Yesterday, my first nephew officially turned 1. eeeeek! Over the weekend, my Sister in Law, Emily threw an AMAZING party for him to celebrate. Here he is at the party in love with a friends doggie, Smokey.

And Now, the Saga of my first Felt food making experience. (Sorry for the amount of text)

For his Birthday I wanted to something cool. I saw some of the felt foods people were selling on Etsy, and thought it would a cute gift and a great way for him to learn to say the names of the foods. At first I thought about buying them, but I got greedy and wanted more than just a few, and they get up there in price. I decided I would give it shot making some of the easier looking pieces. I figured the hamburger and sandwich and ravioli I could take care of easily. and I planned to purchace some fruits and veggies.

So, I began my mission. First done were the Ravioli’s and Lettuce pieces. Super easy. Next were Hamburger buns, pancakes, tomato slices, and an egg. Next was bread. the bread took me a few tries to figure out. I ended up with 3 rejects in the scrap pile looking pretty sad. But, I finally found a way to work it where I could do it.

After, those were done. I got ambitious and was having way too much fun! I went for the veggies. The carrot came first. Again, 2 rejects in the trash, but the 3rd, lived up to my standards. The tomato was the easiest thing, next to the PB&J blobs. The broccoli came pretty natural at that point, although it is pretty special looking :/

Then, I found the mother load. This tutorial, for a banana and accompanying banana peel!!!! This I was MOST excited about. And, surprisingly again, super easy. I came out with no rejects on this one. I could not believe it. Strawberries and Orange were just as easy as the tomato.

Lastly, came the Bacon. I had to do the bacon. After it was done. I wrapped the gift. I had to cut myself off, because I kept want to add to it and I had feared I was overdoing it. I do now kind of regret not doing the Corn in the husk and throwing it in. But, I’ll just do it and drop it off next week

here are some pics of the finished product:

I plan to do a few more sets. And will document the process and take pics along the way.

I’m convinced this is MY perfect coffee table…

The West Elm Dot Coffee table.

Pretty spot on for what I want out of a coffee table. Seemed so simple, but I could not find anything anywhere, until BAM! today this crosses my path in an internet search.

Now, to consider spending $400 on it….. blech. I’m pretty sure i’m the cheapest person alive and collectively my living room furniture currently in total cost under $400.

Everytime, I see these damn Sam Edleman Zoe Booties somewhere on the internet, my heart is sent into a flurry.

Has anyone (that reads this) ever spent over $300 on shoes. Or even over $200. I haven’t gone there yet. How do you justify it? Because, I’m totally considering it :/

Maybe I’ll purchase this (Since, it is on SALE now!!!!! Yay.) in hopes to kill 2 birds with one stone… or something.

naughty.

So, recently I have discovered the JOYS of printable artwork. All I ever have are photos  or mirrors hanging on my walls (vain much?). After reading a post over at Harper’s Happenings, (this post to be exact: how about yes) I went through all the printable art on How About Orange and found some super cute stuff to print. I later ventured beyond and went on my own quest looking through other sites for high resolution printables (not a real word, I know). I’ve turned into a crazed printing, framing, hanging machine. I have them printed at CVS and I’ve even begun to cut my own matting for some of them, because those can be pricey, and sometimes a matted print looks just so much more, I don’t know, something.

my gear all laid out. the matting making is way easy! I just used an exacto knife and a ruler, while using an actual matte as a guide or tracing one out myself.

a pile. all to be hung after the living room gets painted. Lots of Kukula. I plan to actually buy some of her work as soon as I can afford it. Same goes for any artwork in general. I really am longing for some real paintings or artwork, that does not require hiding behind a sheet of glass. I have a few paintings my grandmother did that I love.  And I have recently purchased a few pieces from Etsy, they will get a separate post. But, I would LOOOOVE to own something by Kukula or Mark Ryden. Someday….

just a few examples, throughout the apartment:

Something I accomplished over my 10 day vacation:

Dressed up my boring old huge wall mirror above the bathroom vanity with a decal.

Super simple idea. Slight pain in the ass, (because I’m a perfectionist but not at all perfect). And super cute in the end, in my opinion.

I got the idea from a picture I found during a web search, but for the life of me, I cannot find it again :/ So, sorry to whoever I stole the idea from. I will credit you if I ever find you again. I bought the wall decal from an eBay store called Art Wall Project. When I got the thing I was so confident I knew what I was doing because in High school and a bit beyond I worked at Pottery Barn, and part of my job was to do the front window decals. Which is the exact same thing. I scanned over the instructions and declared “Oh, I’ve totally done this a ton of times” and tossed them aside. Idiot. Flash to me crying because this decal that I just spent $30.00 and I was sooo excited about was not sticking because I peeled off the wrong side! and was trying to stick the decal on the mirror by the non sticky side. Yeah, I’m a god damn genious.

Anywho, Jeremy came and help me carefully put it back on the right sheet and peel off the backing. Finally got it up. It didn’t take long at all. It would have taken even less time, if I wasn’t so self righteous and just paid attention to the instruction in the first place. There are a few imperfect spots, little wrinkles or bubbles toward the bottom (But, the top actually is PERFECT), and it’s ever so slightly off center. None the less, I’m totally happy with it.

Finally taking some time to update. Sorry, I suck. I’m working on a few projects, one being my nephew’s Birthday gift. I want to post the photos of my progress, but I’m going to wait until after his Birthday to post the photos of the finished product.

Otherwise, I have been making little changes here and there around the apartment. I took down my Christmas tree and all my Christmas decor before New Year’s! A first for me. I tend to enjoy keeping everything up until after New Year’s, but I had the week between Christmas and New Year’s off from work, so I thought to take advantage. Besides, let’s face it, if I didn’t do it then, it would still be up today… I’m THAT bad.

So, the living room is just a tad bit more bare and ready for the few changes, fixes and projects I have in store.

On the list:

Fabric or Tissue paper pom poms. After seeing Stephanie’s post, I begged her to come show me how she did them. I think I want to do something with these in the living room/kitchen. My kitchen could use some pizazz! It’s soooo white. Photo from EssEmmBee.

Furniture! I plan to change out my coffee table, and I would ideally like to get a sideboard or long and low media cabinet of sorts for the TV. I also want to get rid of that tall white bookcase I have. Right now, it just looks too random. I’ve moved it all over, and can’t find a place it looks right. So, I need to come up with an alternate book housing solution.

Paint. That Red wall was great for Christmas and a great bold color for my first ever getting to paint a wall experience! But, it’s time for something different. And something more neutral. I have considered another bold color, but something in the brown family is all I can imagine looking good with my grey couch and planned artwork. So, I went to Osh last week and grabbed a TON of paint samples in various browns. I have it now narrowed down to a few.  Also, I imagine if I stick to white furniture, the brown will look especially awesome.

More to come.