Let's Be Thankful

Alright guys, this next project is going to take a while but it's fun and all you need is a deck of cards. This is going to start being more than just a craft/art blog.

As I've said before, I work as a waitress (see how to tip post). Earlier today I noticed that all people did was complain. The people I work with, the people I wait on, everyone. And I understand. Sometimes life is hard. But all this complaining in one place shut me up real quick. Sure I could have joined in (car troubles, GREAT!!) and maybe I did thrown out a few sob stories but I think we all take our lives for granted. I work four doubles a week waiting on people who don't appreciate the hurtles I jump to please them but I have food in my mouth and a roof over my head and that's a lot more than many. I saw a photo on pinterest that really said it all for me:

Basically I want to add some perspective to my life and I think you should do the same.

I saw on pinterest an art journal. Being the crafty girl I am I went ahead and clicked the link. It took me to this woman's mini art journal using a deck of cards. I thought it was so neat that I decided I wanted to make one. So these cards have been sitting in my room for over a week with no inspiration to put anything onto them. Today is that inspiration. I want this deck of cards to be a reminder of how lucky I am to be where I am with who I have. I am going to create a card whenever my mood strikes. I took down some ideas on themes for the cards (yes there's a prompt) but if you don't like them you don't have to use them or you can change them up.

My first step was to decorate a background for a few of the cards. I knew I would want them painted and glued and such so I did that to save time when I'm actually creating something.

I threw them all into one little box that I wasn't using (courtesy of the Target dollar bins) and can look through them whenever inspiration hits.
So my first prompt (from the original site) is Something you are proud of. I kept the name but changed it to someone. Here's where the blogging actually begins!

It's terrible picture quality. Sorry! No matter how many pictures I take I can't fix it. I really need a new camera (hint hint Christmas gift idea!)

This is a picture of my little brother (aww I know!). He's older now but this is the oldest school photo I have of him. I'm sure he has never thought of me as being proud of him but I am, so very proud. I'm always telling him not to mess up his life and scolding him for the little things but I am so jealous of where he is compared to where I was when I was his age. He has done so well and he excels in nearly all he tries in. When we were young we went through a divide in our family and I thought I had it hard by being left out. Getting older I realize it's so much harder being the rope than tugging on one end and I am just so proud of all that he is and will become.

Some things I made sure to include on this was a number (1) so I could keep my cards in order. This isn't necessarily important but I would prefer them that way. I also wrote the prompt so I knew what the card was about (there are going to be 52 of these so it might get confusing).

If you're looking for something to do or a way to add a little reminder of things to be thankful for or even something to cheer you up on your bad days then go ahead and grab a deck of cards and join me in creating a mini art journal.

Cheap Art

This was a pretty cool project but I didn't have canvas and didn't want to buy any so I substituted a large (ish) piece of cardboard instead. So first I painted it whatever color I wanted. I chose a new purple I'd just found in the clearance aisle at Wal-mart.

I have been collecting the empty toilet paper rolls from the bathroom each time we run out. I have been seeing tons of projects that look easy and cute (like this one). Let me just say it's super easy for me to get the toilet paper roll because I am the only one who knows how to change it (apparently), but if you live with women then you should let your roomies know to keep the rolls. This project only took two rolls but I'm still saving them for whatever projects I come up with next. I flattened the rolls and placed a ruler on top then made a mark at even intervals depending on how thick I wanted my project. It's kinda hard to see but its .5 inch red marks.

Then I cut both rolls into strips. I formed my design on the ground first before hot gluing the pieces together. Then I painted them a second color that I liked with the purple.

Once all of my pieces dried I hot glued the pieces together in the places they belonged. With pieces like the flower the glue will dry before you can get glue on all of it so I placed glue on the five ends.
Once the project was done I nailed it to the wall placing the nails in places that aren't noticeable like in the middle of the flower and the corners of the petals.

And it's finished! I got the idea from one I saw online. There are many more that I have liked so I will probably do some more. Like I said I think this would look way cooler on canvas. I would have loved to make it huge like in the example that I saw. I've got a lot more projects on the way so keep checking. I'm going to start a weekly art journal soon that will take about ten minutes a week. SO get a deck of cards!! and come back soon!

Always Waiting

So this post is not going to be crafty but don't worry I've got a list of things to blog about. This is more of a "You need to learn this" post. Its about how to tip you wait staff. Now I'm sure many of you think you know how to do this....but you probably are wrong. No offense.

Let's just start off by saying I am a waitress so this applies to me and that's why I think its important. It is very possible and probable that you, your children, and your grandchildren will at some point have a waiting job as well. Therefore it applies to you too.

I know that the general rule to go by is 10-15%. This rule sucks. At my job we are required to claim 12% of our total sales as tips. So obviously if everyone tips 10% I won't make that line. Which means I will need a managers approval to claim the tips that I did make and it will look like I didn't claim all of my tips. Now I'm not saying I'm a bad waitress. There are many times where I make more than that 10-15% but it's annoying when one or two tables ruin my whole tip percentage. If your waiter/tress does a good job, tip them the most that you think they deserve. Don't be cheap. As a waitress I make $2.15 an hour. How much do you make? because I'm pretty sure it's more than that. You can argue that there are nights when I make more than minimum wage, which is true. But let's be honest, with this economy not as many people can afford to go out to eat. There are far more days where I don't even make minimum wage because it's slow and there aren't a lot of customers.

Now, I want to touch on a stereotype. Two actually. Old people and young people. The stereotype is that you suck at tipping. One dollar does not a tip make my old friends. The wait staff dreads when you come in and dreads having you as a table. Change this stereotype. Prices have gone up. I know you've noticed. This means that the tip should go up as well.

Here is something that particularly irks me. If you have a coupon, or kids eat free, tip as if you didn't. At my job we have a night where kids eat free. So it's annoying when a table of 6 comes in, 4 of which are kids, so their bill that would be $60 is only $20 and they tip you for the $20. I did $60 worth of work for you especially since kids tend to take more patience so please tip accordingly.

No one waits because they like it because no one likes it. It isn't a fun job and people aren't fun to wait on. I know at some point you've had to deal with a mean/bad/annoying customer. That's almost a daily thing for a waiter especially at a popular restaurant. So tip well from now on.

Very good movie by the way.

Toga Toga!!

My boyfriend is apart of a fraternity on campus. Towards the end of the year the fraternity had a Toga party. He left me up to deciding on the togas. I decided to go on the "famous couples in history" route and play off our whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing since many of the guys and their dates weren't actually couples. I had a whole list including mickey/minnie, knight/princess, classic caveman/woman but finally my friends helped me decide on this:

Can you see it? Most people got the right show. Pebbles and Bam Bam!! Dorthy and Tin-man were a close tie. I'll use them eventually.
So here's how I did this awesome costume for pretty cheap.

Pebbles
Pebbles was obviously pretty easy. She actually has a lime green dress with black triangles like Bam Bams but I figured I could get away with white circles. I can't remember how much I bought but I ended up only using half. I cut the fabric in half length wise and sewed two ends together to make it longer. I decided on my length by, in the store, estimating how much fabric would be needed to wrap around me, I should have bought half as much. To wrap the dress I started by hanging a piece over my shoulder with the short end reaching just past my waist in the front and the long part hanging in the back. I then started to wrap starting at the top and going around to the front, over the short end, and continued wrapping down my body until I got my desired length. I overlapped for most of the fabric. I tucked the end up (which you can see in the picture on your left) and used a safety pin to hold it in place. Any places that were loose also got a safety pin. I used a shell necklace and a felt dog toy as accents to the outfit. To put the bone in my hair I put it up in a very high ponytail. I took two pieces of hair and pulled them forward placing the bone up against the hair-tie. Then I wrapped one piece of hair on one side of the bone and safety pinned the hair in the back. I did the same on the other side.

Bam Bam
Bam Bams was way harder. I couldn't find any fabric with black triangles so we bought just plain fabric. I bought a piece of sale fabric in black and cut it into little black triangles. That's right. I put those triangles on by hand. I didn't sew them thank god. I bought fabric no stitch gel and used that to quickly apply random triangles everywhere. I also applied them to the hat. The only reason the hat is even apart of the outfit is because my boyfriend has a thing for hats. Bam Bam does have a hat but it's not a necessity. Wrapping Bam Bam was pretty much the same as Pebbles. More chest is shown so wrapping doesn't have to start as high. As you can see the shoulder depends on the personal preference. My boyfriend wanted his on the left to cover some scars.


I probably spent 2-4 hours making these costumes and another hour putting them on both of us. Now I love KU but it's my luck that they made it into the basketball Championships about 30 minutes after we got our togas on so no one stayed for the party. And they couldn't even win the Championship for goodness sake! That makes me very angry. If they had won it all I wouldn't be as mad.  I will definitely reuse these costumes. This wrapping technique held up way better than many of the others I saw at the party. People were constantly having their togas fall off. Also, it looks like all we have on are togas. Underneath I am wearing a strapless shirt and spandex shorts. Plenty of girls did the same but theirs could be seen. I've also seen togas in a halter style using a similar technique. Rather than draping behind one should go back over the other shoulder and then start wrapping.


Toga Toga Toga!!!