This Week in Glue: Or, Stuff to Get Me Through a Monday

The week is new. 
What do I like to get me through?
The stuff of Soul Glue:

Beverage: Polar Seltzer. Delicious. Amazing. I enjoy the blueberry flavor on the rocks with wedges of lemon and lime.

The Chi-Cha chunking it up on a
hot day.

Nickname for Gabe: The Chi-Cha. Gabe's nicknames are forever evolving. At some point, I will do a history of Gabe's nicknames to put them in some context. I have worries that he will never actually know what his real name is, but who can resist calling her fat baby ridiculous names? Not this lady.

Reading: Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. This is is the sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora. The trilogy is sort of Ocean's Eleven meets The Lord of the Rings.

Way to Waste Time on the Internet: For those of us who grew up with the original Nintendo, this video will BLOW YOUR MIND (and also suck five minutes from your life).

Troubleshooting: How to make Commander Riker ear studs.

Words of Inspiration: Mary Oliver says, "I believe in kindness. Also in mischief." 

Around the House: Cutting flowers from the various plants outside our house to make little bouquets.

So lovely. No crap in the background.

And reality.

Craft Idea: This tutorial for rain chains has been on my crafty Pinterest board for ages. Even if you didn't stick the chain at the end of a downspout, it would still make a lovely outdoor, or indoor, decoration.

Want to Learn More About: How to style my medium length hair. Last week, I became fed up with putting my hair in a clip and calling it a day. Since then, I have been scouring the internet for tutorials about how to put my hair into decent updos. If I wear it down, Gabe takes chunks of it in both hands and pulls me toward him in order to give me passionate drooly kisses. I love the kisses, but could do without the hair pulling. So far, I've found the Ma Nouvelle Mode blog, which features some helpful tutorials.

What's keeping your soul glued this week?

Hot Ticket Tuesday Presents Erica Bowden, Wreath Conqueror!

This week, Hot Ticket Tuesday brings you the fabulous Erica Bowden. Erica and I met through our husbands, who went to college together and are part of a weekly gaming group. I knew that we would be friends once I learned about Erica's interest in crafts and her love or organizing. When she and Scott, her hubby, moved, Erica color coded her boxes. That blew my mind and made me realize that I needed to get to know her better! As luck would have it, Erica and I ended up moving relatively close to each other (15 minutes), so we get to see each other a bit more often. In today's post, Erica talks about the seasonal wreaths she has been adorning her beautiful home with since Christmastime. Makes me think that perhaps I should get going on a wreath for our door!

Tell me about a craft and/or art project you made.
I've been on a wreath making kick for the front doors of our house. I've never had an exterior front door that was worth decorating before, and when we moved last summer, I knew wanted to add some flair to help make us stand out a bit more.

What inspired you to make it?
My first wreaths I made at Christmas, and they were inspired by things I had seen on Pinterest. I didn't see anything similar in stores with the colors I wanted to match the house, so I thought, I can do this. I purchased a new glue gun and off I went. Pinterest was my muse for Valentine's Day as well but my most recent Spring creations were more of a result of finding silk flowers at the craft store I liked, and then playing around with arranging them.

These looked amazing on Erica's doors. She and Scott also framed their front porch with tiny lights. The effect was  perfect: Just the right amount of flash for the holiday season.

Did you come up with the idea yourself, or did you find a pattern and/or template that you used?
The ornament wreaths I did a lot of internet searching for to try and get a handle on how many I'd need to buy. Same thing for the Valentine's wreath. I used an internet how-to for cutting and folding the felt. The spring flowers were an original, with some help from Scott.

What type of medium did you use?
Oh, the hot glue I've been through. Plastic ornaments and lots of hot glue for Christmas on a foam core wreath. Everything I had read about needing more than I thought I would was true. I used a ton of ornaments. Valentine's Day was felt and flat-head pins, also with a foam core wreath. Once I bought a heavy duty circular cutting tool, this was a breeze to get through. Spring was silk flowers, and a metal wreath core, and a tiny bit of glue to hold the peonies in.

Erica used a snazzy circular cutting tool for the felt. I need to  make a project that uses circular pieces of fabric so that I can use that tool!

What did you enjoy about making this project?
The best part was the satisfaction about finishing them, and being able to display them on the house. It gives me the warm and fuzzies when I get home every day, seeing them on the door.

What did you think about while you were making it?
Depended on the phase of the project!  My thoughts generally started with, "What am I getting myself into?" and progressed to, "Ugh, I have another whole wreath to make!" and finished with, "These are going to look so neat on the door. I'm so glad I did this."

I also think a lot about my grandmother, who was a crafty person in her own right.

Were you doing anything else while you worked on this project? If so, what? (For example, sometimes I watch tv while crocheting.)
I usually either had Netflix going, or at the very least, some music.

Were you pleased with the finished product? What pleased and/or displeased you about it?
Yes! I think the ornaments have been my favorite ones so far. They were such a bold and fun look. I like my spring ones, but I have been second guessing the decision to not add more flowers. I suppose the art of restraint is key, right?

Simple and lovely. Come on spring!

Will you make it again?
I'm not sure about making these exact ones again, but I have already started working on ideas for a summer-themed wreath. I'll definitely re-use my existing ones until they get damaged. Or I get bored with them. Or I find something I like even more on Pinterest.

Lastly, what is your favorite color and glue?
Anything blue. From navy, to sky, to electric.
Double-sided tape. I love wrapping presents with it. (That counts as glue, right?) :)
You think outside the box, my friend, and I embrace that. Double-sided tape is from now on a type of glue.

Hot Ticket Tuesdays Presents Adrienne Breslin and the Lovely Rustic Charm of Love

This week's Hot Ticket post features my good friend, Adrienne, who has been busily working on decorations for her wedding in June. Adrienne and I have been friends since middle school, which was about a million years ago. I've always been struck by how different we are: Adrienne is kind of like the Yin to my Yang. She's outgoing, and I'm fairly introverted. The main thing I think we both have in common is silliness. When we get together, we are extremely silly; it's like we're back in high school at play practice.

I've lost touch with a lot of close friends over the  years, but Adrienne and I have always managed to stay in touch. I love that. We got together this weekend, and spent a day crafting like only brides-to-be and former brides can craft. (Someday I will write a post about the horrors of paper flower creation for my wedding.) Adrienne talks about her inspiration for her wedding decorations below. Enjoy!

Tell me about a craft and/or art project you made.
Several things: Burlap picture frames with writing on glass; Our musical “this is where our song begins” sign; Our escort cards; And our rustic crafty mason jars for candles!

What inspired you to make it?
I wanted to find a way to add my own crafty touch to the wedding – our venue is kind of rustic but with a touch of glam. It is all exposed wooden beams, big stone fireplace, but also has these huge copper and crystal chandeliers that give it a glamorous touch. I also wanted to make sure that our interests and personalities came out in our own artistic touches – the wedding has a music theme due to our joint love of music, and I wanted to bring that into our wedding in a classy, but not overbearing way.

Did you come up with the idea yourself, or did you find a pattern and/or template that you used?
A little of column a, a little of column b.

I came up with the picture frame idea on my own. Burlap is the epitome of rustic charm in my mind, and I love the texture it brings, something different than flat paper. I decided to write on the glass, thinking it would add some depth and volume to the look. To be honest, I am rethinking this because I actually find the writing hard to read – I may end up going for a more layered look, using the burlap as a mat instead of a background, bring in an additional layer of matting using my music note paper, and print on cream paper instead.

Adrienne asked our friend, Jojo, to write little poems that tell people where to go for
programs, seats, etc.  She used a chalk pen to write on the glass. I coveted the chalk
pen, but did not tell her. Hint hint.

I got the idea for the sign from Etsy, but wasn’t in the mood to pay money for a wooden lettered sign. The original sign said, “This is where our story begins.” I saw the sign about a year ago and fell in love with the saying and the whimsy of the hand lettering. As our musical theme came about, I started toying with the idea of getting the sign made with the words “This is where our song begins” instead.

The sign was a labor of love that I worked on for several hours this weekend.
Adrienne worked in my wedding flower sweat shop, so I figured that I owed
her big time. 

Mason jars were a total Pinterest find. You can’t log in without finding them. The hardest part of this project for me was actually finding mason jars to begin with!

Escort cards were my idea – we used craft paper envelope thingys for our invitations, and I love that rustic look again, so ran with it.

What type of medium did you use?
The picture frames were $3.99 from Christmas Tree Shop, and I bought sheets of burlap (found in the section where they keep all the pretty paper) from Michaels. I googled the best marker for writing on glass and ended up buying mine from Amazon for about $5. I found this nifty spreadsheet that helped me decide which pen to go with.

For our sign, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to stencil on wood and how to make wood look aged and pretty. It turned out that I found a $5 clearance canvas painting at Christmas Tree Shop, which I ended up mod podging our music note paper onto (bought the paper at Michaels – I think it was like 59 cents a page…and I bought 1 million pages). Then together with the craft mistress of SoulGlue notoriety, we stenciled the saying with our names and date of wedding.

My vote goes for the burlap, lace, ribbon ensemble, but I think
they're great overall and will look fabulous with candles inside.

For the mason jars I used….mason jars. Then I am using a bunch of different things to pretty them up – I bought a yard of lace at Joann Fabrics for $5. I also got a mini roll of burlap from Michaels, some pretty ribbons (some was used with my invitations that bring my color sage green into the mix, the other is just a papery white).  I am doing a mix of mod podging lace to them, and also hot gluing the ribbon and burlap to them as well. I think my favorites are the mix of burlap and ribbon, and the one with burlap and lace as well.

Please note necessary crafting supplies of coffee and glue
stick in background.

Escort cards are probably the easiest and most annoying of all of this stuff. They are just craft paper and the music note paper from Michaels, and I am cutting them into the right size – craft paper big enough to fold in half, and then gluing a smaller rectangle of the music paper  to it. For the actual info part (name, table, etc), I am using a textured sticker from Staples that actually has a nice crafty feel to it. I like that they are oval, because it will allow more of the music paper to come through on the edges.

What did you enjoy about making this project? 
I love that I am adding my own time and effort to the wedding decor – the place itself is gorgeous, and I also have a florist making centerpieces and accent floral pieces. But I'm excited that I get to include my own glue, sweat, and tears to our big day.

What did you think about while you were making it?
June 2nd, when I can look back on and enjoy all this planning and crafting.

Were you doing anything else while you worked on this project? If so, what? (For example, sometimes I watch tv while crocheting.) 
Most of the time I listen to music or bug my dog for her thoughts on life.

Were you pleased with the finished product? What pleased and/or displeased you about it? 
Most of the stuff I love…again, the only thing I am not sure about is the frames – I am going to try one “the other way” and decide from there!

Will you make it again?
I can see me using the mason jars around the house for a variety of things! I’d love to plant some herbs in them and keep them on the sill in my kitchen.

Lastly, what is your favorite color and glue?
Favorite color is sage green – my favorite glue is superStik permanent glue stick!

Moving and General Whackiness

Greetings Soul Glue followers! It has been about six months since my last post--far, far, FAR too long. In short, Erik and I decided to buy a house and move. When you have about 18 tons of craft supplies, as well as cat accouterments, movies, and dishes to pack, you're busy. The summer was spent packing up the apartment. Early fall was spent moving from the apartment into the house. The remainder of fall has been spent painting, cleaning, raking, and painting. So far, we've completely repainted the master bedroom and kitchen. (When I find the camera, I will post some before and after pictures.) We're settling into the house, as are the cats. I've become a bit addicted to using our fireplace. I actually think it was an old addiction that had gone dormant due to apartment living for several years.

Despite the great move of 2012, I have managed to dabble a bit in crafts. Mostly, I've been crocheting an afghan inspired by a pin on Pinterest, to which I am also now addicted. I posted a post about my Pinterest page a while ago, but here is the link, if you're interested. I've gone bananas with craft related pins.

I think I'll keep this entry short for today. Here are pictures of my cats looking like cyborgs:

An Interest for Pinterest

Last week at this time I would have been up studying for the freaky exam I took. Now that the exam is over, I'm up, drinking coffee, and happily typing a new post for Soul Glue. I recently received an invite to Pinterest, the online pin board sensation that purportedly is a brilliant pile of time suckage. Because I have been known to troll the internet for items I want or like or confuse me, I thought I'd accept the invitation. If you're (p)interested (is it too early for puns??), you can follow me at http://pinterest.com/soulgluecollage/. Right now, there are just a couple of pins. My hunch is that there will be many more to come.