A lot of the paint will slide out of the ornaments.  That's ok, it's all part of the process.  You might want to move the ornaments around every so often so that they don't get glued to the paper by globs of paint.  I let them dry overnight and they looked like this in the morning:

If you want your ornaments to have a more intense color, add a second coat once they have dried.  And then swirl:

Here's what you can do with them once they've dried and you put the top back on...

If I were giving these as a gift, here's how I'd package them... 

- In those little six-pack egg cartons with cute wrapping paper or even just a little ribbon  

- Wrap one or two in a cellophane bag with a cute ribbon

- Use as an accessory for bows when you wrap gifts

- Nest in a cute tin with rafia.

Enjoy!