-DIY: You + Me

In an earlier post, I talked about my crafting fever and all my Hobby Lobby steals! Today, I'm showing you all a little bit of what I've done so far and what I plan to do to finish it.

This is what I started with. I found these puzzle pieces at Hobby Lobby for $4.99, quite a steal considering there were two of them in each package. Each piece is designed to fit perfectly with the other piece in the package, making the perfect addition to my (link: Christmas Basket) for B.

My first large decision on these was what to do with them color wise. I had a few idea floating around in my head. Whether to make them blue, his favorite, or do some sort of pattern.

Ultimately, I decided on painting each puzzle piece solid black.

This gave me the ability to take these puzzle pieces on step further and add some personalization on each individual piece!

I decided to make the theme of these pieces, You + Me. How creative, right? I decided that instead of doing a typical you + me theme, I would instead doodle different things that represent us onto each piece.

This is the puzzle piece that represents him:

Mine's a work in progress!

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to tie them both together, I'm thinking about a common word/ doodle across the place where they fit together.

Who knows.

Has anyone else attempted a puzzle piece creation before? If so, how did it turn out?!

-Confessions

I'll be the first to admit that I'm horrible at keeping up with this blog! It's not for lack of caring, I promise. It's just...

I'm a procrastinator.

Okay, it's out! I'm a procrastinator and I'm (almost) proud. You see, usually, I am fantastic about waiting until the last minute and still getting stuff done: i.e. school, work, presents, birthdays, going somewhere, etc. Although I'm notoriously late to everything, I do work and I do it well. 

But this, well this is a whole other battle. 

I'm not sure why it's so hard for me to plan out my writing, but I just can't. Hard as I try, I prefer to write on the fly posts versus q' them and have them set out weeks in advance.

I'd rather tell you on the dime what my life is like, than pretend like it's organized and perfect every.single.second.

Because, guys, my life is not perfect. I'm insanely busy. I know, I know, we all are. But I have horrible time management skills because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. I'd rather leave somewhere late and get somewhere late than leave something half-done. 

It's a little bit of a problem.

So, on that note, I have to run and finish a speech before class!

Anyone else out there a recovering procrastinator? (;

-Penguins and Tupperware

Guys. I have a problem and I'm ready to admit it.

I.Love.Penguins. When I say that, I don't mean: " Oh, they're cute to look at" I mean if anything, anything, I see in a store has a penguin on it, it's immediately on my must purchase list.

As I talked about here and here as soon as Christmas hits, I have crafting fever. Honestly, it might be more accurate to call it the crafting plague, because nothing exists until I've had my fill of it. 

Needless to say, when I was in Wal-Mart the other night wandering aimlessly through aisles and aisles of Christmas heaven, I happened upon these beauties:

 

I was in love! Immediately I began thinking of all the different and delicious treats I could stuff into these containers. Including, Buckeyes, Reindeer Cookies, Chocolate Covered Gold Pretzels and Peppermint Truffles! 

Although I have to wait a bit before I can start on those projects (I don't plan on giving out these gifts until closer to Christmas) I have started several DIY crafts in the meantime for B and for my family! 

**all photos picture are personal unless otherwise stated!**

-James Bond and Christmas

As I'm sure I've talked about before, in addition to Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, B is obsessed with James Bond.

Image via: www.google.com

After much debate, I finally just decided that he needed this now. So, although it is part of his christmas present, it's already in his possession! I know, I know, I'm a sucker. 

In all seriousness, he's been debating purchasing this set since it came out about two months ago,which meant I'd either have to convince him to not purchase it ( a dead giveaway) or come up with another idea. After much, much debate I decided the easiest way for both of us was to start Christmas a little early and let him have it.

To say he loved it would be an understatement. I'm pretty sure he sleeps with it under his pillow. (Only joking....maybe). 

However, after this change in plans, I've now added some DIY crafts to give when we actually do a gift exchange. 

As I've briefly(or not so briefly) mentioned in other posts, our birthdays happen to fall within a month of each other. For his birthday this year, I had made a Jurassic Park Card:

While I am obviously NOT a supremely talented artist, I'd like to think I did fairly well on the front! The T-Rex was more or less just for fun (; 

Part of a tradition I've had for a long time is hand-making cards for people. I love knowing that each card they get will be unique to them. For me, it's always been a way to show someone how much they mean to me. So it's not secret that his Christmas card will be made, not bought. 

Has anyone else started Christmas shopping early? Have you had to change your original plans?

**all photos in this post are personal unless otherwise stated**

-It's that time of year again...

Crafting season! 

You guys, I am seriously guilty of splurging in Hobby Lobby/Michaels/Jo'ann. Pretty much any craft store that's within reach is not safe from my crafting desires. So when Kat came home from IU and said, let's craft, I jumped on board as quickly as possible.

You see, earlier this week I won the best girlfriend, ever, award by gifting B with his early christmas present: The 50th Anniversary/Complete Collection of James Bond. He was elated, but also proclaimed that I was banned from purchasing any new christmas gifts for him. He said it was simply not fair for me to continue my purchasing when he still has no clue what to get me. Fair enough. I decided that crafting was a great way to have a handful of gifts for him and still play by his rules!

So off we headed to find our crafting needs. We first hit Wal-Mart for some of the simpler items, such as an adorable Penguin Tin I found to put delicious goodies in and some adorable take-out christmas baskets for friends/family.

We even managed to get distracted by cute hats and picture opportunities.

After finding the completely necessary items, we decided to head out to Hobby Lobby to continue our craft hunt. 

You see, Kat had an idea. Over the summer she had bedazzled, yes bedazzled, some felt signage for her cabin. This set off about a million bells in my head for potential gift ideas! 

The downside? You need hundreds of little jewels to complete this project, something that simply cannot be found in Wal-Mart. 

An example of our "craft-hunt" giddiness. 

We eventually found our jewels in Hobby Lobby......after several pitstops in just about every aisle in the building. Have you guys ever felt complete happiness. The term "tears of joy" was SO applicable today when I entered Hobby Lobby. Christmas Heaven. 

Anyways, now we're back and in our own little crafting world! But don't worry, I'll be sharing my first big craft adventure in another post so you guys can see how it's coming along!

For those who enjoy crafting, what are your favorite crafts to make? Does anyone prefer delicious food goodies over crafting?

-Black Friday: and the reasons I am not looking forward to it. 

Oh you guys, it's that time of year again, holiday season. You know what that means? Retail Hell. Quite literally. 

You see, a while back, some crazy person invented this thing called Black Friday. For normal people, this means awesome savings, horrible crowds, and the ability to suffocate in otherwise large spaces. 

For us retailers, it means a slow, painful, smelly death.

What you experience as a heavy rush of adrenaline and deal making awesome, we experience as BO, pissy people, and piss poor responses to finding out a product isn't in stock.

"I'm sorry, that was a door buster and was gone as soon as we opened."

"So let me get this straight, something that is IN YOUR AD is out of stock? well that just seems stupid. I expect some sort of reimbursement for that product otherwise that's just poor customer service."

Like.....what? Really? 

Another personal favorite quote from last year:

"What do you mean you don't price match Black Friday prices? What do you mean you won't order it?"

Again, seriously? 

"So & So has it cheaper. "

'I would encourage you to purchase it there then, because we cannot price match BF deals.'

"Well, they don't have it in stock and they can't order it"

'Why can't they order it?'

"It's a BF deal."

OBVIOUSLY. or else you wouldn't be here.

Ugh. People.

Honestly. Sheesh. 

-happy thoughts; happy people

Happy Sunday!

Today I'm sharing a few of the things that make me happy and some random things I've seen over the course of the past week!

         

(image via: www.google.com)

Here I am, openly confessing my love, Taylor Swift is perfect. I love her hair. I love her makeup. I love her music. I just love her. Girl crush, no questions asked. 

(image via: www.google.com)

Blurry, but a love like Nancy and Ronald Reagan. How could you NOT admire them and their relationship. So much love. 

(personal image)

STL! We may not have won the World Series this year, but I could not be prouder to be a fan. 

(personal image)

SAY WHAT?! Driving home after work and what do I see, a plane! Well, a car dressed up like a plane. So random and so so so awesome!