sneak peak on the next DIY

tonight i started working on the next DIY im going to share....here's a hint...its not a real rose.



this past weekend i:
-made, for what seems the hundredth time in the past week, my fresh homemade salsa (both regular tomato salsa as well as a delish pineapple salsa)
-cleaned out my craft/holiday decoration closet....it had turned into one of those closets packed so tight that if you opened the door stuff would fall out
-went running with my running group and nephew
-played a healthy bit of mario cart with my nephew
-hung out with dave's family
-carved a "magic stone" out of modeling clay for a school project

(it looks like a green arrow head...but i swear thats what it looked like in his book)

all-in-all it was a nice family filled weekend.

interwebz favorites...epic wants

i was looking around the interwebz and found one too many things i want:

this amazing cowl scarf on etsy that i may try and make myself...time to go to the yarn shop (source)

and this super cute cupcake holder from plasticland

and this epic cute cuckoo clock from plasticland


this set of small suitcases in apple green from Bake it Pretty...i could totally pack all my cake supplies in the large one to take on deliveries

these absolutely adorable TOMS (design drawn by winner of the Teen Vogue TOMS shoe design contest)....size 11 please (i really wear a 10...but the TOMS size 10 are a tiny bit to snug for comfort)

o well....maybe my "lucky numbers" off of my fortune cookie will win me the lotto

xo
-e

design love

I saw this today on Apartment Therapy and thought it was the cats pajamas and just had to pass it on. This "wallpaper" is the work of artist Payton Cosell Turner.




The "wallpaper" is made up of hundreds of thousands hand applied stickers!!! i love stickers. since I'm not a billionaire and would never be able to afford to do this on a large scale it do think it would be fun to experiment on a small scale....maybe as a series of framed pictures that you can add to over time? you could probably also make your own stickers....print your own designs or tiny photos on sticky paper. When i see stuff like this it makes me smile and encourages me to never suppress my imagination....always think outside the box.

love it!!

t-shirt latch hook rug DIY

i found this weeks DIY on Xoelle (click to see directions) and just had to pass it on. i saw something similar at Urban Outfitters not that long ago and loved it....but not the price tag. im sure dave is going to cringe when he sees this...i can just hear him saying "...not another craft project." its true....hello my name is erin and im a arts and crafts junkie....and love every bit of it....tehehehe. i wont make this just yet dave....dont worry. but i will file it away in the "someday soon" folder.




she used 51 white t-shirts that she scavenged from her home and from thrift stores (im not sure how big her rug was but by the pictures it was a good size). i have all sorts of fun ideas flowing through my brain right now. for example, since the t-shirts are latch on in a grid you could take your favorite Minipop (like the beatles yellow submarine era) and translate it with t-shirt colors in your rug....it may not look super exact but i think that would be fun. you could also latch in differet materials here and there to create some interesting textures (like satin, tweeds, terry cloth, ribbon).

The Sketchbook Project 2011

i love reading new blogs....and today while reading through Geninne's Art Blog (an extremely talented artist in Mexico who has a love for birds) i read a post about "The Sketchbook Project 2011." i was immediately interested and decided to participate.



I think its a wonderful idea! you choose from a theme (hurry they fill up and you have to choose from what is left) and they send you a blank Moleskin sketchbook. you fill it up with art that loosely fits your theme and send it back. then, like a rock band tour, they tour the sketchbooks around the nation. each sketchbook has a barcode and they send you alerts whenever someone checks it out to view....how cool is that? after the tour they will reside permanently at the Brooklyn Art Library.

The theme i choose is "things found on restaurant napkins." i think it will be fun. i feel alot of coffee tea staining happening. After choosing that theme i semi regretted it....i also really want to do the "dirigibles and submersibles" one...but i dont think i will have time to do two. the sketchbooks have to be postmarked by January 5th, 2011 so im gunna have to work fast.

etsy finds....

this week i finally broke down and ordered some "Washi" Japenese masking tape. you might be asking yourself...why did your order masking tape? well i ordered it because i haven't found it anywhere in town (but im also the "last one to hear" kind of people so that may be a lie)....and because its beautiful!!! look



ive seen it used in so many places lately....handmade cards or invitations, inspiration/craft journals, artwork...etc. ive been avoiding buying it for several months now and i caved. its so pretty and bright...and if you know me well im a magnet to pretty and bright colors...i cant help it.

i also caved and bought these absolutely fabulous pieces of art from The Black Apple.



This is a set of postcards from her "Lost on on the Midway" vintage carnival themed series. i would love to have prints of the whole series but i cant afford them...i would love a couple prints of anything in her shop for my birthday though..HINT...HINT. these are small and will fit in some small black frames i bought on clearance a couple of years ago...it will make a nice tiled wall display. I first saw her work a couple of years ago and of course fell in love with it....so pretty. I started following her blog a few months ago and of course love it. She talks about art, cats, and food....3 of my favorite things.

what have you found on etsy lately? anything i should check out?

busy week....

its been a busy week at work and by the time i have time to catch up on reading my blogs and writing new ones...i haven't felt like it. so sorry...I've been away for a few days. remember the terrarium DIY blog? well i finally attempted it last night. let me tell ya...unless you have moss growing somewhere around your house its kinda hard to find....well at least in the places you would expect to find it. i had everything else i needed...jar, rocks, charcoal (which i bought activated carbon for fish tanks cause the nursery didn't have any for plants...weird huh?...but the fish guy told be it would do the trick), and soil. so i went to the big nursery around the corner from my house and asked for live moss. they didn't have any which surprised me. of course i would rather not buy moss since it should be outside and free for the taking but i live in an area that has perfectly manicured lawns and landscaped foliage areas....and NO moss. so while i was looking around Michael's at some of their pretty apothecary jars...which i may have to go back and get...so pretty...i rounded a corner and bam hibernating dried moss. what the heck...i guess now that i think about it its not that weird that Michael's has moss but it never occurred to me that they would have it. i also picked up some cheap modeling clay to sculpt tiny little mushrooms and hobbit holes to put in my terrariums. here is my progress so far.



all they had was "deerfoot" moss at michael's and im not super impressed with it. i may order or try and find some "feather" moss or other cool looking ones in the park this weekend. i also need to figure out how to get my mushrooms and mr. snail to dry...they were still mold-able this morning...maybe baking them...the clay didn't come with instructions because it was the cheap multi pack. any advice?



aren't they cute! when they dry i will put them in the jars and make my own little miniature fern gully. maybe ill get lucky and find some larger glass containers this weekend so i can make a large terrarium....i feel some thrifting coming on!!

crazy weekend / vintage train case remake: part 2

i worked on...and might be finished with my vintage train case remake (i may or may not add more). all i need to do is get some poly spray and seal in the paint and the paper appliqués. Here is how it turned out



i think it looks ok....not sure if im completely happy with it yet. what do you think?

on to the "crazy" part of this post. i may have mentioned last week that i had a graduation cake to work on this weekend. it was a simple enough cake...half sheet cake with some simple graduation decorations on it. i had no problem getting it done...i was done on time. so its 30 min before i need to deliver the cake (the place is 10 min away) and i go out to my truck to make sure that there is a space clear to put the cake. when i get back to my front door and its locked....and all i have with me is my car keys. *#@* @#^* $@#* ...thats what came out of my mouth. luckily i had my cell phone in my pocket. boyfriend to the rescue. i caught him at the right time too...he was about to leave town for the week and i caught him right before he left. and even more perfect timing...he got to my place 2min before the cake recipients showed up to pick up the cake. as much as it sucked to be locked out of my house for 45 min in 100 degree weather....it was really nice to see dave for an hour before he went away for a week.



it was also nice of cricket to keep me company through the mail slot



she is so cute right. i could imagine her saying "o hai...why u out therez? plz to come in an pet me." i also was really appreciative that i could feel a cool breeze from the ac through the mail slot.

oh i forgot....

today is International Left-Handers Day....and being a lefty I thought i would pass that along....i haz pride in my backwards ways. Go here for more fun information on lefties and International Left-Handers Day.

it is also Friday the 13th....so watch out for crazy people....and maybe zombies.

friday DIY: Terrariums

ive been seeing terrariums everywhere lately on the interwebz....from tiny ones that are rings (yes for your finger) and large ones. i think they are really cute...they remind me of fairy gardens or a minature Fern Gully (is that on dvd...someone please buy it for me for my birthday). Anywho i was reading one of my fav blogs this morning, The Dainty Squid, and Kaylah posted a link for a DIY Terrarium...so excited to try this. I am using the pictures off of their website so please go to IndieBliss.com for the full post.

Materials:
-a glass container that has a tight fitting lid (whatever size you want)
-good dirt and rocks
- Figurines or decorative rocks to place inside. I went with an animal theme and also made little mushrooms out of sculpture clay. The animals we got at a toy store. Little houses also work well, but this step is really up to your personal preferences.
-Horticultural Charcoal. (You need this to soak up gasses or keep the water clean or something like that. I’ve read conflicting reports about whether you actually need this or not, but it won’t hurt to have it.)
-Moss (another one of those things you can find outside, but can also order if you don’t live somewhere it doesn’t grow naturally).
-Spray bottle (for misting after wards).

Step 1: Wash your container and rocks to make sure there is nothing there that can contaminate the terrarium


Step 2: Start layering your base. First the rocks, then charcoal, then dirt.


Step 3: Add your moss, and give it a couple shot glasses (depending on the container size) of water.


Step 4: Add your figurines as you please and ta-da....leave it alone and watch it flurish




cute right? ive never made one before so i dont how well this will work....esp in muggy 'ole houston....but we'll see. it does give the hint to not keep it in direct sunlight. if it starts to grow mold then something is wrong....i think. if anyone have different instructions or advice on terrariums please post it in the comments!

Part 2 of the DIY Vintage Train Cake remake is coming up stay tuned.

sleepy

i made the mistake of drinking a large-ish cup of coffee last night around 6pm. Big mistake...esp cause all i drink is extra bold. i drank the coffee because i had a bad sinus headache and sometimes caffine helps....it did help but it also successfully kept me awake til about 2am this morning. so while i was wide awake last night i watched my newest netflix arrival "Ballet Shoes" with Emma Watson (Hermione in HP). It's based on the childrens book and I thought it was really cute. i also started cutting out colors from old magazines to use on part 2 of my Vintage Train Case Remake (see a couple posts below). i was hoping to finish the train case this week but I may not finish until monday....i have a graduation cake to make this weekend and since the cake is for a girl graduating from Texas A&M University...(whoop im class of '05) i need to make it extra special. ill post pics of it later this weekend.

i was reading through Re-Nest today (part of the Apartment Therapy blog family)and i found a DIY Fruit and Veggie wash that i thought would be good to pass on. Fruits and veggies should always be a big part of your everyday diet...no matter where you buy your produce you should always give it a good wash (especially if you buy your produce at the grocery store). Waxes and other preservative coatings are sprayed on your produce prior to them being stocked at your store. While they most likely wont harm you, its just a good idea to give your fruits and veggies a good wash.

Produce Wash

1 cup water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon baking soda
20 drops grapefruit seed extract (available at Whole Foods or your local health food store or you can substitute lemon juice in a pinch)

Combine all ingredients in a large container. Then, transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce (avoid using on mushrooms), let sit 5 to 10 minutes and rinse.

Alternative (good for berries, beans and smaller produce)

Large bowl or sink of cool water
4 tablespoons salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon.

Combine water and salt. When salt has dissolved, add lemon juice. Soak produce for 10 minutes and rinse.

xoxo
-e

Vintage Train Case Remake: Part 1

i love vintage train cases and vintage luggage. i only have a couple pieces of vintage luggage that i have gleamed from the family (or rather saved from being thrown away)...and i havent yet been lucky enough to find any good ones at the thrift stores. so i started looking around the interwebz to see if i could buy a vintage train case thats in good condition for cheap. bada-bing-bada-boom i found one on ebay...for cheap. it is a samsonite horizon series train case from the 60's/70's. the pictures that the seller put up made the case look like a bright turquoise-y blue....but when it got to me it was a darkish/dull/grey blue color...more blah than i had envisioned. so i decided to remake/up-cycle the case and make it look just the way i want it.



so with some blue painters tape, one can of "blue ocean breeze" Krylon spray paint, and some patients i repainted my train case.

intructs:
(1.) i put painters tape around the metal/chrome accent pieces as well as the handle.
(2.) i recommend turning it on its head and painting the bottom half first...since you dont see the bottom much it wont matter if the paint gets scratched while painting the top half. (by the way the bottom didnt get scratched when i painted the top)
(3.) once the body has been painted you can take the painters tape off and tape off the top and bottom sections so you can spray the mid portion (the small strip of vinyl in between the lid and the base)

tip: if you get some paint on the metal/chrome bits you can use nail polish remover with acetone and carefully wipe the areas of over-spray.

im not done with this case yet!! while looking for train cases i found a collection Etsy.com that were so cute...but i could not afford the $80 price tag attached to them.



the work is beautiful, but would be simple and easy for me to do myself. i can decoupage with the best of 'em...so thats what im going to do.

stay tuned for part 2 !!!

xoxo
-e

jones'n for the beach

i have been jones'n for a trip to the beach. usually during the summer dave and i go down to the beach (galveston) a couple times a month, but with dave's work schedule and my schedule we just havent had the chance. lately ive been listening to alot of Sublime, Slightly Stupid, Pepper, and the Dirty Heads....which is sort of beachy..and its making the craving worse. fingers crossed in a couple of weeks when our schedules open up we can go spend some time in the sand and sun.






the beach in Nice, France





one of my favorite pics of nico and dave from a couple of years ago...so sweet


galveston plays a free movie on the first saturday of the month. it's projected on a giant inflatable screen outside...the boys were playing cards waiting for the movie to start (check out the boys matching hoodies...so cute..it got cool once the sun went down so we bought them the same hoodie) i really miss going to the beach....it really is one of my most favorite things to do with dave and nico.

ill post pics when we go

xo
-e

Healthy Living

I read many blogs everyday....in one of my regulars she mentioned a healthy living/lifestyle blog called Chemical Free Skinny ...so i started reading it. There is alot of useful information on that blog...people write in with questions I know I have asked myself before and other questions that i hadn't yet thought of asking. They also post new health alerts, post yummy healthy receipes,living green tips, and fun facts.

While Im not the most healthiest of people...i do enjoy a good cheeseburger from time to time...i am trying to make a conscience effort to do better. i will be 27 in 2 months exactly from today and i need to start taking better care of my body so it will hold up.

Here are some tips that i absorbed while reading Chemical Free Skinny today:

-Aspartame (artificial sweetner that is in everthing aka *Nurta Sweet, Equal, Sucralos, or the Pink Packets) turns into formaldehyde when heated up to 86*F...our body stays around 96*F or higher on a hot day. I have always been allergic to Aspartame or any other derivative so I know I'm safe but i have many friends and family members that drink diet sodas, juices, energy drinks, etc that contain this....Stop people..its killing you!!

-Oatmeal and Onion Puree face mask - helps unclog pores and heal acne scars. Go here for the receipe

-Lemon and Yogurt Whitening face mask - can lighten acne or other scaring without the strong chemicals put in OTC "dark spot removers." Go here for the receipe

-Nitrate in processed meats is a large contributor to weight gain

-Refrigerate berries as soon as possible. Dont allow berries to be out of refrigeration for longer than 2 hours. Always wash before refrigerating or before eatting

-Buy local - google farmers markets near your zip code. take cash just in case and your own produce bags (use cloth or reuse plastic bags from previous grocery trips). You may find other fun things there too like natural soaps, fresh flowers, and other homemade products!

-clean your computer desk/workspace often with anti-bacterial cleaners...there is alot of hidden ick all over it



im not saying you need to move into a treehouse powered by bicycle and scavenge for nuts and berries, but small changes in your lifestyle will improve your overall life experience. this post is mainly for me...i need to live more healthy...and maybe you'll get something good out of it too. i will continue to pass on any good nuggets of info when i find them.

xo
-e

Half-Marathon Training...

...started today..eek!!! I ran in the Houston Chevron/Aramco Half Marathon this year back in January. Since then I haven't really run. I don't know if all the training we did burnt me out on running or if I was just being lazy, but today was my first day back to running. It was brutal. I run with some friends of mine and even though we know running at 5:30 in the evening in Houston (103•F by the way) is a mistake it's the only time we can run. I barely made it. The track we run on is a 3 mile loop. I was able to squeak out 1.25 miles running....and then dragged my body at the slowest walk possible the rest of the way.

Why am I doing this...I don't know must be a crazy person...well I felt like a crazy person today. My group has started training again because we want to do the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in New Orleans in February. I would have done the Houston Half again but they are doing this absurd "lottery style" entry...where you may or may not get picked to participate. It's stupid...so I figure I've never been to the Big Easy...this seems like a fun excuse to go.

Anywho trying to wind down and get some zzzzzz..... Gnight

Xo
-e

case of the mondays

last night i had the worst headache right before bed. i dred that because it become the battle of "do i take something" or "do i just try and sleep and hope that the headache is gone in the am?" last night i caved....about 11pm i took one tylenol pm. i usually take excedrine migrane or extra strength but it has caffine...and im out...so i took the tylenol pm. it is usually a good choice but i took it way to late. as a result i am a zombie...i feel like i cant open my eyes all the way....im really hoping my giant coffee sitting next to me will do the trick. if not it will be a bad/sleepy day.
(FYI while i was typing that i took a sip of coffee and burnt all the tastebuds off my tongue....the coffee is HOT!!!)

so while im trying to get out this zombie state...head on over to Brandi's blog Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno....they are having a huge giveaway (that i want...so..yea).

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anywho...thats all for now...but i shall return with tales from the weekends bathroom cabnet refinishing project...and i still owe you a DIY