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Tomorrow is my birthday. I feel a little different about it this year than usual. There's a lot going on here, and I have been a little distracted. Usually, I spend the entire first half of the month of October trying to get everyone pumped up for my big day. Silly, right?  I haven't been quite so obnoxious this year, to the relief of my loved ones, I'm sure. I do still think that it is a pretty sweet time to celebrate another rotation around the sun: all of the ups and downs, and the challenges and triumphs. We all go through so much, and we all deserve to look at what we've been doing right and to have our friends and family pay us a little extra attention.

So, even though I am not a little kid anymore, I'm going to go ahead and enjoy the heck outta myself tomorrow!

3 Craft Retreat Projects - Part Three: Fall Wreath

This is the last of the projects that I completed during the crafty weekend. Hey! I totally worked on some cross-stitch and knitting, too, but those aren't finished!

Here is my fall-colored wreath:

I'm a little obsessed with Pinning wreaths these days. So many people are making such beautiful ones, and I am so glad they share their pictures. They are so inspiring! They are so creative!

For my very own wreath, I started with a dollar store twisted twig wreath and wrapped some variegated light brown yarn from my scraps stash around it. It looked a little bland, so I wrapped some of the olive green around there, too. There are tons of really cute crochet flower patterns to be found on (where else?!) Pinterest. The fancy-looking flower on my wreath was inspired by this sweet pattern that I found on Ravelry. I hot-glued those guys onto my wreath, along with a couple of buttons, and I think it's great!

I burned myself with the hot glue, of course. I always do. Somebody's gotta have a crafting injury. It was just my turn.

I can't wait until the next craft weekend!

3 Craft Retreat Projects - Part Two: Painted Tissue Box Cover

Another pinned project - COMPLETE! I loved the look of the painted tissue box cover from The Harpster Home blog. I am by no means a painter, but I felt pretty confident in my ability to put this together. I have a collection of acrylic paints, and I usually use them with my foam stamps or some stencils. Nothing too complicated, you know. I recently used some paint on a project with some small canvases - I should share those! I used the same colors on this box, and I like how it ties things together in my office.

If you compare the original, inspirational box with mine, you'll see that my technique probably isn't anywhere near as nice. I am not ashamed of my box, though!  :-)  It was seriously fun and really quick to make. I put a layer of white on the whole thing, and I ended up having to put two coats of the color on top of that.

It looks pretty sweet on my desk, don't ya think?

3 Craft Retreat Projects - Part One: Paint Chip Calendar

I pinned this project ages ago, and it was in danger of becoming one of those pinned-but-never-actually-done-it things. My craft board is FULL of those! This crafty weekend was great, though, because I did THREE of my pinned projects! I am so proud!

So, I found this genius calendar (via Pinterest, of course) on the Crafty Chic blog, and I loved everything about it. It was so simple and inexpensive! I swiped the paint strips from Wal-Mart (two each of seven strips, just in case I messed anything up!), and the whole thing was really easy to complete. I glued the colors onto some white poster board, leaving room to write the month name at the top. Using a dry-erase marker on the glass of the frame (I used a 16x11" frame) is really neat and fun.

This one is hanging up in my office at work, and I have been getting lots of nice comments about it. We may even have some normally non-crafty types trying this one!

 

I just got back from the store a couple of minutes ago with the supplies to make another one - muted colors this time - to use at home. I'll post that one soon, I promise!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

3 Days of Away-from-Home Crafting!

I am a very lucky girl. This past weekend (including Friday), I took a little road trip and spend three days away from home with nine other ladies eating, crafting, and talking. A few times over the past few years a group of friends - some coworkers, some not - have gathered at this really sweet cabin that is built exactly for this. There are craft tables, a fully stocked kitchen, and ten beds. Best of all, this was the perfect group of women to spend a whole weekend focusing on crafts and being comfortable.

I can't wait to share some of the things that I made with you! I should probably work on that after I recover from that weekend and catch up on some sleep.

In the meantime, behold my favorite cat ever.