Improv Wreath

This is going to be short and sweet, but it was too sweet not to share.  :)  And the title pretty much says it all.

I finally got my fall decor out and set up.  Now all I need is a pumpkin spice bundt cake baking in the oven to smell up the house, and I'm good!

Well, that, and a wreath.  I couldn't believe I didn't have a fall wreath in all my stuff!  And I needed one!

Light bulb!  I remembered I had one of those woven vine wreaths that I recently inherited from my mom, as well as LOTS of crocheted doilies.  My mom loved to crochet--a hobby I wished I had paid more attention to and had her teach me--and she had tons of doilies she made as well as my great-grandmother.

But anyhoo, I needed a way to attach the doily to the wreath that wasn't permanent and that wouldn't damage the doily.

Enter the ever-multi-use twist-ties.  :)

Once I had the doily attached to the wreath, I needed a ribbon hanger, and I felt like it needed a bow of some sort.

I have no fall-ish ribbon, but I remembered I had some vintagey-looking fabric in fall colors that I thought would be pretty cute.  I cut a few scrap strips and tied one to be the hanger.

I tried to make those cute fabric flowers you see everywhere, but couldn't make it happen.  So I settled on a bow.  Twist-tied it on, and voila!

I hung it on the inside of my door so the doily wouldn't be exposed to the elements, and so I can enjoy it!  I love it!  So simple and easy and fall!  :D

I love how the light plays with the voids in the doily.

Hope you found a little inspiration too!

ta-ta for now,

Re{made}

This past month has been a roller coaster of emotions.  I've been going through my Mom's things and pictures and have been truly amazed at how quickly time flies.  Twenty-eight years seems like so long, especially to someone who is 5, 10, or even 15 years old.  Heck, even 20.  But it's not, in the grand scheme of things.  Some things seem like yesterday and others, lifetimes ago.  What I'm getting at (because I have a tendency to blab on, ha ha) is that life is short and I'm ready to make things happen, rather than wait for them to happen. 

When I created Just Crafty, it was done with the cards and invites I had been designing in mind.  I felt like they were a craft; that I was crafty.  Plus, the words formed my initials, or vice versa, ha ha.  But I feel like there is a certain connotation with those words that put me in a corner--not as professional as I'd like to come off.  Especially with the direction I'd like to take my business.  After completing my graphic design degree, I hope to do more with that with regards to graphics, logos, branding, that sort of thing, in addition to continuing my wedding invitation collection and doing custom stationary projects for clients.  But I also want to venture back into the interior design world.  You've seen my little projects I've done on my own home, but I want to do more for you.  :)

I've never been the type of person to flaunt myself.  And I never wanted my business to be my name.  Some might say that's a confidence issue, but I disagree.  It's just not me.  I am not just my name; I am a multitude of things.  And my style, influences, and tastes seem to always change.  I am my own worst client, ha ha!  But one thing is constant:  I love to make things.  And that is the basis for my business' new identity.

I think I'll always be crafty, but I'm also a lot of other things, so the transition was necessary.  And I hope it's the new door opened for me after having to close so many this year.

So without further ado, introducing:

I'm going to make the transition slowly, but you'll start to see this name here in my blog, on Facebook, on my website and on Pinterest as well--which if you're not, you should definitely be following me!  To all of my faithful Just Crafty followers, thank you so very much for your support these past couple of years.  I hope that you will continue to enjoy what is to come with Be Made Designs.  I have so many ideas and look forward to the future.

And speaking of ideas, I also have a new project to show off!  Woo hoo!!  It's been too long and felt good to get back into the swing of things, sorta.  It's a small one, but still a good one.  :)

I have had my eye on this guy for some time:

"Beurre" Butter Dish Courtesy Williams-Sonoma

My functional/rational side can't justify the expense though.  But I have a definite need for a butter dish, so I decided to create my own. 

Really, the main reason I wanted that particular dish was for the "BEURRE" on the top.  But why couldn't I add that myself to a plain-jane $3 butter dish?  Well, I could, but the issue with those is the lid design isn't conducive to lifting easily, meaning, I had a hard time grabbing the slippery glass top, and in one such instance, it fell and broke.  But, why couldn't I add a "grabber" of some sort?  So, I decided I would.  :)

So here we are, $3 plain-jane glass butter dish and a $2 baby glass knob.

I knew I wanted to use my etching paste to write on the glass so I printed the word "beurre" in a size that fit the space and a font that lent a little to a vintage feel.

I cut out each word then taped it to the inside of the lid.

The painting part was a little tricky.  The glass is thicker than it appears, which played tricks on my eyes, but I managed to get it decently traced/painted.  :)  Not too shabby...

With both sides painted, I let it sit for the specified time on the bottle.  But now I had the knob to contend with. 

Obviously I had to get the bolt off, so with a sweet bat of my eyes, I got my hubby to saw it off with his Dremel.  Not that I couldn't do it, I just like it when he helps me.  :)  We're a team, through and through.  :)

So, knob bolt sawed off.  Now it was time to attach.  I washed the etching paste off the lid then got out my trusty E6000 glue--which I only recently discovered and am now in love with--and, well, attached. 

Lookin' good...

Now, to put it to use...

 

 

I really like it!  It turned out just how it was in my head and is so much more functional--to me, at least! 

So, whadya think?

Hope you were a little inspired!

And keep watch for more from Be Made Designs!  Lots to come I hope, including an update on our Living Room and a new room in {My Old House}!  Woo hoo!

ttfn,

 

 

My Biggest Fan Has Wings

"Jenni, your mom is gone."

I will never forget those words.  Especially since I have had to use them so much these past couple of weeks.  But even saying it so many times doesn't make it feel any more real. 

Isn't she beautiful?

I may have mentioned in previous posts that my mom had cancer.  She was diagnosed in November 2010 with Stage 4 Lung Cancer, which was a shock to anyone that knew her.  She was a non-smoker and had never been exposed to aesbestos or any of that fun stuff.  She was just that one person who was "struck by lightning," as her doctor put it.  But never once from that day did I ever think this disease would take her away from me.  And never once (that she voiced) did my mom have a negative attitude about her diagnosis.  She was an inspiration to me and all those around her.  She firmly believed that she would be healed by God and would grow older to see her grandchildren grow.  As did I.  I wasn't ready for her to go.  I never got to tell her good-bye.  And while she didn't get the earthly healing all of us would have preferred, she got the ultimate healing and finally met her Savior face-to-face.

My mom was by far my biggest fan (sorry sweetie, but you're no.2). Probably 75% of my fans and readers are because she put my stuff out there all the time. She promoted me as much as she could, even to her boss, which got me a couple of jobs doing event posters.  She was also one of my regular critics, but probably not in the way you're thinking.  I would run nearly all of my projects by her to get her opinion, which she would freely give, ha ha.  But she is the main reason I believe I am as creative as I am.  Whatever new venture, project, or life-path I took on, she always encouraged me, praised me, supported me.  The day I graduated college, I had to hold back tears during the whole ceremony because it was something WE had worked so hard together for, and something WE had wanted for so long.  And having her there a part of it meant the world to me.

Somewhere along the way, my mom became my best friend.  We talked nearly everyday, and if we didn't talk, we emailed.  We shopped, hung out, talked about guys & marriage, did most things girls do with their mothers, but it was different for us.  We were so alike, apart from appearances, but yet we were so different.  We knew each other's opinions before we even asked, but we still asked.  And our opinions were almost never the same.  She never understood my taste in interiors, nor I her's, and clothes were about the same--although we were kindred hippie spirits.  But for what we didn't agree on, we still got it.  We shared a love of George {Strait}, old houses, history, antiques, chick flicks and laughing.  I could really go on and on; I have been flooded with memories these past couple of weeks going through her things and packing up her home. 

As much as we are sad, we are celebrating too.  She told me so many times she didn't want her funeral to be sad, but a celebration because she was happy.  Or whatever a billion times happy would be.  So we celebrated her life, and we cried, but rejoiced too.  Her celebration was colored pink and purple, in honor of her two favorite organizations:  Mid-Coast Family Services & The Guardians of the Ribbon--South Texas Chapter.  And we had balloons.  She would have liked that.

A very good family friend told us that no doubt we would feel sadness each day, but we would also remember some moment, some detail everyday that would make us smile. And I think I have. But it got me thinking about all those moments in life that make us smile, and not just moments in time, but moments in space. I have so many moments in time that will stay with me always, but now I will have moments in space to look at and remember. So many things I am keeping of my mom's lived for nearly 10 years in the house I live in now. Kinda like she always belonged here. She loved this place and was happy to see my hubby and I love it as much.

Mom's portrait was displayed at the services and I had so many people tell me how much we look alike, which we already knew, ha ha, but these words began running through my mind: 

When I look in the mirror I see you.
Your eyes
Your hair
Your smile
Your nose.

But when I look in the mirror I see me
The daughter you created
The creative mind you fostered
The Godly woman you nurtured
The inner strength you helped groom.

I am you. 
You are forever a part of me.
I would not be me without you, 
And you live on through me.

But I still ache for you. 
My heart knows a piece is missing.
For my heart was formed from you.

Would that I could wish you back.
But to do so would tear your happiness away.
And I can't do that.

So shine on, my angel.
Until I see you again
and replace the missing piece.
I love you Mom.  And I miss you like crazy.

ta-ta for now...
Jenni