Collected Random Announcements

There's a part of me that always feels a little guilty writing posts like this. No big theme, tutorial, or tips, just a bunch of little things I wanted to tell you - I hope that's ok and at least some of you enjoy reading this :)

insideways is now on Facebook!

I was nervous about adding insidways to Facebook for a long time (I don't really know why), but I finally decided to just do it! I'll be posting links to all insideways posts, but I'm also excited to start sharing in progress photos and status updates. I'm also thinking this will be a nice place to share links to other or interesting blog posts I see. It would make me feel very very special if you wanted to hop on over to Facebook and like the insideways page. Be my Facebook friend?

Much to my surprise and honor, Georgia from More Like Home gave me the Liebster Blog award last week! What a crazy huge sweetheart right? Thank you Georgia!! Now I have to admit two things 1) I think I'm technically not qualified for this award - oh well too late now :) and 2) I actually got this award once before and didn't do anything with it. I'll admit, sometimes I feel really intimidated by these things, oops.

When you win the award, there are a few rules to follow:

1.) Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.

2.) Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.

3.) Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.

4.) Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserves it.

5.) Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here's the thing, I don't really know who has how many followers yada yada, but I wanted to share 3 amazing blogs with you that might be under your radar. So apparently I'm thoroughly breaking rule 4. Another oops.

Here they are!!!

K. - I'm so so so glad I found this blog and I've never seen 

anything like it before. Just trust me and go check it out :)

Salvaged Spaces - Leslie and Pete have THE COOLEST 

projects that they post all the time - such good DIY porn ;)

Scribbles and Such - Katie is just so crazy super sweet and 

writes the super sweetest blog ever.

GIVEAWAY

Don't forget to enter the Bella Pop Photography giveaway here on insideways. You have until Friday, but don't wait!

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

It has been years since I've dyed eggs for Easter. Years! This year, it was time to get back to the good ole days.



Why don't I dye eggs every year? Well, mostly because it can be a huge mess, but this year the allure of trying naturally dyed eggs won me over. Naturally dyed eggs get their color from spices, fruits, and vegetables. They're often less bright or consistently colored than kit-dyed easter eggs, but that's exactly what I love about them!



Instead of hard boiling my eggs, I blew out the yolk so that I could save them for future decorating. For dyes, I used red cabbage, yellow onion, red onion, blueberries, and cranberry juice.

There are tutorials all over the internet for making your own naturally dyed eggs. Here I the ones I found the most helpful:
1. Dyeing with Red Cabbage by Curbly
2. This pretty amazing tutorial for the two basic dyeing techniques by Lady Yum Yum
3. A compilation of tips by Debs Cook on Herb Crafts



For a little hands eyes-on taste of how it works, above you can see my cranberry, blueberry, and red onion dyes.... and below, the dyed end result!

(blueberry, cranberry, onion, and un-dyed for color reference)

Who knew cranberry would turn out a lavender grey!? I'm actually really happy with the range of colors I was able to achieve :)



On a few of my eggs I also added some parsley and wheat grass impressions using this method. It's not a fail-safe technique, but I love how it turned out.



Just a few tips in case you want to try these tutorials for yourself...
1. Be prepared for a mess! Drips, dirty dishes, lots of prep space - this project can get big fast!
2. Be gentle with your dyed eggs while they're wet - it's easy to rub off the color before it dries.
3. Experiment with how long you leave your eggs in the dye. That way you can get a huge range of color with much less work!



Now my eggs sit in my living room as a happy reminder of spring :)

Have you naturally dyed eggs before? What foods did you use and how did they turn out?

GIVEAWAY!! - Bella Pop Photography

One of my proudest in-progress accomplishments this past year is learning to take better photographs (yes, you can have an in-progress accomplishment, look it up (no, don't)). I was never a huge picture-taker before, but I'm completely hooked now!

I also know how frustrating it can be to feel like your photos aren't matching your vision, so today I'm so excited to offer you lovely insideways readers the chance to win $60 towards a Bella Pop Online Photography Class!



A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take the Bella Pop Shooting in Manual class and I LOVED it. I can personally vouch that these classes are high quality, totally manageable if you have a busy schedule, and super fun. FYI, you don't need a fancy camera to take a Bella Pop class - they even offer a Point and Shoot: Creative Basics for Any Camera class!



Let's get down to business...

How to Enter: Check out Bella Pop's classes and leave a comment saying which class you'd like to take.
Additional Entry (optional): Tweet about this giveaway, then come back and leave a comment telling me you did. If you need help thinking of what to say you can use, "I'm crossing my fingers to win the photography class giveaway @jeneralisation is hosting at insideways! http://www.insideways.com/2012/04/giveaway-bella-pop-photography.html"

Rules and Regs
1. This giveaway is only open to US citizens - sorry international readers, legal trickiness :(
2. You have to be 18 years or older to enter
3. Only one entry and additional entry per person please
4. One (1) winner will receive a $60 US credit towards a Bella Pop Online Photography Class
5. This giveaway ends on Friday, April 6, 2012 at 11:00PST and the winner will be announced/contacted shortly
6. The winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org

Good luck!

DIY Magazine (or Comic Book) Storage

We're not big magazine readers in my household, but a certain type of floppy literature certainly hangs around my apartment quite a bit - comics. Tim is a huge comic book fan, and I have to say, it's totally adorable watching him read them on the couch.



The old style artwork is so fun and makes me super nostalgic (even though I never read comics). I wanted to make some kind of comic book storage that was just as special as they were. This is what I came up with!



It's inspired by the Hockenheim magasine and newspaper storage unit by njustudio, but I made a few changes to the design...



The biggest change was adding castors to the bottom. Now we can roll this little guy under the coffee table when Tim's not using him. With such a small apartment, every space is useable and under the coffee table is no exception!



The base is made from leftover reclaimed wood from my unfinished ikea hack project and the belts were thrifted. To be 100% honest, I'm not totally convinced I love the mixed metals of the belt buckles, but I'm going to live with it for a bit and see.



See? Fits right under there! The project took me a total of about an hour and cost maybe $10 for the belts and castors. Everything else was just sitting in my apartment - win!



Do you have a comic reader in your house? Is it you!? How do you store your books, magazines, and comics?

Habit Buddies!

Something really special happened after I posted about using a Practice Snake to help form good habits the other day. Turns out, there are quite a few people out there pumped to work on some new habits!

(Me from day 1 and 2 of my practice snake)

Better yet? Several of us are coming together to tackle our habits as a team!! So today I'd like to do two things, 1) introduce you to those awesome ladies and 2) invite you to join us!

Leslie from Salvaged Spaces - 100 days of work on her blog

Amanda from Colorful Goth - 4 weeks of the gym/violin practice and 100 days of no clothes shopping

Ali from Internal Order - 100 days of flute practice and no clothes shopping

Brittany who's blogging all about her practice snake - 100 days of violin practice

Beth - 100 days of exercise

Heather - 100 days of piano/voice/gym/ and laundry management (epic - good luck lady!!)

Me :) - 100 days of cello practice

(Amanda and Brittany practicing)

So you see, people are doing all kinds of things with this little project. I'm so freaking excited!

To join forces with us, check out how the Habit Snake works here. Don't worry, you can change up the process in any way that works for you!  Use the hashtag #HabitBuddies on twitter or instagram to follow everyone's progress. Feel free to email me questions, pictures of your progress, or reach out for support. Let's team up and get sh*t done!



If you want your own practice snake, you can draw one, download one here, OR, you can visit Leslie's blog for a habit elephant!!! Not kidding - it's so good :)



To end with a moment of total honesty - the first two weeks of habit forming are scientifically proven to be the toughest. At least two of the people mentioned above (myself included) have already killed a snake since we started this shindig - hah! Be sure to set goals you can accomplish and don't worry if life interferes. Practice snakes are about the journey, so enjoy it!