Welcome to the first installment of Craftmas (or Craftukkah or Craftzaa, whichever you celebrate)!  I don’t know about you gals, but we are super tight on money this year and that is ESPECIALLY true around the holidays.

However, like many, I have some creepy Martha Stewart desire to decorate our house in everything tinsel, and I squeal with glee anytime I see something covered in Santa Clauses.  Hey, I’m not proud of it, but there you go.

So during my daily Anthropologie browse a couple weeks ago (ah, but to dream), I stumbled upon a beautiful tree ornament. I won’t show it here (again, scared of copywright ramifications…thanks, lawyers, for screwing with my craftiness), but you can probably find it on their site.  Anyway, this little item happened to cost a pretty $398.  Um, yeah.  Here’s my interpretation of the same tree topper, with exciting step-by-step instructions!

This project cost me about $20…only 5% of the store-bought cost!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-small grapevine wreath (I think this one is 6 or 7 inches in diameter)
-bundles of sticks and other decorative items of your choice
-glue gun and glue sticks

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In high school, I took a home economics type class. I made a lop-sided duffle bag and a deformed chocolate chip cookie pillow. I had a such a terrible time making both projects that I didn’t sew again. I’ve always been envious of my friends who can sew.

All the craft shows that I’ve been to in the past year have inspired me. I decided that I wanted to learn/relearn is how to sew with a sewing machine. I want to do basic things like make decorative pillows, maybe some pajamas.

I used trusty Yelp.com to find sewing classes. My search led me to Sew L.A. It’s this hip sewing studio in Silver Lake. It’s definitely not like your grandma’s sewing shop. They teach classes and have a small shop. They carry some great specialty and import fabrics.

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I’ve been MIA from the blog recently…but with good reason, I promise!

I’ve been busy creating a whole slew of DIY crafts (oh, 6 or 7!) for decorating your house on the cheap for the upcoming holiday.  I like to call it…Craftmas.  Though I suppose you could always call it Craftukkah or Craftzaa.  Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Get ready for installation #1 of Craftmas in the next day or so.  Little hint: it’s a replica of a pricey little item sold at a store that rhymes with “shmanthropologie.”

Much love,

-B

I have so many nursery projects to share with you readers! My inner Martha Stewart has really come out for this event and even if you aren’t the most crafty person in the world, I think you could do a few of these projects without too much trouble. Making the nursery personal and yet inexpensive is one of my top goals for the room (besides making it totally awesome and modern and bright….those are good goals, too, right?). So I knew we’d do a lot of DIY projects and I’d hunt for gently used pieces of furniture that just beg to be refinished. So far, so good.

My loving fellow-crafty lady mother come up to The Great North to visit her only daughter a few weeks ago. Our sole mission was to pump out as many projects as humanly possible in 2 full days. So we first went fabric shopping and found a literal JACKPOT at a local quilting store. Narrowing it down to just three prints was painstaking but I’m really happy with what we chose:

My mom got to work on the sewing machine (since I still haven’t sucked it up and learned how to sew) and made two sets of orange curtains with green tie backs, a green window seat cushion, and two yellow cushions for the rocking chair. The window seat is definitely one of my favorite spots in the room so far.

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Allow me to introduce you to my first foray into the wonderful world of Paula Deen. Baked French Toast with Praline Topping. I could probably say this about all of her recipes, but I can’t imagine a richer, more decadent, and more delicious way to start my day than with a hunk of this stuff.

Making this recipe was an interesting exercise in editing. I found it on the Food Network website, where, last time I checked, the recipe had 1,277 comments. While the overall rating of the recipe was 5 stars out of a possible 5, fans had lots to say about how to improve or tweak this dish for the best possible results. I actually really enjoyed the process of whittling through just a few pages of those 1,277 comments and trying to decide which tips and modifications I was going to follow (the recipe below reflects my changes).

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Several weeks ago husband and I celebrated our first anniversary by spending the night at the W hotel in Dallas (we stayed for free with points, woohoo!) where I was introduced to the line Bliss. My wallet has been regretting it ever since! For me, a big part of a good skincare product experience is the smell, and Bliss seems to specialize in scents that make my shower experience blissful. I’m guessing that is where the name “Bliss” came from? :) I got by as long as I could using the hotel size samples (it was getting kind of pathetic how rigidly I was rationing out my nickel size portions of body wash each day, just to use on my arms and chest so I could soak up the smell), but then someone tweeted about 20% off at Sephora and I knew it was time to bite the bullet and get the full sized products. I bought a full skin care lineup, and one luxurious (for me) splurge.

Fabulous Foaming Face Wash, $29

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Don’t hate me, but while the US is starting the long cold winter, I’m still wearing shorts and flip flops. The weather has been incredible lately, and we’ve taken advantage by traveling and seeing more of Nicaragua.

A few weeks ago, we traveled to the beautiful island of Ometepe, located in the middle of Lake Cocibolca. This lake is the largest lake in Central America and the 21st largest in the world. The island of Ometepe is large enough to take several hours to travel around via car or boat. It is made up of two volcanoes, one of which is still moderately active. I wish I had pictures of all the modes of transportation, but we were so rushed there and back that we couldn’t stop to breathe let alone take pictures. We took the bus from Granada to Rivas, a taxi from Rivas to San Jorge, and a ferry from San Jorge to Ometepe. From the ferry port, we took a taxi to the hotel. Two days later, we took the same trip in reverse. Travel time took about 5 hours in total. We left on Friday afternoon, and came back on Sunday afternoon. The ferry ride was my favorite part, as we were able to get a lot of pictures of the island from the distance. Mid way to port, a rainbow appeared in between the two volcanoes. It was so incredibly beautiful. As the hubby put it, “When in your life are you guaranteed to see this again?” I can’t describe how amazing it was to slowly chug through the water watching the rainbow shimmer and shift through the clouds.

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Nope.  I’m not talking about that list of qualities your fairytale in-laws possess in your dreams… You know, the dreams where eating organically isn’t considered “hippie” and you and your mother-in-law share the exact same tastes and shoe-size?  No?  Just me?  Humph.

I’m talking Christmas Wish Lists + The In-Laws… i.e.: Sticky Situation in the Making, right?

Telling Evs’ parental units what I want for Christmas continues to be awkward for me… This is definitely one of those aspects of marriage that I never considered when we got engaged.  Last year, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of his mom and dad.  However, while I do love a pretty package under the tree with my name on it, if it were 100% up to me, I wouldn’t make any specific requests from my new side of the family for the holidays.

However, my Mother-in-Law insists upon the submission of a Christmas Wish List prior to Halloween.  Yep, we have an Early Shopper on our hands.  Which, kudos to her - I always find myself, eight days before Christmas, circling the mall parking garage aimlessly, stalking exiting shoppers for their parking stops and beating my head against the steering wheel in time to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Ahem.

Anyhoo, as instructed, I recently submitted my In-Law Wish List.  As always (”always” being relative since really this is my first year to have technical “in-laws” but whatever), I followed the Three Cardinal Rules of Gift-Requesting-From-Non-Blood-Relations-You-Don’t-Have-Sex-With:

(1) Lots of options
(2) Lots of price-points but nothing over $50
(3) No clothes (don’t ask me why - just feels weird)

Now, without further adieu… The In-Laws Wish List!

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I’m in full baby-nursery mode these days, my dears. And I’d like your help with something: a baby quilt. No, I’m not sewing one myself because that would require me knowing how to sew. But my loving mother has decided she simply MUST sew a baby quilt for her first-born grandchild. (And did I mention over here….it’s going to be a BOY!)

But here’s the thing: I really don’t like old-fashioned quilts. In fact our nursery is very bold, modern, and not at all traditional (pictures of updates to follow). So I think that a modern baby quilt would be the best for her to make but it’s hard to find a cute pattern out there. Probably part of the problem is that I focus on the colors of the quilt instead of the actual pattern. But ours will probably be full of aquas, oranges, yellows, and bright greens if that helps create a mental image in your mind.

I used my Googling skillz to find a few ideas and want your input. A few websites out there offer a TON of gorgeous ideas, so here we go:

1. Modern Cotton Quilt by Red Pepper :

2. Sew Girly! Bird quilt:

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I have always loved the idea of a gallery wall in our house and as it is, there are a whole lot of framed photos in our house. For me, photos are a major part of making a house a home. And I take a ridiculous number of photos on any given day at any given event. I’m that friend who people tend to groan at because I’m insisting on yet another group photo. The result of that though is that I have a lot of photos of great moments, great people and great memories and I would definitely love to start showcasing them in a more special way. I stumbled upon these images of this living room on Apartment Therapy and instantly fell in love with the stunning yet simple grouping of photos on the side wall. Don’t you love this?

{photos by Sean Slinsky}

I’m thinking I’d love to do this on one of the large blank walls in our living room choosing favorite photos from our engagement session, wedding and honeymoon. I would probably stick with all black frames, but I’d definitely switch up sizes and styles. Perhaps some are ornate with traditional white mats while others are clean, sleek and modern. I love groupings of mismatched but alike items so I like the thought of a dynamic photo display that, over time, would likely evolve as our lives do. So the architect in me (practicing or not, you can’t shake 4 years of architecture school and obsessive measuring) is thinking I might grab a level and a chalk line and start blocking out a wall and then from there let it grow organically. Heck, soon enough I might even have a disc of wedding photos so I can get this party started right.

Anyone else put together – or looking to put together – a gallery wall in your house? I would loooove to see pictures!