da big bag and da font

Several months ago I saw this DIY "big bag" tutorial and have been itching to get down to Ikea ever since [but who wants to drive all the way to 610 and I10?? Mom.] I found our "as is" area to be quite a disappointment--pretty much Christmas stuff and banged up furniture. I did find this pillow cover for just $6 in the pillow section. Not as cool as the couch cushion, but it has a similar shape and a zipper, so it will do! I used an old top sheet of a faux burberry sheet set I bought on ebay a couple of years ago for the handles and casing across the front. 
**Disclaimer: This project contains SEWING! I can't sew, but I had a blast with my mom learning the basics and it's not too bad! I have actually already found several other sewing projects that aren't so intimidating now that I have a little experience.

Make no mistake, this bag is HUGE! You could easily conceal a medium sized dog, or everything needed for a sleepover. I can't wait to put mine to work!

Also, have you guys heard of the website dafont.com?? You can find the best fonts here and download them FO FREE to your computer! They show up in all programs that have a "font" bar including the booksmart program from blurb! I realize this might sound a bit like those spam facebook wall posts, but this is the real deal. They have almost all movie fonts [perfect for a theme party!] and a massive index of different kinds and styles of fonts. Here is a sample of the ones I recently downloaded:

My favorite? Sunshine in my soul. But it's a close race with all of them. 
One more thing: It's no secret that I am not very tech savvy [good thing my daddio and brudder are!], so this may be common knowledge, BUT you can save a powerpoint slide as a PICTURE! I just did it for the font "image" above! Imagine the possibilities.
Last thing, really: I was in my advisors office today for 3+ hours working on a grant proposal and she mentioned that using parentheses is her "typing tick." I'm thinking we have that in common.

hawaii

On new years day my family and I set out for a 2 week vacation on the island of Kauai. We are all so busy now, so it was great to spend some QT with the fam. We did some amazing hikes...

and watched the Ags play in the Cotton Bowl.

We went to the south side of the island to visit "sea glass beach." They used to crush all their glass and dump it off the shore of this beach. All the glass rolls around in the sand and finally makes it to the beach rounded, frosted, and fabulous. I collected some of my own and am still looking for a small bottle to display it. 

My favorite hike was a long (8 miles, round trip) to a waterfall. We climbed over rocks, up and down steep inclines, lost the trail, crossed many rivers, stopped at a hidden beach and ate lunch, found the trail, and finally arrived at a 300+ foot waterfall tucked away in the cliffs of the Na Pali coast. Unfortunately, we forgot to put the SD card back in the camera that day, so the picture quality isn't that great, but I do have a video of my dad, brother, and I swimming in the pool. Please excuse my clumsy and painful less than graceful entry and exit. It would be safe for you to assume that waterfall pond rocks are very slippery, and that waterfall pools are freezing.

Right now it's whale season in Hawaii, so each morning we sat out on our balcony and watched for whales. Mostly we just saw their "spout," but we did see a few breaches and tale splashes--pretty awesome/crazy, which can also be used to describe the entire trip. Maybe I'll move there and study volcanoes? 

goodness, gracious, homemade granola!

The bf and I just got some delicious frozen yogurt Spoons, so in light of sweet treats... this homemade granola recipe from Ask Design Mom is awesome. It's pretty easy and you can use whatever nuts and goodies you have around. I made some for the ladies at work for Christmas and it was a huge hit! 

I tied some yarn around the mason jars and called it a day! Super easy and different "gift wrap" that cost me about $1 each at Michaels. I've seen some granola recipes that include coconut, but I haven't tried any of them yet. Sounds yummy! 
I went home this weekend and got to see this little guy munchin' on a pine cone, and work on my first sewing project with my mom! Details soon!

burlap table runner

A couple weeks ago I found this super cute table runner idea from mason bay. It's definitely worth a quick trip to JoAnn's. I grabbed 2.5 yards of the lightest burlap they had and a small bottle of teal-ish acrylic paint--all for under $8! yes or yes?? I used clear duct tape to do the outside stripes first:

The tutorial says to work in sections, which is pretty unavoidable unless you are painting on a larger surface than the actual table you are making the runner for. I used painters tape to outline the inner stripe because I only wanted half an inch between the stripes and I thought if I taped over an already painted part with duct tape it would pull off parts of the paint [which may actually look cool and vintage??]. I didn't chance it. The painters tape worked just fine, and the final product turned out great! 

Pardon the quality of the pics. They are from my iPhone. I have currently misplaced my camera battery. 
I unraveled the edges a little and may put a dot of glue at the corners to prevent too much raveling [in her tutorial, she sews along the edges, but that seemed like too much work/I don't have a sewing machine]. I did, however spend some QT on my mom's sewing machine this weekend and will post soon!