crafts i've been eyeing

i've been admiring so many things over on pinterest this week.  honestly, pinterest gets me in the mood to do so many things.  the problem is, i usually hop over to pinterest at some point during the work day, and then by the time i get home i've forgotten all of the cool projects i'm supposed to be working on.  in an effort to actually get out there and do some crafting this weekend, i decided to actually print out pictures and stick them up as inspiration.  as further motivation to start on some of these projects, i thought i'd list them here so i can come back to check them off (i love checking things off of lists).

in no particular order...

this looks like fun:

Source: theidearoom.net via Liz on Pinterest

(i bought a butterfly hole punch two weeks ago at michael's and it was a dud.  i'm hoping to take it back/exchange it this weekend.)  instead of using paper for the butterflies, i thought it might be cute to use fabric from the bunting we used at our wedding.  that way it would be crafty and sentimental.


i'm pretty sure you can just buy the wire and little clips at ikea, but i am also contemplating making something from stuff i already own (i had to buy a lot of twine and bailing wire for my wedding, and i know i'll never use it for anything else:

Source: suziebeezie.tumblr.com via Liz on Pinterest

this is cute, and looks super easy:

Source: marthastewart.com via Liz on Pinterest

i'd like to do this with street names in dc or maybe andy's and my favorite places to eat/things to do:

Source: tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com via Liz on Pinterest

a week or two ago i came across scrabble-like letters at michael's and grabbed them off the shelf.  i knew i saw a project that involved scrabble letters, but i forgot about it until i revisited my "diy" pinboard today:

Source: rockettstgeorge.co.uk via Liz on Pinterest

this isn't really a craft, but it is something i should do this weekend to clean up from the painting weekend we had last weekend:

Source: thisoldhouse.com via Liz on Pinterest

also not a craft, but something i have been wanting to do:

Source: marthastewart.com via Liz on Pinterest

i know i always let my weekends get away from me, but this weekend i want to actually accomplish some of this stuff, and maybe one or two things off of my to do list i posted earlier this month.  here's to using a blog as a false source of accountability!

a fun, productive, and hot weekend

since we started our house hunt a few years ago (it was on an off for a couple of years), andy has been talking about his big plans for the basement.  he had grand plans for an ultimate "man cave" complete with a bar, Virginia Tech themed paint, football memorabilia, and a shuffle board table.  all along, i have agreed to let him have his "man cave" and even agreed to help him with any of the projects he was working on.  in the back of my head, i kind of knew that it would either 1) take such a long time for andy to get around to doing any of it that he would forget or 2) not happen because of our laziness.  i know us well enough to know that we kind of procrastinate on pretty much everything and end up taking the easy way out a lot of the time (we both drive cars we hate because we covet our weekends and don't want to give one up for car shopping, so will most likely drive our cars until we are no longer physically able...the AC in andy's car is showing some signs of weakness, so maybe it will be sooner rather than later).

this weekend we finally got around to crossing off one of the big milestones toward having the dream man cave.  we painted!  and it took a really long time!

here is a photo pre-painting / post-taping:


(notice all of my measuring tools on the footstool: level, old school ruler, tape measurer, pencil and painter's tape)

and some post-painting pictures:








sorry for the iphone quality...my battery on my other camera was dead and i didn't want to wait to take pictures...again, i'm lazy.


the process of taping and measuring and taping over again took the largest chunk of our time.  we started working at about 11 am on saturday and ended for the day at 4:30 am on sunday.  after six hours or so of sleep, we went to the big McD's and stopped at home depot to pick up some more paint.  we painted on sunday from about noon until 4:30.  we finished up with some white paint details after work on monday and finished up at about 11:30 pm.

since i enjoy doing arts & crafts type things, i had a great time.  i was singing along to the music blaring out of my iphone dock and was humming along at 4 in the morning.  andy was not as amused at the whole painting thing and was pretty much grumpy all day sunday, but appreciative of all of the help i was giving him.
now that the pain in our backs has started to die down and the blisters have popped, we are both thrilled with the way it came out.  it definitely gives us a lot more confidence as home owners and aspiring diy-ers.
this project has definitely whet my appetite for painting and decorating.

i hope to start on the office/guest room this weekend or sooner, but know that sometimes teen mom gets in the way of even the best of intentions.

wedding update

In a little over a month, I'm getting married.  I signed into theknot.com today to update some RSVPs we got this week and my heart skipped a beat when I saw that there are only 44 days until THE day.  HOLY.

I feel pretty comfortable with where I am as far as wedding planning goes.  I have taken care of most of the big stuff.  There is still one thing on my "to do" list, and each week I transfer it over to a new "to do" list, but each week I put it on the back burner and don't get around to it.  So, if you're planning on coming to my wedding, you better hope I cross it off my list or you're not gonna have any plates or champagne flutes at the wedding.  Why haven't I crossed it off my list?  Most likely because it involves making a phone call to someone and I just hate making phone calls.  Especially when I'm at work all day and that would mean all of my co-workers in the cubes surrounding me would overhear my conversation and it would just be embarrassing to be arranging for dining ware for your wedding only 44 days out, right?  I wouldn't want them to think that I can't handle it.

One of the things I'm most excited about is all of the fun arts & crafts projects I've got lined up for myself.  It should be a good 'ol time at my house for the next 44 days.  On the list of things I'll be working on:


Decorating the dozens of jars and bottles I've been collecting over the past couple of months:

Source: iloveswmag.com via Liz on Pinterest

Creating an escort card display similar to this:

Source: projectwedding.com via Liz on Pinterest

Painting a sign similar to this:

Source: ruffledblog.com via Liz on Pinterest

Gathering supplies to make bags for out of town guests similar to this:

Source: 100layercake.com via Liz on Pinterest

While picking out a wedding dress and choosing on cake flavors is super fun, the things I'm looking forward to the most about getting ready for the big day are these little projects.  There is finally an excuse to channel my inner Martha Stewart.  I just need to get my office all set up upstairs and I can lock myself in that room for the next 44 days.

p.s. If you are coming to my wedding from out of town, DO NOT expect something fancy and lobster-cloth-bag-like to greet you upon your arrival into town.  I'm going to make 'em cute, but there's no way in hell they make a bag like that for Dublin, Virginia.