Adventures in Photography: Oktomat edition

via google images

While shopping at Marshall's the other day, for something completely unrelated, I stumbled onto this little beauty. It was called an Oktomat, and supposedly took interesting pictures with 8 different lenses. The price sticker said $14.99. I looked it up on my phone, and all the online stores like amazon were selling them for $30+, so I felt like I was getting a good deal. I had my reservations though.. I didn't NEED it.. I jus wanted it, and I've been trying to stop wasting money on things I don't need. But what the heck. I bought the darn thing.

*oops! forgot to mention that this is a Lomography camera. That means it's not digital, it takes film. This camera takes regular 35 mm film, which you cant still buy in most places where they sell camera accessories. I got mine at Meijer. Some grocery stores outsource their photo developing to other branches, so if you want One-Hour-Photo, watch for that. The Meijer near my house sends their film to the Meijer near where I go to school, so I had to go to that one to get my photos processed in one hour.

The pictures came out pretty cool, actually. I wanted to share a few of the good ones with you.

Beer Bottle Garland - Outdoor Party Decor

I really like glass bottles. I think it's the way they feel when you hold them. They feel more solid and more special than plastic bottles or aluminum cans. So whenever I have a get-together, I buy beer and soft drinks in glass bottles. After my Destination Truth party I had a few days ago, I had a lot of empty bottles sitting around. I'm a huge fan of saving money and using resources wisely, so I wanted to make something fun out of the empty bottles. This DIY is super quick, easy, inexpensive, and fun!

Materials:
glass bottles, 5 or 6
floral wire
fabric scraps cut into one inch strips, various lengths
string lights
flowers

Take a spool of floral wire and pull out a one-foot length. Attach a beer bottle by wrapping it TIGHTLY right under the lip of the bottle, and twisting like a twistie-tie on a bag of bread. Attach more bottles at one-foot increments. I used IBC Root Beer bottles because they didn't have any pesky labels to fight with! *halleluiah*

Wrap a string of Christmas lights around the wire. This doesn't have to be tight. Cut fabric scraps into roughly one inch strips. For each tassel, I used three strips of poly-satin chifon and three strips of glittery organza. (left-over scraps from my friend's wedding last summer)

To make the tassels, hold the strips in one hand as a bundle, and drape them over the wire, letting two little "tails" hang down with a loop on top. Read through the look and pull the tails up and through the loop, wrapping it around the garland. (In my picture, I did it with one, to make it easier to see. To make a fluffy tassel, hold the strips all together and do it with the whole bundle at once.)

Aaand that's really all you do! Wrap the ends around a fence post and plug in the lights. I didn't have enough fresh flowers growing in my yard, so I used fake ones here. You decide which ones you want to use. This is a really nice touch to add to any barbeque or garden party, since you can easily coordinate the colors to go with your own ideas! Enjoy!

 pretty by day...

...

...and by night.

Dress Season

I'm taking the summer quarter off from classes. I work my butt off during the school year, so trust me, I deserve it. With no school, means more days off, and more days off means more days when i can wear dresses! As I've gotten older, I've discovered that I'm a total girly-girl. I love dresses, cupcakes, Mary Poppins, and knitting. I've compiled a wish list of dresses I've discovered from the internet. Take a look!

Anthropologie

 

Modcloth

Ruche

 Anthropologie

 Modcloth

 Ruche

Anthropologie

Ruche

Modcloth

Science Fiction Party Snacks

Today I hosted a party. It was in honor of my favorite show returning after being off the air for a year and a half. The show is called Destination Truth and it's on the SyFy network. The show is about a group of explorers who travel around the world and search for monsters and urban legends, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. I enjoy the show because it gives you a peak at cultures completely different from your own, often in remote parts of the world. I love the suspense and action of the chase, and I LOVE how funny the host, Josh Gates, is. I have a lot of friends who also can't get enough of this show, so I invited them over to watch the season premier with me. Just for kicks, I made some "monster" inspired treats. These aren't "recipes" so much as just ideas, since everything I made was from the quick instructions on the back of the box. Either way, I thought it turned out pretty darn cute, and the show was pretty darn entertaining. Enjoy!

With all this, it turned out to be a pretty cute spread. And even though it was a rather small get-together, we polished off that bread bowl and most of the jello shots. I'll have blue M&Ms and "swamp thing" cupcakes for a while yet though. I'll have to pack some in my lunch tomorrow to take to work. Woo! That's the great thing about party leftovers, their all yours!

If you are curious about the show, you can watch a clip here:

Or full episodes here for free via Hulu.

via

Summer Scarf D.I.Y

Do you love to make pretty things? Do you love to wear pretty things? Do you love to save money? Then do I have the project for you!

This DIY will show you how to make a light summer scarf with things you probably already have. Pretty impressive, yes? First we'll make the scarf, then I'll show you how to stamp it.

To make the scarf, all you'll need is a half yard of scrap fabric. Most fabrics are around 52 inches long when unfolded. If you get a half yard, that's 18 inches wide.

1. Cut it width-ways down the middle, so you have two pieces that are 9 x 52 inches.
2. Fold ever, pin and sew each long side of the strips, not the shorter side. 
3. Grab the one short side on each piece and sew them together, right sides facing in, leaving about an inch flap. 
4. Fold over the flaps and sew them down. 
5. Now you have one long, thin piece of fabric. 
6. At each ends, cut thin strips and tie to create a fringe.

Now on to the Stamping!

You'll need:

A pen and a pencil, or just a pencil.
An image of that you want to transfer. (remember it'll be reversed since you're stamping it.
A rubber stamp blank. (or a big pink eraser.)
Linoleum cutter tools. You can probably use an EX-acto knife if you have one.

I tried using transfer paper but it didn't work for me. The image came out too pale. But when I traced over my image on the paper, it left an indentation on the back. Then all I had to do was to gently rub the back of my image and the graphite collected on the raised parts. I laid it back over the stamp blank and rubbed the graphite over the rubber. It worked! A little pale, but not bad.

Carve away the parts you don' t need... And your stamp is made!!

To stamp it, I laid down some paper on my work surface in case the paint bleeds through, and it did. I used a glass palette. (You can use a cheap junky picture frame from goodwill.) Once you choose your color, lay it out in a flat square, just bigger than your stamp, and STAMP AWAY!

The Best Sloths on Etsy

I love sloths. A lot. If you ask me if they're my favorite animal I'd say maybe. I love them all so much, but sloths are definitely in my top 10. (along with kitties, chipmunks, foxes, racoons, sheep... the list goes on and on..) I've composed a little list of my favorite sloths on etsy. I hope you enjoy it! :D

Sloth in the Sun 5x7 print by laurageorge

Severin the Sloth Fine Art Print by chromacreatures

Lazy Sloth on a Tree hand carved stamp by HappieStamps

Sloth Love wedding cake topper by theaircastle

jungle nursery art sloths fine art print by lulufroot

Despressed Animals 1 -Sloth Alone with a French Fry by thehawaiiancoconut

Hankies are OK by catrabbitplush

I hope you enjoyed the sloths! Why not check out some of these shops! :D

Mackinac Island, Michigan

So things have been a little crazy around here lately. A storm knocked out my internet on Friday and it was off for several days. Then Monday my family and I left for our vacation to Michigan. Then there was the fourth of July. Then I worked long shifts the next two days. So heeere I am to tell you things should get back to normal around here soon. I have a couple giveaways planned, a few DIYs and some exciting "monster" recipes. Stick around. ;)

Enjoy these snapshots I took on vacation, and look forward to the big ideas I have for my blog in the next coming week!!

Mackinac Island, Mackinaw Michigan

There were no cars allowed on the island. You had to walk, ride a bike, ride a horse, or a horse-drawn-taxi.

 

We crossed over the Mackinaw Bridge into the upper pininsula, just for the heck of it. Then turned around and went back to the mitten.

 Beautiful lake Huron

 You had to take a ferry to get to the island.

 I really enjoyed the butterfly house.

 There were no shells on the beach, but lots of cool rocks.

 Fort Mackinac

 

 As nice as it is to explore places you've never been, it sure feels good to be home!