Decorating Reginald (my Christmas tree.)

I wanted to get really crafty with my Christmas decorating this year, so decided to make my own festive ornaments!  My roomie and I decided to name our Christmas tree Reginald, Reg for short, and here is what he's wearing!

*Tree topper- a floral headpiece that I made (DIY to come shortly.)  We decided it looked lovely on top of Reg.  We also wrapped his top branch with sparkly gold ribbon.  I personally think it looks like it could be in the window of an Anthropology display!  (Maybe I'm getting a little over confident with my tree decorating?)

*Garland- I found this amazing glittery ribbon at JoAnne's craft store.  It is super, super glittery, but doesn't shed glitter everywhere! Truly amazing.  I got the ribbon in several colors- bright blue, gold, silver, white, and pink.

*Ornaments- I purchased a ton of plain wooden ornaments in star and circle shapes.  I covered some ornaments completely in colorful sequins, and others using mod podge and patterned craft paper.  I wanted an alternative look, not the traditional red and green.  I love Reggie's color scheme!

*Extras-  I also found some bright blue snow flakes in the $1 bin at JoAnne's craft store.  And, of course, no tree is compete without lots of colorful (or white- your choice!) lights!




(Sorry for the blurry pics! Not cool.)

I am truly comforted when I walk in my apartment and see Reginald's beautiful decorations!  I've had such a wonderful holiday season this year. :)

How do you decorate YOUR tree?

Silent Auction Craftiness

My office recently held a silent auction benefiting the Susan G Komen foundation.  Funds raised this year will help pay for employee registration for the Race for the Cure run, a fundraiser being held at San Diego's Balboa Park in November.  If you are in the area and interested in the event, check it out here.

I love that my office does stuff like this, and always jump at the chance to somehow get involved.  This year I auctioned off two items.  My friend Megan and I created crafty greeting cards which sold for $20 dollars.  We had so much fun making them.  Like...a LOT of fun.  I want to make more and more.  We used printed craft paper from Michaels, blank cards, a craft stick, some Instagram prints of mine, and our imaginations. Check out some of my favorites from our "collection."  (We kept pretending we had a greeting card biz...often calling our cards our "latest collection." Yeah, we're dorks.)







In addition to crafty cards,  I auctioned off four hours of free babysitting.  True story:  I run a babysitters club.  I have about 7 clients now that ask me to nanny on a weekly basis.  I'm babysitting tonight, in fact.  I love working with kids, and am loving the thrill of being an entrepeneur.  I ultimately want to do something that combines children and craftiness full time.  So,  I'm on my way. :)  A woman that I already babysit for ended up winning the bid for my free babysitting.  Here is a lil' card I made for the lucky winner.

A day at the Ronald McDonald House.

This past weekend I volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House here in San Diego.  We were there to help serve a lunch for the families staying there and I created an arts and crafts project for the kids.  It was so much fun and so rewarding.  I've seriously been telling myself to volunteer for years, and procrastinated doing such an awesome thing for way too long.  I am on a volunteer kick now, which feels so rad!  The kids made Valentine's Cards for their family members and each lil' one was so cute!  I went so overboard at Michael's, I pretty much grabbed every sparkly hearted thing I could find!  If you have time, volunteer for something that matters to you.  It felt so good to get out of my normal self indulgent Saturday routine and focus on someone else for a change.

DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater

  

"Ugly Christmas Sweater" parties are huge this year around my circle of friends, so I thought I would get crafty and uglify (yep, just invented that word) my own unfashionable sweater from scratch!  I headed to my favorite place, Michael's Craft Store, and stocked up on pipe cleaners, pom poms, hot glue sticks, and snowflake cut outs.  You can obviously pick and choose whatever tacky doodads you would like for your own sweater.  Here is my creation, step by step!  Old sweaters are funny, but DIY sweaters are FUNny because they are super fun to make!






Supplies Needed:
* An old, preferably tacky, sweater (Get creative with turtlenecks and vests, too!)
* A hot glue gun and plenty of glue sticks
* Tacky, three dimensional objects (Think jingle bells, pom poms, holly leaves, etc.)
* Scissors

Renegade Craft Fair!

I'm taking a little road trip to L.A. this weekend! : D

Crafty, crafty!

This is just a lil' crafty card I made to send to my mom. I am really passionate about doodling, is that possible? I just love creating with my hands, designing with ink, and decorating an inspirational saying.