Made the Switch....

After much debate, I've made the decision to jump over to wordpress, so I will no longer be posting at this address

Wordpress is much different, but I'm learning!

Come over to see the new and improved Lauren Makes. And don't forget to update your Googlereaders and blogrolls! :)

Sweet Treat

I just saw this over on Treehugger. I joke with Mark that he has a CFL addiction (he buys one EVERY single time we go to a store that sells them). This would be perfect for him :)

Gaga for Garland

I found a website of a company that does beautiful garland work for parties, events and weddings (can't find the website to save my life right now. if you know, please send it my way!) However, I did save these pictures...



I've made dinky garlands before, but these installations are beautiful. I've gotta find an occasion to try this out. Ok, who am I kidding. I need no occasion, I would cover ever ceiling in my house if Mark would let me. :)

A Print A Day

I found A Print A Day last week and wanted to share with you guys. Aren't these lovely?
















































Not only does she do beautiful illustrations, but she shares them! She offers free downloads, including labels, notepads, and desktops.




































She's constantly updating, so check back often!

Update: Ice Cream Sandwiches

I mentioned that I found some of the ice cream sandwich molds at walmart about a month ago. I finally got a chance to try them out.

They were pretty easy to use. I used premade chocolate chip cookie dough. You want to make sure the cookies are big enough for the mold, but not too big so you get the most out of your dough. Actually, now that I think of it, you could not even worry with dividing it out. Just fill the whole cookie sheet and stamp out of that. You'll have extra cooked cookie leftover...just put that in a bowl and feed to your husband or boyfriend :)

I waited about a minute or two after pulling them out to start stamping. You want them to be a little warm so they're easy to cut, but not too hot b/c they'll fall apart.


After you cut them out, let them cool all the way off so they're harder and easier to work with. You put one half of the cookie into the mold, a scoop of ice cream, then another cookie.





Push what I like to call the 'squisher'. And you'll mash your little sandwich together and stamp the design into the top cookie.


And there you have it! The cutest little ice cream sandwiches ever. I'd recommend using a different type cookie as it was hard to see the cow and pig face in the chocolate chip...but they were delicious!

Cupcake Sass

How cute is this?


Sugadeaux Tshirt found via

DIY Lamp shade

I found this on Design*Sponge this morning. How cool are these??

Using felt, hot glue and the Ikea “melodi” pendant lamp ($9.99!) you can make one of these fancy things.


I love the bunching on the cream colored one.


Like I need another reason to drive over to Ikea!!

For full instructions, hop over here.

Etsy Love: Cakespy

I've seen Cakespy's work around the blog world over the past few months. With my love for cupcakes and now that I have a craft room with wall space for awesome prints like this....I need it!

I especially love this one


And when we get a puppy...I could get a customized one with a cuppie puppy to have a complete family portrait :)



In honor of the SATC movie coming out....


And my feelings exactly...


Check out her etsy store and blog!

Oh cup-a-cake....

I want lots and lots of you

Gift for baby bro

My little brother graduated college this past Saturday. I started his gift about a month or so, as soon as I read about Flickr's letter pools. He's moving into a new place and I thought he could use some cool artwork.

Basically, people take pictures of letters on signage all around. I spent hours sifting through photos, trying to figure out the perfect combination (there are thousands!). Since most of the photos aren't a standard photo size, I resized them all with a black border. I just so happened to find a frame at Ross with the correct number of spaces for Bryan's name. If you aren't so lucky, you could always buy a blank poster frame and have a matte cut.


This pool finds letters in everyday things like bicycle wheels or hand railing.


I think these would make great personalized gifts!

Mother's Day!

I made mom this little package for Mother's Day.

In my effort to think greener I used a leftover box from a lunch we had catered at work, then shredded down a couple of paper bags for stuffing.


I laid out a polka dot pattern and printed a couple of 11x17 sheets at work. The house is crazy and I had no clue where ANY ribbon was, so I used this head scarf I made years ago. Printed out a label, ran it through the xyron and viola!

I added in a pedegg, some chocolate covered popcorn from Crave Chocolatier, and a sewing jar.


Sewing kit in a jar, using Martha's directions
I threw in some ric rac, decorative scissors and pins.


I hope all you mommies had a wonderful day!!

I'm Back!

Things have finally slowed down a bit and I'm back for a post!

We are now much more settled into the house (although we still have a very long way to go) and are getting back to life as normal. except now we're in an awesome house :)

I haven't crafted much...the craft room is still in progress and actually a huge mess right now! I did a couple of projects last week that I'll post next.


My birthday was April 28th, our second day in the house. My grandmother and mom came into town to help us move and brought with them birthday goodies! It was truly a craft filled birthday.


First our Housewarming gift from Mom. She's a basket making queen and I love it! She didn't want me to take a picture since she didn't get a bow on this one. She worked a crazy schedule, then drove 3.5 hours to help me move on her days off. I think she's forgiven :) I love how all the items always stick to the basket 'theme'



We did a ton of cleaning and moving on my birthday, but that night we washed up went to dinner at Outback (mark and I's fave!), then came home and opened presents.

First I opened Mom's......



Hooray a gocco!!



This is granny pointing out that everything is in japanese :)


Then it was granny gift time...a sewing machine!


Along with a little sewing bag filled with sewing goodies...



And buttons!!!


Also while we were shopping earlier that day, Mark & I found the ice cream sandwich molds I've been wanting! They're out with the summer stuff and were only $4 I think. :) Get em while they're hot! I haven't used them just yet, but I'll post once I do.

All in all it was a wonderful birthday!! I'm super excited to try all the new stuff out!

Happy Birthday to me!

image via Martha

Hi there..birthday girl here. :) I've been a busy bee the past few days and today moving and cleaning and organzing..oh my!

I'm not Mary and I'm not 6 (+ 18), but I thought these cupcakes were so cute and a great, easy display idea.

Little to no posting in the next week or so. Things are crazy, but awesome!!!

Button Fever

I've had an interest in starting a button collection for a while now.

Now that M and I are trying to live more frugally, I'm really thinking long and hard before purchasing anything.

After finding at least 6 button projects in the past few weeks, I think I can finally feel ok in buying up a big lot of these suckers. I've been watching quite a few auctions on ebay and can't wait to get some!

These cute bracelets from Martha Stewart.
















I love this idea from Emily at Little Black Apple. Just glue push pins (or magnets) to buttons to stick where ever you need a little whimsy.






















I've seen a lot of button jewelry pop up lately too. From earrings to necklaces to rings. This little button brooch is too cute.

Cute Cork

I saw these on decor8 the other day and instantly thought 'hey, i could make that' and what do you know...I found a tutorial! Oddly enough, decor8 added in the link to those same directions since then. We're all one big blog family! haha...


For directions to make your own visit sweet jessi.

If you're not feeling crafty, you can purchase these cute little corkboards at Little Pretty Studio.

I definitely need something like this to jazz up my cube area. I actually have an old bulletin board that would be perfect for this!

For cute fabric check out Repro Depot's great selection.


**UPDATE**

I found this image from Soule Mama's studio. No corkboard, but very pretty wall decor! I especially like the different sizes.

Her studio is really amazing. So many pretties in one room!

Seriously??

I honestly did not go in search of the following images. They somehow all found me in the past couple of days. And I've gotta say..they're a little disturbing. I almost didn't want to post..but I had to share the ridiculousness.

Please tell me this isn't a trend!


1. Skirt (who would wear this in public!?). , 2. cell phone charm, 3. panties, 4. men's underwear, 5. knitted pillow, 6. earrings

Happy Earth Day!

I haven't had much time to keep both of my blogs updated as we're in the process of packing and getting ready to move into our first house! But I had to check in for Earth day :)

I posted a few links to tips for greener living on our blog.

Here are a few green themed etsy finds...


1. Birdies made from recycled wool sweaters, 2. Tote made from recycled and refreshed burlap coffee bean bag, 3. vintage earrings, 4. Tree charm necklace

Etsy Love

Etsy is such a wonderful site. If you're not familiar, go check it out now!
I find so many beautiful things while browsing around, I thought I'd start featuring some of my finds.

Today I stumbled across Whitney Smith Pottery. She has beautiful, simple pieces.


I also love these felt brooches from VaivaNat's Felt Gallery.

Weekend projects

I finally got around to finishing up a few projects this weekend.


Magnets.
I made some of these a few months ago and decided to do some more this morning. Using only my latest Victoria Secret catalog, glue, flat back marbles and magnets I made these cute little ones....



I have to admit it was a tad weird once I realized that I was cutting various body parts for my little magnets, but a pattern is a pattern! Here's the mess after cutting :)



Mark finished off his coffee this morning, so I quickly snagged the tin. I thought this looked pretty cool


These are unbelievably easy to make. Visit not martha for great directions.

I love her idea to package them in Altoid tins!



Frame.


I got a simple wooden frame, some Navy blue acrylic paint, and a small pack of birch buttons all from Micheal's. I painted the frame and spray painted the buttons white. Hot glued those on and viola! Total cost was around $4 with paint and buttons left over. I framed a pretty piece of scrapbooking paper...I can't tell you the last time I had photos actually printed! (bad lauren..)

I'm not sure where I'll use this or how I feel about it now that it's finished. Thoughts?

Wishlist, pt. 3

Other random things that are totally awesome

Twine.

Ever since I bought the Martha Stewart baker's twine at Micheal's, I have been dying to get my hands on more. I especially love the big spools of the stuff. So much cheaper and I'm sure easier to use than those piddly Martha versions I bought.

Here are some current faves:

This orange spool is so bright and cheery

Here is the blue version of my Martha twine. Scroll to the very bottom to see other colors. I'd love to get the red & brown eventually too.




Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich Molds.

When I was little we would make our own ice cream sandwiches after we made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. We would just scoop some ice cream between the cookies, smoosh, wrap and sit in the freezer. These molds take it to a whole nother level.

How cute are these?




I found the lowest price on the farm animal set here .