Just Make Stuff

Tea Time...

My mom took me to tea for the first time when I was eight years old. Cute little sandwiches, desserts, and all the colored crystal sugar I could fit into a teacup...I was completely enamoured with the idea.

Tea has been a big deal ever since. I've been lucky to have tea at the Plaza, the Waterford Castle, the Empress and have hosted at least half a dozen bridal and baby showers with a tea themed lunch. 

Today a friend and I had a little get together with a pot of vanilla tea. It was fun reason to get out the floral plates, my grandma's teacups, and devour those little sandwiches.

I should do this every month...who wants to come over next?

So true...

My mind and my heart have felt more alive this week than they have in a long time. Working on something you really love is super inspiring.

Now I just need to get a little bit better at time management. All ideas welcome.

Jars...

I have decorated them with buttons, a couple of different ways with fabric and even tried to paint them.

And today, because I needed some planters for philodendron cuttings, I covered them with yarn.

Cook//Make//Wish: 01

After three years of "Starred" posts I decided to switch up the format of sharing new favorites...

I want to cook pretzel bites on Super Bowl Sunday.

I am inspired to make a collage like this one.

I wish I had these shoes for work.

Cook//Make//Wish posts include three recent favorites discovered via Pinterest.

The stash...

I needed a couple of thank you notes to send, so this afternoon I went digging around for supplies. I ended up with a favorite stamp, some super old cork flowers and newer enamel dots. 

After rearranging and cleaning-out a couple of weeks ago, it was fun to dig back into my craft stash now that it feels refreshed without buying a thing.

If a headache could be cute...

I get migraines. Although I have dealt with them for years, I am still fairly embarrassed about them. Somehow the searing pain on one side of my head and super gross nausea always feels like a weakness. I hate that I'm a person who has to lay down in a quiet, dark room because her head hurts. A lot of the time I play the "I'm fine" game with myself and with others to try to avoid the inevitable, but it usually takes an attempt at relaxation, some meds and often some ice packs to start feeling better.

These cold packs are my go to weapon in the battle against throbbing pain. I usually wrap them in a cloth napkin and stick on at the base of my neck, but they often shift around too much. This week I pulled together a few of my favorite fabrics to sew up simple pouches. I've already needed them and realized what a difference it makes to be able to tuck an icepack into something made to fit them...

A migraine will never, ever be fun. Although, I guess it's a little cuter now.

So far...

Halfway through our class yesterday one student realized she actually was supposed to be in a different course...she was in the wrong place.

Then she announced that she would rather stay in my class instead.

So far, so good.

The night before...

These look like school supplies, right? They are from the party store and will be used to introduce the Sociological Imagination in my very first class that starts tomorrow morning.

I am teaching tomorrow.

I am a teacher. 

The twelve-year-old version of me, who decided in 1988 that teaching absolutely had to be her career, is so excited that she'll barely be able to sleep tonight.

For sale...

I was in a frenzy this weekend that was a long time coming. I have needed to cut way back on the amount of crafty stuff around here. It's time to stick to the absolute can't live without them stamps. This meant being extra ruthless and cleaning out a bunch of very favorites. And now there are pacakges full of good stuff ready to make their way into the world... 

I have mixed boxes of stamps for $6 each...you can click the "buy now" button above to purchase one. It includes at least eight wood mounted stamps in various styles. They ship in a small priority flat rate mail box. 

I also have a couple big boxes to sell...each one is $16. They are stuffed with 25+ stamps including a bunch of larger and background stamps that wouldn't fit in the smaller boxes. You can click the "buy now" button above to purchase one. They ship in a medium priority flat rate box.

If you purchase more than one item I will need to send an invoice for the addidtional shipping. To make sure your package arrives in the right place, please double check that your mailing address is listed correctly. And, if you would like any of these boxed sent internationally, I can send an invoice for the difference in shipping costs.

Thanks so much for helping me send these favorites off to happy new craft spaces.

We're having a heatwave...

It's January and the weather is, once again, over eighty degrees. That's why tonight we picked up a dozen little tacos and went on a picnic...

Thankfully I learned my lesson last year. Instead of complaining about the winter heat, just head to the beach.

Starred...

1. kids' room loveliness - chalked words of wisdom above and around a vintage german painted cabinet., 2. Washi Tape, 3. December daily embellishments, 4. IMG_1790, 5. Zinnais in Blue Glass, 6. Lovely Studio, 7. random inspiring bits on the chalkboard. feels good to be back in the studio., 8. Introducing Purl Soho's Super Soft Merino

A few favorites from the last several weeks...

• I love this workspace.
• Great point of view about the changes between December and January.
• These tags have me looking forward to Valentine's Day.
• Inspired by the great details in this house.
• You learn something new everyday.
• On the off chance that you don't have a 2013 calendar yet.
• Chicken Pot Pie Soup sounds delicious and then brownies for dessert please.

{Starred posts include recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

Office supplies...

I will get to hold my office hours in a space I share with two other professors. When I first walked in there was one folding table, one chair, and four massive bookcases. First, I asked the department if we could maybe get one more chair please. Second, I e-mailed my office-mates asking if they minded me trying to fix the room up a little.

This office space is in a very old science building and it has an extra lab-type room that I have joked once held cadavers. It also has other charming traits like a broken window and a hazardous sign indicating that the room was checked in 2004 and only had one health risk.

Yesterday I scrubbed the room down and today I added a few supplies. The room still isn't going to win an interior design award anytime soon, but at least it's looking a little more loved.

And I figured if there is a roll or two of washi tape in there it could help make any space feel a little more like home.

Doesn't everyone?

I planned out some colors to use as I create a class website and power points...that's totally a part of normal college lecturer class preparation, right?

It was inevitable...

Considering I rearranged absolutely nothing after the holidays, that pent up organizational energy was bound to escape sometime soon. It occurred in one swift realization on Saturday morning. Move my growing collection of plants closer to the window and not mind that the open shelving partially blocks the exceptionally boring view of the side of my neighbors house fifteen feet away. 

Then move my standing work table to the wall where the bookcase previously was and spend $20 for two new shelves. Okay and maybe I bought just one more plant for the new shelf. And maybe I couldn't resist a little clip-on light too, but that's it. 

You can see the way the room looked before it just had to be moved around. A little rearranging is just the best thing ever. 

Dividing things up...

This weekend I had yet another organizational epiphany. I can make my own planner dividers with these tabs and whatever patterned paper I want. I thought I'd would share on the off chance that you are also in pursuit of making every little bit of your life as cute as possible too.

It's all in the details...

Remember when we had to scan a scrapbook layout...and worse yet had to digitally stitch one together? I never got the hang of that. Therefore I fully embraced the chance to photograph pages instead...most especially the close-ups of the details. To me, they make even the simplest of pages delightfully intriguing.

All four of these layouts were cranked out today and, I promise you, they are far from innovative or inspiring. However, they did each end up with one good detail, so I'd thought I'd share those.

And did you catch that? I actually scrapbooked. So, I guess those were pigs you saw flying through the air today. Or maybe hell froze over...coincidentally it is unusually cold here in southern California. 

Relaxation technique...

Back in December one of our 12 Days activities was getting out the old crayons and tearing into a coloring book together. The fifteen minutes we spent on it was surprisingly relaxing, despite the fact it was in the middle of a busy night. Shortly after that, I may or may not have hinted to Sean that I would love to get this book for even more coloring fun. Add in a pack of colored pencils and I think I have my new favorite way to decompress for a few minutes. 

The joys of home ownership...

Thinking about our house tonight as one of the garage doors is stuck completely off it's track, it is kind of bent sideways and is stuck open about a foot off the ground until someone comes to fix it tomorrow. Instead of perseverating on that (and it's impending cost), I will instead concentrate on a part of house that thankfully isn't broken. Back in September I shared that a new couch had moved into our living room, but I haven't shared that Sean whipped a little something up to go with it.

We had two pieces of fence that we used as a headboard years ago in one version of a guest room. They have long been separated with one working as our picnic table in the backyard. The other piece of fence was still waiting for it's destiny until we decided that two very long couches required a much larger table.  Along with some extra wood from Mac's new bed frame and leftover gray paint, the fence became our new coffee table. 

Projects like this are the best part of having a home...especially when they cost nothing but a little resourcefulness and effort. If only garage calamities could be free too.

It's been awhile...

After five years of full time school work it has been approximately seven months since my desk was last covered with Sociology. Today it was back...all over the place as I wrote a syllabus and started to gather lecture notes. There are movie clips, kaleidoscopes, crayons, and critical thinking all planned for the first couple weeks. Class planning is officially my favorite thing ever. 

Cheer Cheer for Old Notre Dame...

One of my Christmas gifts from Sean was my very own mini gold helmet to commemorate this season. I have loved watching Notre Dame football since I was a teenager, having a late breakfast of bacon and eggs on my dad's weekends. It's on the top of my bucket list to get to South Bend for a game one day. I usually have tears in my eyes as coverage of the season begins...and by late September I am entranced as they show the changing leaves on campus. This season, as the number of wins grew each week, I was lovingly accused of being a terrible football watcher...yelling with worry. I didn't want to see their incredible undefeated run come to an end. 

Tonight there will be no stressing. As a never-ending fan of an underdog success story I am just so excited to see the game, regardless of the outcome.

But hopefully my new little helmet is a good luck charm. 

Growth...

To me, there is something about the new year that just needs more things to start growing. We spent part of the weekend in the front yard cutting back and cleaning out. We took a minute to appreciate that, over the years, we have planted our own mini orchard with three lemon trees (two are dwarf meyer lemons), a valencia orange tree and tangerine tree that are all finally starting to flourish. And there are a few new houseplants around here. All of this has me looking forward to a bumper tomato crop in the coming months. Hopefully 2013 is full of growth all around our house.

Thanking...

Mac made his thank you notes the week before Christmas and had them all written on December 26th.

His slacker mother made some notes after Christmas and just wrote them yesterday. At least she made a PDF of the cards to share...Download Holiday Thank You Notes in case you might need to send some out too.

Randomness...

1. There are just a few holiday break late nights and mornings of sleeping in left...I will not be ready for Monday morning. 

2. These Oreo Pudding Cookies are pretty darn good. Having a husband that will make a batch for you to bring to lunch with your friends is really darn good.

3. We hung my 2013 calendar tonight...can't wait to turn it to each new month this year.

A sticky little hostess gift...

Last year, before we went off to a couple holiday celebrations, I tried to come up with a useful little hostess gift since often every house is pretty good and stuffed with sugary treats by Christmas day.

It took me a little while to come up with another idea this year, but when I ran out of tape right before the holiday it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to help replenish the tape supply that surely gets depleted for everyone after lots of holiday wrapping. I simply used the insert in the tape dispenser as a template to make patterned paper covers for the tape.

All that was left to do was make up some tags with a cheesy saying and wrap up each little set.

Here is the tag I used at Christmas...Download Holly Hostess Tag. But now that the holidays are over I figured another design might be more useful... Download Chevron Hostess Tag. After all, a cute little supply of tape can come in handy year round.

Happy New Year...

As always, I love a fresh start. Cleaning out...new ideas...filling in the calendar. 

As this new year gets started I wanted to focus in, again, on one word.

Hopefully I will make choices a little more carefully. I will manage my time. I will find better ways to remember. I will be able to clear my mind and find some purposeful quiet. I will think just a little bit more before I act.