Pinteresting--DIY Drink Coasters

Do you have a board of crafts or DIY projects on your Pinterest account? How many of those have you actually attempted?  I definitely haven't tried enough of what I've got pinned, so my friend Ellen and I got together Friday afternoon to reminisce about her recent wedding (yay, professional pictures!) and tackle a small project.

We made drink coasters. Yes, it is as ridiculously easy as it sounds. The pin (which links to a now-defunct blog) said that we just needed the sixteen-cent tiles from Lowe's, 4x4 squares of scrapbook paper, and Modge Podge. You can also get some felt circles for the bottoms of your coasters.  We gathered all of our supplies for around $8-$9. We had to buy tiles, felt circles, and Modge Podge.

Once we got back to Ellen's, we cut out our 4x4 squares of paper. We put down an initial coat of Modge Podge on the tile, stuck the paper on, and then put down two coats of Modge Podge on top (with some drying time). Like I said, easiest project ever. We were so thrilled with the results that we are trying to carve out another day to make more.  :)

 Ellen preparing to cut out her squares.

 Lining the square on my tile.

Plain bisque tile transforms into super-cute coaster.

My collection of coasters.

Ellen's collection of coasters.

Catch Up

I'm such a blogging slacker.  I guess this is where I tell you how busy I've been and apologize for my absence.  I am sorry and I want to be a better blogger.  It's all about finding a balance and I've been enjoying using my time these past couple of months to really settle into marriage.  This stuff is hard sometimes! Brad and I are in a really good place right now and we've really been working on communicating and acting as a team. 

Here are some photos to catch us up to current and we'll work from there. Deal?

FEBRUARY

I won a giveaway that Justine hosted for shop credit from much love, illy's etsy shop.  Please click on those links. Justine is hilarious and Illene will fill your life with adorable-ness. I persued the shop, placed my order, and in no time at all was greeted with a lovely manilla envelope.  Inside was this:

Red tissue paper packages tied up with string...

containing two of my new favorite things!

Short-haired girls can rock headbands, too.

New dress from Jason Wu collection for Target + headband=love.



 Brad really worked hard to make Valentine's a good day for me and his effort showed. We ate chocolate and watched movies all weekend! He even bought a bigger box of chocolates since he "knew [he] would eat most of them." ha!

Yummy heart of chocolates.

Pretty orange roses.

An Apple card with one of our engagement photos?

Instant points for him!

Yes, I totally ate this for lunch one day.

The chocolates look smooshed because there was no "cheat sheet"

 and so I made thumb prints in them all.

My first Coach purse. Bought for the shape/color and not the name.

Thank you, online factory sale.

An Ikea trip with a sleepy three-year-old is made better by a front-facing camera.

MARCH

March brought a lot of new babies, some tornados, a funeral, and lots of time with good friends. And that was just in the first 10 days!

I read The Hunger Games trilogy in about a week and LOVED it.

I have read that there's some controversy with how Mockingjay ended, but I thought it was just as it should be. Email me if you want to start a dialogue.

My mom got an itch to play BINGO, so we rounded up

some happy meal toys and went to town.

We didn't win, but had so much fun.

I'm really thankful that a lot of Bingo halls are smoke-free now.

Here's one of the babes I was talking about.

Brad's cousins welcomed Lumen into their lives on March 1, 2012.

Lumen with Mommy.





Being Thankful

I've noticed that a trend in November is to post one thing you're thankful for each day and I'd like to do this.  So, if I keep organized, you should see at least one short post from me each day this month.  Here we go:

November 1
I'm thankful that I have wonderful friends who will cook dinner and share beer with Brad and me so that we can talk and laugh for an evening.

November 2
I'm thankful that I have a job.  My job may be slower one day and 500 things at once the next, but I have a job.  I have a career that I worked hard to get to.  I am in a great school district and in a high school (yay!). 

What are you thankful for? 

--Melanie

I Dream of Painting

I graduated high school in 2003.  College in 2007.  Grad school in 2010.  I got engaged a little later in 2010 and began planning a wedding.  Well, I've been married for a month and I know that I cannot just sit at home with my wonderful husband and watch TV.  I need a new project.  I have no idea why.  I've been a multi-tasking ball of stress for many years. 

But, it's there--I want to redo our apartment. 

I can't go overboard, mainly because we're broke, but I want to make some changes.  We have a lot of hand-me-down furniture from lovely family members and some furniture brought in from our single lives and I'd like to maybe have a more cohesive home.  I'd like a place that represents us.  We plan on living in our apartment until we get a house, which probably won't be for 3-4 years.  So, I called on our friend, Emily, whose blog you should totally be reading.  Seriously, go check it out.  Girl is talented and funny. 

Anyway, she came up with a mood board for our living room and I'm in love.  Brad is even OK with wanting to paint the apartment.  A lot can be DIY projects and I've been petitioning for a new couch since before the wedding.  You can see Emily's ideas for us here.  Please, let me know what you think.

I know I'll keep you updated on our progress and I can't wait to see Emily do an "After" post when we've got it looking good.

I know I can't be alone in my need for a project.  After you let go of one ball of stress (college, second job, wedding, etc.) what did you take on next?

--Melanie