SLR camera – Page 21 – emerald city diaries

a pinterest christmas: paper tree forest.

welcome to the third week of a pinterest christmas! {see the first & second week posts}

this is a project that i completed over thanksgiving weekend with amanda during our crafternoon date. {see amanda’s tree forest in the blog links below}

{original pinterest link – handmade christmas trees}

the original tutorial mentions that you don’t have to buy the paper cones, you can make your own from cereal boxes {i used both} but there is really no instructions. it is pretty straight-forward, but i am a visual person & like to see pictures of the process!

{flatten out a cereal box* & cut off the sides & bottom}

{start to roll in from one corner & gently bend the cardboard}

{unfold the cardboard & add glue – i used hot glue – to the edge & fold the cardboard in}

{once you have a cone shape & the glue is dry, cut the bottom of the cone so that it will sit level}

*you don’t have to use chex cereal boxes, but they are thin enough to bend without buckling.

tinsel tree:

this tree was the easiest tree to make. you just add lines of {hot} glue around the cone & stick the tinsel to it. then trim the excess tinsel. i especially became an expert at making this tree since i had to make two {see explanation below}.

feather tree:

i followed the tutorial for this tree, but found it much harder to make than it looked. plus, be aware that there will be feathers everywhere after this project. {thanks amanda for letting me feather up your craft room!} see finished pictures below.

newspaper tree:

i followed the tutorial for this tree & found it to be pretty simple & straightforward. instead of bookpages, i used newspaper. see finished pictures below.

cloth tree:

i followed amanda’s lead on making my cloth tree as she finished her cloth tree first. i just lined up the fabric the way i wanted it to wrap around the cone & added lots of {hot} glue. then trimmed the excess fabric. be sure to double-check where the cut edge will be before you cut because amanda & i both ended cutting a bit too short! see finished pictures below.

when i first got my trees home i set them up on our entertainment stand. we didn’t have many decorations up at that point, so it was fun to have something festive up!

then we came home from work following the long thanksgiving weekend to find this:

apparently sadie didn’t like the tinsel tree which she told us by tearing it to shreds. she also started into the cloth tree but didn’t completely destroy it before we go home. the interesting thing was that these were the two trees that were made out of chex mix boxes. that dog is way too smart for her own good sometimes!

i re-made the tinsel tree & set up my paper tree forest on our sideboard to celebrate the holiday season!

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – christmas tree forest

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo – a stocking for mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – diy yarn trees

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – yarn trees!

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – odds & ends & abbi @ The Pena Family – pinterest christmas

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

master bedroom mini-blind update (or pinspiration: no sew roman shade)

when i made my first no sew roman shade for the kitchen this spring, i mentioned that we also have miniblinds in both bedrooms. while i haven’t done a thing about the miniblinds in the office/extra bedroom {or anything for that matter!} i did finally do something about the miniblind situation in our bedroom.

i made these blinds the same way i made the other ones, so i won’t hash out all of the details. {see tutorial here}

the one change that i did make was that i added blackout material {also acts as a thermal liner} to the backs of the three shades. i found this blackout material at joann & though i don’t remember exactly how much it was, but it wasn’t very expensive.

i cut the thermal liner to be the same size as the fabric. in hindsight, i may have made it 1/4 inch smaller on all four sides. once i had cut the ladder cord & removed the extra blind pieces, i added the thermal liner by gluing it to the bottom of the miniblind metal bracket {i that isn’t what it is called, but just go with it!}. i laid the thermal liner down on the floor {i don’t think it matters which side is up} & then laid the miniblinds on top. after lining the top & bottom up, i rolled the top metal bracket towards the bottom of the blinds twice. then i added a line of glue to the edge of the thermal liner & glued it to the edge of the metal bracket {see picture to the right below}.

after the glue was dry on the thermal liner, i rolled the top metal bracket back & then began gluing every other slat to the thermal liner. then i glued on the front fabric like in the original tutorial, adhering the front fabric to every other slat.

the fabric is dwell studio bella porte citrine from fabric.com. i am a big fan of dwell studio fabric despite the heavy price tag. i love all of the patterns & it is upholstery quality – you can’t go wrong!

while the biggest reason i added a thermal liner to these bedroom curtains was to help keep heat from escaping thru the windows, the blackout feature has been nice. the curtains are all a teeny bit smaller than our window frames so we get little slivers of light in the morning, but for the most part i feel like we are in a hotel. the blackout curtains are completely messing with my circadian rhythm, but we are loving being able to sleep in on the weekends!

{sidenote: the shades are hard to open and close because the pullcord is in-between the fabric & the liner. i decided to sandwich the blind slats between the fabrics so that you couldn’t see the slats from the back/outside. instead, you could attach the liner to the back of the fabric before gluing it to the blinds to avoid this problem. i may add a little slit at the top of the liner right next to the pullcord to allow the cord to be pulled thru & hang on the back of the blinds, between the shade & the window.}

how do you feel about window coverings? have you ever made your own shades or curtains?

a pinterest christmas: clay ornament & pom pom santa.

welcome to the second week of a pinterest christmas {see the first post here} – very exciting!

this week i was able to add more ornaments to our family christmas tree.

first up, a house key clay ornament. i really liked the idea of preserving our first house key as there is a {slight} chance we won’t stay in this house forever.

{original pinterest link is unknown}

there wasn’t a page that linked to this pinterest {hence no source link above} but it was a pretty easy project to figure out.

instead of buying white clay, i followed this recipe to make a simple clay.

supplies:

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup baking soda
glass – to make round ornament
key
plastic straw – to make hanger hole
parchment paper
cookie cutters – optional {i used ones from the trader joe’s christmas sugar cookie kit}
ribbon/twine/string
thin marker/Sharpie/paint pen

once the mixture started heating up, i stirred it often in order to scrape up the cornstarch that would stick to the bottom of the pan. once in the bowl, i let my clay cool for a couple of hours before i rolled it out on the cutting board.

i had a little trouble with the dough crumbling & had to make a few round ornaments before i got two that i liked {i made two in case one didn’t turn out}. i also found that moving the round circle of clay to the baking sheet before imprinting the key was much more successful! {sidenote”: on the snowman & christmas tree there is unevenness – this is because when i was rolling out the clay, pieces stuck to the rolling pin. i liked the texture so i left it.}

after the ornaments had cooled, i added the string. on the house key ornament, i wrote our first house 4.27.12 – i used a sharpie marker. the clay was a bit soft, so the pen made an imprint where i wrote. in hindsight, i would try a thin paint pen.

i also made this cute little pom pom santa!

{original pinterest link – pom pom santa}

supplies:

knobby white/cream yarn
red felt
ruler
small wood beads
red embroidery floss
needle with large eye
glue – i used hot glue
scissors

the original link has a really great tutorial. the only thing i did differently is how i made my yarn pom pom – instead of using the fork method, i used the method kendra used last week for her pom pom wreath.

i trimmed up my pom pom, but didn’t worry about it being a perfectly round shape. this is supposed to be santa’s beard & i liked it to be a little uneven. when i made the felt hat, i didn’t use a compass – instead i measured out the 3 inches along the bottom & side of the corner & also from the corner, making marks. then i cut along the marks i had made.

these were the only small wooden beads i could find at michael’s. i sort of like the idea of making santas with different racial backgrounds!

i love this pom pom santa – he was easy to make & so cute! i only made one for our tree, but i am planning on making them {without the hanging string} as placecards for christmas dinner {perhaps adding a name sign to the hat or something}.

since this is my christmas ornament post, i will also share the pinecone ornament i made out of a pinecone i saved from our now-gone cedar tree {see timber details here}.

{this pinecone is nearly 4 inches tall & weighs a lot, so i rested it on a tree bough along with hanging it!}

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – diy ornaments & alternative christmas tree

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo – ornaments & junk & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – diy ornaments

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – ornaments & scrabble

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – ruffle tree skirt & abbi @ The Pena Family

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

our trip to peru: part iv.

{this is the last of the peru posts, whew! part i, part ii, & part iii.}

{sacsayhuaman – cusco, peru}

{cusco, peru}

thanks for hanging in with us thru our many, many memories of peru. as you can tell, we had an absolute blast and would recommend peru & machu picchu to anyone looking for a great place to travel!

where have you been lately? is peru on your travel to-do list?

our trip to peru: part iii.

{part i & part ii.}

{the ruins continued – machu picchu, peru}

{the inkaterra hotet – machu picchu, peru}

{ollantaytambo – sacred valley, peru}

{sacred valley, peru}

more photos to come!

our trip to peru: part ii.

{sorry for anyone that got two emails about the first peru blog post last wednesday & friday. i was having trouble with the formatting & the post uploaded, but then was taken back down.}

{part i.}

{ollantaytambo, peru}

{inka rail – machu picchu, peru}

{the ruins – machu picchu, peru}

more photos to come!

our trip to peru: part i.

i thought it would be fun to commemorate the one month mark from returning home from peru to post our trip pictures. {i apologize to those of you who have been waiting. good news, wait is over!} i have to warn you that there are a lot of pictures & i will be breaking up the trip into a couple of posts. enjoy!

{larco herrera museum – lima, peru}

{cusco, peru}

{chincheros – sacred valley, peru}

{aranwa hotel – sacred valley, peru}

more photos to come!

timber.

note: if you are a tree hugger or are emotionally attached to trees generally i would recommend that you skip reading this post!

next to our house a previous owner planted a cedar tree that, this many years later, had grown to be quite big & tall. so big & tall, in fact, that the tree was nearly three times the height of our house, nearly obscured our house from view from the street, & prevented the front lawn from growing very well.

we knew upon the first time seeing the house that this big tree would need at least a good trim since its middle branches were growing in & around all of the utilities lines from the street to our house & our neighbors’ house.

once we started getting quotes on trimming the tree, we realized that it would cost us as much to trim the tree as it would to take the entire thing down. while we both hate to see such a big, beautiful tree in the city go down, we were told by tree experts that it would get bigger – much bigger – so we decided it would have to come down. we also decided that the four smaller trees that were in the side yard should come down as well. they were likely put in to act as a privacy screen for the bedroom that is on that side of the house (our bedroom), but the type of tree & the way they were trimmed didn’t allow for any privacy whatsoever – hello neighbors!

some of you may think we are completely nuts or that we hate trees & are evil people, but we didn’t take this decision lightly & have been mulling over it for months. every time we have been out in the yard since it was taken down on thursday, neighbors & others that have been walking by the house have given us their two-cents about the tree & its demise. there have been mixed reviews, but we have found that people don’t hesitate to let us know their opinion. just this morning an older woman walking by with her dog saw the logs in our lawn & began to shake her head. she asked aaron whether there was something wrong with the tree, to which he replied “it was encroaching onto our house.” she told us that she knew evelyn, the previous owner, likely implying that evelyn would be disappointed in our decision to take down the tree. in truth (& what aaron relayed to this woman) was that evelyn had looked into taking the tree down while she owned this house, but thought it was too cost prohibitive. evelyn’s daughter came by the house shortly after the tree came down & congratulated us on taking it down! so, my point is, you may not agree with the decision that aaron & i made concerning this tree, but we made a decision that worked best for us & for our situation.

enough about the backstory & onto the pictures.

these are the before pictures of the yard with the trees:

{the cedar & the maple that is right next to our house.}

{yep, our little house is in there somewhere!}

{the privacy screen in our side yard.}

these are the during pictures:

{the tree guys brought a wood chipper on-site so our half of the block was shut down.}

{the side yard seems so much bigger without those trees.}

{apparently the cedar was growing a bit crooked – right around that utility line.}

{the guy up in the basket had a small chainsaw & apparently just chucked the cut limbs down to his crew on the ground. as much as i would have liked to see the process, it is better that i wasn’t there to witness the limb-chucking.}

{the stump grinder. i think this was everyone’s favorite part since it ground the stumps into sawdust.}

{the resulting mulch from our downed trees. now we are searching for places to put it! also, look how big that maple is & we didn’t even realize it!}

as all of this work was just completed on thursday, & we were left with a pile of huge logs & mulch in our front yard, we aren’t to the after stage yet. this will be a work in progress, but we are hoping to have some form of completion by the end of the month. we will be sure to get some good after shots of the house (now that you can see it from the street!) & the new front yard.

we put the logs on craigslist (in the free section) & nearly all of them have been picked up. aaron spent the weekend spreading the mulch into the side yard & some of our flowerbeds, but there remains a mound of mulch in our front yard. anyone want some cedar mulch? we have more than enough to share.

do you have any big landscaping projects on your to do list?

my weekend in pictures.

{i made “homemade” cinnamon rolls for breakfast on saturday.}

{we are living in a sea of boxes! the big move is next saturday.}

{tapas & sangria party – delish!}

{i found a picture of my grandparents’ house in seattle taken in 1944.}

{a starbucks made out of old shipping containers. sadly it is closed on the weekend.}

{we spent sunday afternoon at the museum of flight taking a photo class.}

{his (work) & hers cameras.}

{sadie just can’t get enough of sticking her head out the car window. luckily the weather this weekend was perfect for driving around with the windows down.}

{ann taylor was having a big sale & i scored a new summer suit. i am still in disbelief that i don’t need the pants altered – thank you petite sizing & heels!}

{the flowers at whole foods are so gorgeous. one of each please!}

{i made chocolate chip cookies to take to friends!}

we had the most beautiful weather this weekend in the emerald city & it is continuing into the beginning of this week! how was your weekend?

a visit to new england: maine, connecticut, rhode island & massachusetts.

we headed out east from manchester for maine. though we wanted to drive further along the coast, we didn’t have enough time. we stopped in kittery for some lobster (duh!) lunch at warren’s & even sent some fresh lobster home! we drove a bit further into maine to york to see the nubble lighthouse. maine was lovely.

on our last day, we headed south from manchester towards connecticut. we didn’t spend much time there, but did have a delicious lunch. we stayed pretty far north so we would have a straight shot over to rhode island.

rhode island was our next stop & it was the one i was looking most forward to. it is probably because it is the smallest of all of the states (i think being small means you really like small things), but there is something about rhode island that has always charmed me. i literally squealed when we crossed over the state line from connecticut & then made aaron pull the car over so i could get a picture with the state sign. we drove to brown university so that we could stop and take in rhode island. plus, my great uncle attended brown & lived in providence for some time, so it seemed like we needed to see it. the school is right in the city near RISD & as we drove thru it, i couldn’t help but fall in love with providence!

our last stop in new england (on our way back to boston for our flight) was in milton, massachusetts. milton is a very small suburb of boston & it is where my grandmother & great uncle grew up. they both attended milton high school & i was chatting on the phone with my grandmother as i was standing in front of her alma mater – that was kind of fun!

well, that wraps up our trip to new england! it isn’t a place that i daydreamed about visiting (i like to save my daydreams for sandy beach locales!), but it was such a fun trip & it made my thirty before thirty list.

have you made it to new england? what places are on your travel list?