I Stand Accused.

Boy, have I been a slacker. I will not, however, sit here an make excuses, though I can easily come up with a million of them.

I know that today is Etsy Crush day, and boy do I have some new ones, but I’m only going to share one with you.

This tunic is the new object of my obsession. I love it and I’ve been debating on buying it for days. Go here to buy it for yourself so that I can’t drool over it any longer. Or you could buy it for me.

On the other hand, I’m mentally obsessing over this impending Halloween Party.

Here are a few of my ideas:
Cultural Party – Everyone dress from a different culture
Masquerade Ball – May be a little over-the-top for my little podunk town, but I like the thought
And, of course, the regular costume party – which is still a fine idea

Can Halloween just be here now?? I love it so!

Halloween Party Ideas

David and I have decided that we’re going to through a super cool Halloween party this year. I’m crazy excited, but I need ideas. If you have some cool ideas or a website where I can find some, please share with me. It would be much appreciated. Ciao!

Raspberry Mojitos

David and I are grilling out T-bones tonight. Along with the steaks, I’m making mashed taters and homemade creamed corn. YUM!!

My mom went out to see the Amish today and brought me back some raspberries. I LOOOOVE raspberries. Since I have lots, David and I are going to have raspberry mojitos. It’s the perfect combination of his favorite drink and my favorite food. I’m dreadfully excited.

I got the following recipe and photo from Everyday with Rachel Ray. Enjoy!!

Raspberry Mojitos
Makes One Drink

Handful Fresh Mint Leaves
3 Whole Fresh Raspberries
Juice of 1 Lime
3 Teaspoons Sugar
Ice
1.5 oz Spiced Rum
Splash Club Soda

In a highball glass, muddle the mint, raspberries, lime juice and sugar. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice; add the rum and shake for 15 seconds. Pour into the glass and top with the club soda.

I hope you like the mojitos. I’m sure I will. Ciao!!

Etsy Crushes

Let me just say that it is hot outside. Whoa! I hate the heat.

I have really not been crafty the past couple of days. I feel like we have been running a mile a minute. All I want to do is sit down and create something. I have, however, been obsessing over etsy some more, and figured I would do some promoting of some of my favorite items/stores.

Decalmonograms has wonderful vinyl decals. The store features nature, modern, and monogram decals of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Here are a few examples:

  

 

Perdoozy is another favorite of mine. I plan on checking off a couple of christmas to-buys with this shop. They sell SUPER CUTE aprons.

I loooove Gamiworks. This shop sells glass tile jewelry that is to die for!!

 

And finally… Norakaren. She does hand painted peacocks on everything. They are absolutely beautiful!!

Anywho, this is what I’ve been spending my little bit of precious time doing. I’ll make something pretty soon to share with you, but until then, dote on someone else’s pretty things.

Tuesday Green Post – Compost Bins

David and I have been composting for a few weeks now. We started in a big old flower pot that was left on my porch from the previous inhabitants. It sat on my porch, completely unused (I dare not attempt to grow anything, my thumb is black), for about a year and a half. A few weeks ago, David started throwing leftover food, egg shells, corn cobs, leaves, and other living things in there for compost. It’s another of our green steps.

Well, as you can see, that pot filled up fast. So now we’re going to make a proper compost bin. They’re not hard to make, and it’s another easy way to do your part for the environment.

Here’s a tutorial at Wikihow to make your own compost bin out of an old garbage can, which is exactly what we’re doing. Here is a great article about maintaining a compost pile, which can easily be adjusted to a compost bin.

Don’t want to make your own bin or have a pile in your yard. There are plenty of bins out there in retail land that are very nice looking, and some even do most of the work for you. But beware, they can get expensive.

Now, if only I had the plants to put the composted dirt on. I really need to work on my growing skills. I’ve killed cacti.

Next Assignment

Well, after a long, semi relaxing weekend, I got my next assignment today for work. I’ve been requested to write an article on the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world.

This building blows my mind, not to mention the city in which it is being constructed. It is one of the world’s hottest (haha literally) tourist destinations in the world right now, and it’s in the middle of a desert!! I don’t even want to get on my spill about that right now. As a geographer, this place is especially intriguing to me. It’s a tourism anomoly; it’s fascinating!

Anyway, on another note, my little baby turns a whole half-a-year old tomorrow. David let her crib down tonight because she’s pulling her cute little self up now. Yesterday we went and did 6 month old pictures too. She smiled for almost every one. O I love her.

I also finally got a new phone. It’s really cool.

Tomorrow I’ll have good stuff up for you. Today has been a crazy day; I’m fixing to treat myself to a chick flick.

Toodles.

Do It Yourself Wine Journal

Earlier today I had a link to a tutorial to make journals. Well, I ran with it. Far.

I made my own Wine Journal!!

I have been looking for a simple inexpensive wine journal for a few months and David and I had just started putting them digitally into our famundo site but I want to keep labels as well. So I used the tutorial as a backdrop to make my own journal.

Here is what I did:

First I took black 8.5×11 cardstock and folded it.

I then took my information for a journal and printed it onto 10 pieces of regular white computer paper. I then took 9 of those and printed them on the back as well. I folded these.

I put the white papers into the black, punch for holes with an exacto knife, and threaded them with black polka dot ribbon. I pulled through the second hole from outside to inside. Through first hole from inside to outside. Through last (fourth) hole from outside to inside. Then through third hole from inside to outside.

 

Next, I tied the two ends in a bow, finishing the binding.

Now, time to decorate. I simply made title badges and adhered it to a deep red card stock, which was then adhered to the book. I used red paper because this is my red wine book. I’ll use an off-white for white wines and a light pink for the rose. Decorating is wide open of course. Have fun with it. Here’s my finished product.

Here is a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD for the pages and the front labels. I hope you enjoy these as much as I know that I will.

There is a place on each pages for notes or a label, or both if you write small. If you’ve never tried taking off labels, you’re in for a treat. It’s really not hard, and there’s no sense to buy into any fancy label-remover kits. I have found that the easiest way is to lay bottles on the rack in your oven, turn it on to about 150 degrees and let them sit for about 45 minutes. This makes the glue sticky, at which point you take a sharp knife and carefully run it under the label until it comes free. The glue should still be sticky enough to place it right into the book.

Enjoy!!

Party Planning Mode: Commenced.

I received some fantastic news last night!! A very good friend of David and I is back from Iraq. He’s a marine and has been stationed over there for over two years now, I believe. Anyhow, he’s back, which makes me so happy. I think of him often. Though, he isn’t home for good.

So, I’m in party planning mode. He will be spending Saturday evening with us. David and I were already planning a small burger night for friends, but now it is extra special.

Here is the preliminary menu:

Burgers (can’t have a burger night without burgers)
Chips with French Onion Dip
Baked Beans (my grandmother’s recipe)
Dessert…. I need to figure that one out…

I may have to make an appetizer too… I need to figure that one out as well. I sort of wish we hadn’t already bought the chips and dip too because I’m craving some potato salad. O well, I’ll have to postpone that.

On another note, I’m phone shopping. I HATE phone shopping. I’m not going to bitch about that right now.

On another another note, I have a craft in line for today. I found this at Blessed Roots and it is handmade field journals. She calls them art/nature journals, but I’ll probably use them as field journals and journals for work. They’re cute, and look easy, and I’ll definitely use them. I’ll post pictures when I complete one.

Here are a few other links of little things to try out. Let me know if you do them:

An apron tutorial from ihavetosay.
Sticky note books tutorial from greetingarts.
Painted fabric silhouettes tutorial at Martha Stewart.
FREE printable book tags at Paintinmyhair.

Have a great day!!

Today’s been a day of painting…

I have been in the craziest painting mood lately. Nothing too fancy, just black and white. So, I just completed a piece for above the bed. David, for some unknown reason, hates headboards, so we’ve had a boring bed/wall combo going. I decided to spruce it up. This is what I came up with.

I have named her “Quite Contrary” because for some reason it reminds me of the “Mary, Mary, quite contrary” nursery rhyme. I don’t know why. Anyway, I wanted something in black and white, very simple, so I made this. It’s latex and acrylic on canvas. Originally it was supposed to go the other way, but I like it better upside down. And its looks shiny in places because I couldn’t wait for it to dry to hand it up. Patience is not my virtue.

Well, I have some actual work that I need to get done. Especially since Lily is asleep. And before Jenny’s birthday bash tonight. Busy rest of the day ahead of me. Have a good one.

Christmas Gift Ideas… or Gifts for Any Occasion

I know, I’m thinking about Christmas a little early, but I have to get a head start on this year.

A few months ago, I found a website with an idea that I’m so glad someone finally acted on. The product was Tastebook. Tastebook is a site that allows you to make your own recipe book. I LOVE this idea.

I love to cook, a lot, but I’m a recipe follower. My own concoctions always end up disgusting. But in being a recipe follower, I have tons and tons of recipe cards from my grandmother and mother and cookbooks and magazines… my kitchen is overrun with recipe papers. Atleast it was until I found this site. This site allows you to type up all your recipes into a template and combine them all into one expandable book that you can personalize by choosing the cover from their selection, name, and even add pictures to the recipe pages. I love this.

So, my future mother-in-law was over the other day and had a piece of banana bread that I had made after my grandmothers recipe (if you’re lucky, I will share it with you someday) and just ogled over it. She mentioned that I may have to give her the recipe for Christmas or something.

LIGHT BULB!!

Tastebook.

So that is what I’m doing. She is out of town so tonight I’m going to go to her house, swipe her recipes, come home and type them up, assemble her a book, including some of my recipes that I know she loves, as well as her daughter’s and other daughter-in-law, and give her a dandy Tastebook recipe book.

Christmas is starting early this year. But, of course, they don’t only have to be christmas presents, they can be for anything. And they are surprisingly inexpensive. You can create a Tastebook with 100 recipes for less than $35!! That’s a steal. And they do percentage-off sales frequently. Looks like Tastebook will be a popular gift in my family this year, what about yours??