friday finds

welcome to friday finds!! today I am sharing some etsy favorites I discovered recently. and they all happen to be very minty! :)

mint mason jar tumbler lid by themasonbarcompany

I have a clear version of this and I love it!

I just wish they made the mint color for wide mouth jars! 

wood geometric teal phone case by onyourcasestore

I am always looking for new phone cases. This one is super cute!

mint heart stud earrings by smafactory

I've been searching for some small studs.

I never wear earrings and I would love to get out of that habit! 

These would be perfect!

memphis 2 cushion cover by depeapa

I love this cushion cover! 

It would look cute on the couch in our family room.

make it monday

welcome to another make it monday!!

I haven't been sewing much lately, so I've only made a few things in the past couple of weeks. I need to get on that because I have a craft show in 2 weeks!

I try to bring reusable cups to work with me everyday because I get free coffee all day long! Sometimes I will have 3 different drinks. Imagine if I used a disposable cup for every drink, three times a day, four days a week. That's 12 cups a week I would be tossing in the garbage. In a year, I would throw away 624 cups!!! That is for just one person!

Reuseit is a really cool website that sells all different kinds of reusable items. They posted this infographic one day and I thought it was super cool.

waste-free coffee and tea guide

I love having hot coffee at home, but at work it's easier and faster to make something cold. It also tastes better than a hot beverage after it's been sitting for a couple of hours! But when it's really cold outside, I need something warm for the drive home. Instead of bringing two different cups with me, I started using a mason jar with a Cuppow! This way I can enjoy a hot or cold beverage in the same cup, plus it's so much easier to clean glass than plastic when you don't have a dishwasher at home!

My jar was working perfectly until that freezing cold day when I needed something hot for my long drive home. That glass gets hot! I needed to make a cozy! 

I picked out some of my favorite fabric and cut two pieces 12.5 x 3.5 inches. I used one piece of fusible fleece for insulation. I fused the fleece onto one piece of fabric. Then I sewed the fabric pieces right sides together, leaving an opening so I could turn it right side out. After turning it right side out, I ironed it flat, making sure the opening was tucked in straight. Then I topstitched all the way around the cozy. Next I checked the sizing around my mason jar to measure where the velcro should be placed. I have a wide mouth 16oz jar. It fit perfectly around mine, so I just had to sew the velcro pieces on the ends. I didn't have to measure much thankfully! And this is how it turned out!

I'm really happy with it and I can't wait to make a bunch in my favorite fabrics! Now I just need to get some Cuppow lids in other colors. Clear is kinda boring, don't you think?

make it monday

I'm trying to come up with weekly themes that will help me get into the habit of blogging regularly, so for my first weekly theme, I have 'make it monday!' I will be sharing any craft projects I've worked on during the previous week.

I have a friend, Stephanie, that I met on Twitter in 2009. She was an 'internet' friend for a while, but she became an IRL friend in 2011 when she traveled from Arizona to Chicago for my wedding! Stephanie has always been my biggest besu fan, so for gift-giving occasions I always sew her up something special. I wanted to do something different for Christmas this past year because you can only have so many pouches, people! I racked my brain for a little while until my coworker surprised me with this mug:

My coworker's sister lives in Bend and she was planning on going there for Thanksgiving. We were talking about Portland and how much I wanted to go there right before she left. I was very excited when she brought this back for me. I love the little bike! So anyway, I thought it would be a cute idea to send my friend Stephanie a Chicago version for Christmas! 

I came across this pin on Pinterest and knew that I had to make her some coasters to go with the mug! The tutorial is super easy. This was actually my first time 'quilting.' I use this term loosely! I loved this project because I was able to use up some scraps of my favorite fabrics that were too small to be used in any other project. Sometimes you just can't throw them away! The coffee cup fabric is one of my favorites and I never made anything for myself out of it! I actually made four of each, but I thought it would be cute to split them up so they were all a little different. I kept a set for myself too! Also, the tutorial is for circle coasters. I REALLY love the look of the circles, but I am pretty terrible at sewing curves, so I stuck with squares! :) Here is my finished project!

What are your favorite handmade gifts to give?

2014

Happy New Year everyone!

It's been a while since I posted here, but I thought the best time to start writing again would be for the new year. I can't really think of anything exciting that happened in 2013, but it wasn't a bad year at all. It was mostly a year of routine. Work, household chores, eating, sleeping. We had a few nice dinners out for birthdays, went to a few concerts (Stars, Jimmy Eat World) which is a rare occurrence for us as we get older! My husband was laid off in June, so he was able to enjoy the summer a little bit before he started a new job at the end of August. The lay off was probably the worst thing that happened all year, but things definitely could have been worse!

I thought I would start the year by listing some things I would like to do and things I'm looking forward to this year.

1. Welcoming my first nephew into the world!

First things first, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting their second child any day now! This is an extra exciting birth because it will be the first boy! My oldest brother has two daughters, 15 & 12 and my brother who is expecting has an almost 4 year old daughter. This will be a fun change for our family! 

2. Blogging more!

I know I always start blogging and then I quit. I just can't think of interesting things to write about. I really love using Instagram and that is what made me decide to start blogging again. I love taking photos. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art and my main focus was photography.  Although back then, we were developing our own film and prints! I love sharing photos on Instagram, but sometimes I want to share MORE, or someone asks me a question and it's too hard to write a novel in a comment. So this is where my blog comes in. I thought this would be a good place to share crafts and recipes and DIY ideas I have found or tried. And also photos of course!

3. Learn to crochet!

I've tried to teach myself to knit twice now with no luck. I'm hoping crochet is a little easier for me to grasp! My mom used to crochet and made a lot of chevron(!) afghans back in the day. I would love to make a mason jar cozy, cowl and lots of blankets! I've been pinning a bunch of patterns to try when I finally get the hang of it.

4. Go on vacation!

The last vacation we went on was in May 2011 for my husband's brother's wedding. We went to the Cayman Islands. It was fun, but we are definitely not the beach vacation type. There wasn't much to do there besides sit on the beach, so I sat there under an umbrella with my spf 100 and giant sun hat. Our plan is to visit Portland in the spring. I wanted to go for my birthday, but March is a busy month at my husband's work, so it will have to be in April or May. If you have any must-see places to go or things to do in Portland, please send them my way! I'm excited to try all the vegan restaurants they have there and check out the vegan strip mall!

5. Get tattooed!

Ok, so I only have 3 tattoos. I feel like I should have a lot more by now. I haven't been tattooed since 2008, so it is about time. I have at least 3 ideas which include sewing, my dogs and veganism. Big surprise there.

I could probably make this list go to at least 10, but I don't want to bore you! So I will start with these five things and I will be sure to let you know about any other exciting things that happen this year!

What are you looking forward to in 2014? I wanna know!