First Day of Spring?

For those of you in New England, I'm sure you stand with me in saying, "Thank goodness it's spring!" Although, I can't say that this 30s weather with chilly breezes really feels much like the hope of greenery and life around the corner. Yesterday, I got about 6 inches of snow outside my apartment. So grateful to my fiance for digging me out during this whole winter season, seeing as I am not really allowed to brandish a shovel for much actual shoveling! I will say it was nice yesterday to see a flock of red-winged blackbirds outside my fiance's brother's house, despite the flurries.

Since I was stuck at his house for the first part of the day yesterday, I worked a little more on our centerpieces and parents' gifts for the wedding and did a little more research, reading the book I'm currently reading. All the decor and favors for the wedding are handmade by yours truly and it has been a lot of fun along the way - so much fun that I am hoping to keep it up as at least a hobby.
One of the most time-consuming projects has been the flower balls for the ceremony. It started as a whim, when I saw flower balls on Pinterest as an idea for wedding decor. Once I established that I liked the idea of using mainly pearls for the wedding bling, seeing this pin inspired me to attempt it. I think it was even the first thing I tried to make for the wedding...and I failed miserably, haha. In fact, I remember after a few attempts of gluing pearls individually, then smothering the styrofoam ball in glue and dunking it in the pearls, then trying to keep the pearls on it long enough to stick by wrapping it in plastic wrap (which of course didn't allow the glue to dry), I just threw it in the trash. I decided to go more traditional with the flower balls and do actual "flowers".
Coming across this tutorial for felt flowers, I decided to use this technique for making the flowers. It was a much longer process, however, as I do not own a glue gun and was using all-purpose school glue. However, the felt flowers were a better material for transporting than the paper ones I saw tutorials for, since they are more easily reshaped without wrinkling where you don't want it.
1. Cut the rectangle of felt from the craft store into 8ths (fold in half 3 times and cut each time).
2. Fold each piece in half and glue the bottom together; weigh it down with something and wait till it dries.
3. Cut the edges of the non-glued side every few centimeters, into a fringe.
4. Apply glue to the bottom again and roll it up, securing it with a rubber band until it dries.
5. Stick each flower onto the styrofoam ball, using styrofoam glue and securing it with a toothpick.

6. Once the glue dries, do not attempt to remove the toothpick, as it will result in pulling the whole flower off and/or splinters in your fingers. Trust me! Instead, snap it off as close to the base as possible to prevent injury in handling the ball later.
7. I decided to use the leftover pearl beads from the failed project to dress up the flower ball by supergluing them randomly on the flowers.
8. Secure a ribbon on the ball for hanging, using styrofoam glue and holding it down with something till it dries. In my case, the ribbon had a mesh center, so I stuck another toothpick through it.
9. Tah-dah!

 

I have 1.5 more to go before I finish the 5 I plan to make and each one gets easier, but still time-consuming. Thankfully, I have a lot of free time on my hands these days! This is about the only good thing about being humbled into unemployment by your own body.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to have a place in 2 weeks where I can spread out and organize my craft projects and supplies. Right now, they are basically in boxes around the apartment, wherever they would fit and not be in the way. ;)

Thanks again for reading my rambles and enjoy the rest of the day!

Current Foodie Obsession: Coconut Oil

I tend to be a little slower when it comes to some trends, the latest of which happens to be the popularity of coconut oil. In fact, if it weren't for my Pinterest interest, I would most likely still be clueless as to its properties and usefulness! After doing extensive research about people's personal encounters with it, as well as some research articles on my favorite go-to site for anything health-related, Web MD, I decided to load up on it with a great Groupon for extra-virgin coconut oil.

The first thing I noticed when I received my oil in the mail was that it was unlike any other oil I'd used before...in that it was solid. This is probably my only complaint about it, though, so far. (Can't be put down the drain at all, needs to be melted for certain uses.) Although, the fact that it seems to want to float on mixes and smoothies instead of mixing into them can be slightly annoying. If anyone has any advice on how to get it to somehow increase its density enough to be mixed longer than a few seconds, I'm all ears...or eyes, in this case. :) I love the flavor it gives fried eggs, especially knowing it is so much better to use than butter or margarine. I am a big fan of olive oil, as well, for being a healthy cooking oil, but there are just some recipes you can't risk adding that distinct olive oil taste to, like cookies or brownies. Trust me, I've tried it a few times! I have yet to use coconut oil in these recipes, but I imagine the taste of coconut compliments them a lot more.
I have used it, too, on my hands and lips and have been very satisfied with the results. The only drawback I've encountered is that it is so light an oil that it doesn't stay on my lips very long and doesn't absorb fast enough before I inevitably wipe it off somehow. (The reason I don't often wear any colored lip products.) The first time I used it on my hands, though, my hands were still soft the next day. Granted, it was not one of those frigid, dry winter days, so it would be good to test it in that case. It smells so good, though, that if I have to re-apply a few times in the day, I don't mind!
Another use I read about and tried, after reading article after article about it, was the method of oil pulling. Basically, all you do is swish the oil in your mouth for 20 minutes, then spit it out into the trash. It is supposed to attract all the bacteria in your mouth to the oil, because of the properties of bacteria's cell walls. I was a skeptic and the name sounded painful and the method sounded torturous, but I can say after about 10 days of trying to fit it in at least every other day, I now find it relaxing (not to do anything involving opening my mouth for 20 minutes) and cleansing (my mouth actually does feel fresher afterwards!) Some articles said that only extra-virgin coconut oil should be used for oil pulling, but others suggested even using other types of oils, so I'm not sure how important that factor is.
Either way, I'm hooked for now. We'll see if I get through all 6 tubs of oil before this phase passes, haha. Tune in next time for, maybe, an actual craft-related post. ;)
- Jess
Sneak peek:

The Return of Craftiness

Well, here goes nothing! Welcome, kind readers, as I embark on another writing endeavor. It's been quite some time since I kept a blog, but I remember enjoying it. I suppose as my life got "less interesting" after college, facebook seemed sufficient for any sort of life updates or posting photos.
The main focus of this blog will be on my crafty projects, as is probably obvious by the title. I used to be pretty creative and crafty in my youth - sewing doll clothes, making jewelry, painting and drawing various things I was inspired by, etc. My creativity was somewhat suppressed as I focused on my love of science and marine biology in college and afterwards, but inspiration began to really hit me again when I bought my first Canon with 12 MP and 16x zoom. Suddenly, I had to take a picture of anything that caught my eye.

 I highly recommend it to any aspiring photographer who is looking for something more portable and affordable - the color and crispness is awesome. But I digress...
In February of last year, I was inspired by my trip to Portugal to make a lenco do namorado for my (then) boyfriend. I had read about them as a tradition before going and hoped to find one to buy as a souvenir, but the least expensive ones, even, were well over $65US. I couldn't justify spending that much on a handkerchief, as beautiful as it was. It wasn't like I could read what it said anyway, haha. So, as my job then involved spending hours on fishing boats, often with nothing to do but sleep or read for days at a time, I got started on my lenco and was almost finished in 3-4 days. I had so much fun doing it, I couldn't wait to give it to him after I sewed it into a pillow!

 

His and his brother's kitties modeling for a picture with my lenco do namorado pillow

After finishing that one, I couldn't wait for a reason to embroider again and it was such a good way to pass the down time at work. My sister was graduating that May and I decided to make one for her, as well.

My sister proudly holds her pillow gift from me

Since then, I also embroidered mini pillows for my sister again, as my maid of honor, and my best friend, as my bridesmaid, following ideas I found on Pinterest of bridesmaids gift ideas. And then I used my renewed embroidery skills on our card basket for the reception!

I don't foresee the embroidering stopping anytime soon! Depending on how I feel after finishing the book I'm currently reading, I may turn it into more than just a hobby, along with some other crafts I've been dabbling in. Tune in next time for more of those!
Thanks for reading and I hope it was enjoyable, as I'm a little rusty on the whole writing thing. :)
- Jess