Washi Eggs and Life changes :0)

Gosh it's been too long. Lots has happened since my last post in Feb....first and most importantly I got married! No big deal. Just Kidding! So happy and so in love! Had a small court house ceremony on a lovely day in Virginia Beach. We'll be having a destination wedding for next winter and I'm already in planning mode! I'm collecting Birdcages, Vintage Dishes, Candelabras, Vintage Handkerchiefs, and  much more! I can't wait. So far I've gotten two birdcages that were both from Salvation Army and both a hideous green that looked like something my mother would have ordered out of a home decorating magazine from the 90's. I spray painted both of them Heirloom white. I realized that I packed them without taking before/after photos. How sloppy of me, I know. Guess you'll have to wait on those.  But imagine them with ribbon, maybe some flowers, maybe even one for cards.

only $4 for this birdcage and my other one which I don't have a picture of but they're pretty similar in size though the other had more details

I picked up two silver candelabras $7 for both..they need polishing but they fit the theme I'm going for

and a brass one that I painted Heirloom white as well for $3.50

this is bed in breakfast tray that is super cute. needs repainting but it was an awesome buy at only $2.99

My crafting is currently suspended as I am living in a  hotel at the moment. We are in a transition phase and I'm about to go back to school down in Panama City while the Mr. is doing some intense training. Everything you're seeing is old news. However my sewing machine will be in tow as I move my life back down to Florida! So at least I'll be able to do that!


Last craft I got my hands on:

My mom used to make washi eggs all the time when we lived in Japan. She has dozens and was kind enough to show me how to do them. Pretty easy...saw some different tutorials online guess it's all about personal preference.

Now I am all about keeping things simple so I changed this project to suit my...well impatience really...instead of using real eggs, which would mean I would have to poke the tiny hole in the bottom, wait for it to drain out, then clean it out, not to mention I would have to wait for a reason to cook a ton of eggs, I just picked up some plastic Easter eggs at Michaels...honestly they did the job..they feel lighter than using real eggs but they still looked the same. I didn't want to use up all of my mothers washi paper so I used origami paper in all sorts of pretty prints which I picked up at Michaels as well. Now the paste my mother used was Japanese and I honestly cant tell you what it was called or what it was made of. I know that is came in a yellow bottle and upon drying it became very glossy. I opted for Mod Podge in the gloss formula. If you want a glossier look you might wnat to cover the egg in another brand of glossy varnish once they are completely dry.

I'll have to post a DIY for this sometime but until then voila! They are great year round. I've had many requests to buy them but I just don't have the time at the moment to sit down and make a bunch...when I do though

Woo Hoo! Home from a pretty sweet vacation at the parents house in Panama City. I always love visiting with my family they are awesome. BF graduated training with flying colors! He's awesome. Oh and we got ENGAGED....no big deal. Just kidding..way big deal! Happiest day ever! And now that means I can craft on Mr. and Mrs. stuff...family name stuff...a whole new crafting era  has just been born! 

My ring...the details are amazing....I'm in love.

Came home aching to get my hands on a project...and came up with this simple and quick to make cigar box jewelry holder....I was looking for ideas for my cigar boxes that my wonderful mother brought home for me (she unknowingly has started a new obsession for me) and came across a pic on pinterest of a ring holder...I changed mine up a little and added a little space for other little pieces like earrings or bracelets..

All it took was one cigar box, some felt fabric I posted about a couple months ago that I picked up at Goodwill, cardboard, and a glue gun...I chose the deepest box I had since I have a lot of rings with big jewels, flowers, baubles, and whatnot...I wanted to make sure the top would close all the way. I glued down fabric into the bottom of the box for the area that I planned on using for bracelets, earrings, etc...

I accordion folded  2 stiff pieces of cardboard...mine happened to be leftover from picture frame backings...in the original DIY I saw of this here the crafter simply accordion folded the fabric...I gave that wayf a little test drive and felt like I wanted a little more support instead of just the material....(the pic below is just one of the pieces...after I folded them I just glued two ends together to make once long piece)

Then I simply used my glue gun and attached the fabric on top the the cardboard following the folds...

Last thing I did which I just realized I don't have a picture of was wrapped folded scrap fabric around the ends of the folded/glued pieces to keep the accordion folds tight and just to create a clean look...All that's left of gluing it into the box and voila! A cute and easy jewelry box! I'm excited to see what else I can do with these...although even if i just stacked them around the house cigar boxes are really works of art on their own! They are so colorful and detailed...you can actually buy them online...usually in sets of ten...I've found some for around 20 bucks for a variety of boxes in a set...not bad...I'm having my mom who works in a small store keep the empty ones for me...can you believe they just get thrown away?! 

Road Trip!!

I've had so much going on these past couple weeks from projects to planning a mini vacation. I'm getting ready to go back to sunny Florida! Thank goodness because I am NOT a cold weather person! Virginia winter weather is depressing.

I love road trips. I love everything about them from the scenery, to the junk food, to flipping radio channels, and of course the gas station slurpeeeeees! There's just something adventurous and exciting about road trips. We are driving to Panama City, Florida where I will be staying with the fam while the BF is doing some Army training in Georgia. He's got quite a ways to drive, Lord bless his heart. I'm not going to lie and say that I help a lot with the driving, because I don't. I might drive a couple hours here or there but most of the time it's him behind the wheel. He says he can't sleep when I'm in the drivers seat! I'm not an awful driver...I think.

It's going to a long haul but totally worth it once I get to see my parents and little (well not so little anymore she's about to be 14 and taller than me!) sister!

Anthro-Inspired Mirror try!

I found a great tutorial online and had to try it.  I tweaked it according to what I had on hand at the time so mine is a little different but you can find that tutorial here.

I've had this mirror for awhile now...I painted it ivory and distressed it to match the shelf below it which you can't see....the original tutorial calls for fabric to cover the frame of the mirror as well as the back however I surprisingly didn't have any fabric that I liked for this particular project. Instead, I opted to leave the frame painted as is and use scrap book paper for the mirror back. I took the mirror apart and followed the tutorials but I left my oven cleaner over night. At first I left it on for a couple hours but it just wasn't coming off as easily as I liked so I resprayed what I had touched and walked away. I came back the next day and couldn't find the scrubber I had been using so I crumpled some tinfoil into a couple balls and used them to scrape off the silver backing of the  mirror and it came off SO easily! I was very excited! Then I just taped down some scrapbook paper onto the back. (I taped it because I might be moving soon and I wanted to make sure that I could change the paper so the mirror would go with whatever decor I have next)

After all that I put the mirror back together and voila! It's hard to take pictures of a mirror believe me so these photos hardly do it justice...it has a very antique-y and smokey look to it. For my paper I used a damask print with ivory, tan, and soft blue.

I'm going to keep my eyes open for some great fabric and another mirror though because now that I know how easy this project is I'd love to try it again more along the lines of the original tutorial!

DIY Dry Erase Frame

 I found this large frame at a thrift store the other afternoon. It had a cheesy picture of a flower in it..it looked like something out of a waiting room somewhere. It was gold but I painted it ivory and sanded it down in some areas to create a distressed look. I loved it because the gold just peeked through.

Anywhoo all I did was take the back of the frame off and removed the flower poster. I turned it over to use as a base for my sheets. I tore pages out of an old Thoreau book that I had from school and taped them down all the way around the poster. I then took two sheets of antique looking scrap book paper, that happened to be lined, and taped them down in the center of the poster on top of the Thoreau pages to create a framed look. Then I just put the back of the frame back on and that was it! Super easy and super cute!

 It is not pictured here but at the top left corner...you can see just a hint of it...I put a small piece of velcro on the top of the frame and another piece of the sticky velcro on a dry erase marker that way it has a home and is always easily accessible.