DIY: Birthday Jar of Surprises

Every single time I try to surprise Mike, it's ruined. I either spill the beans, he finds his presents in their hiding places, or he checks our bank accounts to see where I got him his stuff. This year, I thought really hard about a way to be able to surprise him. So I made a 

Birthday jar of Surprises

Here's how it worked. I got 4 different color popsicle sticks.

Blue= His birthday presents

Green= our date

Yellow= service we would do for other people while one our date

Red= Service I would do for him

My Fav I-phone Photo Apps!

Mike and I are always using our i-phones to snap pictures throughout our day. With so many apps available to download, I wanted to show you the ones that I use the most! (aside from Instagram) A lot of times I'll mix the photo apps that I use and edit the same picture in two different apps to make a really cool picture. Here are my favs!

ps: you can find me on Instagram @theshineproject

Vintage Cam

Gives you different effects to choose from, for the perfect vintage look.

DIY Banner Love.

Yes, you are correct.

The top picture was on my guest post at Running On Happiness.

But I had to give the rest of the pics some love too.

Notice how the pictures are taken in front of the mailbox? ;)

Just your friendly reminder to complete your challenge this week!

Our mailmen need some love!

I got these super fantastic vintage frames for Christmas from my momma,

and I've been slowly finding a spot for them.

I finally took the first step and made a little banner,

and will be making a frame with a picture of Mike and I in it to complete it!

But for now...

here is is...

Want to make one yourself?

Literally, all you have to do is cut triangles out of

the paper of your choice,

and hot glue it to ribbon.

So simple. Love it.

DIY Flower Necklace

Did you know that it's scientifically proven that

creating something makes you less stressed?

Okay, I totally made that up, but I swear it's true.

This is me grumpy.

Just home from a rougghhh day at work, and on to my endless homework.

I started to throw myself a pity party.

It lasted about 3 seconds, and then I decided I was going to make something.

So I did.

I'll pass along this delicious recipe for you to pull out in times of pity parties :)

You'll need:

1. Hot glue gun

2. Felt square

3. Fabric

4. Necklace chain

1. Cut out two 1.5 inch circles from your felt, and one 2 inch circle.

2. Use those circles as tracers to cut out A LOT of circles from your chosen fabric.

3. Lay out your felt circles, and pinch a piece of your fabric from the bottom of it. It should look like the picture above. (Here's where my tutorial pics start to slack because I literally hot glue-gunned my finger)

4. Put a drop of hot glue on the fabric, and stick it to the felt.

5.Repeat until all of your felt circles are filled...and you should end up with something like this:

6. Flip your flowers over and hot glue your necklace chain to them. Place another layer of felt over the chain so the chain is covered in the back.

AND YOU'RE DONE!

I have a new rule.

Anytime I am really grumpy, I am going to take a break and go make something.

Try it, it seriously makes you happy.

Monday Mood: Anxious

Can you guess what I did today?

That's right.

Got paid to refurnish furniture.

I'm not mad about that!

(the paint wasn't dry in the final picture, that's why it looks a little funky!)

Tips for Re-painting:

1. Make sure the wood is CLEAN, and sanded down for better paint

adhesion.

2. Use Kilz Primer, and spray a coat over the surface before painting. (Kilz in the BEST)

3. Use a SPONGE roller or brush. Otherwise you'll get bubbles in the paint, and it looks horrible!

Now on to Monday mood.

Mine AND husband's last semester of school starts tomorrow!

My anxiousness is more on the excitement side...

But also feel my nerves brewing because I have to decide what I'm going to do in the fall.

Grad school? Law school? Take the next year to work/teach/write?

I don't know! But I'm excited to figure it out!

Tulle Necklace

Tonight's date night consisted of Pita Jungle and a movie.
As Mike was eating his food he said,
"I'm seriously getting happier as I eat this."

I could live off Pita Jungle. Lentil Fetoosh salad, everytime.

I wanted to make a necklace tonight when husband and I were watching a movie...

so, I did.

What you need to DIY:

Felt squares

Tulle

Ribbon

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

The most time consuming part is cutting circles out of tulle for the flowers.

Using tulle creates a more "abstract" flower

which switches things up a little.

Felt is used as the backing to glue the flowers onto,

and the ribbon is for you to tie it around your lovely neck!

Next time I make one, I'll do a step-by-step tutorial

and perhaps it will makes sense :)

Project this week: Re-upholstering/painting chairs for our fantastic new table.

The fabric we bought tonight (which husband spotted) is AMAZING.

Wednesday Confusion. And a Craft.

I am a ninety-year-old woman.

Don't believe me? You will after listening to today's occurrences.

Occurrence #1: I was on my daily run, and suddenly got incredibly nauseous, hot, and dizzy.

I was confused as to what I was doing, where I was, and was having a hard time keeping my body moving. I had to run to a gas station and pick up a germy pay phone to call my husband collect to come pick me up.

Occurrence #2: I help my mom a few days a week with her estate sale business. I knew I had to be there at five tonight for a sale, and planned my day accordingly. On my way to the sale, I looked at my car clock and it said 6:00. I freaked out and realized that it was actually an hour later than I had thought it was. The worst part is that I got into the shower at 4:30 because I thought that would give me a little over an hour to get ready and be there on time... ummm...

Occurrence #3: When I arrived to the neighborhood, I frantically parked and ran up to the house as fast as I could. I thought it was weird that not many lights were on, and as I walked inside, saw babies run by with diapers. I WAS IN THE WRONG HOUSE.

Maybe this is what happens when you have too many things going on...

On a crafty note, tonight for Young Women's (a youth group I'm in charge of) we made cute pillows that are SO simple to make.

Cut your fabric into a big square. (however big you want)

Place two pieces of fabric together.

Cut out squares around the edges.

Cut slits in the fabric as seen in step two.

Tie the corresponding pieces together, and leave open one side.

Stuff with batting, tie the rest up...

and done!