24 days till the Mitzvah!

I'm getting so excited and it isn't even my party. :)) Here are a few updates. Sorry for the repeats. We are nailing down final details and I'm trying to not add on too many extras.

Craft Sale

Hey guys! I can't believe it has been over a month since my last visit here. I have had a busy time at work lately with my annual conferences and family time has kept me occupied as well. Last month was the Lucie's Place craft event where I sold some of my items.


My good buddy saved up copy paper boxes for a long time to help me make my setup. I put duct tape around all of the edges to add stability. I ended up covering each shelf with moss that I had from moss table runners from my wedding. While it added a nice effect, all of my items had moss clinging to them. ;) Overall, I was pretty happy with how everything turned out. I did the best that I could. I was proud of all of my items and felt like I prepared the best that I could. If I ever did this sort of thing again, I'd be sure to bring something to work on as it gets boring and I get nervous when people are shopping at my booth.

Peppermint Fail

I've seen this all over the Pinterest. Everyone makes these cutesy peppermint trays to display their cutesy holiday baked goods. Yeh yeh. How hard can it be? Fail. So I read a ton of tutorials and the basic idea is, use a pan with borders so you will have nice edges, use parchment paper, and space evenly. I think I went wrong in two ways: 1. I had too many peppermints and it was too thick. 2. I baked too long and it bubbled up.

oops!

 

I did a retake and it didn't turn out too bad. It was mostly just underwhelming, as were the snickerdoodle cookies sitting on it. ;)

It's a Bird!

Dusting this badboy off... Sorry for the neglect, friend. Life takes over and before you know it you have no energy left for blogging. I did get a little crafting in last week. The wifey and I got invited to two(!) white elephant parties. I saw this Flamingo on Pinterest and being a person who loves to glue things to things, I knew I had to try it. So simple. I ordered a 2-pack of flamingos on amazon.com. I'm going to do a charity craft sale this spring and I saw Walmart and Lowes have whole flocks of flamingos for pretty cheap so that may be the best way to go. Without further ado, I present my bird.

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Felted Cat Hair

Warning: Potentially creepy post ahead. ;)

I'm just gonna say it. I felted my cats. Well, I got this book for my birthday called Crafting With Cats and I immediately felt compelled to give one of the tutorials a try. I had no idea cat hair would felt! And it's a free endless resource at my house. Or so I thought. Now I brush my cats 2x daily and they just aren't giving it up. I'm not exactly sure what this felting idea will turn into. I've been thinking about making cat toys out of them but I'm not sure how well they will hold up. I'll give it a try. But for now, the moment you're all waiting for...photos.

This is her happy face. lol Brush, vacuum, repeat. Cut out a cardboard kitty template and cover it in packing tape so it keeps its shape when it gets wet.

Wrap your cardboard kitty many times in kitty fur and then put a little soap on the fur, soak in hot water and then wrap with saran wrap. Use your fingers to gently rub the materials. I'd say 5 minutes is good. Check every now and then to make sure your fur is in place. Be sure your ears are pointy! Unwrap and dry. I was dying to see what it looked like so I put the iron on it a few times to dry.

Now your kitty is flat and has stray hairs all over it. I trimmed those with the scissors. Next, cut the bottom almost all the way off and fold that little strip over to make a tail. You'll see what I mean in the next photo.

 I don't have beads handy for the eyes but I tied a cute little bow around her neck.

Kitty cat finger puppet is complete.


Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Bollywood Food Stands

On my quest to save money and have a fancy themed party, I wrapped random household items in gold vinyl (why on earth do I have gold vinyl laying around?!). I put my gold Holiday chargers on top to have serving plates on top of them. I added heavy stuff inside so hopefully they will withstand the weight of the food. This could be messy! hehe 

Bollywood Murder Mystery Bash

I made it to 30! And as much as I would love to post all of the photos from my big night, this is all you get. ;) I was surrounded by all of my favorite people and felt so loved. I don't think the night could have been better...unless maybe I skipped that last glass of champagne. Ahh... Everyone really outdid themselves with their costuming and the murder mystery game was just too hilarious!

So close to 30, I can taste it!

Sooo, my very best friend from Junior High School wanted to get me a cake for my birthday. I can't wait to see what it looks like. I've been coveting those blingy cake numbers that I see all over Pinterest for months now so I made my own. Big improvement!

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Whimsical Seussical Mantel

 

At last! Well, almost. I have one more piece to put together. It may be a little overwhelming but you can't possibly overwhelm an 8 year old with Christmas decorations. It melted my heart when she said, "Kort, you're the best at Christmas Spirit." Exactly what I was going for. But then she went on to tell me that the outside of a house is more important than decorating the inside...my measly strand of lights isn't cutting it.

d.i.y. branch tree

 

That d*mn tree branch isn't going to scratch me anymore! For the past few months, I've been running into a low hanging branch on my way to the compost bin. I was in desperate need of a nice limb for my buffet table decor so it had to go. I spray painted it gold and hung mini ornaments from it. What do you think? Kortney=1 Evil Branch=0.

Very Grinchy Christmas

 This was a crazy idea... it might work as a whole. I traced a picture of the Grinch on plain white paper then tore tiny pieces of paper, tissue paper, and cotton balls to cover it. I made a frame using an old cardboard box and covered it in green duct tape. I need a little work on my scissor skills. lol Must fix that straight edge, now!

2012: Year In Review

Holy Smokes! They are here! They are here!! I've been working on these bad boys for what feels like forever. One day, I had enough and I ordered them. I ordered them from vistaprint.com because they have the best prices, really. I'll be honest, I'm a wee bit disappointed in the color quality because I previewed and previewed and tweaked till they were perfect. *breathe* It's not the end of the world. What do you think? Oh, and as always, my family's names and face are blurred. I promise they are adorable. ;)

Seuss Felt Stockings

Okay, so I didn't recycle these. But they only cost .60 each. That's fair, right? We are celebrating Christmas at my inlaws so we are taking our massive tree with us. (Whew!) Does anyone else start to feel a little claustrophobic with a huge tree in the house? This year we are putting up a few small trees and keeping it simple. We couldn't have maroon stockings to go with our theme so I whipped up some quick felt stockings, and by quick, I mean quick. I hot-glued these. :X Is that a sin? It should be. I've been known to hot glue costumes together while wearing them.  I traced some stocking printables and cut the shapes out and made another piece for the backing. I think they are kinda cute.

Recycled Reindeer

I saw this Reindeer on BHG and fell in love...only I needed mine to be on drugs or something. I feel really bad when I buy new decorations because I have...so...much...stuff. But making them from items I already have is totally acceptable. The tutorial is on BHG.com so I won't reinvent the wheel. It's perfect. Cut, decorate, glue.

 

I cut too many of the U shaped pieces (only need one).

A little scrapbook paper and modge podge. 

The original:

State Pin Art

 There you have it, I'm an Arkansan. To be honest, I absolutely love Arkansas. I was talking with some people this weekend who are transports to the state who can't find anything to love here. I think it is what you make it. I can't seem to find enough time to do all of the things I want to do. I've been hoarding this idea that I saw here months ago. I purchased the supplies but never found time to complete it. It requires a lot of hammering of nails, and once you get those nails hammered, it loosens up all of the nails that you've already hammered...and once you wrap those nails, they get looser...and then you re-hammer those nails again. Endless loop of getting angry/getting your anger out. ha. It was definitely a fun project. I think my little one will be able to make one of these with some help. My wife talks about all of the cool things her dad taught her to do when she was little and I joke that my dad gave me a hammer, a board, and a hand full of nails and told me to keep busy. ;) I can't tell you why I chose these colors, looking at the photo all I can think is "why did I choose those colors?" I guess they just spoke to me. I printed an outline of the state and cut it out and then hammered my nails around the perimeter. I free-handed the heart, which is never a good idea. The tutorial I read said to be sure and use as many nails as possible for the heart, I didn't. It would have looked a lot better if I did. Note to self, listen. I think that's about it. Not bad for a quick gift.

Moroccan Theme Party Invitations

 

Hey guys. I know it says age 29 over there but it won't be that way for long. 22 days till the big Three-Oh! Let's breathe together. ;) The only thing keeping me sane right now is birthday party planning. What kind of party you ask? Oh, it's a Bollywood Murder Mystery party. I couldn't settle on a theme. I wanted a theme party with costumes and I especially wanted one where I can wear something crazy fun and...my favorite game is Clue and I saw a Living Social for a murder mystery party so I bought it. Of course the party was "Murder in Hollywood" and now it's "Murder in Bollywood." All names changed to protect the innocent. I'm having so much fun planning this party, I've got so many projects in the works and I'll be sure to post them here. First, my invitations...

 I used two gold foil doilies of different sizes for the medallion and made a bellyband with a gold ribbon to wrap around the invitation.