{scripted} : Sardine gotcha

Lee: Hey, there's a potluck coming up at work. Can you make something awesome?

Carol: Sweet awesome or savory awesome?

Lee: Let's go with savory. Everyone does sweet. Anything in mind?

Carol: Um, it would have to be something that you won't need to heat up.... what about something like ham roll-ups?

Lee: Yeah, they're pretty standard and recognizable.

Carol: They are. I'll look up some recipes and see if I can add something that will take 'em to a whole. notha. level.

Lee: Like sardines. You could add some chopped sardines and after people bite into it I'd be all like, 'Ha! There's a sardine in there! You're eating a sardine!'

Carol: [staring]

Lee: It would be like the ham-roll Crying Game. Awesome.

Book Page Wreath (or, one dollar's worth of awesome)

A couple weeks ago, I asked Lee to give me a book that he didn't really care about - I had big plans after seeing all of the book page wreath tutorials out there. It seemed like a super-cheap and super-easy way to add something dramatic to a wall. Never mind the perfect color combination of black ink on a creamy newsprint-ish paper.

I can seriously say that this is now my most favorite project ever. My four-year-old helped with twisting the pages and the two-year-old helped to take all of the ornaments off of the tree, put them in a big pile and lick each and every one. Fun for the whole family.

I started with a regular hardcover book, ripped the cover off and painted the outside of the pages with a combination of blue, silver and brown craft paint. I just wanted to give it a dirty, time-worn look. I didn't really achieve said look, but it still came out nice.

Then came the folding and gluing, folding and gluing, folding and gluing....

The finished product is GORGEOUS. It's a monster of a wreath -- that thing's over two feet wide. It's just perfect.

Whaddya think? Do you want one, too? Have you made one?

Because I love coffee *that* much + FREE SHIPPING WEEKEND

So, I figured three and a half months was a long enough hiatus for blogging. I wasn't sure how to dive back into the swing of things so a crafty post is as good as any.

Has anyone seen those crazy coffee filter wreaths lately? Seriously, Google 'coffee filter wreath' and you'll get exactly 49,300 results. Well, now it'll probably be 49,301. When I first saw them, I got this crazazy wild hair and was dying to make one, or fifteen. I picked up the supplies that I needed yesterday (ummm, coffee filters and a wreath form) from the dollar store and got to work.

Everyone's got a tutorial out there, so I'll spare you with too much detail. Essentially, take a coffee filter, fold it up a couple times and hot glue it to a wreath form. Proceed the burn the everlovin' skin off of eight of your ten digits.

I loved them INTENSELY when they were initially finished. I couldn't believe how perfect and beautiful they were. I think I may have had a teensy bit too much coffee this morning because I was even talking with a friend about making and selling a bunch of them because OHMYGODTHEY'RESOBEAUTIFUL. In fact, I made the decision that everyone in my life MUST own one of my beautiful wreaths.

Lee's mom came over for dinner tonight and I was still pretty-gushy about them. I asked her what she thought of the most beautiful wreath on the planet and her response? "Coffee filters?" She wasn't impressed. How did she know they were coffee filters? What has happened to the world?

Then the caffeine started to wear off.

Now, every time I look at them, all I see is coffee filters. I feel so jaded....

It was super easy to make them and only involved about two hours of neglecting the children while they attacked each other with plastic fishing poles. I'm still going to keep them up and maybe tomorrow morning after I have a couple cups o' joe, I'll love them all over again.

Now, that you've read this far, you deserve a TREAT! Head on over to the shop and get FREE SHIPPING all weekend. just place your order like usual and we'll refund your shipping right back into your account. Happy shopping!