Tuesday Tidbits

Good afternoon friends! I have really enjoyed having this weekly post this month (this is week #5!) and I hope you have too. There's a link-up at the bottom if you'd like to share your tidbits. :)

001. On Thursday I went and visited my friend Bri at her college! We sat outside in the sun, talked, went to a local (adorable!) coffee shop, and had a grand old time. :)

 002. We found a geocache! It was her 1st, my 100th, haha. :)

 003. We found this little gem inside and swapped it for a girl scout alien swap I had. I also had a plastic dinosaur in my bag, which Bri thought was hilarious. Don't normal people carry around alien swaps and extinct animals in their camera bags? 

 004. Sunday was beautiful. We flew kites, ate fro-yo, and sat by the river at the park watching birds. Perfect.

005. My favorite 50mm lens took a tumble out of my camera bag.. so now it is at a camera shop getting patched up. I miss it dearly. I use that lens probably 75% of the time and I can't wait to have it back!

 006. We saw a Yellow-Rumped Warbler flirting about in the trees. I love these little birds, they are so beautiful!

007. I found out Jo-Anns has a $1 bin. I couldn't resist getting a few and I can't wait to use these on cards! Plus that special delivery tape? So cute.

008. As promised, here is a picture of my first finished card! It may look simple but it actually took a fair amount of time and love. I like it so much that I'm not sure I'll be able to part with it so that I can send it to someone. That's probably not good, but oh well. :)
009. I didn't do so swell on my goal to send out letters this week.. I sent one. Better luck this week perhaps?

Have a great Tuesday! :)

DIY Embroidery Hoop Photo Hanger

This is a quick and easy DIY project that you only need four things to complete! It's a super cute and fun way to brighten up a wall with some color and photos. As a bonus, it takes less than five minutes to make. That is my kind of DIY project. ;) 

The first item you need is an embroidery hoop. They can be found at any craft store, but I got mine for 75 cents at a thrift shop. The hoop I used is ten inches in diameter and it worked just fine.

 Put the fat quarter (the second item you need) in the hoop and go around the edges to cut the excess off. I got my fat quarter at Jo-Ann's for $1, although you could use any scrap of fabric that's big enough.

 I rounded my corners out because I thought it would look more fun. But you can leave as much (or little) fabric as you like around the hoop.

 I left about a 1/2 inch of fabric around the edge for a little flare, I think it's kind of cute. :)

 The last step is to find a few of your favorite pictures and pushpin your photos on. My photos stayed on just fine, although I did have to use two pushpins per photo.

There you have it! A cute fun accent for your wall. :) It cost me less than two dollars total to complete too! I found a few different sizes of embroidery hoops at the thrift store, so I plan on doing a few with different fabric & photos. Thanks for checking it out and make sure you show me if you try it out!

Monday Miscellany

So I'm back..with a second Monday blog post about my life in two weeks. Maybe this is a trend? Hmmm.

001. I picked up the adorable mason jar above for a whole 50 cents at our local thrifty shop. The acorns were free too (we collected a whole bag full last fall) and I painted them last week. They're super fun and I like them. 

002. Carolyn & I went hiking on Thursday. We started on the trails at 8am with the temperature at a balmy 15° degrees..with a foot of snow on the ground in places. But it was beautifully quiet on the mountain, which made the chilly air worth the early morning hike.

003. I've been super fascinated with hex signs lately. I never noticed how many there are in our area. Apparently it's largely due to the grant that was given a few years ago to help farmers restore them on their barns. I love the Pennsylvania Dutch culture in my area, it's so rich and interesting! 

004. So uhm.. I finally fixed my wireless remote (it needed a new battery) and got to test it out for the second time. The above is the product. That's me, folks.

005. I made a scarf last night! It's super cute, springy colors and I wore it to work today. The first time I sewed it I did nearly the entire thing length-wise and then proceeded to realize that the main thread wasn't thread.. it was elastic. So I spent twice the time pulling said elastic out and then re-sewing it. It was fun. But it turned out nice, so I'm pleased. 

006. Despite multiple days over 40°, the snow refuses to melt. It's gone in some areas, but in our backyard there's still 6-10 inches in spots.

007. I bought this frame at our local thrift store for a $1. I see so much potential for it. I know what I'm going to do with it, I just need to get a few more things first. I can't wait to re purpose it, use it, and show you!

008. Even with all the snow and cloudy days, winter is still beautiful. I used to hate the bare trees and thought they were ugly.. but I love their proud branches standing against the sky and the shadows they play on the ground. I enjoy the dried up flowers that are waiting for spring to come forth. Which by the way, can come any day. :)

That about concludes my life as of late. I'm off to sleep, wake up, shower, go to work, and repeat all this week. Happy Monday everyone! :)

Monday Miscellany

 In an effort to re-introduce little tidbits of my life to my blog, I'm doing monday miscellany again. Although the link-up I used to do no longer is in existence, I figured I can still share a bit of my week with you all. :)

 001. I've been super into breakfast smoothies lately. I take one whole ripe banana, 1/2 cup of frozen banana slices, 1/2 cup milk, a few frozen strawberries & blueberries (occasionally frozen peaches), and a spoonful of natural chocolate peanut butter. So good.

 002. I have slowly but surely been editing my photos from Costa Rica. I'm only about a third of the way through.. but I'll be sharing them some time this month. :) Who knows, maybe after that I'll tackle my France photos from last May? 

003. ^^ Sunday geocaching adventures. More on this later in the week. :)

 004. Last night I did what all normal college students do, painted pine cones and acorns. It was wonderfully relaxing and it felt really good to not just pin projects on the computer, but to actually do them.

005. I took photos of these lovely twins last month and finished up the editing recently. I'll be sharing these soon. :)

 006. I am going to visit my best friend in Ohio in less than twenty days! I am pretty excited and nervous. It's a decent drive, but I'm splitting it up so it's not as bad. We're hopefully going to Cincinnati! 

 007. I have spent too much time at thrift stores lately. BUT I've found some super deals. Is anyone vaguely interested in looking at my finds? Or am I just silly? Comment and let me know!

Have a great Monday folks! ♥
PS: It's March!! That means the snow will stop coming down and all of it will melt, right?

Christmas Cards

Tonight I worked on addressing and finishing up some Christmas Cards.. the envelopes are all done, I just need to finish about ten more cards. :)

Vibrant Color

December 17 - I believe it's safe to say that yesterday's tie-dying fun was a success. I adore tie-dye, it's just so fun, bright, colorful and happy! My last finals are less than 11 hours. I can do this.. right?

DIY Comic Envelopes

I recently started sending a lot of letters out.. but I didn't have any envelopes. So I taught myself how to make my own out of newspaper! I really like them, and everyone who recieves one seems to enjoy them too!  Now you can learn in just eight easy steps! I even included the template I made to make it easier. Click here to go grab the template, and then just follow the easy instructions..

Tah-dah! I hope they come in handy for you. I added a handy Pin-It button to my posts, so be sure to pin this to your board! :) Let me know if you make or receive one.. I'd love to see. :) If you have any questions.. just comment away!