I Tried to Bokeh a Bouquet

Bokeh is such a pretty photographic style: one item is clearly visible and everything else is softly out of focus. How hard could it be, I thought, to set my camera’s aperture as wide as possible, with a fast shutter speed?

Repurposing and Presenting Bubble Wrap

In honor of Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, here are two bottles of wine gift wrapped with repurposed bubble-wrap.

Trying Not To Kill The Air Plants

I love air plants, that they don’t need pots or messy soil. In nature they grow on the sides of trees in humid environments and feed off the moisture in the air.  How hard can it be to keep them alive, right?

This summer saw the possible demise of three plants I bought at the beginning of the season. I didn’t keep them hydrated enough and they lived under a ceiling fan. They were pretty shriveled up by the time I realized that my nice breeze was their kiss of death.

Cherries On Top Of Dessert: How To Make That Happen

Sweets are great.

A treat with a cherry on top is greater.

Dessert with a pitted cherry  is better still, eliminating the awkward pit disposal.

I never really knew how to  pit fresh cherries so I tried three methods:

Party Decorating With Obstacles

When my sister-in-law decided that we would host my sister’s bridal shower and that I was in charge of decorations, I felt (1) giddily creative and (2) that our newest family member really knew me. All will be well, I thought.

Inspired by something I saw on Pinterest, I decided to start decorating plain glass vases as poufy brides. How hard can it be to glue tulle to glass, right?

It took weeks to assemble the supplies, mainly because I wanted something sparkly to use as a “bodice.” After finding nothing at the local sewing stores, I happened upon a gauzy scarf at the dollar store. Score! Or so I thought.

Remake a Necklace, Define a Life

Two months out of the year I hang baubles on a tree.  I decorate myself year-round in pretty, dangly jewelry. Most of it is inexpensive and that’s just fine with me. So, it didn’t hurt too much when I deconstructed a long, awkward bead necklace to make something I’d actually wear.

7 Praises for Plain Paper

So many reasons to like white gift wrap:

The Marathon Magnet Gift Experience

This year’s bizarre gift idea was intended to be simple, but took two full weeks to make happen.

Now that I know that traditional classroom chalkboards are magnetic, I wanted to make cute magnets for my favorite teacher. I bought decorated clothespins at the craft store along with a magnet roll. Easy, right?

I snipped off about an inch of the magnet and it didn’t stick to any metal surfaces. And since it’s coiled, the adhesive didn’t adhere to the wooden pin, it just curled up. The would-be magnet went back to the store, as did another roll from a different store.

Healing Greenery

Plants can be resilient. So can people.

I have a talent for rescuing near-dead foliage. A few weeks ago my father was outraged that someone, probably local kids, broke off three branches from the coleus outside his home. I took the little wilted branches home, put them in water and watched as they formed roots and leaves. Yesterday I presented them to him as a potted plant, turning anger to abundance. And this is the second time in as many years that I have given coleus to his garden.

The plants at work thrive in almost constant fluorescent light.  I recently found a cutting dying in a wineglass. Here it is, living in a cheerful pot on a sunny windowsill. After a long day, it gives me a sense of peace to water the houseplants and marvel at their growth.

Upcycling Coffee and Candles: There’s a Hard Way and an Easy Way

I have great ideas.

However, it’s difficult to make these ideas reality. Oh yeah, the big ones like keeping my job or choosing the right lip color, I can handle those. It’s the ones that involve making unique stuff that trip me up.

Shiny Happy Home

It’s interesting how little it takes to make a small home feel refreshed. I discarded boxes, gave some stuff away, moved things around and found room to stretch my imagination. Seems I had more glass stones than I thought I had, but they’re so versatile! I’ve had the clear ones for years. They rinsed clean after I put them on top of soil in flower pots. They held a fake topiary in place. They lived in a candy dish.

They look nice in a clear vase.

So I Am Not Superwoman

Back from my unexpected WordPress hiatus with the realization that I can no longer do it all simultaneously. What a slap in the behind!

During my mini break from content creation, I decided to try to embellish with paper tape. Yes, jumping on the bandwagon a little late, but I’m not one for bedazzling everything in sight. True to form, I bought two similar, subdued prints to decorate a metal frame, some battery-operated candles and a little plastic pot for my mini orchid.

The verdict: paper tape adheres to paper, but not metal or plastic.

Crafty Feelings

 

Can’t get it out of my head: I have this crazy urge to make something. Something involving a glue gun or Mod Podge or dropcoths. I want to give it away,  just for the fun of creating happiness in someone I love.

One of my daughter’s Christmas presents was a gift basket of tree ornaments that I made. Total cost: about ten bucks. Her delight was immeasurable.

That was four months ago and I still smile when I think of it. To top that, I thought I’d learn how to fold dollar bills into flowers and make her an Easter bouquet. There are instructions all over the Internet; I just need to devote a few hours to learning this.

And that’s the problem: inspiration is everywhere. I want to make unique and beautiful stuff, but real-life responsibilities and real-life socializing get in the way.

And besides, some ideas are just wacky. I needed a little plant to replace the dead thing in my windowsill terrarium.(Yep, made that.) It was winter so with few options, I dropped in a packet of coleus seeds. The terrarium is now full of seedlings reaching out of the now-lidless glass. New plan: somehow extricate the plants intact, repot and present to someone with an actual garden, keeping one for the sill. (That’s a dropcloth job!)

Last Fall I glued dried moss to a picture frame, hoping to make a spooky home for a Halloween picture. That stuff does not adhere, I now know. I was vacuuming stragglers for weeks and ended up just throwing the would-be frame away. Wise move, since there’s no room to store good ideas gone bad.

Wouldn’t it be great to devote a whole room to creative endeavors? Unfortunately, that would be one underutilized space.

(Post inspired by http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/cant-get-it-out-of-my-head/ )

4/15/14 I did it!!