One Day at a Time...

Nana's Brag Book

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 23 May 2014 00:20:00 +0000

Things have been pretty quiet around this ol' blog for awhile. There's a good reason for that...wait, no not really. I've been working on projects like crazy, planning new ones (my first a quilt perhaps?!) and getting school wrapped up. Oh, and work. I just haven't been on here to talk about it all.

But to start off the projects I've been working on, I have a fun mini scrapbook album I made for my mom for her birthday, which was yesterday. She loved it and so now that she's seen it, I can talk about it! Whooo! You know you are excited! Right? Right!

So I thought it would be fun for Mom to have a mini album of her grandkids. I tried to get Erin to send me an ultrasound of her little girl to include, but that didn't happen. So Erin--it's your fault she's not included. :)

So there's the album! I thought it turned out pretty cute--but it helped I started with really adorable subjects.

Coming soon...more projects I've worked on! Including one that has been super top secret that no one knows about--except all the people I told about it. ha.

30 Things I've Learned Before I was 30

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 13 May 2014 00:47:00 +0000

I'm turning 30 soon. [shudder] I'm not entirely excited at this prospect, but considering that it is such a landmark birthday, I thought I would record some things I've learned in the past 30 years. Ugh. I'm feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of being 30 right now.

Anyway. Moving on. 30 things, in no particular order except the first three. Here we go.

1. I am a daughter of God.

2. He loves me and I love him. (Oh, hello there Young Women's theme!)

3. My family loves me, despite my many imperfections, and I love them.

4. I am truly am grateful for those that have sacrificed their time, freedom, and life to protect mine. I have a great respect for those that serve in the military.

5. It is more important to be kind and loving than to be right, or prove that you're right.

6. Sometimes people just won't listen. Nothing you say will change their thoughts or behavior. It's best to just move on.

7. There are some people that act like cancer in life, slowly eating away at happiness and goodness. They need to be cut out. I don't have to interact with them. I don't have to allow them in my life.

8. Prayers are answered. Always.

9. Good books are like food for my soul.

10. I need to be able to create. If I can't, I tend to shut down, unable to function at my best. When I do, I feel like I can breathe again.

11. I love teaching people. Especially if it is Gospel related.

12. I am so much more productive when I have too much to do. I don't do well when I am not busy.

13. Kindness matters. Be kind to everyone--no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they act. I think kindness is WAY underrated and I certainly am not perfect at this, but I do try to be kind. I love the quote, "Always be kinder than you feel." I don't usually feel kind--especially when dealing with difficult people (something that happens daily), but I try to be kind. Patience also goes along with this. It's hard, but I'm trying.

14. I like to grow and stretch myself. If I don't then I feel like I'm sliding backwards--and I don't want to do that.

15. Memories are worth the expense. I've never regretted the trips I've gone on, the memories I've made, and the friends and family I've gotten closer to as I've visited them. The philosophy of my grandparents rings true to my heart: Memories are better than things. They usually would "give memories" as gifts, instead of things. They would give money to our family so that we could have trips, adventures, and one time, a dream vacation to Disneyland. Totally magical. I love this idea. It's fun and it builds relationships. Win-Win. :)

16. Life rarely turns out they way you think it will. I thought I would get married in my 20s. Nope. I thought I would have kids. Nope. I thought I would work in bio-medical research. Nope. I didn't think that I would like law. Nope--meaning I do like it. More than I thought I would--but certainly not enough to go to law school. I thought I wouldn't have my own business. Nope--I do have my own business now. Crazy! And awesome.

17. The Lord's timing is everything. For me this has meant patience. And I have decided that if my life had gone according to my plans (see #16)--I would have probably royally screwed it up. There is purpose in the Lord's timing. No idea what that is yet for me. But I have faith that there is and someday I'll understand. And I'm okay with that. :)

18. Sometimes you just have to do something--anything with your life. If it's the wrong thing--you'll know.

19. Family is most important.

20. Friends are right there with family. I love the saying, "Friends are the family you choose." So true. My friends are my family too.

21. Sometimes the smallest moments create the biggest life lessons.

22. Awkward compliments are the best kind. They may be really weird, but you know they are coming from a sincere place in the person's heart.

23. There is always something to smile about. Usually in my life it's this:

24. The greatest feeling in the world is knowing that a 2 year old misses you.

25. Preserving memories and photos are super important to me. Thus my love of scrapbooking. :)

26. Integrity really does matter.

27. Hard work makes up for a lot of weaknesses.

28. My family history is incredibly important to me. They laid the foundation for the wonderful life I have.

29. Learning new things is important. Whether it's formally through school, or googling something you don't know (I do this a lot) it doesn't matter--I just love learning about things.

30. Laughter really is the best medicine. Especially when it's because of adorable toddlers.

Big News

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:58:00 +0000

Friends. Guess. What. As of this morning I'm officially a business owner!

Yay me!

If you had asked me even a year ago if this would happen, I probably would have laughed at you. I am not an entureprenuer. This is not something I had always dreamed of doing.

It just kind of happened. It feels right so I'm going for it.

I'm pretty darn excited.

I own my own business.

That is so wierd. And so awesome.

I feel like I just got inducted into some club or something.

So feel free to check me out and like my facebook page. Or my etsy shop. Products coming soon! I got some fun plans.

Oh, and hey. Guess what?!

I own my own business.

I Collect 4th Cousins

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 01:42:00 +0000

Last night I was sitting in the temple thinking about my family. All of my family. The generations that have come before me and the meaning their lives give mine.

I have been very, very blessed.

One (or three) of the blessings is that I know three 4th cousins and their families. Well, okay, one of them, I've only "met" via email--he lives in Australia. Awesome! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I mean, who the heck knows their 4th cousins, besides me (and my family)?! Does that happen to normal people? Um. I didn't think so.

But I do. And I love it. And every time I have "discovered" one, it has been in the most random way.

Here, I'll explain.
__

Example 1: The first time.

Scene: 2003, age 19, Rexburg, Idaho.

About 1 month into my Sophomore year at BYU-Idaho. I was living with awesome roommates in a new apartment in the dorms. My new roommate's name was (is) Nicole (hi coley!!). We hit it off immediately and had a great time together.

One night she came bursting into our apartment with exciting news.

"Ohmygosh!ItotallyjustsawElderEyringintheMC!" (Because to Mormons, seeing General Authorities, especially the First Presidency or a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, is like totally a "celebrity" sighting--but not really because we're much too respectful of them.) Anywhoo. We all conversed excitedly that she had just seen him and--oh my gosh--walked past him. [Deep breath.]

As we chatted, I happened to mention that my grandparents had known him WAY-back-when in the military and he liked stale marshmallows, according to my Nana. Somehow in relating the trivia, I mentioned my grandparents' last name of Bryson. Nicole dramatically gasped (okay, not really). "My grandparents' last name is Bryson!"

What?! All of us freaked out at the coincidence.

So naturally we HAD to find out how we were related. Turns out we are. I pulled out my giant pedigree chart (because that's how I roll) and she called her grandma. After some chatting, we are both descendants of Samuel Bryson, Sr. and Sarah Ann Conrey--our third great-grandparents.

The really sweet thing was that my family knew, and I was able to share, some family stories, particularly about Sam's mom, Margaret, that Nicole's family didn't know. That year, I spent Thanksgiving with Nicole and her family--well, my family. It has been wonderful to build those relationships. Nicole and I still stay in touch and last August we were able to visit and do a session at the Salt Lake Temple together--so wonderful!
__

Example 2: The second time.

Scene: 2012--driving back from San Francisco/Oakland, from my former roommate's wedding.

We (there were 4 of us in the car) had carpooled to the wedding and were driving home. I can't remember why it came it came up, but Tyson mentioned that his third great-grandfather was Francis de. St. Jeor.

I just about caused a car accident in my shock. Francis de St. Jeor is MY third great-grandfather!! OH MY GOSH. AGAIN?! What are the odds?!

"Dude, Francis de. St. Jeor is MY third great-grandfather, too," I calmly said. "TYSON--WE'RE 4th COUSINS--and all these years we didn't even know it!"

See, Tyson and I had been friends, and in the same singles ward, for several years by this point, and his aunt and uncle were are in my home ward and friends with my family.

(Later, my mom said she had already told me that they were actually our cousins, but I don't remember that.)

So that was pretty exciting.

And I just realized---Tyson's sister married a Sessions. These particular Sessions' she married into are my 2nd Cousins-once removed or something on my Bryson side. Another de St. Jeor married another Bryson--within the same stake I grew up.

Oh, that's weird. This is a small, small world people.
__

Okay. Third Example.

I have an account on Ancestry.com and about 2 years ago, I received any email from someone looking for information on McGraths. Well, as I happen to be one, they were hoping I would be able to clarify a few things. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to--I was really confused and had conflicting information about the people he was trying to research. Not helpful.

Then about 3-4 months ago, Graeme contacted me again to let me know he had found the right information and wanted to help me fix my records. So generous! Multiple emails later (as he lives in Australia), we figured out how we are related--and what the problem was in my family's records.

You guessed it, the ancestor we have in common is our fourth Great-grandparents--Peter and Anastasia McGrath. Because of some weird generation things, we're actually 4th cousins.

Through Graeme's generous sharing of information, I was able to add over 90 names to my pedigree chart and answer some really important questions (like someone who I thought was husband and wife was actually mother and son--kind of a big problem). INCREDIBLE!

This is also an example of patience and answering of prayers. I had been searching for this information for many years.
__

One of the interesting things I realized last night as I was pondering each of these experiences is that each of one them is from a line from each grandparent. The only grandparent that is missing is my paternal grandmother's line. Her maiden name is Peck--so if you are reading this (or know someone who is a Peck), based on the above, I'm going to guess we're 4th cousins. My third great-grandparents on that line are Joshua Peck and Nancy Andrus. Let me know!!

Moral of the story? It "pays" to know your family history. You'll never know where (or when) you'll find a distant cousin! And maybe you'll have answers for them, or they'll have answers for you!

Family History work is soooo totally awesome. :) Do it. You won't regret it!

Growth Chart

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 01:45:00 +0000

I had Caitlin and her family for Christmas a few weeks ago. I made them a Growth Chart as their family gift.

I found several tutorials via pinterest. Then I did what I usually do. Look at the picture and made up my own way to do it. :)

First thing I did was go to Home Depot and found pre-sanded wood. Conveniently they are sold by the foot. I decided that since Nick's family is tall, they needed a tall one. I bought a board that was 6'1". And then when it was hung 6 inches from the floor and it would be 6'7" total. Perfect!

I was going to paint the board, but Nick is a wood purist and painted wood offends him. :) So I stained it with Minwax PolyShades in American Chestnut Satin. I've never really stained anything before, so I thought this would be a good practice project.

Who knew that gloves would have been a good idea...or that water doesn't wash stain off things...like a porcelain sink and that my hands would turn super sticky when I tried to wash the paintbrush with water (thus the stain in the sink). Probably everyone. But in my defense...nowhere on the can did it say that it was oil based stain, or that gloves would have been a good idea.

Thankfully Nick is an expert in staining, so when I realized the problem, I called him and he suggested nail polish remover. Thankfully I had some and dumped it everywhere. It worked pretty well. Eventually my hands returned to their normal color and non-stickiness. :)

So I started with a pretty piece of poplar and began staining.

I did two layers of stain. For the tick marks and numbers, I cut them out with my cameo out of white textured cardstock. The numbers are inked in silver ink to give them a bit more character. They are then modpodged on and then sealed with another layer of mod podge. Vinyl is a perfectly acceptable option, and one I considered (would have been faster and eaiser), but I was afraid of little fingers picking and peeling off the vinyl . So paper and glue it is!

All done!

Here it is hanging up in their house, tucked in nicely behind the front door. And complete with measurements of the kids. :) On Rachel's 2nd Birthday, she measured 2'11"--she really tall!

Thanks for reading!

Bedroom Makeover: My Crafty Corner

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 23:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite parts of moving to the master bedroom has been that I have more space for a crafty corner. YAY!

I decided that I was going to take the opportunity to go through my stuff, purge, and organize everything. Most of it is scrapbook supplies and those really needed to be wrangled in. I had a couple of large boxes I picked up at IKEA that I really liked and so I decided to get more so everything matched.

I spent a whole afternoon one Saturday organizing and filling the boxes. It is so nice to have a specific place to put everything. Hopefully this will help me keep my desk a little more clutter free. Um, maybe. :) (update: Yes it has! It's AH-MAZING!)

I decided to use one of my bookcases to store the boxes and my scrapbook paper. Remember my epic fail with them? Yeah. So fabric for this bookcase too. Pretty! I just wish I could see more of it!

Everything looks so tidy boxed up!

Right now I have 10 boxes: 2 Embellishment boxes, and then 1 for each of the following: Alphabets, Tools, Hardware, Adhesives, Stamps, Powders and Glitter, Sewing, and Inks & Sprays. They fit perfectly on the bookcase.

Each box is pretty organized. For my glitter glue, I glued together some plumbing round things (that's the technical term) and they hold the glitter glue upside down.

For my inks, I decided to put the blending pads velcroed to the lid of the box. It makes it easier to find the right color. All my inks and sprays fit nicely in the box. Yay!

Then I took on the task of organizing my paper. I actually don't have that much paper, but there's still enough that it took awhile. My paper was already fairly organized, but I didn't like the system since I just wasn't using the paper as much as I should. It was just easier to buy new paper. Which, as fun as that is, just is me spending more money. I needed to really go through my paper and donate what I don't want, or won't use, and start over again.

I really wanted these fancy paper holders, but at $8 for one, it was out of my budget. Then, I read on a scrapbook forum (I'm such a nerd), someone had used the free priority mail boxes from the post office to make their own. GENIUS!

So I ordered some boxes (it came in a package of 10--and hello free shipping!) that were the size I was looking for and then cut them into the shape I wanted. After lots of white spray paint to cover up the priority mail markings, I attached some fun label pulls that I had spray painted silver. I wanted them to match the white boxes so I picked up some adhesive silver foil and put it along the edges. This also helped the paper not to catch as much. So for about $20 (spray paint, label pulls, and foil) I made 8 magazine holders--vs. $64. I win. I could have made 10, but right now I only need 8.

Pretty awesome, right?!

The answer is yes. :)

So I organized my paper and it is lovely now. The scraps are in the ziplock bags that I used for the paper before and go in the box with the rest of that color.

I needed more light in the corner, so I hung up my paper lantern with a light in it. It made a big difference. I wanted to spice up the lantern a bit and found a pretty inspiration picture on pinterest and started cutting away on my cameo.

I really like how it turned out.

I finally was able to put up this pretty organizer that I bought on clearance at Michaels months ago...way before I knew I was moving. Normally it's over a $100, but it was on sale for $20. I knew that someday, somewhere, I would find a place for it, so I snagged it and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. I love having it up and excited fill it with pretty things. :)

I was able to squeeze my ribbon holder in the corner. It was exactly the right size. Above it I put my bulletin board. Eventually I do want a new, bigger table. But that will happen in time.

So that's my crafty corner. I now feel like I have a studio area in my bedroom, instead of a bed in my studio. haha. It's nice to feel like I can breath in my room. :)

2014 Bucket List

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:47:00 +0000

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2014 is going to be a good year. I can tell. Even though it's starting off with me having a slight cold and sore throat--it's going to be great. :)

Last year I created a bucket list instead of doing resolutions. I did pretty well and so want to do it again.

Let's see what I'm going to do this year...

1. Read at least 60 books.

2. Pay off my car.

3. Make two new stockings (for Erin’s baby and Monica’s baby!).

4. Go to Idaho to visit my family.

5. Go to Washington DC/ New York City

6. In conjunction with the above trip…visit the DC and Manhattan Temples

7. Go to three new states

8. Go to the Oakland Temple

9. Finish Paralegal Associates degree (MAY--YAY!!) (haha)

10. Spend time each week with my family

11. Make a headboard for my bed.

12. Get a power tool and use it on a project (didn’t get to do this last year)—Maybe for the headboard?

13. Sew a bed skirt.

14. Switch over to the family ward (Sunday will be my first one in the new ward!)

15. Keeping going to the temple at least 3 times a month

16. Get my sewing machine worked on.

17. Finish Cait’s wedding scrapbook

18. Finish my Chicago scrapbook

19. Apply for a design team

20. Finish little projects from bedroom make over.

21. Get bookcases and organize books.

22. Create an inventory of my books.

23. Paint my dresser

24. Take a fun art class this summer. Oil Painting? I’ve always wanted to learn how to use that medium.

25. Visit two local museums.

That is all I can think of for the moment. Can't wait to find out what this year has in store!

Resolutions Recap Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:16:00 +0000

Yesterday I began recapping my bucket list for this year. Let's see how I did with the rest of the list:

17. Learn a new skill
           I learned to sew! And I learned several different types of skills within the realm of sewing (basting stitch, french seam, ruffling, etc.). It's been fun and pretty easy. And I can't believe that I've struggled with it my whole life. Maybe on my 2014 list, I should make some clothes...because that really makes me nervous. I did get some cute patterns that I want to try...
18. Make my stocking
            This didn't happen. Bummer. I started it, but then I stopped because I was busy with so much other stuff this year. Oh well. Maybe next year!
19. Make stocking for my new ~~niece/~~nephew!
          THOMAS! YAY! He got a stocking!! This came down to the wire, but I did it. And now he has stocking to go with the rest of his family! Yay!
20. Fix my sewing machine
           The original problem was solved by Caitlin (we won't talk about how simple it was to fix...) but now the timing is off so I really need to have it serviced. Maybe this next year? Hopefully?!
21. Get new bed linens
          Working on it still. Why do the nice ones have to be sooo expensive?! Sheesh.
22. Sew a duvet cover
           Heck yes I did this!! As you well know. Bam baby.

Isn't it beautiful?! It took me months, but it was so worth it.
23. Take an online craft class
           Well, it wasn't a "craft" class necessarily, but it was a "organizing your craft stuff" 27-week class--which was necessary for me so I could get a handle on my goodies. I did it and now everything is beautiful and organize! Yay me! (See the white boxes in the above picture...yep. That was the result. :) )
24. Take myself on a date once a month
           This didn't happen as much as I would have liked. But I did make time to do stuff I enjoy...even if it was just 20 minutes window shopping at a craft or thrift store.
25. Visit a local museum
           Bummed this didn't happen. I should try to do this next year.
26. Organize my books
            Nope. I wish....I still need two more bookcases...
27. Catalog my books
           Didn't get to this either. Time. I need more time!
28. Write more
           I did! But I didn't finish anything. But I did write...so that is a start.
29. Work on my Grandpa's Autobiography
          Yay! Another thing I did...well not really. I pretty much handed this over to Caitlin. My schedule has been so tight this year, and she had access to tools I didn't, and more free time, so she pretty much did it all...but it's so close to being done! Next year is the year it will be done.
30. Upholster my bedroom chair
          I decided that I didn't want to upholster the chair. I like the solid wood, but I did make a cushion so its more comfy...so that counts, right?
31. Build an ottoman
          My new roommates have plenty of furniture so I ended up not needing to make one...but when I do have my own place, or they move, I will make one. Just not this year.
32. Buy a power tool and use it on a project
          Does a staple gun count? Because if it does, then I did! Yay! But if not, maybe next year.
33. Take an art class
          I was so busy with my program's classes, that I didn't have a chance to take one. Maybe next summer?
34. Teach a class
          Well, at church I got called to be the Family History Class Teacher, so since this is my list, I'm going to count that. :)
35. Take 5 family names to the Temple
          Heck yes, I did this! Over 50 names! Bam! I was really lucky, blessed to get in touch with a 4th cousin from Australia that I don't know that had a whole family with 9 kids and several generations that my family didn't have. Glory! And I got the names ready and took them to the temple. My ward did the baptisms/confirmations and then I farmed the rest of the ordinances to that side of the family to help. It was an incredible experience. :)

So that my friends, is how I did on my goals. Considering my hectic schedule, I think I did pretty darn good. :)

And I really liked doing the whole bucket list thing and then recapping it. I think I'll do it again.

Let's see what 2014 brings!

Resolutions Recap Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 01:48:00 +0000

At the beginning of this year, I created a Bucket List of things I wanted to do this year. So at the end of 2013, I want to recap what I did (or didn't do) to fulfil each of these.

1. Read 50 books.
        I did it! I even upped my goal to 60 because I was doing so well! I ended this year with 65 books.
2. At least half of the books I read need to be new ones I have not yet read.
        Totally got this. :) Probably 75% of them were new. Yay!
3. Read at least 2 non-fiction books.
        Well, I did read lots of non-fiction paralegal books, does that count? No? Well then yeah, this didn't happen.
4. Travel somewhere new
        Unfortunately not. I did get to go to Chicago a couple of weeks go, fairly unexpectedly and was a total blast, but I didn't get to go to Washington D.C. / New York City like I wanted to. Bummer. Hopefully in the fall I can?
5. Go to three new states (Currently I've been to 21!)
         This goal was in connection with my D.C. trip--so hopefully in 2014.
6. Go to the temple every month
          Yes I did! I'm pretty sure I averaged 3 times a month, maybe 3.5. I really was trying to go every week, but sometimes that just didn't happen. I'm pretty sure that because this was a priority and I built my schedule around it, it was the only reason I survived school this year!

7. Finish Cait's Wedding Scrapbook
          I worked on it! Which is better than last year. So there's something...
8. Finish my Chicago Scrapbook
          It's over half-done so I did work on it quite a lot, just not in the second half of the year. So....yeah. Moving bedrooms and trying to get that set up so I can scrapbook took me a lot longer than I thought it would. That happens when you have grand-ish plans and little funds. Hopefully with school winding down next year, I'll have more time to spend on things like this.
9. Go back to school for Paralegal Certificate
          I did! Eep! And I did better than I thought I would. As I've discussed before, I even survived going to school and working full-time this past semester. And I found out that because I already have a Bachelor's, I automatically qualify for the Associates in Paralegal Studies. So that is exciting. By May I'll have another Associates degree. Yay.
10. Spend time with my family each week
          This one was really important to me and thankfully Cait gets bored so she lets me come visit her and hang out at her house. And she feeds me and helps me with my projects--which we don't usually work on, but still. It's pretty awesome.
11. Teach Rachel to say my name
          She totally can! Though usually it sounds more like "bacon" than "Megan." Not sure if that is a good thing or not yet. :) But she is adorable and gets so excited when I open the door. Good news is that Rachel knows all her body parts. That is a hilarious game to play. She even throws in some body parts that Cait didn't teach her. hahaha. And if you ask her what the fox says, she busts into song and start dancing. Its totally hilarious. Her favorites are that one, wheels on the bus and ring around the rosie, but usually she forgets the "sh" sound in the "ashes ashes" part. hehehe.
12. Create some kind of art wall hanging
          I had plans for one, but I ran out of time. Boo.
13. Apply for another design team
           I seriously considered applying to two different teams (of companies that I really love), but after reviewing their requirements if you made the team, I realized that I just wouldn't have the time to put into it. It was super sad. Hopefully this next year I can do one.
14. Get two new tires
           Yes and I got a incredible deal! The guys were so nice and found me gently used tires to replace the scary ones on my car for only $50 for two! Awesome!
15. Replace the brakes on my car.
           Thankfully I have an awesome brother-in-law that lives conveniently close-by that was kind enough, somewhat willingly to do this for me. :)
16. Go to at least two new temples.
           Salt Lake (beautiful and so ornate!!) and Chicago. Both awesome experiences with incredible friends.

Items 17-35 up tomorrow

Rachel's 2013 ABC's Book

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 16:25:00 +0000

I had Caitlin and her family for Christmas (we're poor so we do name exchanges). Yay! That means presents for the bay-bays!

Funds were a bit scarce this year (ya know, with the unexpected surprise trip to Chicago! Ahh! So fun! :) ) and so I had to get a bit creative with what to give my sister and her family. Rachel probably won't remember this Christmas, so I knew it didn't have to be very fancy and I know that Caitlin is working with Rachel to help her learn (the kid already knows her body parts--including ones that no one taught her!) and since Rachel is turning 2, I thought I would make her a little ABC book to re-count her 2nd year of life. Almost like a scrapbook mini-album.

I found the perfect sized board book at a thrift store for $1.49--along with two others of same type, which I also got her. The books are "I Spy" books (which I love!) and I just took the one that I liked the least and recovered the pictures. There were exactly enough pages to do an ABC book.

So using a photoediting program, I edited pictures of Rachel and her family and put words on them for each letter. Then I measured the book so I knew what size to print the pictures, sized the pictures, printed, and then adhered them to the book using my trusty ATG tape gun. And because Rachel is 2 and has a drooly little brother (he's teething), I covered the pages with clear contact paper. And it was finished.

Here are the pictures I used.

(Note: when I put the collages together, the edges got cut off. They aren't in the actual book. And yes...I did stretch a couple of the letters. There are not that many words--as in none--in a 2-year old's world that start with X, okay?)

And here is a picture of the final book.

I thought it turned out really cute. Very easy, and pretty quick. Deciding on pictures and words to go with the letters was definitely the hardest part.

Merry Christmas to Rachel!

Surprise Trip to Chicago aka The Time I Turned into a Creepy Stalker

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 01:48:00 +0000

So in the crazy rush of finals, I forgot to talk about my latest adventure!

I went on a quick weekend trip to Chicago earlier this month!

This all started one Sunday morning in mid-October when I had this really weird dream about some of my roommates in college randomly showing up in San Francisco, without telling me and I ran into them there. And there was something about a bus driving on the sand and not getting stuck until someone asked how we were able to drive on the sand. Anyway, I digress...

So one of the roommates was Lisa (and Nicole--who I had seen in August when we went to Utah and I got to go to the Salt Lake City temple with her and do a session...so super cool...and again I digress...)--one of my roommates both our junior and senior years. It was epic. Anyway Lisa and her family live just outside of Chicago and about a year and half ago, I went and spent just over a week with them. It was super fun!

I've missed them since then. So when I had this dream, I woke up with the certain knowledge that I need to go visit them asap.

Then a plan, a deviously awesome, secret plan began to unfold in my mind. Lisa was going to turn 30 on December 2nd. What if I surprised her for her 30th birthday?! [Insert maniacal laughter here.] I immediately texted Adam, her husband, and asked what he thought. He got so excited. So after several days of checking ticket prices and stressing and getting disappointed when I thought it wasn't going to happen, I found the ticket.

A direct flight from San Francisco into Chicago-O'Hare. YES! Interestingly when I looked up this flight, it was cheaper to have a layover in Chicago and then continue on to Milwaukee. Well that's silly, so I just decided to skip the Milwaukee portion. Which ended up being a really good thing because the return flight from Milwaukee to Chicago ended up being cancelled on Sunday. So glad I didn't have to deal with that.

So the ticket for the weekend after Lisa's birthday (which was also the weekend of her party) was only $226! That's almost half what my ticket last time was. Yippee! So I quickly texted Adam to make sure the dates and times worked (someone needed to pick me up!) and then nothing. I didn't hear back! After a frantic hour of waiting for a response, I said a prayer that it would work out and bought the ticket.

Turns out Adam was tied up in a meeting, but called when we were both off work and said the times were perfect.

Can I just say how hard it was not to spill the beans?! I thought it would be easy since Lisa and I don't chat all the time, but suddenly she was messaging me on facebook and commenting on things and emailing me, etc. It was like she subconsciously knew or something. There was one particular day it was really hard because Adam and I were texting making plans, and then Lisa started emailing me the same day and I was having conversations with both of them. It almost drove me crazy. It was quite hilarious.

So that Wednesday after work, and school, I made a somewhat mad-dash to San Francisco (super confusing to find the long-term parking!) to make my red-eye out flight, landing in Chicago about 6:00am. Perfect. Adam picked me up and then we headed back to their house to wake Lisa up and surprise her.

It was totally awesome.

6:30 in the morning, we both walked into their bedroom and Adam woke her up. Here's the conversation:

Adam: Lisa, honey, wake up. I have a surprise for you.
Lisa: Nothing. She sleeps like the dead. And is totally not a morning person. Mwahaha.
Adam: Lisa, wake up there someone here to see you.
Lisa: Wha?! Who? [she was so confused]
Me: Nothing. I was just standing in the doorway.
Adam: Its someone special all the way from California.
Lisa: a couple of seconds go by of her looking at Adam confused.
Me: Hi Lisa.
Lisa: She whips her head around. "Megan?" and attempts to fly out of bed and gets tangled in the blankets. It was hilarious. She was so confused and mostly still asleep.

We hugged and she just stared at me.

Lisa: You're here. In my bedroom.
Me: Yep. Surprise! Happy Birthday!

Another hug.

Lisa: You're really here!
Me: Yes I am.

Another hug

Lisa: When did you get here?
Me: About half an hour ago.
Lisa: I can't believe it! You're here in my house. Oh! You haven't seen our new house. I need to give you a tour. This is our bedroom.
Me: It's nice and big.
Adam: Happy Birthday, Lisa. I'm going back to bed so you guys go downstairs to talk, okay?

We laughed and went downstairs. And talked as fast as we could for about an hour and half catching up on everything under the sun and then both fell asleep till Lisa's two kids woke up. It was pretty fantastic.

The rest of the weekend was spent with Lisa and her family and their friends. Lisa's party was really fun. Adam themed it as a "Death to Lisa's 20's" and everyone wore black and gave eulogies. I then realized that Lisa and I have known each other since we were 19 so I had known her all of her 20's! 10 years we've been friends. It's crazy!

Thursday and Friday nights we had "game" nights with their friends, the Sessions and Atchinsons. Love those people. They are super fun and so nice. Thursday night, during the conversation about how Lisa and I knew each other, we realized that we knew way too much about each other. And at one point I realized that I was pretty much a stalker because I knew so much about her AND showed up in her bedroom in the "middle" of the night. Yeah....creepy. And freakin' hilarious! :)

The weekend was totally casual and we never made into the city. We planned to, but Saturday kind of got away from us and so we didn't make it. But it was okay. Lisa and I went to breakfast at this little restaurant we went to before (Wildberry--soooo good!) and then went to the Chicago Temple. We didn't have time for a whole session so we just did some other stuff. It was really fun to hang out with her there and have a really great discussion--and I got to see another temple. We both needed that. Later the three of us went to a really awesome hole-in-the-wall Chinese place. Their group of friends have a babysitter swap each week (genius!) so the kids were left with some of their friends.

The days were long and involved lots of playing with the kids, reading, relaxing, eating, and talking. There was little sleep and it was awesome--exactly what I had anticipated. I hardly even took pictures because it just felt so normal. It was perfect. Lisa and Adam even tried to convince me to move in with them--"rent free." Ahhh. I wish. :)

It snowed all day Sunday (yes!!) which led to my flight being delayed 3 hours (2 of which were spent on the plane on the tarmac--but I honestly didn't even realize it was that long. It didn't feel that long.). This meant that I few in that Sunday night and landed at 12:30am (technically Monday morning) and then had the two hour drive home. Fortunately I had texted my boss before my flight took off that I was going to be in late due to the delay, so I was able to get some sleep.

So it was a perfect trip (except the part when Adam got really, really sick--but he survived...) and Lisa was beyond surprised and excited. It was totally worth it.

Bedroom Makeover: The Duvet

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 01:38:00 +0000

Alrighty folks, this is the big one.

After much debate, fears, tears, and mental swearing, I have a new duvet! YAY!!!!

Why can't I just dream small for once? Oh, no! It's impossible. Once I get a mental picture of what I want, I have to go for it. And it always is way more complicated that it really needs to be. I think it's a disease. (Exhibit A: New Christmas Stockings)

But go big, or go home, right? RIGHT?! Please someone agree with me...

So I went big. Lit-trally. (hehehe)

My duvet is King size. Yup. I have a Queen size bed. But I really wanted the blanket to go down the sides of my bed. Especially with all the ruffles. It looks so pretty on the sides. :)

Originally I was going to do a pretty, light turquoise/Tiffany blue color for the duvet with white sheets. But that turned out very difficult to do unless I wanted to pay major bucks. Turns out that its really, really hard to find 6, yes SIX, king size flat sheets in that right blue color. Even online. boo. I did find some at one store, but it was $40--just for ONE flat sheet. Yikes!

I considered getting white sheets and then dyeing them the color I wanted. But then I got really worried I wouldn't like color and would have wasted everything and that the project was going to fall apart. [taking deep breaths]

So, hello compromise. (You'll be so proud Mom--I am flexible in my grand plans!) I decided to make a white ruffle duvet and use pretty blue sheets. I found soft, nice sheets at Target. Turns out white is MUCH easier to find. Imagine that.

Several paychecks later, I had enough sheets. :)

And then came the sweat, fears, tears, and mental swearing.

I used this fabulous tutorial to help guide in my adventure. I started measuring, cutting, sewing, ruffling, pinning and sewing.

Thankfully Caitlin volunteered to help and was willing to iron. I think she just wanted to make Nick watch the kids all day. :) WHY IS THERE ALWAYS SOO MUCH IRONING IN SEWING?!

Ahem.

Caitlin had been convinced that we could bust out a fully ruffled KING size duvet in one day. Ha! Even I knew that would have been impossible. It took hours and hours and hours and many episodes of Ugly Betty to get only part of the strips ironed.

But I slowly worked on it. Then I got really worried...what if I actually finished it....and then I hated it. All that work for nothing! Caitlin's nonchalant words of comfort: "Well, you could probably sell it if you don't like it." Oh, okay. Gee. Thanks.

Good thing that didn't happen. I do love it. Like really love it.

So...let's take a moment to talk about how much fabric was involved here. Remember SIX King-sized sheets? So the base the ruffles are sewed to and the actual bottom of the cover are 92" wide and 104" long--which is slightly cut down from the sheet size.

For each ruffle strip, I cut 4 sheets up into 52--7" strips which were 104" each. Then I took two strips and sewed them together to make one horrendously long finished strip (208" long)--of which there are 27 on the duvet. Yeah, doing the math, my duvet has 156 YARDS of ruffles. That's a lot of ruffles.

Each side has a 1/4" double turned hem, leaving the finished strip 6" wide. Then one of the long sides was ruffled. I tried to use the finished edges as much as possible to save me some sewing.

Each ruffle was sewed 10 cm apart so there would be about a 2" overlap of each ruffle, making the ruffles fuller. I took the time to draw lines every 10 cm on the base sheet. This saved a lot of time and frustration later when I had to pin and sew the ruffles on.

Doesn't the ruffle foot look terrifying? It sounds scary too! I kept thinking that something was going to break because of all the loud metal clicking, but nothing did. The foot worked like a charm. Best investment. And I love that I found it on Amazon for $10 with free shipping! Sure beats the $45-60 I saw everywhere else!

Sewing the ruffles on was hard and I very quickly discovered it was much faster and easier to sew with the ruffle than against it.

I actually had fun sewing--in between all the broken needles, broken threads, and bobbins that wouldn't wind. I should have bought a sewing machine years ago. Apparently that was all that was necessary for me to get over my inability to sew. :)

Here's a peek at the back of the top. I loved the way the zig zag strips look on the back.

After a couple of months, I finally finished. It is sooo hard to find time to cut, iron, sew and sew and sew between working full time and going to school full time. The only reason it got done so quickly was because it's getting cold and I need a blanket. hahaha. We won't talk about what should have but didn't get done while I sewing. :)

The comforter had corner loops to tie to a duvet, so I sewed in some ties, which were just 1/4" white bias tape, cut in 8" strips, folded in half. I also sewed some 4 additional loops and ties along the top to help keep the comforter in place.

I have yet to sew in a closure at the bottom. I think I'm going to eventually put in velcro.

So here it is, all done!

I really do love how it turned out and the thin comforter I put in it is the perfect thickness. The duvet is freakishly heavy when carrying it around, but when it's on my bed it feels quite thin. It's perfect.

Future plans: Eventually I will have blue sheets and a blue bed skirt under the duvet. And I have plans for a cool tufted headboard. Thank you internet for all the inspiration!

Bedroom Makeover: A New Lamp

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 01:04:00 +0000

I decided a while back that my little 10" lamp on my nightstand just isn't cutting it anymore. I like to read in bed and need a taller lamp. So I've been looking. And I've found lamps that I like, but I wanted something tall, glass, and different looking. That's hard to find in price I could afford. Then I on pinterest (shock!) I saw a DIY lamp tutorial.

WHAT?! YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN LAMP?!

The tutorial made it seem so easy. (And it was.) I could totally do that. (And I did.)

So I went to a couple of thrift stores and then ended up finding just about everything at DI. Yay! I did have to go to Lowes to get a harp (the loopy thing that holds the shade--not a musical instrument) and a cap to hold the shade in place.

Here's what I started with:

Glass candle holder with a cool crackle effect on the bottom: $3
Old Lamp base to be cannibalized: $3 (major plus that I realized when I got home--it's actually a three way lamp--something that I forgot to check for at the store.)
Lamp Shade: $1
Harp: $4.25
Knob for the top: Clearanced to $0.80. Normally $3.98.

Lamp cost: $13. Yay!!

Close up of the glass. I wish the awesome crackle look went all the way to the top, but I can't complain too much since it's the shape and height I was looking for. And it was $3.

Because the original lamp's wiring came out through the bottom of the bulb holder thingy (techincal term), and I couldn't and didn't want to have my wiring come out the bottom of the glass, I had to "drill" a hole in the side of the plastic covering for the switch & bulb.

I don't have a drill. This lead to a clever and probably dangerous solution. I took a screwdriver and heated it up with an open flame and sort of melted and screwed a hole into the plastic. I wouldn't recommend this way. My hands cramped up and it took a long time to get it done. But it worked and the wiring went through.

As far as wiring the actual lamp. I made it a little harder than it needed to be because I didn't label which wire went to which tab. I didn't realize till later that it matters. Turns out it does in a big way. So after watching multiple videos on youtube, I figured it out. I'd recommend doing research and watching videos before you get started.

Next, was to figure out how to mount the bulb/switch to the candle holder. I tried several variations, including the picture below--which was too wobbly.

After some trial and error, I ended up using the metal discs that were decoration in the old lamp as the base for the new one. They were almost exactly the diameter of the top of the candle holder. YES! Using the washers and screw/rod thingy, I tightened everything together and hot glued the metal disc to the candle holder. So far it's holding up. And the nice thing about hot glue is that with a bit of effort, I can take off the lamp fixture to put some pretty filler in the candle holder.

If the hot glue ends up not holding, I can always use e6000 glue.

I added the harp, shade and top knob and voila! I have a lamp!

I wanted to do something fun with the lamp shade. I like the color and, considering it's a thrift store find, it's actually in excellent condition. But it was needing something else.

I thought about drawing/painting french script document images. Those look so cool--but it doesn't exactly go with the coastal, peaceful vibe I'm going for. And then I thought that I should do something that means something to me. I saw an image of a custom lampshade that had song lyrics, and that inspired me to draw sheet music for one of my favorite hymns on it, but when I started tracing it with pencil, I didn't love it.

I saw a picture of a ruffled lamp shade that was cute, but I was worried that it would be too much because my bedspread is a lot of ruffles. But I couldn't think of anything else and then when looking at my fabric, I realized that the muslin I bought was the same color as the lamp shade, so I went for it. And this would be good practice for ruffling since I made this before the duvet.

I took measurements of the top and bottom of the lamp shade and then doubled it because of the ruffle. I cut several 5" strips of muslin and then sewed the stips together as need be. The top needed two 20" strips and the bottom needed three 20" strips, plus a little extra. Then I began ironing and sewing. I sewed the stips so they were folded like bias tape (a folded hem and then folded in half). I sewed the stips along the hems and then along the center fold so both sides were sewed.

Then I ran a basting stich (Mom! I know what a basting stitch is! ha!) down the middle of the strips. I began gathering. It was rather frustrating because I kept breaking the threads and having to sew new ones and tie them off and so on. But eventually I ended up with a decent looking ruffle.

All I did to attach them was hot glue them to the edges of the lamp shade.

I really like it. It turned out much better than I thought it would! And the last picture is a sneak peak at my nightstand makeover. :)

Perfect.

I've been using the lamp for several months and I LOVE it.

Next up: Ruffles!!

Bedroom Makeover: The Nightstand

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 01:30:00 +0000

I decided to experiment on my nightstand and repaint it. I liked the dark brown/black look, but it didn't really go with my new room decor. So a makeover it is!

My experiment was successful and I love it. Which is nice, because I was coming off a fail (the tall bookcases) and a little frustrated.

I don't have a sander anymore (boo hoo!) so I was going to borrow my brother-in-law's to sand down the stain (paint?) on the nightstand. Then I remembered about Chalk Paint. I've never used it before. It sounds intriguing and totally awesome.

(This is the experimenting part.)

I've been curious if it really would be as awesome as I've heard. And I've seen tutorials on pinterest advertising "Make Your Own Chalk Paint!" Well considering that a tiny jar at a craft store is almost $20, I was all about making my own.

And I did. And it was fantastic!

I did a lot of research online for recipes and reviews. Since I already had baking soda (vs. plaster of paris or unsanded grout), I settled to try that one.

I picked up my two colors of paint (Vintage by Valspar and Gem Turquoise by Behr). I'm a fan of the Behr Premium Plus (primer & paint in one!) so I picked up the sample size at Home Depot and they matched the two colors.

I wasn't too sure what I was doing as far as making the actual "Chalk Paint" so I wanted to make a small batch first of the cream paint. Its a good thing I did because didn't need as much paint as I thought I would.

So I mixed up a 1/2 cup of paint and 4 tablespoons of Baking Soda (mixed one tablespoon at a time). Some recipes suggested adding water, but I liked the thickness of the paint since I was covering up a dark color with a light color. I only had 1" sponge brushes handy so I used that, although a smaller brush would have been nicer for the small spots.

Then I started painting with no prep of the nightstand (other than cleaning it). I did two coats. I was a little surprised at how obvious the paint strokes were (maybe I shouldn't have been?) but after two coats it wasn't quite as obvious. The paint covered well and was nice and thick. It dried quickly too, which was really nice. I was able to get the nightstand completed in just a few hours!

After it dried, it was gritty (as expected) and so I did a light sanding and it smoothed out beautifully. I pressed a little hard on the edges and accidentally distressed it, but I liked the dark color peaking through so I rolled with it and did a light distressing along the edges.

I had made my own stencil with my cameo for the backs of my bookcases (hello frustrating project fail!) and so I decided to use it on the nightstand--just so it wouldn't go to waste.

I made a little chalk paint for the blue (1/4 cup paint and 2 tablespoons of baking soda). That was way too much paint, but oh well. I then began painting with the stencil. I was too excited and forgot pictures of this part. :) The stencil worked pretty well. There was some leakage underneath, but I just painted the cream over the top to cover it up.

Once the paint was dry, I distressed the top to give it some character. For the finish, I waxed it with some paste wax I had left over from a different project. I let it sit overnight in my garage to help the smell from the wax dissipate before I put it in my room. I finished it off with a fun knob I've had for a couple of years in the drawer and declared the work done.

I love it in my room. I love the pretty blue and it looks awesome with my glass lamp I made--coming soon!

I was actually pretty nervous since I've never made or used chalk paint before. And since I had a rough time with the stencil before, I was worried it wouldn't look very good here. Glad I was brave and did it anyway.

Best part? The whole thing only cost me $6.00 for the paint. And I have lots of paint left over. (hmmm...what to do with it?!) I think Chalk Paint (baking soda paint?) might be my new best friend!

Winning!

Bedroom Makeover: Bookcase Fail--with a Happy Ending

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 01:42:00 +0000

I had a frustrating failure in my journey to make over my bedroom. I had grand plans for the bookcases in my room. I wanted to incorporate the pretty beachy blue/turquoise color I had decided on and stencil the backs for a fun pop of color.

Problem: Two of the bookcases are already built.

Problem: I'm really lazy and didn't want to take them apart.

Problem: What if I did take them apart, paint them, put them together, and then hated them...or decided in the future to change them?

So I came upon what I thought was a good idea. I had yards of white butcher paper I had bought for a different project, but ended up not using.

What if I made my own fake wallpaper?

Brilliant, right? Cut the paper to right size and then paint and attach. Bam. Done. Easy.

Yeah, no.

I cut the butch paper in the right size (I actually cut it a little big so that I had room to work with and didn't end up with something too small).

I cut the stencil out--which took FOR-EV-VER! Five pieces of 12x12" chipboard that had to be cut 4 times each to go all the way through. But it worked, was glued together, and looked lovely. Exactly what I wanted.

I thought I wanted the lines of the design to be blue so I realized that in order to do that, I needed to have blue paper. That meant spray painting the paper blue. Okay. No prob. Several hours and two blue feet later, I had pretty blue paper. So far so good.

Then I laid the stencil down and began spray painting the paper white again. (Ridiculous right?!) I began moving the stencil down the first strip of paper and I noticed that the spray paint was leaking underneath the stencil. Well, duh! The stencil wasn't laying perfectly flush and there were gaps. Should have thought that through better. I had been afraid to use a spray adhesive since all I have is permanent adhesive.

I finished the one strip, holding out hope that it would look okay when all was said and done.

Yeah, no. I didn't like it. Too much white. And totally uneven.

So on to strip two. Well now I wanted white strips and the paper was blue. Ugh. Not wanting to waste the $2 paper, I had the brilliant idea to draw the pattern on the paper and paint it in with white paint. By the way, the book cases are over six feet tall.

So I drew the lines in from the stencil. That took much longer than $2 paper is worth, by the way. Then I began painting. Fortunately (?) it didn't take long for me to realize that I didn't like this either.

This was not working out well.

All I wanted was a fun background for my bookcases! Waaaaaaahhhhh!

So I started over again. This time with plain white paper, cut to size and then painstakingly painted in the stencil blue (like a normal person--instead of trying to find an easy way).

This didn't work either. Fail.

Fast foward several months because I was really frustrated...and poor.

I found fabric that was exactly what I was looking for, on sale and with a coupon, to use as the background. Much, much easier--and it looks better too! I LOVE it!

All I did was cut the fabric slightly larger than the background and fold the edges over and use a staple gun to attach it to the back board. Easy, peasy...but for real this time.

Eventually there will be another bookcase to the left of this one, and then around the corner to the right, facing the bed. The rose painting will be moved to be above the short bookcase, next to my TV.

Yay! So all is well that ends well. Right?

Bedroom Makeover: Master Bathroom

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 01:34:00 +0000

One of the perks to having the master bedroom is having my own bathroom! Yay!

I didn't really do too much, especially since the walls were already painted a awesome blue color and the white shelves were already in place.

I had some white netted curtains (ikea) that I thought I was going to use to over the sliding glass door, but ended up not using. And since I had an extra shower curtain rod, I decided to hang those up over the shower doors. The curtains were really long so I put the rod right at the ceiling. I love the way it looks!

I also wanted some glass jars to hold my cotton balls and q-tips, but I was running low on funds so I found some candle jars that were left behind when my roommates moved out and emptied out the wax. They smelled nasty.

Once they were clean, I used them, but thought they were kind of boring. I wanted to bring some color to the counter so I looked up ways to paint glass. In my hunt, I came across a Martha Stewart paint that is for glass, but is frosted so it looks like sea glass. Perfect!

I picked some up and, after reading directions online, began painting. I really like how they turned out. The only thing I would change was that I put on two layers because I wasn't sure what it would look like when they were done baking. I should have just done one layer. But not a big deal.

Then I found a scrap of cream ribbon that was exactly the right length to split between the two jars, cut a cardboard circle, covered it in teal glitter, and hot glued some starfish I had laying around from a different project.

My bamboo plant was in the kitchen, but was in the way so I moved it to the bathroom. I love it in there. The mirror makes the plant feel a lot bigger than it really is, and it's pretty big.

I really love how my bathroom turned out.

Bedroom Makeover: The Trunk

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 01:30:00 +0000

I've had this awesome trunk since my freshman year of college. My mom bought it for me as a "Yay! Megan's-moving-out-of-my-house-gift." Okay. Everything I had when I moved away to college was pretty much that type of gift. It was pretty obvious she was a little excited for me to move out and go out of state to college.

Anyway. So I've had this trunk for, um, a long time. And unfortunately it's had to live in my garage for the last couple of years. I love it. I thought it would be perfect to sit at the end of my bed, put a little cushion on it and instant seat! Unfortunately, the colors don't match my room.

I considered painting it cream and then painting the hardware silver. Yay for spray paint!

But then I realized how many cans of cream paint it would take to cover up the black faux leather (vinyl?).

So I decided to make a little slip cover so the trunk is still accessible and I can continue to use it as extra storage.

Let's recall that my sewing skills are very, uh, non-existent. So this little project was going to be a stretch. A simple box shaped slipcover and a cushion. Well, bring it on!

I picked up some beautiful turquoise damask pattern fabric for the cushion and a solid dark turquoise ($3 for 3.75 yards!) as the slipcover.

I don't really know what I'm doing so I won't make a tutorial.

For the slipcover, I measured the trunk, added an inch for a 1/2 inch on each side and then somehow the measurements actually worked out--with a finished seam at the bottom.

It fits perfectly! I really not sure how that happened, but I'll take it. :) Just don't look to close to the corners. I had a bit of a tough time figuring out how to sew them. But it worked out. And the seam matches up on all the sides. It's a miracle! :)

For the cushion, I picked up some foam from Home Depot (MUCH cheaper than a craft store) and then some batting to wrap the foam. I ultimately decided to make the cushion double sided instead of using a wood base. I wasn't sure how to make the batting stay in place without lots of hand sewing and so I grabbed some muslin and created a cover. (A feat unto it's self...it's hard to sew tightly against 3" foam).

Then I started sewing the slipcover, complete with cream piping. And surprisingly it worked! I'm not sure why me sewing is working, it never has in the past, but hey, I'll take it. haha. I hand sewed in snaps to close the side.

I really love this damask fabric and was excited to be able to use it in my room. :)

Coming soon...bookcases, an epic fail, and bedding!

Bedroom Makeover: Short Bookcase

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 01:20:00 +0000

Finally some results! Yay! Remember my empty room? Yeah, well things are moved in and camp is set up! Yay!

I was debating if I wanted to start showing stuff off in over the period of this next week (there's lots!) or if I should spread it out over time. I've decided to show what I have done and then post what gets done later...later.

So here's one of the first things I did.

Next to my dresser, I had space for a small book case that has been sitting unused in my garage for the past two years. So glad that I finally have room for it. Somehow one of the shelves disappeared and so I got one cut at Home Depot from MDF. Of course, now that it's all painted and done, I found the shelf hiding in a random closet. Weird. Anyway....

The bookcase was a boring brown fake wood look that desperately needed a makeover. Yay for spray paint!! This also would cover up the fact that one of the shelves didn't match.

I painted it with my favorite cream, Heirloom White. I did learn a lesson. Spray paint, while easier, definitely was not the right medium for this project. If I'm not careful, it scrapes off easy and didn't lay color down evenly--and it took 3 cans. I should have just painted it with regular wall paint or chalk paint. Oh well. It still works if I'm gentle.

It needed something fun on top to go with my new decor.

As part of me learning to sew, I made a burlap table runner (complete with tassels!) to go on top. I got real fancy with the machine and did a pretty scallop stitching on top to add a little sumthin' to it. Just don't look too close... :) And ignore that it slightly too wide and not long enough. Have I ever mentioned that math is not my friend? I really don't know how I mis-measured or whatever I did to mess it up. Oh well. It's not perfect, but considering that it was my first real sewing project by myself (as in I didn't call anyone in a panic because I don't know what I'm doing) and it has tassels...I'll let it go. I'm really proud of myself that I figured out how to put tassels in it. :)

The bookcase and runner needed something pretty and preferably green to go on it.
Thus the succulent terrarium was born. I've seen lots of them, including at Home Goods where I got the glass jar. The night I picked up the glass, I found one on clearance for $49 (normally $79) and it was smaller. Mine was $32 total and bigger. Yay!

Supplies:

- 22" Glass Jar: $16 (Home Goods)
- Lots of fake succulents: $9 on clearance (Michaels)
- Foam block: $2.50 (Michaels)
- 2 bags of River Rocks: $2 each
- sand (on hand)
- Hot glue (on hand)--I didn't really use it much though

So I put it together just evenly layering the succulents. I mixed in a few that I had leftover from a different project. Worked pretty well.

I wanted it a little taller than it was so I grabbed some books that I was going to donate and wrapped them in kraft paper and then because there needed to be more blue, wrapped some teal baker's twine around them. I love baker's twine.

Now I still need to decide about the black dresser. I don't like the color anymore, but I'm not ready to dismantle it and paint it yet. Hmmm...

Coming soon...nightstands, trunks, and lamps, oh my! And more sewing... :D

When it Rains...Your Shoe Breaks

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:38:00 +0000

Actually I'm really glad it didn't actually rain last night. Things definitely could have been worse.

But considering my post yesterday about how suddenly I found myself quite stressed out, it was only appropriate that something else happen. Right?

Yeah. My shoe broke.

Good times.

I got to school, ready and excited to get this semester started. (The sooner it starts, the sooner it'll be over!) I realized I lost my parking pass so I walked across campus to the business office and got in the ridiculously long line. Within about 5.7 seconds, I started fidgeting and I moved my feet and the part of my sandal that went between my toes broke.

Because clearly, I needed something else needed to happen yesterday.

I thought I could play it off and it not be a problem. Turns out it wasn't possible.

I tried to fix it. It wasn't fixable. I stood in the line for about 30 minutes and slowly scooted myself to the front of the line. All the while moving my right foot like it was about to fall off and never lifting it off the ground.

All I had to do was make it out the building, cross two more buildings to my class and make it out to the parking structure after class. Surely I could figure out how to walk so my shoe didn't flop all over the place.

After I successfully got a new parking pass, I walked about two steps and realized I couldn't even make it 10 feet to the door of the building without my shoe flopping everywhere but under my foot.

Oh my goodness. So embarrassing. There was still a ridiculously long line of people, I'm sure they were all staring at me and my awkward shoe problem. I didn't even turn around to look at them.

So I hobbled/hopped out of the building and quickly found a place to sit down and investigate a possible solution to my problem. Maybe I could quickly fix it? At this point I had 45 minutes till class started.

After I examined my shoe I determined it was not fixable. I sat there trying to figure out what to do. I didn't have any options. I couldn't walk with this stupid shoe. I couldn't go home and make it back in time.

I had to walk barefooted.

At BYU-Idaho, I wouldn't really have flinched at that. The campus is so clean. But, here, at this school? The thought made me very nauseous. Ugh. So gross. But what choice did I have? I couldn't decide if it was better to leave one shoe on and the other off (real classy!) or be completely barefooted.

I decided to leave my left shoe on. I couldn't bear the though of both of my feet touching the ground. *shiver*

Then I thought that, perhaps, the school would have cheap flip-flops for sale in their clothing section. I walked across campus the other direction and discovered that they don't.

Then I walked across campus back to my classroom. I sat down on a bench and ate my snack and then realized I needed to use the restroom.

I had to go in there. With one foot completely bare.

It was nasty. I put my shoe back on and walked really funny so I didn't have to touch the floor. As soon as I got back outside, I took it off again. And went to class with only one shoe.

I'm a class act.

Fortunately I did survive. No one made fun of me, though several laughed when I made fun of myself. And the class went well and I'm actually pretty excited about it.

I also learned this lesson: wear regular shoes to school.

Also: listen to the thought that says in the morning as you're putting on your shoes, "What would you do if your shoe broke?" Yeah, I totally had that thought yesterday morning...and laughed at myself. [insert dead-pan look] Yeah.......

I just hope I didn't pick up a parasite or something. yuck.

I haven't felt that self-conscious in a long time. At least I could laugh at myself. And the laughing did relieve the stress I was feeling. :)

Lesson Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 00:53:00 +0000

Yesterday there was a great talk in Sacrament Meeting about trials. During it, I kept thinking, "Oh what a wonderful talk. So glad I don't have any trials. Funny how whenever a talk about trials comes up I don't have any trials. Smooth sailing." [Insert pleasant mental smile here.]

Yeah. That was my mistake. Thinking that things were smooth sailing. Somehow whenever a talk on trials comes up, I don't think I have any. And then...

BAM! Usually the very next day. Something comes up.

It's like clockwork.

You'd think that this would have registered before now. But, nope.

This morning it hit me like a ton of bricks what this week is going to be like. I almost freaked out at work.

School is starting again tonight. I'm taking 4 classes. That's officially full time (12 credits). I also work full time. Yikes! So I leave my house at 7:55-8:00am to go to work. I won't get home till after 10:30pm Monday-Wednesday. Another Yikes. Plus an online class that requires doing something EVERY SINGLE DAY. Oy. (The teacher's philosophy: "If I can work full-time, raise 6 kids, and go to law school full-time while in my 40's--you can fit this class in your schedule."--Yeah. Ok. Chances are she also didn't have Church callings.) Yikes, Yikes, Yikes.

Oh, and NONE of my textbooks have shown up yet. I ordered them almost two weeks ago. Some of them haven't even shipped yet--including the one for the homework assignment today. Hopefully I'll be able to borrow someone's. Talk about stressful. That's what I get for trying to save money. (Though I did save more than 60%, so maybe it's worth it?)

Ok. There's nothing I can do about that one. So I shouldn't let it stress me out. (This is me giving myself a pep talk. Just so you know.)

I also am doing 12 signs for the wedding this weekend. Good news: I was able to get most of them done this past weekend. I only have 2-3 of the large ones left to do (I don't like one so I might re-do it, if I have time). Problem: I literally don't have anymore time this week. Thursday is set up for the wedding. Friday is the wedding. Good thing I took Thursday and Friday off work. Somehow I have to make time between set-up and helping with flowers to whip them out. Maybe I should learn to write faster.

And somehow I will fit in my weekly temple trip. I need to fit it in.

Also, my boss is retiring Wednesday. I'm really sad about that. He is a good boss--he's very patient with me.

I am SO looking forward to Saturday. I don't have anything scheduled! And Monday is a holiday. Yay!!!! So technically I do have a 5 day weekend. And the wedding is all fun stuff, busy and a little stressful--but definitely fun.

So lesson learned. A talk/lesson/testimony in church about trials is usually a warning that something is going to come up very soon in my life.

Duly noted.

An Update

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 00:36:00 +0000

So I thought I would have my bedroom all done by now.

I don't know why. I should have known better. Life, as it does, got in the way.

And school starts next week.

So basically what I'm saying is that I hope I have time again at Christmas.

Ok. It better not take that long. It's driving me crazy.

I still need new bed linens and a couple more bookcases (one can never have too many!). That all requires money. And time. Both of which I do not have.

Oh, did I mention that I'm doing a ton of signs for a wedding next weekend? (ACK! one of my babies is getting married! He's the first. I feel old.) (And by "babies" I mean the kids I babysat for like 10 years--There are four and now three of them are adults and the two older boys are engaged with one getting married next weekend. Crazy!)

I'm really excited for the signs. The mental images I have look awesome. Hopefully my skills can measure up (doesn't usually happen. :/ ).

The reception will be beautiful. I heard all the details last night and I'm really excited for it.

Half of the signs are going to be love quotes from disney movies (there's a subtle disney theme--it's where they got engaged). Hopefully the posters will turn out. I'm kind of nervous. I don't want to ruin anything.

Good news: I've seen the bride-to-be in her wedding dress and she looks sooo beautiful. :)

It's going to be a good day. :)

So all of this is why I haven't been posting a lot. So don't worry. I'm still here and I've been steadily working on my room. I'm really liking it so far. :)

Bedroom Makeover: A Clean Slate

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Alright friends, I have a new bedroom! It's coming along slowly. (Why do I have to work full time again?! oh yeah, to pay for my fun stuff...oh, and bills. boo.)

So here is a little tour of the room so we're all excited for the final reveal...in about 6 months. Just kidding. I don't know when it will be. I'm slow. And somehow projects always take much longer than I anticipate.

Anyway. Onward and upward. Here are pictures! And in italics are the ideas I have.

View as you walk in the double doors:

Immediately to the left is a long skinny window, and a walk-in closet with huge mirrors for doors. (That freaks me out! I can see things move (me) out of the corner of my eye! hahaha!) New curtain, Nightstand, Lamp, And maybe, eventually, a large potted plant. Ficus tree, maybe?

A not-very-good panoramic view of the room. There is a large sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. The opening on the right leads to the bathroom/vanity. Bed with my trunk at the foot, Bed will have new linens and duvet, bookcase with crafty stuff in pretty white boxes, table/desk, new curtains for the back door, dresser and TV right of the back door, small bookcase with DVDs.

The closet. Clothes. Duh. :)

There are some nice built-in shelves in the closet. I don't know. Crafty stuff I don't have room for on my bookcases?

The vanity area and door leads to the bathroom. Three more bookcases...for books. :)

The bathroom (because that's always fun to see on a blog!). Uh, bathroom stuff, and a new curtain.

So there you have it! So excited to get everything done!! I've gotten some things done: like a new lamp, short bookcase, nightstand, my truck, some of the curtains. Its coming together! Yay!!

Bedroom Makeover: A New Bedroom

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 20:56:00 +0000

A couple of my roommates are moving out in a couple of weeks. While I'm sad that they are leaving...I'm kind of excited too...I'm switching bedrooms into the Master Bedroom. And that means I get a bigger room and my own bathroom. Yay!

Now, there is a one slightly "bad" part (besides higher rent). I *have* to redecorate! (yay!)

Also, as a slightly beside-the-point, point. Caitlin fixed my sewing machine (another yay!) and so now I want to SEW SEW SEW. Problem: I don't know how. But gosh darn it! I'm going to learn! And I will figure it out---without breaking anything (It's been a problem in the past....hush Mom!).

SOOOO...now I have to decide what I want my room to look like. Historically, I'm pretty, um, eclectic? with my decorating. I kind of just get what I like and put it in my room--creating a cluttered mish-mash of my life. I've decided that I'm mature enough (ha!) to (try to) have a simplified and decorated room.

I need to come up with ONE color scheme and stick to it. And make my furniture and decorating stuff fit those colors (hellooooo spray paint! I might be addicted....to painting--not getting high--I promise!).

The hard part? PICKING THE COLORS!

I've love coastal blues and greens, with creams and natural brown burlap as my neutrals. (with pops of coral and touches of silver?!). Its peaceful and relaxing. Just what I want my room to be like. A friend did her wedding reception that way a few years ago and I LOVED it!

BUT WHICH BLUE?! (I'm such a girl...)

So I went to some hardware stores and started collecting paint chips to narrow the colors down.

That didn't really help. I love all the colors.

I still haven't decided.

*

Well, moving on to my actual plan for my room. I have a lot of furniture and book cases and crafty tables that I want to fit in the room. So I wanted to make sure most of it will fit. I measured and created 1/4 scale drawings of the room and stuff so I could figure out how it will best be arranged.

I wanted to create a little craft nook in one corner. I'm excited because I am going to have a bit more room to put crafty goodness. :) YAY!

Then to help me organize my ideas, I created a board on Pinterest with stuff I love and want to possibly incorporate.

I also need a new bedspread so this is the perfect time to practice my soon-to-be-newly found sewing skills. I think I REALLY want a ruffled bedspread. In blue. But again...WHICH BLUE?!

via

I also found this fantastic cream and blue damask fabric that I'm going to use to make a bench seat to sit on my trunk (that I'm going to repaint?) to sit at the foot of my bed. I sit on the edge of my bed a lot and I don't want to do that anymore, so hello bench seat using stuff I already have and love!

via

Also maybe burlap curtains? I'm not sure about that yet, but there is a long skinny window that I kind of want do to that for, as well as in the bathroom. Maybe as a roman shade?

There is also a sliding glass door, but that is going to get thick grey curtains and lacy sheers to cover it. It's south facing and so I need something to help keep the heat out.

I wanted to cover the backs of my four bookcases with fabric, but they are tall (76") and that is a lot of pricey fabric, so I'm just going to paint them this great peacock blue spray paint. That will be fun. Three will be for books and the other is for my crafty goodness. Yay! One place to put it all!

There is a fifth short bookcase (I love them and, apparently, have an obsession with them) that I'm going to spray paint my favorite cream color (Heirloom White by Rustoleum) and put my DVDs in. I have a plan for a fun vignette on top of it that I'm really excited about. (Glass, Succulents and burlap!)

I also have a big black dresser that I'm trying to decide what I want to do with. Leave it black? Paint it? Stencil it? The cream bookcase is going next to it and the dresser is where my TV and DVD player live--which are both black. Hmmm.

Now hopefully the room will come together they way I want it to. Crossing my fingers!

Framed Chicken Wire Photo "Tack Board"

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 00:55:00 +0000

I've been quiet here because I've been working on projects and have a couple still in the works. But I have finished one...well three, actually. But they were the same thing. So here it is.

Waaaay back in April, I came across a picture on pinterest (shock!) that caught my interest. I clicked through and found it on this fun blog.

Those instructions were a little more than I could do at the moment seeing as I don't have power tools. So I made it my own.

I started looking for fun, fancy, vintagey frames. I wanted one that was pretty thick (wide?) and was for 16x20" pictures...so about 20x24". I started looking way back in April. I had several birthdays/events coming up that I wanted to make something special for. But because I am ~~cheap~~, er thrifty, I didn't want to pay full price--or anything more than $10 for each frame.

Yeah, by the time I found frames, each of those three birthdays/events had already passed. Better late than never, right? I decided that I was just extending the celebration....um, yeah.

Then a couple of weeks ago I finally found $50 frames for $10! I picked up one to buy (it was marked down to $18--I was getting tired of not finding anything I liked--and I liked these), but then when I realized it was only $10, I went and bought the other two--which was great because I needed three total. :)

I forgot to take a picture of the frames before I spray painted them, but they were originally a dark brown with a hint of gold. Pretty, but not the color I wanted. Yay for spray paint!

Here's a picture when it was mostly done.

The color is Rustoleum's Heirloom White. It's a favorite right now. I taped off the back a bit so the edges would have crisp lines on it. The backs of the frames were silver and I wanted to keep it that way.

The frames came with hangy-things on the back so I got brave and removed them (they were in the way of the wire and the fabric. But I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to put them back in. Don't worry. I figured it out.

I got the smallest roll of chicken wire from Home Depot and cut a piece that was a little smaller than the outer edge of the frame. I first tried to staple it using a staple gun to the very inside edge of the frame (where the glass sits), but the staples I got were too long and poked through the front of the frame. Oops! Fortunately I realized the problem pretty quick so there were only a few spots. I re-spray painted them to try to cover it up a bit.

So I started stapling around the middle of the back of the frame.

I started at the corners, pulling the opposite corner, so it was tight. Then I stapled in the middle of each edge, while pulling the opposite side to keep it tight. Once the middle of each side was stapled, I stapled each side while pulling it tightly.

I tried to keep the staples in the thickest part of the frame (see above problem) which was also close to the inside edge. So I trimmed off the excess wire so the fabric would cover it up once that was tacked down.

There were some nasty sharp pieces left from when I cut it down so I just bent them over so they wouldn't poke out.

I learned a valuable lesson. Using a staple gun so that the staples are actually in all the way and flush with the wood is hard. Or maybe it is just for me. My wrists were not happy with this project. And I need to work on my staple gun skills. Good thing most of them are covered up and the ones that aren't are on the back.

Moving on.....I picked out some fat fabric quarters in patterns and colors I thought the recipients might like, ironed them to perfection (which is saying something because I actually despise ironing--this just shows how much I LOVE the three recipients...I even ironed for them. It has nothing to do with my OCD for perfection) and then used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the back of frame, over the chicken wire. Again, stapling opposite corners and then middles to keep it taught.

I then cut a piece of cream felt just larger than the piece of fabric (about 19"x23"). I found the holes where the hangy-things screwed into the wood and punched holes in the colored fabric and the felt. It made re-attaching them much easier. I then stapled that to the frame. Yeah, there were a lot of staples.

But the felt is great. It keeps the wire from scratching up the wall behind it, should that be an issue. The printed fabric is just a thin cotton that would probably fall apart if you sneezed too hard.

Once that was done, I screwed the hangy-things (there has got to be another--better-- word that I totally can't think of right now) back into the frame using the holes I had poked. Made it super easy.

Ta Da!

I put this against the wall to admire my handy work and decided, that while this is cute, it needed to be funner. I like to give fun gifts and so I thought this frame needs a party on it. So I made one for each of my recipients.

It took a just few minutes perusing each of their facebook pages to find fun pictures to attach to show the potential of their new decor item. It worked. :)

Alyssa's:

Detail pic of the banner and little flowers glued to mini clothespins. So adorbs. :)

For my momma: It has pics of us and her grandbabies. Also super adorbs. For the banner, I used some paint chips that I found left over from a different project a few years ago. They were convenient and perfect.

For Monica: Yeah, her kid is so adorable!

I was going to wrap each of them, but then I ran out of time when I was going to give Lys her frame and just tied some tulle around with a big fluffy bow. I liked it and did it to the other two frames too.

Monica's frame was a birthday present. And her birthday was in APRIL. I felt guilty. So I made a little tag to attach to her frame. Just so she knew this was actually a VERY belated present.

I loved the frame so much that I really wanted to keep each of them and hang them all up in my room. But I resisted. :)

However, that doesn't mean that I won't make a GIGANTIC one for me. I do have a lot of chicken wire left....

I'm an Auntie Again! Yay!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:42:00 +0000

Caitlin had her baby last Thursday, the 13th.

Meet Thomas! aka: baby Hugo. :)

Isn't he so precious!? The correct answer is "Yes! Of course!"

Caitlin texted me a picture a few hours after the c-section and I showed it to Rachel. She immediately grabbed my phone and squeeled, "Baby!" I got her attention and told her that was her baby brother ~~Hugo~~, er, Thomas. She then squeeled, "MY baby!" It was so precious.

She kept staring at the picture and saying, "my baby, my baby" over and over again. Seriously, it was so cute! She already knew who her brother was and they haven't even met! And when the picture disappeared, she cried and wanted her baby back.

A few hours later, Rachel (and the rest of us) got to meet her little brother.

Rachel holding Thomas for the first time. She was very gentle...till she poked him the eye. Kid took it like a champ. :)

Mom's BFF, Shauna, came by to visit and got to meet Rachel and Thomas for the first time. She was so excited to meet more of "her grandkids"! :)

Uncle Steve and Thomas. Presh!

Look at that face! She was so excited!

Going back to Cait's room. Rachel loved all the attention she was getting.

Walking down to the NICU to visit Thomas.

After a bit of a rough start and a few days in the NICU, Caitlin and Thomas went home yesterday and are doing really well! And Rachel couldn't be happier. :)