Pinterest Project Dump

Hi, my name is Ashley. And I'm a Pinterest Junkie.

And as a result of my addiction, I have a lot of projects that were done over the holidays that I want to share with the class.

But first, here's my little photo collage my hubby surprised me with on facebook one day. I love when he gets the urge to have a secret photoshoot with my boys and surpise me!

Notice Bosley being shy for the camera. He's actually not shy, he's TERRIFIED of the camera for some reason. So much so that you can pick up any object and pretend to focus it on him and he gets all shifty and crazy eyed. It's so bizarre!

And to the other extreme, that's probably the only "looking away" shot of Artie that Chase got that day. He's a little camera slut. Yes, I called my dog a slut.

Moving on...

A majority of this holiday season was spent crafting, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that it was also spent like this:

Just add Chase and I snuggled under our blankets on the couch. Yep, that's it.

But on to the crafts.
Please excuse the iPhone pictures.
I just wish I knew a photographer that would let me borrow his camera...hmmm...

Instructions found here.

I loved this one! It was the first wreath I made in the fall and it gave me the fever.

Instructions for the yarn wrapping found here. But honestly, you just tie a knot around it and start wrapping it tightly. Ruffle instructions found here. Fabric Flower instructions found here. Gold T from Schlobby Bobby.

I took the ruffle instructions from the above wreath and covered the entire form with it. Ignore the fact that it's a little wonky. I tried to save some cash by following this lady's advice on making your own foam wreath rings. Yeah, it didn't work out so hot for me. I ended up taking all the ruffles off and reapplying them to one that I bought.

Inspriration from here.

Instructions found here. I only tweaked this by wrapping the entire foam ring in red velvet ribbon so that you could see red in the background of the peppermints. I also didn't use the red hots.This one is super cheap to make. The end product is beautiful, but HEAVY. I put this one in a silent auction for a friend and the winner told me that she was having a hard time finding something strong enough to hold it.

Someone had this one for sale for $65! I made this one for about $25.

I plan to do this again but make it much more fantastical.

Instructions found here. This one was a booger. It looks much more impressive in person than it does in the crappy picture above. It's very full and definitely catches the eye. Like I told a friend, I'll be glad to share how to make this one, but I will NOT make them in mass to sell. It was a big time suck. As in several days of 1 hour sessions because that's all I could stand. The process is simple but loooooong.

Lastly, I got really obsessed with making headbands. Chase was *this close* to taking away my glue gun. Let me tell ya, that would have been a fight! Inspiration for these were from here, here and my brain.

So there you have it. All the crafty goodness we had going on at the Todd house.

And for anyone wondering, yes I do plan on making wreaths for the other seasons. It's my goal to have a cute festive wreath for each month. You could consider it a resolution if it means that much to you.

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore

Guess who's in the mood to be crafty! Wait for it...wait for it... THIS GIRL! My crafty mojo seems to come and go these days based on how crazybusy my life is. I've had this little project in mind since we went to the beach last month. I got my inspiration from YHL (which by the way happens to be my # 1 obsession blog right now). They did this cute shadow box with keys from their past apartments and houses. (Follow the link to see their post about the keys. And go ahead and do yourself a favor and add them to your must read list. You don't have to thank me later.)

I thought it was such a cute idea but didn't know if it would be just right for us.

Yes, we've moved a lot (3 times in 2 years of marriage), but somehow in all the chaos we didn't end up with any spare keys. My problem-solver husband quickly said 'Ashley you can just get any key. Nobody will know that it's not really the key to that house.' To which I promptly responded 'But I'll know and my OCD will not let me forget it!' So it was a no-go on the keys for us.

BUT, cue the happy music... While we were at the beach last month, I picked up a cute little off-white sea shell and a project was born.

The Plan:

=> Get a shadow box on the cheap. They are included in the 50% off frame sale at Hobby Lobby so I know they'll be on sale soon.

=> For the background, I scored an awesome deal on a book of scrapbook paper in different shades of metallic blue from Marshall's while we were on our way back from the beach. It was around $4.00.

=> Figure out a way to hang the shell in the box. I've thought about a thumbtack since it's not so long, but I'm worried about hanging the shell. Since I know I can change out the color of the paper over the years, I may just hot blue it in place???

=> Find the perfect spot in the house to hang said Sea Shell Shadow Box. (Say that 5 times fast) saidseashellshadowbox saidseashellshadowbox saidseashellshadowbox saidseashellshadowbox saidseashellshadowbox. Yes I did just do that. But I know you read it, so HA.

=> Regain focus on this post

=> Write Folly 2011 on Mr. Shell. This part is done. Here's how that went down...

It appears that writing on a sea shell isn't exactly elementary my dear Watson. It's actually pretty intense. I thought I could just scribble it out with my handy dandy sharpie and call it a day, but no dice. Luckily, I started with a pencil to trace out where I wanted everything, so I was able to adjust when I ran into the sharpie snag.

  

I ended up using the sharpie on the whole phrase, but then I went back with the pencil and filled in all the little cracks to make it as solid as possible. I'm probably going to go over it again with a really thin sharpie just to make it more bold and solid.

My vision for this is that in 12 years we'll have a cute little shadow box with 12 cute little shells that spell out the beach we visited and the year. It's fun, it's simple, and it's really personal. Love it.

To be continued...

Somebody call Scooby and the gang!

There's a new monster in town. And her name is Ashley on Pinterest!!! I can feel a Pinterest Anonymous club being created soon...*maybe I should search for it and pin it*no wait that's exactly what I'm talking about*  Anyway...

Life here has been good in the 313. She's a much more airy, sunny place than our previous 1007. I'd like to think that he was a boy because he was more dungeon-like and cold and was really messy crammed most of the time. I've yet to post about our new place and I plan to do that as soon as I take a picture of the dang house number. That's been on my to-do list for the past month and I've yet to step outside and snap the picture! Pitiful, I know!!!

We are in another season of money being tight, but we're making it. If there's anything we've learned from the past two years of marriage - and yes, I said TWO years! - it's that we have to cling to each other and continually go to God about supplying our needs. We have YET to be let down by our Provider.

On a similar note, Chase's business is going well. He's obsessed with these photography 'webinars' that he found for FREE online. I can tell he's learning a lot because each time he watches one, he spends the next few days with his other woman on his macbook and scribbling in a notebook. We're hoping for a very busy fall season with Santa pictures and a lot of family sessions. Say a prayer for us!

This is going to be short and sweet because I'm too ADD today (thanks to Pinterest) to focus on one thing for more than a few minutes.

Stay sassy!

Divo & Diva of DIY

I tend to lovingly call my hubby a Divo (the male version of a Diva)...and some have called me a Domestic Diva, so I hereby name us the Divo & Diva of DIY...

Deciding on our halloween costumes is quickly becoming one of the most stressful decisions we have to make as a newly married couple! Last year we were Fred & Wilma (and yes, we made them...).

This year we definitely felt the heat to come up with an awesome couple costume. We threw around several ideas including Jon & Kate, a redneck and his barefoot & pregnant wife, and the good ole doctor/nurse combo. On Thursday, we took a trip to a Halloween Express and ran across these costumes, the only problem being that they were $38 a piece!!!

Since my heart belongs to the old school SNL, I couldn't pass this up! So, in our true DIY fashion, we decided to make them this weekend. We had a party on Saturday night, so time was tickin' to get these things done!

We set out to Walmart Friday night after a VERY long church function we had to attend. (Moral of the story there - always have an escape plan!) We gathered all the necessary items and went home to start planning.

Here's the mound of interesting things we turned into something fab:

Around 12:00 a.m. Chase started making the stencil for the "Spartan" sash. Meanwhile, I cut all the strips for my skirt and got the sashes ready. Chase got the letters painted and we finally went to bed around 1:30 a.m. Chase went to work at 10:45 Saturday morning and I started working!

I was adamant that I wasn't going to sew this year (we almost broke up last year over the stupid sewing machine! Curse you!!!), so I got some of that adhesive bonding stuff that you iron on. It really worked! I was shocked at how well it worked! The pleats ended up needed a little love at the top, so I hand-stitched that part, but other than that, I didn't have to thread anything! (Curse you tiny needle eye!)

For the hem, I got that double-sided fabric adhesive. It looked pretty good if I do say so myself! I'm proud to say by 2:30 I was done!! While I was working, I was entertained by a friend on the phone and some good bumpin' music in the background. (Apparently that kind of music does something for the creative side of my brain!) Here's the finished product:

 I have to admit I'm pretty proud! And I'm allowed to be right? After all, I am the Diva of DIY!