Grocery List/Meal Planning (and a free download!)

I just stumbled across this awesome blog with loads of organizational ideas as well as lots of other free downloads, like wallpapers and party printables. Here is a link to the grocery list/meal planning guide (with a free download!) I plan on utilizes lots of these as I get our new house organized and start doing grocery shopping with the soon-to-be hubs :)

I am about to start working on a new project (hint: I still need a garter for our wedding), which I plan to take pictures of as I go and hope it works out, haha. I have an idea of how I need to go about making it, but we'll see if it turns out right! I also need to make some new fall and Christmas coasters and pillow covers for the house, so I plan to make a tutorial for the coasters as soon as I get some time to do so. 

I also tried my hand at couponing yesterday (yes, I was one of those crazy people who went out in that crazy ass storm here in Ohio). I actually did pretty good! I got all of this (plus another yogurt I ate for breakfast) for $5.90 (!) at Giant Eagle after sales and coupons!:

They were out of the right size of Honey Nut Cheerios for their sale, so I got a rain check for 3 of those and I plan to go back next week and get those with a few more coupons and they should end up costing $0.80 each! I hope hubby likes cereal ;)

Alright, I just wanted to do a quick update and usher you guys along to Liz over at Life in Yellow! I'll see y'all later!

Halloween Decorations and Painting

I apologize. I was sick last week, so I wasn't thinking when I went ahead and made our Halloween pillow cases and coasters without remembering to take pictures throughout! Sorry! I can, however, give you a step-by-step tutorial on the coasters and a link to the blog post I used to guide me in making the pillow cases along with pictures of my finished products. The coasters were my original idea, so I can make some using  non-Halloween materials to make a full tutorial with photos if you'd like. They're very easy and take basic sewing machine knowledge, or you could easily make them by hand! For these I used a blog source to teach me how to do a blind stitch, so I can link that up too.

We started painting bedrooms this weekend! I'm excited because they were so terrible before. The old owners had painted EVERYTHING in the room the same color. The floorboards, the doorway, the frame at the top of the closet, the window frame, the walls, everything. It was horrible. And they did it in all three bedrooms! One is the pink-ish purple shown below. The other is a lime green and the master is a burnt orange (and the master has double the closets and double the doorways!). We decided in the purple room and the master to just paint the trim white and leave the wall colors for now since I like the pink-ish purple (especially if our first baby is a girl!) and he loves the color in the master. The green room will become our office and is being painted a light blue with white trim. We're also going to be painting the guest bathroom a light yellow instead of the current dark green to help give it some light. Here are some before and after pictures of the purple room. The color in the "before" picture is accurate. The "after" pictures were taken at night using a lamp and the color looks more pink, but you can still tell the amazing difference in the room. 

Before:

After: 

Since this room took us 5 hours to complete between taping and painting the trim, we decided that yesterday we'd tape the master and then start painting later this week to break up the time we spend in one room. I've taken some before pictures of the other two bedrooms, I'll post those with some after pictures once we have those rooms finished. 

I love seeing our house coming together! We also moved our dining room table into place last week and have put up a few decorations to make the house feel festive, even though he won't be moved in until closer to Halloween. It's so much fun looking for furniture to make our house our home. I'm excited to get to go holiday decoration shopping next month!!!! We'll also be having a fall house warming "open house" at the beginning of next month to show off our house to family and friends, so I'll get to have fun decorating and making food for that! Yay!!! I'll try to get that tutorial made and posted soon (aka within the next month...sorry, school and house come first!). Maybe I'll make some fun Christmas ones or some fall themed ones!

Cleaning!

Oh man! I'm exhausted from this past weekend. I spent Thursday, Saturday and Sunday cleaning and painting the new house! Thursday we spent the evening cleaning the living room and dining room, washing the walls, floorboards, outlets, etc. We also got our sectional and living room table set delivered! It looks so much better than we had even hoped for! Here's a couple pictures of the couch and tables I took with my phone: 

 

Saturday my soon-to-be in-laws, Cory and I spent the entire day cleaning and fixing the house. His dad fixed up the garage, closet and front screen door as well as removing the nasty old stove and vent. His mom and I spent our whole day in the kitchen, cleaning, scrubbing, and grossing out. It was seriously gross the mess the old owners left behind. I mean, we pulled out the stove and there was a cookie sheet under it!!! A cookie sheet! Along with a variety of coloring sheets, stickers, and really gross gunky stuff. It was pretty bad. We couldn't even finish the entire kitchen in the 6 hours we spent there. Yesterday I got to paint our pantry :) It's a nice crisp white (luckily the old owners left us all their unused paint in the garage ;))\

It's coming along great and I can't wait to see how the house looks completely furnished. We still have a lot to do and a lot of things to buy, but it's already starting to look a little more like home :) The thing I'm most excited for is decorating for fall and the holidays!!!! I'll be making a few things to add to the decor, so I'll be sure to post photos of our decorations and tutorials for things I make 

Hopefully it won't bee too long before I get to update you guys again!

New Tutorial Coming Soon

Hey guys,
It's been so crazy in my life lately. I'm sorry I haven't gotten a new tutorial up, but I am *hopefully* going to get one up here soon. We're buying our couch tomorrow and we're going to be needing some pillows to go on it and I also have another craft or two up my sleeve. Hopefully I'll still have time to sew once school really gets going and we start cleaning and decorating the house.

Talk to you later!

Tutorial: Hand Painted Ceramic Mug

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated last. Things have been SUPER crazy lately. Getting things done for the house (which we still haven't closed on), finding furniture and appliances (which we still haven't bought), starting school and clinical, filling a few orders for Kara's Kreations...it's been very busy. I was looking around some blogs last week and found this idea for designing your own ceramic mugs and other dishes like plates and serving bowls. When I was in Jo-Ann the other day, I was looking at paint and found this awesome paint marker:

I decided to try making my own painted mug. I had already bought a white ceramic mug from Marcs to use for this project (it was 2/$.99!). I was trying to decide what design I wanted to try out. I thought about some really cute designs I'd seen around on other dishes, but decided to keep things simple. I love hot cocoa, so I decided to make that my theme. I sketched out what I wanted on a piece of computer paper and then got to work on the mug. It took me just a few minutes to draw it on and it dries pretty quickly. Make sure you follow the directions on the back for cleaning the glass or mug before painting and then the drying and baking directions for after you've painted it to make it dishwasher safe. Here are some photos of how mine turned out (I used my phone to take pictures again, so they're not the greatest): 

I went with simple words on each side

And added a fun circle boarder...

...that continued onto the handle

And a cute picture of a cup on cocoa on the side :)

I can't wait for Autumn to get here so I have an excuse to curl up with a mug of yummy hot cocoa! And to bust out all of my jeans and sweaters :) I hope you have fun making your own mugs! I plan on buying some more cheap mugs and plates from Marcs or the dollar store and making some fun designs to give as gifts and to use in our own home. If you guys try this out, send me pictures! I would love to see how yours turns out!

Kara's Kreations

Hey everyone!

I'm in the process of starting my own craft shop called Kara's Kreations. I currently have everything set up on both my private and blog Facebook pages. I am currently setting up a shop page here on the blog. The button is there to the right above my "about me" section. Clicking this will send you to a page full of the products I'm offering and their prices. As of right now, this page is blank, but will hopefully be updated within the next week. For right now, just head over to the blog Facebook page to check out what I'm offering! Be sure to e-mail me or leave a comment on the Facebook page to let me know what you want to buy and the quantity you'd like!

:)

Sneak Peek!

I have posted a Sneak Peak album over on my Facebook! Go check it out and if you're interested in anything, let me know! I haven't set up pricing yet, but nothing posted would cost too much. The most expensive thing I have posted at the moment would be the stuffed bear/animal. I'm so excited to see where this goes!

Love you all!

Craft Shop

I'm really excited about starting my own little "craft shop". Tomorrow (hopefully) I'm going to be posting a photo album of crafts that I'll be selling over on my Facebook page. I have a ton of super cute things ranging from baby items to kids stuff to things for the house to really cute things for women. I hope you guys like them and want to order some stuff for yourselves or as gifts!!!! I love to craft and I am really quite good. I can customize orders or if you have an idea of something you'd like but don't see, I'll try my hardest to make it happen!!!! Yay!!! :)

All Sorts of Crazy

House. School. Internship. Personal Life. Ahhhhhhh!!!!! It's starting to be too much! School doesn't even start until next Monday, but I already have a powerpoint due today for a presentation that I have to give tomorrow. I have online training sessions I have to finish up by Friday (I have 2 left at an hour long each) and I've been assigned to read 2 chapters for my healthcare management class by Monday. Ughhh. We are waiting on an appraisal on the house and an accepted amended offer from the sellers. Then we have to wait some more for the loan to be finalized so it can be signed. THEN we have to actually buy furniture, which we've been looking at all weekend, along with cleaning up the house once it's empty and painting, fixing and moving. Most of that stuff is going to take the majority of the next month and a half, which I have to find time to help with the cleaning, painting, fixing and moving as well as time for homework, clinical work and BREATHING. I can feel the mass amounts of stress starting already and it's making a home in my neck and shoulders. I think I need to make one of these ASAP.



Until next time. (Oh, and I apologize in advance if I don't post very often. I'm sure you understand, right?)

Wedding Cake Tragedies.

In honor of having our first cake tasting this past Saturday (and finding our baker on the first try!), I've decided to share some of the wonderfully hilarious and tragic wedding cakes featured on Cake Wrecks. You wouldn't believe some of the cakes that either a.) people actually order or b.) cake decorators mutilate beyond belief. Seriously, some of these are downright terrible. If I ordered some of these as a bride, I'd go right past angry and straight to horrified with tears streaming down my face. Here they come:

I....I...just don't....know. The bride looks happy behind the pixels, so maybe...she wanted this?!

Oh. My. God. This looks like the baker had the flu, got sick on the cake, and then tried to fix it with a dirty shoe.

I would cry. Just cry. Then burn all the pictures. Waaaaaahhhh!!!

Time for the "Ask for THIS and get THAT" portion of the program!

One bride asked for this pretty cake that is adorned with lace and ribbon that are both edible:

"What did she get?" you ask? This cake covered in a big pile of fabric lace and ribbon:

"Oh, you mean you wanted me to use fondant to make ribbons and lace to cover the cake? Silly me."

The worst part about this was that each layer was individually covered in lace. That's right, they had to untie the ribbons and then take off one tier at a time to get all the lace off so they could cut it!

Here's a close-up.

Ask for this with red scrolly things and icing flowers:

And get this:

It looks like someone was having a seizure while decorating this cake and stuck some fruit roll-ups on top.

Ask for this:

Get this?

The only remote similarities between these two cakes is that 1. They're both black and white 2. Polka dots.

One bride asked for this really pretty damask cake:

Wanna know what she got? I don't think you do.

What the heck is that?! This would be a full out cry-time cake.

How about this fun whimsical cake? Cute, right?

Oh, no. No it is not.

Did someone order a crazy toddler birthday cake?

Sweet & Simple. How hard can that be?

Apparently very. This poor woman was in tears (and not the happy wedding kind).

How the heck does that even happen!? I'm really hoping that their cake was somehow switched with another couples' on accident and that the baker isn't really that stupid. Good Lord. (By the way, hubby looks pretty angry. I'd watch out if I were you Mr. Baker.)

At least this next one had the designs right. It was just horrible execution. Ask for this:

Get this:

This:

Oh, no.

I have no words.

Pretty fondant cake:

Horrific fondant cake:

Ok, last one. This one is easy. 3 tiers, blue circles. Yes?

No.

I hope you enjoy this post as I now begin to hyperventilate, praying this doesn't happen to me and that our cake looks like the pretty demo cakes our baker has sitting about. *deep breath in...slowly let it out* Someone please get me a brown paper bag?

Tutorial: Easy Paint Chip Calendar

I figured I'd share another fun craft that is super easy and doesn't take too much time! Did I mention it's essentially free?! 

Materials:

• A large picture frame (mine is 11x14) or use what you have lying around the house
• Paint chip samples (normally free at stores like Home Depot or Walmart). If you're going for an ombre look like I have, you'll need a total of 6 colors or you can do any variety of colors you like. 
• The basics: scissors and glue (I used a glue stick)
• A piece of white paper the size of the frame or the plain side of the picture insert that comes with the frame (which is what I did)
• A dry erase marker to mark your events!

Tutorial:

Cut your paint chips into squares. I recommend measuring your frame and dividing it out so that you make sure that there will be room to paste down all of your squares. There will be seven across and six down. Mine measured out to be 1.5"x1.75". Once all of your squares are cut, line the first row and first column up so that you have a guide for the rest of the squares. Glue down your first row and column. Fill in the remaining squares.

Once all the squares are glued down, put your paper into the frame and use your dry erase marker to add in the month, days and dates! Fill in special events or deadlines and voila!

Happy Crafting!

Tutorial: Fun Fall Wreath

As I promised, here is a tutorial for the craft I completed last night! I decided that since we are finally buying a house and that soon-to-be hubby will be moving in during September/October, a fall wreath would make a perfect DIY to decorate our new front door. ( I apologize now for the really crappy pictures. I was using my phone to take some of these and had pretty bad lighting.)

Materials:

• A plain crafting wreath (mine is a 18" grapevine wreath from Jo-Ann, $4.99)
• Autumn color fake leaves
• Fun decorative items and picks (like my pumpkin pick, yellow flower clip and maze pick)
• Ribbon (mine is 1 1/2 inch thick brown ribbon)
• Wooden initial letter (not pictured)
• Hot glue gun/glue sticks (also not pictured) or floral wire if you prefer

Instructions:

Start with a basic idea of what you want your wreath to look like. Start gluing down your leaves. Make sure to insert any picks into the wreath about where you want them. Glue leaves around the picks to fill in the space. I haphazardly started gluing the leaves down, making sure they wouldn't fall off while making sure my decorations were where I wanted them. Here a picture of mine part way through (again, I apologize for the bad quality)

Keep gluing until your wreath is covered and you are happy with the results. Complete the look by adding your wooden initial to the wreath using ribbon, leaving the ribbon long enough so that the letter dangles a little. You can tie it in a bow and use a wreath hanger to hang on the door or use this little trick and use the ribbon to hang the wreath. Ta-da!

***If you choose to use the ribbon to hang the wreath, make sure to leave enough extra length and if you're adding the wooden letter and hanging with ribbon, the letter will end up touching the top of the wreath.

That's it. Pretty easy. This probably took me about 3 or so hours, but I was also eating and watching Bridesmaids, so I got distracted. A lot. Bridesmaids was probably a bad choice of movie to use as background noise since I ended up watching the movie half the time. But who could help it? That movie is HILARIOUS. Thank you, Kristen Wiig, for that masterpiece.

House!

            We got the house!!!!! I'm so excited! Now I get to spend my time legitimately fantasizing about furniture and paint colors! I'm probably going to go room by room and pick out ideas from every store I can think of for paint, furniture and decorations...too much? Nah...right? There's so much to do and so much to think about. And school starts in 3 weeks and I have a presentation on the 21st. And a cake tasting this weekend (yum!). And I still need to talk to florists. I'm not going to go crazy...right? RIGHT? Ugh. Speaking of cake, I saw this post today and I almost peed my pants, it's hilarious. I think it's the pictures that really take the cake (ba-da-bom!)

            I did get an e-mail today from the director of my program telling me that I'm approved to apply for graduation! Yay! Only 9 months left til I finally get to graduate after 5 years of college! And then get married 3 weeks later :) Maybe I'm crazy already....good thing the soon-to-be hubby's been with me for 8 years already and loves my crazy ;) 

            On another note, tonight's my crafting party, and I made one yesterday and started working on another last night, so tutorials and posts are on the way!

Sorry.

Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile and that I still haven't gotten those tutorials up that I promised. My life has been super crazy this last week with all kinds of house stuff going on and our town's annual festival. I haven't even been home the last few days! I'm having a little crafting party this Wednesday, so I promise to take some before and after pictures of the craft I do and post up the instructions and photos later this week! And if my friends are kind enough, I may get to post up their crafts as well!

Talk to you later!

Furniture!

Now that we're looking at putting an offer in on a house, it's time to start looking at furniture! Sofas, dining room tables, end tables, lamps and all the fun accessories it takes to make a house a home!!! Here are a few ideas I've stumbled across! (click on the photos to take you to the link) 

This sofa set seems so cozy

A pink couch! What's not to love?


So much character!


This is a very earthy side table, so cute!


Cute and functional!


I love these super cute chairs from Target!!!


I also love these super cute conversation patio sets at Target!

I'm sure there will be TONS more ideas hitting this blog as we actually start decorating a house. Right now I'd better wait until we actually have a signed loan document before I make any plans for what furniture will go where...but a girl can dream, right?! ;)

***UPDATE*** It seems that two of the items I linked from Levin are no longer available :( However, there are still some super cute options there! :)