Meeting the Neighbors

We're in the process of cleaning up, painting, and moving into our new house. SO exciting! One thing that has come up with moving into a new neighborhood is figuring out how to best introduce ourselves and get to know our neighbors (not always the easiest and least awkward thing in the world!). He thinks that we should go door to door and say hello, I say we meet them as we see them outside. I wouldn't want to be showing up at a bad time or have them feel like we're invading their space. I saw these door hangers online today and they seem like a cute, simple way to say hello without invading. Then, we can let them know when they can stop by if they're free because the invitation is open to them.

You can find the PDF download, so you can say a little hello to your neighbors, and the insight into how they were created on Candy Chang's website!

I Love Thursday & House

The hubby and I closed on our house yesterday! We are officially homeowners. Yesterday after we closed, we started cleaning house (washed walls, etc) and had a HUGE shopping spree at Lowe's. Then today he's has been there all day painting trim and cleaning more. I can't wait to move in. And I especially can't wait to start my garden! I'll be sure to document my garden experiences here.

So today is Thursday and I don't have work tomorrow because of Good Friday! Since tomorrow we're painting, cleaning, and picking up a washer and dryer that was donated to us (perfecting timing!), today I'm showing you items from Etsy that show my love for all things tea. Enjoy!

Ruffled Tea Towels from CottageRuffles

Petit Fours perfect for tea from Dulce de Luna

Dress by AfterShowerShop

DIY Tea Bag Kit by CookOutsidetheBox

Bloomsbury Mug by Summersville

Outer Space Tea Towel by LeahDuncan

I Love ... Organizing

Yesterday, I joined Pinterest! I have had the invitation sitting in my mailbox since January, and finally decided to do something about it after learning what can be done with it. Click here to follow me!

I have been getting super frustrated recently because I bookmark and save tutorials on my Mac and on StumbleUpon, but it's so difficult to actually remember what I wanted to make. Then I end up with 200+ favorites and no way to see why I favorited it in the first place! Enter Pinterest. On Pinterest, you can pin a website, but then you choose the image from that website that you want to appear on your pin board. So. Incredibly. Helpful. So my next project is to go through my favorites and transfer them onto Pinterest. Can't wait to get organized!

About our house, we got the clear to close yesterday and have a closing date set for next Wednesday! Can't wait to move in! It won't be for a couple weeks, but it'll be great once we do move. Much of my making has been on hold because of the lack of space in our apartment, so I'm excited to get another table and make some DIY storage/organizing!

Rosette Pillow Tutorial

Photo by Chris Everard

I found this tutorial on Etsy and it looked so cute and simple, I just had to try it! I wanted to use materials I had so my pillow is a bit smaller than the original, cream colored, and I used poly-fil instead of a pillow form (if you'd like to use a pillow form and/or add a zipper, see the tutorial on Etsy). I also packed my rosettes more densely but you can do what you please. Here's the tutorial:

Cut two felt rectangles 1" larger in both dimensions than you'd like your finished pillow to be (so if you want a 10" x 18" pillow, cut two pieces that are 11" x 19")

Out of a separate large piece of felt, cut sixty-3" diameter felt circles for your rosettes. Depending on how dense you'd like the rosettes on the pillow, you may use more or less (I used 50 on my 9"x11" pillow but mine are very densely packed). I used this almond can to trace one, then cut the rest from the original.

Fold each circle in half, then in half again to make a rosette. Make a couple stitches in the bottom of each rosette so they stay together and are easier to sew onto the pillow front.

Start hand sewing the rosettes onto the pillow front. You can make the row as wide or narrow as you want. Make sure you end up with the same amount of undecorated fabric on each end.

Once you're finished sewing the rosettes on, pin the pillow front to the pillow back with right sides together.

Sew around the pillow, leaving a hole large enough to turn the pillow right side out (mine was about 4" long).

Trim the bulk at the corners.

Turn your pillow right side out and stuff with poly-fil to desired firmness.

Fold the edges in and pin the hole closed. Sew to close the seam.

Finished product! Next time, I would definitely space out my rosettes more, but overall it was a great use for some leftover felt!

Bow Belt Tutorial

I found this tutorial after my sister told me about Stumble Upon. It's this great website that randomly brings up websites based on the interests that you select. SO much fun when I'm bored at work, and definitely worth checking out!

So this tutorial comes from Momtastic. You can click on the link to the blog for the full tutorial. A couple things that I did or wish I had done differently:

1. I added two snaps on the end of the band. One snap seemed to make the belt not line up in the back (but that's partially because I did a not-so-great job of getting it in the middle!). I think next time I am going to mark the center of the width of the belt to make sure that the snap is centered.
2. When sewing the "middle band" on the belt, the way it's done makes the back unfinished. While this doesn't show, I would suggest measuring where you would sew, then making the seam on the inside of the fabric. Then, slide the middle band down the belt before pinching the bow and pulling through. Or use Fray Check to stop fraying.

Overall, though, I love this belt and am excited to make more! Thanks, Momtastic!

"I Love..." Friday

This week has flown by for me! We heard back on our house and, thankfully, the cost to regrade the backyard is well within our price range. I know everyone always says that buying a house is stressful, but I didn't know it would be like this. 

I'm slowly trying to get back my motivation from my lazy month so there should be some new goodies in my Etsy shop soon! It's been a struggle recently with working full time, then going home to create for the shop. I'm always reading the articles on Etsy titled "Quit Your Day Job" and think that I could do it if I put in a little more work on the side. A lot of the women that are interviewed say that it was like they were working two jobs before they branched off to focus solely on their business. I would LOVE to do that! I already love creating and being able to do it as a job would be fantastic. I'll keep you posted on how this venture goes!


Today is Friday! So here are some Etsy items that caught my eye for this "I Love ...":

Viking Mug by CircaCeramics

Frida Earrings by tamar

Light Blue Alarm Clock from TheBig8s

Three Nesting Lotus Blossom Bowls by whitneysmith

Weekly Posting: "I Love.." Fridays and a Life Update

It's been a while since I last blogged .. mostly because my husband and I are trying to buy a house in my hometown! I'm really excited about it. Of course there have been a couple issues, namely that we had an inspection this Wednesday and the inspector found that there is a lot of water pressure on the foundation wall of the house because the backyard slants towards the house .. Yikes! We have to get it fixed before we close because of the type of loan we're getting, so hopefully it doesn't cost us too much. We should get the estimate before Monday. 


Another excuse for the lack of blogging falls into a real lack of motivation. It seems that when things get busy at work (I work at a Community Education office for a school district), I lose the desire to work on my Etsy shop or other crafty things. But when I'm at work all day with nothing to do, there's nothing I would rather be doing than creating. Plus, I really want a new sewing machine as mine was obtained by my mom at a garage sale. This is my newest desire: Brother PC-210. 


So I feel the need to start a routine. Enter "I Love ..." Fridays. I'll be perusing Etsy shops for things I love, just as I get into the weekend. This Friday, while I've been seeing all kinds of treasuries anticipating spring, I'm going to do one last hurrah for winter. I love sweaters, warm and cozy things, and all of the white. 

Multibubble Scarf from Clariceonline

Primitive Miniature Wood Town from saysthetree

Felted Wool Slippers from Grazim

Tealight Holders from wapa

The idea for starting the weekly collection comes from Hump Day Finds by What. No Mints?  Definitely a favorite blog of mine!