DIY Custom Bookshelves

This project is back from my nesting craze last year when I was pregnant. My husband and I were living in an apartment with my mother in law.  I was in my final teaching internship so I was gone basically all day (like now) only when I came home I could NOT relax. Despite swollen ankles and an aching back I was stir-crazy beyond belief and I just had to get things done!

One project I had my eye on was doing something about the books stacked on our dresser. Looking back on it now- it really wasn't so bad... but at the time it irked me to no end to see those books stacked there.  They needed a home!  All my bookshelves had been lost or broken during previous moves and so my poor books just sat in homeless stacks on our dresser.

So... I set to work.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So here's the quick and simple process for custom-decorated bookshelves.  :)

Please excuse the mess on the floor. I seem to recall that I was mid-process of reorganizing our closet at that point. What I would kill for a little bit of that motivation now...an occasional burst of energy would also be nice. ;)

Anyway-  I had my eye on some plain white bookcases from Walmart.  They were cheap- and perfect for our budget. I convinced Brandon to let me "invest" in a couple, and he agreed.  At that point I ran immediately to the store to get them- and insisted on bringing them up to our third floor apartment right away. Being hugely pregnant and the bookcases being surprisingly heavy, I ended up opening the boxes in the car and carrying the shelves up piece by piece.  My mother in law helped carry some of the pieces up too.

After the shelves were all upstairs, I enlisted Brandon at his next available moment to start assembling them. (I even did a bit of hammering myself!)

And while he finished up- I began the beautification process of the shelves. First I ran some Elmer's "tape" glue across the face of the shelves.  This was easily the most difficult part of the whole process. The only reason being that the "glue" was clear and it was difficulty for me to see without a bright light reflecting off the surface.  If I did it again- I think I might use some kind of fabric glue. I was worried that using hot glue would cause the ribbon to become discolored.

The benefit of the tape was that it didn't dry out or run anywhere. I would have liked it to be stickier but in the end I'm happy with my choice.

  

Next I measured and cut some ribbon to lay across the front.  Here I was laying down the first ribbon while I was taking the picture so you can see it was starting to go on a little crooked.  Nice thing about the Elmer's tape-glue stuff was that I could lift the ribbon up and stick it right back down again.  

I used a trick I learned from laying down masking tape lines in theatre technology. Stick the very left edge down, and hold the ribbon up directly above the rest of the surface before sticking it down. Basically, line up the ribbon ABOVE the surface and then while you are holding it there use your other hand to slowly smooth it down from left to right. (... Let me know if that doesn't make sense and I'll try to explain it a little better.)

Super simple- I've seen people get really creative with some cute stuff decorating the edges, but this is a quick cheap way to dress-up a bookcase (or dresser?) in just a few minutes!  You could easily stick some ribbon, fringe, lace, buttons, etc... on the shelves after it's already assembled too!

I love alternating my books vertically and horizontally on the shelves to give some visual texture.  Weaving some knickknacks in with the books can help break-up the rectangular look and make a bookshelf an interesting focal point instead of a regular piece of storage furniture.

I also like the idea of mixing reading-levels on a bookshelf. Now that our little man is actually here and reading books is becoming a realistic part of his daily routine I will probably begin taking into consideration the "filtering" of more mature books from the shelves where he will find the books he will be looking at. (Not that any of my books are incredibly inappropriate- but I'm not sure my 8 month old is quite ready to handle the complexities of Middle Earth or Fahrenheit 451 quite yet. lol) I do want to keep some "older" books  on the shelf as he grows though to encourage him to let his reading selections grow with him. (Add beginning reader books with the picture books, then add some chapter books, young adult books, etc...)

Since we've moved one of these shelves didn't quite make the transfer. I salvaged the shelves and am currently using them in my kitchen.  The other shelf is also in my kitchen serving as a storage unit for baby food and baking supplies. It looks pretty cute! And the green matches with the citrus-y feel I'm going for in the kitchen. I'll have to fill you in with my books' new home at a future date.

Until then- happy reading!

Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes

I posted about these cupcakes before on my personal blog... but they are definitely worthy of sharing again.  When my husband and I taught Sunday school, one of our students brought in some pineapple cupcakes she made all by herself. I was definitely a little hesitant... I don't generally like chunks of fruit in my cake. It usually turns out tough, dry, and nasty.  And that's just wrong. 

But I was pleasantly surprised! I ultimately ended up getting the recipe from her and trying them myself.  I love coconut so I added some hearty sprinkles of the shredded joy onto the tops of my cupcakes but if you don't like coconut- never fear!  They are definitely delicious either way.

DIRECTIONS:

Take a regular white cake box mix. (I suppose you could use yellow but I thought the white was a nicer contrast with the pineapple.) Make it regularly, but dumping in a regular size can of CRUSHED pineapple- juice and all! I cut back some (not all!) of the water needed because the pineapple juice will make your mix pretty runny.) Line a cupcake tin with papers, fill each nearly TO THE TOP. Bake as instructed. Frost, dust with coconut- enjoy!

You can use chunks of pineapple instead, but I preferred a kind of pineapple presence throughout the cupcake rather than catching huge chunks here and there. I just thought it would be too overwhelming. (and Christmas fruit-cake like. yuck.)

My first batch, I sprayed the cupcake papers with PAM, and when I took them out- the paper literally fell off each cake. Not ideal for when you're going to be serving them to a bunch of cubscouts who may or may not have washed their hands beforehand. haha (even without the papers, the cakes were incredibly moist and some of the papers didn't stick too well as you can see from my picture)

I also only filled each paper half way (as per instructions on the box) but for some reason with the pineapple, the mix doesn't seem to like rising, so I literally had half-empty cupcakes when I was done. These ones turned out much better. 

These cupcakes have my baking wheels turning with all sorts of ideas.  I feel like the pineapple platform lends itself to all sorts of glorious toppings. Cherries anyone?!

In the end, these are mouth-wateringly good.  Bake with caution- one will not be enough! They are moist and heavy so your belly may get the "I'm full" message a little late; after your mouth has already indulged beyond it's boundaries. You can justify it though... I mean you ARE eating fruit after all right?

DIY Floral Hairclips

I'm a sucker for home made gifts. Two years ago for Christmas I set out to create some home made gifts for my friends. As I was cruising around the internet I stumbled upon some DIY flower tutorials. Then it hit me. Hairclips! Flowers in your hair are all the rage recently and I wanted to make sure the gifts I gave were not only cost-effective but trendy. :) 

Below are some of my favorite creations:

I made a few of these felt roses and hot-glued them onto bobby pins. I gave them to my sisters in law for Christmas one year. I haven't seen them wear them- but I was happy with how they turned out and I've definitely considered making a few for me. ;)  I thought bobby pins would be a great choice because you can get a ton for cheap- plus they are perfect for holding hair back or just sticking in for a quick accent.  Alligator or snap clips are a little more visually "bulky" and take more dedication to pull off with an outfit in my opinion. 

Here is the tutorial I used to jump-start my felt roses. I ended up sewing mine together and then stitching the leaf on as well rather than just gluing them. I felt like it made everything a little tighter and "sturdy" since I was gluing them onto bobby pins. (And I know I have a tendency to pull those things out of my hair quick at the end of the day! I didn't want them to fall apart after one or two wearings.)

Then of course we have the gorgeous organza flowers. Don't they look kind of like golden centered poppies? I found the fabric in the bargain bin at Walmart. They were getting rid of a ton and I bought a fairly full bolt for under 5 dollars.  Each flower only needs a piece a little larger than your hand so I was set to make flowers to my heart's content!

Here is the tutorial I used to jump-start these beauties.  I thought the pictures were absolutely gorgeous but I didn't have the patience for all those layers, or to sew on all those tiny seed beads in the centers... so I went ahead and just stuck them all together with buttons! Worked out great.  Not as elegant as the tutorial's flowers, but definitely pretty and could easily go in a more casual direction for any outfit.

I was pregnant at the time and my hubby wasn't a huge fan of me breathing in all those burning fabric fumes (probably couldn't really hurt anything but probably not GOOD for you to breathe in either) so eventually he cut me off- but I managed to get in a good crop of pretty flower clips before-hand and I'm definitely considering making some more for myself and as an emergency gift-stock for visiting teaching etc...

My Friend Ari got in the game too and after we spent an afternoon crafting these flowers, she brought out some pretty card-stock saved from her wedding announcements and we used them as the "base" to clip our gifts too. I feel like it's such a cute touch rather than just throwing them in a bag or something. If you don't have cardstock you could totally use some cardboard or wrap it up in some left over gift-bag tissue tied-up with a ribbon.

Happy Crafting!

My Living Room Ocean

My husband and I recently moved (...again... but that's another story). A couple of weekends ago I suddenly got a horrible itching to put something on our naked living room wall. Between paychecks I was looking to pinch pennies and couldn't really run out and buy a bunch of huge family photo prints- so instead I raided my craft closet.


Inside I found some flat canvases and acrylic paints I had been saving.  I took an old sheet, laid it out in my living room, and got to painting!  It was ridiculously relaxing to turn on some music and bringing some colors to life.  I hadn't painted in over a year and it felt awesome! (ok... so keep in mind I am NOT an amazing painter- but that didn't change it's therapeutic effects.)

Not too shabby eh? I took some yarn and hot-glued it on the back of the canvases so I could hang them up. But from the moment I got them on the walls... they just didn't look right.  Sadly the picture doesn't quite do the situation justice. The yellow-tan from the paintings and the brown tan from the walls clashed in the most stomach-churning way.  I thought maybe I just needed to get used to them- but in the days that followed- walking into my living room became a moment of dread. I tried to ignore the wall- divert my eyes.  I just was NOT happy with the end result. 

I debated options, but eventually I decided there was only one realistic option. I needed to paint over them.  Also hanging in the room is an ocean-scene my grandma painted.  I liked the way the blues and greens complimented the navy curtains and the green/brown rug. (...none of which are sadly pictured.)

So I pulled-out my painting sheet and supplies again. And I got to painting!

Here's the final result. I like them SO much better! I apologize again for the horrible quality- but you get the main idea. As I was finishing them and signing my name, I realized that I never signed the first set I had painted. I guess even my subconscious knew they weren't right. These ones however, are bright and full of life. My heart feels lighter seeing them on the wall. They remind me of the ocean (which is good because thats what I was going for).

The whole project was so easy. I was thinking- it would be really simple to even paint on some pieces of cardboard and use the same yarn and glue method to hang them up.  I could have divided landscapes in every room of my house!  Overboard? Maybe.


For now I'll relax on my couch and enjoy my living room ocean.

Sugar Mama

I am many things.  Middle school science teacher, wife, and mother are some of my favorite callings.  I love my life- but it is definitely busy!  Sometimes it's all I can do to sink into bed at the night and stare with tired red eyes at my smartphone's glowing screen.  I lay there sleepily tapping through my facebook newsfeed and an app harboring my most recent vice- Pinterest.

Like so many women across America I find myself ogling over photos of picture-perfect birthday parties and hand-painted vases.  I file these visual inspirations into categories like "Dazzling Desserts" and "Crazy Crafts", but in reality I'm actually filing them all into one big file that should be simply titled "Someday."  Because lets be honest.  Our pins are awesome- we can share all of our "super woman" dreams with our other female friends who in turn "like" and "repin" similar hopes and dreams. We can try our hand at a new recipe every once in a blue moon... but who really has the TIME for all of that?

Not me. 

My husband is in school and the whole "time and a season" for everything currently means it's my time to be in the workplace.  It's hard to prioritize when I'm exhausted- but after a hard day at work with middle school minions, I come home and give some love to my little man and the hubby.  Then finally, I need to find a little "me" time. While lounging, vegging, t.v.  watching and internet surfing are great, I have to admit I feel so much more accomplished actually DOING something.

While I'm excited to think that one day I can be a full-time mom and home-maker, for now I need to be more realistic. For a long time I thought that being realistic meant realizing that I didn't have time to do things and I needed to just be patient.  What I understand now though, is that Pinterest isn't a tool to save ideas for "later".  It's a tool to give me ideas of things I can still do now!  There are a LOT of mom's out there who work, are single parents, military wives, or just generally busy!  Everyone has things that they need to do, but that shouldn't stop us from doing the things we love.

I've decided to take "someday" and turn it into "today".  I've decided to put Pinterest to work!

Every woman needs to feel like superwoman once in awhile. ;)