Monthly Archives: March 2012

Spring Wreath

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So I just took down the last of my Christmas decorations this week. That’s pretty bad. The lights were on my porch railing for 4 months. I took down the garland last month but the festive lights decided to hang around. April starts Sunday so I officially decided enough was enough.

The good new is……

Spring is here! Flowers are blooming! Grass is growing! Because of all this a Spring wreath for my front door was in order. When I was home last week I mentioned this to my mom on a whim and she whisked me to the flower shop where she works to find me one. I looked at all their beautiful wreaths but couldn’t find the perfect one.

So she custom-made me one. When you can’t find exactly what you want you should make it! I picked out a nice plain one for her to embellish.

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The Heat Came Too Early

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Summer weather in March is insane! I hate hot weather and so does my dog so he got a haircut about 3 months early. It was 75 degrees outside for a week. I’ve been wearing shorts, t-shirts, and sandals and I’ve already gotten a sunburn. This cannot be Missouri weather.

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Building With My Grandpa

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Over the weekend, I visited my wonderful family, including my mother and kitty, Skate, shown below. The entire clan lives in my hometown except for me. So trips home are hectic trying to fill every spare minute seeing everyone.

Besides seeing family and friends I had several objectives to finish over four days: 1. Buy beads for an upcoming jewelry project to be featured here very soon, 2. Buy a children’s book at Barnes & Noble for a homemade Kindle Fire case also to be featured here very soon, 3. Find a gorgeous spring wreath at the flower shop where my mom works (she handmade me one in the end) also to be featured here soon, 4. Redesign my handcrafted desk into a bookshelf with the help of my amazing grandfather to be featured right now!

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My “New” Cameras

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Hello all!

I visited my family this past weekend and borrowed my Dad’s old cameras. He was/is a great photographer. I remember him being behind this camera all the time when I was a little kid.

I am really interested in photography but don’t know all about it yet. Last weekend he taught me all about aperture, focus, lighting, shutter speed, ISO…..

I need a good photography book. I know that I could probably look it all up online but I’d rather thumb through a book. I love books.

The big guy on the right is a Kiev 88 made in Ukraine. I am definitely not ready to brave him yet.

The Pentax K1000 is calling my name though. I’m off to learn more!

Custom Serving Tray – Part 3 – Final Reveal

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So the last step has finally come! Tune into Custom Serving Tray – Part 1 and Part 2 to get caught up on the project.

I put together the frame, grouted the tile, and now we are to the final step: handles!

In order to make sure they were perfect I made a template with a spare piece of wood.

As you can see, it took me a few times to get my measurements and holes just right. I’m not the best at drilling and I definitely didn’t want wobbly handles so I took my time to get it just right.

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Custom Serving Tray – Part 2

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If you didn’t tune in on Monday, I am in the midst of making a custom serving tray! Check out Custom Serving Tray – Part 1 to catch up where I left off.

I completed the frame and moved on to the pretty part – the glass tiles! I love cool colors and I love shopping on a budget so I checked out the clearance tiles at Home Depot and found this beautiful tile on sale.

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Job Wanted!

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“Unemployment. 53% of 18-24 year olds are living at home again or never moved out of their parent’s house. 28% of 25-32 year olds have moved back in.”

I heard this on the radio yesterday and I think I’ve been hearing this on every possible news source since I can remember. The economy is bad but it seems that it is always bad. It’s not about finding a job. It’s about finding the job you actually want. For most people that doesn’t include almost all the available jobs.

I graduated in May 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with an emphasis in Journalism. I tried out a multimedia internship after graduation that was amazing but not THE job I wanted. I was working for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a multimedia journalist. I traveled to several state parks to collect pictures, video, and interviews of the parks to create multimedia pieces for their new web sites. (Some of my work is below).

Battle of Athens State Historic Site

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Custom Serving Tray – Part 1

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So last year for Christmas I was inspired, as it seems most were, to do a semi-homemade gift exchange. My mother is very hard to shop for so I knew that things I made with love would mean so much more to her.

One of my gifts was inspired by a tutorial on Design Sponge. The map etched tray, shown below, is absolutely gorgeous but not exactly what I wanted to do. 

I decided to use this as inspiration to make my own beautiful serving tray. It turned out gorgeous and my Mom and family loved it. Since Christmas I have been dying to make one for myself though. So last week I did just that and I’m going to share all the steps with my lovely readers!

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Hiking All Over the World

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So far in my life I have been lucky to hike in some pretty amazing places.

When I was 18, my step dad and I attempted to hike the Yorkshire, England Three Peaks Walk which takes in the summits of Pen-y-ghent (2,276 feet), Whernside (2,415 feet) and Ingleborough (2,372 feet) all in one circular route. The walk is 24.5 miles long and takes in over 5,000 feet of climbing. Finishing in under 12 hours is a feat to boast and also admits you into membership of the Three Peaks of Yorkshire Club. My step dad, native of Yorkshire, is a member.

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Safety Can Be Pretty Too

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I have lived in this house on Shannon Lane 1.5 years now and I have wanted to do just about a million things to update it, make it safer, or make it prettier. But so many things have gotten in the way (i.e. my job, lack of sleep, lack of funds, etc).

So recently I found the time to start this blog as an outlet for all these ideas and to insure I carried them out so as not to disappoint my few readers thus far.

I love projects. I love the planning, buying the supplies, the creativity, the execution, and especially the results. I probably do a couple practical projects, crafty projects, or just plain necessary projects every week but I was never photographing them!

So a couple of days ago I did a very practical project, made it pretty, photographed it and the process, and started using it.

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