Progress

I'm swimming in projects at the moment, mostly painting existing furniture to give our life a little facelift on the cheap. It all started last week when I found a desk at goodwill and couldn't pass it up. My kids are really into drawing and a desk has been on my wish list for their room for a while. In the butterfly-effect of project land, this led to finally changing to bunk beds so there was room to put the desk, rearranging whose clothes are where so we could put a different dresser in their room, and finding a home for an old bookshelf - among other things.

Needless to say, all this moving things around has me wanting to give everything a new coat of paint. I also grabbed a huge picture frame at goodwill for $3 and have great plans for it. In the back of my head I'm convinced I can get it all finished - bookshelf, dresser, frame, and dining set, both paint and poly - by Christmas Eve. One part of me is motivated, the other part is laughing. We'll see which one wins, though I'm sad to say I think I know which one it will be.

Until then, my life looks something like this:

Some painting project or another on the dining table in a disheveled living room with Ruby Gloom being watched by a sick child.

It isn't glamorous, but it's our present reality. Am I the only one who feels the need to completely revamp the house on the cusp of a major holiday? Oy.

It's starting to feel like Christmas...

... or maybe just finals.

I'm really craving a big project. Something I can pour my heart and soul into, slave away over, and feel really happy with when it's all done. Only, I don't know what I want to do and I really don't want the lingering mess of a big project.

That happens to me a lot. Especially right now during finals week. I finished the final project for my class in Assessment and my Lunar Geology course has been done for a week, but the Hubs is in the throws of studying for the one class that determines if he graduates in 2.5 years or if that will be delayed for some as yet undetermined amount of time. Every time things get busy and stressful, I crave an escape. Do you do that too?

Instead of jumping into something large and all consuming, I've filled my life with tiny little projects that make me feel like I'm accomplishing something creative even though my mental energy is spent elsewhere. Lately, it's gift wrap.

We're going cheap on Christmas this year. No gifts for each other (a small trip instead paid for with frequent flyer miles), very few gifts for the kids (who will get spoiled rotten anyway between Grandparents and their other parents), and small gifts for family. I decided not to buy gift wrap, especially after I saw a picture of this event at Anthropologie where they made stamped gift wrap. I fell in love with the gold on kraft look and embraced it fully. That's right, our holiday gifts are being wrapped in paper grocery sacks this year.

I've done it before.

My family never had a ton of extra money. We lived in a nice suburban neighborhood but most of our rooms were lacking furniture and what we did have was the hand-me-downs my parents got when they were married. We weren't poor, just fiscally responsible in a rapidly becoming less so 80's world. My dad is a meticulous saver. That is a great thing since on more than one occasion he was laid off and couldn't find work for over a year because he was "overqualified," yet we never lost the house or had to take other drastic measures. Since I've not found work for the last year I can relate a little bit more than I ever expected to. As a kid, my mom would have me color on grocery bags for gift wrap, not to save money, but to be cute. Now I'm doing it to both save on money and feel artsy glamorous.

All it took was a few paper grocery sacks, a bottle of gold acrylic craft paint, and my daughter's paint sponges.

I really didn't like it as it sat there. I know I'm being cheap, but I really didn't want it to feel cheap. After I let it dry, wrapped the gifts, tied them in a ribbon, and added a little Oregon football ornament. Then, I was hooked. I stamped the next set in stars, and the last in polka dots. I can't decide if I like the diamonds or dots better. Instead of a tag I used a single letter sticker and wrote the recipients name on it with a sharpie.

Ok, that was pretty fun.

My SIL loves black and white, so for her family I did black prints on kraft paper. It didn't look too hot at the beginning...

But I really like how it looks once it's used.

I simply embellished them with a little ribbon (black metallic curling ribbon for the kids, red loopy ribbon for my SIL) and carried over the single monogram theme. These are plain chipboard letters that I, again, wrote the name on in sharpie. The santa tags I whipped up the night my husband came home and surprised me with Adobe CS5! They add just a tiny bit of whimsy and gave me something to play around with. I'm still getting used to the differences between Illustrator and the o-l-d version of Corel Draw that I have used for years.

If you want to use the tags too, you can print them here:

Whimsical Santa Gift Tags

All in all, I am loving this. I'm almost wishing we were having a bigger Christmas in our house so I could stamp more paper. How are you wrapping gifts this year?

Simple Rosemary Wreaths to Dress Up the Kitchen

We have actually finished our Holiday shopping! Granted, we get it easy this year since both kids are with their other parents and we decided to plan a trip rather than do gifts for each other. Still, it's nice to check it off the list! Now I sit back and watch White Christmas while spilling glitter all over. I heart Danny Kaye.

Today's project is seriously the easiest thing but I LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH. Forgive me for yelling. I just can't contain my enthusiasm.

Gargantuan rosemary bush + ribbon + sparkly snowflakes = Happy Me!

Now, I recognize that not everyone has a massive rosemary bush to hack away at when the mood strikes. We happen to be really lucky that there is one right in front of the door to our apartment. In the beginning I felt guilty chopping it up, but I figure it's better being put to use in my house or cooking than being mercilessly trimmed and left for yard scraps by Groundskeeper Willie.

See? Isn't that AweSome! I've had this little tiny sucker for about 4 years and look how tiny it is still:

When we graduate and get jobs the first thing I'm doing is planting rosemary somewhere in my yard. Ok, probably not. The first thing will be a happy dance and THEN I'll plant the rosemary.

These couldn't be easier. Cut a length of rosemary about 12-15 inches and form a loop. I've found that the younger thinner stems are more flexible, the older ones are too woody and they just snap in half. I used green embroidery floss to tie the ends and then trimmed the stray edges. Hang it from the top of your cabinets with a loop of ribbon (just tape it inside the door) and then adhere a sparkly snowflake.

The broken or otherwise random pieces of rosemary got tucked into my garland. I was hoping to smell it but I really don't.

That branch the center snowflakes are sitting on is actually rosemary.

They are so simple but I really, really adore them. Like, a ridiculous amount. They make me smile everytime I see them. This is what I was talking about when I said I'd show you how I used the snowflakes. I tried using them in more complicated arrangements but in the end, the sparkle was just right with a little bit of nature.

I'm in love.

Snow Where it Rarely Snows

Once in a while I miss the snow. Not often, mind you. Especially without a garage. I would gladly take the deluge of rain in an Oregon winter than have to scrape my windows and preheat my car without in an apartment parking lot, but I do miss the gleaming sparkle of fresh powder early in the morning. You know those days; When you wake up and peek outside to see what things are doing and the air is crisp and still, the sidewalks, streets, and trees covered in a smooth sheet of white that glistens under a streetlight or as the Sun begins to rise. Oh, it is lovely. {Said while wearing sweats in a 70 degree house and contemplating making hot chocolate to enjoy the current lack of rain.}

I can appreciate the beauty of snow while also appreciating that I don't have to deal with it, right?

In keeping with my blinging up Christmas, I made this silly little sign rather spontaneously. This frame holds a simple Valentines Day sign I made last year and I just decided today that it would become part of the normal Holiday rotation.

As I often do, I started with rummaging through our recycling. This box was just the right size so I chopped it up and kept a piece that 5x7 inches.

Then began the highly technical process of painting the cardboard (paperboard? whatever it is) white and sprinkling with snow while it was still wet.

Yep, it looked about like that. I just put the school paper down to keep glue off my cutting mat. I let it dry for a while, and naturally the paper started to curl.

So I flipped it over...

... and put grad school textbooks to good use flattening it out!

Where I let it hang out for a while until it was completely dry. Then I grabbed this package of thickers:

And ended up with this:

Which was fine, but I didn't completely love it. I like the sparkle and the simplicity, and the grey letters which are more subtle in person, but I just looked at it and said "meh." Until I played around with different locations, added some glittery snowflakes, and ended up here:

Much better.

Now I've got a sparkly bit of Holiday cheer to stare at as I wash dishes.