To a New Year

Many changes are coming our way! And more to come for the BLOG! There are many more pages on the blog, I'm planning to do some changes and become more organized! I LOVE ORGANIZATION!!!

New Year's Resoluations
I've always been bad at making resolutions, and even worse at keeping them.  But, I've decided I need to focus on my goals, and pick resolutions that I can truly stick with.  Making resolutions are difficult for everyone, but I believe that if its something that you want/need to change you will stick with the resolution longer.  Making a resolution should not be a quick decision, it should be thought out and well planned.
Now, to my resolutions.  I've decided to blog more! {yay!!} AND I've decided to do some form of exercise every day and to start eating healthy {not eating past 8pm is going to be difficult}.  I decided that exercising and eating healthy will hopefully help me lose weight.  But, due to NEVER weighing myself I don't need to worry about how much to lose.  Just so I feel comfortable in my own skin.

Hope everyone has a SAFE New Years!  I hope your 2013 is wonderful!
{work on those resolutions!}

-M

fall decorating {a little late}

it's been way toooooo long since my last post!  Once again I have been caught up in school work, clinic work, and grad school applications :/ ...I have decorated for fall/halloween at the normal time everyone does.. just have not had time to update you all about it :)  Here are a few photos of the fall decorations.  {all homemade of course} Halloween/pumpkin carving photos are next so check back again in a week or so (hopefully have some time this week!)  I should probably take my fall things down and start decorating for Christmas soon!!! 

P.S. my FAVORITE fall decor is pumpkins!! I LOVE pumpkins! {and pumpkin carving!!}

 This is the pumpkin basket I put together for my mom...due to my lovely friend Tesa {who grows pumpkins} I received quite a few pumpkins from her this fall.

 Jute covered pumpkins with my milk vase filled with sticks on our end table.

--more to come on milk glasses--

 the fall wreath I made out of beads, jute, burlap, and some sticks..

this is my pumpkin basket in our entryway.  the white and orange pumpkins were also placed outside on my doorstep..although they did not get to stay there long :(

Stay tuned for much much more!! I need to update with the TWO recent car trips I went on.  HALLOWEEN pictures, along with my antique finds from the last TWO antiquing adventures!!! I also am hosting a bachelorette party, therefore more decorating to do! So much to come!! Hope everyone had a great fall and is getting ready for Christmas... I must start Christmas shopping!

Mankato River Ramble

Hello all!! Once again school has gotten the best of me and have busy studying. I finally have a little time to myself.. (ok, so what if I'm procrastinating again??) Last weekend was CRAZY busy for this girl!  I went down to Rochester to study and take my GRE, I also order another maid of honor dress! Sunday, I participated in the Mankato River Ramble-a community bike ride.  Jessica and I biked the 12 mile route.  Due to all the biking I did this summer I was able to finish in just under 2 hours.  I wasn't hurting {too bad} at the finish line.  After the race I ran off to participate in WalkDo {a walk in Mankato for Autism}  It was a busy and active Sunday!  Here are a few photos of the River Ramble.

Jess and I right before our ride...

 At Minneopa State Park - 3.5 miles down

The trail led us out to Mount Kato--this is what it looks like without snow!!

We did it!! {love the porta potties in the background...}

 This guy was there to cheer me on :)

Me and my sweet shirt...

Well that is all for now! Hope everyone has a great week! Next weekend I'm off to Bismarck to visit family!!

P.S.--I've been decorating for fall--just haven't had time to update you all so stay tuned for those hopefully soon!! :)

more pillows

WOW!! I have not been good at blogging lately.  I have been busy studying and preparing for grad school.  Next weekend I will be taking my GRE (fingers crossed).  Two weekends ago I went antiquing and wine tasting with my mankato girls.  Wine tasting was awesome, I can't wait to go again sometime.  Antiquing was fun, but I had no luck finding anything.

As I mentioned before I made pillows for Geoff.  He had told me that he wanted some pillows for his room, so I let him pick out the fabric he wanted.. {btw Geoff does not know how to match} He chose striped pillows thinking that that would match his bedroom.

 He loves them so even though they don't match, that doesn't matter.

 The small blue one was one of the first pillows I made

 Geoff's early birthday gift...I believe he was more excited about this than the pillows I made him.

At Indian Creek Winery in Jainsville.  It was such a gorgeous night to relax on the patio and sip wine with these amazing girls.

Hope everyone has a great week!! I will hopefully have time this week {in between study sessions} to upload my recent photos over the last couple weeks.  Wish me luck on my GRE!! 

pillows

After receiving my sewing machine from my grandparents I have been practicing and trying new patterns.  I finally feel that I have mastered the sewing machine. {sort of} After moving I decided that my black and white room needed some accent colors.  SO I decided to tie in my latest obsession with my craft making! The latest obsession I have discovered is now pillows..so I decided to make some pillows and pillow covers!  My first pillow was for Geoffrey of course {that way his were the trial and error pillows ;)} I've been looking for purple fabric but I couldn't find any I really liked.  So I used some old fabric that I had to make mine.

 I figured they don't match my room....but I'm trying to get out of my matchy matchy problem!

 The lighting in my room isn't the best but heres what it looks like so far...As soon as I find the purple I want I will make more and update you all!  More pillow pictures to come of Geoffrey's!!

Still waiting to go antiquing and wine tasting on Friday! Hopefully I will find some great buys to show you all!

Iphone photos

I realized that I have not updated any of you with my recent photos.  I haven't been too busy with crafts lately.  My newest addiction is Netflix....which is not helping me get homework done.  {I'm waiting for it to do itself.}  Anyways...heres a few photos of the end of my summer.. :(

Meghan Ava and I hanging out at the pool after swimming lessons.

The jar filled with swedish fish and octopus that Ava made me for teaching her how to "swim like a fish." She also chose Little Mermaid stickers remembering how much I love those movies!

The notecards that I had made over the last two semesters of school...I'm hoping that I do not make nearly as many this school year.

My newest sewing project is pillows!!...more to come on that later!

Hope everyone has a great week...I know I'm already for my weekend.  I will be busy antiquing and wine tasting!!! :)

cork board part 2

Well its back to school again.  Therefore, everything is in full swing again.  So far I don't have homework...which is a surprise, but I'm sure I'll be studying soon. I have been able to do some crafts during this down time and really enjoying it. {my netflix is also getting a lot of use!}
As most of you know I have been working on a cork board {for what feels like a year now}  I thought I would all update you on the progress.  I received a bunch of corks one night from work so I glued them onto my board.  I was thinking that all these corks would get me at least 3/4 of the board finished....seems I forgot how many corks it took.. I got about 2 rows done so thats exciting!

Here it is....almost half way done...right??

I'm expecting to get a lot more this weekend so I will keep everyone updated :) I hope these get me at least 3 more rows!!

dad's birthday gift

Hello my people!! (If I still have followers...) I have been very busy working, studying to take my GRE :( and trying to get ready for school to start :(  I have had a very busy summer with weddings, events, being at the lake, and swimming lessons!  (tomorrow is my last day of swimming lessons for the year!!!) Anyways...yesterday was my dad's birthday.  Due to getting ready for school to start I am now broke and have no money to spend..so I decided for my dad's birthday I would make him something.  Of course I had no idea what to make him...I mean if my dad wants anything, he could probably make it himself.  So...I recently went to crafts direct with my best friend, Nichole and she showed me this cute quote that she put on an old piece of wood for her dad for father's day. It said, "Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad."  I then knew I needed to do that for my dad.  Of course crafts direct had a sticker of it, but it was $15 which I was not spending considering I could just paint it myself.  I decided that I could just find a piece of wood in the garage and paint the quote on it.  It turned out great and my dad loved it.  I'm just curious where he decides to hang it.  I'm thinking he will hang it up in his garage...I'll post pictures later of where he decides to put it :). 

Its such a perfect quote for such an amazing father.  I'm truly blessed to have him in my life and could not have asked for a better father.  He's such a great man and I have learned so many valuable lessons from him. (I'm sure I have many more to learn as well)

my summer at a glance

Boy has the summer flown by!!..I've been so busy with school, work, going to the lake, baseball games, and spending time with friends and family that I haven't had time to do any new crafts :( ..hopefully I will be able to work on some soon!  I have been taken tons of pictures on my iphone so here are a few of my summer so far!...

of course its wedding season...so far I've had two weddings, I have 3 more before the summer is over!! Here are a few pictures of friends and I at Zach and Danielle Thissen's wedding!

a. Matt & Geoff celebrating

b. Bailey & I {the future bride!}

c. Matt, Geoff, & Travis

d. Steph & I

e.  Geoffrey & I

 The recent street dances I've gone to!  

 Kailee, Meghan, & I before the Maynard Street dance

Jessica, Kailee, & Lydia during the Granite Falls Western Fest Street dance

Summer is about spending time with family and friends which I have been doing a lot of!

a. Jerry fishing {his first bullhead}

b. Jacob & I at his graduation

c. Jerry during his hoopshoot

d. Kayla & I celebrating the 4th of July

e. Date nights with Geoffrey

f. Under the fireworks with Geoff on the 4th

 Baseball games have been a large part of my last couple summers.. I'm starting the love the game more and more.  Geoff recently switched teams and is now playing for the Raymond Rockets.  Although, red isn't my favorite color I believe its his new color and he also looks pretty good in it ;)

Thats my summer at a glance so far...hopefully the rest of it doesn't fly by too fast.  I hope you are all having a wonderful summer as well.

iphone photos

I have taken a MILLION pictures over the last week!!..and finally figured out how to make a collage of them all so heres my first one!

1. Piper of course--my new favorite animal

2. I have a new room mate!!...she comes with A LOT of stuff!

3. I went to Geoff's baseball game in Milroy last weekend and got some sweet photos of him.

4. I also went to the lake last weekend and did a lot of swimming!

5. Alissa and I with our shades on in the boat!

6. Geoff has a new friend--Alissa now LOVES him!

coffee cup sleeves

I recently received a sewing machine from my Grandparents for my birthday.  I have been wanting one for years, so I was super excited when I opened it up.  I have only hand stitched before so I needed some sewing lessons before I really knew what to do.  Thank goodness my grandma is a seamstress and gave me some quick lessons.  I then pondered my first sewing project.  I decided on coffee cup sleeves.  This is the first one I've made so it isn't the best.

What you need:

fabric

lining - I used an old blanket that we don't use anymore

button

tooth picks

elastic

I had cut out the fabric and inside lining according to a pattern I found on the internet.

 I then sewed as close to the outside of the fabric as I could.  I'm still learning so I didn't quite sew in a straight line.

In order to sew on the button you need to place tooth picks in between the button and the fabric, in order for the elastic to fit around the button.

 You also want to make sure that the elastic is matched up perfectly with the button, this one isn't quite matched up well..but it is only my first one :) I decided to hand stitch my elastic on the backside.  I'm not quite talented enough to use my sewing machine for that part. 

I'm hoping to get better at sewing...I'm practicing quite a bit! I also am hoping to learn how to sew a button hole on it.  I think a button hole will look better on the sleeve than the elastic.

wedding gift

A great friend of mine got married a few weeks ago and I wanted to make the perfect gift for her and her new husband. I don't have a huge budget so I needed to use the materials that I already had on hand.  I wasn't sure what to do so I did a little research on pinterest and found this:

 So I decided I was going to make my own, I started with the W for their last name. I just used a stencil and black paint on the burlap. {of course I got the burlap from my father's garage}

 I first decided I was going to put the lyrics of their first dance for the background, but once I got it all put together I hated it.. I also had a hard time cutting the wood my dad had on hand, so he of course helped me out by cutting it to the perfect size.

 So I decided to paint it red like I found on pinterest.  

I then added the burlap onto the wood using large thumb tacks. 

I hope they love it as much as I do, I can't wait to make one for myself!!

Iphone photos

Sorry its been awhile since my last post! I've been crazy busy with homework, graduation/retirement parties, scrapbooking and trying to relax a little  inbetween...I haven't had a lot of time to work on any new projects, but like I said I have been doing a TON of scrapbooking for my younger brothers graduation! 

Here are some photos that have accumulated on my phone over the last week or two..

 Piper {the dog Geoff and I sort-of adopted} and Geoffrey sleeping together.

 Marissa, Brooke, Samantha, Destiny, & Kristie at Sam's wedding a few weeks ago.

 This was my scrapbooking area over the last week or so. I have looking at pictures of my brother Jacob for the last 2 weeks- trying to get his scrapbook done for his graduation!  I now can not wait until I have my own scrapbooking room!

 It was our 2 year anniversary yesterday so I thought I would put a picture up of us together!! Happy anniversary Geoffrey Lamont!

Sweet Little Ava Symka

geoffrey's bathroom

Geoff's bathroom was SUPER ugly for the longest time.  When he moved into his house he decided to paint it maroon..no lie.--I wish I would have taken pictures.  I decided for his birthday I was going to redo his bathroom for him.  He said he wasnt going to help me paint, but of course he had to since I'm way to short to get all the way to the ceiling so I painted what I could reach and he did the rest.  I had been looking for a shower curtain that I liked and then was going to decide on a color.  Of course it couldn't be too girly.  I then decided on paint color.  I decided on light grey/silver.  I didnt realize that grey is a hard color to use in your house due to the different hues until after we had it painted.  But, I got lucky and loved the color that I choose.  

Here is the shower curtain

I got these shelves on clearance at target that I love.  I also made the bottles and filled them with cotton balls, bubble bath, and bath salts.  Geoff thinks its pretty girly but I like it!

 I love his new bathroom.  I'm so glad I talked him into redoing it.  Now my next step is to make him a curtain..I just need to figure out what color and find a pattern!

Iphone photos

I've decided to post once a week the photos I've taken over the week on my phone.  So here are a few pics from last week...                                                                                                                                

                                       

         1. Geoff and I had a wedding this past weekend--just the beginning of many many more to come this summer.  2. Missing my best friend Nichole this week since she's been off in croatia having a blast without me. 3. I babysat the cutest 1 yr old in the world the other day!-Arianna

cork board part 1

I am obsessed with wine corks and always have been.  I have been saving them for awhile now and thinking of different projects to do with them.  My first idea was to make a bath mat or outdoor mat with them, but I figured if they got dirty they would be hard to clean and could start to smell if they never dried out completely.  So I decided on a cork board.  I'm planning on hanging it in my kitchen and using it as a bulletin board for bills and such.  Due to my great job, I have been able to receive much much more corks than I would if it were up to me drinking the wine.  So here it looks so far:

I used an old frame that we had laying around and had my Dad (again my Dad tends to help with basically all of my projects) put plywood behind it.  I used my glue pan to glue all the corks in place.  A glue gun would have taken too long and too much glue (so thanks Tesa for the pan!!) I also placed the corks on the board where I wanted them before glueing them down so I knew they would fit together they way I wanted them too.  I'll keep you all posted with this project-it may take some time.  I started saving corks in December and still cant get 1/4 of the board full!

mason jar organizer

I love mason jars and decided I needed to decorate more with them.  I love that they are easily used or organization (which I'm a freak about) and decided to have my lovely Dad help me make it!

What you need:

a great Dad or guy to help you --or at least I did :)

3 mason jars

a board

3 hose clamps (large enough to fit around the mason jar)

3 frame hooks-we used ones like this:

All you need to do is place the clamps on the board where you would like the jars to sit then you place the frame hook across the clamp vertically and nail it down.  Place your mason jars in the clamps after they are all set up on the board and cut the extra hose off.

You can fill it with anything you like, I chose cotton balls, make-up wedges, and q-tips (which are NOT to be used in ears!!)

I love the new look of the organizer in my bathroom.  The wood also matches my cute basket I put together!

My First Blog!!

Welcome to my first blog!! I've been contemplating for awhile now if I should start a blog or not.  So due to my ongoing sleeping issue, I decided late last night I would start one.  The hardest part was deciding on a name!  I knew I wanted my blog to have a unique name and something that would let me have endless possibilities so I decided to go with Beyond Inspired.  I plan to post many of my "projects" I've been working on, along with photos that I've taken.  My new hobby is photography, but we will see how long it lasts...I know that this Blog will now help me procrastinate more on studying/homework, but I'm soooo excited about it.  I'm still working on getting the page set up the way I want it, so there will probably be quite a few changes within the next week or so.  Enjoy!!