Archives for September 2015

DIY Desk Caddy

Now that I am paying good money to rent a studio for the specific purpose of working, I determined to stay organized. No, for real. I mean it this time. I know I have said that before, but I am on a new path. It’s new. That counts. And I have a new rule too: nothing is coming in this room that does not serve a purpose. Function before form.

For every item I ask myself, Does it bring me joy? Does is directly relate to generating revenue? If I can’t answer yes to at least one of those questions (preferably both) it never crosses the threshold. Bam!

This is a new approach for me so I am investing a lot of energy into keeping organized. Even boring stuff like bills and invoices are going to be kept to a minimum and contained in lovely, colorful fashion. And because my budget is slim-to-nothing, I thought an all-purpose desk caddy would be a good place to start.

It’s colorful. It’s functional. It brings me joy and it pays the bills. Literally. And it was made from stuff I already had in my recycle bin/junk drawer.

Want to make one too? Thought so. Hop on over to Pentel and see how it’s done!

Happy Monday: Fall Foliage and Punctuation Skills

by aunt peaches 2 Comments

Hello again friends. I’m coming off a week of ‘Purposeful Avoidance’ to celebrate my birthday and catch up on important things (and by “important things” I mean season 4 of the Gilmore Girls). It was swell. Yes, there are some downsides to avoiding your inbox for a week, but it’s refreshing to start a new season with a clean slate. Hiya October! Did you guys see that honker of a moon last night? Holy cats!

This is my new path for self-improvement: The subtle art of not giving a f*ck. Also, this pillow is awesome.

Wondering when fall foliage will peak in your area? This map is the coolest.

An etiquette question for the dessert minded.

The faces of debt.

Finally, a consolidated list of the best software tutorials on the web.

Don’t click this unless you want your cookies to feel inferior.

The 9 habits of highly effective restaurants.

A great idea for bored kids.

Style tips from Mindy Kaling.

Test your punctuation skills.

If you have ever known anyone who spent seventy-ding-dong-six years being really stressed about getting a PhD, but can never explain what they were studying or why they were studying it, this is amusing.

The truth behind Instagram photos (this is SO TRUE!) I’m thinking about doing a similar post of my own. If you guys only knew what was lurking in the background of some of the glamour shots I show here. Ha!

Ceramic Painting at Home – The Easy Way

by aunt peaches 4 Comments

Confession: I have always wanted to go to one of those storefront pottery places where you pay to sit there for a couple of hours and paint ceramics. You know the type? They are usually in malls. Often associated with little kid birthday parties, and occasionally grown women rent them out for a little BYOB action in the suburbs, but for some reason I have never made it into one. Years ago I worked with a gal who rented out a paint-me ceramic place for her bachelorette party and her sister pre-gamed it too hard, drunkenly stumbled on a platform flip-flop, and took down a rack of 31 hand-painted platters that were to be used as serving dishes at the wedding. All of them. Shattered. Between you and me it was probably an omen though because that marriage ended after 18 months, and that same sister had something to do with it, but it wasn’t anything she was doing in a pottery studio…but I digress.

All the more reason to keep your ceramic painting at home. Ahem.

Here is the good news: You can now paint ceramics at home. And you don’t even need to know how to paint! This new line of markers make it so easy! Pop over and check it out!

DIY Confetti Notebook from Office Supplies

by aunt peaches 12 Comments

Did anyone ever tell you a secret and it made your tongue hurt to keep it inside your mouth?

Yeah. You know that feeling! That’s what it felt like when I made this project last month and had to keep it all to myself. It is so nifty it hurts my soul to keep it inside!

You know what that is? It’s a confetti notebook made entirely from office supplies.

Yup. Office supplies.

I have been working with Pentel for a year now but recently they asked me to come up with some projects that lean a little less craft culture and a little more cubicle culture. This is fun for the back to school crowd, and kids of all ages, and I can’t think of a profession on the planet that doesn’t allow for a colorful notebook tucked into a desk drawer. And did you see the pen loop added to the side? That’s just plain functional. People will see this funky notebook you made with a pen loop and say NOW THERE IS A SOUL IN BALANCE! Also, the pen loop trick is real easy and you’re gonna start adding pen loops to every book in your house when you see how it’s done. Nobody is safe!

Want to make one of your own? Check out the directions over at Pentel. And if you need a refresher on how to make confetti out of tissue paper (or any other paper for that matter) buckle up because I have got the answer for you!

Happy Monday: Decorative Gourd Season

by aunt peaches 7 Comments

‘Morning my friends! It is September and I had to wear a sweater yesterday and every white girl I know is talking about pumpkin lattes. Why, if I didn’t know better I’d say it was decorative gourd season.

Yup. I’m breaking out the rhinestone gourds. The bling will not be contained!

Fall tradition: 9 of the finest corn mazes in Illinois.

How learning to code could level the playing field for girls in Afghanistan.

Speaking of farms… her are the 10 companies that control almost everything we eat.

This is how you teach typography to a 2-year old. Not letters; typography.

A Turkish couple decided to use their wedding as an opportunity to feed thousands of refugees. Wedding of the year!

Love this idea.

NY Fashion week wrapped up and Pantone already has some spring predictions on the hot new colors. I’m feeling navy and nautical.

A terrific podcast for anyone needing some creative inspiration.

Stories like this change my day.

These two teenage girls invented an eye-controlled wheelchair that could change the game for thousands of people. Woohoo!

Any audiobook authorities out there? The chilly weather and a pile of work has me in the mood for some new audiobooks. I’m think murder mysteries. Maybe a scary story or two. Recommendations welcome!

The Little Engine That Could

by aunt peaches 23 Comments

Well folks, this week marks a couple of milestones I never thought would happen.

Current big girl pants status: Overalls.

Here is something exciting – I am typing this post from my new office! I guess you would call it more of a studio, but it’s a work space with a bathroom where I can make a mess or meet with clients or shoot photos without moving my furniture around. IT IS PRETTY NEAT! It’s small, good light, and even though it’s a ridiculous bargain it’s probably more than I ought to be spending when I could work at home for free. But you know what? Working from home has some major downsides. Like what? Productivity.

Man oh man, do I suck at working from home. For as many hours as I put in I ought to have more to show for it. This was never a problem when I worked for someone else so it’s time to throw a new factor into the equation. I need to up my game. My dad always said people enjoy sports more when they have “some skin in the game,” and although I would never put money on a sports team, I have no problem betting on myself. This much I know to be true: I have never lost when I bet on myself.

So. Now I am spending money everyday for the privilege of working somewhere that is isn’t my couch, which sounds nuts, and it scares the crap out of me, but this might be the second smartest decision I have ever made. The first smartest decision I ever made came one year ago this week when I left my job. This week marks one year since I started my own business.

Wooot!!!

It’s weird. Yesterday I got a spam comment on this old post I wrote in March 2014, just about the time I realized I needed to quit my job and was freaking out about what to do next. I had totally forgotten about it. It consumed my soul for a good month back then, but hasn’t crossed my mind in ages. It’s painful to read now. I cringe to think about how scared and indecisive I was, and worse, I cringe at how many comments and emails arrived telling me to STAY EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE! DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING! WAIT FOR SOMETHING BETTER TO PRESENT ITSELF! Which was the same sentiment I got from most folks in real life too. Even some of my closest friends thought going out on my own was a bad idea. When it actually happened in September 2014, I was terrified. Nearly called it off. The thing was, I liked my old job, I really did, but the opportunity for long-term financial growth wasn’t there and it wasn’t responsible to stay another five or ten years when I could be making inroads somewhere else. Even now it’s not like I’m rolling in Scrooge McDuck money but I have laid the groundwork for something bigger and better with endless growth. That’s not risk; that’s common sense.

This is the part where I thought I would write a post with some tips or tricks for people thinking of become creative entrepreneurs, but the fact is that I’m the last person who should be dispensing advice. That said, if you are one of those folks that is still trying to figure out what to do with your life (aren’t we all?) this podcast struck me as crazy helpful at identifying what you love most, which weirdly enough has a lot to do with who you were at ten-years-old. When I was ten I spent all my free time on arts and crafts and redesigning my Barbie Dream House even though I had lost interest in Barbie dolls years before…now I get paid to make art and crafts and take pictures of stuff in my own little dream house. It is a dream. I highly recommend it.

So that is what I know. One year in, I am not where I thought I would be, but where I stand is pretty swell. One year in, I am glad I am here.

None of this would be possible without you guys. I know sometimes my other work slows down my blogging, but often it’s my blogging that spurs the other work, so you can be sure both will be here for a long time, chugging away like the little engine that could.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for following. Thank you for making this dream come true.

Easy Trick: Yarn Wrapped Bottles

by aunt peaches 1 Comment

Four-score and many moons ago I picked up a 1976 copy of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine Year of Crafts book that included an impressive-yet-simple project: A large wine jug wrapped in scraggly twine. It was charming and rustic. I spoke of olden times, a sailor’s voyage, and someone with terrible taste in cheap booze. But I digress…I instantly grabbed a bottle and followed the instructions: “Brush glue over bottle and wrap with twine. Easy!”

But you know what?

It was so not easy. The twine situation slipped and slid all over the wet glue and it was ugly and messy and when it dried there was a bunch of gaps because how were you supposed to see those gaps with all that wet glue and cheap wine? It was not cool my friend, not cool. But you know what?

I found a secret weapon! I secret that will change the history of twine wrapping crafts for a generation, only it’s not twine, it’s yarn, and our generation isn’t that crafty (side eye on you: Millenials). Want to know the secret weapon?

Thought so! Go and get it over on I Love to Create.com.

Silk Scarf Pumpkins

by aunt peaches 14 Comments

It’s the first day of September. You know what that means?

It’s pumpkin season. Heyo!

Michael’s asked me to decorate one of their foam pumpkins as part of their Michael’s Makers program and I was like, No problemo. Bring on the fall!

If you have followed the blog lately you know I got rid of a ton of scarves recently. Most of them are now at Goodwill but I snagged a few last minute thinking they would be great for this project. I have a long history of decoupaging pumpkins with paper, but fabric? That’s new. Turns out, silk scarves are ideal for this type of project. The end result is gloriously patterned and all kinds of festive. Want to make one?

Yeah. You do.

Materials

Foam pumpkin
Mod Podge (I like the gloss finish variety but it’s a matter of preference)
Silk scarf (see note on various kinds of scarves below)
Scissors
Old paint brush

Start by drizzling a generous amount of mod podge over the surface of the pumpkin, then brush it out. I like to let the mod lodge sit out a few minutes before adding the next layer. It seems to make things stickier. That might just be in my head, but I’m saying out loud and on the internet so it must be true.

Cut your scarf into smallish-squares. Mine here are around 4″, but you would want smaller for a smaller pumpkin, and larger for a larger pumpkin. No strict science here, just know that the more severe the curves, the narrower you will want the strips.

What kind of scarf? As thin and silk-like as possible. I started with project with three scarves but ended up only using one because the other two were too thick and did not lay flat, even when soaked with Mod Podge (that’s polyester for you). Also, natural fibers will absorb the glue much easier, so try to find that if you can. Lucky for all of us, thrift stores are usually pretty stacked with old silk scarves. Trust me.

Now brush your silk squares onto the pumpkin. cover completely, then let it dry over night.

After it dried, I decided to add a few sequins with Tacky Glue, but a more tasteful person would probably do without. The pursuit of tastefulness doesn’t really happen a lot around here though…

TaDa! That’s it. A patterned, funky, one-of-a-kind pumpkin ready to rock your socks off all the way through October!

Looking for more pumpkin decor ideas? Good news – here are 49 more!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Archives for September 2015