Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter

I hope you're having a fabulous Easter filled with chocolate bunnies and egg hunts and Easter dresses and sunshine!  Just in case you want to add Easter egg crafts to your list of activities for the day, here are 5 great ideas from around the web:

1.  You could wrap your eggs in polymer clay with Polymer Clay Workshop.


2.  Or disguise them as a work of cross-stitching at Fiber Flux.  (So cute!)


3.  It turns out that you can also use old silk ties to transfer patterns onto eggs.  I had no idea!  Check out the tutorial at Our Best Bites.


4.  Another adorable idea is to wrap your eggs in cute little cozies, courtesy of Repeat Crafter Me.


5.  Wrapping eggs in bakers twine with Crafts Unleashed also sounds fun and simple.


All 5 of these lovely photos belong to the 5 lovely blogs where you can find these tutorials.  Aren't they great?  I love browsing other craft blogs.

Happy Easter!
xoxo
Laura

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Lace Shorts

My friend, Larissa, gave me a pair of lace shorts.  I love them because I can dress them up and get away with wearing them instead of a skirt.


I also love that I'm seeing lace everywhere these days.  It's not just for figure skating dresses and your grandmother's shawls anymore!  (Just to be clear, I shamelessly love skating dresses and shawls; I'm just glad that lace has branched out to more that just those 2 categories.)

Here are some other great, modern lace items from around the web:


1.  The trellis lace tank would be easy breezy for spring.
2.  I love every little thing about this romper!
3.  The lace stilt jeans from Piperlime would add so much sass to my wardrobe.
4.  There's also a whole world of fun lace accessories out there, including these little hair bows.
5.  And the Penelope crochet overlay one piece swimsuit is seriously the ultimate swim suit.  I want it so badly!

Are you loving lace as much as I am these days?
xoxo
Laura

Monday, March 25, 2013

My Sister's Birthday

Today is my big sister's birthday.  Happy birthday, Kate!!!


I made the above picture by arranging rhinestones on my notebook and setting it out in the sunshine so that it would sparkle.  fun, huh?

Anyway, here's a photo of me and Kate on the first day of school when we were little kids:


Even back then she was super cool with her sweeping bangs and her denim shoulder bag, while I was so nervous about the new school year that I was visibly on the verge of tears.  That pretty much sums up our personalities to this day.  It's funny how life is: everything and nothing changes all at once.

Now we're all grown up and Kate is nailing it as a big fancy lawyer in Washington DC, and I hope she's having a fabulous birthday!

xoxo
Laura

Friday, March 22, 2013

My Mom's Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday!  Happy birthday, Mom!!!


My parents went out for dinner and dancing at a fancy hotel in Colorado Springs last night to celebrate.  Doesn't that sound fun?

I did a little embroidering for the occasion, as pictured above.  I used this embroidery technique.

This is my mom (and my sister):


I wish she were in Mexico with me today; there's surfing here too!

Anyway, my mom is really cool and I love her to pieces and I hope she's having a great time in Colorado Springs!

xoxo
Laura

Thursday, March 21, 2013

My Dad's Birthday

Today is my dad's birthday.  Happy birthday, Dad!!!


I really wish I could be in Denver celebrating with him today.  Regardless of where I am, though, I hope he's having a fabulous day and I hope there's cake involved (preferably accompanied by several large scoops of ice cream)!

This is my dad (and a little bit of my mom behind a giant surf board):


Yes, my parents surf.  They're cool like that.

I love my dad!

xoxo
Laura

p.s.  I made the stamped "Dad" picture by cutting out a stencil, taping the stencil to my notebook, and stamping all over it.  This is the same process I used a couple months ago to make a piece of stamp art for my wall.  See?




Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Birthday Week



Every single one of my family members' birthdays falls within one week of each other.  Every birthday, that is, except for mine.  I get October all to myself.

Anyway, this is the week!

Because I'm far away from my family (I'm in Jamaica, my parents are in Denver, and my sister is in Washington DC) I will be celebrating here on my blog.  Don't you just love the internet and it's ability to bring people together no matter where they are in the world?

Let the fun begin!
xoxo
Laura

p.s.  I made the birthday week picture by cutting out letters from Real Simple magazine and pasting them into my notebook.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Easy Embroidery Tutorial

Back in November I wrote a blog post about about chain stitch embroidery.  Since then I've moved on to (what I consider to be) the simplest embroidery technique ever.  It looks like this:


I used this type of embroidery on my little pink notebook and on the card I made for my friend the other day as well.

To do it, start by poking a series of holes in the paper with an embroidery needle in the shape of whatever you want to embroider.  Then thread the needle and tie a little knot at the end of the thread.


Now it's time to begin embroidering...


Step 1: Bring the needle through the 2nd hole, coming from the bottom up.
Step 2: Plunge the needle down through the 1st hole.
Step 3:  Pull the needle back up through the 3rd hole.
Step 4:  Bring the needle back down through the 2nd hole.

Repeat the process of bringing the needle up through the next empty hole and bringing it back down through the hole before it.

Once you've embroidered through all of the holes, tie a knot on the underside of the work and cut off the excess thread.  This is what the bottom should look like:


The front side of the embroidery should now look like the very first picture in this post; a neat and tidy embroidered line.  Easy, right?

Now that I've covered the basic concept, the less easy and more fun part of this process is thinking up new designs to embroider.  I've already embroidered one more piece that I'm looking forward to sharing on Friday!

xoxo
Laura

Monday, March 18, 2013

An Embroidered Card and Some Crafty Kits

I embroidered a birthday card for my friend Randy, and I had so much fun doing it.  I don't know if I'm loving embroidering these days just because it's a new activity for me or if it's really an activity that's going to stick with me for a while.  Either way, I'm having a great time with it at the moment.


I was browsing the fun section at the front of Barnes & Noble where they keep the gifts and impulse buys, and I ran across the perfect box set for my new interest!  It's the Learn Doodle Stitching kit by Aimee Ray and I really want to buy it next time I'm there.  If I do, I'll let you know what I think of it!

Image via Barnes & Noble


I also couldn't help taking a picture of the Yummy Crochet kit by Kristen Rask.  How cute is that?! If I were to learn how to crochet, this is definitely how I would want to do it.


Have you picked up any new crafting skills lately?  I'd love to hear about them.
xoxo
Laura

Sunday, March 17, 2013

3 Quick St. Patrick's Day Craft Projects

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I hope you're wearing something green!  I am not.  Truth be told, I forgot all about St. Patrick's Day this year.  Sometimes living on a ship in the middle of the ocean takes it's toll and I lose track of what's happening on land.  Oops.

Lucky for me, I'm on land today so I remembered that it's a holiday!

Here are 3 quick and easy St. Patrick's Day projects from around the web that can be done even at the very last second:

1.  Make a cute little shamrock stamp with Punk Projects.


2.  Learn how to crochet a 4 leaf clover over at How to Crochet a Heart.


3.  Print out some paper shamrocks created by Lia Griffith.



All 3 of these photos belong to the bloggers who came up with these craft projects.  Don't forget to click on the links to their sites to see more great photos!

I hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day, regardless of how long you had to prepare for it!
xoxo
Laura

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Non-Making Life

This blog is all about the things I make and how I make them, and I love it.  The whole blogging experience has given me (and continues to give me) the push I need to lead a creative, productive, crafty lifestyle.  Every once in a while, however, I go through a non-making phase as well, which is what happened last week.  Although those phases are not necessarily the best thing for my blog, it's ok with me because I'm busy with other, non-crafting adventures.  Blogging is great as long as it's leading me to create new things, but I don't ever want it to hold me back from getting out there and living life.

Last week in Mexico I went swimming with a dolphin named Chuck.


He was super cute when he was kissing my cheek, but he was a little scary when he took me for a ride on a boogie board.





The dolphin trip was eye-opening and fun, and I highly recommend doing it if you ever get the chance.

A few days later, before the dolphin excitement had even worn off, we went on an eco hike on St. John in the US Virgin Islands.

Did you know that St. John is an arid environment?  I just assumed it would be wet and I was pretty shocked to discover that it was more like a hike at home in the Rocky Mountains than one in the rainforest.  My favorite plant that our tour guide, Jen, talked about was the Moses in the Cradle.  I love the deep purple leaves that are mixed in with the green ones.


In addition to swimming and hiking, I've been doing a bit of island-style relaxing with my friends.  "When in Rome" right?


So that's what I've been up to lately.  Never fear, though, the crafting bug is in me to stay, and I've been thinking up some new projects that I'm excited to start working on and blogging about in the very near future.  These ideas involve knitting with super soft yarn, embroidering pretty letters, and stamping away.

Until next time,
xoxo
Laura

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Nautical Style

I accidentally fell in love with a super expensive swimsuit.  It's the Port Stripe Halter Bra swimsuit from Juicy Couture, and I think it is the perfect nautical fashion statement.  It has the classic nautical stripes, a cute little anchor on the front, and the ties in the back are made of white rope. Isn't it so fun?

Image via Juicy Couture


I'm loving all things nautical lately, though, so I'm not pulling out my wallet for that swimsuit yet.

To be clear, I'm loving fashion's whimsical take on the nautical theme, which is different from the industrial feel of actually living full time on a ship like I do.  While it's an adventure, the real ship life is not nearly as adorable; my uniform onboard is a bright blue polyester track suit.  Ugh.

Here are some other playful (non-track-suit) nautical pieces that I love:


1.  I love the red rope detail on these Valentino nautical ballet flats.
2.  The sparkles on this nautical sequin anchor tank from Delia's stand out in a very good way.
3.  This "life ring" from Asprey London is classy and cheeky at the same time.
4.  The fit and flare shape of Kate Spade's Mariella dress looks chic with a navy nautical stripe.
5.  I can't get enough of the watercolor details on the Candace Carryall by Coach.
6.  These bright red anchor earrings from River Island prove that the cutesy nautical vibe can also be affordable.

Do you love nautical fashion as much as I do?
xoxo
Laura
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