Foxy Friday... on a Saturday!

As you may have noticed... I have been uninspired lately. I have recently gotten a new wind of inspiration and have come back to share with you all.
This project actually comes from my mother who made my sister-in-law's and I a beautiful snap clutch for Christmas. I got the pattern from her and decided to try my hand at it.
All you need are two fat quarters (For those of you who don't quilt, a fat quarter is a 18"x22"piece of fabric) and two 8in pieces of a measuring tape (Yes, I went to Home Depot, bought a 24ft measuring tape, and cut it up).
This particular one is for a friend that I'm sure doesn't read my blog so it's ok (It's ok that I put it on here, it's not ok that she doesn't read my blog. We will have a chat about it.) but I actually made two since they were so much fun but the other one is for someone who actually reads this. :)

And just like my last project, this is made with fabric that can only be purchased in Vermont!

Foxy Friday in Five Minutes or Less

This week I did not have my typical entire day to create something. In the morning I helped my friend, Mindy, clean her new house and in the evening I went to the Tinsley's for our usual shenanigans. Even though I had little time I still felt this overwhelming need to create something. I started with this idea from... you guessed it, Pinterest. I went to Goodwill and got an abandoned tea cup for $0.50 and then ransacked my own stash (as small as it might be) of fabric. I had stolen this particular fabric from my mom when I was home last and is fabric that can only be purchased in Vermont.

I filled the fabric with fluff not stolen from my current place of employment.... I then wrapped a rubber band around the bottom to hold it all in and put a ring of glue around the top of the tea cup and just set the poof inside. There you have it! An adorable pin cushion in under five minutes for $0.50!

(I apologize for the poor photography and messy table.)

Identity Crisis!!

As most of you have probably realized, my blog has veered significantly from it's original intent. I loved my original idea and I am still passionate about finding fun local activities but I have broadened the subject of this blog to include: life's realizations, crafting projects, recipes, and general brilliant insights from my mind.

Moral of the story, I need a new title. I don't feel right keeping the "Discover Local" title when that is not solely what I do.

So I put it to you, my faithful readers, however many of you there are. What should my new title be?

Lighting

I was chatting with a friend a few weeks ago and talking about the craft projects that I have been doing. Most of my projects are done on Fridays because that is the day I have off. We decided I should have an alliteration to describe my crafting Fridays so I took out my handy thesaurus app and looked up "craft". Well a synonym of craft, when referring to the definition of deceit and scheme, is "foxy" so we have decided to call it Foxy Fridays. I will try to update you all on my Foxy Friday adventures. :)

This week we focus on lighting. Like mother like daughter, I prefer lamp light to overhead lighting so my projects for the past couple weeks have been making lamp shades. (Which, every time I mention lampshades I feel the need to quote, "I'll bet you a drink or two that I can make you put that lampshade on your head" from this song.)

Anyways, like usual my inspiration started with Pinterest. Here is the first idea I got for a lamp that will go in my bed room. I started by going to the best place for projects to start, Goodwill! I found a lampshade that was due for a change.

I then headed over to Hobby Lobby and got some plain white fabric and wrapped it around the lampshade.

I ripped strips of the fabric and rolled them up to make a flower look and glued them all over the lampshade.

It took awhile but I like the final outcome... ok, so it's not actually finished. The entire back still needs flowers glued on but like I said, it takes awhile but I wanted to show everyone what it looked like. I bought a simple base at Walmart and put the whole thing together. Total I spent less than $10. I found a similar design at Hobby Lobby for $100. I'll take mine. :)

Next I found this pin and thought it would be perfect on my sewing table (when I get one). I also got this lampshade at Goodwill.

I cut all the fabric off with an x-acto knife so all that was left was the metal frame.

I wrapped the top and bottom rings with fabric then took strips of fabric and tied them in between the spokes.

I got my fabric at Hobby Lobby but it would be really cool to do with various scraps from a sewing room (I don't have that much to choose from yet, like my mother). :)

I hope you have been inspired to create some light in your own life. Enjoy!

Timing

When I was younger we sang this song in church all the time that sounded like something straight out of a Southern Baptist Church. The song was called "On Time God." I struggled with this song, not only because it was a corny song but because, I didn't like to think time was out of my control. If you know me at all you know I'm a little bit of a control freak... Admitting the problem it the first step...

I didn't like waiting and trusting that the waiting was necessary. If something good was coming I wanted it then and if I was in the middle of something bad I wanted it to hurry up and end. The truth is God is in control and He has a perfect time for every thing. This is one of the many things that God has been teaching me down in SC. It's a concept that has been brought up many times this week and then this morning at church the message seemed to solidify every thing that has been going on. If you have a spare hour this week I would highly encourage you to check out this week's sermon, it's a message for everyone. (It's the one dated 1/29/11)

The first verse we looked at, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, has actually inspired many pop culture references including this song that has been stuck in my head all day. Usually this verse is used as an encouragement to say that good things will come and that the bad things are only for a time and while that is true it also means the God has divinely placed each season in your life for a reason. Not really something I wanted to hear... Truth be told, moving down here has not been easy and I have faced many trials and struggles and have continually asked God, "WHY???" but it's all for His glory and his purpose. I don't need to know why, I just need to trust that He sees the full picture and I should be praising Him for using me in His plan. James tells it like it is chapter 1:2-4. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I read that and think, "Dang, ok... Your will, not mine."

There are a lot of things coming up in my life, new possibilities and directions. I have no idea where they will lead or even when they will come but I am trying as hard as I can to stay where I am and wait for God to say, "Go."

If you think to pray for me this week pray that I have the patience for and the certainty of God direction. I miss you and love you all. Many blessings!

P.S. When I refer to church "this morning" I wrote this on Sunday,just hadn't posted it yet. :)

Home Decorating

Now that Christmas is over (and most of the presents are done) I figured I could make something for myself. The idea originated from this pin on pinterest, but I took some creative freedom and used a map instead of a poster as an ode to my love of travel.

I bought an antique style map from Barnes and Noble and headed over to A.C. Moore (not my usual craft store but I had a gift card). Due to a misinterpreted sign I was able to get canvases that were already on sale for an extra 50% off so each 11x14 canvas cost me $1.50. (Hooray for poorly worded signs!)

I cut the map up and began to mod podge it onto the canvases. I started with a homemade version of Mod Podge but the consistency wasn't right so I ended up going back to A.C. Moore. I bought to many canvases so I returned two and bought the real Mod Podge to complete the project.

I painted the edge of the canvases to blend in with the map. I would highly suggest doing this part first, it's a pain to do it after the paper is on there.

I think it came out splendid and once I take my Christmas tree out of my living room I will be hanging it. All together is cost me less than $20, if you were to find something similar in a store you could expect to spend anywhere from $50-$100 and besides, this is way more fun!

Christmas Crafting Fun!

Ok, so now that I have given everyone their Christmas presents I can show you all what I have been up to for the past few weeks (similar to what my sister-in-law did on her blog). Crafting!

If you haven't heard of it yet you should all check out Pinterest. I'm obsessed. Here are a few of the wonderful ideas I have found on there.

This is the change holder I made for my mom. We are planning a trip to Greece in a few years and have been saving change but Mom has only had a peanut jar to keep hers in.

I took a shadow box and drilled a slit in the top (with some assistance) and found a wonderful picture of the Greece shore to put in it for inspiration. You could find one pre-made online for about $25 but I find making them is more fun and about half the cost.

The next thing I made were wreaths. I made one for the Tinsley's and one for the Scruggs.

I found the inspiration on Pinerest but there was not one specific tutorial I could point you to. I bought pipe insulation at Home Depot for $0.98 and duct taped it in a circle. One, six foot piece was enough for two wreaths. I then wrapped the foam in yarn then took ribbon I found at the Dollar Store and ruffled it around and attached with pins. It took two spools of yarn for one wreath. I then took bells I also found at the Dollar Store and pinned them on and to complete the look I took ornaments that I found at... guess where... and hung them in the middle. The effect was wonderful. So all together each wreath ended up costing me $4.50. (I would now like to apologize to the people I made these for. They look more expensive than they actually were.)

Another project I thoroughly enjoyed was making this necklace.

I bought an ugly tie from Goodwill (the uglier the tie the cuter the necklace) and took it apart with my dear friend, the seam ripper. I then sewed it back together in a thin tube. I placed large plastic beads inside and tied a not in between each bead. A more in depth tutorial can be found here.

I bought the beads at Hobby Lobby and if you shop at Hobby Lobby and ever pay full price you are crazy. They have 50% off sales each week on different items. If what you want is not currently on sale, go back next week and it most likely will. If it can't wait they have 40% off coupons on their website every week and if you have a smart phone you can pull it up on your phone and don't need to print it off. Well that was my aside to Hobby Lobby. Moral of the story, I got the beads on sale and the cost of the necklace ended up being $2.50.

There are still other projects going on but until they are delivered to their final destinations I can not put them on here. If you have a spare minute (and I can tell you do since you are reading this) check out Pinterest but beware... it's addicting!

I hope all of you had a wonderful and joyous Christmas and have a Happy New Year!