How to Not Ship Something: Part Deux

Just so you guys could see how nicely I tried to wrap this before it got destroyed by the mailman.

The powdered sugar was in a baggie behind the note.

Martha Stewart Sunday: Pressed Flowers

     So I had a bouquet from my boyfriend from Valentine's Day. I didn't want to just throw out the flowers, I know I know, I am kind of sentimental like that. So I decided to press a few, luckily Martha was there with the know how to press them.


Materials:

Fresh Flowers

Parchment Paper

HEAVY BOOK (S)

Directions:

1. Take flowers and cut off the stem. Then tenderly place them on parchment paper, fold parchment paper over them so they are covered.
   
2. Place at the bottom of a heavy book or two.
   
3. Check back in about ten days for beautifully pressed flowers! 

Aprils Fools

Normally, April 1st is when you play jokes on someone or if you are French, you try to tape a fish on someone's back. But for me, it starts a new month and a new chance to start again. It seems like once a semester, a month just gets boggled down with travel, work and everything else, for me it happened to be this March. It was definitely a Murphy's Law situation. So April first is my chance to start over and hopefully start blogging once again! Here we go again! I just wanted to take the chance to once again really apologize to everyone. Hopefully, you will continue to read my blog despite this one month hiatus.

How to: Not ship something

       Remember when I accidently baked two King’s Cakes instead of one, and how I was going to send one to  my boyfriend? Well I did. And I being the good girlfriend I am, realized that there was no way my boyfriend had powder sugar to make the icing. Thus I decided to send it to him. All wrapped up cute in tin foil with a plastic baggie of powder sugar attached with a pretty ribbon and a note saying how to make it. It was supposed to arrive in two days. Each day, I would wait patiently for it go get there and get a thank you. But it did not arrive until three days late. Why? Because apparently, the postal service figured out there was a bag of white powder and decided to test it (ie slash the baggie) so it pour powder all over the box. They also sent it to JFK numerous times, enough that someone had to write on the package exactly where to ship it in big sharpie lettering. So my advice is don’t ship powder sugar, next time I will just send him two dollars and tell him to go buy it himself.

50 Dollar Fix: Fabric Frames

    
     So remember how I filled that blank space behind my couch, I had another blank wall to conquer in my apartment. This time it was behind my tv and quite expansive. Yet again, I'd show you a picture but it was a large blank white wall behind a tv, surely you don't need a photo, you can imagine it on your own. Anyways, I decided to try that whole framing a piece of fabric. It was quite inexpensive and I think it looks pretty plus it fills up space. Goal achieved. Here's my how to:

Materials:
Paint
Fabric
Modpodge
Hot Glue
Penny Nails
Decorative Molding cut to size
Thin Wood (for back of frames)

Directions:
1) Determine the size of the frames and have decorative molding cut at the store (most do it for free, see if they can cut the edges at angles to make it look prettier) Paint boards and all the sides!

2) Modpodge fabric to board and smooth out all wrinkles. I used modpodge because it allows for corrections.

3) Hot glue the baords down to frame the fabric the use penny nails to nail the board to the wall and secure the baords. I used hot glue to secure the boards in place until I placed the frames on the wall and then used the nails to actually secure the boards.

Sorry!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the long absence, I've had a really hectic past week. At one point I got stuck in Calgary, Canada without my luggage for about 4 days, where it was negative 23 degrees! But I will be back tomorrow with a new post. Promise.

~Blair

50 Dollar Fix: Curtained Closet

I love walk-in closets but sadly, my undergraduate budget does not allow for such luxuries. And my current closet had those awful bi-fold doors, which take up so much space! When folded, they made it nearly impossible to get to the right side of my closet. So I removed them, it seemed like the perfect solution till I noticed it looked like I just had a hole in my wall. With the clever use of some curtains and a tension rod, I achieved the look of an pretty closet that can be closed when it's a mess (which is never is, mom I swear).

 

To recreate this look, you need:

2 long curtains (normally 82 inches will work)

1 short curtain or whatever you want to use as a balance

1 tension rod

2 penny nails

2 safety pins

Directions:

1. Measure the width of the closet. Twist tension rod to that length and hand up the two longer curtains.
   
2. Then fold your short curtain in half, center the width measurement on the curtain, marking each end.
   
3. Carefully scrunch the curtain through each mark using the safety pin to hold the folds on each side.
   
4. About two inches above the opening on each side of the closet, nail a penny nail.
   
5. Use the heads of the nail to place the safety pin through.