craft night

It's no secret I am pinterest obsessed. I just love the overwhelming source of crafty inspiration it provides. So when Allison sent me 3 emails in a row with craft projects she had found, I started formulating a plan.

I love doing crafts, and I love sharing that satisfaction that comes from creating. So as a "Christmas present" to some of my lovely friends, I have decided to work through some of my pins and host "The 25 Crafts of Christmas."

Yes, that is correct. 25 crafts.

I am aware I am insane.

Here's the deal: I'm starting early (typically I am a no-Christmas-before-Thanksgiving kind of girl), I'm spreading it out into multiple craft nights, and I'm keeping it easy. So fingers crossed this works.

I will be hosting a total of 8 craft nights (or afternoons) for my friends to come join me. I've arranged for 3 or 4 projects each night and tried to have a theme for each set. My friends are invited to come to any nights of their choosing and work on whatever projects interest them.

It's going to be a blast, and I can't wait.

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bake cook serve

I have a fairly small kitchen and a fairly large collection of kitchen gadgets. It's safe to say, that combo can be somewhat frustrating. In my continuous effort to organize the space, I've gone through a handful of attempts at corralling all my cooking utensils.

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"new" kitchen table

Exciting things are happenin' at my place, folks. Stay tuned for more updates on what's going down these next few months.

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motivational flower pots

I kill everything. Seriously. I cannot keep a plant alive to save my life.

At the beginning of summer I tried planting sunflowers from seeds. I was actually really proud of myself. I had quite a few growing, and they seemed to be going strong. So I bragged to Chris about how well they were doing.

"Well yeah. I've been watering them every time I come over to visit you."

Oh...

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coooookies

It all started with my Christmas present from Chris last year. He showed up at my house proudly toting a box of 100 assorted cookie cutters for me (smart man). Now if I was a normal person, I'd just use those to make a few fun-shaped sugar cookies, slap some icing on them, and call it good.

But we all know I'm incapable of normal.

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hello!

I have officially now painted every room in my house. So I'm done painting now, right?

Ha. Hahaha. Of course not.

Unfortunately, both my front door and door in from my garage need some serious TLC. I'm not planning on tackling either of those any time soon, so I needed to do something to hold me over for a while.

Silhouette to the rescue!

Simple. Quick. Adorable. :)

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Deck the Wall

Chalkboard writing is my new passion. I'm so glad I decided to take the leap and paint the wall in my livingroom with black chalkboard paint. It's such a huge addition to the space, and I love it.

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Spice Rack

My organized kitchen effort has been a slow one. I didn't have much of a game plan for the storage challenge I would be facing in my smaller than desired cooking area. Projects like revamping the lazy susan cabinet and creating a coffee corner developed after finding inspiration on pinterest MONTHS after I moved in. So needless to say, there's still quite a few organization issues I've yet to tackle.

But thanks to an early Christmas present from my mom, I was able to knock out a pretty awful one this weekend: my spice storage.

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Reindeer

I think I'm developing an affinity for reindeer.

I got this cutie in a kit from target last weekend. He's hanging above the window in my kitchen.

I bought this fella from TJ MAXX when my mom and I went Christmas shopping last month.

And I made this guy a couple of weekends ago when I was on my glitter rampage.

I have the glittery ones displayed on the buffet I recently added to the living room. Do you like my usage of all the random ornamentsi had no idea what to do with?

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Adding Another Couch

Guys, I lived in a teeny tiny one bedroom apartment BY MYSELF for two years. During those two years, I can count the number of times friends came over to just hang out on one hand. I can't blame them; there was no way more than a few of us could have fit in there.

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Christmas kitchen

So what if I've been using the top of my cabinets to hold my cereal, alcohol, 5 pound box of sprinkles, entire spice collection, and unhung pictures? I've only lived here for 5 months. Just kidding, I know it's pathetic.

But 'tis the season to make your house look like an elf vomited Christmas decorations everywhere, right?

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The Coffee Corner

Counter space is prime real estate in my kitchen. With the little area I do have, I have to be choosey about what gets to sit out. The mixer always wins. Always.

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The Lazy Girl's Dresser Makeover

I have very little patience. The idea of sanding and stripping furniture is not my cup of tea.

So I present to you: The Lazy Girl's Dresser Makeover.

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Watch out Kansas

Michelle has arrived.

For those of you that don't know, I am now working and living in Wichita, KS. As a Mizzou graduate, the thought of moving to such a horrible state was never in my plans. But now that I'm here I have definitely been adjusting and getting used to the town. It's honestly not that bad (but I won't deny that the drive here is boring). Fortunately, I haven't crossed paths with too many kU fans, so life here hasn't been too painful.

So far, my favorite part of this transition has been MY NEW APARTMENT. For anyone who has ever met me, you know I'm a crafty, creative person. So naturally, having an entire place to myself is basically a giant blank canvas for me. Which is way fun.

Speaking of blank canvases, I've already done some projects with a few of them. I left my college apartment with a large canvas painted blue that was supposed to go above my bed and a small white canvas with the outline of my face sketched on it. Needless to say, both of these projects were never finished before I moved out. But I brought them here, painted them white, and thought up new projects for them.

And that's how this little beast came about:


I got this idea off of pinterest, and it was too cool looking not to have one of my own. So I literally ran to Wal-Mart my first weekend here (even though I hate shopping there), bought the biggest box of crayons I could justify paying for (which was actually a tough decision), purchased my first official glue gun (I really don't know how I've made it 22 years without having my own), drove home and started crafting.
PROJECT SUPPLIES:
1 canvas
select crayons from 128 count box
hot glue
blow dryer
patience I managed to scrounge up somewhere

Originally, I wanted to do a monochromatic piece. That wasn't working for me, so I decided to pull from my 3 favorite colors. I picked out they crayons, arranged them in the order I wanted, then used a glue gun to attach the labels to the canvas (I've seen people who have peeled theirs first, but I liked the idea of having the wrappers still on). Once that was set, I propped the canvas at an angle and used the lowest setting on my blow dryer to begin the melting process. Some of the colors reacted faster than others, and some of them seemed like the wouldn't melt at all. But overall, I think this project was definitely worth the time it took hovering with a blow dryer to get a one-of-a-kind piece to hang on my bare walls.

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