If You Like It, Then You Should Put a Glue Gun On It

This 'Lil Project has been a long time coming, not because it was tricky or time intensive but because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

I've been saving our wine corks for at least five years, probably longer.  I'm not a obsessive wine drinker myself, but the latent hoarder in me didn't want to throw them out.  However, the corks were starting to take up valuable real estate in a kitchen cupboard, falling out each time the door was opened.  Since I've been on a kick with reading de-cluttering books (and actually doing some de-cluttering), I decided it was time to get the cork on with it.

There are some Pinteresting ideas for wine corks out there, but nothing was exactly what I wanted.  I was in Michael's earlier this week and saw this long narrow box for 70% off and felt inspired. 


I did some laying out and selecting (for variety in corkage) in advance.  Maybe you are supposed to soak, clean, or treat them somehow first?  I didn't do that.  I got out the glue gun tin and went to town.

There were still plenty of corks left when I finished the sides so I covered the bottom as well.

I just moved the flowers I already had out in my kitchen into the box.  If I had staged this better, I'd maybe look for more vases or possibly lower ones.  I'll change it up in the future.

My husband's attitude toward most of my 'Lil Projects is somewhere between indifferent and lukewarm, but he was quite interested in this one and seems pleased to have these corks displayed.  Proud of himself for drinking most of that wine himself perhaps.

I'm pleased with the final result and pleased that I've freed up some cupboard space.  Of course, now I'll throw away any future wine corks.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. 

#instajoy -- Doodles with @diane.bleck

We're on Spring Break ... in the snow.  My husband and kids are spending most of the day skiing and then returning to our lodgings for plenty of downtime.  Yesterday, so that all the downtime didn't default into device time, I pitched a creative activity to the kids and two of them took the bait.

I showed them the Instagram of @diane.bleck, where she includes lots of doodle ideas and brief how-to videos for doodling inspiration.  We decided on the cabin and skis for obvious reasons.  We were working with a Walgreens sketch pad and the contents of my daughter's travel backpack (hint: lots of gel pens).

 

We all had fun with the activity.  The kids' doodles turned out better than mine.  I think because they added more personal touches whereas I stuck to the program a bit more.  I love how my daughter drew multiple pairs of skiis and branded them.  My ten year-old son added sun and snowflakes -- I was surprised by how he enjoyed the doodling. 

My daughter and I moved on to bunting doodles next.  The ones featured above are mine.  I can see adding some bunting flair to a thank you note, journal page, or bookmark.  So fun!

 

My daughter turned the bunting doodling into a real party!  I couldn't be more charmed by her disco ball.

 

If you're on Instagram, follow @diane.bleck for creative inspiration!  I checked out her website and  it looks like she also offers a variety of online courses, which I can see us enjoying in the future. 

This doodling afternoon was another reminder of how fun, relaxing, and satisfying it is to carve out time to do stuff, create stuff, try new stuff, etc. 

Circle back for future #instajoy posts wherein Instagram inspiration and action will intersect.  And, of course, for #bookstajoy posts where I follow up on literary inspirations from #bookstagrammers.
 

(Lil) Lil Project: Cardinal Art via Post

Today's (Lil) Lil Project is barely a project, but I'm giving myself credit anyway because I had a vision and took steps (literally) to make it a reality.

I turned 44 last week and received a birthday gift from my aunt and uncle.  In addition to a really cool necklace and earrings from the Mill City Museum, I received a birthday message written on a cardinal notecard. 

The cardinal notecard had a lot going for it:  cool, modern lines; the way it featured a female cardinal (most cardinal art features the showier male); a turquoise background (currently can't get enough turquoise); and the fact that it was chosen with love for a niece obsessed with cardinals

"I need to put this little birdie in a black frame to join some of its friends," I thought to myself.  And then, our Saturday was kind of expansively empty in the best possible way and the sun was shining so I took a walk to The Pink Elephant, the hospital resale shop here in Pleasantville.  For $1.00, I found a black frame with the subtlest red/rust accents and knew it fit the bill (or beak).  After walking home, I got out my glass cleaner and spiffed up the frame.  Then, I chose a piece of cardstock from my home stash for the background, popped the notecard into place, and added the new frame to a little cardinal vignette I've got going in the library. 

Ah, the satisfaction of a lil (lil) project complete!

Lil Project: Stamp On It!

I've been making my own cards for years.  I find it relaxing to make them and the pleasure I derive from making the card motivates me to actually write and send the notes I've been "meaning to" send.  I don't do anything crazy or complicated.  I usually combine strips of washi tape and printed labels that say thank you, happy birthday, with sympathy, etc.

A recent twist is that I have busted out some rubber stamps I've had for years (and a few new ones that called out to me from the Michael's dollar bins).

Here are some recent creations.

The beautiful colored notecards are from Hobby Lobby.  Blank inside.  Lots of great colors made them easy to enhance with washi tape.

Disclaimer that I try to include with every Lil Project post:  I'm not telling you to make your own cards, just sharing here because it's a lil project that gives me pleasure.  If crafting is not your thing and you'd rather poke your eyes out than make your own cards, that is a-okay. 

Back to School Washi Works

I needed some small centerpieces for a back-to-school event and am very pleased with how they turned out.

The vase is from Dollar Tree.  The tape is the Scotch decorative masking tape (not actually washi, but same idea).  The royal blue and white one (our school colors) was already in my stash, but I purchased the school-themed tapes at Office Depot/Max.  As I always do, I purchased the market bunches of flowers at Jewel.  They didn't have the best offerings that day, but I still think the centerpieces turned out great.

Best news?  It took only minutes to wrap the tape around the vases and to cut and arrange the flowers.  For ten centerpieces, I spent $10 on vases, $25 or so on flowers, and maybe $10 on tape (with plenty leftover).

I used to wash out and save sauce jars for floral projects, but I may hold back on the hoarding in favor of these $1 vases.  I have a large collection of washi tape and can think of all kinds of cool combos for wrapping a vase.

It's very satisfying to be able to see a project to cute completion without a lot of turmoil or expense.

Lil Project for a Lil Old Lady

I turned 42 last week and moved one giant step closer to lil old ladyhood ... at least in terms of my lil projects.

The situation in our kitchen was that every time I needed a pen, I could get my hands on a sharpie, a broken pencil, or a lemon sparkle gel pen.  But a black Bic or blue Papermate?  Keep dreaming, sister.  I was coming up empty-handed even though I had purchased packages of pens in recent memory.  Black hole?  Thievery?  I don't know.  Point is:  no pens when I needed them.

About once a week, I find an excuse to dine at a delightful spot called Egg Harbor.  When you sign your credit card slip at the EH register, you use a pen that is dressed up as a flower.  Cute, but more importantly, not a pen with which you are likely to abscond.

Confident that a pen dressed as a flower would not end up in my sons' pencil bags, I purchased the necessary items at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago.  Then, I thought to myself, "This can be a little birthday gift from me to me."  The cost of materials was minimal, but the time spent making the flower pens (also minimal) was a way of treating myself.  

This bouquet of flower pens is super cute now lives on my kitchen desk.  I'm writing my grocery lists, checks, and lunch box notes like a boss.

Gallery Wall--Children's Artwork

Over a year after a renovation project that transformed our underused living room into a library, we have started looking for appropriate furniture for the space.  Though I know what I like, I decided it wouldn't hurt to have some design experts take a look.  Did you know that most furniture stores will send someone to your home for free?  They take measurements, snap photos, ask questions, and then follow up with ideas for how to lay out the room with their store's furnishings.  You are under no obligation to buy anything.  Two Pottery Barn designers visited on Friday, and I am proud to say they were impressed with my various gallery walls (or were good liars!).

I realized that though I shared pics of the fishy gallery wall in my son's bedroom, I hadn't shared the others we've done.

A couple of years ago, we filled an empty wall in our family room with the artwork the kids had created in school and in a beloved after-school art class.  About six months before the "installation," I started buying Studio Decor brand frames at Michael's whenever they were on sale (and when an extra 20 or 25% off could be taken off sale prices).  I chose black frames with off-white mats and placed the artwork inside as best I could.  Sometimes I could only highlight one part of a piece.

I don't have an expert tips for getting it all on the walls.  I traced the frames on wrapping paper and tentatively taped everything to the wall.  Still, my husband and I did some changing as we went.  He has a decisive personality when it comes to this sort of thing, which is helpful.

End result is a wall that is personal to our family and has great pops of color.  Is it a lot of nails in the wall?  You betcha.  You're either okay with that or you're not.  I figure we're stuck with this for a while (though I can always change out what's inside the frames).  I'm not planning to move ever again, but if I do, I trust I can find a good painter who can also fill all those holes.

Semi-Homemade Valentines

I've written before about the cute stuff you can make with Avery's online design tools.  Here's how we used labels for this year's valentines.

My daughter wanted to give out heart-shaped sunglasses with her Valentines.  I showed her the options on avery.com/print, and she chose this cupid emoji for her labels.  Adjusted the size, customized the text, printed at home, and stuck them on some leftover envelopes.  She made quick work of writing her classmates' names on the envelopes (a task that seemed tortuous for her brothers at that age) and then put the sunglasses inside.  No cards, just envelopes with the non-edible treat inside.

Less focused on tomorrow's festivities than his sister is, my middle guy didn't much care what he passed out tomorrow.  I wasn't interested in an weeknight Target trip so we turned to label land.  He rejected all the traditional Valentine graphics on the Avery site but was tempted by a sea scene.  We came up with a cute(ish) saying and pressed print. 

We stuck the labels on pieces of cardstock (I'm a craft hoarder so I have that kind of stuff around).  I also had a package of cute pencils (again, hoarder) so we washi-taped (craft hoarder) the pencils on top.  No envelopes for him.

No one from Avery paid me to write about their labels for my tens of readers. 

Cardinal Tree, 2016 -- Hope!

We have an artificial tree that we inherited when my in-laws were downsizing their own Christmas decor.  It's covered with colored lights and every imaginable kind of ornament, chaotic and perfect in the way that family Christmas trees ought to be.  

When we moved to our town five years ago, we started decorating a real tree each year as well.  We had a perfect front window for it, plus our kids' school has a Christmas Tree lot as a fundraiser.  The first year, the real tree had some random decorations and kept falling over (including onto my friend and her son while she was changing his diaper during a preschool lunchtime playdate -- those were the days!).  

I found some cardinal ornaments at Target, Kohl's, and Walgreens on deep discount after Christmas that first year.  Combining the bargain cardinals with the cardinal ornaments my mom had been gifting me ever since my oldest was born, a vision was born.  I could imagine the cardinal tree and knew it would be spectacular.  And it is.  I take pleasure in seeking and finding cardinal ornaments to add to my collection and have been lucky to have friends and family help the cause. 

Cardinals are my reminder that all is well in my world.  For me, cardinals are peace, joy, and, always, hope.  It feels right to write about this cardinal tree on the first Sunday of Advent, the season in which we wait and hope.

Library Sale Room Finds ... with a sticky twist

One of my favorite rituals is buying books in our library's book sale room and then removing the plastic covers and stickers at home.

Here are my recent treasures from the library book sale room.  Suggested donation per book is $1 -- quite a bargain!

American Housewife -- love the cover, nice to mix things up with a story collection sometimes

The After Party -- 1950s Texas Socialities ... I'm intrigued.

A Country Road, A Tree -- adored Jo Baker's Longbourn, maybe this one will be as lovely

The Girl from Summer Hill -- Jude Deveraux is a blast from my teenage days reading romance novels, this one on my radar because it plays on my beloved Pride and Prejudice

 

Here's to Us -- listened to this one on audio, will share this hard copy with my mother-in-law 

First Comes Love -- same as above, listened to the audio, will share the book with others

Who Moved My Blackberry?  -- might be funny

Vinegar Girl -- love Anne Tyler, enjoy Taming of the Shrew updates

Here's the sticky twist my blog post title promised ...

Sometimes it's tricky to remove the library sticker on the spine of the book.  I love customizing Avery labels so I designed these square beauties to cover spots where stickers stayed sticking or their removal wreaked havoc. 

I'm pleased with the result.

When will I have time to read all of these new books?  

That's not a question we ask, especially not aloud when my hubby's in the room.

Washi Woman

Just scrolled through the pics on my phone and gathered a collection of washi tape craft creation photos.  Featured above is the ye olde washi tape basket.  I find my tape at office stores, craft stores, Target, CVS, pretty much everywhere.  Some is actual "washi" tape and some is decorative masking tape. 

I can't take credit for this idea because I saw it on Pinterest a couple years ago.  The absolute best thing I have ever done with washi tape is wrap my chargers.  They are always disappearing around the house, and the tape helps me righteously reclaim them.  If you're ever on a group vacation, the tape also helps you keep track of your charger in situations where there may be many around.  I'm thinking of rewrapping the one on the far left -- a little too Real Housewives of New Jersey right now.

The great thing about ordering the school supply kit is how easy it is, but my kids are supposed to more or less bring all the loot to school.  So, yes, I purchased several dozen pencils for each kid, but they're all somewhere at school, not necessarily in their backpacks.  All last school year during homework time, I'd find myself thinking, "Why the hell don't we have any pencils around here?"  So this year, I bought several packages of pre-sharpened pencils (you know, in addition to the dozens included in the supply kit) and put some of them in this jar that I decked out in washi tape.  It's in the middle of the kitchen table (aka Homework Central -- actually, no one calls it that).  Not much homework yet, but we're ready.  The cursive handwriting tape is from the Target dollar bins.

I've posted before about how I like to decorate cards with washi tape.  Here's a card for a special five-year old boy.  The number line washi tape is also from the Target dollar bins.

Whenever I post about a lil project or anything crafty, I like to include the disclaimer that I do these projects because I enjoy them.  I get it that many people do not enjoy lil projects or are craft-averse or feel shame or perhaps pride about "not being crafty."  We all do what we do and like what we like. 

Something's "Fishy" Gallery Wall

I'm overwhelmed by all the books I am not writing about so I'm offering a different kind of post.

I love a lil project.  And, as you might know, if I like it then I'm going to put a frame on it.  Both of my boys have aquariums in their bedrooms.  Last year (when aquarium enthusiasm was at fever pitch*), my oldest son spent some of his own money buying fish art (mostly in notecard/greeting card form) at Art in the Park, our town's springtime art fair. 

I promised that I would frame these fish images for him.  And for over a year, I neglected to do so. 

I did, however, add to his store of images without him noticing.  The kids and I journeyed to IKEA last month, and I finally purchased the frames.  Last week, I got to work framing up the fish images that we had collected. 

I snuck into his room and arranged the frames and then waited for him to notice.  The surprise was genuine.  He was thrilled and very appreciative. 

Here are some pics ...

Here's the BEFORE.  Two white IKEA ledge shelves, curated by a kindergartener and only slightly modified over the past five years.

Here's the fabulously fishy AFTER.  All of the frames used were purchased very inexpensively at IKEA.  I have the tools to cut mats, but I didn't do that here, just added cardstock behind images when needed.

I'll share close-ups of a few frames.

 

These koi swam off Paper Source calendars that I purchased late last summer for 75% off.  I don't have a spot for paper calendars in my home so I don't buy these gorgeous calendars at the start of the new year.  I am always looking to buy them for frame fodder when they are marked down.  The fish with the lily pads came from a clearance calendar purchased at my favorite gift shop (Uptown Shop, Elmhurst).

Paper Source also sells individual sheets of pretty paper.  I used the anchor paper to fill two frames and to back one of my fish prints.  The sheet of paper was less than five bucks, and I didn't even use half of it.

At the same vintage-eclectic store where I found the Nantucket print I love (Gather & Collect in Glen Ellyn), there were files of pages cut out of old illustrated books.  I snagged two of the fish pages for our collection.

The rest of the fish images are all ones that my son purchased at the art fair.  I can figure out the artists' names if something catches your eye (hopefully, not a hook -- so punny).

And there you have it, a fish-themed gallery wall that was fourteen months in the making but really only took a couple hours to execute (not counting time spent at IKEA).

There are several other themed gallery walls in my home, and I'd like to share them all eventually.  I'm ready to do one for my middle guy once he suggests a theme. 

Any lil projects going on at your house? 

*During initial frenzy of fish ownership there were water samples being collected, many trips to fish store, notes made, research completed, and tears over deceased fish.  Fish are still much beloved around here but caring for them and adding to their number now less of an obsession.