Happy Coffee Day!

Short post today... School is keeping me quite busy! But today I will stop to say... Happy Coffee Day! (Totally didn't mean for that to sound like a poem... but I like it. hehehe.)

This could quite possibly be the best obscure holiday ever. I love coffee!! And I love that they dedicated an entire day to its yummy goodness! How are you going to celebrate? :)

Go forth and caffeinate!!
<3

What to do with a box of t-shirts?

So my little brother has this "quirk" (obsession?) and has to wear a brand new white t-shirt every day. (Waste of money? uh, yeah.) - which means that he ends up with a TON of white t-shirts in great conditions! Me, having the oh-so-crafty cheap mind that I do, I asked him to hand over some of his leftovers. Great idea, right? Well lets just say, I have a terrible time keeping myself organized, and I like to take on projects and then finish them a year later. So there's a big box of t-shirts taking up space in my room. What to do with them? Do you have lots of spare t-shirts that you really don't need? Well here's a collection of great t-shirt tutorials to get you started! Mind you, I haven't actually done any of them... yet. But I will! And then I shall post pictures. I hope. Happy Crafting! <3

Hipster Scarves

Braided Headbands

ADORABLE Sweetheart Shirt

Ruffle Rosette Pillow

Rug!

And finally, this really cute fabric Wreath!

There are so many fun things do do with a t-shirt! What's your favorite t-shirt re-purpose? :)

Blanket WIP!

There it is!! My glorious blanket :) I love it... I just wish it were about 5 feet longer. Goodness, crocheting takes a long time! I'm back at school now and moved into my cute little apartment! (Hmm, I feel like a tour is in order once I get totally settled in.) Choir council elections are today, and I'm running for el presidente! We'll see what happens :) Now, back to stitching!

<3 Lauren

The word of the day is crochet!

I tried chrocheting once... It failed.

I also tried knitting... It did not fail as bad. The problem with knitting is that it was very hard for me to advance.  I got the basic knit and purl stitches down pretty well (as long as they were in separate rows), but all the fancy stitching and cabelling and knitting-in-the-round? NIGHTMARE. I just couldn't do it. So here I am, with ten years knitting experience under my belt, and I can STILL only knit things in straight blocks. This limits me to scarves, and potholders. Which, lets be honest... Who really wants a potholder made out of cheap yarn? Not me.

Anyway, this post is about crocheting.  I came upon a blog post on "crochet 101" and decided to give it another try.  I sat down with a hook and some yarn in hand, and instantly fell in love. I'm now currently working on a blanket and I'll take some pictures along the way to show you my progress!

Do you have something that you gave up on that you'd like to try again? What is it?

Uh oh...

Okay, so I realized that it's been WAY too long since I blogged last, and I don't want to turn into one of those bloggers that doesn't ever actually post. Oops. I'm getting close to the start of school (MY LAST YEAR OF COLLEGE! WOO!), which means that I will have a new apartment to decorate!! Yay!! I'm going to commit to making a couple tutorials for you all as I start this new year. And hopefully I won't let you down. No promises. ;) Well I'm re-learning how to crochet, so I will post again later! <3

Dear Retail Customer,

To answer your questions:

Yes, I'm hanging Christmas ornaments already.

Yes, I'm aware that it's July.

Yes, it probably would be easier to leave Christmas stuff up all year long. But we don't. And you would probably complain then too.

No, we did not enter a time warp, and you did not lose several months of your year.

No, hanging ornaments does not fool me into thinking its cold outside.

No, I am not an elf.

No, I am not hiding any reindeer in the stock room.

Yes, it is a little ridiculous, but you need to get over it.

It's July, and I've been helping put Christmas ornaments/decorations/crafts out in the store.  It amazes me every day how angry this makes people.  Like I said, I'm not an elf, so how do you expect us to turn half the store into a winter wonderland overnight? Because I'm sure if we waited another month to start, A) you would probably still complain, and B) we wouldn't be able to put it out fast enough for your crazy Christmas expectations.  Besides, you do know we live in Arizona right? It's going to be hot regardless of when we put them out.  And seriously, do you all think you are just exceptionally witty?! Just for your information, I heard every Cmas related comment you all have on the first day, and you just keep repeating them. GET A NEW JOKE. And don't stare at me waiting to see me crack up laughing either. This polite smile is all you're getting from me until January.

And no, they're not on sale.

Your not-so-friendly-cashier,

Blitzen.

P.S. To the angry lady yesterday who got mad at me for having an ornament in my hand - get over yourself.  And don't get mad at me for putting your items in a bag. We're a store. We do that. You're right, I should have known that you hate plastic and all that is polluting the world. Oh and by the way? I gave you the sweaty-looking five dollar bill on purpose.  It gave me sick satisfaction watching you complain about it. Have a nice day, and Merry Christmas!

Party! Oh wait... I'm not that cool.

So my parents go out of town, right? And I throw this massive crazy party that just blows the roof off the house. I mean there's people shoulder to shoulder, crazy loud music, dancing, laughing.... Ohhhh wait. I spent the whole day watching project runway and crafting. And then went to yoga. 

*Sigh*

I though I was 22... Apparently I missed a huge chunk of my life when I turned into an old lady.

Anyway... So about that stuff I was crafting... 

I've got plans.

BIG plans.

I won't reveal too much yet, but my dream of starting a business is getting closer.  I'm learning new things, I'm cleaning up my style, thought up a cute new name and logo, and started a page on good ol' facebook.  As soon as I can find that dang camera charger of mine (WHERE DID IT GO?!), then I will take lots and lots of pictures and it will reek of amazingness. Yup. I'm excited.

Back to Project Runway. ;)

Love<3

Some people walk dogs. I walk my cat.

So here's the thing. I have a crazy cat. Her name is Vixen. She's three years old, and INSANE. I swear she has a hidden stash of energy drinks somewhere... Or maybe there's sugar stuffed in her scratching post... Who knows. 

Here she is sticking her head out of a cement block:

Pretty sure she was attacking my camera strap.

So sassy.

Anyway, being the dog trainer that I am, I decided to burn through some of her energy, and got her a cute little pink harness and leash combo. She absolutely loves it. Now don't get me wrong, she freaked out the first time I put it on her, and then tonight. Ohhh, tonight was hilarious. I wish that A) my camera wasn't dead and B) I had an amazingly hilarious video to make millions of dollars show to you. I took my little feline friend out tonight, and she got pretty bold and decided to start walking me (yeah, that's how it works) down the street. She had her fluffy little chest puffed out nice and proud, and I could almost hear her thinking "Look at me world! I'm three whole houses away! Mwahaha!". 
And then it happened.
The world started to laugh back as a huge white BEAST came barreling towards us. 
The neighbors (in their minivan) came home and pulled into the garage.

She totally freaked.
And I mean puffy tail, running around in circles, growling, and jumping six feet in the air freaking out.
She started to sprint back to the safety of home, obviously forgetting that she was tethered to me. So each time she would reach the end of that four foot rope and it would tug, she would jump another six feet in the air and start running in circles again. 

I finally caught up to her and picked her up, but I was laughing hysterically. As were the other five people that picked that moment to drive by.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my cat, and I don't like to see any animal in stress. But if you knew MY cat, and you had seen her tonight, I'm pretty sure you would have laughed too. Anyway, she got over in by promptly jumping in every box she could find, and after a few minutes of "chase the feather", she forgave me too. We'll see if she ventures past the yard tomorrow. ;)

Goodnight lovelies! And in the meantime, here is a comic about cat-walking.

 

Hello Wednesday :)

We found a house! It's not the one that I blogged about before, but I really really like this one, and it will hopefully be ours soon. <3 (Well technically it wont be mine for at least another year when we tie the knot... but who's counting? I still get to decorate it.) ;)

In other news, I've got about a month left until school starts again... I'm dreading it, but it's my VERY LAST YEAR of college, so I just need to keep that in mind! I can do it... I'm going to keep my crafy-mind occupied though by coming up with fun ways to decorate my itsy-bitsy "absolutely no holes in the walls" apartment. Oh boy. Hello command strips. :)

I'm working on some tutorials for the blog, I craft all the time but I get so excited that I'm halfway through a project before I remember to grab my camera. Which is currently dead. And I keep forgetting to charge it... *Sigh* It will happen eventually. 

I'm also trying to think of a good name for an accessory/clothing/decor business. You know, the kind that every housewife and young mother is trying to start? Apparently the fad of women wanting to hold jobs of power is over. Ah, history repeating itself. Anyway, any ideas?

That's all I've got for today, go make something wonderful!

Love <3

Creative Block.

Hit me like a ton of bricks this week.
Why is it that when I finally get three days off work, that I all of a sudden can't make anything?! Not fair.  And my sewing machine is plotting against me. I decided one morning "enough is enough! I need a sewing machine." So I went to GoodWill and (miraculously!) found a beat up machine from the early 80's. I cleaned it up, downloaded the manual, and got to work! Things were great for great for a couple weeks until it decided to show me why its last owners had given it the boot.  The Beast (as I have affectionately named him) breaks in some fashion every, ohhhh I'd say, 3 stitches? Nothing worse then trying to sew a straight line in two pieces of thin cotton and thinking that hand-sewing would be a better option. Time to add a Singer to my list of things to save up more! Looks like I'm gonna need to put some more hours into the good ol' Hob Lob. 

In the mean time, here's a puppy in a tortilla:  

*LOVE* <3

ATTENTION: You're a grown up now.

House hunting.

What a daunting phrase. 

But we did it.
We hunted.

Andy and I set out to find the perfect house (for him now, and both of us someday!), and after lots of researching, excitement, disappointment, pondering, and of course prayer, we finally have a glimpse of hope on the horizon. We found a cute little 4 bedroom house on the golf course! Tiny back yard, but it was completely remodeled by some house-flippers, so it's beautiful and in wonderful condition. Now just to actually buy it...

No big deal.. right?

We will see! I've been spending an absurd amount of time reading stalking home improvement blogs. 


The wheels are turning.


Peace, Love, and Thread <3

Well I've done it!

Well... I've started a blog!  

*Gulp!*

  

I'm not quite sure what this is going to look like yet, but I'm guessing that it will be an ADHD-ridden blog about life, love, crafts, and beauty.  

Ha.

So here we go!  Thanks for coming on this new journey with me!  

Ready, set, SEW!

<3 Laurynn Elise