Repli-Kate: Easy-to-Make Fall Garland

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and as I prepare for two of our favorite people to visit again for the holiday, I'm dusting off some of the decorations I made for last year's festivities. My favorite is my leaf garland, so I figured I would share how you can make your own!

Last year, in anticipation of hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner, I went to Paper Source to check out their decorations and to stock up on some craft stuff (I.love.that.store.). While there, I saw this adorable garland of felt leaves. Thinking it would make an adorable addition to my decor, I checked the price tag and winced... it was much more than I wanted to spend. My disappointment quickly disappeared when I realized that this would be an easy thing to replicate - all I would need is felt, some brown thread, and a sewing machine. Easy peasy!

While I don't have step-by-step photos, I don't think you need them to be able to replicate this yourself. It's incredibly easy - even if you don't know how to sew (I had to look up how to thread my machine, that's how knowledgable I am). Here's what you do:

1.) Decide on one leaf design for each color of felt that you have and make a stencil out of something like a manila folder. On the folder, you'll either want to draw leaves yourself or you can use images from the internet. I went the internet route, since my drawing skills aren't fantastic. I searched "leaf coloring pictures" and had several simple designs to choose from. I printed them out on regular computer paper, cut them out, put them on the manila folder, and traced around the edges. Then I cut out the leaves from the manila folder and had my stencils :) It's possible you could skip the folder and just make a stencil out of computer paper, but I thought the thickness of the folder made it easier to trace onto the felt.

2.) Use your leaf stencils and a sharpie to draw the outline of leaves on your felt

3.) Cut the leaves out

4.) Thread your sewing machine with brown thread and pull out several inches of thread before you start sewing on the first leaf (so you have an end to use for hanging). Then, put down your first leaf and sew straight down the middle and off the leaf. Continue sewing for a couple of inches to provide some space and then put another leaf down and sew in a straight line over that leaf. Repeat over and over again until you get through your leaves and have a large garland.

That's it! That's all you do :)

Last year's Thanksgiving table

If you have leftover leaves, you can sprinkle them on your tabletop like I did above :) 

In case I don't blog before Thursday, have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

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Contact Paper Cabinet

It looks like making my giant chalkboard wasn't a fluke - I am finally back in craft-mode! Yesterday, I decided to work on improving a file cabinet that I got for free from a 2nd-year dental student.

***Side Note*** I really, truly cannot turn down anything free or super cheap. It has been painful to drive/walk through University City and see all the mattresses and furniture sitting on the curb as the Penn kids move out of their apartments. If it wasn't for our mattress debacle last year, I am sure we'd have at least 2 or 3 new *treasures* in our apartment just waiting for a little TLC. ***End of Side Note***

I have had this cabinet sitting in our room since around Easter, and I knew that I wanted to cover it with cute contact paper. I still remember my mom covering a cabinet in contact paper for my room when I was a little kid, so I knew that I should be able to make it work. And, unlike the late-1980s, there are websites like Amazon with lots of cute options. I, of course, had to go with a chevron print.

I figure that with the light grey and white, this will be PERFECT in a nursery someday (no, I'm not pregnant). If we happen to have a boy, I can remove the pink Washi tape and replace it with yellow or blue. (One of the great parts about Washi tape is how simple it is to remove without messing up what is underneath it).

Speaking of which, the Washi tape was one of the things that made this cabinet project so easy! It was the exact size of the lip on the cabinet, and it was too hard to perfectly cover the lip with the contact paper. So, instead, I just cut the contact paper and tucked it over the side of the lip a little and then put the Washi tape on top of it. It covered the "icky" parts, saved me lots of time, and added a pop of color.

***Side Note*** Though you can buy Washi tape on Amazon, it's probably cheapest to buy individual rolls at a store like Staples or Target. The last time I was at Target, they had a whole little section with different Washi tapes. ***End of Side Note***

Another thing I realized was how much easier the contact paper went on if I sanded the cabinet first. I saved the top for last and it took a while to get the rest of the cabinet covered without air bubbles (the worst part about contact paper). When I tried covering the top, those grooves/scratches were really noticeable so I decided to sand down the top to make it more of a smooth surface. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to cover - MUCH less bubbling. Not sure why this is, but I'll definitely sand before any similar project in the future.

I'm having a lot of fun crafting lately, so hopefully I can come up with more projects soon :)

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Giant Chalkboard Project

Chalkboards are SOOOO in right now. Despite that (or maybe I am more of a sheep than I realize), I decided that I wanted to make a giant chalkboard for our apartment.

There are other crafts on my to-do list (I've had an unfinished cabinet and a can of paint ready to be put to use for the last year), but when a new idea strikes all older craft plans get bumped down on the list. (Joe is convinced that can of paint will never be used.)

I had planned on hitting up thrift stores to find a large picture that I could paint over, but we hit the motherlode when one of the dental school frats had to sell their frat house and the contents within. Among the various items up-for-grabs were some giant dry-erase boards.

JACKPOT!

For just $5 a piece, we bought three whiteboards of varying (large) sizes. I'm not sure what I'll do with the other 2 (I'll figure out something), but the biggest one I flipped over and took a can of chalk paint to.

Had to remove a sticker with some nail polish remover (hence the discolored spot)

Pretty pleased with this chalkboard paint

It only took two coats of paint:

Coat 1 

Coat 2

It's not perfect (which annoys me) because you can sort of see brush strokes. But because my arms weren't long enough to get the roller to go down in one straight shot, I figured it would still be a problem whether I did 2 or 20 coats (maybe not, I know nothing about painting). For that reason and in the interest of conserving the chalk paint for another (currently undetermined) project, I decided to stick with just the 2 coats.

I was so excited to start drawing, but finished reading the instructions and realized I had to wait THREE WHOLE DAYS to write on it.

THE SUSPENSE ALMOST KILLED ME.

But Joe helped me hang the chalkboard today and I was able to test it out :)

SOOOOO LOVE THIS. I couldn't believe how easy it was :)

It's also inspired me to do some more crafts, so maybe I'll finally put that can of paint to use :)

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Thanksgiving 2013

Two weeks without a peep, ya'll must have thought I died.

Nope, alive and well. I've just been busy entertaining for Thanksgiving and working. But after going to Catching Fire (again) last night and realizing my last post was after I saw Catching Fire for the first time, I knew I needed to get back to the ole bloggity blog.

Thanksgiving was really fun this year, Joe's brother Eric and sister-in-law Shannon visited for a low-key holiday (my cousin joined us for Thanksgiving dinner since he goes to school in Philly). They were here from Wednesday night through Sunday morning - and it was a BLAST to spend so much time with them.

Before they got here, I decorated our table area to get things festive-looking:

That pumpkin is like 2 months old. I don't want to know what it's insides look like...

I went to Paper Source a week before to check out decoration ideas, and copied the sign from one they had and figured out how to make the felt leaf streamer thingy by myself. Those leaves were super easy, actually, and it forced me to learn how to use my sewing machine :)

After picking them up at the airport Wednesday night, we drank way too much wine and probably earned some time in Purgatory after a few hours of Cards Against Humanity.

Thursday morning (after sleeping off our hangovers until 10 or 11) we had to promptly prep the Turkey - which we allowed Joe to do.

 We planned to let the turkey cook several hours and then to start the sides about an hour before eating time (all our sides were quick ones to prep). But then this happened:

Yup, the oven started smoking and quick thinking was necessary to save us all from smoke inhalation.

We feared for the turkey, but luckily the smoke was just caused by some juices leaking over the roasting pan and burning off on the bottom of the oven. However, this turned out to be divine intervention, because we realized the turkey was done... 2 hours early.

Shannon and I jumped up and started rushing to prep the sides.

We still had fun, though :)

Until the last 5 minutes or so when it all went crazy.

But before we knew it, Joe was cutting the turkey...

And our Thanksgiving spread was ready to be dug into:

It was DELICIOUS

Buster even got a plate - er - bowl ;)

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping, eating, drinking, and earning more Purgatory time with hours and hours of Cards Against Humanity.

It was awesome.

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Halloween Re-Cap & Breaking Bad Costume Instructions

Wow - I can't believe it's already November 4. Dental school is flying by!

Our first Halloween in Philly was a lot of fun. Joe's been having a particularly rough couple of weeks at school (his exact words after his exam last Monday were, "I feel like I just got out of a prison shower"), so I wanted to do something a little special for him. He came home from class on Thursday with me making macaroni & cheese gnocchi (recipe here, forgot to take a pic) and this:

The pumpkin was filled with candy, gum, and a monster card game. Oh, and floss ;)

We headed out in search of some pumpkins to carve, but couldn't find any. I had held off buying pumpkins because I wanted Joe to be able to pick his out. Lesson learned? Dental school doesn't leave a whole lot of time for Joe to do things like shopping for the perfect pumpkin.

I was disappointed, but we came back home and had dinner, watched Hocus Pocus, and ate candy. It was really fun :)

***Side Note*** If you love Hocus Pocus, check out this awesome Buzzfeed post ***End of Side Note***

Friday was our chance to wear our Halloween costumes! We LOVE figuring out fun costumes for Halloween. I usually always have the bigger say in what we are, so this year I let Joe pick. He wanted to be Heisenberg from Breaking Bad, so I decided to be a Los Pollos Hermanos worker. Buster, of course, had to join in the fun. He was Jesse (though he couldn't attend the party).

We had fun taking pictures before we left:

Joe had a ton of fun at the party. A lot of people didn't recognize him, and he handed out "meth" to people who were fans of the show. Most people didn't know who the heck I was, which was a pretty good litmus test as to who is actually a fan of Breaking Bad and who is just pretending ;)

If you are curious as to how I made some of the components of the costumes, you can keep reading :)

***Side Note*** If you are planning to be a Los Pollos Hermanos employee and need the images I used for the hat, apron, or name tag - feel free to contact me and I'll send you the files. ***End of Side Note***

METH:

I used two methods to make meth for my fry batter bucket. The first, was crushing some blueberry candy sticks that I picked up from an Amish candy store at Reading Terminal Market while Stacey was visiting. I didn't pick up enough, though, so I also made blue rock candy. It wasn't TOO difficult, but I've never made hard candy before and I made a few mistakes and didn't add flavoring. Joe only handed out the blueberry "meth" packets at the party.

I had no idea where to buy "dime bags", but it turns out Michaels had a ton of sizes. Apparently people need small clear baggies for various bead crafts.

FRY BATTER BUCKET:

The fry batter bucket was made using a plaster of paris bucket that I got from Michaels. I'm sure with all the crafts I do, I'll use plaster of paris eventually. I found pictures online of the Los Pollos Hermanos fry batter bucket and, using Microsoft Paint (yup, too cheap to buy Photoshop), I made the image as close to the real thing as possible. I printed the image and rubber cemented it onto the bucket.

LOS POLLOS HERMANOS HAT, APRON, NAME TAG:
 
I also used Microsoft Paint to make the logo for the hat and name badge. Luckily, I didn't have to do anything special to the logo for the apron.

For adhering the images to the hat and apron, instead of using regular iron on transfers, I used quick fuse fabric sheets that I got at Jo-Anns. I did that because with our Price is Right shirts, anything that was white turned out clear because there isn't white ink (duh). Fabric sheets are white and you print directly on them, so it looks like a silk-screened product when it is done. Plus, the colors are much more vibrant.

The name badge was made by rubber cementing the printed image to a very thin balsa wood strip (for easy cutting with scissors). I then super glued a steel-pin back to it.


Now that celebrating Halloween 2013 is officially finished, it's time to start thinking about costumes for Halloween 2014 ;)

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Pics from Joe's White Coat

So I've finally pushed through my laziness and uploaded pictures from Monday's white coat :)

Obligatory back to school pic

Announcing himself!

Shaking hands with the Dean

Proud mama

Happy couple :)

Mom and son

The three of us

I also mentioned that Joe got a super special gift in honor of his white coat ceremony.

A few months ago, I read a post on my favorite fellow dental school wife's blog. Ariel at Love Like Enamel (AWESOME name, BTW) had an idea to give her husband a journal with letters of encouragement/advice for him to read when dental school got rough. 

I LOVED the idea, and immediately e-mailed a bunch of family and friends and asked them to submit letters, photos, quotes, etc. so I could create a scrapbook of encouragement for Joe. I figured the best time to give him the scrapbook would be on the night of his white coat. 

Boy oh boy was putting that scrapbook together TOUGH. Since Joe wasn't in school, it was nearly impossible to carve out time to work on it without arousing suspicion. A couple times I rented horror movies and said I was going to watch them in our room (knowing full well he wouldn't step foot in the room since he hates them so much). Besides that, I just took advantage of any time he needed to run a quick errand and made some excuse as to why I couldn't come (headache, cramps, didn't want to crate Buster) and then would whip out the supplies.

I actually used the date night jars as an excuse toward the end. Knowing that I was going to give him two homemade gifts before school, I figured I'd tell him I was making him a surprise. That way, I didn't have to come up with creative ways to get myself alone. While I hated sacrificing the surprise of the jars (the jars themselves were secret, the fact he was getting something wasn't), it was worth it to keep the scrapbook secret.

He loved it :)

Thanks to all who sent contributions :)

 

Repli-Kate: Date Jars

Date jars having been popping up A LOT on Pinterest, and I've always thought it would be fun to make one for Joe and me. We make a point to have a special date night every month, and usually it winds up being dinner and a movie because we are too tired or rushed to come up with something more unique.

Since I want to add some variety to our dates, and because I want guaranteed time with Joe every week when he is in dental school, I decided to make date jars as a gift for Joe before school starts. The idea is that he'll pull a date every Sunday night and, based on what it is and his schedule, we'll figure out when we want to do it that week. That also gives me time to make the necessary reservations or buy the necessary ingredients/supplies/etc.

In total, there are 104 dates so we can do one a week for his first 2 years of dental school (the first 2 years are the busiest by far).

With most of the jars on Pinterest, colored sticks or papers are used to indicate how expensive a date is. While money is something we are definitely careful with, I knew that while Joe is in dental school it's more important for us to choose a date based on how much time it would take. Those weeks where he has three tests? Maybe he only has an hour to spare for an activity. Those weeks where he miraculously has some extra time? Great! A several hour date it can be.

I used green, yellow, and red to indicate how much time I expect the specific activity to take. Green is 90 minutes or less, yellow is 2-4 hours, and red is 4+ hours. Obviously, there are many more green and yellow dates than red, I'm realistic ;)

Most of the dates are pretty inexpensive, but I did throw in a few higher-cost ideas. Because of the time and money restraints, and the fact that I wanted a lot of them to be things we can do at home, many involve cooking special dinners and watching movies. Though not THE MOST creative ideas ;) given how busy Joe will be, eating dinner together and watching a movie will feel special.

One thing that really annoyed me about seeing these date jars on Pinterest is that few (if any, honestly) had a full list of the activities they included. This meant spending hours trolling blogs online trying to find lists of date ideas to get inspiration and ideas for my own. So, because I'd hate anyone to ever spend that much time coming up with ideas ever again, I'll include my list of dates here :)

All 104 of them :)

***Side Note*** You'll notice I'll use any excuse to make us put on costumes. Joe should be trilled haha ***End of Side Note***

Green Dates (90 minutes or less)

Puzzle	Let's put on some music and put a puzzle together
YouTube Video Session	Let's get our laughs on with a marathon of funny YouTube videos
Write Bucket Lists	Let's plan the rest of our lives together
Paper Mache Masks	Let's cover our faces with paper mache and make some wicked cool masks
Thrifting	Let's go thrifting! We each get $5 to spend on the other person
Breakfast for Dinner - In PJs	Let's get our PJs on and have breakfast for dinner - complete with cartoons
Picnic in Clark Park	Let's pack a picnic basket and head to Clark Park (if the weather doesn't permit, we'll picnic on our living room floor)
Dance Party	Let's party like it's 1999!
Video Game Marathon	Let's hook up the Playstation and you can teach me some Madden
Game Night	Let's play some board games and pig out on pizza
Cookbook Dinner	Let's grab a cookbook and randomly select courses for a 4 course meal - then we gotta get busy cooking!
YouTube Dance Lessons	Let's prove we don't have four left feet between us. Swing? Tango? The Macarena?
Formal Night	Let's dress up in our finest attire and eat by candlelight - at home
Indoor Camping	Let's build a tent, make s'mores, and tell ghost stories
Photoshoot	Let's grab the camera and get some fun shots of each other
Tennis Match	Let's grab the rackets and hit the court
Wine Tasting	Let's pair wine with cheese and chocolate - yum
Personality Tests	Let's take some online personality tests and see how compatible we are on paper
Pudding Pictionary	Let's use our fingers to draw in pudding - whoever said you can't play with your food
Basketball	Let's play a game of HORSE and/or shoot some hoops
Coffee Date	Let's head to a local coffee shop for some caffeine and conversation
Dream Home Blueprint	Let's map out our dream house
Paint Portraits	Let's each try to paint a portrait of the other
Ice Cream Sundae Night	Let's forget dieting and make decadent ice cream sundaes
Beer Pong	Let's practice our pong skills - you are a college student again
Minute to Win It	Let's look up some Minute to Win It games and try our luck at them
Restaurant Replicate	Let's replicate a meal from a restaurant we like - but try to do it better
Record a Music Video	Let's bust out the camera and record a music video
Record an Infomercial	Let's pretend we're on HSN and record an infomercial for a product we own
Record a Cooking Show	Let's pretend we are on The Next Food Network Star and record a cooking segment
Would You Rather?	Let's get to know each other a bit better...
Paint Coffee Mugs	Let's draw/paint on a coffee mug for the other person
Rap Contest	Let's channel our inner Snoop Dog and see who can come up with the best rap
Play MadLibs	Let's lie in bed and play MadLibs
Paint By Numbers	Let's try to stay in the lines...
Joe's Choice	Let's see what Joe wants to do in 90 minutes or less
Cookie Cook-Off	Let's see who can make the tastiest cookie
Play at the Playground	Let's channel our inner child and swing, slide, and monkey around
Make T-Shirts	Let's decorate T-Shirts for each other
Dollar Store Hunt	Let's go to the dollar store with $4 each, 15 minutes, and a mission: (1) Find the worst gift (2) Find the best gift (3) Find the ugliest item (4) Find the best value
Make a Buster Calendar	Let's grab our cute little pup and take photos of him for a Buster calendar
Flip a Coin	Let's let fate determine where we eat tonight. We'll get in the car and flip a coin every 30 seconds. Heads we turn right, tails we turn left. After 15 minutes we eat at the closest restaurant
Needlepoint	Let's make some inappropriate needlepoint
Kate's Choice	Let's see what Kate wants to do for 90 minutes or less
Card Night	Let's play some card games

Yellow Dates (2-4 hours)

Chopped Challenge	Let's see who can find the most oddball mystery ingredients
Iron Chef	Let's see which of us will be the next Iron Chef of Spruce St.
Mob Night	Let's dress up like mobsters and enjoy some pizza, gelato, and chianti as we watch The Godfather
Mini-Golf	Let's hit the links... well, the little links
Bowling	Let's strike!
Dave & Busters or Chuck-E-Cheese	Let's try to win enough tickets for something better than a temporary tattoo..
Ice Skating	Let's FINALLY go ice skating
Go to the Zoo	Let's visit the animals at the Zoo
Blast From the Past - Kid	Let's pretend we are kids again - we'll eat kid foods and watch kid movies / TV shows
Blast From the Past - Teen	Let's pretend we are teenagers again - we'll eat pizza and watch our favorite movies / TV shows from when we were in junior high and high school
Sports Movie & Food	Let's watch a sports movie and eat foods you'd find at a concession stand
Restaurant Hop	Let's go to three restaurants tonight: one for an appetizer, one for an entree, and one for dessert
Theme Night - Italian	Let's go to Italy! We'll eat Italian food and watch a movie that reminds us of Italy
Theme Night - Western	Let's go partner! We'll eat like cowboys and watch a Western
Theme Night - French	Let's go to Paris! We'll eat French food and watch a movie that reminds us of France
Theme Night - Mexican	Let's go to Mexico! We'll eat Mexican food and watch a movie that reminds us of Mexico
Theme Night - 1950's	Let's pretend it's the 50's! Get in costume while we watch a 50's movie, eat 50's diner food, and maybe even have living room sock hop
Theme Night - 1980's	Let's pretend it's the 80's! Get in costume while we watch a Brat Pack movie
Theme Night - Halloween	Let's get our spooky on! Regardless of the time of year, let's put on a costume, watch a Halloween movie, and carve a pumpkin (or watermelon if pumpkin is out of season)
Theme Night - Christmas	Let's do Christmas in July...or March...or whenever you pull this. Christmas movies, ugly sweaters from the thrift store, and Christmas cookies
Theme Night - Disney	Let's watch a Disney movie and eat Monte Cristos
Theme Night - Hawaiian	Let's go back to the setting of our honeymoon - we'll eat some Hawaiian cuisine, watch a movie / TV show that takes place in Hawaii, and wear our swimsuits
Mystery Science Theater	Let's find a dumb movie and Mystery Science Theater the crap out of it
Penn Museum	Let's visit the Penn Museum and learn something
Driving Range	Let's see how far we can hit a golf ball
Cake Decorating	Let's make a couple of cakes and decorate them Ace of Cakes style
Mad Scientists	Let's look up a science experiment online and try to replicate it
Dueling Piano Bar	Let's have a jolly ole time at Jolly's Dueling Piano bar
Food Network Copycat	Let's watch a random episode of a Food Network show and make a dish that was featured
Italian Market - Buy Dinner Fixings	Let's go to the Philly Italian market and find the makings for dinner tonight
Comedy Night	Let's belly laugh tonight watching some stand-up
Invent a Board Game	Let's get creative and invent a board game that can be played by two people
Joe's Choice	Let's see what Joe wants to do for 2-4 hours
Shakespeare Night	Let's watch two Shakespeare movies: a classic version and a modern re-telling (eg: Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You, Othello and O, Romeo and Juliet and Romeo + Juliet, etc.)
Dive Bar	Let's go to a dive bar and play billiards and/or darts. Oh, and drink cheap beer.
Rocky Horror Picture Show Night	Let's do audience participation at home - bring on the toast, newspapers, and water guns. And Time-Warping is mandatory
Batting Cages	Let's hit a home-run
Scattergories Date	Let's roll a Scattergories die and then everything we do must start with that letter.
Double Feature	Let's see two movies in a row at the theater
Pat's vs. Geno's	Let's decide who makes the better cheesesteak
Kate's Choice	Let's see what Kate wants to do for 2-4 hours
Nickelodeon Night	Let's watch shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark, Rugrats, and Doug. Might we find some Legend of the Hidden Temple?

Red Dates (4+ hours)

TV Marathon	Let's get in our PJs, order delivery, and watch at least 5 episodes of a TV show we've been wanting to try
Movie Marathon	Let's get in our PJs, order delivery, and watch a trilogy. Star Wars? Back to the Future? Hangover? Toy Story? There's a lot of options...
Shooting Range	Let's see whose the better shot
Paintball	Let's get out some aggression
Philadelphia Museum of Art	Let's add some culture to our lives and go to an art museum... or two
Theater Night	Let's test the theory that "All the World's a Stage." If it's true, we shouldn't have trouble finding a play to attend...
Historic Walking Tour	Let's learn more about our new city!
Mini-Road Trip	Let's figure out a place within 2 hours of Philly that we want to visit for the day
Casino Night	Let's try our luck at SugarHouse
Join the Circus	Let's learn how to fly through the air with the greatest of ease in a trapeze class
Go Rock-climbing	Let's go climb a mountain - a faux mountain, that is
Joe's Choice	Let's see what activity Joe wants to do that will last over 4 hours
Comedy Club	Let's get our laugh on and go to a comedy club
Improv - ComedySportz	Let's see whose line it will be...
Brewery Tour	Let's learn how beer is made... and then drink some
Kate's Choice	Let's see what Kate wants to do for 4+ hours
Whitewater Rafting	Let's get an adrenaline rush (weather permitting)

Any other ideas for dates out there? Leave me a comment. I can always add more for years 3 & 4 :)