Shrinky Dink Silhouette Jewelry

Sometimes I get a good idea and I just have to run with it.

And run...

(...and then run a little more)

My most recent good idea?

~Shrinky Dink Charms~

Last time I wrote about them the charms were part of my daughter's "You're So Charming" Valentines.

This time I went with silhouettes.

(And yes, the silhouette is of my younger daughter--and it's being worn by my older daughter.)

Wouldn't this be a great gift for a kid to make for Mother's Day?

Just place the shrinky dink film over a profile picture, trace, color, punch a hole, and bake.

Easy peasy!

(Of course I was lucky enough to have these cool ornaments to trace, but a regular picture would work just fine.)

So since I'm on a roll I have to ask: what would you make with some shrinky dink film?

Linking:
http://yesterfood.blogspot.com/2014/03/treasure-box-tuesday-12.html

How to Wrap an E-Card

... in three easy steps!

E-cards make great gifts and for my daughter's last birthday a dear friend sent her one via my email address.

It is always so sweet when friends and family from afar remember my kids on their birthdays.  For that reason, I wanted the e-card pack the same punch as the the prettily wrapped presents purchased here in town.  My solution?

1.  I printed out the e-card.

2. I rolled it up and inserted it in a tissue tube.

3.  I wrapped it with tissue paper and twine.

The end result was a gift that looked as good on the outside as it did on the inside.  :)

Shrinky Dink Charms for Rainbow Loom Bracelets

This is the post wherein old-school kid craft meets new-school kid craft.  (Prepare to be amazed!)

One might wonder how such a fabulous collaboration came to be...

You see, it was all part of my quest to find a fun Valentine's Day gift for my daughter to give out in class.  (Preferably one that didn't involve high fructose corn syrup.)

We began with shrink film.  This is the stuff you use for shrinky dinks, but you can buy it on its own, without a shrinky dink kit, HERE.  

We traced some hearts onto the film using a sheet of hearts from the internet.

Then we colored them in.  (All of this was done with Sharpie.  I found the brush tip worked best.)

Then we punched some holes and popped them in the convection oven for three minutes at 300°.

Unfortunately, the charms turned out a little bigger than we had hoped...

...and some were just a hot mess!

So we tried again, this time with free-form hearts...

And we added initials...

And we baked them in the real oven  (also for three minutes at 300°).

And when they turned out okay we added a jump ring to each one...

...which connects the charm to the bracelet:

Then it was just a matter of adding a cute note:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Looking for more Rainbow Loom posts?  Click HERE.

Valentine's Day Treats & Eats

Well, I'm at it again: scouring the internet for delicious food (so you don't have to).

The theme this time?

Valentine's Day Treats & Eats!

(How timely!)

The collection is up now on Looksi Bite.

A Post From the Corner Office

Back in March of 2012 I wrote a post entitled, "Paging Virginia Woolf," a reference to the essay in which Woolf posits that, "a woman must have... a room of her own if she is to write..."

My post was in response to one written by Karianne at Thistlewood who had asked, "Where do you blog?"

At the time, I was blogging in my kitchen:

Admittedly, it was not a bad little spot, but I desperately wished for a "room of my own" in which to write.  

After reading the post, my daughters generously offered me their playroom.  As sweet a gesture as that was, I knew that if I took over the playroom, their toys would take over the rest of my house (and that was a scary prospect).

So my husband suggested that I put an office in the corner of our bedroom.  

This was also a sweet offer.  I thought about it for a long time, weighing the pros and the cons, and while I ultimately decided that I should do it, I actually did nothing for a year-and-a-half.  

Silly as it sounds, this paralysis was due to the fact that a giant (heavy) armoire occupied the space where my "office" would go.

Finally my husband and I tilted the beast on its side and slid it into our hallway.  (You can read about how we eventually got rid of it HERE.)

With the armoire out of the way I was left with a beautiful open space to play with:

And that empty space now looks like this:

Isn't it great?  

Allow me to take you on a tour.  

I knew that I wanted a Parsons style corner desk and was lucky enough to find one at Pottery Barn Teen on clearance.  The white version was sold out but I guess teenage girls weren't so interested in the espresso because I got it for under $300!

With the desk in place, it was really just a matter of creating a functional (and beautiful) work space using (mostly) what I already had.  Loyal readers will recognize these letters that I made back in October of 2012:

Right below them hangs a cute canvas, celebrating my addiction to love of coffee, that I bought at a local craft fair.  

Decorating with the things that I love is important to me and so is the ability to switch things up when the mood strikes.  For that reason I decided to hang the DIY Linen Pin Board that I made back in June of 2013 above my desk:

I ended up liking it so much, that my daughter and I made two more for the adjacent wall.  You can see them in the picture below.   (Want to make one of your own?  Learn how HERE.) 

The board immediately above my desk contains both important schedules and little tid-bits that I enjoy such as fun postcards or pages clipped from a catalog.  

I even keep a cute pair of scissors on the board so it's always at arm's reach.  

The pin boards aren't the only DIY in my corner:  it shouldn't surprise anyone that I turned an old salsa jar into a pen holder.  The jar rests upon a coaster that my daughter made in school.  (Gotta start 'em crafting young.)

Of course not everything is DIY'ed or recycled.  I purchased this three tiered tray at Target as a repository for all of the little things that can accumulate on a work surface.  

I love that the third tier is actually a bowl.  It's just perfect for paperclips and other tiny things.  I also keep pins for my pin board there.  I've stuck them in a cork which just happens to have my name on it.  :)

Another item I bought is this mouse pad.  I got it from the Mulberry Press Etsy Shop.  I hadn't used a mouse in years but recently bought one with an external keyboard.   As I browsed etsy for a mouse pad I was thrilled to come upon this one.   The quote is something I say to my girls all. the. time.  (Just ask them!)  I thought it was a particularly good reminder to have next to my computer while I browse other people's blogs and Facebook pages, drooling over their beautiful and seemingly perfect lives...  ;)

After admiring THIS accordion collator from Anthropologie, I was thrilled to find one (for far less than $58) on a clearance end cap at Target.

It holds these pretty file folders...

...and sits upon a "Flat File Coffee Table" from Cost Plus World Market.  I'd always wanted a flat file--somewhere that I could store all of those oversized pieces of the girls' artwork I've collected over the years--and while this is really meant to be a coffee table, it serves my needs just fine!

So there you have it,  I finally have a room of my own!

Okay, okay, it's a corner.

But a corner office is kind of a big deal, right?