A Homemade Valentine's Card

For me, nothing says "I care" like "I made it for you." I love one of a kind gifts and personalized details! While Tim and I don't go all out for Valentine's Day, I wanted to make him a card to let him know how much I really really really love him. I thought I would share some of the fun techniques I used with you!

1. Sewing on Paper: I've wanted to try sewing on paper for a LONG TIME now. It has such a great unexpected and very special look to it, and you can mix and match different fun stitches. Pro Tip: Be sure to use heavy paper as the base of your card if you plan to sew on it. Get some extra and test your stitches to be sure your card will turn out the way you want it to. 

2. Layer Different Papers: I used some extra wrapping tissue and brown paper to jazz up my card. The layers add depth and interest. I ripped the edges of my paper, but you can cut yours with clean lines for a different look.

3. Print on Unconventional Paper: I printed a black and white picture of Tim and I on some extra brown paper I had. It didn't print perfectly, but the streaks and imperfections are part of the charm. I love the vintage feel the brown paper gives our picture.

4. Perforated Coupons: They might be a little silly, but I love thoughtful coupons as gifts. If you sew on your card without using thread you can make perforations so your sweetheart can rip off their coupon whenever they want! Pro Tip: Be sure to test the stitch length before you make your perforations. Too long and your paper won't rip easily. Too short and you'll sew your card into pieces!

5. Heart Stamps: I saw this cute little trick on Design Thoughts and couldn't wait to try it. Using a toilet paper roll you can stamp as many hearts as you'd like. Works like a charm! I'm going to write a personal message to Tim on top of those cute hearts, but that's for just between the two of us :)

The most important thing of all is to make it personal. Inside jokes, references to meaningful events - it's just between you and your special someone after all! Good luck with any last minute Valentine-ing you need to do - hope these techniques help!

One Room Challenge: Week Four!

That's right - week four, you heard me. That's four as an 2/3 of the way through the One Room Challenge!

We'll just say that this week has certainly been a challenge for me and that work in my spare room has been in a bit of a holding pattern. A most wonderful friend has been staying in that very unfinished space and has been so gracious as to not say a word about what a disaster it is.

Tight space. Tight friends.

To respect her space (even though it is a disaster) I've mostly been in planning mode for a big Ikea hack that I'm working on. I'll let you in a few of the details...

Tim and I started out with a 5x5 Expedit Bookcase by Ikea...

In an epic but super fun evening, we rearranged all of the shelf dividers via inspiration from this great Ikea hack by Martin Lepej. (The completed picture on the bottom left isn't of our new arrangement, it's Martin's. We did things a little differently and you can see a sneak peek in the picture on the bottom right.)

We love the new configuration, but we're not too keen on total open shelving. See case and point below...

Open shelving = our ugly things in full view = nope, not gonna happen. While we could buy a bunch of baskets or crates, it would be expensive and I'm just not feeling it. Instead, we're going to do a little more hacking... something like one of these...

(Read more at Grassroots Modern here and Ikea Hackers here)

Yep, doors. We've gotten as far as buying hinges we like, but are still looking for the right door material. What do you think? Wood? Something else? What would you use?

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Don't miss the progress happening in other very awesome corners of the internet!

Suzanne from Saved by Suzy  ................  Kelly from Refreshed Designs

Jaydn from Dutch.British.Love  .................  Danylle from Nana Moon Shop

Nicole from Nicole Scott Designs  ...................  Taylor from Taylor Morgan Design

Tiffany from Living Savvy  .....................  Jennifer from The Pink Pagoda

Kim from Kim Macumber Interiors  ....................  Lisa from Trapped in North Jersey

Emily from Rue de Emily  ......................  Janet from House Four

Linda from My Crafty Home-life  ...................  Sharon from A Lifestyle Thing

Where oh where has the blogging gone?

Ahhh, Monday and Tuesday and no post!? What's going oonnnnn??

Well, the short answer is a lot. And I thought I would let you in on it.

For the past several days I've had two wonderful guests in town for a big music project that is coming to a head right now (pretty much as you read this in fact). It's so very wonderful to be with friends and to have such great music happening, but I think many of us know how much guests in town can contribute to I'm-behind-in-everything-edness. There are some records of our work and adventures over at my Diagenesis Duo website if you care for a little extra reading.

Another major major inhibitor to my posting is that my camera is broken. Yep, totally broked. One minute I'm taking pictures for the One Room Challenge, the next I'm staring blankly at a frozen camera. I'm working on getting it fixes, but that means no purty pictures of any projects I've been working on right now... Boo :(

I do have something small and possibly lame to share with you. Possibly lame, but possibly cool? Update: Here I am thinking, I'll make up for my absence by sharing that little project I photographed with my iPhone. That will be nice right? Nope. Computer error - images inaccessible. It's not ment to be my friends. Instead of deleting this section giving up, I thought I would just leave it in as a true demonstration of how much life is interfering with blogging right now...

Here's a promise (one I can keep): this week insideways might stink a little, but NEXT WEEK I'll do my best to rock your socks off. So for now, accept my apologies. I'm sorry!! Thanks for sticking with me through the tough times!!

Outdoor Living: Porch Reveal!

As a finale to insideway's plant themed week, I have a plant themed reveal for you! Welcome to Tim and my little outdoor space - our porch!

At 4x10 feet, we're not talking a wealth of outdoor space, but every little bit counts :)

In an ideal world we could pretty up the harsh steel grating on the porch, but any covering I've thought of would also block a lot of light. I'd rather more light over a slightly prettier railing. (If you have any ideas, let me know! Remember, it's a rental...). One of the best purchases we made for the porch... the humming bird feeder. It. Is. Awesome. And humming birds are out there all the time. So cute and pretty!

Both of our chairs were craigslisted (read more here and here) and are super comfy. 

The crate herb garden Tim and I made is working out beautifully and has become the pretty little center to a collection of small plants.

We keep almost all of our plants out here because, let's face it, plants are easier to keep alive outside! If you're interested, here's a list of our plants:

Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree
In the herb garden: Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Cilantro, Basil, Parsley
Spearmint
Wheatgrass (for our cats, it's good for their digestion)
About ten varieties of succulents
Air Plants

Oh and I don't want to forget my little orange watering can. It's actually a pitcher, but hey it pours water so it counts :)

What do you think? Is it a porch you could stand to drink your morning coffee on?

One Room Challenge: Week 3

Regular blog readers might be wondering, how in the heck is Jen going to make a room design plant related. Is she just going to stick some plants in the room? Kind of boring...

Nope, no living plants here! For this week's installment of the one room challenge, I worked on an art project I've wanted to try for a loooong time - string art! Based on an inspiring Pinterest pin, I decided to put a giant string art tree on the empty wall in our spare bedroom!

I started the project by mapping out the shape of the tree with blue painters tape like this...

Then I jumped in with the nails and string (I'm actually using yarn).

Here's where we are now!

Shocking surprise, it's not finished yet. BUT it's actually not that difficult to do at all. The main barriers to me finishing it is 1) I can't do a million nails at once or the neighbors will kill me and 2) it's kind of boring... Slowly but surely I'll add more branches and fill 'er all out in time for the big reveal.

Here are some other peeks into what I've been up to...

A trip to Ikea yielded new shelving Expedit style. Oh hey, you're right. Those shelves aren't lined up like the Expedit cubbies are... seems like someone's been hacking...

Time for some honest truth-making. All of the encouraging comments from last week's failure post made me feel incredible and totally empowered to re-tackle the rug! I had a plan, I was ready to do it, then... I found my rug soul mate at Ikea. It's amazing and I can't wait to show you when it's all laid out! So, I'm abandoning the old rug for good. For those of you who thought this would be an underdog story of victory in the face of defeat, I'm sorry!!!! Turns out this was a love story about a girl trying to pretty up the wrong rug for her. Follow your dreams! Find your true rug love! Wow... I've taken this to a strange place...

Ahem.

That's it for me this week! I'm kind of terrified that the 6 weeks of this challenge are half way gone now... The epic concert marathon I have going on in my cello life is almost over, so I'm hoping to dedicate a LOT more time to this project. Don't forget to check out the other bloggers in this challenge. My guess is they're managing their time a little better than I am ;)

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Suzanne from Saved by Suzy  ................  Kelly from Refreshed Designs

Jaydn from Dutch.British.Love  .................  Danylle from Nana Moon Shop

Nicole from Nicole Scott Designs  ...................  Taylor from Taylor Morgan Design

Tiffany from Living Savvy  .....................  Jennifer from The Pink Pagoda

Kim from Kim Macumber Interiors  ....................  Lisa from Trapped in North Jersey

Emily from Rue de Emily  ......................  Janet from House Four

Linda from My Crafty Home-life  ...................  Sharon from A Lifestyle Thing