You want HOW MUCH for that?

Dear bhdln: You make such pretty stuff but charge ridiculous amounts of money for it. What are you, owned by Anthropologie? Oh, right. You are.

A friend who is getting married this month asked if I could recreate these chair signs from bhldn.com for less than $48:

bhldn newly minted chair signs by Wendy Addison

Naturally, I said yes. She asked for navy blue letters and green ribbon, but it turns out navy glitter is nearly impossible to find. In fact, I would offer money to anyone who can find legitimately navy blue glitter. The stuff I found was royal blue at darkest. So, we regrouped and decided to go with green glitter and navy ribbon.

I ordered Krylon Glitter Blast Spray in citrus dream ($10.37 on Amazon) and found some adorable grosgrain navy blue striped ribbon ($2.77 for 5 yards on Amazon).

Through a quick Google search, I found free printouts of lowercase bubble letters at craftjr.com, and used them to stencil and cut out letters from one of the cardboard boxes in my basement.

Next, was the fun part. I do love a good spray painting party.

Then the hole punching.

And add the ribbon.

The lighting is weird because these are bright green. Promise.

Voila! Easy as pie.

Total cost: $13.14

Paper bow tutorial

I learned to make these bows at a craft event. They're going to make my Christmas presents so stylin' this year! Here are the easy-greasy steps to paper bow heaven.

Materials:
Paper (books, magazines, catalogs, etc.)
Scotch tape
Scissors
Paper cutter (if you can't cut straight, which I cannot)

1. Cut books, magazines and catalogs (I used the Paper Source catalog because of the colors) and other fun items into 1-inch strips of different lengths.

2. Fold into a loop and tape in the middle. Repeat if you want a double bow.

3. Fold another strip around the middle and tape on the back.

4. Fold one strip in half and tape on the back of the bow.

5. Cut little triangles out of the bottom.

6. Ta-da! Go crazy with the creative variations. Use fabric! Glitter! Buttons! The possibilities are limitless.

Resolutions for 2012

Why not? I actually accomplished quite a few things on my list in 2011, so this year could be even more successful. That leads me to resolution numero uno...

1. Think more positively. I get negative, like, real fast. Too fast, actually, especially where work is concerned. Time to stretch out those smile muscles a little more often, even if I'm not feeling it.

2. Take another sewing class. My first sewing class was fantastic, but I need to keep going. I will sew the hell out of 2012.

3. Have a baby. Yeah, you heard me.

4. Use more coupons. I have them. I have a lot of them, actually. I just don't use them. Silly, don't you think?

5. Be healthy and lose weight. Duh.

6. Blog more. Bet you can't wait!

Hell yeah!

Source: Aesthetic Outburst

2011 was a fine year

Time for the year-end List of Stuff That Happened to Me And You Likely Won't Care About But Who Cares Because This Is About Me. 


A List of Random Things That Happened to Me This Year:
1. Celebrated my second wedding anniversary with Hot Pants by going to France and Spain. It was my first visit to Europe, and it was just as magical as my brain had imagined it. Way to go, Europe.
2. Hosted my family for Christmas for the first time since HP and I got together. It was great to show off my Christmas crafting skills and to share our home with my parents, aunt, uncle and cousin.
3. Took a sewing class and have been going crazy on projects ever since. I can finally stop paying ridiculous prices for throw pillows and curtains.
4. Had a lovely visit from Ian, a  friend from college who lives in England, after more than a decade of not seeing each other.
5. Our two best couple friends both had babies, shaking up our social lives in ways I still can't properly explain without graphs and charts.
6. I paid off my college loans. 
7. I was in three weddings between January and June. Yowser.
8. I visited the set of "The Walking Dead" for work and got to meet many of the actors, makeup artists, costume designers and the rest of the braintrust behind the incredibly popular show. I even got a hug from IronE Singleton. It was a truly awesome evening that I can't really tell you about because I signed an NDA.
9. My grandfather _ my last grandparent still living _ died in April after 90-plus years on this earth. I miss you, Grandpa.
10. My nephew, Elias, was born in May.
Update: 11. Visited with a dozen of my very best friends on a reunion trip in Washington, D.C., part of our annual meet up in cities across the country.


Amazing Albums Released this Year:
Fleet Foxes, "Helplessness Blues"
The Decemberists, "The King is Dead"
Wilco, "The Whole Love"
tUnE-yArDs, "Whokill"
Katie Herzig, "The Waking Sleep"
Adele, "21"
Noah and the Whale, "Last Night on Earth"
The Features, "Wilderness"
The Head and the Heart, "The Head and the Heart"
I'm From Barcelona, "Forever Today" 
The Submarines, "Birds"
Update: Beirut, "The Rip Tide"


Some Books I Read (and loved):
"Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell
"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" by Mindy Kaling
"Bossypants" by Tina Fey
"My Life in France" by Julia Child
"The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender
"Anthropology of an American Girl" by Hilary Thayer Hamann
"One Day" by David Nicholls
"A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan
Harry Potter, books 1, 2, 3 and 7 (some for the second time, others for the third or fourth)


Some Awesome Movies I Saw (and loved): 
"Crazy, Stupid Love"
"Hugo"
"Harry Potter: The Freakin' End"
"Bridesmaids"
"Midnight in Paris"
"50/50"
"The Muppets"
"Ides of March"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"


Places I Visited: 
Paris, Avignon and Nice in France
Barcelona and Madrid in Spain
Norwich, NY
Grantville and Harrisburg, Pa.
Memphis, Tenn.
Washington, D.C.
Chicago
Dauphin Island, Ala.
New Orleans


Famous People Sightings:
Bill Clinton
Ron Livingston (sighting No. 2, this time in Atlanta, rather than New Orleans)
the cast of The Walking Dead, plus Greg Nicotero
Michelle Obama
Spike Mendelsohn from Top Chef
Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef
Richard Blais from Top Chef
Gen. Larry Platt of "Pants on the Ground" fame
Spike Lee
Laura Bush
Ann Brashares

Tales of an empty fireplace

Hot Pants and I got rid of our gas logs about a year ago, mostly because we didn't use them very much. They made a loud hissing sound when they were on (likely due to improper installation by the genius contractors who renovated the house), making for unpleasant evenings having to talk loudly over the sound of the roaring fire.

But what to do with that big empty space? We had some limitations because the gas line sticks up in the middle of the space, and we didn't want to leave it exposed lest one of our curious cats figured out how to turn it on. They have hidden thumbs, you know.

First, I tried a candelabra, but it looked weird and mostly collected dust. Then I saw this photo.

Via Beach Studios

Absolutely genius! I had a shelf of old books I didn't want to toss but rarely touched. They immediately went in the fireplace. Check it.

Here are some other fun ideas for your non-functioning fireplace.

Via Flickr (though I think it's originally from Anthropologie)

Via Apartment Therapy

Via Real Simple

Via Retropolitan

Catlanta

There's a local artist who's turned his late-night graffiti sessions into citywide scavenger hunts for little bits of his art. Catlanta has an avid set of followers (including yours truly) who will drive like bats out of hell at all hours to snag his magnets stuck to random mailboxes and fences across the city.

I first ran across Catlanta when I saw this cute mural near my house a couple of months ago.

 Then a friend told me Catlanta had started making magnets of this little character _ called kittens _ and was hiding them around the city. AWESOMENESS.

Here's how it goes:  It starts with a tweet and a Facebook post linking to his Flickr account, where Catlanta puts a photo of where he's left his kittens. After that it's a race against the clock. These little suckers have disappeared almost instantly, it seems.

(Read this great ScoutMob piece on him.)

Today? I won. VICTORY IS MINE, CATLANTA! I found this little guy after hauling ass to a restaurant near my office (in rush-hour traffic, no less).

Isn't he so cute? Now the challenge will be not wanting to drop everything and run every time I see he's posted new ones. Hoarding is not a good look, especially when so many people are hunting for these. That would just be unfair.

These are the thoughts I was having when I got a text a few minutes ago alerting me that a new one had been put up less than a mile from my house. I grabbed my Pajama Jeans (yes, I said Pajama Jeans) and dashed out the door. I arrived at the spot less than five minutes after he tweeted and it was gone! But I did run across two girls who were also looking for the kitten and were just as disappointed as I was that it was gone. I justified looking for another one by telling myself I'd give it to a friend or maybe to Hot Pants for his office.

But who am I kidding? This shit's addictive!