Put a Cork In It

I realized a few nights before Christmas that I had (accidentally) fulfilled another goal off my 30 Before 30 list! I couldn't do a full post about it then, though, because one of the activities involved presents which had not yet been given...

Number 19 on my list was "Make something out of all the wine corks we've saved. [More like 50 things...]"
I actually made a couple of crafts, and I still have more corks to go!

Craft #1: Jewelry holder.

Supplies needed:
Picture frame
Scrapbook paper {if desired}
Wine corks
Hot glue gun

I had seen several examples of this online. For example, here is one from Etsy ($25): 

(source)

I bought an old, sort of rustic gold looking wall frame at Goodwill. It actually came in a set of three for five bucks or something. The other two are on our living room wall.

I tried filling the frame entirely with corks, similar to the one pictured above, but I didn't love it. Then I had a brainstorm: I have a whole pad full of cool scrapbook paper, which we bought when we made our parents tile coasters for Christmas last year. Why not use a little?

I put some paper in the frame and arranged the corks so that some of the paper still showed...then just hot-glued them down. Easy breezy. 

Finished product. My apologies for the glare...our room is very bright.

Close-up to show the paper pattern.

Craft #2: Tabletop Christmas Trees. 

Supplies needed:

Wine corks

Hot glue gun

Something for the "trunk" {if desired}

Acrylic paint

Crafty odds and ends {I used buttons, twine, and decorative tape}

I saw these on Pinterest a while ago and adapted them to fit my own supplies. I would link to the original tutorial, but the site seems to have disappeared. Here is the picture, featured on another website:

(source)

Original inspiration

Once again, these are all over Etsy. Some variations:

Left (source): All one shade. I like this, too. 

Right (source): I'm not sure I have the patience to make one this large...

I chose not to make my trees ornaments--they just sit on a surface. I also chose not to make a trunk out of a stick or whatever (sorry, my stick supply is limited. Also, I had finals. And nothing to saw with). I did take some twine, braid it, and glue it onto the last level to set it apart and make it look more trunk-like. 

Most of the examples I had seen used more muted colors, but my paint and other supplies lent themselves to a brighter look, which I didn't mind.

Here are two that I made:

Front. 

Back. 

As you can see, one coat of paint left the cork peeking through a little bit, but I liked the way it looked. If you wanted it to be super opaque, two coats would do it.

I made several of these as little Christmas gifts and was really pleased with how they turned out! There are so many cool ways you could decorate these little trees. 

Have you done anything else crafty with your wine cork collection?

Since the world didn't end, what do I do with these sprinkles?

Happy Mayan New Year! I hope you're not disappointed by the fact that you're still alive. Actually, I'm confused about what was "supposed" to happen. Some people were calling yesterday our last day, and some were stocking up on supplies as if they were going to survive, and some maybe think the last day is today...anyway. It's also my former roomie's birthday, so happy birthday, Carly. :)

I've had a dilemma for the past few days. Travis and I made some Christmas cookies for our neighbors (and a few for us). It was a rather frustrating day, as I went to TWO grocery stores in town and neither had cookie cutters, and the red sugar Betty Crocker sprinkles were, like, three bucks for a tiny bottle. Forget you, regional grocery stores. I miss H-E-B. And the dollar store by our old house that had everything.

I finally found these awesome sprinkles at Target in the dollar section, so I bought three (I know, overkill). But they were so cute!

I especially love the little holly berries and leaves.

Featuring the cookies that I decorated (i.e., three-year-old-esque).

Featuring Travis' cookies (i.e., Christmas baking advertisement). Rude. 

So, cookies are now done. Each sprinkle container is still almost full. Our kitchen doesn't have a ton of storage space and we have no pantry to speak of, so they are still sitting on the counter. I find myself wanting to use them on whatever I'm eating at the moment, like a waffle (makes sense) or in my hot cocoa (maybe? Mmm, crunchy).

However, this morning, I was very sleepily making coffee and found myself wondering how it would be with sprinkles in it.

And after that, I realized we really need to use these up or find a place to store them.

(I then proceeded to put the milk in the cabinet, so you can just imagine my mental state at the time.)

Guess it's just one of those awkward food things, like how we always run out of chips or salsa, never both. Or maybe I should have controlled my Christmas glee and not bought three containers...nah, that's not it.

Maybe I will take them to my parents' house and decorate "ugly cookies" (this is actually our Valentine's Day tradition). Or perhaps my ATL friends who left town early should expect some post-Christmas cookies in January. :) 

Have you been working on any crafty Christmas fun? Do you, too, engage in existential struggle about what to do with leftover supplies? (If not, just don't tell me.)

A Little BS (Baking soda, that is)

Being a Pinterest user, I've read a lot about all the different things baking soda can do. But aside from making "volcanoes" in elementary school (was that anyone else's science project year after year?) and using it to bake things, I had never experienced the powers of humble baking soda for myself. Until today.

This sounds dramatic...because it was. A dramatic transformation, at least.

We live in an apartment built circa 1960. For the most part, we really like it, but some parts show the age. Like the dryer, for instance, in which we could not find the lint trap for quite a while. (Apparently, neither could the last tenant. When we finally located the lint trap, there were about 3 inches of lint built up on it. I'm not sure how the place had not burst into flames before our arrival.)

Another place that shows a little aging is the kitchen counters (oh, that lovely off-white laminate). While we've added a few red wine stains ourselves, there were a lot of stains already present when we moved in. Judging from those and some similar ones on the white cabinets, we have concluded that the previous tenant can only have been a very violent stir-fryer.

After we got another wine stain on the counter last night (I guess we're not very neat pourers), I looked up how to get red wine off of counters. After wading through all the instructions for granite countertops (ha), I finally found a suggestion that just used baking soda and water. Seemed simple enough, but I was skeptical.

Here's a "before" pic of our counter beside the sink. This is after several past vigorous scrubbings with Lysol, vinegar, etc.

Kind of blurry, but you get the gist. Lovely, no?

I mixed baking soda and water into a "toothpaste" consistency, applied it to the counter, and rubbed it all around with a scrubby sponge. Our counter was so bad that I just applied it liberally with a spoon to the entire surface, but it would be easy to spot-clean one stain.

Yum.

After 5-10 minutes of scrubbing...behold!

Oh dang.

I had to use quite a lot of "elbow grease" for this, but I won't complain about getting an extra upper body workout. Plus, if you try this at home, your counters probably aren't as old and gross as mine. So don't worry. :)

I'm pretty sure this is also the concoction I've seen recommended to whiten your teeth. If you're into multitasking, you can remove stains from your kitchen and your teeth all in one go...

Let's just look at that one more time.

Thanks, baking soda! I never could have done it without you. Let's be BFF's from now on.

What other "homemade" cleaning solutions do you use? I would love to cut chemical cleaners out of our retinue entirely.

All I Want for Christmas

I read this article on Buzzfeed today after someone posted a link to it on Facebook. The title is, "26 Moments That Restored Our Faith in Humanity This Year." I may or may not have cried. (Spoiler: I did.) And I was proud of my school for #12; I remember when it happened.

I know people have said the one about the police officer and the shoes isn't true, and maybe it isn't, and maybe some others aren't true, but please don't tell me. I think we all need to believe in some goodness. What happened in Connecticut yesterday was tragic. And tragic things are happening all around us, all the time. Big things and small things, things that make some of us see red and some of us sob.

So after reading that, I was already a little emotional and I was cleaning the kitchen and listening to Pandora (because I had exams this week and our house is a wreck since all I did was study), and the song "Say" by John Mayer came on my station. Now, I know many people who dislike this song, and I understand why. The chorus is super repetitive. All it says is, "Say what you need to say," over and over.

The song was written for the movie The Bucket List, which is about two very different guys facing terminal illness and fulfilling a "bucket list" of things to do before they die. And it is obviously good because Morgan Freeman is in it. So, in that context, the song is about saying what you need to say to people while you can, and putting your "problems" in perspective.

This is not one of my favorite John Mayer songs, musically, but I have another reason that it touches me deeply. For those of you who don't know, my mom was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2008. She is now cancer-free and doing well, but that period, at age 19, was the first time I was faced with the concept of mortality in such a personal way. I listened to "Say" constantly during the weeks before her surgery, trying to come to grips with the fact that my mom might not be here much longer, she might not see me get married, she might not see my kids. I spent time trying to think about what I needed to say to her.

I'm not trying to sound like a downer, here. I just want to make you think about what you might need to say. Life is beautiful and fragile, and when it comes down to the end of it, I think all we truly want is to have said and done the things that are most important.

(source)

I love this print and I think it sums it up. Work hard to do some good in the world while you're here, and be nice to the people you encounter, whether they are your parent, your spouse, your best friend, the person who serves you a coffee or a hamburger. Stop sweating the small things and just smile more, laugh more, give more hugs, and say what you need to say to the people you love. To everyone. Speak the truth in love.

Forget material gifts. That's what I want from all of you for Christmas.