winter – Page 2 – emerald city diaries

a pinterest christmas: magazine bows & chalkboard art.

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

even though it is the day after christmas, i wanted to share two projects with you because it is still the holiday season, right?

first up, magazine bows. every year i try to re-use as much as i can when it comes to wrapping presents. last year i wrapped all of our presents in re-used paper grocery bags & added real red ribbon for a festive touch. this year i knew i was going to wrap in paper grocery bags, but i wanted to make my own bows.

{original pinterest link – recycled bows}

supplies:

magazine/newspaper/catalog/book pages
paper cutter or scissors
double-sided tape
ruler

you start by cutting the strips of paper. for each bow you need nine strips in all: the three long strips are the original length of the magazine page; the next three strips are one inch shorter than the original length; the two strips are two inches shorter than the original length; and the shortest is three-and-a-half or four inches.

once the strips are cut, you will start looping & taping. {i started with the longest & went down in size order.} take a strip & fold it in half. open the strip back up & put a small square of tape on the middle of the fold. loop the top part of the strip & attach the end to the tape square; add another tape square on the taped end of the strip, loop the bottom part of the strip & attach the end.

repeat with all of the strips. make a circle out of the shortest strip. to assemble the bow, start with one of the biggest strip loops & add a square of tape to the middle. stack another big strip loop on top of the first one, alternating the direction. add a square of tape to the middle of the top loop & add the last big strip loop, alternating the direction. repeat with the remaining five loops being sure to alternate the direction of the loops to form a bow. finally, add a tape square & attach the paper circle to the center. ta-da!

second up is my chalkboard art i added to our chalkboarded entryway. there were lots & lots of pinspiration posts for this project. {see my christmas pinterest board here}

i knew i wanted to put a fun holiday phrase on the wall & scoured pinterest for ideas. once i figured out what phrase i wanted – may your days be merry & bright – i sketched a few ideas of fonts & form. i also decided to add color for a bit of a pop!

{my initial sketch of the letters & layout – sorry for the blue picture, my white balance was off!}

{the festive art as you walk into our house.}

{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 Cards & Wrapping

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – mistle toes

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – sock vase

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

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

my long weekend in pictures: idaho edition.

{driving thru snoqualmie pass to start our roadtrip from seattle to boise. luckily we had dry roads!}

{crossed over the 45th parallel. even though we were driving farther away from the north pole, it seemed fitting that this sign said north pole. very festive!}

{my two teams went head-to-head in the las vegas maaco bowl game on saturday. #gobroncohuskies the broncos pulled out a win but it was an awfully close & nerve-racking game.}

{i caught up on magazines during half-time. thanks for saving all your mags for me mom!}

{my mom & i made caramel this weekend. twice. it keeps coming out too hard. any suggestions on how to make soft, chewy caramel?}

{watched the seahawks destroy the 49ers. happy for the victory & happy we weren’t in seattle for all of that rain!}

{merry christmas eve from my parents’ house!}

we have had such a wonderful weekend in boise. my being so relaxed has directly resulted in the very few pictures for this weekend post – my apologies! i hope you have had a wonderful pre-christmas weekend too! how was your weekend?

merry christmas eve house tour.

this holiday season has been so fun decorating the house for christmas. i was able to use all of our old decorations {see some of last year’s décor here & here} in our new space. we don’t have a fireplace like we did in our townhouse, so it has been a bit of a challenge to decorate without a mantle. {i guess the trade-off is that instead of a four foot christmas tree we could have a nine foot one!}

nearly all of my decorations have come from two series worth of a pinterest christmas. {see the first post from last year here & the first post from this year here} i enjoy making the decorations to fit the space that we are in. even after a month of a pinterest christmas projects i am already thinking about what i can make for the house next year!

i hope you enjoy a quick tour of our house all dressed up for christmas.

is your house all dressed up for christmas? if you have a blog, please share a link in the comments!

merry christmas eve!

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?

my weekend in pictures.

{sadie got a christmas scarf & was posing in front of her christmas stocking.}

{it is fun to get packages in the mail this time of year that aren’t christmas presents!}

{got my stocking stuffer shopping done on friday night at the u village, including a stop at madewell. boy is it hard to walk past cute things for me that are 30% off when i am supposed to be shopping for other people!}

{the christmas cards keep rolling in – love it!}

{aaron made a delish pizza on friday night – half veggie, half bbq chicken.}

{there was lots of wrapping of presents this weekend.}

{on saturday we took a family trip down to ikea! it is amazing how fast you can get thru the store if you don’t stop & look at everything.}

{this is how sadie spent her time while i worked on some pinterest christmas crafts.}

{the holiday party we attended on saturday night included a “bite” contest – this was the first round. yum!}

{this 10 foot santa was quite the sought-after present at the greedy gift exchange. we lost the santa, but came home with a snowman right out of the 80s.}

we had a busy weekend filled with last-minute holiday errands & lots of holiday socializing with friends in town. we had a blast, but need another few days to re-coup! luckily this is a short work week for both of us. can you believe that christmas is next week? where did december go? how was your weekend?

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?

a pinterest christmas: reindeer wreath & felted garland.

last year i did a series during the holiday season that was called a pinterest christmas {you can see the first post here and the rest of the posts are under the diy tutorials page here}. i am doing this blog series again this year, but this time i recruited a few blogging friends to join in on the fun {see their blogs & posts below}.

i wanted to make a wreath for our front door this year {you can see there is a wreath theme this week for the blog series} because i didn’t have a wreath last year. i had pinned the felted wreath from west elm {see below} as a {p}inspiration.

{felted wreath from west elm – in white}

this ended up being one of those projects that just wasn’t meant to be. diy-ing can be an awesome way to create something either for cheaper or to be super personalized, but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. this wreath fell in the latter category. first, this west elm wreath was exactly what i wanted – dare i say perfect! second & probably most important, the supplies to make this wreath would have cost two or three times as much as just buying the wreath. so, alas, i did not make this wreath – i bought it, added a gold ribbon, & it is currently hanging on my front door. i am in love!

so, after that lesson in diy, i was determined to make a christmas wreath this year. i am happy that i found a fun tutorial that satisfied not only my need for a wreath, but also my desire to have a cardboard deer mount in the house.

{original pinterest link – recycling meets rudolph}

supplies:

cardboard – i used an old moving box
red felt, marker, or paper
red cording
2 – 3 jingle bells
wreath – i made one {see below}
black marker
scissors
hot glue/glue
exacto knife
reindeer template – i printed it out on two pages, increasing the size by 196%

{note: this project took a little while, mostly the cutting out of the cardboard, but it was so worth it!}

the instructions are pretty straightforward:

1. cut out the template & trace onto cardboard

2. cut out cardboard

3. glue inside of noses together

4. add rectangular piece across back of headpieces

5. glue on cording to inside of headpieces & sew on jingle bells to cording

6. make noses red – i used felt pieces

7. add black eyes

8. assemble antlers – i glued the pieces in with glue – & attach to headpieces

9. make wreath – i glued holly leaves onto a foam wreath core

10. hang & enjoy – i used a 3M hook

since i was originally going to do a felted wool wreath, i also wanted to do a felted garland.

{original pinterest link – felted garland}

supplies:

wool roving – i bought two packages which made 24 1.5 inch balls
embroidery thread
old tights
big needle

i have never felted before so i opted for the tights-in-the-dryer method as opposed to buying felting tools. yes, my felt balls did have little dents from the knots in the tights (the tutorial posts calls the balls fannies) but i didn’t think anyone would care too much. the process is really easy, i was a little surprised! this would be a really fun project for a kid’s room or nursery too.

{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 sweater wreath

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo – diy pom pom wreath & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – diy pom pom wreath

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – quick & easy wreath/garland

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – letter wreath & abbi @ The Pena Family

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

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?

a visit to new england: boston.

{there are lots of photos so i thought it would be best to share the trip over a couple of posts.}

aaron and i had a chance to visit new england last week as a way to celebrate valentine’s day, my birthday, & to get away just the two of us. while it may not have been the best time to travel (um, winter), we only had a few days of really, really cold (thanks beantown!).

we flew in & out of boston on a direct flight via jetblue & it really lived up to the rave reviews: first checked bag free, nice flight attendants & in-seat tvs. {sidenote: aaron & i both watched in time on the flight home & it was really good. i had never heard of it before but if you haven’t seen it, definitely put it in your netflix queue.}

…

we took the T out to the sam adam’s brewery tour almost as soon as we landed. {this was aaron’s favorite part of the trip; me, not so much.} then we took the party trolley to doyle’s & dined on the best reuben sammie & clam chowder that boston had to offer.

our hotel {the omni parker house} was right on the freedom trial, across the street from the old city hall & just a few short blocks from the boston common. we were able to walk or take the T everywhere we wanted to go, it was fantastic!

even though the red sox were in florida for spring training, we couldn’t miss an opportunity to visit fenway park. it was great to hear the tour & learn about all of the secrets of the old park – it is actually bigger than when i was last here! we got to sit out in the green monster seats – very hard to get tickets for as there is a lottery system each season – & up in the press box – the biggest in the MLB.

while we were strolling around the common, we also visited the granary burying grounds where we paid our respects to mother goose, samuel adams & paul revere.

we also took the T out to cambridge & visited harvard university.

that wraps up our time in boston! stay tuned as i will be posting pics from the rest of our trip.

have you ever been to beantown?

snopocalypse 2012.

seattle is snowed in. even if you don’t live here, i am sure you have heard. we’ve made national news. all week. yep, i have watched brian williams the last two nights tell the nation how pathetic seattleites are; we are paralyzed with just 5 inches of snow on the ground. the l.a. times called us “snow wimps“.” to l.a. i say: i would love to see how you would deal with 5 inches of snow in your city.

with that said, our governor has declared a state of emergency. thousands of people are without power (thankfully not us!). rain is in the forecast, which means that flooding is certainly on its way. no good. sea-tac airport has closed & the airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights. {update: two runways are open! this is great because my mom is flying into town tomorrow morning… hopefully!}

sadie & i have been homebound since sunday & aaron has been home the last two days from work. conditions are just too bad for us to leave; while the main road in front of our house is being plowed & salted, the side streets remain icy & snowy making it impossible for us to get out of the garage.

we have been enjoying the time together, catching up on movies & t.v. shows that we can never seem to be up to date on. we trekked up to the T.J’s which is just 10 long blocks away (mostly because it is uphill) earlier in the week to load up on groceries. we are on our way out for a lunch date to the bakery down the street that has, surprisingly, been keeping hours despite the snow. our two favorite things: fires in the fireplace & electric blankets.

i don’t think we have ever been so excited to get rain which is forecasted for later in the day & the remainder of the weekend. but until then, we are enjoying the winter wonderland!

{yep, she’s eating the snow. it is her new favorite treat!}

are you staying warm & snow-free this winter?