A Blingy Wall

All my jewelry lived in a box. All tangled together. It was sad. I decided to do something about it, and I had a cork board hanging out unused. So...

I traced a design, using a tissue box to help me with the right angles.

Filled it in with my favorite color of acrylic paint.

Laa laa laa...

Gave it a second coat for extra boldness.

Ooh la la!

It took an hour of tracing and painting, then I gave it about three hours to dry before I pinned up my things. I'm glad to have easy access and fewer tangled chains.

Some Valentine's Love

I'm a celebrater. I celebrate anything. But I really, really like to celebrate Valentine's Day. I think it's nice to do nice things for the people you love! So here's what I did:

I got cardstock from Michaels (keep an eye out for 40% off coupons on the website!) and the rest I had on hand.

I took a finished-off toilet paper roll, folded it into a heart shape, and used the shape as a stamp in acrylic red paint.

I let that dry overnight, then used Crafty glue to add on ribbon trim. I used three sweet flavors of ribbon:

But most important, I think, are the nice written inside. :)

There Is No Cow Level

Ken and I celebrated our 6th anniversary [of dating] this month, so to celebrate, I gave him several gifts that reflect video games that we've played together over the years.

One thing that brought the two of us together in the first place was our shared enjoyment of Diablo 2. I didn't know that other people had played it. And he didn't know what a BA sorceress I could be.

So when it came time to think of a Diablo 2-related gift, I considered coming up with some rendition of the Lord of Terror himself. Then I remembered this chilling scene:

 Moo. Moo moo. MoooOOOooo.

So I painted this:

He liked it. :)

J & L Adventure 8: Breaking out the sewing machine!

I've had a lovely new sewing machine for several months, but up until just a few days ago, I had barely touched it!

But I know that sometimes, all it takes is a buddy to get you through a block. So when Lindsey wanted to do a shirt refashion, I knew I could gain the confidence to use my machine!

We found a tutorial that described how to turn old t-shirts into little aprons.

from Ruffles And Stuff

Here's how ours turned out!

Before...

After!

Feels great to know how to use my machine now!

Gettin' Jolly: J & L Adventure 7!

Lindsey and I weren't feeling merry enough, so we made merriness together!

We started off by doing a little crafting. While she finished her Plarn Bag, I worked on making some festive snowflakes for my window. She made a few, too, which I personally think are the prettiest.

(my neighbors wreath reflected in my window makes this scene especially festive!)

Then we got to work making some holiday candy.

We had several things we wanted to try, but we settled on fudge and peppermint bark.

We had tons of fun breaking up the peppermint candies with a hammer!

I think half of the reason our candy tastes so good was because it looks so good. Mmmmm!

We hope to meet again soon to keep egging the holiday spirit on!

I'm in stores!

I'm not going to lie - I've been one VERY busy beaver! I've been just crocheting my fingers off, but for a very good reason. Mod Pod Decor is selling some of my handmade hats in their store here in Corvallis! Woo hooooo! Here is a flood of pictures of the hats I made for them:

I wonder if I'll start seeing some of my own designs on the heads of people around town. Wouldn't that be neat?

Pushpin & Yarn Tree

As my apartment goes, one of my priorities is to make sure that everything is well-decorated and interesting. But because I like my space to reflect its inhabitants, this is a long process. I've been here a year and I'm nowhere near done!

But today I checked a project off my to-do list that has been there for about a year: imitate this cool piece of art.

(Click image for original post)

My bathroom has a lot of trees, birds, and cool colors - so I decided to make a small version of this tree in there.

My weapons.

My land to be conquered.

Watch my tree grow!

Done!

I love how this fills up the space - and how the reflection looks in the mirror!

Plus, now some of my vinyl birds have a place to nest. :)

His & Hers Fish Paintings

I've been looking for more art to fill my office wall, and when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I thought it would be great to make my own!

I'd link you to the original DIY, but unfortunately I couldn't find a working link. Here is OP's blog.

The pin said to use Elmer's Glue or Puff Paint, but I wanted some extra dimension so I used hot glue. I also decided to use two of our favorite colors on each painting instead of one.

Here is what I made! I seem to have started a fish motif in my apartment, and I wanted to continue that with this project.

For Kenny, a narwhal in purple and blue. 

And for myself, a koi in red and orange.

I really love how these turned out! What do you think?

Pop Tab Bracelet

I have a very large number of pop tabs that I've been collecting in a cup for the last two years or so. I keep seeing cool pop tab projects and getting inspired, but I haven't done anything with them yet.

So when I saw this project on Pinterest I figured, that can't be too difficult, right?

Well, it definitely took some noodling out. The video that they included in their post was very helpful!

Here's what I made:

I figured that bright orange would be great for school spirit functions. ;)
(Go Beavs!)

My Eco-Easy Wall Art

This idea has been floating around on my Arts & Crafts board for quite a long time, but I've finally completed it!

Here is the original:

And here's what I came up with!

I chose light mint for my all-over color and added in bursts of yellow and purple.

It took a LONG time to collect all of the toilet paper rolls - and my awesome mom contributed MANY - but I think it looks great!

Plus, it has filled a big visual void on my wall. Yay!

J & L Adventure 6: Plastic tote bag!

Lindsey showed me this fun recycling project on Etsy, and we knew we had to try making it.

We each used around 16 plastic bags. This is what I came up with!

Here's the rundown:

• I used a bigger hook - they used a K and I used a Q - so the stitches were much bigger (and the project certainly much faster). I also did single crochet rather than half double crochet.
• Different color plarn leads to a different color bag. I like the look of mine!
• Their handles come up off the bag, whereas mine are kind of built into the bag. I was worried that any kind of heavy object might cause the thin handles to stretch and warp, so I wanted it to be a little sturdier. To achieve this, about three rows from the top I skipped a few stitches and did a few chains in their place, then continued stitching. It effectively made a hole that is a good, sturdy handle.
• My bag is a little smaller than theirs. I think they probably used 20-25 bags while I used around 16.

I don't know how I'll end up using this bag, but it sure is cute! I'm open to suggestions ;)

DIY Soap Dispenser Update

I have this problem.

I really dislike the look of the plastic soap pumps that you get when you buy soap not in bulk.

I have another problem too - a college kid budget. :P

I was shopping around for new soap pumps for my kitchen and bathroom, and I really couldn't find any that fit the theme of either. I found kinda-suitable ones, but they were about $7.50 each.

It really just doesn't feel good to buy stuff that only kind of works, that you only kind of like. So I put my thinking cap on, and I came up with...

Ribbon!

I am a big ribbon fan. It's so versatile and pretty and you can do pretty much anything with it.

And it's WAY less expensive than new soap pumps! I lucked out and got these two rolls of ribbon on sale - these two soap pumps cost me $5 instead of getting two new "meh" ones for $15.

DIY TIME!

Apply some kind of adhesive to your ribbon. I used double-sided tape for the red polka-dot one, but switched to hot glue for the blue one. I bet you could also use tacky glue, or... anything you want really.

Start wrapping...

Keep wrapping... (good-bye, label!)

Done!

I love the blue one in my bathroom, too!

Plus, I have a bunch of leftover ribbon to use when I scrapbook. Or when I make cards to send to my friends. Or decorate gifts. Or... :)