The fabulous ladies over at Crafterminds have thrown down the gauntlet and issued a trend challenge – how many crafty trends can you incorporate into one project? I was a little late getting this post up, because I had some camera issues. But, I just got a new memory card reader so I was able to save my pictures!

And so, without further ado, the trendiest craft I have every made!

I was able to incorporate twenty of the thirty-five trends that they listed! Can you spot them all?

Well, for starters, I made a bunting out of pennants in a red/grey/aqua color combo, and strung it up between two mason jars sitting on top of faux mercury glass candlesticks.

For the pennants, I alternated a few different trends, and tied alternating strips of ribbon and linen between them to add a little visual interest.

First up, these map page pennants with ruffled ribbon in a chevron pattern.

Then, I used book pages and made geometric shapes – quatrefoils to be exact – out of paint chips.

And finally, my favorite pennants are the ones I made out of burlap with various woodland creatures. We’ve got a grey owl, a red fox, and I “put a bird on it” in aqua. Each of these little guys are rocking a mustache and some antlers.

Whew! I think that covers everything! I have to say, this is one of the most fun crafts I’ve made in a while. Now go check out the rest of the trend crafts at Crafterminds!

I downloaded Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenrider, a few weeks ago, but only just now got around to reading it, and I can’t believe I waited so long! I finished it in one sitting, with a plethora of bookmarks to revisit later. This book put clearly articulated ideas and words to what I’ve been trying to do over the past few months, with a few minor differences. I want my life, and my home, to be be organized. To be simple. To be uncluttered. To be inviting.

I want to live beautifully.

I want every item in my home to provide a distinct function and/or to make me smile. I want to choose items for my home with intention. I want to be surrounded by beautiful things that I can really enjoy, without junk or clutter getting in the way.

I want to beautify the functional, and add style and whimsy to unexpected places.

I’ve been doing a good job of getting rid of the “stuff”, but I want to do more, and Tsh’s book is just the push and inspiration I needed. One thing I’ve noticed along the way is that the more “stuff” I get rid of, the more I want to get rid of.

One of the “tasks” in Organized Simplicity is to create a purpose statement, and I’ve got mine – to live beautifully.

Today is the linky for the Crafterminds Trend Challenge, and I made a kick ass, uber-trendy craft (if I do say so myself). So where is that delicious and creative endeavor? Good question.

It all started on Sunday. I had finished my project, and took advantage of the few minutes of natural light to snap some pictures. I was so proud of myself for finally being ahead of the curve and not waiting until the last minute.

Flash forward to last night, when I had once again waited until the last minute to get the pictures off my camera and edit them and write my post.

This is where I should probably add that I’ve been shooting with a six year old Kodak point and shoot. It’s alright, I guess, and it kind of gets the job done. But last night, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a Canon EOS Rebel T2i.

I think my Kodak must have known that it would be history in 3-5 business days, because it died a horrible death. I have no idea what’s wrong with it, other than it died and took my pictures with it. I suppose it wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.

So the point of this story is that I have no crafty post for today (boo), but by next week I’ll have a shiny new camera (woo hoo).

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have, the facts of life. (I dare you not to have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. You’re welcome.)

There are so many great women bloggers, but there’s one group that tends to get overlooked. The “non-moms”. There are tons of lists out there for every kind of mom blogger, but there aren’t many for women who aren’t moms. Well, today I want to highlight some of my favorite women bloggers who aren’t moms.

I love reading about Erin and Rick’s journey to remodel and decorate their new house. They’re always sharing creative and fun home decorating projects, with a heap of humor thrown in for good measure. Plus, like me, Erin sprinkles in plenty of pet photos along with her posts, and she’s one of those people who is just so nice – warm and friendly and you just want to sit down and have coffee with her.

Emily’s blog is great – she’s my go to for mouth-watering recipes. But you have got to follow her on Twitter. I swear, sometimes I see Emily’s tweets and think, “I don’t remember tweeting that”. Then I realize it wasn’t actually me, it was Emily. It’s kind of surreal and kind of amazing to find someone on the other side of the country who is so much like me. Or at least, so much like who I want to be.

Amy is the brains behind the famous Mod Podge Rocks. Not only is she brilliantly creative, but she also curates some of the best craft projects using Mod Podge from around the web. I love all things Mod Podge, and I always get great inspiration from Amy. Plus, she has a Pomeranian, so you know she’s good people.

June, what can I say about June? She is hilarious. I wouldn’t recommend reading her blog at work or in any kind of public place, because people will wonder why you’re cackling to yourself. I can’t even describe her blog, except to say that it’s very funny. Also, June has hilarious pets who are always up to wild antics. I love those crazy animals.

I adore Jen, because she and I have a very similar sense of humor. Plus, she has an awesome collection of magazines from the 50′s and 60′s, and I love her commentary on all of her vintage finds. She’s another one you need to follow on Twitter, because it’s hilarious to read her tweets while she’s watching trashy television.

Kimberly is a relatively new bloggy find for me, and I’m so glad I did find her! She’s got great tips and tricks for improving your blog, connecting with readers and other bloggers, and being all-around awesome. Plus, if you sign up for her email newsletter you’ll get a kick ass free ebook full of blogging resources – some I already knew about, and some that were new to me.

So there you have it, some of my favorite “non-mom” bloggers. Go check them out!

I’ve never participated in Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop, but this week one of the writing prompts really stuck with me.

Ten years ago at this time, I was a junior in high school. I was very active in my school – I had a great group of friends, amazing teachers, lots of clubs and activities, and a staring role in our upcoming production of Steel Magnolias.

And I wanted to drop out.

Why? Well, in addition to all of that great stuff, I was also enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program, as were all of my friends. I have nothing against the program – I think it’s great for a lot of people. My friends all finished successfully, and went on to do great things.

But it wasn’t right for me. I’m a perfectionist, and if I can’t be perfect, I get incredibly stressed. There is no way to be perfect in IB, and I couldn’t handle that. It was all just too much.

At the time, my mother was homeschooling my younger brothers. I had figured out that if I dropped out of IB and my traditional high school in favor of homeschooling, I could finish my diploma by the end of my junior year.

This was certainly not an easy decision to make, and I didn’t have a lot of support. All of my friends and most of my teachers tried to talk me out of it – to tell me that I was just having a bad week and I could finish the program. But I knew it was more than that.

I was so lucky to have three wonderful women in my corner, my mother, my principal, and my drama teacher. While everyone else was telling me that I would fail, that I would regret my choice, they told me that I knew what was right for me.

I will never forget what my “adviser” told me when I sat down in her office to talk about leaving. She said that if I dropped out of IB, I would never get into college, would never be able to get a job, and I would be lucky to end up working at a gas station. To this day I fantasize about going back to my old high school and telling her off.

Leaving IB was the right choice for me. I finished high school at the end of that year and went straight to college, getting my bachelor’s degree when I was twenty. After a few years “off” from school, I’m happily working on my Master’s now, with plans for a PhD. I have the best job in the world, a great apartment, and I’m very happy with the way my life has turned out. What was the hardest decision I had ever made turned out to be one of the best.

All in all, I think I turned out pretty well for a high school dropout.

I am terrible at being sick. Really, I am. First, I flat out refuse to admit that I’m sick – to myself or anyone else. I’ll walk around in a fog, insisting that “I’m fine”. No, no really, I always sound like this, and that hacking cough is nothing. I’m sure it will go away on its own. After a few days, when it doesn’t, I’ll cave and admit that, fine, I’m sick.

Then I get mad. I hate feeling like I can’t get everything done. I sit on the couch, looking around at all of my unfinished projects, and just getting madder and madder that I don’t have the energy to finish any of them. I’ll try to sit at the computer and get some work done, but then I get frustrated when I can’t hold my head up for long enough to finish something, or when my eyes get all crossed and fuzzy trying to focus.

Once I accept that I won’t be able to get any work done, I start a pity party for myself. I sit on the couch and pout, maybe even have a good cry. I hate feeling unproductive, and I hate not being able to get things done.

After a while, I get bored with my own pity party, and go take a nap. I wake up a few hours later feeling marginally better, and the whole cycle begins again.

It’s exhausting.

I hate being sick.

Last night I either had a brilliant idea or a stupid idea, I’ll let you be the judge. I was thinking about how I use my space, and how to get the most out of my (small) space. I realized that, for better or worse, I don’t use my living room as a living room, I use it as a home office. And I use my dining room as a craft space. It occurred to me that I may be able to better utilize my space if I turn my living room into a home office.

Here’s how my apartment looks now.

This is the living room. I use the coffee table as a desk – complete with two laptops. I sit on the tan couch, and the cushion next to me usually becomes a space to hold papers. And yes, I realize that I still have my ornaments on the window. I keep forgetting to take them down, okay?

This is the dining room. Yes, I’m in the middle of a project. And I’m sorry to crush all of your dreams, but my dining room rarely looks like the pictures I show you. Yes, sometimes it’s decorated beautifully for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or winter, but it really only looks like that for a day or two.

And this is the space that you see when you first walk into the apartment. I’ve got my desk against the wall, and a lot of empty space in front of it. The dining room is on the left, and the living room is on the right.

I’m thinking about moving the tan couch and coffee table into the dining room to turn it into a small seating area. Then I’d move the desk and dining room table into the space where the tan couch used to be, and put my two spray painted chairs on the wall where the desk used to be to make another seating area.

I always see great pictures of desks in small spaces, but they’re always facing the wall. Let’s be real, I don’t want to face the wall. I want to face the TV.

I love how The Nester has a big table in her living room. I would love to have a space like this.

I also love these hidden bookshelves from Thrifty and Chic. I think they’re a great way to bring functionality without making it look too “office-y”.

The only reservation I have about going this route is that the set-up I have now is great for entertaining. But really, I only entertain about six times a year, and I could always shuffle things around before company comes to make it work better.

So, what do you think? Am I crazy or brilliant? (It’s okay to say both.)