DIY Pencil Vase/Blog Changes

The blog is currently under construction as I will be the sole writer now. As you may have already been able to tell, I kind of took over the blog. So, be looking for more changes to come, but for now...

Where my teachers at?? Are you ready for August? I know I am! Looking for an easy Back-to-School project? Here's an easy one. Have you seen this on Pinterest? I think it is supposed to be a teacher's gift, but I liked it and wanted one of my own, so I made one. The link on Pinterest takes you to a page that no longer exists, so instead of trying to find a tutorial, I decided it looked easy enough to just do myself. So I did. And it was!

What you will need:
*Empty aluminum can (cleaned)
*Unsharpened pencils (I used 42 of them)
*Hot glue gun
*Floral foam
*Flowers
*Ribbon

Steps to make your very own:
1. Lay all the pencils out, take the first one and put hot glue EITHER directly on the pencil (which I found to work better) OR directly on the can (but make sure you have a very steady hand and can make a straight line).

2. Press and hold pencil down on can until glue is dry. (FYI: Be generous with the hot glue, because you don't want these pencils falling off.)
3. Continue hot glueing each pencil around the can until you have no empty spaces.
4. Take the floral foam you have and put it into the can. You can also do this in the beginning- I just chose to wait.

5. Put the flowers that you have inside your vase.
6. Tie the ribbon you have around the pencils. You can even put a dab of hot glue to keep the ribbon in place.

Teachers, I hope you are enjoying your last few weeks before going back to school!

DIY Tinted Mason Jars

We all have that DIY board on Pinterest, am I right? Well, I am going to DO some of those DIY's and post them on here so we can all see what they look like when regular people do them. No-these projects don't always turn out the way the picture looks, but since you did them yourself, they are perfect. Have you seen the pin of the beautifully tinted mason jars? If not, here it is. Well, it has been in my "Home Sweet Projects" board for a while, and Matt and I went to dinner at some dear friends' home this past weekend and she had some. I told her I was determined to make them. So I did. You should too. If you follow the pin, the tutorial is really great. But, here is my version of a tutorial for your reading pleasure...

What you will need:
*Mason Jars
*Food coloring
*Mod Podge (glossy)
*Dixie cups (or something similar)
*Wax paper

Steps to making your very own:
1. Add food coloring generously to about a tablespoon or less of water, and mix.
2. Add in 2-3 tablespoons of Modge Podge to the mixture, and mix well. I found adding more was better so that the mixture would be thicker.
3. Pour this mixture into the mason jar and rotate the mason jar around so that the mixture hits all parts of the inner-surface of the jar.
4. Repeat these steps for however many jars you are making. (I actually made the blue mixture and used it, then made the red mixture and used it, and then I just mixed the two together for the purple mixture.)
5. Turn jar(s) upside down to dry for about 25 minutes. (I put them on a stack of paper towels.)

6. Place jar(s) upside down on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Put them in the oven on a "warm" setting for another 10 minutes. The lowest degree my oven would go to was 170°, and it was fine.

7. USING OVEN MITS, turn the mason jars over so they are up-right, and leave them in the oven for another 20 minutes (or until the desired look you want). 

8. Take them out of the oven and let them cool. And, you're done :)

My finished products are pictured below. They have streaks, they are imperfect, but aren't we all imperfect? So, here is one DIY done.

         

           




















Have you pinned anything that you have always wanted to do but haven't? Hopefully, this gives some of you a little inspiration to DIY.

Anniversary Trip, Part II

The second part of our vacation was just that--VACATION. We drove from Santa Barbara to Sonoma.  The drive took us about 7 hours. We knew it was going to be a long drive, but we were so excited to be in Sonoma for four days. The drive was absolutely gorgeous. We stopped at In-N-Out Burger, and I had gotten us cupcakes earlier in the day for a road snack.

     

     






















We loved Sonoma! Our little cottage was perfect. We walked, we wined, we dined, we swam, we tanned, we enjoyed. Our first morning there, we walked from our cottage at the Marriott to downtown Sonoma. We picked out different places to eat, shops, etc. that we wanted to try or go to while we were there. The first wine tour we went on while there was Gloria Ferrer. I am a big fan of sparkling wine, so I really loved it. We went to a couple more that day, and then we enjoyed a great dinner at Hopmonk Tavern.

                        

        

       


















We did a bike tour through Napa Valley on one of our full days. It was definitely something that was out of my comfort zone. I had not ridden a bike since I was in middle school, but we did it! We visited three wineries on the bike tour and ended up riding about 17 miles. We had a fabulous tour guide who was very knowledgable about vineyards, wine, Napa, and Sonoma. He even stopped us to pick wild blackberries.

        

      

After a full and wonderfully relaxing four days in Sonoma, it was time to make the trek homeward. We drove from Sonoma to San Francisco for our last day and night. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. We ate at two delicious restaurants for lunch and dinner thanks to some recommendations, The Grove and Delarosa. We spent the afternoon at Pier 39, got to see sea-lions, a juggling show, and Alcatraz from afar. We rode on a cable car and made friends with the man who controls the breaks-a good friend to have if you ask me.

     

      

All in all, we were able to spend some quality time as husband and wife. I could not be more thankful for this wonderful man God put in my life. We had a blast on vacation, but nothing is better than living our life here at home as The Bormanns. 

Anniversary Trip, Part I

Summers are just as much for teachers as they are for students, but just like when I was a student, there comes a time in the summer when you think you are ready to go back to school. That is how I am feeling right about now, and I am thinking the Mr. is thinking the same thing. I have the shopping trips to prove it.

However, summers definitely have their perks. One of those perks is vacation. Anniversary-wine-country-Sonoma-California vacation. We got to enjoy nine days of that vacation at the end of June. The first part of our California vacation was actually what we like to call a "work-cation." Matt worked during the day, and I got to play! Here is a picture of all of our luggage--now picture the two of us walking through airports and hotels with all of it. Hopefully you got a good laugh, because we definitely did.



We flew into Los Angeles, but we were off as soon as we left the airport. First stop, Long Beach. After walking around for a while, Matt had a lunch meeting and needed our car, so being the math/science teacher that I am, I decided to spend a few hours at the Aquarium of the Pacific. In true teacher fashion, I asked if there was a teacher's discount (because hey, we are newlyweds) and there was! I loved this place. I would definitely go back, and I would suggest it to anyone in the area. I drained pretty much my entire phone battery taking pictures and videos.

We spent the next two days and nights in Bakersfield. If you have ever been there, you know there is not much to do in Bakersfield, but we enjoyed seeing two movies while we were there. However, by far the most exciting thing that happened to us was that we got a flat tire our first night there after coming out of Movie #1. Good news is that my hubby is extra manly and changed it within about 10 minutes of us even realizing it.

Our next stop was Santa Barbara, well Carpinteria. After unloading our luggage at our hotel, we went into Santa Barbara and shopped til we dropped, went to the wharf for dinner, and then walked on the beach.

On our last day of the "work" part of our vacation, I got to enjoy a coffee date in the morning with a great friend from college, Kaitlyn. It was so great to see her, and I loved getting to catch up! While Matt was at meetings that day, I walked around and found a cute little place called Crushcakes, and got lunch and cupcakes for our road trip to Sonoma that afternoon!

Anniversary Trip, Part II coming soon...