This little project is definitely a timely piece, with love in the air this week! I have been busy making some fun and crafty artwork for a section in the Mego Cave. I want to keep the reveal hidden until all the artwork has been completed, so I am just going to introduce you to this one little and super easy project that I am in love with. I took my inspiration from this pin.
I started with a frame, some old magazines, scissors, and glue, which is basically a wonderful crafting experience waiting to happen.
When I sat down to actually do it my supplies on hand changed the direction as I got into it. I pretty much intended to mimic the pin above but substitute book pages with magazine pages (I couldn’t cut a book, even an old one). Then I realized that I didn’t have a heart puncher (awww that sounds sad) and my small little handmade heart templates were just too hard to cut out. So I went rogue and just started free handing hearts, believing in my heart that it was going to be an epic fail. But hey, what do you know? I ended up loving the results!
I ended up pinpointing pretty images in my magazine and then lightly folding the page in half to cut out a heart. Sometimes they got a little jagged looking, but I could easily trim them up. Then I laid them all out in the frame, moving them around until I had a look that I liked. I generally looked at the size in my first placement and then how the colors looked around each other. Then I just used my glue to paste them onto a piece of cardstock, let it dry, and then popped it in the frame. Walah! Easy and quick!
I don’t think it will be a masterpiece that will stand the test of time, but for the space I have in mind for it and the other items around it, I really like this little handmade art piece that is full of color and interesting shapes. It really has won my heart…awww….
[…] got a little sneak peek of an artwork piece that I was working on last week, with my heart artwork post. And you didn’t even know that way back at Christmastime, you were also getting a sneak peek […]ReplyCancel
[…] their place. Like when I bought this map for a steal, made this large scale fabric artwork, created art from magazines, got custom framing done, or did it myself with a floating frame, to just name a few. Recently I […]ReplyCancel
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought I would do a round-up of some of my favorite V-Day things I have seen around the web. I’ve never been that into Valentine’s Day. As a kid I always loved the small candy gifts and generic yet fun paper Valentine’s. As I got older and was always the single girl without a Valentine’s date, it always just kind of slipped by, neither here nor there. Now, as a married woman (geesh that phrase makes me sound old!) Valentine’s Day still isn’t that big a deal to Eric and me. We try to make it V-Day every day, with sweet little messages and gifts randomly and lots of hugs. Our day this year will be full of sappy cards, our favorite candy, and setting aside any money we would have spent on just “stuff” and putting it in our Japan savings account, like a future present to ourselves. Even with my non-commitment to Valentine’s Day, I still think it is a fun day to share love with friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. Everyone needs some love! So here are some of my favorite things I have seen, in case you are still in need of some ideas to sweeten the day.
Definitely one of my favorites, as it is personal and something small that you can look at every day. I would tuck this in a drawer next to my bed, my purse, or car so I could pull it out when I needed a little love.
So there is my little rundown of small, easy-to-do crafts for this day that will make it a little fun but not overdone. Just remember to love all you can, every minute, and every day can be filled with as much love as Valentine’s Day. But maybe not as much candy, which is probably good. Happy Valentine’s Day world!
I thought today would be a great day to share a little bit more about myself, in a truly odd and only Megan sort of way. It all began when I was 8 – and became a vegetarian. Yup, at the very young age of 8, I decided to leave meat behind and embrace the world of vegetables forever. To get some perspective, let’s take a trip down memory lane. When I was 8, the year was 1995. This is what was big in 1995.
Gas…at$1.09 and stamps at $0.32
OJ Simpson found innocent
DVDs were just announced
Toy Story released — remember what a big deal Pixar was?!
Jumanji, Casper, and Apollo 13 also released
Bill Clinton was President
Coolio, TLC, Seal, Alanis Morissette, and Mariah Carey were popular
Too bad I don’t have a picture of 8 year old Megan. Weird, but I’m not sure where those pictures are…Mom, can you help me out?
One big pop kid culture item I left out of the list was the super duper, film of the year (ha! Just kidding!) Babe. Just to give those of you who do not know what this movie is about, it is a movie about a talking pig that learns how to herd sheep. Collective “aw” together. Well, at the beginning of the movie, his mom is slaughtered in a very subtle, non-graphic way. From thereon, you look through the eyes of Babe the pig. I guess I really took that to heart. Can I get a “Baaa ram ewe” in chorus?!
Before I watched that movie, I was a happy meat eater whose favorite food was ham. I even remember loving some good ole Spam, although I’m not really sure if that is real ham. Then, post-Babe, I became a vegetarian. Just like that. Boom. No meat. Thankfully my parents are awesome and fully supported me. Heck, my mom even became a part vegetarian, as she gave up all red meat. So for the next decade of living at home, my mom and I banded together in our vegetarianism. Kudos to the mom who will cook special meals for her daughter.
True confession: My real title is pescatarian (did you know this term was made up only in 1993). That means someone who will eat fish but no other meat. But I don’t tell people that is my real “title” cause it’s just plain weird and no one knows what it means. Want to know why I decided to keep eating fish? Of course you do! It is because at that rare ole age of 8, when I was of very sound mind making life altering decisions, I used to go fishing with my grandpa in Maine. We would catch fish together (if we were lucky) and eat them as a family, or if I weren’t there but coming to visit, he would save his best fish for when we were together. Still does to this day. Man, I should ask Grandpa to write a blog post all about our fishing stories together. He is one heck of a writer. I have been lucky enough to receive the most well written and thoughtful letters from him my entire life. They are quite the gems. Nothing is better than hearing fishing stories from him. Yup, ask Grandpa if he’s beaten my fish catching record yet (don’t worry, they were all thrown back). Spoiler alert: he hasn’t! So, as not to hurt Grandpa’s feelings and to still share that bond, I decided not to give up fish.
Here is the fam hanging out on the porch of the cottage at Maine when we visited in 2011.
Now, as much as I would like to give full credit to being a super forward thinking 8 year old, I would like to point out some other influencers in my life that could have helped the Babe watching experience culminate in a life decision. First of all, I went through a long, hard core pig phase. I loved pigs. SO MUCH. I collected figurines of pigs and displayed them all over my room. I even remember knowing someone who had a pet pig, and I think they were my hero for a while. Second of all, I knew some vegetarians growing up. One of my first memories (I was living in Connecticut at this point, so it was under age 6) was my mom taking my sister and I to a friend’s house whose family were vegans. They served us seaweed and I still remember that odd salty flavor (I don’t think it was the most positive experience for me). When I was a little bit older in Virginia, our best friends in the whole wide world were vegetarians. So, looking back in my wisdom now (eh hem, right), I can see that those two factors could have definitely influenced me into my cold turkey decision of giving up meat (HA! See what I did there?!). But for all those fun games where you have to make up two truths and a lie or share an interesting fact about yourself, my default goes to that I became a vegetarian at the age of 8 because of watching the movie Babe. And I am still a vegetarian today.
Yup, at 25 years old, I am still a vegetarian. I remember certain adults over the years telling me that they too went through a “vegetarian phase”, and laughing at cute little Megan taking control of her life. Sorry silly adults but it is still a decision that I stand firmly behind now. It is my way of life and I could not imagine ever taking a big bite of a hamburger (although I do remember eating McDonald’s hamburgers) or chewing endlessly on a piece of steak (because that is what I remember about steak). I just couldn’t do it. I love being a vegetarian. It started off as a compassionate and empathetic stand about not being able to kill animals for my own sake and it still stands that way. Now, as an adult, I very much appreciate the healthy lifestyle effect of being a vegetarian as well.
Let me finish this post by telling you that this is a decision for me and by no means reflects my attitude about all you meat eaters. By all means, please eat your steak and burger in front of me. Order all the meat you want. It does not offend me. This is a personal decision for me, and you do whatever you want to with your life. I completely respect that. I think it is great! I know all the arguments out there about that say how important meat is and how silly my beliefs are and the irony about the whole fish thing. Come on, I went through elementary, middle, and high school being a vegetarian in the lunch room. Kind words were not always said about my decision, which is why I stand firmly behind my decision but completely respect yours. I don’t like to try to convert people. I like to share with people my experiences, if they ask, but it is your life, your body. It’s just all so personal. We are all just doing the best we can.
I just thought it would be nice to share this part of me out on the intraweb. It might even be fun to do a follow-up post on my DIY vegetarian cooking life, since once people find out I am a vegetarian they pepper (HA again!) me with questions about cooking, protein, etc. So stay tuned for Veggie Tales: Part 2!
[…] go-to number one crazy/weird fact I tell about myself was revealed in this post. In short, I became a vegetarian because of watching Babe, the […]ReplyCancel
You all might remember that last week I had a fun time using what I had to make a shredder (Shredalina) dressed up and pretty. But I haven’t stopped there! Cardboard boxes have now opened up a whole new world for me! So when I saw a giant cereal box, I knew it was destined for a life beyond containing cereal. Instead of cereal box I saw magazine holder. And this is how I did it (in the tune of “This is how we do it…”).
I took the box, a box cutter, tape, and pretty paper.
I then cut off the flaps.
I could have stopped there, but most magazine holders I have seen have an angled side to them to allow easy access to the magazines. I measured six inches down the back and then traced an angled line from the front to the back.
All I did was to cut along my lines.
Then I covered like a present with some pretty wrapping paper. You could also use fabric (like I did with Shredalina) or perhaps some pretty magazine pages would be a fun twist.
That’s it! How easy and awesome is that! I always thought they charged too much for the cardboard magazine holders. Now you can make these for the price of cereal!
[…] to Target instead. I found those file holders for $1 (although I was originally going to make my magazine holders from cereal boxes but couldn’t resist the dollar price and patterns) and the file box which is all gold and […]ReplyCancel
Betty819
Megan, thanks for sharing this project on your blog. How does one know if you have both sides of the box lined up perfect with the other side? How easy is it to cut it straight without mashing the cardboard? If I could find any at Target as “Rapposdy in Rooms” did, I’d buy them instead of making them. I have purchased file holders or magazine boxes before but they come folded flat and you have to put them together. They don’t hold up for long when you start putting a lot of magazines in them. I’d rather spend the extra money and buy something that is already made sturdy. I found some really nice ones at Joanne’s but I should have bought more then the two I bought because I haven’t been able to get back over there at that location to see if they still sell them. The Joanne’s close to me didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked if they sold them. Evidently there is such a thing as a Super Joanne’s..my favorite store but it’s 20 plus miles away in somewhat unfamiliar territory so I may get there once a year if that.ReplyCancel
Hi Betty! To make sure both of your sides are even, just measure down each side of the box the same distance and make a mark. Then draw a line using a straight edge from the very top corner of the box to your measured mark. Then just cut along that line. It cuts very easily using a box cutter. You may also want to put a little weight in the bottom, like a piece of scrap wood or something like that to keep it upright better.
I’ve never heard of a Super JoAnn’s! Sounds pretty cool! Best of luck with your magazine organizing!ReplyCancel
Betty819
Flower gardening, organizing, decorating magazines are my weakness. I need to go through each one of those, and either save the page that really interest me, then put it in a specific notebook for that purpose, then get rid of the rest of the magazine. My two garden journals are overflowing. Need to find time to go through each one of those, discard the printed material I saved on flowers I no longer grow and maybe I could condense those two large notebooks(binders). I used to subscribe to another gardening magazine and I went through all of those and just saved issues that was of interest to me. Got rid of about 5 years worth that I saved because of articles in each one that would benefit me.
Winter is coming up so that’s a good winter project. My problem is my ADD..I get sidetracked so easily. I have a tendency to pull stuff out and never complete one task before my brain is telling me to go to another project..putting it all back where it came from is another problem and I’m a piler, instead of a filer..It is very frustrating and I continously am aware of my downfall and are trying to correct it. At my age, it is hard to break some habits.ReplyCancel
It sounds like a great system if you can keep up with it! I’ve seen a couple of people put their favorites in a binder and it seems a great way to keep track of your favorites. It sounds like the perfect thing to do during the winter!ReplyCancel
Surprise! That is always what you want to find in cookies, right? Well, as long as it is a chocolate surprise.
I thought I would share with you a food related post today because this past weekend had a lot to do with food. Some people say Superbowl Sunday is about football, others say it’s about commercials, and then there are people like me who think it is about food. We have developed a tradition in the Rapp household when friends from North Carolina always come up on the Superbowl weekend, and lots of video games (all the boys), bad jokes (they think they are funny), food, and football happens. One of my contributions is always to supply cookies for those long video gaming nights. On Friday night when our guests and friends descend into the house, the scent of cookies is always in the air.
This time I decided to go with “Chocolate Surprise Cookies”, which is a different take on chocolate blossoms. They are delicious, bite sized cookies with a nice melding of spices to make it a not too sweet cookie that is just pleasant to the senses.
Chocolate Surprise Cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup of butter, softened
1/3 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Hershey Kisses
1 1/2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
3/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla. Combine the flour and cinnamon in another bowl. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix well.
Take about an inch ball of dough and an unwrapped Hershey Kiss. Push the Hershey Kiss into ball mixture and roll into a ball, making sure the dough covers the Hershey Kiss. Bake on cookie pan until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Combine confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Sprinkle over hot cookies. Cool on wire racks.
It is definitely a cookie surprise in your mouth! I also need to emphasize again how the combination of spices in these cookies with the chocolate are quite delightful. What did everyone else cook up for Superbowl Sunday parties this weekend?
[…] got a little sneak peek of an artwork piece that I was working on last week, with my heart artwork post. And you didn’t even know that way back at Christmastime, you were also getting a sneak peek […]
[…] Art: Hung large scale map, custom framing using a floating frame, fabric artwork, mini-gallery wall with custom heart artwork […]
[…] their place. Like when I bought this map for a steal, made this large scale fabric artwork, created art from magazines, got custom framing done, or did it myself with a floating frame, to just name a few. Recently I […]