Have you ever made a yo-yo flower? I learned how to make one earlier this year thanks to this pin here. It's so simple to make and super cute! And who would have thought you can turn a bunch of yo-yo flowers into a christmas tree? My friend's mom had one on her fireplace mantel and I just couldn't get over how cute it looked! She was gracious enough to make me a pattern as well as give me some green fabric to make my very own.
Here's what you'll need:
12 in diameter circle pattern
Scrap fabric in shades of green or solid colors
Empty thread spool (that will be the tree stump)
Wooden stick (You can pick one up at your local craft store. I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
Scissors/thread/needle
Polyester filling (optional)
Start by cutting out your pattern on your fabric. My pattern paper was a little short of 12 inches so I worked with what I had and then rotated the pattern on the fabric since that's the beauty of a circle!
Once you finished cutting out your 12 in fabric circle you can now cut/trim your pattern to the 11 in circle pattern.
Repeat the process of cutting the circle pattern.
Continue these steps until you reach your 3 inch circle.
Next make a yo-yo flower out of each circle.
Make a little snip at the bottom center so that you can place it on top of the wooden stick. Put the wooden stick in through the center of the spool so that the spool supports the stick standing. Stack largest to smallest to create the tree shape. You can also stuff the yo-yo flowers with polyester filling to make it extra fully, but that's optional.
Make a little star or find a trinket to put on top and then done! It's the perfect little center piece for your holiday party!
Don't have time to make a whole tree? Try this alternative mini yo-yo tree ornament. String a jingle bell to the center of the lace or string to act as your stopper and then stack the yo-yo flowers through to make your own mini tree.
I'm making a lot of different little gifts this year for Christmas and thought that the best way to wrap them was to put them into a pillow box! And I searched on Amazon and all over the internet for cute christmas themed pillow boxes and didn't find any so I hit myself on the forehead and thought why don't I just make my own?? I googled a DIY pillow box project and found it on ItryDIY.com here. This was time consuming but I feel great about how each of the little boxes turned out! I definitely recommend this if you need a small box to wrap up your gifts.
What you'll need:
1 pad of scrapbook paper of your choosing (Heavier cardstock works better)
I have new curtains!! Huge thanks to my friend for hooking me up with really nice curtain fabric! It makes a world of a difference now. I can actually sleep in in the morning and I have a lot more privacy at night now.
Before....
After!
Here are a few photos of how I sewed the curtains. I didn't have a pattern but I did take a look at my friend's curtain and tried to reverse engineer it in my head and I think it turned out okay. :)
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for us here in the US. Are you guys ready for some serious grubbing?? I'll be at work but that doesn't break my festive spirit! I didn't have time to do any Thanksgiving dedicated post this time around but thought I could do a round up for those looking for some easy last minute dinner and decoration ideas for the weekend. I haven't tried these recipes/projects yet myself but here are a few of my favorite floating around on Pintrest. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try them soon. If you guys try them out let me know what you think of them!
So my home away from home calls for me to buy a few new "furniture" fixtures and I'm not about to go out and invest in a ton of money into a temporary home. Moving cost a lot. And I mean a lot! Especially if you're making that initial move to rent a room. You always have to think about the deposit and how you're going to move all of your stuff, or buy new furniture. I ended up moving some of my stuff but mostly been furnishing my room with plastic and non permanent fixtures. So my latest addition to my room is this plastic 3 tiered dresser. I decided to use this as my socks, underwear, pj, pants etc drawer. Since I didn't want my clothes to be showing straight through the dresser I decided to dress it up a bit.
Sorry, yet another non crafty related blogpost talking about Disney...but I promise the next one will be crafty. :) I just really wanted to share some cool photos from my first day of training. Nothing too crazy since the majority of it was in a lecture hall/auditorium and we were told not to take any photos in the backlot area, but I did get some photos that I thought were cool and shareable!
Cool sign that I think really goes unnoticed when you're pulling into the Casting area. There's an additional fencing that divides the street and the sidewalk so when you're driving in the sign is covered. I had to walk from the parking structure to the sidewalk to get a picture of this sign.
"When one door closes another door opens..." - Alexander Graham Bell
I've officially moved into my new room. I have 4 other roomies sharing the house so I feel like I'm in college again. Exciting new opportunities await for me. ^_^ New job, new living quarters, new roommates, new town! So much exploring to be done! Not to mention so much I need to get done for my new room. So I guess this will be my mini series of #roomimprovement.
Day 1 of the move has been busy! I drove down to SoCal this morning and arrived at about 4:00. My new landlord was so nice and helped me move all of my stuff into my room. Got everything out of the car in no time.
Hi Everyone! So I made a big announcement last week on my Instagram account that I finally found a job and I'm making a big move. I've accepted a job at Disneyland and will be moving this week down to SoCal to start working for the Mouse. :) I'm already head over heels for the fact that I'll be working at the happiest place on earth, but the icing on the cake is the fact that I'll be working for the Costume department!!! I'm super excited but also very nervous at the same time since I'm picking up and moving in such a short amount of time. I just accepted the job a little less than 2 weeks ago so it's been quite the whirlwind of an adventure. Everything just sort of lined up and fell into place so it seemed like perfect timing with the exception of how much notice I had before having to make the move. I'm not sure how much I can talk about the interview process and/or what I'll be doing at the company so I'm going to have to be vague for now.
So I'm going to sneak in a little info about my Halloween costume since I haven't been able to do that yet. "Minnie" Skirt & headband/ears made by me. Necklace, gloves, cardigan, shirt, shoes and tights I already had in my closet. Bloomers purchased from Black Cat Collective Vintage Emporium.
So that's it for the big announcement, now for the changes. I originally started this blog when I first got laid off and wanted to fill my time with completing my long list of Pintrest projects. I've learned so many cool skills, tricks, recipes and completed a lot of projects thanks to Pintrest. I've slowly moved away from purely Pintrest based projects and started working on my own projects and twist on ideas hoping to have people pin my projects onto Pintrest and hoping to inspire others to be crafty. The name Simply Pinspirational still worked for my change of direction despite it not having been the original idea for my blog. Now that I'm going to start working again I'm not 100% sure I can dedicate time to blogging. I'm sure I'll be looking up quick meals for 1 to make and blog about, or working on a new sewing project I can snap photos of but will that be enough? I remember when I first started out my blog I was advised not to "be all over the map" and just pick one thing I wanted to blog about. Of course I found a "loop hole" by saying I'll blog about Pintrest projects as my main focus knowing I will have thousands of projects and topics to choose from. I didn't want to restrict myself to just one thing on a blog but didn't think the interwebs would really be interested in a blog about my life...
I still don't know exactly what I want to do...Do I want to keep Simply Pinspirational up and running, Do I move on to another blog with a new name?? Do I rebrand? How do I rebrand? Or can I handle 2 blogs?? Those are some of the things I'm thinking about right now. I do have a couple of blogpost I have in mind that I want to post but I don't think they're new blog blogpost worthy so you'll still be seeing some activity here so don't fret. I just don't know what the frequency of the blogpost will be but hopefully it'll still be once a week. If not, I'm pretty active on my Instagram account so be sure to keep an eye out there. I've also added a Instagram Widget to my blogpage so you can view those photos from here if you'd like as well.
Whew! I know that was a lot of reading for you but I just needed to share the big news with everyone and hopefully this won't call for too many changes but I just wanted to put that warning out there just in case. Wish me luck!
This was my first time working with elastic where it turned out elastic! Most of the time I end up sewing the elastic and having end up with zero slack to even put it on! Now after finding this pin and reading through the tutorial and following it step by step I've successfully made my first elastic skirt!
Original Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298826745/
Pin Rating: 5
Last month I posted this photo of the a circle mini skirt that I made for the Color Me Rad and mentioned I was going to do a tutorial of it on the blog. One month later and I'm sitting her writing my blogpost and I still don't have a blog tutorial! I started making a Vine video as I was making my 2nd skirt and then realized I had made a mistake in my fabric measurements therefore throwing the whole video out the window. So instead of holding off on this blogpost I decided to just post some photos of the finished product. The original pin I gave a 5/5 pin rating so be sure to check out the original tutorial by Dana Made It. She has great step by step instructions and even tells you how to make measurements for a pattern. I did manage to make a vine on the pattern though, so enjoy it below!
Pin rating: 4.5
Original Pin: www.pinterest.com/pin/241998179948381288/
Another Halloween related blogpost today! I love love love Halloween. Or maybe I just love the holidays. I believe October kicks off the holiday season right? Today's post is similar to last year's no carve pumpkin decorating I did. Don't remember it? Click the link to check out my Bedazzled pumpkin post. I picked this no carve pumpkin design for a few of reasons.
I kid you not, I am eating one of these cupcakes as I write this blogpost. They are delicious. If you're a fan of Biscoff spread or cookies, then you'll be a fan of Spekuloos Spread. My friend recently went to NY and brought me back some Wafels and Dinges Spekuloos spread. Normally you would have some of the spread on top of waffles but I decided to look for a recipe to make them into cupcakes! I ended up making them for my brother for his birthday rather quickly so I didn't stop to do step by step photos.
However, I believe Bree did a fantastic job of the step by step process and this was too good not to share. This is the perfect fall cupcake to have at your Halloween parties so be sure to check it out! Don't have Spekuloo? Use biscoff spread like they did in the original recipe. Also try checking at Trader Joes in your area if you have one.
As I'm sitting here still debating if I should make a dress or a skirt I couldn't help but use my cutting mat and blade for the first time so I decided to try it out on the little remnant piece of fleece that I had recently purchased. I had bought the piece hoping I can turn it into a pillow case of some sort, but unfortunately the piece was long instead of wide. Lucky for me, it was the perfect scarf length! So what better to make with some fleece than a no sew scarf?? All I did was trim the edges and then fray the bottom by 2.5 inches. And of course I couldn't help make a video to show how easy it was to use the rotary blade.
My trip to JoAnn last week was a short but exciting one. If any of you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed I posted the add for 50% off Fiskars products during the Joann Labor Day sale and saying I was going to get it. Well, I did! I had to leave for a camping trip that afternoon so I made sure to go to JoAnn in the morning.
As soon as I stepped through the doors I couldn't help but notice the new spot for the licensed fabrics. Up front and plainly in sight. It definitely got my attention! I strolled through the aisle and was pretty giddy about what I saw so I snapped some photos because I really wanted to share with everyone the new selection of fabric that they had. I'm sure some of you may have already seen it since I'm not sure when the last time I was in JoAnn's was but I'm sure you can be excited about it again with me. :)
I never paid attention to the inside of the junk mail envelope until I started working with EcoMonster. She showed me the beauty of the inside of the junk mail letters and how to use them for scrapbooking paper or designs for cork coaster. Today I'm posting some quick photos on how to convert your own junk mail into fun and beautiful envelopes. I recently used this envelope to send to my pen pal. :) Yup, you heard me right, my pen pal. I joined the Post Mark Society via www.postable.com earlier this summer and have been exchanging letters with my pen pal. It basically a pen pal group for bloggers created by bloggers. :)
One thing I love about pen pal letters is that you don't see too much of it anymore since we have the internet, emails, Facetime, etc. Another thing is that you can let your personality shine through your letters and envelopes! So after so many camping trips this summer I have a nice pile of park brochure maps stacking in my room. The quality of the maps is pretty durable so I decided it would make the perfect envelope!
What you'll need:
Junk mail envelope
Park Maps (or any other sturdy scrap paper you have laying around)
Last Friday I had the pleasure of working with EcoMonster to help out with her Opening Night & Silent Auction Event. It was also the kick off event for the Cat Walk - a new vending opportunity in San Jose. It was super busy and a little hectic leading up to the event, but it was a fun filled night and great times with good company. Here's a photo recap of the event. (I linked the vendors' Pintrest pages where I could.)
After almost a month since SDCC I'm finally posting my Day 4 highlights. I'm not sure why, but I didn't take that many photos this day. It might have to do with the fact that we spent the morning taking our time, loading the car, checking out of the hotel and then heading to the convention. It's a little unconventional to dress us on Sunday, but since I spent all day Friday & Saturday in panels it didn't make sense to dress up then. So here is my recap experience of Sunday at SDCC 2013.
Collage of silly photos in the parking lot so that I could upload it to Instagram. My boyfriend decided last minute (1-2 week before the con) that he would also be dressing up so we got some nice action shots together.
Grabbing some free 5 hour energy from the parking lot. He also decided to wear the Infinity Gauntlet that I made him last Christmas!
Not too many people recognized me except one family dressed up as X-men characters who asked me to take a photo with her son dressed up as Wolverine & a fellow Jean Grey cosplayer. I saw her while I was walking the floor and asked for a photo with her. She was super excited and said we were like pokemon and she was the evolution of me. That made my day. :)
Thanos is angry that Cyclops got his Infinity Gauntlet!
Saw these girls while walking through the Sails Pavilion. Can you name all of them?
Later that day I squatted through the Hawken panel to make sure I had a good seat for the Mouse Guard panel and it was pretty cool! I don't have time to pick up game playing right now, but if I did I think I would be playing this!
Model that they brought with them to show off.
After the Mouse Guard panel we went down to the Exhibit Hall to purchase a Mouse Guard replica Gold Axe which was tooooo cute. ^_^ Then we went to the opposite side of the convention hall to find Vampy again to take a photo with her. Since she was speaking at a panel it was easy to track her down. We came late to the panel so we waited outside until the panel was over to have our photos taken with Vampy. I consider myself super fortunate to have run into my cosplay idol twice during the convention, while in costume too! After that our SDCC 2013 experience came to an end.
One thing that I must rant about is that during the Mouse Guard panel I had a couple sit down next me and the first thing I hear out of the girl's mouth was. "Why are there so many people in this room? I don't understand, it's just a comic book." My jaw dropped...you're at a comic book convention! Please please please don't refer to anything as just a comic book. More and more folks make the trek out to Comic-con for a chance to see movie stars and forget what Comic-con is really all about. Granted I also go for the movie stars in Hall H but I also love everything else about SDCC too. For the most part everyone at comic con are really friendly and understand that everyone around you is in the same boat. We're all waiting in long lines, sitting in huge crowded rooms, cranky and tired. But we're all also there to have fun and appreciate and respect the works of everyone in the comic book industry So please be mindful and respectful when you're out there. :)
Another short break from SDCC recaps to announce a very special giveaway. I've been a huge fan and follower of Budget Fairy Tale and last Sunday marked her 2 year blog anniversary. In celebration of her 2 year blogiversary she is giving away some really cool stuff so make sure to check in all week long. If you remember seeing them on my Instagram account, I posted a photo of the bow ties and hair clips I was making, and this is what they were for! Today Budget Fairy Tale is giving one of my handmade set of hair tie and bow tie Disney print away on her site so make sure you go check out her page (here) on how to win.
Ah....Day 3 of Comic con. Saturday is the day where you camp out all night before and hope to get into Hall H and never leave until at least 6pm. Hall H line on Saturday is no joke folks. Saturday is the biggest day of Comic Con - panels, attendance, cosplayers, you name it. It used to be that if you didn't show up between 4-6am you will not get into the first panel of the day but still have hopes to make into the last panels. This year you had to camp out starting at midnight to "guarantee" yourself a spot. Next year it might be 8pm the on Friday night, who knows!
Map Image is a screen shot from Google Maps.
The map above shows the line up for Hall H. You start near the Chute area of Hall H and snake through those tunnels. A lot of people bring sleeping bags and air mattresses to keep warm through the night so the lines are shoulder to shoulder but it seems to be an understood rule among con goers that you can spread out to sleep and spend the night. The line continues across the street and snakes around the lawn area. My friends got to the line about midnight (blue star on the map) and got a pretty good position. I was fortunate enough to sleep in the hotel for an extra 3 hours. By the time I arrived at 3am the line had worked itself down the marina and towards the embarcadero are where the symphony hall was set up. I'm not sure what the line looks like after that, but just know that if you're anywhere near that area you won't be getting into Hall H on Saturday.
You'll be lucky to get into the last panel of the day if you're standing out by by the marina area lawn. Another thing to understand about Hall H is that they don't clear the rooms in between panels so once you're in you're in - along with the other 6,500 or so people. If you're still outside then you just have to wish and hope that someone who had squatted in line was there for an early panel and will leave after (which is what happened after the Lionsgate Hunger Games panel). Around 5 or 6am the security guards start walking through the line saying good morning to everyone and give them a wake up call to pack their stuff up because the lines are about to be compressed. Once the line goes through the first compression and you're inside the awnings zig zags towards the beginning you have a very very good chance of getting in for the whole day.
So why do people go crazy and line up?? Some say it's due to the hype and teenage fanatics from movies such as Twilight and now Hunger Games, and others say it's because Hall H reveals greater and more amazing things year after year. I'm thinking the early line ups are due to the rising popularity of comic books in movies. People who wouldn't otherwise be interested in comic books are now coming out to see and swoon over the movie stars, such as Hugh Jackman. I must admit that I am also one of those fans that have recently gained a love for comic books through movies, and the help of my boyfriend, but even if there weren't movie stars around I'd still be going to panels. :) Alright, so enough talk and more photos of panels (yes, lots and lots of photos)!
Taking a mini break from SDCC highlights and recaps today to bring to you a Nails Of The Day post. Not something I typically do but I thought it would be fun to do. I used ZOYA Cassi nail polish.
After looking at all of the "quick and easy" nail designs on Pintrest I came to realize that in order to achieve their looks I would need special tools. Since I couldn't find any real "quick and easy for the cheap novice nail artist" I went with my own creation of coral with mint polka dots. Little did I know, this polish is not coral. Still turned out really cute though and it's subtle enough to match an every day outfit. :) Polka dots were created with a toothpick. The dots aren't perfect but they do the job. Also, don't mind my cuticles...I didn't clean them very well after removing my red polish I had on during Comic-con. Hope you're pinspired!
Reading about Day 2 probably won't be as exciting for readers unless you're in love with panels and movie stars! I sat in Hall H all day Friday (and Saturday) for panels. I really wanted to see the Veronica Mars panel since I was a kick starter backer and once I was in Hall H I decided to stay for the rest of the panels since it was such a great line up. So here's a photo heavy post of all of the panels and movie stars I got to see that day.
Line waiting at 5am. The line wraps around near Hilton, along the marina, and out towards the outdoor concert hall. Some people have been waiting since midnight!
The World's End
Panel for The World's End. I never watched any of the previous Cornetto trilogy films (never even heard of Cornetto before this panel) but I'm more likely to check it out now. These guys were great.
Veronica Mars
As I stated earlier in the blogpost, I'm a kick starter backer for the Veronica Mars Movie so I was really excited to see this panel. They showed the exclusive footage for the new Veronica Mars Movie which isn't so exclusive anymore and can be found here.
Veronica Mars Panel!!! <3
Who doesn't love some Kristen Bell charm early in the morning?
My 2nd favorite on Veronica Mars - Tina Majorino rocking a mohawk. :)
My favorite guys.
Which team are you? Team Piz, Team Dick, or Team Logan? :)
Kick Ass 2
I keep forgetting he has a British accent, so it was fun hearing him talk in person.
Every time I see him I want to call him McLovin'
Super sweet that they did a live video chat with Chloe since she couldn't be there in person.
Riddick
Best part about this panel was learning that Vin Disel loves to play D&D. <3 Can't say that I want to go see Riddick after watching the panel, but it was nice to see Vin Disel in person.
Such a charming guy.
The Walking Dead
I don't watch The Walking Dead, but that doesn't mean I'm not a fan. I've read some of the comic books and have seen a couple of episodes here and there and I know I'll be a huge fan, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I still enjoyed the panel regardless.
Best part of the panel was when the walking dead "cast" came up to ask the Walking Dead Cast a question. :)
This was also the part where Steven Yeun asked them if the zombies were triplets because they all look the same. He then immediately regretted his question saying he was being "Asian". And regretted that as well since he basically said that all the girls look alike because they're Asian. It was a weird moment in Hall H but he was a good sport about it. :)
Game of Thrones
Love, love, love Game of Thrones. I have to admit I am a little late in the game and am not up to date on the HBO show. When I first found out about the show and how good everyone was telling me it was, and that it was a book, I knew I had to read the book first. Little did I know the books are a pretty heavy read. I've read book 1 and seen season 1 of Game of Thrones and am still reading book 2. I've tried really hard to keep my eyes and ears closed to all the gossips and news about who dies in the books/show because apparently everyone eventually dies (or so I have been told). But I knew I couldn't miss out on the Game of Thrones panel so I just let myself be open to any spoilers they may give away. And boy did they give it away...they kicked off the panel with this nice **SPOILER** video.
Peter Dinklage came in first and gave a great bow to the crowds of Hall H.
Followed by his "more cheering" fist pounding once he was seated. Which he got!
Kit Harington aka Jon Snow
Richard Madden aka King of the North
Emilia Clarke aka Mother of Dragons
Cast members and writer George R.R. Martin
We also got really cool swag for sitting in the panel. Book 3 - A Storm of Swords, t-shirt, bag, notebook and other little trinkets. Thanks HBO/Game of Thrones. :)
Robocop
I don't remember too much about Robocop so it was nice seeing this panel and how they planned on doing a remake. I'm actually looking forward to it, but definitely have to rewatch the original to compare notes.
Abbie Cornish & Michael Keaton
Samuel L. Jackson & Joel Kinnaman (Robocop :))
It was pretty cool hearing Samuel L. Jackson telling it to us as it is about their appearance at comic con. They're there to promote the film so we can go tell our friends how cool it is and all go watch it. I'm going to watch it, but it's probably because I'm a huge movie watcher anyways. But it's nice hearing it come out of the mouth of Samuel L. Jackson.
The Amazing Spider Man 2
I was thoroughly impressed with the Amazing Spiderman 2 panel. They pulled back the curtains to reveal more screen! The additional screens were mostly used for panoramic views or additional non related footage to fluff things up and add to the epicness of Hall H. It did a great job of making it a memorable panel for me.
Spider Man himself came to panel. :)
They showed a short clip of Emma Stone apologizing for not being able to make it to Comic-con and then it was interrupted by shockwaves from Electro! Which is Jamie Foxx's grand entrance.
He's surprised to see Spider Man and Spider Man was telling Jamie Foxx how he's a fan. (I love how Spider Man had his own name tag.)
A long but fun video from the panel with Spider Man.
After showing the trailer clip, Andrew Garfield comes out apologizing for being late. I didn't notice this until he comes out and talked, but he has an accent and Spider Man didn't so he played the part really well. :)
His name tag still says Spider Man. ;)
After the panels I walked around the convention to pick up my GOT swag and to try and meet up with my brother and future sister in law. They cosplayed as Ryu and Sakura so I had to make sure I got a photo of them. :)
Another great costume at comic con. :)
End of Day 2! Stay tuned for more photos for Day 3 of SDCC.
