DIY Framed Felt Ring Holder

Recently, I feel like our world is so jam packed with work, Isla, errands, family photos, blah blah blah....that I barely have time to stop and smell the wine roses. I like to decompress and chill out with DIY and crafting projects. My latest? A DIY ring display for the insane amount of Chloe + Isabel rings I have amassed in the past 8 months. Total project cost? $.99! I had most of the materials on hand already so it was very cheap to throw together :) I have since added 10-15 additional rings and the felt rolls are sturdy and holding strong!

Materials:

Frame

Felt

Primer

Paint

Hot glue gun

While cleaning out my closet for my next round of Ebay listings, I found an old frame in bad shape. The finish had started to tarnish and peel and I was this close to tossing it when my DIY side took over and put a halt to the hasty disposal.

You of course can buy a new frame, but like I said, I had this one on hand. Just wipe it up and spray it with some primer. I used two coats of primer and two coats of this gold spray paint. In between coats, get started on your felt rolls.

You can find these sheets of felt at your local craft store. Michael's sells 8x10 sheets for $.33. I needed three sheets for this project. I chose an oatmeal color as I knew I was going to paint the frame gold. Measure your frame and start cutting your felt. My squares were 5x5 - you'll want to ensure your felt rolls will be thick enough to hold your rings once they are rolled and glued.

Start at the edge and begin rolling your felt square - make sure your are rolling in the correct direction. Please excuse my gels...mama needs a manicure!

Once rolled, put a strip of hot glue along the edge and keep rolling. Careful! It's HOT! Set your roll aside and continue rolling your squares until you have enough to cover your frame. Once complete, pop those little babies in your frame, put on the back, and TADA!

I love the way it turned out and will be adding them to the Etsy shop soon :) Stay tuned as I have quite a few projects I've been working on, and they will all be debuted in the shop this weekend or next. I'm very excited for the Grand Opening of Isla and Boo and am thinking we should have a party...

A walk down memory lane and MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

Ahhh, St. Patty's Day. I'm sure we all have our stories. When I think back on some of my favorite St. Patty's  Day memories, I both smile and throw up in my mouth.

Flashback to St. Patty's day 2011: I was on a work trip to Chicago the two nights prior to St. Patty's Day. The last night in Chicago, my colleagues and I decided to order food from three different places. We ordered a Chicago style pizza, pad thai, and I can't remember the third. I voted for pizza because, I personally think pad thai tastes like a wet dog smells. You feel me? Do you ever equate the taste of one thing to the smell of another? I do. I think milk duds taste like the smell of a department store. Anyhoo, I decided to try the pad thai and it blew. my. mind. I loved it! I couldn't get enough of it! I ate and ate and ate...

Fast forward 24 hours. It was a Thursday and it was St. Patty's Day. My forever boo and I had plans to meet a former colleague in town on business for drinks at Bar Louie. Let's call him Mr. Grey Goose - partly because that is what he insists you take shots of and mainly because that was the title of his match.com dating profile. You can laugh. I laughed. Victor laughed. We still laugh.

We proceeded to take so many shots of Grey Goose, I literally crawled to the car. I don't know how I got home that night. I lie. I do know. I drove. Judge me now, but know I am much more responsible these days. These days, living downtown, I can crawl home instead of crawling to the car. The forever boo decided to stay and throw back a few more shots because Mr. Grey Goose still had some charge in his battery.

So I make it into my house and fall into bed. Within seconds I was sick. SO SICK! There are a few things that happen when I get that sick...

1. I throw up repeatedly

2. I piss on the floor

3. I strip down naked...because I piss on the floor

4. I curl into a ball and hug my knees all while crying out for my mommy

5. Repeat 1 - 4 at least twice

So this time, I was repeating steps 1 - 4 more than a few times. My boo finally made it home and promptly passed out. Apparently he was completely oblivious to the naked, piss soaked, puke smelling love his life curled into a ball at the foot of the bed screaming for her mommy.

By morning, I realized, I wasn't just drunk. I HAD FOOD POISONING from that delicious pad thai! I suppose I only like bacteria infested, salmonella breeding pad thai. Go figure. My suspicions were confirmed Monday at work, when the two colleagues from my trip also called in sick the day after St. Patty's.

So there it is. My most memorable St. Patty's Day. What's yours?

Share your fave moment with me in the comments section to be entered to win these adorable Best of Luck sterling silver mismatched stud earrings from Chloe + Isabel. You certainly deserve a raffle after getting through that :) In the words of Jimmy Buffett, "With a little love and luck, you will get by"

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January Favorites (A little late)

1. Zella Live In Leggings: Just like the title suggests, I live in these! They are the best leggings I have found on my quest to find the perfect legging. They have compression spandex so they are super slimming, they will not fade, and they have a wide waist band so there is no unwanted muffin top. Zella is Nordstrom's athletic line that is very comparable to Lululemon. I own 4 pair and plan to keep adding to the collection :)

2. Tangle Teezer: Amazing. I have a lot of naturally curly hair, but it is fine and prone to being dry. I used to dread combing out my locks after a shower even after using Moroccan Oil conditioner. I saw this creepy looking thing on a YouTube video and then spotted it at Target. I plucked out $9.99 for it and have never looked back. This brush is SO gentle and my hair doesn't make that ripping sound that used to make me cringe while thinking I should rush to salon for a hasty pixie cut.

3. Algenist Face Oil: My face is combo on a good day, and oily on most. Putting oil on my face seemed counterproductive to my skin care goals. I love the Algenist line and the girl at Sephora suggested I give this a try. After threatening her with a window egging if my face blew up with acne, I took home a sample to try. LOVE IT! It actually controls my oil and tricks my skin into thinking I have enough and it doesn't need to produce anymore. The anit-aging benefits are a plus as well. Hello, 30's.

4. Spinach and Kale Chips: We can't get enough of these guys!

5. Earrings: The new Morningtide Stud earrings have been my go to earrings as of late. They are so simple, but full of gorgeous detail. I love vintage feel and pop of pink.

6. 2 in 1 Statement Necklace: I'm obsessed with this necklace, or rather, necklaces... I love the nautical feel of it and it comes with two chains; navy and antique brass. I can instantly change the look of this for day to night. Just look at it! Perfection! Want $25 off? Just ask :)

7. Slippers: I found these at Target in January and they are so cushy and soft. Perfect for those chilly Florida nights :)

8. Hape Pound & Tap Bench: My friend gifted this to Isla for her birthday and the kid LOVES it! She's a little young to play with it as intended, so she makes sweet tunes with the hammer and xylophone, and plays fetch with the balls. Seriously, this chick throws the ball and then fetches it, then throws it again and fetches it. My dog acts like a cat and baby acts like a dog. Who knew?

9. Nosefrida: Honestly, this was not a fave of mine until Victor and I proved to be bad parents one night. Isla had just taken down her evening milk and we were making her laugh. Hard. She then threw up her milk and it came out of her nose! Her nose was packed with disgusting milk snot! I whipped this out, stuck it in her nose, and every trace of milk snot ended up in that little tube. It's not good for boogers, but snot doesn't stand a chance! I think this will be a life saver when Isla has her first runny nose...or we make her laugh so hard she nose vomits again :)

Isla's First Birthmas

Isla turned 1 on December 19th and I'm just now getting around to viewing the photos and sharing them with family. We had a small party with friends (no kids) at 6:00 pm and promptly put her to bed at 8:00 pm. Why? So we could enjoy the celebration of her birth...with beer and friends!

Invite was made on RedStamp.com

This site will print and ship custom quantities. Since we only needed 15, this is the route I took. I also used the site to send digital invites to friends and family whose address I didn't know, or to those I felt didn't care if they received a printed invite ;)

Onesie: Made by me using an American Apparel bodysuit and fabric paint

Banner: Made by me with crepe paper, glitter glue, hot glue gun, and cut up holiday tinsel

Heart Crown: Made by me with red fold-over elastic, paper, glitter glue, and hot glue gun

Santa Cake: Publix

The party decor was pretty simple and mostly made by yours truly the night before with a bottle of red wine.

I have an obsession with washi tape

I used tons of Ball jars with sand, tea lights, and twinkle lights

Photo booth props from Target

Holiday Lights Sweatshirt: Wildfox

Earrings: C+I

Gertie got lots of mistletoe love

And so did they ;)

All in all it was a great party with great friends. Isla scored lots of goodies and more bottles of wine than I did on my birthday...