Randomness

Hey Everyone, Ava wanted to drop in and say hi.

We're off trying to enjoy these last few days of summer, but I wanted to remind you to enter my giveaway if you haven't yet.

Hope your all having a great week!

Um, I Might Have Gone a Little Overboard

Hi Everyone, how's your Monday going? This weekend I hit up some garage sales and found some pretty awesome treasures, so I thought I'd share them with you!


We actually didn't make it to a lot of sales, but a couple that we did go to were HUGE. One was by a couple that had a vintage store but were leaving the country in a few weeks and were selling EVERYTHING, and pretty cheaply too! Unfortunately the sale started at 8am and we didn't get there until after 11. So, I can only imagine how much cool stuff we missed (and most likely the large swarm of people that probably gathered outside at 6am). But there was still a ton of stuff left.


The other big one we went to was a church sale. Now, I've been to plenty of church garage sales before, but none like this one. This place was insanely huge, and almost every room in this place was FILLED with stuff. We were there for at least an hour, maybe even two (honestly I have no idea, I lose all concept of time when I'm treasure hunting).


So, here's some of the goodies I got:


I'm not sure why this stamping kit makes me so happy, but it does.

Set of 4 of these beauties!

Have you found any awesome treasures lately?

By the way, have you entered my first papercutting giveaway yet? You should go HERE and do that!!

It's a Giveaway!!

Hey Everyone, I am so excited to announce that I'm having my first giveaway for my papercuttings! Here's a  post if you want to read more about them and my Etsy shop.

One lucky reader will win their choice of any one papercutting from my shop!

This giveaway is open to Averly Gets Creative subscribers. Please take a moment and subscribe using Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin before entering the giveaway. Thanks!

To enter all you need to do is visit my Etsy Shop, then come back and leave a comment telling me what you'd get if you won the giveaway. Please make sure there is a way to contact you if you win!

For additional entries, please do the following (and leave a separate comment for each entry):

• Follow me on Twitter
• Tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to mention @AverlyCreatives in the tweet. 
• Share this giveaway on Facebook, Tumblr or your own blog. (Make sure to leave a link so I can come visit you!)

This giveaway will end Monday, August 29th at 10PM Central Time.

Winner will be randomly chosen and announced shortly after.


If you don't want to wait you can use the coupon code GIVEAWAY to receive 20% off your order right now!

32 Before 33 Thursdays -- Working on a Workspace

I didn't think I would actually attempt this one for quite awhile (or at all while living here). For seven years Jack and I owned our house in which I had my own office/craft space to do whatever I wanted, and I barely used it. I have no idea what I was thinking. Now that we're packed into this two bedroom townhouse I am dying for an office/studio/workspace. I've been desperately trying to figure out a space that I could use (do we really need that half bathroom? How often do we actually use the dining room? Does Riley really need a room, can't he just sleep on the couch?) Unfortunately all of my suggestions keep getting shot down.

But, all of my stuff is starting to take over the house so I need to do something. Which brings me to the most obvious, and yet least desirable part of the house: the basement.

I don't like our basement. I really don't. I try to avoid it whenever possible. It's not the worst, but I still don't like it. It's just so basementy. I have no desire to hang out in a space surrounded by insulation and cement. And I'm pretty sure there's spiders down there.

But, I'm determined to make this my pretty, creative space. I just have no idea how I'm going to do that. So, right now I'm trying to figure out the cheapest, non-permanent (we're renting) way to cover the walls and floors.

Any suggestions?

What I'm Digging Wednesdays -- Dresses

As you may recall (and really, why wouldn't you?) #12 on my 32 Before 33 goals list is to wear a skirt or dress at least once a week. I love skirts and dresses, but I just never wear them. So far this goal has been kinda challenging for the simple fact that because I rarely wear them, I don't really have a whole lot of them. And the ones I do have were bought for a specific purpose (usually a wedding) so they seem too dressy for everyday wear.

But, I'm still really excited about this goal, so I'm definitely going to need to do some shopping! I decided to start by doing (a lot) of looking around online. There are so many beautiful dresses out there! It was hard to choose just a few, but these are some that I absolutely adore:

1. ModCloth  2. Shop Ruche  3. Banana Republic
 4. Libby Story  5. Free People  6. Urban Outfitters 
 7. Anthropologie  8. Gap  9. Forever 21

I Totally Made That -- Except that I Didn't

So, there was a project I was going to attempt to make for this weeks "I Totally Made That," but I wasn't completely sure how to do it. Obviously the only solution to this problem was YouTube (what did we ever do before YouTube? Figure it out for ourselves I guess, but where's the fun in that?!). And well, YouTube being YouTube, and me being me, I quickly lost track of what I was originally looking for and click after click led me to RachO113 and instead of making anything myself I spent the next hour (or two) watching her create some seriously cool stuff.

I have so many more videos of hers to watch, but here are a few of my faves so far:

Mixed Media Foiling Technique / Tutorial

Altered Dominoes

Mixed Media Journal Page - Dance In The Rain

.

Aren't they amazing? I just love watching these kinds of videos; I find them to be both very relaxing, and yet incredibly exciting and inspiring. Now I feel like making stuff!

Miscellaneous Mondays -- August Break, Sort of?

Hey everyone, sorry I've been slacking off a little with the posting. I'm very torn everyday with wanting to post and working on getting the blog and my etsy shops to where I want them to be, and wanting to spend some good ol' quality time with the family during these last few precious days of summer.

So, while I'm not going full-on August Break, I'm also not going to stress out if I miss a day or two of blogging, or if I just pop in for a quick little post to say hi.

Anyway, enough about me. How's your summer going? Can you believe it's already almost over?!

What I'm Digging Wednesdays -- Art...Cuz I'm all cultured and stuff

You may remember from my Sunday post that we went to a couple art festivals this weekend. Do you remember? Good, then you should also remember that I told you I was going to show you some of my favorite artists/pieces from those festivals.

So, that's what I'm going to do!

Kimber Fiebiger

Lori Biwer Stewart

41

Anthony Pack

Estella Fransbergen

"Stevo" Cambronne

Sarah Kargol

Aren't they amazing? You should definitely click on their names and see the rest of their work, so so cool.

I Totally Made That -- My First Plushie

I've been kinda drooling over all the super cute plushies I've seen lately and really wishing I could make something similar. But, since my sewing skills are crap, um let's go with lacking, I figured that was never gonna happen.

Until I found the book Plush-O-Rama: Curious Creatures For Immature Adults by Linda Kopp. I love these little guys so much! And I really love that they don't have to look "perfect." It is completely acceptable for them to have three eyes, misshapen ears, (or no ears at all) or weird patches of hair.

So, I decided to give one a try. There were two in the book I really liked so I kinda "meshed" them together.

Now, obviously I carefully measured things and used only the finest, most expensive materials for this project. Yeah right! I used some old shirts for the fabric, and made my pattern out of a paper bag.

He didn't come out exactly like I had planned, apparently his legs wanted to be different sizes and shapes, but I think it just makes him cuter. Oh, and I ditched the skirt, and somewhere along the way he became a he instead of a she.

He has been named Fred, and Ava loves him already (and Riley is asking for one). It makes me feel all gooey inside watching her play with something I made for her.

Have you made anything cool lately?

What I Did This Weekend --Got My Art On!

This weekend there were three art festivals in Minneapolis! We made it two of them; the Uptown Art Fair and the Loring Park Art Festival. It was a good time, even if it was incredibly hot out. There was some amazing art, I'll show you my favorites on Wednesday.

Here's a sneak peek. How cool are these bronze Humpty Dumpties from Kimber Fiebiger??

Somebody's daddy dressed them in all pink today.

And took 28 pictures of a squirrel.

We attempted to get a pic of all of us by using the stroller as a tripod. It didn't work.

So, how was your weekend? 

32 Before 33 Thursday -- Getting Started

Do you think I'm fooling anyone? Nope, didn't think so.

Well, this week hasn't been overly exciting on the goals front. I've gotten started on some of the ongoing goals, and have been gathering supplies for some of the others.

A breakdown of my progress:

- Exercised for 30 minutes: 4 out of 7 days...I'm working up to the everyday part, I don't want my body to go into shock, yeah that's it.

- Wore a dress once this week....This may be a weird goal for some people, but I seriously live in jeans. Trying to break out of my comfort zone though.

- Went to one new place this week....We've lived in the Twin Cities for a whole year already, and still have so much more exploring to do.

Supplies I have been gathering:

- Stopped by the library and picked up a Learn & Master guitar course....So I'm sure I will have learned and mastered the guitar in no time.

- Also picked up a novel to read....I already read a lot, but lately it always seems to be non-fiction. So, I'm forcing myself to occasionally stop working and just read for enjoyment.

- Art/Craft supplies for the art journal, paintings, knitting, and crocheting....Actually I already had a lot of these supplies but I've kinda "gathered" them into a pile, that counts right?

Alright, well this was my quick, vague overview of the last week. Future weeks will go a little more in-depth with the goals, but so many of them are ongoing and the plan is to let a few weeks build up and then do a post, does that make any sense?

Anyways, thanks for stopping by and I hope you're all having a great week!

What I'm Digging Wednesday -- Play Kitchens!!

I had been thinking about getting Ava a play kitchen set for Christmas until I came across these homemade ones. They are so cute, and so much cooler than anything store-bought. I see a new project in my future!

1. Miranda Walker  2. Remodaholic  3. Land of Oz Fam  4. Savvy Housekeeping  5. Better After  6. Giggleberry Creations  7. A Happy Nest  8. McBaby Bump

Now I just need to convince Jack that it would be really, really fun to help me!

I Totally Made That --Faux Zinc Letters

I've seen these faux metal letters lately and thought they were pretty cool, and I came across this website Knock Off Decor which features tutorials for making your own versions of decor from places like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. I found a few different tutorials for these letters similar to those found at Anthropologie (ranging from $18 to $98), most of them are done by just painting them, but I really liked Becca's version that uses aluminum foil instead.


Anthropologie



 Gardners to Bergers


Mine is slightly different because I didn't have a preformed cardboard letter (and I'm cheap and lazy and didn't feel like running to the store to get one). So, I improvised by cutting up a cardboard box into eight 8 x 10ish pieces. Then I just drew my letter on the top one, cut it out, and traced around it for the other pieces.

After all my Rs were cut out I taped them together (I just used duct tape because it was the first tape I saw when I opened the drawer, though Riley pointed out that it was silver so if there was any showing it wouldn't be as noticeable...clever kid!). I didn't have any Mod Podge so I just used regular ol' glue, and then dry brushed it with black paint.

I think it looks pretty darn cool! I might make one for Ava too, but if I do I think I'll go a little bigger, and probably pick up some Mod Podge.

Thanks for looking!