approaching joy

DIY date :: Washi + Bangle = Love

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get an email from Louise over at Laid Off Mom inviting me to participate in "DIY Date."  DIY Date is a brand new project she has started where our fellow bloggers get together and have a "virtual craft night" all using the same supply/ medium.  Genius, right?!?  Go over and check out the Laid Off Mom blog to see what other crazy cool ideas Louise has spinning around her marvelous head.

For the initial DIY Date, Louise chose washi tape.  Thanks to my blog crush on Elise, I was super familiar with the awesome-ness of washi tape. This challenge was the perfect opportunity to actually put some of that awesome to work on my own project. 

When I stumbled upon this DIY from Cococerise (via Pugly Pixel) I knew I had to do a spin-off of her project which is how the washi wrapped bangle was born.

This project is so simple it doesn't really need a tutorial, but here you go.

Supplies needed:
- washi tape
- bangle bracelet
- craft glue 
- Modge Podge 

1- Find a cheapie bracelet.

2- Dot it with glue.

3- Wrap the tape around the bracelet at a 45 degree-ish angle until it's completely covered.

4- Glue off the end.

Optional:  Cover it with a light layer of modge podge to seal it. The last step is optional because I didn't do it with mine.  I've wore it several times over the past couple weeks and it hasn't started to unravel, but extra baubble protection never hurts.

I am super happy with how this project turned out.  
It seriously only took 15 minutes and it probably took that long because I was fumbling around with my camera. Ha.  I love that this could add an extra layer of personality to a grown-up outfit or a fun rainy day project with little ones.

What have you guys been doing with washi lately?

Blog Crush :: Creature Comforts

The Creature Comforts blog came into my realm of blog awareness back in January (after I saw that she was one of the presenters at Alt Summit) but I didn't start following her regularly until after Katrina over at Pugly Pixel mentioned her Photoshop arrow brush set on Twitter (which I first mentioned here and which I used for the roll-over button on my navigation bar above).  Ez's modest and simple explanations gave me the confidence to dowload them and I was quickly self-initated into the Photoshop brush loving crowd.  I even used her instructions to figure out how to make the patterned bookmark I mentioned the other day. 

Since then, I have become a regular reader of this Thomas the Tank Engine of blogs.  Somehow, Ez manages to regularly post three beautifully curated posts each day during the week.  Three posts a day guys- insanity!!  
But what amazing insanity it is. She has the most gorgeous photos and her project posts always manage to convince me of their do-ability. (Yep: Made up word.)  More than anything, I feel like her posts are a restful place to land in the midst of this crazy thing we call the Interweb.  While other (great) bloggers may inspire you "do" or "create" or "make" or "read" or "bake", Creature Comforts is my virtual "cup of tea" that allows me to relax and just be.    

As always, I encourage you to check out Creature Comforts and report back to share your favorite aspect of this woman's beautiful site.

Patterned Art with Kids :: Guest Post at Pars Caeli

I was just recounting a story to the Mister of the day camp that my brother and I used to go to during the summer when we were kids.  I told him on the days when it got over 100 degrees (you know... like the past month here in Arkansas) all 40 of the kids at the camp would huddle in the dark of the main room watching movies like Karate Kid, Little Giants, and The Sand Lot.  The most enlighting movies? No, but definitely safer than having a heat stroke at the age of ten.

It's in the vain of "Its too hot/rainy/smoggy to play outside" that I link up to the arty crafty guest post that I sent over to *Pars Caeli a few weeks ago: It a Vlog that shows how you can make a patterned bookmark from children's art.  Like I mentioned in the post, over the course of their lives today's kids will be on the computer so much more than my generation.  We may as well start them off with fun family memories on the computer.

*MJ is a beautiful person that I have been blessed with "finding" via the interweb.  (You may remember her from this guest post/ DIY that she made for me!)  She has a brand new web home that she has put a lot of work into and I'm sure she would love if you clicked over and explored the new space.

create.edit.share :: poise

Finally- Part three of three as promised over a month ago!

For the rest of the Audrey Hepburn series check out these links
::Part One - Beautiful Eyes:: 
::Part Two - Beautiful Lips:: 

Also- Stay tuned because I have a big Create.Edit.Share announcement in the works and would love for you to be a part of it!

and now a word about being a recovering shy girl...

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but I never got around to pressing "publish"... Maybe I was afraid to jinx it?  

When I was a Senior in high school I was voted "Biggest Bookworm".  Along with that prestigous superlative came all the other tags that one would associate with such a title: 
Smart- Check.
Quiet- Check.
Not exactly popular- Check. 
Shy- Check plus.

I've been thinking about this a lot because I have my ten year high high school reunion at the end of this month.  Other than realizing this is my first major milestone into "not so young" territory, I've realized that the girl the people knew ten years ago is not the same woman who will be walking into the reunion in a few weeks.

Granted: I'm still a book lover.  I have, and hopefully will, always loved getting lost in a good book.  I will always pin beautiful libraries on Pinterest because I will always love the opportunity to be surrounded by stories. But now I've discovered that books aren't the only way to experience these stories.  
Life is full of stories if you go out there and live it.  People are full of stories if you have the guts to just ask them.  But both of these things required that I step outside of the "protection" that books offered me.  And because I've been working on that for the last ten years, I am a different, and I would argue, better, person because of it.

Needless to say, I survived and I will even admit that I enjoyed myself.  
I enjoyed catching up with the people I was once close to and seeing the others who I haven't given much thought to since leaving town.  I thanked the people who had unknowingly influenced me over the years and started to get to know some people who I was too shy/scared to interact with back when I was the "shy girl".  

I take back what I said about being a better person than I was ten years ago though...
Though I am most definitely different, I would say that really I am still the same person.  Some of the cool girls will always intimidate me and I will always feel a bit more comfortable hanging out on the porch with the guys (& their wives).  I will always appreciate the sound of crickets and will always dream of the sound of a big city.  
I will always strive to become a better person... And I don't want that to change.