Inspiration Monday

Today's inspiration is crafting.  I wish I made more time to do fun little crafts...but I don't.  I really need to organize my life.  But I guess there are other things that are more important. A girl can still wish tho :-)

found via pinterest (and here)

found via pinterest (and here)

found via pinterest

found via pinterest (and here)

found via pinterest (and here)

found via pinterest (and here)

found via pinterest (and here)

found via pinterest

found via pinterest (and here)

Have a Happy Monday!!!


Kristin

How to Tea-stain paper

I have always wanted to tea stain paper.  Just thought it would be fun.  So I thought I would try it for some invitations that I was making for a small party Trey and I are hosting. 


Here's what you need:
- plain paper (I just used my regular printer paper)
- a large rectangular shaped pan (I used a 13 x 9 pyrex pan)
- something to heat up water with
- 2 tea bags (I used Bigelow "Constant Comment" tea...orange and sweet spice flavored)
- lots of paper towels
- tongs (if you want)


So first, I heated up a bunch of water in my super awesome green tea kettle. It took about 20 minutes.  And I got my tea bags ready to dip in the hot water.

Then I poured my super hot water in my large dish (don't worry...I did all this before I burned myself), and dipped my tea bags in. I let the tea bags sit in there for about 5 minutes to really "circulate", which I helped by swirling them around in the water...more for amusement then anything else :-)

Next, I laid a piece of paper in the water. I let the one side soak up some water first, then very gently pushed it down into the water with my tongs (and I mean very gently. The first one I tried, I wasn't gentle enough and ripped the paper...oops). 

 

 

Now, if you want, you can just leave one piece in at a time...I decided to be impatient, and stuck one more piece of paper in (another time I did three pieces of paper at a time). Just go through the same process as above.  
Depending on how dark you want the paper, leave it in for 30 minutes to 2 hours. (My first ones I left in for about 40 minutes, and they turned out perfect! But the later ones didn't come out as dark, I'm assuming because the water wasn't as hot). While you are waiting, lay out a bunch of paper towels for the paper to dry on later.

After your allotted time, remove the paper very carefully (again, it's easy to rip) and lay down on your paper towels (ignore all of the unfinished kitchen stuff in the background).  Make sure to turn the paper over about every hour or so, that way both sides are evenly exposed to the air and sunlight. If you want, you can hang them vertically...but I didn't have anything that would allow me to do that without crinkling the paper. 

And voila! Your tea-stained paper! If you want to make it slightly darker, you can stick it in again. I did that with a couple of my sheets. I laid them in for about another hour or so. It made them slightly darker. Trey couldn't tell the difference, but I could :-)  And you should always enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa!

Well, there you have it! Tea stained paper! How's that for a easy tutorial :-)


Kristin

Fall Family Fun

This weekend, my mom's side of the family had a small reunion at my grandparents farm. We cooked hot dogs around a fire, took a hay rack ride and sat around talking.  It was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. And such a blast seeing my grandpa out in his favorite part of Iowa.

 Grandpa starting the fire

 My mom and I (yes, I know, we look a lot alike)

 The boys sitting near the front on the hay ride (my grandpa is driving the Kubota and my grandma is telling him not to run into stuff)

 The kids running around the pond...that doesn't really have a lot of water left. It's all dried up :-(

Some of the men talking

 The boys found a turtle among all of the frogs and toads...then discovered it was already dead.

 A tree had lost all of it's leaves and looked awesome against the clear blue sky.

 An awesome sunset pic of a farm and some wind turbines on our drive home.

Have an awesome Tuesday!

Kristin

The weekend

Sorry I haven't been posting lately...I need to finish some projects so I can actually post about them! and that is my goal for this weekend...some painting, hanging pictures, some more painting, putting away summer clothes, more painting, spending time with family...and probably more painting. My goal is to get most of the hallway/stairs finished...at least the parts that I can reach...and then to prime, caulk and paint the door and window trim in the kitchen that my husband and dad built. I'm hoping to be a maniac and get it all done on Saturday...so we'll see! I think that's a little optimistic, but I always try to hope for the best :-) or most efficient.  But I'll try to take pictures and post them next week of the (hopefully) finished products. Thanks for being patient!

Kristin

Inspiration Monday

So today is hallway/entry inspiration...hope you get some fun ideas :-)

Have a great Monday!

Kristin

I'm Clumsy...

Sorry I didn't post yesterday...but I have a good excuse!  I burnt myself.  Seriously.  And it was because I am just ridiculously clumsy.  I was at work and heated up some water in our electric tea kettle.  I made some fake cappuccino stuff and was heading back to my desk when I knocked into some files on my coworkers desk.  I was trying to catch it before it hit the floor, but in doing so, forgot I had a hot cup of liquid in my other hand and spilled it all over my upper right arm.  About an hour later, I ended up going to the ER and found out I have 1st and 2nd degree burns.  Great.  So they gave me some ointment, Vicodin and told me I couldn't go back to work.  So I went home and slept almost all afternoon.  Vicodin really knocks you out!  So here I am now, still slightly on Vicodin, arm all wrapped up (it itches like crazy!) and a little loopy!  But I still have my arm (they didn't cut it off thank goodness...haha) and the doctor said it shouldn't scar.  


I will be back later with a tutorial of something I've always wanted to try!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Tuesday!


Kristin 

Halloween inspiration

Since my birthday is around Halloween (happens every year...weird huh), I almost always had a Halloween party as a birthday party.  It was lots of fun dressing up with friends and playing fun games, having my dad and sister scare us...ah, good memories.  I should try to find an old picture...


Anywho, here are some fun ideas for making your home a little creepy this fall season:

All pictures from here or here.

Happy Haunting!


Kristin