Back to School!

My morning started at 7:00 blasting "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" by Travis Tritt. The lyrics of that song rang true all day long (except the growing a beard part...and the rice in the microwave... oh, and that tattoo. I suppose it's more of the message of the song that rang true. hah!) and I'm still on cloud nine after meeting my new students today. I had several former students come in and visit too - I was handing out hugs left and right!

This year will begin my fourth year of teaching and I'm still as giddy and excited as day one. I think that's a good sign! It's going to be a great year. I can feel it. 

C'mon in, folks! It's time for another year! 

Glitter Blast!

In continuation with my "It's not you Thanksgiving, it's me" series, I bring to you another Christmas craft. Sunday was a whirlwind of DIY-mania. Hopefully, this post may bring a little peace and joy to your evening!

At Michaels I bought white wooden block letters and gave them a little make over. I spray painted each one a metallic gold and glitter blasted them with paint. I wish I had coined the term, "Glitter Blast", but the spray paint company beat me to it. I plan on incorporating it into my vocabulary more often. 

 It's a puzzle. Can you figure out what the word is supposed to be? I'm glad I painted the letters in the wrong order and then took the picture. 

I glitter-blasted (according to the spray can) my letters to give them a little sparkle. I love the way they shimmer and shine in the sunlight! Practically Edward Cullen in letter form. 

I stuck the letters on a wreath and added a few pine cones and berry garland to give it that classy Christmas feel. The letters are little wonky on the wreath, but that's my middle name. Wonky. Jordon Wonky F. Nothing is ever straight or in perfect order... every thing I do has a little wonky touch. The more I say "wonky" out loud the weirder it sounds. 

Peace on Earth and goodwill to men.

Glitter-Blasted

In addition to my "peace" letters, I also bought larger white block letters at Michaels. I painted them metallic gold with a glitter blast as well. They are happily propped up against my lamp next to a photo that brings me joy. 

That's all folks! 

Polka Dots & Football

If you've been a follower of my blog for sometime, you know by now that I'm a pretty big fan of the Missouri Tigers.  With the upcoming football season approaching, I am not only anxiously awaiting our first big game of the SEC... but I'm also waiting for the postman to deliver my season tickets. Any day now.. any day now. 

It was time for my front door to sport a new wreath and I knew exactly what kind to make. MIZZOU wreath, anyone?

I bought wooden letters from JoAnn's and gave them a little paint job. 

Yellow seemed like the perfect color to start with. Each letter got a nice coat of yellow to proudly display. 

I stared at them for a little while and decided to add polka dots!

 First, I wanted to add chevron to each letter. Then, I realized I'm not talented enough to make a chevron design. I decided to stick with polka dots. Polka dots are much easier and very fun to say over and over again. 

My crafting box looked like Charlie Brown threw up all over it. Don't worry, just a little experimental painting. See what I mean about the little talent with chevron?

I used my trusty friend the hot glue gun and added a fancy football for effect. 

What do you think? Am I ready for football season or what? Now all I need are my tickets!

M-I-Z....

Z-O-U!

Happy Sunday! Enjoy this beautiful day. 

Linking up with C.R.A.F.T.! 

I Craft, Therefore I Have No Thumbprints

A New Summer Wreath!

Since my blogging adventure officially (re) began last summer, I have developed many obsessions. I have also concluded that I'm probably going to be a hoarder soon if someone doesn't stop me.  One craft that I keep recreating over and over again is the wreath. In my opinion, it's perfectly acceptable to have a new fancy wreath hanging on my door for holidays and seasons.

I have made a few of the yarn wrapped wreaths, but I'll be honest - they take for.ev.errr! Maybe I just don't have that fluid "yarn-wrapping motion" like other crafters. I've really taken to adding rosettes and other embellishments to natural wreaths. Usually I can find a natural wreath at JoAnn Fabric for around $5 or so. Not too shabby if you ask me!

In the spring, I made a simple fabric flower and natural wreath for my door here. Today, I kicked it up a notch and added a fun yarn wrapped letter! 

Once upon a time, my dear friend Alissa and I thought it would be a great idea to wrap the letters "Happy" to hang on my wall. After this extremely frustrating afternoon, I vowed to NEVER EVER wrap another letter with yarn in my life.  It was almost a year ago and I still feel the agony of the afternoon. 

I suppose I was feeling spunky today and I decided to tackle the yarn wrapping once more. Considering it was only ONE letter.. I did survive this feat. I didn't throw anything across the room and I most certainly did tackle that letter! Let Birds Fly gives a simple (and positive) tutorial to yarn wrapping here. 

Using a few fabric rosettes, I jazzed up the 'ol naturale wreath. While wrapping those rosettes I managed to burn my fingers several times. The feeling has come back in my fingertips and I can feel my fingers tapping my keyboard. 

Now, it's time to prep taco lettuce wraps for dinner tonight. Enjoy your Thursday, folks!

Linking up at these parties:

The 36th Avenue

Somewhat Simple

Two Truths

This week I've realized two obvious truths about myself: I'm addicted to wreaths and I'm a borderline hoarder. Let me explain. 

I had this great idea to use each night this week to clean out a different room in my house. First, I wanted to start with my kitchen, then move to my room.. blah blah you get the idea. Well, as I was tackling my closet I was picking and choosing what to keep and donate to Goodwill.  I found myself clinging to everything. My poor friend Emily had to listen to me on the phone while I was talking myself in and out of keeping things. After realizing that it's just a t-shirt and not the ticket and/or experience from which I bought the shirt... I started chucking clothes in trash bags like it was nobody's business. Take that hoarding! Just when I thought I was making serious progress, I still had crap (pardon me) everywhere that I just couldn't part with. Don't get me wrong, I'm making quite the donation to Goodwill, but there's a lot more work to do.

 I dare you to come over to my house when I'm 80. Actually, I triple dog dare you because I'm probably going to need help cleaning out my crib.

Now, my second obvious truth. I love wreaths. Since spring is popping up around the corner, I did what any logical wreath addict would do... I made another one. (This also adds to my hoarding issues). I used a basic natural wreath from JoAnn's and hot glued a few fabric rosettes on top. Now, my front door is welcoming spring and the occasional postal worker who comes-a-knockin'. 

Here's a great tutorial for rosettes! Click here. 

The hot glue really glistens in the sun, doesn't it?

Happy It'sAlmostFridayAndICan'tContainMyExcitment Thursday!

A Wreath For Your Thursday!

Bless you, Craftaholics Anonymous, bless you. Not only did you come to my rescue and save my naked burlap wreath, but you are the queen of quick and simple seasonal wreaths. Your gift is appreciated here!

I pinned this little gem a few weeks ago and thought it was the perfect solution to my poor pitiful wreath. Let me back up, about a month ago I attempted a craft night. Instead, I had a great evening catching up with a friend and all I managed to do was wrap a straw wreath in burlap. Now you're up to speed on my naked wreath.

Back to business! My new favorite blog, Craftaholic's, gives a great description on how to make very simple flowers from felt, buttons, clips, and glue. See for yourself!

Here's what I used:

• 1 naked burlap wreath
• felt
• buttons
• clips (I'm sure there is a more scientific name for them)
• hot glue

Originally, I wanted to make my very own St. Patty's Day wreath but as usual I ran into a few obstacles. This time the obstacle was the color green. Yes, that green button is shining visibly in the picture above - but did I notice that last night? Of course not. I was extremely convinced that I did not own any green buttons or fabric of any kind.

Naturally, I moved onto Plan B. What colors are never out of season? Black and gold, baby!

Does anyone watch "The New Girl"? This week's episode was precious and about a situation in Jess' classroom. Check it out!

Christmas Copy Cat

Two posts in one day? I'm on a roll. Or... it could be argued that I should get off my butt and do something else? Nah. I'm enjoying this completely.

Wreaths are quickly becoming my "thing". Mainly because, it doesn't require any sewing whatsoever. We all know (or maybe you know) that sewing is my Achilles' heel. Anytime I see a project with sewing, I quickly close the page so I don't get too attached to the project awaiting.

I've been pinning Christmas wreaths since the beginning of my Pinterest experience, and I've been dying to make one. Here are a few of my favorites I've pinned:

JoAnn's

Etsy: Katie Jo Collection

Real Simple

Vintage Indie

Etsy: ItzFitz

I decided to tackle Itz Fitz's white wreath with poinsettias. It seemed easy enough for a Tuesday night. 

I picked up a few bouquets of 94 cent bouquets and Wal-Mart with cream yarn and started crafting. 

Let me tell you, it takes awhile to wrap a wreath. Sure, it's one of the easiest things to do... but darn! It's time consuming. Lucky for me, I had a few conversations on Skype and the telephone to pass the time. So my warning: set aside some QT (quality time) for wrapping your wreath. 

Welcome!

After the wrapping shenanigans ended, it took me about 3.5 minutes to hot glue fake flowers on the wreath. Bada-Bing.. Bada-Boom! I was done. In the near future, I'll embark on another wreath adventure (maybe). 

Now, it wouldn't be a proper post without ending my rambling with a random comment. Well, in case you're unaware.. my beloved Missouri Tigers will be facing the (dirty) kU jayhawks this weekend. Will I be there to cheer on the Tigers? You bet I will!

My advice: Friends don't let friends move to Lawrence, Kansas.

Pumpkin Mania!

At the expense of my laundry and the cleanliness of my house.. I'm blogging. I clearly have my priorites in perfect order. Now first, some exciting news!

Wahoo! Casey at Cardigans and Curriculum nominated me for the "I Heart Your Blog Award". Thanks Casey! I'll be nominating a few of my favorite  blogs, soon!

It gets even better! Barbara at The Corner on Character nominated me for TWO awards! This must be what Sally Field felt like when she accepted her Oscar.  They like me! They really like me!

I feel so honored! Thank you everyone for making me feel super special. :)

Guess what season is here? Oh yes, it's fall. The leaves are-a-changin' and it's time for me to whip up some fall crafts. I've been pinning tons of autumn crafts. I've found this little gem and decided to make my own!

Little Things Brings Smiles has an excellent post for creating your own felt fall wreath. I thought it would be fun to dabble in the natural wreath and felt flower craze. 

I bought a natural brown wreath at JoAnn's for $5.00 and my sister picked up some felt for me at Wal-Mart. Then, I had to figure out how to make flowers out of felt. Lucky for me the very same blog (Little Things Bring Smiles) posted a tutorial for flowers at  Felt Fun. Click here to read for yourself!

Felty and Fabulous

The wreath turned out to be a perfect gift for my Grandma. She loved it!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

I wasn't done there! Thanks to Pinterest, I have easily 10 more crafts I neeeeeeeed to make before October 31. My MIZZOU wreath has been hanging on my classroom for awhile now and I'm needed a little Halloween spirit! Then, I found this...

Pretty Ditty made the cutest Halloween wreath and I knew I had to recreate. While watching Bridesmaids with my sister and brother-in-law...  I started wrapping the 'ol straw wreath with yarn!

I used the following supplies:
-1 straw wreath
-orange yarn
-black yarn
-glue gun
-cardstock

Click here to download her "BOO!" template. All you have to do is download the pattern and print! I had full intentions of printing my "BOO!" letters on a paper bag until I realized I didn't have any. I figured my McDonald's bag wouldn't have the same affect.. so I stuck with white cardstock.

Did I Scare Ya?

In other news....

There was a murder on my front porch. 

I came home from school this evening to find my poor pie pumpkin brutally murdered. Looks like a crime scene on my front porch.

I wish I was making this stuff up.

Ode to MIZZOU!

I'm a proud alumni of the University of Missouri. I liked it so much, I stuck around for 5 years and earned two degrees! Just kidding. (well, not really... but you get it)

I decided to make a fun wreath to show off my school pride. I have been browsing Pinterest lately in search of a wreath to mimic, and I've found several inspirations!

Before I show my wreath creation and inspirations from the web, first I'll share a few of my favorite things about MU.

The Columns:

As freshmen, it's tradition that you meet at the Columns the Sunday before school and run TOWARDS Jesse Hall. This is me and my BFF (who I met in the dorms) our first week of college.

Senior Send Off

As Seniors, you run from Jesse Hall toward the Columns! Ali and I managed to recreate our picture from freshman year.

Dorm Life:
What can I say? We rocked Johnston Hall and dorm 206. 'nuff said.

TAILGATING! Words can't describe how much I love tailgating. I have many fond memories of many fond tailgates.

Which brings me to....
Football season:

MU vs. OU 

Which brings me to another extremely important point:

It's fun (and necessary) to hate kU

Be a good friend. 

Lastly.. Shakespeares Pizza

Can you tell I'm obsessed? Why wouldn't I be!? I have made the best friends and had the best time in college. I think I'm experiencing a "quarter-life crisis".

As a fun little craft, I made myself a sweet little MU wreath. MIZZZOU-RAH!

A splash of school pride 

The supplies I used are:

• foam wreath
• burlap
• black fabric
• black/yellow fabric
• MU print fabric
• hot glue fun
• fingers

My colors don't quite match... but trust me, that doesn't bother me one bit. I'm just excited I finally made a wreath that incorporated bunting! Here are a few of my pinspirations:

Casabella Project 

My Blessed Life

Etsy

Click on the caption of each photo to visit the wreath's source. So, I'm not a professional, but hey! That's a-okay with me.

Stay tuned for a riveting cake pops post in t-minus 10 minutes.