Weekend

This weekend has been filled with parties.  On Thursday, AJ and I celebrated Valentine's Day/1-Year Anniversary properly by going out to dinner.
Friday was my mom's birthday and I had two friends over for late-night, much needed girl time.
On Saturday, I went to one of those friend's bridal showers, and because it was my brother's birthday, spent the evening celebrating with family.
Today consisted of church/work and homework.  Ah, the joys of lesson planning.

One exciting thing that happened was that AJ surprised me with an Instax Mini for V-day!  I've been wanting one for a while.  I have a polaroid, but film for it is impossible to find, and I'm still working on a stash of film that expired in 2006, but that I got for free from my aunt's former workplace.

Unfortunately, all of my polaroids turn out something like this, due to the fact that I only have expired film.

Fortunately, the Instax performs much better, due to the fact that the film is NOT expired.

It's really a fun little camera.  The photos are about the size of a credit card, and they're fun to display on my bulletin board or taped to my mirror.  I'll definitely be sharing more as I take more photos!

How was your weekend? 

WEEKEND

This weekend has been filled with parties.  On Thursday, AJ and I celebrated Valentine's Day/1-Year Anniversary properly by going out to dinner.
Friday was my mom's birthday and I had two friends over for late-night, much needed girl time.
On Saturday, I went to one of those friend's bridal showers, and because it was my brother's birthday, spent the evening celebrating with family.
Today consisted of church/work and homework.  Ah, the joys of lesson planning.

One exciting thing that happened was that AJ surprised me with an Instax Mini for V-day!  I've been wanting one for a while.  I have a polaroid, but film for it is impossible to find, and I'm still working on a stash of film that expired in 2006, but that I got for free from my aunt's former workplace.

Unfortunately, all of my polaroids turn out something like this, due to the fact that I only have expired film.

Fortunately, the Instax performs much better, due to the fact that the film is NOT expired.

It's really a fun little camera.  The photos are about the size of a credit card, and they're fun to display on my bulletin board or taped to my mirror.  I'll definitely be sharing more as I take more photos!

How was your weekend? 

Guest Post: Laura's Scarf Shirt

Hey guys!  Today I have a wonderful guest post for you from Laura over at According to Laura Jean sharing an awesome DIY for you!  This girl is about to teach you how to make a shirt from just two scarves...and it's super cute too!  Check it out!

Spring time is right around the corner and yes friends, you read it correctly, I made this shirt for $6 on the dime.

My creativity was sparked one day while perusing Pinterest as I had a grand idea on how to put to use beautiful old silk scarves into something new and fresh. Out of that original idea came this creation...

Now that you've seen it, want to learn how to make one? I sure hope so because they are incredibly easy, inexpensive, and take about five minutes to sew one up. So here we go.

Materials Needed:

• Two scarves of the same size that coordinate (hold them up to yourself for sizing)
• Thread, scissors, pins, the usual
• Sewing Machine

1. Wash the scarves on a delicate load and air dry them.

2. Line them up together so that the right (good) sides are facing in.
3. Pin them together where the X's are...the top is meant for the head and has a boat neckline so leave extra room and measure out the space needed for your arms and make it equal on each side.

4. Sew it on up and then flip it to the right sides.
5. Pat yourself on the back, you've made yourself a super cute inexpensive shirt :)

GUEST POST: LAURA'S SCARF SHIRT

Hey guys!  Today I have a wonderful guest post for you from Laura over at According to Laura Jean sharing an awesome DIY for you!  This girl is about to teach you how to make a shirt from just two scarves...and it's super cute too!  Check it out!

Spring time is right around the corner and yes friends, you read it correctly, I made this shirt for $6 on the dime.

My creativity was sparked one day while perusing Pinterest as I had a grand idea on how to put to use beautiful old silk scarves into something new and fresh. Out of that original idea came this creation...

Now that you've seen it, want to learn how to make one? I sure hope so because they are incredibly easy, inexpensive, and take about five minutes to sew one up. So here we go.

Materials Needed:

• Two scarves of the same size that coordinate (hold them up to yourself for sizing)
• Thread, scissors, pins, the usual
• Sewing Machine

1. Wash the scarves on a delicate load and air dry them.

2. Line them up together so that the right (good) sides are facing in.
3. Pin them together where the X's are...the top is meant for the head and has a boat neckline so leave extra room and measure out the space needed for your arms and make it equal on each side.

4. Sew it on up and then flip it to the right sides.
5. Pat yourself on the back, you've made yourself a super cute inexpensive shirt :)

I'm Wishing...

for spring

for walks and runs outside

for stargazing weather, even if snuggling under a blanket is required

for shorts and sweatshirt weather

for outdoor projects, like refinishing my record table

for outdoor recess

for iced green teas with three pumps of classic

for hammocks and books

for picnics

for little day trips and dates

for warm rainy days

for cuffed jeans and sandals

for dresses sans tights

for grilling chicken and salmon on cedar planks

do you see a trend here?

dear punxsutawney phil, you promised an early spring; please deliver. thanks.

I'M WISHING...

for spring

for walks and runs outside

for stargazing weather, even if snuggling under a blanket is required

for shorts and sweatshirt weather

for outdoor projects, like refinishing my record table

for outdoor recess

for iced green teas with three pumps of classic

for hammocks and books

for picnics

for little day trips and dates

for warm rainy days

for cuffed jeans and sandals

for dresses sans tights

for grilling chicken and salmon on cedar planks

do you see a trend here?

dear punxsutawney phil, you promised an early spring; please deliver. thanks.

DIY Instagram Scrapbook

Yesterday was Valentine's Day (duh), but it also marked one year of dating for AJ and I!  I can't believe it's been one year that we've been together.  Definitely the best year of my life.  I'm so blessed to get to call him mine and to have found the love of my life!

As you might know, student teaching doesn't pay.  Which means I'm on a crazy tight budget.  Like, a pay-for-gas-and-food-and-that's-all kind of budget.  And he's in college, and commutes an hour every day, so that means we're both kind of frugal this time of year.  But, we kind of went all-out on our birthday and Christmas gifts to one another, so that set the bar pretty high.  I knew I wanted to give him something for Valentine's/One Year day, but I also knew it needed to be cheap.  So I decided to play the sentimental card, and I made him a little book of all most of our instagram photos from the past year!

Here's how to do it:

What you'll need:  

Pens (I used a felt-tipped black pen and a white gel pen)

Photos (you can get your instagram shots printed with an app like PostalPix or just resize photos in a program like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and then print them on semi-gloss card stock...either way, a 4x4 size is good)

Scissors

Glue/Scrapbook adhesive tabs (I used a roll like the purple one from Scotch...so much easier than glue)

Chipboard pack (found this for $1 at Michaels!)

Colored Cardstock (AJ loves Black and White, so I went for a pack of 6x6 black card stock...having it already cut into squares made my life soooo much easier)

Not pictured:

Hole Punch

Washi Tape

Mod Podge

I made my cover by cutting a circle out of black card stock and writing "Our First Year According to Instagram" on it, then adhering this to the front chipboard cover with Mod Podge.

Then, I put my photos in order and went through them one by one and labeled on the back what month they were from (this made assembling my book a ton easier). After I was done, I started at the beginning and created a "title" page for the month with a few memories from that month and then put one photo on each page until I had used all of the photos from that month.  I did this for each month for the whole year.  Just be careful that you think through where you're going to be punching holes in each page so that you don't end up punching holes through your photos!  You might even want to hole punch before you put your book together.  I tried to change things up with each page by using different washi tape, choosing a different calligraphy/font style, different little adornments/doodles, and even mixing up where on the page I put the photo and how I aligned it.

Then, I put the whole book together, using the chipboards as my front and back covers and the little binder ring as the binding. I also ended up drilling a hole through the bottom of the left side of the chipboards and punching holes through each page so that my binding had two rings instead of just one and functioned more as a book than a flip book.  This held it together much better.

And there you go!  A scrapbook album made from Instagram Photos.

I love having photos printed out.  In this digital age, it's SO easy to just keep photos stored away on your phone and computer, but it really is nice to be able to hold them in your hands and look through them every one in a while!  And this was such a heartfelt gift.  I had a ton of fun making it, and I think AJ was pleased with it too.

DIY INSTAGRAM SCRAPBOOK

Yesterday was Valentine's Day (duh), but it also marked one year of dating for AJ and I!  I can't believe it's been one year that we've been together.  Definitely the best year of my life.  I'm so blessed to get to call him mine and to have found the love of my life!

As you might know, student teaching doesn't pay.  Which means I'm on a crazy tight budget.  Like, a pay-for-gas-and-food-and-that's-all kind of budget.  And he's in college, and commutes an hour every day, so that means we're both kind of frugal this time of year.  But, we kind of went all-out on our birthday and Christmas gifts to one another, so that set the bar pretty high.  I knew I wanted to give him something for Valentine's/One Year day, but I also knew it needed to be cheap.  So I decided to play the sentimental card, and I made him a little book of all most of our instagram photos from the past year!

Here's how to do it:

What you'll need:  

Pens (I used a felt-tipped black pen and a white gel pen)

Photos (you can get your instagram shots printed with an app like PostalPix or just resize photos in a program like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and then print them on semi-gloss card stock...either way, a 4x4 size is good)

Scissors

Glue/Scrapbook adhesive tabs (I used a roll like the purple one from Scotch...so much easier than glue)

Chipboard pack (found this for $1 at Michaels!)

Colored Cardstock (AJ loves Black and White, so I went for a pack of 6x6 black card stock...having it already cut into squares made my life soooo much easier)

Not pictured:

Hole Punch

Washi Tape

Mod Podge

I made my cover by cutting a circle out of black card stock and writing "Our First Year According to Instagram" on it, then adhering this to the front chipboard cover with Mod Podge.

Then, I put my photos in order and went through them one by one and labeled on the back what month they were from (this made assembling my book a ton easier). After I was done, I started at the beginning and created a "title" page for the month with a few memories from that month and then put one photo on each page until I had used all of the photos from that month.  I did this for each month for the whole year.  Just be careful that you think through where you're going to be punching holes in each page so that you don't end up punching holes through your photos!  You might even want to hole punch before you put your book together.  I tried to change things up with each page by using different washi tape, choosing a different calligraphy/font style, different little adornments/doodles, and even mixing up where on the page I put the photo and how I aligned it.

Then, I put the whole book together, using the chipboards as my front and back covers and the little binder ring as the binding. I also ended up drilling a hole through the bottom of the left side of the chipboards and punching holes through each page so that my binding had two rings instead of just one and functioned more as a book than a flip book.  This held it together much better.

And there you go!  A scrapbook album made from Instagram Photos.

I love having photos printed out.  In this digital age, it's SO easy to just keep photos stored away on your phone and computer, but it really is nice to be able to hold them in your hands and look through them every one in a while!  And this was such a heartfelt gift.  I had a ton of fun making it, and I think AJ was pleased with it too.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today, I will celebrate this holiday with a classroom of 3rd graders, handing out Valentine's M&M's and Valentine's-themed pencils.  It's a throwback to all of those Valentine's parties from elementary school, except this time, I'm the teacher, and, if I'm being honest, I've been looking forward to it for weeks.

I can't help but take a moment to think of how different this Valentine's Day is from, well, any other I've celebrated.  Last year at this time, I was a bundle of nerves, getting ready to make dinner for AJ, who had told me he liked me a week earlier.  I knew the conversation about the future of our relationship was coming, and honestly, I had a pretty good idea of how it would turn out, but I was still nervous and anxious and giddy all at once.

But before that, Valentine's Day always started with this hope that something magical would happen, you know, straight out of a chick flick.  Guy comes to declare his love out of nowhere and sweeps girl off her feet.  They live happily ever after.  And then, inevitably, by the end of Valentine's Day, I would be met with disappointment, because, as Caroline so eloquently put it earlier this week, we don't live in a movie.

Last year's Valentine's Day ended with me watching Youtube clips of musicians like Jeremy Larson in my kitchen with AJ.  Not necessarily the gripping ending scene of the box-office buster, but, as I soon figured out, it was us, and it was perfect.  Love isn't always like the movies, and over the past year, I've found that sometimes, the most wonderful moments are found in the much-needed hug, the late-night walk, and the drive-home phone call.  And love isn't always roses and chocolates...it can be frustrating.  But it's worth it.  This past year has shown me that.

This year, it would be easy to go into this day with big romantic expectations.  But here's why I'm not:  AJ and I are both human.  We're both busy, we're both in school, and unfortunately, we both spent the weekend in bed sick.  The truth is that our Valentine's Day will likely be spent trying to get the other one to decide what we're going to have for dinner (the plight of being the most indecisive couple ever) and then watching NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up.  We've got a busy weekend ahead of us at church, and frankly, this little Thursday night routine (which is pretty much the same week-to-week), is what we both enjoy and what we probably both need this week.  We'll celebrate for real at some point, and maybe some day, when our lives and schedules are less frantic, we'll be more romantic in the traditional sense.  But I, for one, love finding the romance in the day-to-day.  In the cute text messages I often wake up to, in the songs he writes about me, in making dinner on weeknights or grabbing breakfast on Sunday mornings.  And that, my friends, I wouldn't trade for a fairy tale straight from Hollywood.

VALENTINE'S DAY

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today, I will celebrate this holiday with a classroom of 3rd graders, handing out Valentine's M&M's and Valentine's-themed pencils.  It's a throwback to all of those Valentine's parties from elementary school, except this time, I'm the teacher, and, if I'm being honest, I've been looking forward to it for weeks.

I can't help but take a moment to think of how different this Valentine's Day is from, well, any other I've celebrated.  Last year at this time, I was a bundle of nerves, getting ready to make dinner for AJ, who had told me he liked me a week earlier.  I knew the conversation about the future of our relationship was coming, and honestly, I had a pretty good idea of how it would turn out, but I was still nervous and anxious and giddy all at once.

But before that, Valentine's Day always started with this hope that something magical would happen, you know, straight out of a chick flick.  Guy comes to declare his love out of nowhere and sweeps girl off her feet.  They live happily ever after.  And then, inevitably, by the end of Valentine's Day, I would be met with disappointment, because, as Caroline so eloquently put it earlier this week, we don't live in a movie.

Last year's Valentine's Day ended with me watching Youtube clips of musicians like Jeremy Larson in my kitchen with AJ.  Not necessarily the gripping ending scene of the box-office buster, but, as I soon figured out, it was us, and it was perfect.  Love isn't always like the movies, and over the past year, I've found that sometimes, the most wonderful moments are found in the much-needed hug, the late-night walk, and the drive-home phone call.  And love isn't always roses and chocolates...it can be frustrating.  But it's worth it.  This past year has shown me that.

This year, it would be easy to go into this day with big romantic expectations.  But here's why I'm not:  AJ and I are both human.  We're both busy, we're both in school, and unfortunately, we both spent the weekend in bed sick.  The truth is that our Valentine's Day will likely be spent trying to get the other one to decide what we're going to have for dinner (the plight of being the most indecisive couple ever) and then watching NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up.  We've got a busy weekend ahead of us at church, and frankly, this little Thursday night routine (which is pretty much the same week-to-week), is what we both enjoy and what we probably both need this week.  We'll celebrate for real at some point, and maybe some day, when our lives and schedules are less frantic, we'll be more romantic in the traditional sense.  But I, for one, love finding the romance in the day-to-day.  In the cute text messages I often wake up to, in the songs he writes about me, in making dinner on weeknights or grabbing breakfast on Sunday mornings.  And that, my friends, I wouldn't trade for a fairy tale straight from Hollywood.