Best of Etsy

This week for Best of Etsy, I'm posting shops that I've personally bought items out of.  They range from photography prints to cat sweaters, but I genuinely believe they are all pretty incredible. Aaaaand that's why they've made this week's Best of Etsy! Let's begin!

Fine Art Photography by Elle Moss! Her prints range from portraits to still life to nature and they're all amazing. I bought three 8 x 10s today (Chanukkah money wadddup) of bokeh light prints, including the one pictured above. Check her out!

I bought this sweet iphone case for my crafty roomie from Crafic Unique Art for Gadgets! They have everything from vintage nintendo cases to ice cream sandwich cases to the every so popular "keep calm and carry on" cases. They're absolutely worth taking a look at. 

I bought this rockin' piece of fashion for myself from Unknown Artist Apparel. If you like cats wearing snap-backs  wolf t-shirts, or skateboarding Sasquatches, this is the etsy shop for you. Its some of the strangest, quirkiest attire I've ever come across. So if you're feeling a little hipster today, you can buy yourself a unicorn pullover!

Speaking of hipsters, check out this potato. He doesn't care what anyone thinks and I find him inspiring! For now, this shop owner is on vacation. But when they get back, I suggest you check them out at Arcadia Graphic. They make prints of hilarious typography like Lettuce Turnip the Beet and the beloved Como te Llama. I intend to buy all three of the ones I just linked and possibly more. They also have sweet prints like Home is Wherever I'm With You. As you may have noticed, I'm in love. This is my favorite etsy shop I've come across in a long while.


GO CRAZY, ETSY LOVERS! :] Oh and Happy New Year!

DIY Chalkboard Wine Glasses

Hey bloggin' friends! This week I made DIY Chalk Wine Glasses as a gift. They're pretty easy to make and relatively cheap! 

 I bought chalkboard paint from Michaels which you can get in almost any color. I've heard that chalk spray paint works better, so it wouldn't hurt to give that a try. 

 My chalkboard paint was water based which means two things. The good thing is that I could easily put it in this tupperware and it was incredibly easy to wash out. The bad thing is that you can't REALLY wash these glasses. You have to do it by hand very, very carefully.
I poured a bunch of the paint in the bowl, taped the wine glasses around the stem, and dipped them in. 

First, I leaned each wine glass against the tupperware and let the majority of the paint drip off. Later, I was able to turn them upside down to dry further. I let them stay like this overnight and I would suggest letting them dry for 24 hours. 

Once they've had time to dry, you can peel off the tape. Before using your glasses, you should rub chalk over the paint once to set it. Then you can wipe it and begin decorating!

Ta-dah!

Happy crafting and happy holidays! :]

Hugs for Sandy Hook

Heyy bloggin' friends. My roommates and I are working on a project. We're trying to raise enough money to buy teddy bears for those who were affected by the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Our goal is to send 1,000 bears by Christmas time. 

We have less than one week to do this, but we think its of great importance that the rest of the country shows their solidarity with the families and loved ones of the students at Sandy Hook Elementary. 

This is an incredibly difficult time and we'd love to be able to show them that our hearts are with them this holiday season. Please help us raise the funds we need to purchase and send a teddy bear to every family affected by the tragedy in time for Christmas.

Every dollar will go directly to this cause. If you want to help out, please donate at our website!

You can also show your support by joining our Facebook page

Top 10 Grilled Cheese Recipes

Its grilled cheese weather! These are my top ten favorite recipes that I compiled and occasionally re-named. I've posted them with a few links to different recipes, but I've also listed the main ingredients you'll need! I think I'll make myself one of these with a bowl of soup and curl up on the couch to enjoy the newest episode of the Office.  

Grown Up (Margherita) Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Grilled Cheese Margherita

Simple Margherita Grilled Cheese

Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Green Goddess Panini

Provolone, Bread and Jam

Grilled Cheese and Jelly Sandwich

BBQ Mac n Cheese

Grilled Macaroni and Cheese Sandwich

Pizza Grilled Cheese

Recipe Two

 Grilled Cheese and Fried Egg

Grilled Cheese Eggsplosion

Breakfast Grilled Cheese

 Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

Recipe Two

Garlic & Green Onion Mashed Potato Grilled Cheese

 Ooey Gooey Mexican Grilled Cheese

Mexican Grilled Cheese Two

Betty Crocker Mexican Grilled Cheese

Enjoy!

DIY Chalkboard Mug

I just found this amazing DIY Chalboard Mug tutorial from this blog and I had to share!

you’ll need:
a porcelain mug

painter’s tape

Pebeo Porcelaine 150 Chalkboard Paint (available at Amazon)
(Don’t use regular chalkboard paint. This only works with porcelain paint.)
a soft bristle paint brush (a watercolor brush works well)

how to:
1. Make sure your mug is clean and dry.
2. Use painter’s tape to mask off the part of the mug you don’t want to paint, 0r you could skip this step and paint the whole mug. Personally, I think it looks snazzy only partially painted.
3. Apply the paint with a soft bristle brush. If you mess up just wipe the paint away with a wet paper towel and try again.
4. As soon as you are done painting carefully remove the tape. If you remove it before the paint dries, the tape will be less likely to peel up the edges of the paint.
5. Let the paint dry for 24 hours. Then, bake your mug according to the paint package instructions. After baking turn off the oven and leave the mug inside until it has gradually cooled to room temperature. After you bake it the paint is dishwasher and microwave safe.

Again, I found this awesome tutorial A Journey of Discovery's blog - so go check it out! I cannot wait to try this one out myself.

Happy almost December everybody!

DIY Hair Bows

So after single-handedly emptying a bowl of vegan mashed potatoes and probably 14-15 rolls, I decided to spend the rest of my Thanksgiving evening being crafty. Lately, you wont find me without either a neff beanie on my head or a bow in my hair. I have no idea how to knit a beanie (yet!) but I did figure I could tackle making a hair bow. 

Now as you may have realized by now, I'm not a huge fan of sewing. That being said, this PROBABLY should be done with a needle and thread rather than hot glue. But I'm a huge fan of hot glue... so that's what I went with. It worked just fine. 

A couple of things to note:

1. At the fabric store I got 1/16th of a yard of each of my fabrics. This cost anywhere from 80 cents to $1.50 depending on the fabric.  You don't need more than that for one bow, but its pretty cheap so better safe than sorry!

2. Be careful what fabric you pick out! I tried quite a few. I got a very silky polyester which was sort of difficult to work with, but do-able and a sparkly 100% nylon which was tricky too. The rest were cotton blends and were the most simple.  

DIY Sharpie Mugs

This adorable idea came straight from A Beautiful Mess' blog and I LOVE it. Its run by two creative ladies, Elsie and Emma, and they share tons of crafts, recipes and photography. Go go go!

Also, today I made a bunch of hair bows! Despite it being incredibly simple, I made a tutorial so that's up next.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

DIY Photobooth Ideas

Hi! So I recently saw this amazing DIY "Photobooth" for New Years and thought it was so cool. My roommates and I decided we're going to try to do it for our Christmakkah party coming up, except we'll use shiny red wrapping paper and silver sequins. I read the DIY tutorial here and its not difficult, it just requires a lot of patience! 

Seeing that photobooth inspired me to search for a couple of other options and here's what I found: 

This one was from We Heart It. I can't find the original source, but whoever they are, they're geniuses. Balloons at different levels in a room for a totally magical photo back drop.

This one is for a wedding and I think its the best thing ever. Streamers and beads hanging between two trees. 

This one is from MomTog.com. They made a backdrop out of paper chains. Adorable.

Finally, here's a backdrop my roommates and I made this past weekend. It was my best friend's 22nd birthday and we decided to go with a hipster theme. We taped streamers across our wall and made sure to have a prop box consisting of frames, strange hats, and newspaper. Here's the result.

We had so much fun :] Cant wait to make another. 

The Best of Etsy: Fall Style

So I've been thinking its about time for a "Best of Etsy" but I figured I'd theme this one! Fall doesn't hit Santa Barbara until mid-November so its almoooost time to get out the scarves and peacoats. Here are some of my favorite hand-made fall items by some very talented Etsy sellers!

BglorifiedBoutique makes adorable knit headbands, beanies, scarves, gloves and more. They're SO cute and perfect for Fall time. 

BglorifiedBoutique also has a couple tops and sweaters with a heart cut out of the back which I adore. How perfect is this!

How cute are these tribal print leggings? You can find them and much more at NewSpiritVintage's shop. They're ahh-dorable and perfect for Fall time. 

Oh myyyy I'm dying of cuteness. Its an Emily Dickinson infinity scarf! Lilia Vanini Boutique sells this lovely poem scarf and plenty others in her shop. 

So I just bought this in gray heather. I was surfing through YarnCrazyGirl's shop and she has THE BEST knit beanies with flowers and bows and I couldn't help myself. She also has fingerless gloves and  scarves too. Amazing. 

And I also bought this. Hand-made, knit, head accessories with bows? I just cant stop. I found this gem and many more at LostPaperPlanes etsy shop. Seriously, go check her out. 

Last but not least, some adorable twig bobby pins from WoodlandBelle. She's got other wonderful jewelry and accessories too. 

Happy Fall :]

Halloween Snacks

Skeleton Cupcakes

Halloween Snack Mix

Scarecrow Bars

Spider Eggs

Halloween Witchy Cup Cakes

Apple Smile

Pumpkin Veggie Tray