Warm Days in the Garden

For today's Saturday Blogger Love I want to highlight Annika over on The Pineneedle Collective.  She has a lovely sense of style. Bright colors, fun tights, cute shoes, and colorful hair.  Anyone who mixes prints and brilliant colors wins my vote.  Then add in some fun hair dye, and I'm sold!  To top it all off she also sews, and has some great fashion related DIYs.  All around great blog, definitely check her out!  Plus, she turned me on to Chictopia, Annika posted that she was awarded May Style Icon.  Congratulations to her!  

So since I haven't done an outfit post in weeks.  Without any further ado ...

This was the perfect outfit for some light gardening, and a long walk with the dogmander and mister. 

These are my three favorite accessories.  I'm in love with my rock necklace, and I love wearing a clock with it.  The two necklace lengths worked perfectly.  My stepdad gave me the bracelet, it was his mother's.  This is my favorite bracelet, and I compare all other's to it. 

Tank Top -- Target

Shorts --  Kohl's

Shoes -- Dirty Laundry

Watch Necklace -- Urban Outfitters

Rock Necklace -- DIY handmade

Bracelet -- hand-me-down from my Step-Grandmother

I love mixing patterns and colors together.  Sometimes Aaron and I go a little overboard, but I'd rather majorly clash than wear all beige.  

I've noticed when scanning through the hoards of photos on Chictopia, my eye automatically zones in on these three things first.  

#1. an in-focus, well framed, and posed photograph

#2. BRIGHT COLORS!

#3. a great blend of patterns and colors.  Including how the background works with the outfit.  

Most of my outfit photos are in green spaces.  Though I do live in suburbia, and a hop skip and a jump from philadelphia, or other city-like places.  I guess I could include some actual cement in some of my pics.  Actually, when I drive to schools in the city I see AMAZING graffiti, which I'm a big fan of.  I love graffiti.  As long as the person spraying his or her mark on the wall is actually trying to make something beautiful, I think it's beautifying the concrete jungle.  My favorite graffiti tends to be in the worst neighborhoods though.  I might feel extra awkward posing in front of some awesome graffiti, while my husband takes pictures of me.  I think I'll try out somewhere In my neighborhood first.  I think I might have some ideas ...

That's enough rambling, hope you had a good saturday, and happy DIYing, chris.  

Friday Fascinations #6

Hey everyone!  Hope ya'll are having a great friday!  I have some great finds today, enjoy!

First off I have a beautiful DIY from Syl and Sam, a tutorial on feather nails.  I want to go buy feathers right now!  So pretty and simple, my type of DIY!  Syl and Sam have a fantastic blog, two cute girls with a lot of style and craftiness!  Plus they have extreme asymmetrical hairstyles, which I'm a HUGH fan of.  I found them via my newest addiction chictopia.com.  I added a couple pics, if you want to check, you can find me at: 365DaysofDIY.

Another pretty lady I found via Chictopia, she goes by Infatuated on there, but she also has a lovely blog called Everybody Dies.  Totally cute fashion blog, and I adore her hair.

I've been pinning over these Anthropologie pants.  So cute.  I may not be willing to shell out the hundred bucks,  but if I find yellow skinny jeans I might DIY white polka dots on them. I'm on the look out.  Target had some, but by the time I got there they only had one pair, two sizes to small.  Dang!  Part of me wants to buy them, because they are DEEPLY discounted (originally $218!), and I know the quality will be AMAZING.  On the other hand I have a hard time spending that much on one piece of clothing.

This pair of Free People sandals would be so cute with the polka dot pants!  I guess I'm really loving yellow this spring.  I don't have much yellow in my wardrobe, but I'm really digging it lately.

These two drawings are by Abby over on Ink, paint, and feathers.  Her work is beautiful.  I want one to hang on a wall, and a tattoo of one!  I've wanted a bird tattoo for a long long while, but I've had trouble finding the right art for the emotion the tattoo would hold for me.  I love her use of color and ink.  These pieces are so lovely, I have a hard time finding the words to describe how gorgeous they are.

My last find is a super fun product I recently came across, Fridge Magnets!  The top three are full refrigerator magnets, and they cost around $125, but the bottom individual magnets can range from $40 - $80.  Not bad to add a little fun in the kitchen.  They have just about anything you could think of, images of food, images of pretty people, or pretty places.  I think these are my five faves, but I'm sure I could easily make a list of ten!

I need to feed the dog, and then think about what us people are going to eat.  Have a good friday, and happy DIYing, chris!

Dog Show!

Yesterday was my old dog, Scruffy's birthday.  He turned sixteen!  Woah.  We didn't do anything, but maybe he got an extra treat. In the name of all things dog, here are some photos from the dog show Aaron & I went to at the end of April.  I mentioned it in this post, where I updated an old dog brooch.  

 Love the look on this dog owner's face!  Irish wolfhounds are beautiful dogs.  I absolutely love giant dogs.  I want a wolfhound, or great dane, or a scottish deerhound, or a neapolitan mastiff.  :)

 They are such majestical beast.  I mean check out this lady standing next to this giant doggie.  I want a dog to stand taller than me!

 I loved the way the lady on the end was dressed.  I hope I'm that snazzy, when I'm her age!  I love miniature schnauzer beards.  Two years ago my mom and I  randomly helped one of the schnauzer shower's hold their extra dogs.  They are fun dogs.

 This lady was a fun dresser too.  Apparently yellow was the color of the day.

 I love catching the dog owner's looking at me.  This lady's dog is gorgeous.  This breed is the chinese crested, which I'm used to seeing the hairless variety, but they also come in powderpuff, which means they have long silky hair.  So cute with hair!  Who knew!

 This husky was a champ, and I got a big kiss from him!  The pup I grew up with was part husky part wolf, so I'm always partial to this breed.  

 I totally want a frenchie.  I love the ridiculous noises they make.  Too bad they have so many health issues, and cost a few grand!

 I like them in brindle and black best.  I love sitting out in the sun watching dogs all day.  Great way to spend a sunday in my eyes.  Next year we'll be able to bring our pup moose.  Can't wait!

Hope ya'll are having a great Thursday, and happy DIYing, chris!

Garden Update

Today I want to share with ya'll how my garden is coming along thus far.  It's been such a warm spring, so everything is growing like gang busters.  Did I really just say that?  Am I 70 years old?

 Two Purple Beauty Pepper plants.

Pepper plant from above.

 Mint and a two year old Douglas Fir.  Mint is super invasive, so it's important to grow it in a container, and not stick it directly in the ground.  We need to trim our mint, bad.

 This has lettuce, oregano, broccoli and thyme.  The thyme is clearly doing best.  This is it's second year, it came back all on it's own this spring.  We already have tiny broccoli heads!

Love how this pretty lettuce looks with the sun shining through it's supple leaves.

Broccoli from above.  This one is so big, but not head yet!

Thyme, parsley that is going to seed, kohlrabi, and a tiny bit of dill.  That thyme is everywhere!  We have a TON in a box out back.  I need to dry it out, and fill my thyme mason jar.

 Tomato plants on the steps.  Those black pots are called Smart Pots, they are made of fabric, and are quite possibly the best containers to grow in on the market.

This big wooden barrel Aaron got for free from work.  His boss at Pier1 was planning on throwing them away!

 Look at this amazing root system!  We had to break this guy out of his container to plant him in the above planter.

 We have nine heirloom tomatoes in this section of the garden!  Plus a bunch of lettuce, carrots, some spinach, and a broccoli.  We tried some swiss chard, but it doesn't seem to be doing too well.

One of the broccoli leaves.  Love the droplets, especially the ones running along the purple stem. 

That's our garden!  I can't wait until we can eat tomatoes freshly picked off the vine.  What is your favorite veggie to grow?  Happy DIYing and gardening, chris!  

Rock Necklace

For April's Photo An Hour I  posted this photo, saying I was planning a DIY with these items.  I did the DIY with the doggie brooch at the beginning of this month, and today I am working with the rock.  This rock is from my one and only trip to Brighton Beach, England.  It was the only beach I've ever been to that was complete covered in rocks, no sand anywhere!  I love rocks, so I was in heaven.  Best beach ev-ar!  Way better than sand.  I didn't come home at the end of the day finding rocks in strange places, like I do with sand.  

Anyway on to the DIY.  In addition to the rock, I used some leftover chain from a project Aaron did, and some twine that came from a candle Aaron got from Pier1.  The rock is perfect for this project because it natural has a hole in it.  The moment I saw it I knew it was meant to be on a necklace.  This is my kind of DIY, because I didn't have to pay for any of the materials.  I also used a needle nose plier, and a pair of scissors.

This is the finished product on.  I started by centering the twine in the rock, and then I threaded it through the loops on the chain.  The ends of the chain met at the rock.  The ends of the twine met at the nape of my neck.  I used the needle nose pliers to remove the excess chain.  I eyeballed the length, placing it around my neck as I went to make sure I liked the look.  

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out.  So simple, and free, can't beat that!  I'm glad I'll be able to wear this lovely memory around my neck, and it looks so fancy.  It definitely doesn't look like something I made in less then ten minutes.  I hope I find some more awesome nature bits to make necklaces out of! 

Happy DIYing, chris!

Stawbuttery and Black & White Oreo Fudge

Hey ya'll, Happy Nom Nom Mondays!  Ha!  I guess I'm doing my best impersonation of Paula Deen there.  I do love butter, which brings me to my first treat for today.  I found this recipe on Pinterest.  It is called Strawberry Honey Butter from Half Baked.  

I made three and a half jars.  I gave one to my grandmother, and one to my mother for mother's day.  I tied a simple red bow of yarn around my grandmother's, because that's her favorite color.  :)  

My mixture came out a lot runnier and darker than Half Baked's.  I was in a rush, and I didn't carefully follow the directions to a T.  I missed that she said cook the strawberry mixture until thickened.  I cooked for a quick three minutes, and to bring it down to room temp I placed the sauce pan in a bowl of ice water.  I usually like to read the comments on blog recipes before I try them, because you can find helpful hints in there.  This time I rummaged through the comments afterwards.  I wanted to see if anyone else had similar results, and someone did!  Paula  (not Deen) thought it was due to not cooking the strawberry mixture for long enough.  I tried to thicken my mixture by using a half cup more of butter.  Not sure it did anything, but make it creamier, which definitely didn't hurt.  

This spread tastes great!  Strawbuttery!  I want to try it again with cooking the strawberries down all the way, to compare the results!  I spread it on a cinnamon raisin english muffin for breakfast.  Then again for an after dinner desert!  I switched it up a bit, and tried a hazelnut spread (Nutella knock-off) under the strawberry honey butter.  Love this mixture!  Great way to fill that chocolate craving, mmm, mmm, mmm!  

I also made some Double Decker Oreo Fudge.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from Bakers Royale.  This is my first layer in the pan.  

I used Spring Oreos, they have yellow cream instead of white centers, which made this layer a little yellow instead of cookies and cream colored.  That's a color right?  Definitely not the same as black and white ... oh, no, not at all. :)  

The recipe said it only needed an hour to setup in the fridge.  I left it in there for a couple hours, but the Oreo layer was still sticky yesterday.   I took these photos the today, and after sitting in the fridge overnight it was a thousand times easier to cut.  

My layers were not as perfect as Bakers Royale's, mostly because I used a larger pan.  This did not effect the flavor.  Still yummy Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate Oreo fudge.  I don't know why I think of fudge as a summer treat, but I think I might go fudge crazy this summer.  I forgot how simple it is to make, plus it doesn't take many ingredients, which makes it inexpensive to make too!  Maybe Peanut Butter Fudge next?  I love peanut butter.  :)

Hope ya'll had a great Monday, and Happy DIYing, chris!

T-shirt Dip Dye & Hammerhead Stencil

Happy Mom Day!  Sadly I don't have any mother's day crafts to post.  i'm not a very good daughter when it comes to presents.  I did hang out with my mom for most of today.  That should count for something.  Plus we cooked, and ate food together, and what better way to a mom's heart then through her tummy?  Ha!

Today I want to share a DIY I did a few days ago.  I came up with this idea about a month ago, but I was really nervous about actually doing it.  I dip dyed a t-shirt, and stenciled a hammerhead shark on it.  I've dyed fabric before, and stenciled tons of shirts, but this was a first combining the two.  Plus dying things is always an adventure, because it's hard to get exact sure fire results.  

This is the shirt I started out with.  Just a plain basic green tee from H & M.  It's a few years old, so it's getting very thin and stretched out.  

I was thrilled with the dye results.  I used Rit Dye Teal.  The powdered kind, not sure if that makes a difference, I've never tried the liquid kind.  I wanted the bottom to be darker, and for it to get lighter as it went up.  

Then I mixed up some grey fabric paint, and painted on my hammerhead stencil.  

I love how they turned out.  

I might add a boat on the top of the water, not sure yet.  I'll decide after I wash it again.  This shirt makes me really excited.  I want to make more t-shirts.  I really love stenciling, and dying the fabric adds an extra level of awesome.  I need to cool my nerves, and try my hand at silk screening.  I think I could have some sellable products, if I got good at silk screening.  

I couldn't be more thrilled with the results.  When I finished Aaron said he'd be proud to be seen with me wearing my t-shirt in public.  It's a silly thing to say, but it makes me smile.  Aaron's overdue for a new t-shirt from me.  I promised one for his birthday, and then I bought him clothing at the beach instead.  Opps.  I'll have some more t-shirt DIYs in the future.  Hope ya'll enjoyed, and had a happy mother's day!  Happy DIYing, chris.