Glitter + Tonic: 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Years Eve!

I planned to have a long post reflecting on how great 2011 has been and posting that today. But it will have to wait till tomorrow or Monday.

I'm so excited for our party tonight! Big plans to celebrate at Kung Fu Saloon here in downtown Austin tonight.

I just wanted to pop in and wish my loyal 10 followers a very happy and safe NYE celebration!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

diy : 52 reasons why I love you!

Here is a super easy and very thoughtful gift you could actually make for anyone special in your life. I chose to make this as a litte Christmas gift for my hubs. I saw it on Pinterest (of course) just in time to get it all together.

You'll need:

a deck of cards (I found mine at Michael's craft store)

bind rings (Wal-Mart has them in the stationary section)

2"x2" sticky labels (for you to write the reasons on)

I added pictures that corresponded to the reason that I printed out, cut and glued them to the inside of the opposite card

Office Max will hole punch the deck of cards for just a couple bucks.

a sneak peek at the inside of the deck

He loved it so much! He wanted to hang it somewhere he could see it daily. What a better spot than on his cowboy hat rack. {Yes, he owns enough cowboy hats to need a rack to keep them on :)}

52 just to name a few,

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

diy : glitter striped top

I've been wanting a sequin top for quite some time now, but every time I see one I say to myself "really, when and where are you going to wear that. Let's be practical!" So I end up passing them up. (I know, me, passing up glitter or sequins of any kind...unheard of!) Well this blog that I love to follow, The Budget Babe had a recent post about how to glitter stripe your own shirt! Brilliant I thought, I'll just make my own on the cheap instead of spending mucho moola to buy a pre-made one. Plus I get more satisfaction out of a diy project.

I basically followed the steps in her blog, but I did a few things a little different. I found a striped Henley tank at Old Navy for $7 (similar here)! I thought the gold glitter would look pretty over the tan stripe.

So I taped off the stripes as directed in the Budget Babe blog.

My craft store, Hobby Lobby did not have the color of gold I would have preferred to use. They were either very orange gold or very green gold. So I decided to mix a really pretty rose gold and the more green gold together. Just squeeze out a blob of this glitter bond onto a paper plate, dump as little or as much glitter and mix it up with the a stirring utensil (I used the end of a paint brush) and use the applicator sponge that the glue comes with to spread it on.

Here is an up close of the shirt after I peeled the masking tape off.

This is before the glitter glue was applied.

And here is what the tank looks like on (it's a little blurry, but you get the idea)!

So super easy! I bought another t-shirt from Old Navy for $5 I am going to try the Chevron pattern just towards the bottom.

fairy poop and all things sparkly,

my first Christmas as a Mrs.!

THE holiday season (you know which one I'm talking about, the one that starts right after Halloween and goes all the way to the New Year, or my birthday really) is never long enough for me to soak it all in. All being, extra special time with loved ones, the smells, the lights, new and old traditions and feeling extra blessed and thankful for the life that I have. Especially now getting older, my how the time flies. I find myself secretly acting like a kid, pretending I can freeze time or at least slow it down. Which is part of the reason I take SO MANY pictures; they help me to remember and refocus when life gets a little crazy and I need a reminder. I read a quote the other day that I just absolutely loved and wanted to share...

"Always remember to forget , the things that made you sad. But never forget to remember, the things that made you glad. Always, remember to forget, the friends that proved untrue. But don't forget to remember, those that stuck by you. Always remember to forget, the troubles that passed away. But never forget to remember, the blessings that come each day."

With that being said I hope you all had a very Merry, heartwarming, lovely Christmas! I sure did and here is a little recap of our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs.

This is my happy, little side of the family.

Mr. and Mrs. with our little furbaby, Gunnar.

My Mom and Justin cut down this tree with there bare hands, well and a chain saw.

All the stockings laid down by the chimney with care.

My Mom is now a Pinterest addict and made these adorable melting snowman cookies!

Paige got all the girls these adorable black aprons that have pearls around the neckline. Yes I have a pink camo bandana on, it was from my stocking. :)

Mom got Gunnar some adorable new PJ's!

Pap and my sweet Great Niece painting with her new artist set, look at that concentration.

There was a white elephant gift exchange that included a chainsaw, fishing poles, gift cards, a fire pit with a S'mores making kit and an iHome portable speaker. Arm wrestling between Mom and I over said iHome speaker...I let her win. ;-) Slumber party, movie watching, tons of eating and drinking. Games of Cranium between the guys and the girls, that the girls won every time! Dance party to the new xbox Just Dance 3 game {T captured video of this, it's pretty hilarious and I'm debating whether or not they should be shared ;-)} and so much love and happiness you couldn't see straight. Next year I will be more diligent about taking more photos of the haps on T's side of the family. I think that by the time we got over there on Christmas afternoon I was in a holiday coma and wasn't thinking straight to take pictures of all the merriment that was taking place with his huge family.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

xoxo,

Friday, December 23, 2011

diy : chalkboard paint dipped wine glass

I have been a busy little crafting bee lately; I'll post more DIY projects later (can't post until after Christmas). ;-)

I saw this cute little inspiration on Pinterest (of course) and decided I would add my own flare to it for sweet and simple Christmas present.

Source: justshortofcrazy.com via Sallie on Pinterest

I had T pick up some chalkboard paint from Home Depot!

I didn't tape off the glass or anything, I thought it would look cooler if it wasn't so perfect.

Open the lid, stir the paint and I just dipped the base of the glass right into the paint can. I didn't want to hold it the entire time so I propped it up in the paint can box and rotated the glass about every 15 minutes so that the pain will dry evenly.

Then I found on Google the image of what I wanted to bling onto the glass; because every girl needs bling in their life. I drew it on with a marker first. I used the same glue and more of the rhinestones from this post.

And voila! Le super cute wine glass for the cutest Michigan Wolverine I know!

Sadly I didn't have any chalk laying around so I couldn't write on the base of it. But what you could do to add a little extra is get a couple pieces of chalk and tie a ribbon around them and put them in the glass- makes for a little extra pizzaz.

I'd love to see if you guys make one or several of these. Please link a picture in the comments!

like a rhinestone cowgirl,

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

jingle bell rock!

I love December for more reasons than just Christmas, the way the nighttime is transformed from a cold, dark city into a cheery and bright wonderland, how people take the time to say a little extra in their greeting "happy holidays or merry Christmas", all of the extra house and office parties, tacky Christmas sweaters, getting that extra snuggle time with friends and family, jingle bell bike rides, our annual tradition of 'Girlie Night: Love Actually' at Alamo Drafthouse, outside ice skating, warm socks, holiday music and my list could go on forever.

We kept extra busy this past weekend by starting out with my office holiday party where I won this bad boy!

a December birthday party

a holiday cocktail party

a tacky Christmas sweater party "I make this sweater look gooooood!"

and another majorly epic exciting purchase that I will share at another time.

Hint:

I got some new fun holiday socks. I yet to express my sincere love for wacky socks. I do not match socks, ever and I do not wear white socks, unless there is color of some kind on them.

Terry and I shared an early Christmas present - hello Siri and our new iPhone 4s'!

I made Santa Hat Brownies. Thanks Pinterest for the idea!

Source: ericasweettooth.com via nancie08 on Pinterest

Along one of the big roads that goes through Austin there are a ton of little Cedar trees that look like mini Christmas trees and as a city tradition they get decorated and this year it has grown into a much bigger deal than normal. This is just a small section of the tress that are decorated.