Favorite Finds

Favorite Finds from this week that are worth sharing!

Enjoy!

Crafting:
I am always looking for things to go on the walls. If you walked into my house right now you'd think I was a bachelor.  Plain.  Bare.  Boring.  THIS would be a fun easy way to add things to the walls...if I could get myself to commit!

This would be so much fun.  Paint the random colors, let dry, use painters tape to make chevron, paint over everything with white, then remove the tape! Tad-dah!

Home:
Who doesn't need more room to store things?!? What a great way to re-purpose something you may throw away.

I would LOVE to make something like this...I just need to buy the tools (and then not hurt myself trying to use them!)

Sewing:
THIS awesome circle tree skirt would be so much fun to make and so much easier to go with Christmas themes they trying to FIND on that sort of matches (maybe I had this problem last year.  I can't wait to try this one out!

I am so excited to make this bag...I can see an amazing Gym bag in my future!

Cooking:

A good burger is always top of my list.  I will pass on a 'plain burger' any day...but if you add character to it I will be first in line!

Any thing with the word Cheese in it will be pinned by me in .2 seconds!! These Cheesy Corn Cakes look like a wonderful addition to my lunch rotation!

Weddings:
This amazing wedding dress that has everything I would want.  Sleeves, empire waste, a little bling, and flows perfectly.

Babies Breath. Period. I want it everywhere.

Healthy Living:
Dr. Oz's 3 Day Cleanse.  I do not know the specific details about this cleanse, only what I found on a The Happy Homemaker.  But she made it sound so easy and I am in need of a major reset.  I will be trying this real soon.

The Zone Diet.  I am an avid cross fitter...I love it.  I have always been active so this is a way for me to use my athletic ability to stay fit and to continue to compete in a way that pushes me to do my best.  This diet is something that is popular among the cross fit communities and I try and follow it as much as possible.

Antique Crafting

source

A few weeks ago I was able to find some time in my Sunday to hang with my Daddy at the Antique roadshow they held about 30 miles from my house.  My Dad's mother was always into antiques, and my Dad used to help her man their booth when she couldn't attend.  After she passed my dad couldn't get rid of her things and for about 7 or so years now he has been holding on to them in their basement (along with the things that so magically keep showing up from ebay that my dad swears he will sell one day).  This past year he and my mom jokingly talked about how they were going to have to move out of the hosue before the antiques started pushing them out...and decided it was time for Dad to actually sell some things.  So, long story short, he entered the Antique show and I went and visited.  I had an absolute blast turning a scheduled 1 hour trip into 4.5 hours of people watching and walking laps around and around the open building looking at all the treasures.  My mind was on Pinterest overload and I HAD to buy something.  Well, I ended up with an old antique window and some 1940's flash cards.

Left Brain says "Yo, Right Brain, what the heck are you going to do with these? We all know they are going to sit propped up against a wall or in a pile on the table no attempt at doing anything crafty...you just don't have it in you."

Right Brain says "Watch and learn!"

And with that I created a chalkboard creation for my kitchen along with 6 pieces of wall art to hang throughout the house (please ignore the photo quality they are from my phone and sometimes it doesn't like to cooperate).

I think they turned out pretty well after a few hickups.  I think I am going to try and find some thing to go on either side of the chalkboard because it seems a tad random just hanging up there all alone.

And the wall art IS sitting in a pile on the table because I haven't yet figured out how to use them.  Do I put them all together on one wall, not really saying much, but just looking cool?  Do I find photos to go with each word and hang them through out the house?

Input is very welcome!!

Once I finally pull the trigger and drill holes in the wall I'll post some updated pictures.

Learning to sew with a challenge

Since I got my sewing machine for Christmas I was on a mission to find something fun to do right out of the gate.  When I stumbled upon Crazy Little Projects my heart was full.  She was looking to start something new for 2014 and so she presented us with a Monthly Sewing Challenge! I signed up immediately and I was done with the project in 4 days.  Yep, January 10th...with 21 more days to wait until the next challenge.

Merp.  

I have decided to wait until the end of the Month to share my project outcome just so you don't have to wait as long as I did for the next challenge.

The challenge was to do something you have never done before.  There were 4 different options given (of course you could something on your own) but I chose to do the project that incorporated a FEW different things I had never tackled before.

Zippers

and

Pintucks

Here enters the Pin Tuck Pouch

This tutorial was brought to us by Simple Simon and Company and I think it was a wonderful one at that.

I love the fabrics I found (and I learned that sewing is not cheap...since then I have found this website that tells me how to REALLY shop at Joann's...it has saved my life).

The one challenge I had was figuring out how to sew the second side onto the zipper...I literally took this apart 3 different times before it finally made sense!

After I made my first one I was so excited I threw out a 2nd one in about 20 minutes.  And did it so fast I put the zipper on the wrong end of the fabric. HAH! That's what I get for thinking I was the coolest thing to ever touch a sewing machine.

Either way they turned out fun and my sister is loving her new addition to her purse.  I am using the other one to keep sewing notions in.

I really can't wait until the February challenge comes out.

Stay tuned to see what I'll be learning!

Meet the "left-brain"

Hey!!

I guess I will introduced myself. 

My name is Kari. I am a left brain who wants to be a right brain (hints the title). 

My whole life I have been the smart one, the logical one, the mature one...the one who has their life all planned out.  I fought a lot of this growing up, so much so that I almost majored in something random in college just so I wouldn't follow in my Daddy's logical footsteps.

Well, I ended up a programmer anyways. Don't get me wrong I love my job. I am challenged mentally every single day. 

However, I find myself sitting at my desk wishing I could be at home doing something with color and imagination and interacting with the massive social media storm!

So, here I am. Freshly 30 and trying to branch out a little. Can I do this creative writing thing. Can I create things that are fun and not so 'logically boring' to the outside person. 

I hope I can. 

I hope I crack some creative shell and tap into whatever it is I'm looking for. 

I hope you will join me in this journey...bumps and all.  Cause lord knows it won't be smooth!