welcome may

 Some modern day ruins at one of our favorite stops on a springtime walk.

I'm getting to be a bit of a broken record, but May already? You serious?? This year is just out of hand. Maybe because I am very content, very busy, and very much looking forward to a lot of things. Tends to make time go by faster. As per usual, here is my first day of the month post. I do enjoy looking back at these after time has passed and either pat myself on the back for getting things done or being all, "pshhh, yea right" for totally not accomplishing a goal I set. Like sticking with yoga. I was way inconsistent and then took a break for the whole week and a half I was sick. Which I finally got well from and transitioned oh so gracefully right into allergies. Hoo boy.

This month I am looking forward to..
+  Enjoying the next three weeks off before Summer I starts. Get things done with all the free time I should have. (Note: should.. don't wanna get my hopes up!)
+  A wedding Charlie and I are going to. I love weddings. There's something about getting all dressed up and dancing that makes me all sorts of happy. :)
+  Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philly. I haven't been to one yet so I'm excited to see what it's like!
+  Memorial Day Weekend. Good food, good drinks, good times. ;)


Mini goals for the month..
+  Yoga. For real this time. I want to stick with it and get my flex on. ;)
+  Keep on juicing. Maybe even get brave and do a short cleanse. This month, my schedule is actually perfect for that.
+  Paint more. Yes. That is what I would like to do.
+  Find some time for enjoyable reading before classes start back up.



What are you looking forward to this month?

light crochet

Before I get into today's ideas and inspirations, I just want to share a little exciting news! Well, exciting to me. :) Yesterday, after four very long weeks of waiting, I finally got the scores of the two Praxis tests I took back to back - and I passed! Both of them! This is crazy good news because now all I have to do to finish my certification is take my two summer classes and student teach. Then I will be officially able to teach in PA. I was so stressed out that I wouldn't pass and then I'd be even more stressed retaking them, plus the fact that it costs a pretty penny. This is such a weight off my shoulders I can't even truly express it in words! If you could see me I'd show you my happy running windmill dance I did through the house to get to my coffee after I found my scores yesterday. :)

Anyway.

The idea of warm weather is starting to sink into my bones and even my craft mentality is taking a cue. I haven't crocheted anything in a while and I've got the urge to pick up some yarn so I went through my inspiration folder to find some spring and summer appropriate crochet projects. The lightness of the stitches, the uses, and color palettes are what make me think of warm weather when I see these projects.

1 The yarn takes on an airy net-like structure in this beautiful crocheted market bag. I'd love to whip up a few of these and take them on a trip to a farmers market or take one to the beach! [source + more found here]

2 These gorgeous place mats from the Purl Bee look like they belong on a wooden picnic table, surrounded by melting drinks and a summer fruit salad. I absolutely love the color palette they used. [source]

3 I really want to try to make one of these woven hula hoop rugs. In this tutorial, it is made with yard after yard of finger knitting. This project isn't exclusive to warm weather but I'm embracing anything that isn't a scarf or sweater or mittens right now. :) [source]

4 I love this little crocheted cuff. The stitch looks so complex but once it's broken down it seems totally doable. I love it in the earthy tone.. the perfect natural looking accessory for time spent outside. [source + a great tutorial]

5 I saw this cute beach cover-up on the Free People site last summer (which unfortunately means the source no longer exists) but I had one of those "hey, maybe I could make that" moments. It looks like a bunch of doilies linked together with a net-like stitch. I might try to make my own variation for this summer. Speaking of Free People and crochet, have you seen their new catalogue? It's packed with crocheted items.. more than I would have thought possible for this time of year! It's great to look at. Check it.


Well I hope your month is starting off well! What projects are on you list for the warm seasons?

welcome april

It's that time again to welcome a new month. I can't believe it's spring already! The beautiful tree in my backyard is starting to bud. Any day now it will be covered in the most amazing white flowers. I seriously want one of these trees wherever I live. It's covered in white every spring and turns the most vibrant reds and purples in the fall. I've always loved watching it's phases from my living room window.

This month I am looking forward to..
- This week! I'm on a second spring break technically. I haven't gone to a Catholic school since high school so I forgot what it was like to have a week off for Easter. I also find out my Praxis scores and have a phone call scheduled with a potential employer. Big week!
- Finishing up my practicum. It's been a great experience and I probably had the best lead teacher I could've asked for, especially considering some stories I've heard about other teachers being less than helpful. : / Even though I'll miss everyone, it's nice to know I'm one step closer to having my own class!
- Finishing my classes for the spring semester. I'll have a good couple weeks off until the oh so condensed summer semesters! After this summer, I will be done all of my classes. Breath..

Mini goals for the month..
- Last month I mentioned that my favorite yoga workout was taking off ondemand. Well, I went ahead and bought the series! It's by Yogaworks. I got the am/pm one that I had been doing, plus the ab one and the body slim one. I did the body slim last week and it kicked my butt! My goal is to start doing them all regularly in rotation.
- Stay on top of my last few assignments for my classes. I'm almost done!
- And just like last month, make make make!

What are you doing to make the most of this month? Hope it's starting off well! :)

p.s. Have you checked out the lovely ladies in my sidebar this month? Stop by and give them a hello!

paper mache bowls

At some point in my scrolling through the internets I saw these really fun wooden bowls that were painted white on the outside and gold on the inside. I wish I remembered where they were from because I can't for the life of me now, but anyway, I thought I had this ingenious idea of recreating them with paper mache. I really liked them and thought "hey I can do that myself on the cheap!"

Apparently I wasn't that original because it only took some random browsing on Pinterest to see that a few people had already done just that. :| Oh well, I was still proud of myself for coming up with the idea in the first place, even if it wasn't that hard to think of. ;)

I'll do a post on my process next week, otherwise this post would be a little photo heavy because I took advantage of the beautiful day and shot some bowly glamour shots outside. One of those times as a blogger that you picture every neighbor peeking out their window, wondering why you are laying in the grass taking pictures of some odd colored bowls. :)

As you can see, I ditched the white in favor of a springy melon color just to jazz things up a bit. Though I will probably still make the white ones one day as I improve my mache-ing skills. These bowls are a lil lumpy but I love them all the same. Believe it or not, this was my first time doing paper mache. Never got to make one of those weird masks or vases in elementary school art class or anything so I just rolled with what I knew! It's not really rocket science, but alas, there are ways to do it and there are better ways to do it.

Have a great weekend! Hope you're getting the same lovely weather we have!

april call for sponsors

I decided to use this break in my crafty plans to put out an April call for sponsors. I have a few projects I'm about halfway through but I need to take today to knock out some school stuff so I don't craft away my whole spring break (no matter how much I'd like to). So look forward to fun things in the upcoming days and weeks!

Now, about the sponsor thing. Check out the sponsor page for the full run down, but I'm still offering spots for swap or pay, depending on your needs. I also have my feature spot open for April so if you like the idea of a solo post and being in the limelight on the top of my sidebar, shoot me an email before it's snatched up! I'll be accepting sponsors for April up until the 31st, so think about it! Also, since I started this sponsorship in January, my readers and views have more than doubled! That's double the amazing people spotting your ad and feature post should you choose to partake! :) It's no secret that advertising works, I just thought I'd let you know how it's working out for this lil blog.

Hope your week is going well! It's getting quite springy around here. :)

march already?

Is it just me or does it not seem possible that we're headed into the third month of 2012 already? I'm just finishing up midterms this week and spring break begins at about 8:00 tonight. I think it's flying by because I've been busier than ever lately with school, work, practicum, and studying for the Praxis which is two weekends from now. *cry*

 early blooms, taken during a walk in March 2011

February was pretty good though! I just went back this morning to read my welcome february post and see if I did all I wanted to do. From my list of three mini goals, I've started number one, which was to start stretching with the hopes of getting back to my original flexibility from when I was a dancer. That will be a continuous one for a while. As for number two, I'm doing really well in my practicum. One month down, one and a half to go! And number three was to figure out how to keep up with blogging while having a job, which I am still working hard at. I would like to have posted more last month, but I'm still learning ways to make it easier for myself, like scheduling posts for days I know I won't be home, and making a folder of "banked posts" so I always have a good back up if I can't do what I planned on doing one day.


So to set a few mini goals for March..
1. Keep on stretching! Also, start some sort of workout since my favorite yoga vid isn't On Demand anymore :(
2. Keep working on blogging more often! Ideally, I like to blog every weekday like I did when I first started.
3. Pass the Praxis
4. Make make make! I've been hoarding supplies and sketching away.. now is the time to make so I can open my shop for the Spring!

And I guess I should finally get over the fact that we had one day of snow this winter. It's time to start thinking about flowers, green leaves, and sunshine. :)

Oh! And please take a look at March's sponsors, sitting pretty in my sidebar. :) You'll see a bunch of brand new friends alongside some familiar faces. Click around and find some great new reads! I know I have!

So what are you looking forward to this month? Goals, plans, springtime in general? :)

a touch of spring

I've seen some really cute faux terrariums on blogs within the past year and I've always wanted to make one myself. I decided to make a sort of springtime one since all the snow is melting and we keep getting teases of warmer weather. For my first one I picked up some basic naturey things from the craft store and just started playing with them.

I stuck some dry moss in the bottom of a kerr jar.


Then some gravel to fill in the holes and a little tree that I'm calling a bush so the rabbit doesn't seem scary huge. :)


I stuck a little hot glue on the rabbit's feet so he would stand and stuck him in too.


And that's it! A seasonal little decoration.


Put it on a sunny windowsill or a shelf and enjoy a little bit of nature indoors.


These birds checking out the little dude are pretty much my favorite knick-knacks in the world. It was such a fluke that I found them. I was in the tiny little Hallmark near my house (smaller than any Hallmark I've ever seen) and I was just walking around looking for who knows what when I just saw these two little guys sitting there all alone! I checked the price tag and they were on sale for 7$. I thought it was crazy that no one had snatched them up yet so I grabbed them. You really never know where you'll find awesome things. :)