Well hello again!

2013 has been quite a tough year so far. And with all the crappy things we all deal with from day to day I've decided to really get back into things that just make me happy. 

So I would like to say that I am back and ready to share all the little things that get me through this crazy life. Be ready to keep your eyes out for all sorts of fun things! Watch for ... 

• DIY projects
• yummy recipes
• organization/storage ideas
• beauty product reviews
• creative inspiration 

See you soon. :)

bruins DIY.

Tonight is game 7 of the stanley cup between the boston bruins and the vancouver canucks. I've always been kind of a closet hockey fan, mostly because it's not usually as popular as some of the other sports people get into. But with all of new england buzzing over the B's in the past couple weeks it's been hard not to start following it. "What are you jumping on the bandwagon with everyone else?" Well yeah, kinda, but why wouldn't I? First of all, it's my home team so of course I have pride in them winning; and second of all, have you seen them? I'm just bummed I didn't start watching hockey sooner, what's not to love about a bunch of lumberjack looking men! :)

So like everyone else in this area, I decided to get into the spirit. I really wanted to buy a boychuk shirt, well because he's gorgeous, but could only find shirts with like 3 different players names on them, anddd most of them were in youth sizes. Apparently little boys are the only ones who care about having a name on their shirt? I dont know lol. Since I couldn't find one I decided I would customize my own.

I had to buy a men's shirt because it was all they had besides kid sizes and this was the only design I liked. But no worries about it being a men's shirt because I decided to chop it all up to make it more girly. lol.

I started by cutting off the bottom hem just so it wouldn't be quite so long and a little more loose fitting on the bottom. Then I stretched out the shirt at the bottom so that the hem would roll up a little so it wasn't a weird looking cut line.

Once I did that I put the shirt on and made little cuts where I wanted the neckline to be. Then I took it off again and basically connected the dots to cut out the neckline. Good thing I didn't try to cut it while it was still on because a little later on I got a little battle wound from those scissors! lol. 

After I cut the front off, I cut a straight line across the back. Then I stretched the neck, like with the bottom hem, to kind of straighten out the edges. I put the shirt back on and adjusted it and then went back and cut any little weird areas. I chose to cut it asymmetrically because I personally like more open necklines and I like the vintagey 80's looking vibe it gives it. 

Now the whole point of this was to have a particular player's name on it. Lucky for me I still had these soft fuzzyish adhesive letters from a clothing project I did a few years ago. I dug those out and was super excited to see that I still had enough to make the name. All I did was peel them off and line them up on the back of the shirt, then iron them on.

Ok so if you don't know who johnny boychuk is please google him. He is absolutely gorgeous.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the transformation of a boring men's style shirt into a cute girly shirt. Can't find what you want, make it! 

 Hope you have an awesome DIY kinda day! And GO BRUINS!!

perfect!

With my new room coming along I've been looking everywhere for new ways to store my accessories/makeup. I was at work the other day and saw a woman buying a wire stationary caddy that looked like it would be awesome for storing my makeup, seeing as it had multiple compartments of different sizes. When I looked for another one, we didnt have any. I was super bummed. But then the next day I went to another store and found the sameeee oneeee!

My biggest problem with storage was the fact that I have so many boxed items (kits, compacts, etc), but this holds them perfectly!

:)

creative storage help

I will be moving into a new room soon and I really need to reduce clutter this time around. But I have lots of makeup and accessories so its difficult finding a place for everything. I looked up some idea on "creative storage" and found some interesting ideas. I also reaaaaalllly dont want to use plastic storage containers because they take up just as much space and are ugly to look at.

Some cute things I found so far:

• fastening cute cups/bowls to the bottom of a drawer to store jewelry
• putting a cool branch in a vase and hanging jewelry off of it
• modifying a coat rack and hang jewelry
• hanging jewelry off of a chain
• hanging jewelry off of a cork board

And I only found one cool thing for storing makeup. It was basically a wood block with openings on the top for any kind of larger bottles, and holes and square cubbies in the front. 

Any ideas on storing makeup, nail polish, jewelry, and other accessories like belts/scarves?

:)

yummtastic dinner & dessert for 4

I had the day off yesterday and was feeling semi-ambitious so I decided I would make dinner for my parents and boyfriend. Partly because I wanted to cook something for people to enjoy, partly because I had nothing else to do all day, and partly because both my mom and boyfriend were working a long day at their jobs. I decided to make one of my new (ish) favorite recipes, taco stuffed shells, that was suggested by Camille. I love it but my mom says its too much work so I figured I had all the time in the world yesterday so why not make it for everyone. 

We had most of the ingredients at home but I did need a few things so I had to go out to the grocery store. Let me tell ya, it was insane trying to find jumbo shells. For some reason the grocery store didnt have any at all, in any brand! So I had to go across the street to another one to find some. And they only had one box! Are jumbo shells really that hard to come by? haha.

I thought it might be cool to share how to make this dish so as I was cooking I took some pictures. (obviously I had blogging in mind. lol.) 

First I cooked the hamburger and added the taco seasoning. 

Then you add cream cheese. 

Then you let it simmer so that the cream cheese melts. 

Once the cream cheese is melted its a good idea to chill the meat in the fridge for a little while so its easier to stuff the shells. While the meat is chilling, I boiled the shells. 

The shells then get put into a greased casserole pan that has been covered with salsa on the bottom. 

Then you fill the shells with the chilled meat and cover with more salsa. 

Then bake for a half hour, until it looks something like this. 

I also chopped up some green onions to put on top of the shells for when they are plated. 

Top finished shells with any desired "taco toppings". I added salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream, and green onions to ours. They tasted amazing!

While I was cooking the shells, I also had some cookies baking. 

They came out pretty yummy too!

the beginning

A fellow co-worker (NeverNaked) encouraged me to start a blog. I'm still not really sure what I'll be blogging about but it definitely seems like a good way for me to stay inspired by art and the amazing things in life. I saw an interesting quote by albert camus that said "... a work of art is a confession" which I find to be incredibly true. To me, art is all about putting yourself into whatever it is you're creating. I love all kinds of art but I find self indulgent art to be the most interesting. Any kind of art is incredibly personal and always shows something about the person creating it.