This Saturday was UAB Day and Alpha Xi Delta had a table! So I made a new presentation board to show all the incoming freshman and high school students who we are :)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Hi There
I finally made a new door mat! I told you guys that after making the new wreath for the front door, making new no-sew pillows, and getting new outdoor furniture, it was about time to have a happy, summery front door mat to finish out the cuteness!
Our old one was functional, but that's about it...Here it is:
It's not like it's ugly...it's just not what I wanted :) So I bought a door mat at Ikea for $4.99 and made plans to spray paint something cute on it in a cute color (very detailed, I know). After looking around Pinterest and google for about a week I decided I just wanted words on it in the bottom left corner so it looked modern and relaxed. I decided on "hi there" because Blake and I say that to each other from time to time while joking (it's from Doug in Up!). Once I decided on what I wanted I went to Microsoft Publisher to help me make it real (I would have used Photoshop, but I know Publisher better therefore it was faster).
I measured the door mat and put the dimensions in publisher so I could get the words the size that I wanted. Once I determined how large I wanted them, I copied and pasted into Word and printed them out! Here's what they looked like:
Then I took my X-acto knife and cut out the letters so that there was a stencil left behind and I taped it onto the door mat like this:
Then I spray painted that with Krylon's indoor/outdoor spray paint in Blue Ocean Breeze. I also added paper around the edge of those pages once I realized spray paint was getting everywhere (unfortunately it was a bit too late for me to not have a little outline...darn) Anyways, here's how it turned out!
What do y'all think? Should I paint a pattern on the mat to cover up the extra spray paint outlines I made? I've also considered adding a border around the letters using craft paint to make them a bit sharper (definitely should have used painters tape..darn) Have y'all seen this idea on Pinterest and have tried it out? How did yours turn out?
Our old one was functional, but that's about it...Here it is:
It's not like it's ugly...it's just not what I wanted :) So I bought a door mat at Ikea for $4.99 and made plans to spray paint something cute on it in a cute color (very detailed, I know). After looking around Pinterest and google for about a week I decided I just wanted words on it in the bottom left corner so it looked modern and relaxed. I decided on "hi there" because Blake and I say that to each other from time to time while joking (it's from Doug in Up!). Once I decided on what I wanted I went to Microsoft Publisher to help me make it real (I would have used Photoshop, but I know Publisher better therefore it was faster).
I measured the door mat and put the dimensions in publisher so I could get the words the size that I wanted. Once I determined how large I wanted them, I copied and pasted into Word and printed them out! Here's what they looked like:
Then I took my X-acto knife and cut out the letters so that there was a stencil left behind and I taped it onto the door mat like this:
Then I spray painted that with Krylon's indoor/outdoor spray paint in Blue Ocean Breeze. I also added paper around the edge of those pages once I realized spray paint was getting everywhere (unfortunately it was a bit too late for me to not have a little outline...darn) Anyways, here's how it turned out!
What do y'all think? Should I paint a pattern on the mat to cover up the extra spray paint outlines I made? I've also considered adding a border around the letters using craft paint to make them a bit sharper (definitely should have used painters tape..darn) Have y'all seen this idea on Pinterest and have tried it out? How did yours turn out?
Monday, July 11, 2011
Anniversary Gift
I'll tell you guys what I told Blake, "Don't get too excited, because it's not super legit." But since our anniversary was over two weeks ago now, I figured I should show you what I made Blake! (I know I totally fail at being consistent). As you know we went to Atlanta to celebrate our anniversary and because of that I wanted to make something really inexpensive for Blake. So I made a list of as many of our inside jokes as I could remember. I even went back through facebook and myspace so that I could try to remember the ones that we had both probably forgotten about. Once I made that list, I found images online that coincided with our inside jokes and stuff that we did or liked and made them jpgs using Microsoft Publisher. Then I printed them using Wal-Mart's online photo store thingy and made him a little card full of memories and laughs that we've had in the past four years that we've been together :)
So here's how it looked! It's really not awesome...it's very homemade, but I think that kind of makes it cute :) And Blake didn't seem to mind :) Anywho, I had a theme for this card and it was what I've Learned, Seen, and Loved over the past four years :) So this was the front :)
And here's the next pages. I started with "learned" because I really have learned so so much while being with Blake. We started dating when I was really young (15! Gasp!!) and so in a way I grew up and learned a lot about myself with him by my side and a lot of who I am today is a biproduct of our relationship and his relationship with the Lord and our church. But this part of the card was more towards the physical things that I've learned over the years. And with him being an IT and web development guy, a lot of what I've learned has been technology related. And that's a pretty recurring theme in this card as you'll see :)
Right before we got married, Blake got my netbook without me knowing and put a little batch script on it so that at 1:00AM, a text box would pop up and say I love you! It's actually still on there and sometimes when I'm sitting on my computer it'll pop up and I get butterflies just like I did a little over a year ago! :)
A few weeks ago, our internet had gotten unplugged and I figured I would go fix it, but apparently ours is set up weirdly and I learned something about how bridges worked on linsys routers! Also, as you can see, I put different shortcuts that I learned from Blake about how to copy and paste without having to right click. Also the ctrl+f shortcut is sooo awesome to use on a webpage when you're looking for something in a list of other words!!
Among the shortcuts on a PC, Windows+R is by far my favorite! There's just so much you can do and you feel so techy when you're doing it! Which is why I made it Windows+R = A whole new world! :)
Photoshop is how Blake starts most of his website, business card, and media designs before he moves on to other Adobe products, and I feel like I have learned a bunch from just watching all that he does. And now that I have photoshop on my computer, he's teaching me even more now!
Speaking of some of those media oriented designs, here's some vector images he created to use on a recent website he made!
This is the second page (all of what I've learned about couldn't just fit on the first page) :)
We've been looking at getting new phones for quite some time now and it seems like every couple of months we get a new favorite phone! Hopefully by the time we save up enough money to get new phones, we'll decide!
This side of the card is all about Starcraft 2! Starcraft 2 is a computer game made by Blizzard (the same people who make World of Warcraft) and it is a strategy game (so you build an economy, build an army, and go to war). It's pretty fantastic I have to say! Blake played the first Starcraft and when the second one came out a few months after we got married, let's just say he came home with a little surprise! They even have options for players to build custom games and Blake has found those to be pretty fun too! The one featured here is called Marine Arena and it's pretty much the same as the original Starcraft 2, but there's more units and it's waaaay longer! lol
The third page was the "What I've Seen" section. It's no secret around my friends that I am a definite television and movie fan! Blake isn't one nearly as much as I am, but when he finds something that's cool, he gets on board with me! So over the past few years we've watched some different TV shows, music shows, and youtube videos!
The little bird at the top right is Einstein! He was featured on Animal Planet and after we saw his act, we quoted it for months (and occasionally I still do it and it was over a year ago I think!). Right now we're into Burn Notice (Season 5 is awesome so far!!!). The guy singing in the middle is the lead singer of Mute Math, which is Blake's favorite band. The first year we were together, I bought him tickets to the Mute Math concert for his birthday and we went and saw their show (which was awesome!). Then last year, I bought him tickets again to see their show, only I forgot the date of the show. So I got an email saying "Now that you've seen Mute Math in concert, tell us what you think!" And...my heart sank. Then I had to call Blake and tell him that we had missed the concert....which was totally terrible! And he definitely joked about how only I could pay that much for tickets and then forget about the event lol! And at the bottom you can see the Lost logo! My freshman year of college we got into that show and watched the series finale with a group of friends from church (we were pretty disappointed with the ending but I've only watched it that one time, so I'm considering going back and watching it again and maybe I'll like it better the second time around) :)
Not much commentary needed here, we like Andy Griffith and The Office....like pretty much every other sane human being on the planet... ;)
The fourth page was the "What I've Loved" section!
Yes, I was one of those people who farmed on Facebook back in the day...but Blake was too so it's cool right? lol Actually it wasn't that long ago...Blake got me Farmville cash for Christmas...lol! And of course we both looovvve Taco Bell! We eat it at least twice a week :) The rest on this page are little sayings or whatever that we've either made up or just randomly started saying often to each other! :)
This page looks like it's dedicated to Starcraft 2 again, but it's actually a bit more specific. The guy in the center picture is Sean Plott, otherwise know in the Starcraft community as Day9. He's a professional player and commentator and he hosts a show every Monday through Thursday where he gives game tips and is really just incredibly witty and hilarious and totally awesome. And we love to watch him!! :)
The final page was the articulation of what I've really learned, seen, and loved over the past years, Blake.
So here's how it looked! It's really not awesome...it's very homemade, but I think that kind of makes it cute :) And Blake didn't seem to mind :) Anywho, I had a theme for this card and it was what I've Learned, Seen, and Loved over the past four years :) So this was the front :)
And here's the next pages. I started with "learned" because I really have learned so so much while being with Blake. We started dating when I was really young (15! Gasp!!) and so in a way I grew up and learned a lot about myself with him by my side and a lot of who I am today is a biproduct of our relationship and his relationship with the Lord and our church. But this part of the card was more towards the physical things that I've learned over the years. And with him being an IT and web development guy, a lot of what I've learned has been technology related. And that's a pretty recurring theme in this card as you'll see :)
Right before we got married, Blake got my netbook without me knowing and put a little batch script on it so that at 1:00AM, a text box would pop up and say I love you! It's actually still on there and sometimes when I'm sitting on my computer it'll pop up and I get butterflies just like I did a little over a year ago! :)
A few weeks ago, our internet had gotten unplugged and I figured I would go fix it, but apparently ours is set up weirdly and I learned something about how bridges worked on linsys routers! Also, as you can see, I put different shortcuts that I learned from Blake about how to copy and paste without having to right click. Also the ctrl+f shortcut is sooo awesome to use on a webpage when you're looking for something in a list of other words!!
Among the shortcuts on a PC, Windows+R is by far my favorite! There's just so much you can do and you feel so techy when you're doing it! Which is why I made it Windows+R = A whole new world! :)
Photoshop is how Blake starts most of his website, business card, and media designs before he moves on to other Adobe products, and I feel like I have learned a bunch from just watching all that he does. And now that I have photoshop on my computer, he's teaching me even more now!
Speaking of some of those media oriented designs, here's some vector images he created to use on a recent website he made!
This is the second page (all of what I've learned about couldn't just fit on the first page) :)
We've been looking at getting new phones for quite some time now and it seems like every couple of months we get a new favorite phone! Hopefully by the time we save up enough money to get new phones, we'll decide!
This side of the card is all about Starcraft 2! Starcraft 2 is a computer game made by Blizzard (the same people who make World of Warcraft) and it is a strategy game (so you build an economy, build an army, and go to war). It's pretty fantastic I have to say! Blake played the first Starcraft and when the second one came out a few months after we got married, let's just say he came home with a little surprise! They even have options for players to build custom games and Blake has found those to be pretty fun too! The one featured here is called Marine Arena and it's pretty much the same as the original Starcraft 2, but there's more units and it's waaaay longer! lol
The third page was the "What I've Seen" section. It's no secret around my friends that I am a definite television and movie fan! Blake isn't one nearly as much as I am, but when he finds something that's cool, he gets on board with me! So over the past few years we've watched some different TV shows, music shows, and youtube videos!
The little bird at the top right is Einstein! He was featured on Animal Planet and after we saw his act, we quoted it for months (and occasionally I still do it and it was over a year ago I think!). Right now we're into Burn Notice (Season 5 is awesome so far!!!). The guy singing in the middle is the lead singer of Mute Math, which is Blake's favorite band. The first year we were together, I bought him tickets to the Mute Math concert for his birthday and we went and saw their show (which was awesome!). Then last year, I bought him tickets again to see their show, only I forgot the date of the show. So I got an email saying "Now that you've seen Mute Math in concert, tell us what you think!" And...my heart sank. Then I had to call Blake and tell him that we had missed the concert....which was totally terrible! And he definitely joked about how only I could pay that much for tickets and then forget about the event lol! And at the bottom you can see the Lost logo! My freshman year of college we got into that show and watched the series finale with a group of friends from church (we were pretty disappointed with the ending but I've only watched it that one time, so I'm considering going back and watching it again and maybe I'll like it better the second time around) :)
Not much commentary needed here, we like Andy Griffith and The Office....like pretty much every other sane human being on the planet... ;)
The fourth page was the "What I've Loved" section!
Yes, I was one of those people who farmed on Facebook back in the day...but Blake was too so it's cool right? lol Actually it wasn't that long ago...Blake got me Farmville cash for Christmas...lol! And of course we both looovvve Taco Bell! We eat it at least twice a week :) The rest on this page are little sayings or whatever that we've either made up or just randomly started saying often to each other! :)
This page looks like it's dedicated to Starcraft 2 again, but it's actually a bit more specific. The guy in the center picture is Sean Plott, otherwise know in the Starcraft community as Day9. He's a professional player and commentator and he hosts a show every Monday through Thursday where he gives game tips and is really just incredibly witty and hilarious and totally awesome. And we love to watch him!! :)
The final page was the articulation of what I've really learned, seen, and loved over the past years, Blake.
He is truly inspiring. His level of perseverance, humility, and logic both challenges and enchants me. I am so blessed to have a man that is actually the spiritual head of my household and I look up to him spiritually as well as in every other aspect. That's definitely not to say that we don't disagree from time to time or get on each other's nerves, but at the end of the day we adore each other. I have no doubt that he loves me and that is such a peaceful feeling. I heard an inspiring woman say this weekend when discussing choosing a mate "never settle" and I can honestly say that I have followed that advice. I'm so excited that I get to spend every day of the rest of our lives with my husband, and that too enchants me.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
I Heart Shopping
This past weekend was Blake and my first wedding anniversary and so we went to Atlanta, GA to celebrate! I took pictures and made a couple of videos so I'll be sure to share them all once I get them edited and what not. But today I wanted to show you what I got while we were there! I LOVE going to Atlanta because that is where the nearest Ikea is and I'm in love with Ikea. But I'm not in love with the fact that almost none of their stuff is available to purchase online. Blake and I actually had a lovely conversation over an Ikea hotdog about why this is, but we didn't really figure out anything...sigh. Anywho! We went to Ikea on the last day of our trip and so we had already reached our budget for what we wanted to spend while we were in Atlanta so I didn't get to buy everything I wanted to buy, but I did get to buy enough to have some fun with!
I bought two sets of Merete curtains for $19.99 each (which are the same ones that I bought for the office on our first Ikea trip). Here's a picture of them:
I bought two sets of Merete curtains for $19.99 each (which are the same ones that I bought for the office on our first Ikea trip). Here's a picture of them:
I got them in white so that we could dye them whatever color we want! We bought these for our bedroom and I couldn't decide what color I wanted...originally I was going to go with a brown and orange theme for our bedroom, but then I changed my mind and I haven't really made it up yet.
Right now we have a dark gray comforter that we both aren't really fans of, so we're going to make a change eventually we just haven't decided to what we will be changing. I'm leaning towards a blue and gray room...but that may change soon...so basically all of that to say, we bought white curtains so that we could dye them whatever color we want when the time comes. And I'll give y'all the play-by-play when we do, but if you want to know how to do it now, the guys over at Young House Love have already done it and you can find that tutorial here.
We also picked up this door mat for only $4.99:
The plan for that little guy is to paint it! After we purchased the new patio furniture, made new pillows, and made a new wreath, the old gray and very manly door mat just wasn't going to work anymore! So I'm going to paint this with probably some bright happy colors to welcome our guests! :)
And finally we bought four 5x7 white frames (found here for $3.99 for two) and two 8.5x11 white frames (found here for $1.99 each) so I can do some fun stuff with scrapbook paper, printables, and anything else I can find on Pinterest :)
I think I'll have bunches of fun with these things (if I can decide what exactly I want to do with all of them! That's my worst enemy! Indecision! Well, that and procrastination) :)
So what do y'all think about the million questions I posed in this post? What colors do you think would be good for our curtains? Any ideas on what to paint on our new door mat? Or how about ideas for the frames we bought?
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Tack Attack!
A while back I found this image on Pinterest:
It is Styrofoam balls covered in thumb tacks and spray painted. So cheap and so chic! I got everything I needed to do this project at Dollar Tree and spent $4. Now, I haven't painted them yet (because as I mentioned in this post I can't decide what color to do in that entry way) but I have them finished and in a vase on the table! Here's what they look like right now:
The how-to is pretty straight forward....Get some Styrofoam balls...
And some thumbtacks:
And just stick those puppies in a line (preferably with a movie...it gets less boring that way) until you have something like this:
I started at the bottom and moved up, but the girl that thought of this idea has also done it starting in the middle; so try it out and see how you like it! In the mean time, what color do you think I should paint these? I think white would not bring in enough color, so maybe some kind of red? I love the color that the original person used (that blue and green are to kill for!) but that doesn't really match anything in my house sooo....I guess I shouldn't do that! What do you think? What color?
{From here}
The how-to is pretty straight forward....Get some Styrofoam balls...
And some thumbtacks:
And just stick those puppies in a line (preferably with a movie...it gets less boring that way) until you have something like this:
I started at the bottom and moved up, but the girl that thought of this idea has also done it starting in the middle; so try it out and see how you like it! In the mean time, what color do you think I should paint these? I think white would not bring in enough color, so maybe some kind of red? I love the color that the original person used (that blue and green are to kill for!) but that doesn't really match anything in my house sooo....I guess I shouldn't do that! What do you think? What color?
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A Pinterest Paper Portal of Phosphorescence
I may or may not have just looked up synonyms of the word lantern to try to find one that started with a P...What can I say? I love alliteration! :) I told you guys yesterday that I would give you the deets on this little cutie!
It's no secret that these are all over the blogosphere not to mention Pinterest but I wanted a little something to go in our entry way that would bring some color in and I needed to do it on like a zero dollar amount budget. So this was the perfect project! And I didn't want to put something cheap, cute, and decor related up in my house without sharing it with the world!!! (okay, so it's a small world whatevs! I'm gonna dream big! Because it's Thursday and that's a good day to dream!) ;)
I just got a paper lantern from the Dollar Tree (for only a buck!) and I got red tissue paper from Wal-Mart (also for a buck!).
I haven't hung it up yet. Partly because I'm not sure how to do that, and partly because I'm not sold on the red...it just looks a little...blah. It matches our living room and stuff, I'm just not sure it's right for the first thing that I see every time I walk in our house....Idk! But when I decide I'll of course let you guys know!!
What do y'all think? A little blah? Or do you think it's just right? Maybe if I change the color of the paper I'll like it better....any ideas?
**Btw, I had some setting on my blog checked that only allowed comments from other blogger users! Sorry about that!! So, if you want to comment do try! And if it doesn't work....text me/facebook me/email me! (Don't call, because I am notorious for not answering the phone...it's a phobia. Not really, I'm just a pansy. lol Love you guys!)**
It's no secret that these are all over the blogosphere not to mention Pinterest but I wanted a little something to go in our entry way that would bring some color in and I needed to do it on like a zero dollar amount budget. So this was the perfect project! And I didn't want to put something cheap, cute, and decor related up in my house without sharing it with the world!!! (okay, so it's a small world whatevs! I'm gonna dream big! Because it's Thursday and that's a good day to dream!) ;)
I just got a paper lantern from the Dollar Tree (for only a buck!) and I got red tissue paper from Wal-Mart (also for a buck!).
Here's the original paper lantern (this was pre-new flash and is terribly blurry! Sorry!)
Then I just cut the tissue paper into circles/teardrop shapes (because I can't cut a circle to save my life) and then taped them around the little rings of the paper lantern!
I haven't hung it up yet. Partly because I'm not sure how to do that, and partly because I'm not sold on the red...it just looks a little...blah. It matches our living room and stuff, I'm just not sure it's right for the first thing that I see every time I walk in our house....Idk! But when I decide I'll of course let you guys know!!
What do y'all think? A little blah? Or do you think it's just right? Maybe if I change the color of the paper I'll like it better....any ideas?
**Btw, I had some setting on my blog checked that only allowed comments from other blogger users! Sorry about that!! So, if you want to comment do try! And if it doesn't work....text me/facebook me/email me! (Don't call, because I am notorious for not answering the phone...it's a phobia. Not really, I'm just a pansy. lol Love you guys!)**
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Flash!
Ah cameras. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and levels of difficulty. I'm definitely one to learn new things when I'm on google or bored or have someone to teach me, but for some reason when it came to our Nikon D80 DSLR camera I just did not have the touch. Blake could pick up the camera and flip some switches and turn some knobs and the pictures that I took that looked terrible would magically turn into these gorgeous pictures! Talk about frustrating! But that is about to change! Well at least a little bit. I'm still learning what ISO is and what kind of white balance to use and Lord knows I still haven't figured out how to change the shutter speed on that thing, but we got something that will make automatic mode look way better! YAY! We got this little bundle of joy:
It's an SB400 flash! It wasn't too expensive (at least in the world of DSLR camera accessories; it was $119.95 at B&H Photo) and man does it make a difference! Blake took a bunch of shots to depict what a difference it makes. The photos labeled D80 flash are the pics with the flash that comes on the camera and the ones labeled SB400 flash are the ones taken with our new flash! :)
Here is Blake's dad's super cool fretless bass!
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
Apparently this is used to wrangle all the cords that go inside a computer that you build..learn something new every day! :)
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
I feel like this doesn't need an explanation, but it feels weird and nonsymmetrical to not have something here, so this is our lens cap! Fancy huh? ;)
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
Yeah this is a motherboard, and yes I married someone who is just as much a nerd as I am...scary huh? ;)
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
More deets on this soon!
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
Her name is Precious and we pet-sat for Blake's parents and she was sooo cute! I was sad to see her go, but it was nice to be able to sit in peace without having to worry about someone tinkling everywhere :)
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
Our rings! :)
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
I did a fun craft with these I'll show you guys soon!
D80 Flash:
SB400 Flash:
Amazing what a difference that semi-inexpensive flash makes! It bounces light off of the ceiling and so it takes away that harsh light and shadows from a direct flash like the stock one on the D80. I would venture to say that if you are a blogger that puts pictures up on a regular basis, a good camera and flash is one of the most important investments you can make. But that's just my opinion!! :) So what about you guys? Have you guys gotten any new techy items lately?
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