Blinded by the Light

I have sensitive eyes, actually I really don't, there's no medical diagnosis to confirm that--that's just the excuse I use to justify my massive collection of sunglasses.  Truth be told there's nothing I hate more than the sun directly beaming straight into my eyeballs causing me to awkwardly squint to adjust my vision or attempt to shield it with my hand/arm.  It's awkward, it's uncomfortable, it's downright inconvienent so my solution is sunglasses.  The problem (besides the obvious shopping addiction) is that I have no designated place to keep these sunglasses, they are everywhere--my purse, hanging from my rearview mirror, my dresser, my vanity, my "junk drawer", the cats bed, my bed....EVERYWHERE.  I can never find a pair when I need them, when I do they're never the right ones and half the time they are broken because I left them someplace ridiculous. So my attempted solution to cure the sunglasses insanity? A sunglasses holder.  I know what your thinking---I say sunglasses holder and you see one of those revolving cases that adorne gas stations and department stores, while I'm up for the challege I simply just dont have the room, the energy or tons of extra cash to take on that big of a project so I came up with something quick, cheap and easy.

I started with a picture frame, a pillow case, my handy hot glue gun and my cat :)
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Next, I cut the pillowcase along the seam so it laid flat, ironed out the wrinkles and fitted it to the back of the frame.

Using my hot glue gun to secure the fabric as I worked my way around.

I then attached a wire and fastened it to the back of the frame. 

I made sure that the wire was snug across the front

and reassembled the frame

I found this to be fuctional but a little boring, so I used some ribbon I had leftover from another project and came up with this

which I like a little better, I really like the way the solid teal contrasts with the polka dots. This one frame will not hold all of my sunglasses but it's a start! I may be able to add another row by moving the ribbon up or using the frame vertically-- but being so easy to create I may just use some different sized frames that I have around the house to create more storage; the best part is that this easily hangs on the wall, up and out of the way.

Springing Forward

I love New England.  I love everything about it, from die hard sports fanatics to crazy weather patterns.  I find it fascinating that it can snow in the morning and be sunny and warm in the afternoon.  Our unseasonally warm Winter this year was somewhat of a disappointment to me part of the joy I get out of living in New England is your able to see the drastic change in the seasons and with Spring fast approaching I like seeing that white blanket of snow begin to melt away while flowers start to break through the ground.  With the Spring comes Easter, one holiday, atleast in my opinion that involves a lot of candy--fun, colorful candy.  Each year I look for a different way to display said candy instead of the boring old candy dish and after surfing for ideas, this year I think I nailed the challenge. 

 I started with terra cotta planters which I spray painted black. 

I then cleaned my bowls so that they were nice and shiny and free from dust and fingerprints.

Next, with the help of my hot glue gun, I affixed the glass bowls on top of the planters.

Lastly I filled them up with candy, added a bow and the tops (which are actually the bottoms to the planters) and knobs to make them easy to open, resulting in.....

these guys.

Looking at them almost reminds me of a gum ball machine, maybe I should have painted them red instead of black especially since once they were dry really looks more like a gray, so there may been some repainting in the future--although I do like the simplicity of the black gray against the colorful candy inside and it really helps in making those green ribbons pop.  Also for some reason when I think Easter I also think chalk, so maybe I could lighten up the dark background with some bright chalk designs. In any event I think there cute, fun and a little out of the ordinary and since I have a few maybe they'll end up as gifts or a future home to a goldfish.

For anyone thinking of recreating this super easy project heres a budget breakdown

Terra Cotta Pots $1.00 each

Terra Cotta Bottoms .75 cents each

Spray Paint $1.77

Ribbon 1.25 each

Knobs 2.25 package of 2

Bowls $1.00 each

Which adds up to roughly $5.00 to make one; inexpensive, fun and pretty-my three favorite things. So what about you, do you have any special way of displaying holiday treats?  Share your ideas, thoughts, opinions--anything!