Marking the Read Across America Week!

Being the last day of Read Across America Week, I decided that making some bookmarks would be more than appropriate. I am so happy that I made some bookmarks. I tend to use random things I find (scrap papers, business cards, etc.) to mark my page, but I think my books deserve better. Here are the bookmarks I made:

 

I tried to make quite a variety, and all are so easy to make! I'll briefly explain how to make each one.

Starting with the simple orange one (top left), I used these three items:

The first is a piece of cardboard I cut out from a box of plastic utensils, the second is a piece of scrapbooking paper and finally, a doily left over from Valentine's Day. I just glues the three together to make a study, lace looking bookmark. 

For this next bookmark, I just used some paper. I took a strip of scrapbooking paper and folded it in half. Then I took a black piece of paper and cut it into a shape. I chose the circle to mimic the pattern on the paper. I have always liked bookmarks like these because not only do they mark your page, but they also mark the exact line, which helps to easily pick right up where you left off. I also decided to have some fun and write the word "read" on this bookmark, which can be read both upside down and right side up! Kind of a challenge, but I think it ended up working well. The important thing to note for this bookmark is that you want it to be able to be versatile. It should look "right side up" when it is flipped every which way.

For the next bookmark, I simply placed sticker letters onto a piece of paper to spell out my name. Then, I cut the paper with an exacto knife to make a thin border around the letters. This works best with cursive letters so that it is one continuous chain, but you can also choose to use other letters too and let the background paper be the connector. Other words like "imagine," "discover," and "dream" are also great to use!

Finally, my last bookmark I created by cutting a picture. Find an image that you can easily cut into a bookmark shape/size. Then using an exacto knife, cut a shape into the top of the picture. Make sure that you do not cut the entire shape! It looks best if you cut out all but the highest points of the shape. You can see how I cut out my heart shape in the picture. This is definitely simple, personal, and looks great! 

I hope that some of you try out these bookmark designs! I would love to see your pictures if you do :)

National Nutrition Month: Blueberry Muffins

Yesterday, being the first day of March, marks the first day of National Nutrition Month! As you can see from my groceries, I have decided to take this to heart and eat more fruit.

That being said, I am a person that is constantly craving sweets, so I will still be baking all month, but I thought I would start on a slightly healthier note by making muffins. Previously to this year, I had never attempted to make muffins. For whatever reason, the thought had never crossed my mind. Fortunately for me, I stumbled across an amazing muffin cook book for such a good price, that I couldn't resist. The book is 1 Mix, 100 Muffins. This book is wonderful. All of the recipes derive from a basic muffin recipe, so it is easy to create your own alterations, though it's not quite necessary with the 100 included recipes. Anyway, I chose to make a blueberry muffin with a crumble top. Easy and delicious.

Thanks for dropping by! ♡

T-Shirt Transformation

I have an men's xl t-shirt that I need to tonight and seeing as a men's xl fits me like a bed sheet, I knew I had to make some alterations. As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't own a sewing machine and I did not feel like taking the time to hand stitch this shirt because I will potentially wear it just for the night, so I decided to create a no-sew solution. Something I tend to dislike about cutting apart t-shirts is that the result can sometimes be too revealing, so I made sure mine ended up like a smaller t-shirt without any holes along the sides. Here are the pictures from my process; below will be the tutorial :)

The first thing I did was turning the shirt inside out. That way, any markings I make will not be visible. I decided to lay one of my form fitting tank tops (also inside out) on top of the t-shirt so that I was able to see my body size compared to the shirt. Next, I trimmed off about 5 inches from the bottom. Because I am not sewing a hem, I made sure to pencil out a line and cut very carefully, so it can look as clean as possible. After shortening the shirt, I chopped off the sleeves, right inside their seams. With the bottom 5" of frabric, I cut 2 strips lengthwise, then I cut along the original side seam so that the strips were only 1 layer of fabric thick. For the next step, I made small dashes about an inch or two from my tank top. These dashes will be used for the "sewing" of my shirt. If you are doing this, make sure the dashes start at the armpit of your tank top and end a few inches from the bottom of the xl tee. By doing so, you will end up with a short/cap sleeve. The dashes should also be about 2" away from each other. I cut the dashes to form small slits, making sure I cut through both layers of the shirt. Note: draw and cut slits on both sides before starting this next step (it's easier that way). Then, I rotated the shirt so that the side seam was centered. Then, I took one of my long strips and threaded it through the slits as if I was lacing a shoe. After finishing one side, I just repeated the lacing on the other side. And that's it! I decided to keep the neckline as is because I still wanted to look uniform with everyone, but you can easily cut/tie to change that too! I hope this comes in handy to you soon.

Thanks for stopping by! ♡

Valentine's Day Round-Up

Welcome to my blog, dedicating to becoming more like Martha Stewart! I have been wanting to start a blog about baking, etc. for awhile now, so I decided that Valentine's Day is the perfect holiday for my launch! I love Valentine's Day because it is a holiday all about love and kindness. This year was no exception to that.

After looking around at various blogs and websites, I decided on these crafts to make:

This first craft is from Martha Stewart's website. While it was originally just for valentines, I wanted to mail mine so I looked into the size requirements for the postal service (which is 5x3.5" in case you were curious) and tailored my hearts to meet that size. Because I used dark paper for the outside, I added smaller paper and lines for the address labels. These were addictive to make. Once I started, I wanted to keep going! I made sure to save my heart template so I can make a lot more next year :)

The next craft I did was also from Martha Stewart's website for see-through valentines. It was very fun and easy to make. Simply take wax paper, cut out the desired shape and sew together! I don't own a sewing machine, so I hand stitched mine with embroidery thread. I also decided to make another one from a see-through candy bag. Though I like the look of the candy bag heart better, the wax paper heart is great because you can easily tear it apart to get to the candy!

For my card to my valentine, I chose a paisley printed paper whose color scheme is Valentine's-esque, but still fairly masculine. I used some silver sticker letters that I have had for years to spell out "love" and the heart at the top is actually a fastener for the card. I hand stitched the heart to the inside of the card and cut a slit in the front so that the heart can be slipped through to close it. I also hand stitched a little pattern at the bottom for more of a personal touch. 

Normally, I am more of a baker, but my kitchen is currently in disarray, so I did not do any extravagant cakes or cupcakes. I did, however, make some sugar cookies using a recipe from the Food Network. For the frosting I chose to make two different kinds: royal icing and buttercream. The recipe for the royal icing I used is from my Confetti Cakes Cookbook (love!), and the buttercream frosting can be found here at the i am baker blog. Because I don't have an electric beater, making royal icing is always a bit of a pain, but a with a bit of muscle (or a lot of muscle) it is well worth it. The cookies were decorated by my boyfriend and I as a Valentine's Day activity. It was a fun and yummy way to end the great day.