Twisty Twig Calligraphy

...In love with calligraphy recently. So in love that I already created a name... Twisty Twig Calligraphy... I am so excited about practicing more and more! I am up for free practice projects if anyone needs any invitations addressed!

Happy Writing!

Thrifty Finds

I am so excited about a thrift store find that has turned out to be absolutely perfect and I wanted to share it with you!

Behold.... before and after pictures of a green thrift store chair....

Total Cost of entire project: $316.37

Thrift Store Chair: $30.00

Fabric (9yds): $116.37 ($12/yd + tax)

Reupholstery: $170.00

I must say the way this chair looks in my apartment is priceless. ;) I found the chair in a thrift store in Jacksonville, NC about a year or so ago. When I immediately saw it I thought I must have this reupholstered, but then I ended up deciding that I loved the green fabric. (In the back of my head I constantly thought about reupholstering!) Finally during this past month one of my students was talking about how crafty his mom was and then he said... "she reupholsters furniture sometimes..." thats all it took! I immediately talked to him about it and sent her pics of the chair and she said she could do it! Yaya! Then I had to go on the amazing fabric hunt. My mom and I immediately went to the Cloth Barn in Goldsboro, NC because they have SO MUCH fabric! While looking through the upholstery fabric I became so disappointed because nothing was like I was envisioning! Finally I walked past this beautiful fabric and asked if it was thick enough to be upholstery and YES it was!!

So I am so glad that I could share this great find and re-vamp with you! I hope that this will inspire you to go to a thrift store and find something you can make completely your own!

Hope you have a great new years!

Out with the Old

Oh... I love changing my blog design as much as I love buying new clothes! Speaking of new clothes I recently got the cutest ECU dress ever and I am so excited to wear it to the ECU/State game!!! :)

I must say it is precious.

Okay, so I must admit the whole point behind this post was just to tell you how excited I was about changing the design. So there you go! Have a great weekend!

Crafty Adventures

... and I gladly present Beautiful Adventure's special event... Crafty Adventure's... grab the... pencils... glue... glitter... paper... ribbons..... and make a MESS!

today's craft: Halloween Ribbon Wreath

Forewarning... this craft takes awhile to make! Believe me! I am not a slow crafter and it took me four and a half hours... so be prepared! Also you will be overwhelmed with ribbon, ribbon, ribbon.

To begin head to a craft store and gather the following materials:

... hot glue gun, tons of glue sticks, styrofoam ring, styrofoam block, 12+ spools of ribbon, wide black satin ribbon, glitter, wooden letters for BOO, spray adhesive

Take the wide black satin ribbon and begin wrapping it around the styrofoam ring. I bought a single roll and ran out a little over halfway... I blame this on when I started I was very precise with this step and was not making wide loops... trust me the way this looks really does not matter. One spool will work as long as you make your loops wide. If you are a perfectionist then I would get two spools of black satin. Luckily I had some extra black satin from a previous project! Also as you are wrapping glue the ribbon down along the way.

After you finish wrapping the ring.. be ready to cut tons of 4.5 inch ribbon strips! Gather all of your ribbon together and cut them into 4.5 inch strips (I came up with a quick trick to help cut the ribbon on the second picture below). To have more than enough ribbon I used 14 spools. Some of the ribbons I used two spools and others I only used one. I also had a color palette in mind when I went to Michael's. Since I was making a Halloween Wreath I used some of the discounted Halloween ribbon! (40% off right now!!)

Of course with this picture I wanted to showcase how into this project my sweet Francesca was. She sat in this spot for most of the craft and pawed at every single piece of ribbon along the way. Okay here is the cutting trick: I found that if I measured up 4.5 inches from the edge of my table and then tapped a piece of tape I could easily measure the ribbon and cut. I know it sounds simple, but it took a couple of spools before I figured it out.

After cutting tons and tons of ribbon.. now is when the real fun comes! HOT GLUE BURNS! Ekkkk.. yes my finger was burned in the process so be careful! I did not use any sheer ribbons so that helped a lot in not getting burned more than I did. You need to take each 4.5 inch strip and fold it in half and glue it together. You should leave a little bit of ribbon on the end that is not glued. Its almost like you are sewing a seam with a little extra hanging off... here is my bazillion folded and glued ribbons.

I threw them all in a plastic bag so that I could shake it to mix up the ribbons! Also... how cute are the ribbons?! I really enjoyed picking them out!

After you have glued all of the ribbons it is now time to glue them onto the black satin styrofoam ring. This is one of the fun parts!

Now you can really see that the seam makes the loop and then you have little tails. The tails are used to glue all of the ribbon to the wreath. The more ribbon you put on your wreath the fuller it looks! When I got to the sides of the wreath I glued the loops vertically.. its hard to explain.. just check out the picture..

To make the BOO take the spray adhesive and spray on the letters then glitter! This is super messy and I am sorry I don't have pictures, but my hands were covered with glitter! I actually forgot about putting anything underneath the letters when I sprayed them so now I have glitter glued to my patio... haha.. worst part is that it is the outline of an "O."

To finish the project take the styrofoam block and cut little cubes out of it... these will help your BOO stick up off of your ribbons. You can camouflage them with more ribbon loops!

I must say I am very proud of the finished project, but it did take awhile. I am sure this would be a great two day project.. but I like to finish the same day! I can't wait for you guys to make one! I love it though because you can adapt it to any season or holiday!

Have fun crafting!

Fatty Moments

Currently life is ordinary, but I am in love with it.

I am amazed by my students and how I apparently "enlighten" them on a daily basis. The other day I was asked, "how in the world are you always so happy?" I immediately responded with how life is a gift and I cherish each moment I can have in this world! I quickly tell them... yes I do have my down days, but there is no need to make you feel bad because of them! I wish most of the world could feel that way!

Tonight I had a fatty-fat-fat-fat moment... I had a craving for "School Cookies," sometimes referred to as no-bake or boiled cookies, but whatever you call them they are filled with chocolaty goodness... but there is a story... and note to self--no-one can cook them better than the momma, Karla, who is also the only person in the world to cook perfect Macaroni and Cheese..

So I began my journey to make these wonderful cookies (recipe will follow after story)! I took out all the ingredients.. which I had thought I had bought at the grocery store the other day, but come to find out I was out of milk :( sooo I suppose God decided I didn't need these cookies, but I did.. I then traveled to Sheetz to buy milk.

As I return home with my milk I begin the cookie making journey... yes journey

These cookies are very TIME sensitive and you have to make them happy! Well I always become very worried that I am going to cook them toooo long or tooo short (my mom gave me this recipe and I never listen to the time on the recipe, but it is actually perfect.. go figure) so I am nervous during this whole process. Since I was so nervous I forgot the butter! THE BUTTER! Paula would kill me! So these cookies were awful. So I trashed them!

Next..... here comes the second batch, which turned out wonderfully and delicious.. (hence mom always knows best on cooking durations)

Jessica's Mom's Delicious Fatty-Fat-Fat-Fat Cookies

a.k.a School Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

4 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/4 lb. butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

spoon full of peanut butter

2 cups quick oats

Mix the sugar, milk, cocoa powder, and butter together. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Take off heat and mix in everything else. Drop spoonfuls of gooey chocolaty-ness onto wax paper. Then EAT in the joy of an empty house with no one to make you feel bad about eating 6 at one time! :)

you must try this at home.

Summer.. Over?

Why no... summer is not over unless you think it is... you have to keep wishing that it will stay so ready set... WISH!

I am actually excited about starting my second year of teaching! I have begun my creative journey of bulletin boards and basically laying my colorful self all over my classroom walls! I get picked on frequently about my use of color, but it makes me happy! I painted this picture for my classroom and I am so happy with the way it turned out! :) Being wise is my slogan this year. Make wise decisions...

I recently got home from a wonderful trip with my cousin Tracy! We took a journey to Savannah, GA with a stop along the way..

Charleston, SC

Absolutely beautiful in every way... I could live here forever and be completely satisfied!

Finally we get to Savannah, GA! Tracy and I took a carriage ride around the city which was the best idea! We found out a lot about the history of the city and interesting stories about certain buildings!

One stop that definitely needs mentioning is the Soho South Cafe on Liberty St in Savannah. It was a Google Maps find and it was worth every dime and time that we spent there. It is a must if you are going to Savannah!

and how could I fail to mention our Bed and Breakfast...

The Eliza Thompson House... another random website find and a must stay!

I have completely enjoyed the short summer that I have had (grad school took up a huge portion) and I can not wait for the many more to come and all the adventures I will have throughout the school year!

Wishing summer could last forever.....

Too Long...

It's been way to long my dears....

I must admit that I have been awful with my blog ever since I started grad school and becoming the cheerleading coach at my school. I am amazed at what craziness I can get myself into.. below are some aspects of my life currently...

Spending Time with Jonathan

Why yes.. I did have to mention that "person." As Jonathan and I spend more and more time together I know we were meant for each other. God definitely had a plan when he helped us find each other. I am so thankful. This past weekend I found myself blissfully happy as I sat on the beach and read while Jonathan was fishing away. Apparently though I am bad luck, because he never catches anything when I am with him... haha. I hope he still enjoys me sitting with him though.. I am sure he does ;)

Graduate School... the journey to a MAed in Math Education and an AIG licensure..

WOW... this is really a difficult journey, but I am making it happen. Oh Summer of 2012 can not come fast enough!!!!! I am learning so much but it is so difficult when so many other things are going on. I am so excited though because I did make an A in Advanced Calculus. Trust me.. I have no idea how in the world I pulled that out!! The professor made it difficult because his way of grading was to compare our score to others and then sort of "rate" you... yes I know CrAzY! Other than all that I am making do...

Cheerleading... rah.rah.ree. kick em' in the knee.

I know you are probably thinking...

Cheerleading = DRAMA... but I am happy to say that it has actually not been that bad and instead of the girls bringing drama.. it has been any outside source possible. I think God is testing me on this one. It seems like I can not go a day without someone having an issue with a form we fill out or something to do with this and that. I am glad to say that the 14 girls make it worth it. They are so amazing in every way and I am so happy to be apart of their lives. I hope I will make an impact on them... hope.

School- yes, the reason why I created this blog a year ago.. Yahoo a year?!

I went into my lonely, deserted classroom today to show it how much I love it and I wanted to become so sucked in in perfecting each piece. I know I am too much a go-getter when it comes to my classroom decor and feel. I went to school at 10:00 planning to only stay 30 min, well I spent about 20 of those minutes catching up with some definitely missed teacher friends and then 10 min to fix my desk where I wanted it... yes that's all I got done :( Along with school starting I also have some great news!! I was chosen by the County Office to speak to the new teachers in the county! I am so excited and I feel so privileged! I hope this means I am doing something right...

I am one of those weird people who find non-exciting things like starting back to school exciting. I can't wait to meet my classes and teach them some awesome math that makes me tickled with joy! I love it so much and I hope I can help them to appreciate it a lil' bit!

Well happy August!

TOMS