Thursday, March 28, 2013

Business Card Holder

Okay, lovely readers, today we have a tale about when crafts don't go quite as well as you may have planned.  Sometimes I see an image or I get an idea and I jump right in, and the end result...not so cute.  Today's craft didn't go totally wrong, but it certainly didn't turn out as well as I originally intended.  I found the idea for this project on Pinterest (featured it here on my craft inspiration post), and it led me to this tutorial.  Originally, this project called for spray paint and vinyl letters cut out using a Silhouette machine.  Well, I hate spray paint and sadly do not yet own a Silhouette so I had to make do.

My version calls for the following supplies: sticker letters (though I ended up using vinyl ones), a metal tin (mine is from the gift card section of Michael's), a sponge brush, two colors of paint, one base coat (I used an acrylic made for outdoor use).


Cover your whole tin with the base coat and let it dry.  This is where this project started to go downhill for me.  Me and waiting?  Not so much.


Once your base coast has dried, paint the bottom portion of the tin and the very top with one of your colors.  This will be your accent color.


Place your vinyl letters on your tin.  Note that mine are not all that straight.  That was not really planned.


Make sure your accent paint is totally dry.  Cover the letters with another coat of the base paint.


Wait until that is totally dry, then cover the entire lid of the tin with your second color.  I did this part at night (because of all the waiting!) so the pic is not great.  The color is blue in real life!


When the top layer is totally dry, very carefully peel off your letters.


Not so pretty, huh?  I used a tiny paintbrush and went back in with some blue and pink and touched up the areas that were looking really rough.  They got better, but still not perfect.


Once you have finished painting and everything is dry, it is probably a good idea to seal the whole thing.  I was out of sealer, so like any good craft blogger, I improvised and used clear nail polish.  That part actually worked pretty well, and it gave the whole thing a sheen, which I happen to like.


In the end, not quite as lovely as I imagined, but not too terrible.  I will probably use this to tote along my business cards until I find (or make) something better.  Any of you have good stories of crafts gone wrong?  I would love to hear them!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Wedding Wednesday:Coral Inspiration Board

Hello readers!  Given that I used to dabble in the world of weddings, I still frequently get asked about wedding planning tips and tricks.  I still help out the occasional friend with her big day, and I still love all things wedding.  So every once in a while I will share some of my favorite wedding trends and ideas with you (probably on Wednesdays, you know, because I love alliteration)!  For my first Wedding Wednesday, I wanted to share with you one of the most versatile, gorgeous and trending wedding colors: coral!  Coral is a great choice for a wedding color because it pairs beautifully with lots of other colors.  Plus, your bridesmaids will love you because everyone looks good in coral!  Here's some inspiration for you!


So pretty and such a great color for a summer wedding!

Photo credits, clockwise from top left: invitations, cake, bouquet, bridal party 1, bridal party 2, bridal party 3

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Styling Shelves

One thing I am not very good at is styling shelves.  As I am making updates throughout our house, I want to add some interest to the shelves we around, especially on our entertainment center and in the kitchen.  I (obv) turned to Pinterest for some inspiration.  I still have some work to do on our shelves, but these images have given me tons of good ideas.  (Click pic for original source, all pics via Pinterest.)







Any tips on how to best style shelves from you lovely readers?  I'll make sure to post some pics of my new shelves when they are done being styled!

Monday, March 25, 2013

Fabric Covered Button Bobby Pins

Hey y'all and happy Monday!  I have a super easy tutorial for ya to start this week off right!  These babies are perfect for spring, and you have tons of options for colors and patterns here.  Here's what you need: a glue gun, two bobby pins, and two fabric covered buttons with the loops on the back.  That's it!


The first thing you want to do is slide the button onto the short end of your bobby pin and hold the bobby pin like this.  Figure out how you want the button to lay on the pin and then return to this position.


While holding your bobby pin as above, shoot some hot glue on the side where your pin will lie and press it down, holding for a few seconds so it sets.  I am a crazy gluer, so I also filled the rest of the button with glue, just to be safe!


And yeah, that's all you've got to do!  I made two sets in about five minutes and they are just too cute!



I will be making a ton more of these suckers, especially now that I know how simple the process is.  I'm now on the hunt for some super cute fabrics to use!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Easter Inspiration

So I'm not going to lie, I'm not a huge Easter person.  Being that I am not super religious, and I don't have kids, there is not a whole lot of Easter celebration happening in my house.  I didn't do a whole lot of Easter decorating, and I definitely don't plan to (now that we are a week away!), but I can appreciate some of the super cute Easter ideas that are out there.  Here are some of the cutest Easter things I have found on the interwebs.  (Click pic for original source.)

I love this simple but cute Easter egg display (especially because there is a lot of pink!).


Again with the pink...imagine if you added glitter!


This display isn't super flashy, but I like the simplicity and the subtle prettiness.


This one Easter craft I might actually try out someday, a "book bunny"!


This one stood out to me because it is bright and colorful, the kind of thing I might actually make one day when I have kids who like Easter :o)


I could see doing a display of my two "book bunny" ideas.  Super cute and easy.


Happy Thursday and an early Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate!  Hope you liked all this cute bunny pretty pinkness!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Welcome to My Etsy Store!

Hey y'all!  I thought I would give you a little tour through my new Etsy shop today.  In all honesty, this was not something I ever expected or planned, and I will be surprised if it ends up going anywhere, but I'm having fun crafting (right now mostly for my friends!) and who knows what could happen in the future, right?  I only have a few items at the moment, but I have some other ideas and things I'm excited to get started on.  To visit my Etsy shop, click here!

This was my original listing in the shop.  I made a bunch of these bags for friends and family for Christmas, and then posted my tutorial here on the blog.  I received tons of comments on the bags and the post, so figured, why not list it?  The bag is totally customizable, you pick your letter and the color of your flower.



Since Mr. B and I ordered our Dodgers tickets last week, I thought it would be fun to make a baseball themed bag.  I absolutely love how it came out and I can't wait to bring it to games with me!  The baseball bags come with any team logo and a coordinating flower with a baseball button in the center.



And even though it's a little early for football season, it's never too early to get prepared, right?  So how about this super cute college football bag (Go Bruins!)?  This one can be done for any college or pro team, and this flower has a super cute football in the center.  (Sorry for the in progress pic here!)


If you would like your own personalized, totally hand-painted, custom tote, visit The Bees Times Three on Etsy!  Hopefully I'll see you stopping by the store soon!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Craft Inspiration Courtesy of Pinterest

Hello lovelies!  While I still have tons of projects to get done around the house, Pinterest has been providing me with lots (too many?) craft ideas that I'm dying to try.  Since we have Spring Break coming up, I'm hoping I'll actually get to try some of these out soon!  (Click pic for original source, all pics via Pinterest.)

I love this simple yet darling utensil holder, hand-painted with a fave recipe.



This personalized tin is great for holding business cards, or whatever other little tidbits you've got lying around.


I absolutely love this DIY e-reader holder made from an old book.  So cool!


If you know me at all, you know I love me some sparkles.  I think I might have to incorporate these into my 30th birthday decor somehow.


And I'm totally loving these neon pots.  I think I might bust out some larger versions for our backyard.


Any crafts on your mind as of late?  What are you dying to make?

Sunday, March 17, 2013

DIY Felt Flowers

Hello lovely readers and welcome to another week!  Today I'm going to show you how to make these adorable felt flowers that you first saw on my tote bag tutorial.


The first thing you want to do is gather your supplies: colored felt, hot glue, fabric scissors, a button for the center, a clip for the back, and two circle templates.  To make my circle templates, I used my 3" circle punch and my 2" circle punch and used card stock so they would be easy to manipulate.  You could use any size really, as long as one of the circles is larger than the other.

I also grabbed an old magazine to catch any glue spills.  Once you have your supplies, you want to cut out six of your larger circles and one smaller circle.


 Take one of the larger circles and fold it in half.


Take the right side and fold it over so it touches the middle of the half circle.


 Fold the left side behind so it touches the middle of the half circle.


Looking down from the top, it should look like an S.


Put a dab of glue on the tip of the triangle and attach it to the center of the smaller circle.  You might also want to put a tiny bit of glue in between your folds so the petals stay together.


Repeat the folding for each of the large circles, gluing each one to the center.  Make sure the triangles are as close together as possible.


Take your button, or whatever you want to put in the center of your flower, cover the back in hot glue and attach it to the center of the flower.


Once you have the button glued on, you can gently pull up the flower "petals" so they are nice and fluffy.  Then attach your clip to the back of the flower.


Once you get in the rhythm of these babies, you can crank them out pretty quickly.  And, you can use them for so many things, hair pins, bag decor, the sky is the limit!  Here's the finished product one more time:


Get to crafting and have fun!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Personal Post: My Experience with Cytotec

I almost didn't write this post because I feel like I have been doing a really good job of moving on and not focusing on the negative (read that story here).  I mean, I still want to throw my phone at the wall every time I see a Facebook post featuring the inside of someone's uterus, but in general, I have been doing much better.  The only reason I feel the need to write this is because I found much solace (and tons of helpful information) reading about others' experiences when I was getting ready to take this medication and I think I owe it to any others in the same position to pay it forward.  If this isn't something you can relate to, and I really hope you can't, then by all means bypass the rest of this post...just don't forget to come back and see me tomorrow!

Alrighty, here we go.  When I first found out my pregnancy was not viable, I opted to wait for things to happen on their own, naturally.  I wanted to avoid surgery and drugs if at all possible.  A couple of days later, I called my doctor and asked for the drug because I just could not handle the tension of waiting.  I scoured the internet for stories and personal experiences with Cytotec (also called misoprostol).  The only other time I had heard of this drug was on an episode of Law and Order: SVU--not the best reference point, you can imagine.  Some of the stories were scary, some were helpful, some were sad, but I was so glad I took the time to read them because otherwise I would not have known what I was getting myself into.  My doctor is a male, and while he can give me doctorly advice, he has no idea what it feels like to miscarry, or even to have cramps (the most common comparison to the effects of the medication).

Let me preface this by telling you that I am no stranger to INTENSE menstrual cramps.  When I was younger, I used to get debilitating cramps almost every single month, to the point where I would not even be able to stand up.  I was even hospitalized because of them one time, so when someone says, it feels like bad cramps, I know exactly what that means.  That was the prep I got from my doctor, "It will feel like bad cramps."  And that was about all I got.  The rest of my info I gleaned from my internet studies.  So here is how it went for me, what I did that was helpful and what I would do differently.

Before anything, I ate a good breakfast with lots of protein.  I also drank a Vitamin Water and tried to hydrate.  I had read how it might be able before I wanted to eat, so I tried to get some good stuff in before the pain began.  I also made sure to stock up on maxi pads--the super duper thick kind, and one wise internet poster recommended baby wipes, so I grabbed some of those too.

I took the drug at about 1:00 in the afternoon.  I inserted the pills vaginally and laid in bed for about a half an hour afterward to make sure they stayed where they needed to.  After that half hour I started to have very mild cramps.  I laid down with the heating pad and it alleviated most of the pain.  About an hour after I took the Cytotec, I took ibuprofen.  Looking back, I should have asked for a stronger, prescription pain reliever.  I think it would have made a world of difference.  When it got down to the nitty gritty, the ibuprofen didn't do much for me.

The intense cramps started about 5:00.  I used the bathroom pretty much right away and passed the largest of the clots I passed almost immediately.  Everything I read online said once the biggest clot passed, the cramps stopped.  Not so for me.  For almost three hours, I was in the worst physical pain I have ever been in.  Granted, I have never broken a bone or had surgery or anything major, but I have a high pain tolerance--especially when it comes to "female" pain.  The difference between this experience and regular cramps is that there was absolutely no relief.  It wasn't like five minutes of pain and then five minutes rest--it was constant pain.  I was basically curled up on the couch with the heating pad, clutching Mr. B's hand for the entire three hours.  The only reason I held it together was because I knew that eventually it would stop, and at that point my only choice was too tough it out and wait.

Around 8:00 the cramps started to die down.  During my three hours of torture, I could barely swallow water (the pain left me feeling nauseous, but I didn't ever throw up), so as soon as I started feeling better, I hydrated and took another round of ibuprofen.  I went to lay down in the bedroom for a while, dozed a little bit, kept the heating pad going.  By 9:00, I was feeling much better.  I was able to walk around a little more, and I was starving.  I loaded up on homemade pasta my mom had brought over, and drank another Vitamin Water.

Once I had passed my large clot, I bled pretty steadily for a little over a week.  I have always had a heavy flow so it wasn't much more than I was used to, but it definitely went on for a long time.  By the next day, I felt well enough to be up and moving like I normally would.  My mom and I went to a movie to help keep my mind off of things (we saw Gangster Squad--nothing makes a girl feel good like Ryan Gosling in a three piece suit).  For the rest of the weekend, I felt okay, just sore and tired, kind of like after having the flu.

My periods have still been a little wonky, almost two months later and I am not back to my normal cycle (which for me is odd since I have always been very regular), but physically speaking, taking Cytotec was probably the best thing for me.  After I stopped bleeding, I went back to my doctor for an ultrasound and everything was fine.  I had feared that I might have to go in for the surgery anyway, but the drug did it's job and everything that needed to be out was out.  For me, the decision to take the Cytotec was a good one.  It was easier than sitting around and waiting for it to happen naturally and much less invasive than surgery.

If you are going to be taking any form of misoprostol, please ask your doctor for a prescription strength pain killer.  That is the number one thing I would have done differently.  Also, staying hydrated and eating a solid meal before you take the pills will definitely help.  Make sure you have someone who can stay with you throughout the experience, for both moral and physical support (Mr. B had to help me to the bathroom a couple of times).  And just know that no matter how much it sucks and feels like it is never going to be over, it will end, and when it does, you will physically be almost back to normal.  Emotionally things might take a little longer, but for me, once the physical stuff was done, it was much easier to start moving on mentally.

I hope I haven't grossed you out too much, and if you are struggling with a similar situation, please hang in there.  I promise it will pass.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

B Family Home Tour: My Office

We still have a couple of more spots left on our B Family Home Tour, and while this space could be one of my favorite places in the house, right now it is mostly just a fancy storage closet.  The people who lived here before we bought our house converted the single car garage into usable house space.  Half of it became our closet in the master bedroom, and the other half became my office.  So basically it is one half of a small single car garage--it's tiny.  Typically I would use my vertical space, but because the walls are so thin, it is impossible to hang shelves.  For right now, things are kind of organized chaos.

This table is against the far wall.  Underneath is a set of drawers holding my businessy type supplies.  On top of the table is my sewing machine and my printer and some small storage containers holding random little knick knacks.


Next to the table is a bookshelf holding my craft supplies in different labeled bins.




Tucked in the back corner is another table, made from two small shelves with a table top on it.  My sewing supplies are in the cubbies and some office supplies are on top.


This is the view from the doorway.


In all, it's not a terrible space.  I rarely do any actual work in the office, mainly because there is no window and no natural light.  At some point in the future, this space will have to hold both my office junk and Mr. B's when his music room is converted to a nursery.  Then we might be in some serious trouble, but for now, this room mostly serves it's purpose (and yes, it is that pink in person--actually, it's even pinker).