DIY: "Mason Jar"

This weekend I completed a mini-project involving two things: an empty Classico pasta jar and some spray paint. After having spaghetti one night, I noticed how pretty the shape of the empty jar was, inscribed with some of the classic mason jar elements. So I thoroughly washed the pasta jar and soaked it for a couple hours in warm water and soap. After a little more scrubbing, it was clean as a whistle. I got some farmhouse red spray paint and painted the cover, let that sit for an hour, and voila! I ended up using this particular jar to hold rice, which is a great replacement for the messy plastic bags that it's normally stored in. I'm definitely planning to keep my Classico jars from now on to store more goodies in the future!

Pin Me.

Okay, I have officially become obsessed with another website: Pinterest. I've had multiple people try and get me to join for months now, but I just got around to it this week. It's a virtual pinboard where you collect images of the things you love by uploading them or finding them while browsing the web. You have an unlimited number of boards that you name and categorize; for example: my style, favorite food, places of inspiration, home design, and so on. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. You can also share your pins with others and repin others' pins (and vice versa). Searching the internet will never be the same.

Here's an example of what one of my pinboards currently looks like: "welcome to my (dream) home."

If you already have a Pinterest account, you can follow me by clicking the red button on the right-hand sidebar (do it!). If not, sign up, become an addict with me, and get pinned!

Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.

Little bitty Etsy.com is a website that I've been obsessed with for quite some time now. You can buy and sell just about any kind of handmade good, including art, jewelry, stationary, music, furniture.... you name it! It was such a breath of fresh air for me in the midst of our wedding planning. I wish I had known about it from the moment he proposed, for I would have ordered EVERYTHING from here. You know what you're getting is unique and made with care, and best yet, you can work with vendors to personally customize projects for you.

For example, one vendor, Clayin' Around, made a customized cake topper for our wedding cake out of polymer clay of a groom and an eskimo woman... which was an inside joke between Ryan and I (he claims that I look like an eskimo... don't ask!). She sent me multiple photo proofs of the figurine, and once I approved it, I completed the payment and voila! I had our perfect cake topper. It was probably one of our favorite parts of the wedding... and Etsy can take full credit for that. Here's a few more wedding details that were ordered from Etsy:

Our ring bearer carried this little pillow, designed with coordinating patterned fabrics and embellished with ribbons in varying shades of brown. Vendor: bride design

Pear-shaped crystal, ballroom earrings, in smoky silver, with precision facets. The pendants dangle below Swarovski crystal rondelles on sterling silver wire and french hooks. I wore these for the wedding! Vendor: Made by Kalli

Handcrafted flower hair pins using ivory/cream silk hydrangea petals with a freshwater pearl, a white pearl and a Swarovski crystal beaded center. I wore these in my hair. Vendor: kris kreations

Wedding aside, this is my most recent purchase, just for fun! I love the design of the fabric: White with blue flowers silver plated pendant necklace. Made by hand embossing aluminum and then applying fabric to the embossed design. Vendor: Twist 21

As you can see, I LOVE ETSY!