make it: crepe paper wreath

yellow crepe paper flower wreath in progress

I've been thinking Spring lately, and want to be totally prepared when it comes.  With that in mind, I picked up a few green wreath forms, crepe paper and glue gun refils for a project I wanted to try.  I've seen crepe paper flowers all over the web and thought a bunch would look pretty around a wreath.  I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of this idea, but I still think it is a fun, easy and inexpensive way to get a spring wreath for your door in time for the warmer months.  To make a wreath similar to this one, you'll need:

2 rolls of crepe paper in the color(s) you'd like your wreath to be

a wreath form

glue gun and hot glue sticks

scissors

opposable thumbs (to acquire and master crepe paper twisting skills)

step 1 - wrap the wreath

start by taking a roll of crepe paper and gluing the end of the paper on to the inner rim or back of the wreath form.

wrap the crepe paper around the wreath form, pulling the paper taut, and overlapping each loop with the previous one. 

make sure as you wrap the wreath form that no green background is visible. continue until the entire wreath form is covered in crepe paper.

a crepe paper flower

  

step 2 - make the flowers

cut about a 2 1/2' piece of crepe paper and begin twisting it  loosely until all 2 1/2' has been twisted. 

begin at one of the ends and roll the twisted crepe paper into a snail (and eventually flower) shape, letting some of the paper be more loosely twisted and other parts have a tighter twist to make each flower look unique. 

when you reach the end of your piece of paper, glue the end flush against the flower so that you cannot see where the paper stops or begins.

repeat until you have enough flowers to fill the wreath (I needed 16).



my pink crepe paper wreath

step 3 - adhere the flowers to the wreath

using a hot glue gun, secure the flowers to the wreath.  put a dollop of glue on the back of each flower and press it firmly on to the wreath.

hang and hope for Spring!

dusty the destroyer: leash edition



Dusty's fourth leash in as many months



So I realize that this post may seem mild compared to the other post I've written about Dusty destroying various things around the house and car.  However, regularly chewing through his leashes proves a costly and time-consuming problem to fix.  While Dusty is very obedient off leash, when I want to walk him around the neighborhood, I need to make sure that he is on a leash.  Dusty doesn't mind being on a leash when we walk.  He is much more concerned about herding me than anything else. 

However, in the car, I used to use the leash to tether him to one of the seats, wrapping the leash around one of the seatbelts in the back of my car.  This would encourage him to avoid attempting to jump in the passenger's seat while we were en route to our destination.   At some point, soon after the seat belt incidents (yes, incidents), he discovered that he could chew through most things (next dusty post will cover the damage done to the dashboard in my car) and proceeded to chew through three leashes in protest for being relegated to the back seat.  I've finally decided to use other methods to encourage Dusty to stay in the back seat (treats, bones, food, verbal encouragement, right-arm flailing and sudden stops), and these have worked marginally well, while helping to ensure that his latest leash lasts through Spring.  A girl can dream.

game night invitation



photo via

 I realize that I am exposing my inner geek by sharing this, but it's too funny not to share.  Erin Weck has a hilarious article over on Wired entitled, "The Game Night Invitation I Wish I Could Write."  Is there anything you'd add if crafting your own game night invitation?

lip-smacking good: red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Red Velvet Cupcakes in some adorable silicone footed cups given to me by a coworker

Red Velvet Cake is one of my favorite desserts.  I realize its just chocolate cake with red food dye, but there's a quality about it, a je ne c'est quoi feel to red velvet that sets it apart from chocolate cake.  It could be, too, that the cream cheese frosting helps a bit.

A while ago, I decided to try my hand at red velvet cake from scratch, and also made my own cream cheese frosting (a 3rd generation, no fail frosting recipe that will have people talking for weeks).  I've also made this frosting when baking sugar cookies and carrot cake.

I used this recipe from Martha Stewart to make the red velvet cake, and ended up making regular and bite-sized cupcakes.

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

Then, to make the frosting:

1 stick butter (softened)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese (softened)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 C coconut (optional.  makes it harder to dye the icing, and some people are not huge fans of coconut.  the frosting is delicious either way)
 

Mix together well with mixer. For extra frosting to cake ratio, do one and a half this frosting recipe and you'll have plenty for the cake and some leftover (for spreading on graham crackers, regular crackers, sugar cookies, fruit, cardboard, or eating by the spoonful).  I decided to color some of the frosting using some neon pink food coloring I got from the grocery store.  Happy baking!

dusty the destroyer: blinds edition

truer words have never been spoken
photo via

Early on in my relationship with Dusty, I discovered that, when left to his own devices, boredom quickly crept in and he would resort to "re-arranging" my apartment to keep himself engaged and occupied.  I also discovered the hard way that he preferred to have the floor to ceiling windows in my living room, as well as the bank of windows in my bedroom, blinds-free.   This allowed him to look out without any obstructions and gave him lots of light in which to do his rearranging (nothing is worse than trying to reorganize in low light).

You know where this story is going.  Less than a month after adopting Dusty, I came home to shredded blinds, much like those pictured above.  One set of blinds in my living room was destroyed, and all three sets in my bedroom have seen better days.  I haven't had the guts to request four new sets of blinds from my landlord, though I'd be willing to chip in for them.  So I'm currently living without blinds in the living room, and dealing with one exposed window in my bedroom, coping with the mangled blinds in the other two windows as best I can.  Oh Dusty, it's a good thing you're cute.

vintage find: bookends



my bookends from High Street Market

Despite getting a Kindle for Christmas a few years ago, I still love having paper copies of my favorite books.  And, as a self-proclaimed book worm, I have lots of them.  Bookends can be expensive, but if you go the vintage route, you're apt to find unique looking ones for a fraction of the price of their newer counterparts.  It's also likely that the ones you find will be as unique as the rest of your carefully curated bookshelf.  Case in point:




1) Brass Clamshell Bookends, VintagePennyLane, $22
2) Ivory Marble Horse Bookends, LolaandMaddieVintage, $22
3) Modern Onyx Bookends, theelmsvintage, $45
4) Shoe Form Bookends, buffalowinter, $24
5) Natural Tree Woodblock Bookends, NoWorseforWear, $25
6) White Quartz/Agage Geode Bookends, hopehealshome, $40
7) Brass Loop Bookends, BeautifulLine, $27
8) Industrial Salvage Caster Sale 1 Bookend,  tippleandsnack, $24.99
9) Stained Glass and Wood Bookends, BeautifulLine, $38

think spring sale

a pair of painted lampshades

 Now through March 23rd, most of the items in my shop are 20% off. 

kelly green graphic painted lampshade

Shop lampshades, wreaths and paintings.  More wreaths and garland coming  to the shop soon, including a crepe paper rose wreath. 

pom-pom wreath

I'll have a DIY post on how to make a similar crepe paper rose wreath sometime next week.  Stay tuned!

12x12 geometric acrylic painting

Enjoy your weekend.  Hope it is warm wherever you are!