Roadmap of Love

Map of Love

This past week was a pretty big week for Jeremy and me. First, we spent a lot of quality time together. My last post, I mentioned that we went to a Cubs game on Sunday. 

Later today, we are meeting with my best friend and her husband for lunch. Her husband, Mike, is the friend who is marrying us. Mike has a Master's degree in family counseling and asked us to read The Necessary Nine as a base for discuss for pre-martial counseling. We thought this was a GREAT idea. We are also HUGE procrastinators, so we spent A LOT of time this week doing this.

This week was also a big week for us because we celebrated that it's been one year since this.

Yup! We have officially been engaged for one year! The night Jeremy proposed, we went to our favorite restaurant, which also happened to be the site of our first date. So, on Friday night, we went back to celebrate!

The combination of discussing our relationship and celebrating our relationship this week really made me THINK about how THANKFUL I am for our relationship.

So, I decided to make a craft that celebrates us and our history.

Jeremy and I met about 12 years ago, in the summer of 2000. I was dating a friend of his, and he came along to hang out with my single friends. We never became close friends, but we lived in neighboring towns and had a lot of mutual friends. We saw each other at least once a year and remained friendly.

This continued for 8 years. Then, 4 years ago, I moved to Chicago. I was SO excited to be in the BIG CITY and so, of course, I posted it on Facebook. Jeremy had moved to Chicago a couple years before, saw that I was living in Chicago, and invited me out for a drink.  Anxious to make friends, I readily agreed.

And, the rest, as they say, is history. We started to hang out, realized quickly that this was more than friendship, and began spending as much time together as humanly possible. 

Now, 12 years after first meeting, 4 years after our first date, we are going back to West Michigan to get married.

Here's where the craft comes in.

I gathered 2 Michigan maps, 1 Illinois map, and a "floating" picture frame. (Along with tape, scissors, newspaper, and a pencil).

I used the newspaper to cut out a heart. I made sure that I liked the way that 3 hearts of the same size in the frame.

Once I found the size I wanted, I laid my 3 maps on the floor. I traced a heart out of each.

At the center of the first heart is our hometowns: WHERE WE MET

At the center of the second heart is Chicago: WHERE WE FELL IN LOVE

And at the center of the third heart are the towns where our ceremony and reception will be: WHERE WE WILL BE MARRIED

I cut them out and taped them in order in the frame. It took some adjusting to get the spacing just right.

I decided to hang it above our bed. This way, every time we go to bed or wake up, we can remember the important places in our relationship and the path that led us to June 30th.

Until next week, keep crafting!

SB

Pillowcase Shirt

Comfortable Shirt

I love going up to see my parents. I love being in Northern Michigan, away from all of the hustle and bustle of the city.

BUT, I do LOVE being in the city. I traded in early morning sunrises over a lake for EARLY morning bus stops.

I traded in seeing Mosby running free in the woods for him enjoying walks on our tree lined street.

And I traded in enjoying time with my parents to enjoying time with Jeremy.

Jeremy and I are beginning to get really busy with wedding and other fun stuff. Last weekend, I had a BEAUTIFUL bridal shower given by my aunts and mom and attended my some of my favorite ladies.

This weekend, Jeremy and I went to a Cubs game (Jeremy's birthday present from me).

So, that's the reason for my tardy post.

Now, perhaps a pillowcase shirt peaked your interest.

Don't judge. OK, judge a little. I am a little embarrassed to write about this craft.

Here's how it happened...

Jeremy and I received so many beautiful gifts at my shower, I had to clear out some room. I was packing up a box to give to charity when I came across a black, jersey fabric pillowcase.

I decided that I would waste this one pillowcase to see if I could make it into a shirt.

Here's the end result.

Not bad, huh? The best part?? I didn't sew at all.

Here's what I did.

Start with a pillowcase.

Fold in half.

Cut from the top (opposite of the opening where the pillow would go in). Start about three fingers in. Swoop down as you cut (about a half inch) then swoop back up to end with three fingers of material on the other side.

Now cut arm holes. Use a seam ripper to cut about 6 inches for arm holes, starting about 2 fingers from the top.

All set! The pillowcase's natural edge gives the bottom a nice finished edge.

photo by Jeremy

Off to enjoy some delicious burgers with my man. BTW don't miss his photo shoot below! :)

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Wedding Placecard Holders

Wine Cork Escort Card Holders

One of the perks of being a teacher is, of course, Spring Break. This year, my school went to year round, and the added benefit of that is that I get TWO weeks off this year for Spring Break. I decided to spend my second week up at my parent's place. Which means that I get to wake up to this:

and this:

But most importantly this:

 I love coming up to see my parents. We do a lot of hiking, visiting, and talking. Mosby loves to come to see my parents. He does a lot of hiking, playing, and gets WAY too much attention. We both miss Jeremy on this trip up and wish he could have come too!

This week, on top of our normal activities, we saw some friends, met Jeremy's folks, sister, and nephew for dinner, and did some crafting...you didn't think my love for crafting came out of no where, did you? My mom is the queen of crafts...someday I should do a blog on all of the crafts she's created around our lake house.

This week we finished up a couple things for the wedding, aided by some of the most crafty ladies we know (thanks Sheila and Karrie!).

For our escort cards, Jeremy and I decided we want to place cards in between corks. We had seen it done a few different ways, and thought they were all so cute. I recruited some of my wine drinking friends and family to save their corks for me (thanks guys!) and we got going on the craft this week.

First, collect all your corks. Yes, those brown bags are also filled with corks.

     
Next, match up two corks that are about the same size and shape. You'd be surprised how many different sizes come in!

After this, I lined up all of the pairs. This makes the next step a lot easier. This picture shows about half of the pairs.

After that, it's gluing time! Use a hot glue gun to glue together the bottom 1/2 to 2/3 of the corks together.

Here's a finished product.

And another view...

Now, repeat 225 times. And you're done!

 Tomorrow is my first BRIDAL SHOWER!! HOORAY! I am so excited!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Easter Craft, Part 3

Easter Eggs

Tomorrow is EASTER! Hooray! Jeremy and I (accompanied by my sister and our pup) are heading to the Mitten later today to see friends and family.

I've mentioned before that my mom is into Christmas. This holds true for Easter too. Growing up, Easter morning was second only to Christmas morning. I think it even beat out my birthday morning. My sis and I would wake up, find our Easter baskets (HOORAY CANDY!), and then head downstairs to search for Easter eggs.

Now these weren't any old Easter eggs. In my family, we went all out. That meant  the whole family gathered around the table, dyeing eggs. Even though my sister's eggs always came out better than mine (she's the artist in the family, also, being four and half years older probably helped), I loved dyeing those eggs.

To carry on the Easter egg tradition, I snuck in one last Easter craft! This craft was also a copycat of a Pinterest craft. Check out the original crafter here. I had so much fun with this project. Here's a peek at my finished product.

So, the craft is actually pretty fun and easy to do. The fun part of the craft might even be easy enough for kids.

Here's what you'll need:

•  embroidery floss
• water balloons
• flour
• liquid starch
• something sharp  

Here we go! First, gather water balloons. Fill them up with air!

Second, blend together 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of liquid starch. BTW liquid starch is found in the laundry aisle. I wish someone would have told me that...finding it was the hardest part of this project. Grr...

Next, put some of your mix in a bowl. Make sure your table is covered with newspaper; this project gets a little messy. You'll need some embroidery floss. I used one floss for every two balloons. Make sure you pull the floss out and CAREFULLY place it in the bowl. It can get twisted up easily!

Then, wrap the floss around the balloon. It can be done any ol way you feel like it.  My only tip would be to make sure you are wiping the extra glue off of the floss before placing it on the balloon. It will make your life easier later.

Then, let them dry. I waited overnight. 

The next day, pop all of your balloons with a sharp object. Then, you might notice extra glue stuck the floss. Use your sharp object (I had a little blade attached to a pen-looking thing) to scrape off the extra dried glue.

You can stop there or take it one step further. I used knitting yarn and hot glue to make some of my eggs into garland. Thread the egg through the yarn (about 1/4 of the way down the egg) and dab a little hot glue on each side of the egg to keep in it place.

Here's a look at all of my Easter projects together!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Easter Craft, Part 2

Easter Bunting

Anther successful weekend! My parents were in town, and we spent most of our weekend over at my sister's new apartment, admiring the apartment and her baby bump! My mom, sister, and I also went to Palm Sunday Mass. I loved Palm Sunday growing up....getting to walk into church all together while singing and holding palm branches. It brought back great memories.

Of course, with all of the running around, I was too tired to complete my craft  yesterday. Luckily, today OFFICIALLY starts my spring break! HOORAY!

If you missed Easter Craft, Part 1, complete with the reasons I LOVE Easter...check out last week's blog.


So, without further ado, here's this week's finished product!

That's right! More PEEPS!!!


I found this idea via Pinterest a few months ago. For the original tutorial click here. I made a few changes to the craft, which I'll highlight in my blog. 


The first couple steps are all following the original tutorial.


1. print out pattern and trace onto felt. I used a Sharpie and made 24 bunnies (for the front and back) so I'd have a total of 12 bunnies when I was finished.

Then, carefully cut them out.

Next,you will sew the bunnies onto ribbon. I changed my project a little from the original here. Dana (the creator of this project) placed her bunnies right next to each other. I spaced mine out about 5 inches apart. Either way would be totally fine. I made sure that the "V" where the two ears came together was right above the top edge of the ribbon. Then, I sewed a straight line across each bunny.

I snipped off all of the loose thread strings. Next, Dana sandwiched the ribbon between the two bunnies...

...and then started to sew around the outside of each bunny.


I tried that too. However, the sewing around the outside of each bunny didn't go too well...

So, after some swearing and screaming (I'm sure Jeremy really regretted taking the day off for his birthday during these 5 minutes), I came up with plan B.


People, when in doubt, go for the hot glue!

I just hot glued around the outside of each bunny, put a line of glue down the middle, and slapped the other bunny over top!

Add some eyes and a nose using a fabric paint pen.

And, you are all set!

I'm off to celebrate Jeremy's birthday with a little lunch and some clothes shopping!


Enjoy your week!


Until next time, keep crafting!


SB