The Burrow Gets Wired

Finally!  We got the Internet hooked up at The Burrow!  It's slow, but it's connected.  I spent the first night downloading music I've been waiting for, then next night writing a paper and emailing it to myself and the third night....

...Blue Screen of Death.

Goodwill Table Re-Do - Recycler!

Buenas dias!  In my picture frame post, I mentioned my end table re-do, but just realized I never posted it!  Well, let's amend that, shall we? (Click Continue reading...)

The Burrow Interior Re-Do

I mentioned in a previous post that I would put up some pictures of The Burrow when the paint job was done.  It has been long done, but I keep thinking I'll post a picture of a room when it's done.  Well I've come to terms with the fact that our home will be an ongoing process, ebbing and flowing with our time and money, which of course we are all always short on.   (click Continue Reading...)

More Wedding Details...

Oh just adding a few more details from the wedding for you!  Hopefully it will inspire someone else.. :)

All photos courtesy of our amazing photographer: Alisandra Photography

Shorty Post- DIY Cat Scratching Post

Como van tus vidas?  This is a quick little post for me to boast about my husbo, Greer.  He is talented and creative and I love his infinite good ideas.

We recently adopted a starving little 4 week old kitten.  My sister found the scrawny thing on our parent's back porch and immediately called me.  I've been saying for about 2 weeks that I want a kitten and poof!  Here she is.  So Marzipan is now a little over 5 weeks and is s-p-u-n-k-y.  Not wanting to spend money on what he can do himself, Greer threw together a scratching post for her. (click Continue Reading...)

DIY Frame Jewelry Hanger - Recycler!

Hola amigas y amigos!  I've been seeing this really fun project around on various blogs and finally got all my peices in place to give it a try on my own.  I wanted to post the blogs I had seen originally but I cannot find my links!! So leave a comment about similar projects if you've tried or if you've seen them around.

My recycled picture frame jewelry holder!

A Soft Place to Land Silhouette Giveaway!

First:  If you have not already visited Kimba at A Soft Place to Land, you should most definitely check out her blog.  It is inspiring, fun, and has so many incredible DIY ideas.  It is the blog that got me hooked on thrifting and DIY crafts.

Today until Aug 9 she is facilitating a Silhouette Craft Cutter giveaway.  If you are interested in any type of craft that involves stencil, silhouette, paper, vinyl, glass etching, scrapbooking... the list goes on, you should participate in the contest!  I plan on asking for the Silhouette Craft Cutter for Christmas.  If you don't want to wait to win, you can purchase the craft cutter with their promo and save money while getting bonus items.  So head on over to A Soft Place to Land!

Wedding Summary: Sweet Honey Love

Our wedding was perfect.  June 5, 2010  Greer and I tied the knot on a beautiful day with close friends and family and had a blast the whole time!  Our wedding theme/title was Sweet Honey Love.  Here's some tid-bits from our wedding... maybe it will help inspire someone else!

This is one of my favorite details.  Greer and I hoarded the tye-dye paper from Double H Ranch last summer (2009).  The tye-dye paper was made by campers tye-dying their tee-shirts at Arts & Crafts.  The paper under the shirts gets hung to dry and you end up with really unique, fun colored paper that is truly one-of-a-kind.  We used the paper as a backdrop for our table name cards.  Greer, my stencil king, crafted a mini version of the stencil he made for me when he proposed, and used that for the table names to go on.  We named tables after places/things that meant something to us.  "Reign" was the head table, and the name came from our song "Love, Reign O'er Me" (Pearl Jam version).......

Reduce, Reuse, Revamp, Recycle!

Go Green!  We seriously do need to save our planet.  I won't get on my soapbox about that, but just mull it over sometime.  Where will we be if we don't change?  If you're not sure, visit your ever-expanding local landfill and think about what disentigrating into your water.

On that happy note....!!  Here are so really fun ways to use some of those items in your house that are just hanging around.  I don't like throwing things away because I don't want to junk up the world.  I donate a lot, but I buy a of of thrift store goods instead of new goods.  Read on to see if you can re-vamp and recycle anything you've got stashed away....

Idea Trunk: Landing Space

Hola todos! Que tal?  I've been hunting around for ideas for using the small landing space between the rooms upstairs.  It's a decent enough size for a chair and table or desk.  Ideally, the space will be decorative AND functional (but isn't that the goal of most spaces?). I don't like the idea of just putting a table with decor plopped in the landing space when it can definitely become a functional space. 

The landing space/Marzipan's kitty room



What do I do with this space??

So, I thought I'd share and archive some ideas I stumbled across.  The first chunk of photos I found from Country Living, and boy does that make me want to subscribe to them!  These were from a nice little gallery about small space decorating.

A Hiatus and a New Day

Not that anyone is following this blog (YET!), but I took a hiatus because returning to school (Chem & Stats & Physiology classes), getting married, working, learning/teaching Zumba, moving to a new house that needs to be freshened is just TOO MUCH.  So I'm back at the 8-5 grindgroan for a month until classes start in fall and I hopefully get into the MOT program.

Anyhallyhoo, Greer & I re-did the house.  Majorly.  It's been livened up from the original gray, mustard, hunter green, maroon colors to bright orange, teal, purple, red, spring green, coral!  I love it. It's like living in a rainbow.  I also renamed it. The Burrow.  Yep, stolen straight from HP!

Decor-wise, it's still skeletal in my opinion.  A skeleton with ligaments pressed on here and there (thanks, Physiology class!).  We kind of threw things up on the walls and in corners to have some decoration and somewhere to put everything.  But now I'm staring at the place thinking...how do I make this more cozy?

Zumba, Anyone?

Yes. I have joined the Zumba craze.  I took just one class and adored it!  I love to dance, I love latin music and moves, so what did I do?  Of course simply taking the class isn't enough....

I registered to become an instructor.

Based on one class.

Thrifty Find: Headboard

While shopping for wedding tuxes, Greer and I stumbled upon the most adorable headboard I have seen.  (We made a side stop at a thrift store...)  I fell completely in love with it, but we knew it wouldn't fit in the car.  My darling fiance called the store later in the week and purchased the headboard over the phone (only $37!!)  My sister and I drove back up to the same area for a wedding hair trial (diseaster...) and picked up the headboard (thanks for letting us borrow your car, Mom!).

So now, I have a beautiful only slightly broken (and easily fixed) headboard for our future daughter.  Who won't be around for at least 3 years.  And may turn out to be a boy.  Will he like a pink and yellow flowered headboard?  .....only time will tell.

Inspiring Ideas Keeping Me Afloat

My goodness I have completely disregarded A Clearing in the Woods for a little bit, along with any wedding or home projects!  Writing 4 papers in 2 weeks has not been fun, but it's complete and I have a short break before the next paper flood.  Work has slowed down also, which frees up more of my time during the day to skim through crafty home blogs and find some new inspiration and projects.  Shhh... I look very busy in my office at the moment...!

There are so many amazing projects I've found that I cannot wait to make my own attempts. I desperately want to move into Clearingwoods Cottage and start making a home, but until June I'll have to put my efforts into the wedding and keep notes here.

So....here's some more inspiring photos and bloggers that I think you might like...

Inspiration Blog: A Tree Lined Street

I just stumbled across A Tree Lined Street and fell in love with this blog for a few reasons.

1. She uses a Blogger template and her own photo and she has followers! This helps me feel better that, at least for now, I don't need to change over to WordPress and buy hosting and get someone to design a blog theme for me (let's not get into the fact that web design was my major and I still know very little about it...)

2. She has so many great ideas that you really must check out. One of my favorites is her use of old doorknobs to hang tile decor.

3. She has some good tips and reminders for decorating and renovating your home on a budget. I really liked her Repurpose What Ya Got post (with the doorknobs!)

4. She has a really fun writing style that makes you want to keep reading. I certainly hope she keeps posting because I am now a follower of A Tree Lined Street.

Que vayas bien!

DIY Wedding Save the Date

Finally. I got the Save the Dates in the mail and they are arriving at their destinations daily (hopefully). There are only 2 slight problems I didn't see beforehand:

1. I ordered way too many. I ordered 150 Save the Dates to be printed, you know, for slightly over the amount of people on the guest list. What I didn't consider is that number includes every single person on the guest list, not the number of parties. I have about 100 Save the Dates that will not be used! .....new wallpaper? Kidding! Just the border....

Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch

**Warning: Extremely long post. Can you handle it? ;)** Will add more pictures soon...


I had planned to post my DIY wedding Save the Date but I forgot to take and send a picture to myself, so that will have to wait until another day (tomorrow?). Since I have no pictures or crafts to add, but didn't want to post without purpose, I thought I'd put in a plug for Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch. This place holds my heart and certainly could not be missed at A Clearing in the Woods. I'm sure it will come up again.

DIY Tree Decal

I have envied those with relatively permanent homes who can paint murals and add wall decals. I also have been envying my friend's Tree of Life tapestry that hangs above & over my friend's bed. Having no luck finding a tapestry and not willing to repaint the apartment in June, I resigned myself to collecting ideas for Clearing Woods Cottage (btw, should that be all one word? hmm) and doing it up then. Along comes my imaginative Greer who says "Why don't we just make one out of sheets?"

Brilliant.

Everyone Else is Doing It

Am I allowed to do 3 posts in 1 hour? Maybe not, but work is slow and I just keep finding new projects and ideas from others and I thought it might help to keep track of them here. I won't put everything in my computer Crafts folder, but some favorite things, a la Kimba at A Soft Place To Land (if you haven't visited, you should!).

Ice Cream Table's New Topping

Well, let me tell you that guestbook did not get done. Writing my first paper in two years was much more difficult than I thought, but hopefully that will wrap up tonight and I can get started on the guestbook while I study for my Monday test. After that I can really get crafting.

I thought I'd post a few things in the meantime to get something up here. Our kitchen table is currently a hand-me-over small table that I loved for it's ice cream shoppe design but hated the original colors. Spot it?

Starting in Rush Hour

As if I don't already have enough to do, with a 40hr/wk + travel technically part-time job, 2 university classes, and planning my June 5th wedding (a highly DIY affair at that), I thought I'd start up a blog (on my failing work computer which shows a blank screen as I type). I should be studying for my upcoming Abnormal Psych test, or working on the paper for Developmental Psych, or maybe finding some work to do but I keep perusing craft blogs and wedding blogs and wanted in on the fun. Who knows if anyone will read, but I'll give this a whirl, keeping up when I can. The way I see it, it can serve as my multi-purpose wedding, craft, life, projects blog so I can visually organize it all in one spot and keep track of everything.