Happy Valentine's Wreath!

Happy Valentines Everyone! (Or Singles Appreciation Day for my single folk!)
Hope your day was filled with love, laughter, and lots of chocolate! hehe

Alright, so I think this is going to be my last wreath for a bit.  I have officially made about 8 wreaths so far, and I am going a bit stir crazy for a new project.  I think I have found the new project too....will update you later this week (its a big one and I am pretty nervous about it!)

Anywho, here is my pretty Valentine's Heart Wreath....its oh so pretty!

Oh, I love it so much!  I think it looks pretty luxurious, and believe me its as soft as it looks!  I originally found it here.

So here is how you make it. You will need

1. 1 Heart Shaped Wreath Form (found mine at Jo-ann's for 4 bucks, they will probably be on sale now though as its Valentines.
2. Straight Pins (I bought a package of 700, though you will not need that many)
3. Red Felt (maybe a yard and a half or less?)

That's it! So easy.

Directions

1. Cut out circles.  I used a cup to measure mine and traced with a marker, no I have no idea how many I cut out (honestly I don't want to know).

2. Fold circle in half, like-a soo

3. Fold again.  (Thanks to my boyfriend for being a delicious hand model :)

4.  Now stick the straight pin through the pointed end of the circle.

5. Pin into form

6. Repeat a gazillion times!

And there you have it!  If you don't like the heart idea (for all you love haters!)  feel free to switch up the pattern and do a circle wreath with different colored felt (just make sure you get the wreath forms that are rounded).


Hope you all like it!

P. s   I have been tossing the idea around of selling these bad boys, anyone interested?  I need opinions as to whether I should open an etsy account or not, and name ideas!

Have a great Valentines!

Cro -  out!

Caroline and Logan's Valentine Blog

Sorry I was a bit MIA this week, I got ANOTHER cold from the little man I nanny, so I have literally bed bound for the last couple of days with a roll of toilet paper in one hand and all matter of cold medicine in the other.

Despite the lack of blog activity I have finished count um' 3 new wreath's that are going to be sent out to there lucky owners tomorrow morning! woo hoo! I am so excited!!! I truly hope the people that get them, love them and maybe they are kind enough to take pictures with them for me?? I would also love pictures of them hanging on your doors!!

So the first one I am going to show you is the first in my series of Valentines Wreaths for the lovely Caroline and Logan Kennedy! Let me tell you, I am so glad I used these two as my first guinea pigs because this wreath is quite possibly my favorite thing I have ever made...ever. So Caroline and Logan are two of the sweetest people that I met when I first moved down here to North Carolina. They both went to NC State, got engaged on campus (Logan proposed with a ring pop....um...precious), and I have been so lucky to stay in contact with both of them over the years.  They also recently got married (you can find their supa cute blog aqui) so I thought how fitting for a Valentines wreath to be given to this happy couple!!

So here it is, Hope you too like it!

Oh my gosh, this thing is so precious I cant even stand it!

For the full directions on how to make a wreath like this, check out my previous post! But here are the pictures of the wreath, through the creation process.

Here is the wreath form (what a boring picture)

So the first step to make the wreath is wrapping it in ribbon. I chose this beautiful Valentine red, that I love! As you can see this is also the start of applying the coffee filters.

Man, oh man did this turn out nice!  I love how the white filters make the wreath so fluffy, its just so girly. 

One of my favorite parts of this wreath is the sides; I am pretty proud of the ingenious idea I thought of to fix a problem I had with the last wreath.  So with the last wreath I didnt like that you could see through the ribbon to where I had hot glued it to the form.  I thought it just looked a bit messy, so I thought of colored straight pins.  This way I could pin the ribbon to the wreath and it was much more clean to look at.  Also, if Logan and Caroline hate the ribbon they can just un-pin it! 

I also pinned ribbon to the inside.  Tim thinks the back of the wreath looks like a flower (how artsy of him) and I agree.  This wreath is just so clean looking, I love it!  

So Logan and Caroline, I hope you love your wreath as much as I do!

Happy Valentine's!

Wreaths aren't just for Christmas....right? GIVEAWAY!

Hey all,

Sara here! Hope your week is going well!

Last week during the American Idol premiere (which I may or may not have watched...judge away) I decided to create a wreath that I have been drooling over for weeks now (originally found it here).  I am of the belief that wreath's aren't just for the holidays and although this project was posted during the holidays I tried to alter it a bit to make it more "year-round" friendly. So here it is: My Fluffy Wreath!

ITS SO FLUFFY IM GONNA DIE!!!!!  (sorry I can't help it)

So...I know your thinking, Sara what the heck is this wreath made of!  Get ready for it.....coffee filters!

I know crazy right?  Continuing with my theme of re useable materials I thought this project was a great way to recycle old materials and create a upcycled project. 

So here is what your going to need:

- Foam wreath base (doesn't matter the size)

- Ribbon of your choice (15 yards or more preferably)

- Coffee Filters (1 pack can easily cover the base)

- Glue Gun

- Straight Pins

- String or Twine to hang the wreath

Directions

1. Begin by wrapping ribbon around the wreath.  You can either straight pin the ribbon to the foam base, or use a small dot of hot glue to secure the ribbon to the wreath.  Make sure to wrap the ribbon TIGHT around base, which will keep the ribbon from bubbling.  This creates a nice surface to hot glue on and a pretty back to the wreath.

2.  After you finish adding ribbon to the base... get out your coffee filters!  Get ready this is going to take awhile!  Make sure you have a fun movie to watch...or a marathon of your favorite CSI's (cough cough).  First step is to fold the coffee filter in half horizontally.

3.  Then fold the filter in half again...

4.  Now fold the pointed portion of the filter so you have a "L" shaped filter.  Like-a so! Then add some hot glue to the bottom portion of the filter and stick it on the base.  

5.  Now just keep folding and hot gluing the filters to the base.  Make sure to glue the filters closely to one another, this gives the "fluffy" affect. 

6. About half-way done...

7. Viola! Done-ski!

Here is the view of the back of the wreath!  It took me way too long to take these pictures, mainly because I am terrible at focusing my dad's camera.  But I think they came out pretty well.

Anyway for the GIVEAWAY!  The first person to comment on this blog, and tell me one reason why they would like this wreath, then you get it fair and square! Just thought it would be nice to gift one of my readers with something nice!

P.s check back soon because I am going to make a batch of Valentine's Day wreaths and give those away too...just because I can.....and you rock.

Have a great day all!

Sara 

Christmas In Maine

Sara here, broadcasting from the beautiful all be it, freezing Biddeford, Maine! Remember those changes I was telling you about last entry well one of them is currently where we live! My parents sold my beloved childhood home about 4 months ago, and have been living in this quaint beach house since. So, here I am at the beach for christmas. Its not exactly our own house, but my parents are here, my grandmother is here, and my dogs are here; that's all the house I will ever need. Yesterday we were able to take the dogs on a walk by the house, and it was beautiful and COLD.

Beautiful, isnt it? Being here means I also have free range to my dad's camera so enjoy the pretty pictures! I am hoping to maybe save up some money so that I can buy a nice camera for the blog, permanently. This is us on our trip to the beach, ignore my terrible outfit, isn't the tide high? It was crazy barely any room to walk.

Here is my dad, having a little a doggie time. We have been watching "pillars of the earth" all weekend, its awesomely medieval.

Here are my beautiful puppies, Sampson and Delilah. The first one is them cuddling, keeping warm in the sunshine of the front window. Aren't they absolutely precious (when th

ey are barking their heads off) And look at Sampson he is such a ham, I love it.

Despite, the house that I know my mother isn't completely thrilled with, she has made it a little christmas heaven. My mom is the best decorator I know, and she always goes beyond herself at christmas, and this year is no different. Look at this tree, its gorgeous! My mom won it can you believe it? She won this "victorian tree" and another real wreath at a library fundraiser, lucky dog! So there you have it, my christmas will update later with a cookie recipe and christmas gifts for all!

Big Changes On The Way.

Hope everyone's week is going well, the first week of summer has been nothing but job search, job search, JOB SEARCH!

So far, I believe I have applied to every restaurant, retail store, and craigslist ad in the near vicinity. I had my first job interview today and I think it went really well. The job I applied for is a music therapist for a young boy with autism. The woman I interviewed with today is the boy's mom and such a sweet lady! What interests me the most about this job (besides the fact, that I get to work with a child) is that all the therapy they do with the boy is singing therapy! How perfect is that! The family sounds really sweet and the job sounds incredibly fascinating. I find out about it on Sunday, so cross your fingers!

We also might have possibly found a new apartment, which I am so excited about! For safety reasons, I a

m not going to post the apartment online. But trust that, its awesome; If we get the apartment we want we would move in July 17th!

I am also using this blog entry to introduce you all (and by all I mean the two of you who read this) to someone new/not so new in my life. World meet Tim, yes that's him in that ridiculously old picture. Tim and I met in high school, or 2005 to be exact. Tim basically was my savior and guardian angel in quite possibly the toughest period of my life. Tim pulled me out of my rut and gave me the confidence that someone else had taken from me. Tim and I started as very close friends and over time it evolved into something more. However, Tim graduated and we separated so he could live his life and truly experience college on his own. We kept in touch though, and saw each other during the holidays and whenever we were both in Maine at the same time. Over the next six years, we spoke sporadically and

leaned on each other through tough relationships, heartbreak, and the general stress of college. As most of my friends know I went through a large heartbreak of my own about a year ago and Tim also had a breakup around Christmas. During Christmas, Tim and I had our usual get together and we just sort of kept in contact since then. Since January we have talked basically talked everyday. As Tim and I tend to do our close friendship morphed into more.

A few weeks ago sneaky

Mr. Tim decided to surprise me (with the help of Ms.

Spencer!) and flew to NC to visit me for a week.

He came to my last performance of How I Learned To Drive and stayed through my senior recital. Over his week

in NC, we had a lot of talks about our relationship and we

mutually decided to take a huge step. Over the first week of

June, Tim will be making the move to NC to live with me.

I know I know, Sara you never make spontaneous decisions like this! It's crazy and totally out of character for me, but I am really excited. I really enjoy being around Tim, and he is a great guy who is totally supportive of me and my career;

I really can't say just how important that is to me. Plus, I am pretty sure my friends like him more than they like me, so I can't complain about that! So we'll see, big changes, all for the good I hope!

And so it begins.

I graduated on Sunday.

That sentence is really hard to look at, as I type it on my computer. I don't think I have completely excepted it yet. On Sunday M

ay 9th at 10am, a large chapter of my life came to a close. It was an incredibly bittersweet moment, a large part of me is actually hoping that I will wake up tomorrow and it will all be a dream. Suddenly, I will be back in my freshman year and able to experience these incredible four years again.

It all seems so surreal, I don't feel like I am ready at all to be a college graduate. There are some days when I feel like I am still a kid. I don't feel prepared to be an "adult." It's petrifying to spend 16 years studying, writing pap

ers, learning, and pushing yourself to this light at the end of the tunnel, this point on the horizon. And now that I am at the light, now that I have reached the point on th

e horizon all I see is water, and to be quite honest I have no frickin' idea what to do. I have been trying to apply for a job a day, but not much has turned up. This is quite possibly the scariest point in my life, because really I have no plan and anything is possible.

I guess the only

plan I do have is to stay here in Raleigh for a year, working and saving money and then in a yea

r I will re-evaulate and see where life takes me. However, if I don't find a job in the next coup

le weeks then I can't sign a lease for a new apartment. If I can't sign a lease than I have to move home. Moving home, wouldn't be bad, but it means I leave all my friends and connections I have made here in Raleigh. Which, is a terrible

thing to think about. But, I would be able to be with my family again, so that makes it worth it.

I guess, I just needed to write all this down, and get it out of my head. I am hoping that everything will work out, but who knows.

As you can see, I changed the name of the blog. I am hoping that I can use this blog to vent about life after graduation, and what being an adult really means. Cross your fingers for me...

My new life after I have turned my ring,.

2 days!

I come home in two days HUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAH!

Its very bitter sweet but, I am ready to come home. I love London, and hope to return for Grad School but right now I just need to see my Mom, Dad, Friends, Aunt Pam, and Chris.

This weekend we went to Bath and checked out the Roman Baths and Fashion Museum, and had wonderful strawberries at Dr. Webb and John Roses house.

Then after the theatre majors, cathy, Lisa, and Jo had dinner and I picked their brains about grad schools all night.

Saturday, we went to the Science Museum, I did a bit of shopping for people and then in the evening we went to see a preview performance of Streetcar named Desire with Rachel Weiss (will include picture). And afterwards waiting to stage door guess who comes out of the audience, James Cromwell! I almost peed myself, I love London you see people in the oddest places (will include picture)

Yesterday, Cathy, Amanda and I went to church at Westminister Abbey, visited The Tower of London for a bit, and then Carlene, Lauren, and I took in a show at the Globe of Troilus and Cressida. After that we rested our poor feet and did homework till I couldnt keep my eyes open.

Today, Amanda and I are hopefully going to do a tour of the National, and then I hope to check out Harrods and go to Notting Hill again. Tomorrow, I think I am going to go to the V&A which is a big museum, and PACK! Then in the evening we are all doing a big excursion to the London Eye, to close out our trip.

For all who care, my flight is American Airlines. Direct flight into RDU at 2:40. Be there or be square!

CIAO
SBC