Celebrating Fall

I had the foresight to decorate our front porch for the fall season before the boys arrived. I'm so glad I did! For the sake of saving precious free time (which I have little of these days), I went with a theme that we can keep up over Halloween and Thanksgiving. Done and done.

It sort of seems silly to be excited about such a trivial thing as fall decorations, but I'm quickly discovering that any "me time" activities that I can squeeze in throughout the day help keep me sane. Oh, the joys of motherhood! :)

Fun With Washi Tape

Ashley's Dandelion Wishes has TONS of ideas for using washi tape. (If you're unfamiliar with washi tape, hink duct tape light, but with more design options.) Here are a few fun ideas that stood out to me, but you can check out the entire list here. So creative!

DIY Fabric Bleach Art

Craft By Photo has this fun idea for adding a fun design to ordinary table napkins.  You just need a little bleach, a pencil, and some toothpicks. In the example below, she created a pretty floral pattern, but if you're artsy enough, the sky is the limit!

DIY Easy Jolly Roger Lollipops

I got this idea from a blog called Modern Mom and it looks like a fun project for a rainy day. I'm saving this one for when we actually have kids to do it with, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long. I love Jolly Roger candies!

To make these homemade lollipops you will need:

• A bag of Jolly Roger hard candies (unwrapped)
• Lollipop sticks
• A baking sheet (lined with aluminum foil)

Heat the oven to 275 degrees. 

Place 3 Jolly Roger candies next to each other on the lined baking sheet. Repeat the 3-candy pairings for as many lollipops as you'd like to make, keeping each lollipop approximately 4 inches apart from each other on the baking sheet. 

Pop the baking sheet into the oven for 6 minutes.  Remove the baking sheet and turn the oven off. Immediately insert your lollipop sticks into each colorful melted blob. Allow the cooking sheet 10 to 15 minutes to cool, or enough time to let the candy harden and take shape. 

So fun!

Mid-Week Blues

Anyone else feeling the mid-week blahs? It would be so nice to stay at home and craft something like this Sharpie pen bowl today, but alas, I started a new job last week and duty calls. I have a love for all things with polka dots so this bowl really speaks to me, but this project could be replicated using other fun shapes (hearts, triangles, etc.). I also love that it utilizes Ikea dinnerware. Cheap and easy! 

You can read the full set of DIY instructions here. 

Vintage Jewelry Bookmarks

Old Things New has this DIY project for taking vintage jewelry and giving it new life in the form of a beautiful bookmark. With all the cool tech gadgets available for reading these days, do people still use bookmarks? I do! I can't help it. I just love the feel of a real book!

I'm excited about this project because I have some old costume jewelry that was passed down to me from my grandmother when she passed away a few years ago. Unfortunately, it's not my style so I haven't found a good use for any of it. Maybe this will do the trick?

Candy Cakes

January is a busy month for birthdays in our family and with our oven out of service at the moment, baking cakes isn't an option for creating celebratory sweets.  I got to thinking about alternative solutions and somewhere in my Internet searching, I came across Sweet Servings.  She created a candy cake, you guys! Maybe this kind of thing has been around for a while, but it's news to me. What a neat idea!

The one that Cindy from Sweet Servings created.

Doesn't this candy cake look like fun? I love the addition of noisemakers.

Simple DIY Gift Ideas on Pinterest

I found this "10 Simple DIY Gift Ideas" guide on Mashable and some of these ideas were just too cute not to share. My favorites are below, but there's a lot to choose from for anyone in the do-it-yourself gift-giving mode this year.

I love these adorable jelly jars with painted animal lids. 

Men's old dress shirts find new purpose with these wine bottle holders. 

Powdered Sugar & Lace on a Cake

I love this idea from My Two Butterflies for decorating a cake with powdered sugar and lace. If you're low on time it beats frosting a cake, though I suppose if you love frosting this wouldn't be the dessert topper for you. I'm curious if it actually holds or if it blows away the minute you try and cut a piece of cake. Has anyone out there tried this decorating technique before?

Happy Times

One full week has passed since my first day of unemployment and I can honestly say that I never thought I'd be this happy about the situation. I've been more productive in the last week than I think I've been all year! (Okay, maybe not all year, but very productive nonetheless.)  Life is good!

So here's a snapshot of the Christmas lights that I hung up on the house last week. The picture is a little dark, but you get the point. I just love white Christmas lights. Don't you?

And these are a few of the holiday sugar cookies I baked for a charity auction over the weekend. I made 60 of these babies!

Oh, and then there's the book I finally finished. If you haven't read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, I highly recommend it. While I'm a sucker for World War II stories, this one is particularly inspirational.

Lastly, here's a preview of one of my next projects. I know it doesn't look like much, but this has basically been our recipe box for the last 4 years. You heard correctly - I keep my most prized recipes in an old Nordstrom shoe box! Well, the time has come to get a little more organized. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with next!

DIY Sugar Cube Shapes

Nifty Thrifty Things has a sweet (pun intended) idea for turning sugar into adorable little shapes. I love this idea because I never would've thought to try it and it's so simple.  I can imagine doing heart shapes for Valentine's Day or stars for Christmas. So many possibilities!

You can read the full tutorial here.

Sheet Music Christmas Trees

Holy Craft has a quick and easy way for bringing a little bit of old world charm to your holiday decorating with the use of sheet music. Personally, I've been wanting to add some miniature Christmas trees to my existing holiday decorations, but they're so darn expensive. I like this idea because it's much cheaper and you can use songs that mean something to you for a more personal touch. If songs aren't your thing, I bet you could use holiday wrapping paper as a substitute instead. Cute idea!

Holiday Apple Centerpieces

We're hosting a few holiday gatherings in the coming weeks and I'm looking for cute, cost-effective ideas for decorating our dining room table. Apple centerpieces seem to be popping up all over Pinterest this year and given the popularity of them in Washington state, I think they'd make for a great solution. Now which one to go with... I like them all!

Via Finding Home Online

Via Hanna's Charming Christmas

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Via Tangled Up in Knots

Useful Emergency Preparedness Tips

My husband and I were fortunate enough to not have to deal with something like a Hurricane Sandy this fall, though it did get us thinking about what we would do in case of an emergency like that. I've been digging around online for emergency preparedness tips and came across this DIY Emergency Preparedness Guide from Buzzfeed.com. Although I tend to disagree with most of the content they publish, this particular guide is actually pretty useful. 

Here are a few of their tips: 

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

If you have a farmhouse/country style when it comes to decorating, you'll love this project. Our Lovely Bungalow has a great idea for making mason jar soap dispensers using thrift store finds, a can of spray paint, a hammer and a little glue. It doesn't take much to complete the transformation and this project is completely customizable. With the holidays just around the corner, I might even use red spray paint instead of white and wrap some plaid ribbon around the top of the jar to spruce it up. So many things you can do!

T-Shirt Necklace

I love this idea from A Pretty Penny for turning an old t-shirt into a beautiful necklace or scarf, depending on how you craft it. If you had multiple t-shirts available, you could mix and match the colors as well for a more variegated look. Another bonus: this also a no-sew project so it's doubly awesome for crafters like me who wouldn't be able to work a sewing machine to save their life!

Dressing Up the Yard

I was just working in the yard and couldn't help but think about things I'd like to do with it once time and sunshine permit next year. Since our house is an old craftsman, I'm drawn to the idea of incorporating antique elements as focal pieces throughout the yard.

These garden beds grown inside of old dresser drawers are so charming, aren't they?  I also love the idea of repurposing the drawers themselves as stand-alone planter boxes. Very wallet-friendly!

Wordy Eggs, A Novel Idea

Hello readers! It's been a while. Apologies for being MIA last week. We've been out of town working on the family cabin renovations. The good news is that it's starting to look awesome! Will post pictures later this week.

In other news... isn't this wordy egg tutorial awesome? I love those little birds nests with robin eggs that shabby chic fans like to put everywhere and this offers a nice alternative, especially if you choose pages from a favorite poem or novel. So cute!

Lost Sock Board

Good morning, readers! It's guilty secret sharing time!

The topic for the day: the scoop on socks.

I'll admit it. I'm terrible when it comes to loading the wash machine with full sets of socks so I always end up with mismatched items at the end of the cycle. Even worse, I toss the mismatched socks into our sock drawers and what's out of sight then becomes out of mind... so our socks stay mismatched for weeks.

Enter: missing sock boards! They're small enough to fit somewhere in or near the laundry room so our stuff doesn't just get tucked away, destined to be forgotten. How's that for organization?

I'm not a huge fan of the color scheme, but that can be customized. You can read the full tutorial at Just Us Four.

Globes Galore

Lately, I've had a major sense of wanderlust which may explain why I'm so drawn to these amazing repurposed globe projects.  Aren't they fascinating? I love it when something ordinary takes on a new, inspirational form.

1.  Clock - Dishfunctional Designs
2.  Night Lights/Art - Positive Ponderings
3.  Disco Ball - Six Axle
4.  Grill - Inhabitat.com
5.  Bowl - Rose of Sharon Blog
6.  Kitchen Light - The Inspired Room