Carton Reindeer Tutorial

Okay, I wanted to do a Christmas tute so here is something Log and I made this morning. 

My mom had originally made this little Rudolf a couple years ago.

We had a juice carton and a goldfish carton lying around so we decided Rudy needed a mom and dad.

What you will need:

carton(s)

brown paper bag or other paper

glue

googly eyes and other decorations

sticks for antlers (not pictured)

1.  Make sure cartons are cleaned out and dry. You might want to put rocks or sand in the cartons to make your reindeer more stable. I forgot, but I don't know if it's really that big of a deal. Make sure tops are sealed shut. Deconstruct paper bag so that you can wrap it around the carton. 

2. Wrap carton. I used glue to make sure it stays wrapped for a while. I didn't have another paper bag for the bigger carton so I used tissue paper to wrap it. I do not recommend using tissue paper because it is very thin. I taped the tissue papered box so that it wouldn't be so messy looking. 

3.  At this point we let the cartons dry and went outside to find antlers.

4.  Poke holes in the top backside of the carton for the sticks to fit through. 

*Fun fact: Reindeer are the only deer where both males and females have antlers. 

5.  Glue on googly eyes. I used hot glue because I think it holds better for these things. 

6. Finish decorating your reindeer. Draw on a smile. Enjoy! 

Merry Festivus!

This post actually has nothing to do with Festivus. Whatevs.

I made this boombastic hat for my great grandma for her 96th birthday party. One of her care takers liked it so much she's wearing it for New Years Eve. I'm thinking maybe I should make a few more and try and sell them on my Etsy or something. 

This flows into my next idea. My mom was watching that Giada lady one day and her wine bottles had Santa hats and scarves so I really want to try making them. It will be too late for Christmas but I think I'll try and make top hats and bowties or something for New Years bottles of champagne. Ohmygosh I'm a genius. I'm so doing this. Don't steal my idea! This is why my LinkedIn profile says I'm a proprietor of bright ideas. I totes am. You should see my notebook, it's filled with them. Anyways, I wish I could figure out how to crochet or knit. I am so good at doing a row, but can not figure out for the life of me how to go to the next row. Silly, I know. I should probably read a book. 

I need to start figuring out my resolutions. I think knitting/crocheting will be one of them. 

I've been listening to the Neon Trees lately. I always saw the video for Animal on TheCoolTV. I wasn't sure about them because of singer dude's hair, but I dig his voice and they're delightfully idk... poppy whateverish. I like the music that can make me dance. They do it for me. Plus they have a girl drummer which is ferociously awesome. Right on. 

I find this picture amusing because I look like a tranny with a face lift or something and Lo is looking at me like I'm nuts.

This one is almost cute.

This one too.

Alot of pictures I have from legit cameras lately are really blurry. Strange. 7x the mp of my stupid phone camera and they're blurry. It sucks 'cause they would be super cute otherwise.

Oh well, whatever. YOU ME AND THAT RAD SWEATER.  Or maybe it's red. Yeah I think it's red, but 'rad sweater' is awesome. I think that could be like... oh idk. I like it. Maybe I'll name my blog that. Oh, You, Me, & That Red Sweater' would be a really sweet Aquabats cover band name.

Okay, I have a ton of crap to do. Writing will have to wait until later.

xoxo

I'm such a blog slacker anymore. I have a bajillion pictures and things to write about but have been uber busy with Christmas shopping and living life and such. Its strange. I'm tragically jobless but am constantly stressed and feel I have so many things to accomplish. Maybe I'll be able to get some bloggy stuff up tomorrow. I think I'll be really glad when this week or maybe even year is over. Sad? IDK. 2010, I poop on you. On to the next already...

I gave Captain Obvious a hair cut. I can't tell if he's cuter or not. I never noticed how he totes has my chin before.

Domosapien and then some

This is genius!

ikea hacker

We went to Taco Bell last week and was so stoked when I saw they had Domo toys that I ordered 2 kids meals. The Heath Ledger look-alike cashier dude was nice enough, but I was so very bummed when I discovered a Skelanimal watch in my lunch. :( 

Does anyone know if they really have Domo toys or was this just an old advertisement? I really desperately need to collect all 5. 

It's been cold here lately so I've been wearing this outfit like constantly. 

Cardigan: Target Shirt: ? Jeans: Bealls (I think) Shoes: Payless

I'm so uninspired when I'm goosebumpy. 

I totally fell in love with that cardigan when I saw Elizabeth wear it on her blog and was so stoked when I found it at Target on clearance for like $6. 

I'm kind of bummed that Gossip Girl is on hiatus until like the end of January. I just don't know what to do with myself! 

Here's a cute picture of the Log from this morning with his birthday breakfast pumpkin pop tart (nom!).

I feel I've been posting a lot lately and there's still so much more stuff I want to write about. I have to write my ideas down so I can organize my thoughts and not have stupid jumbled posts. 

I think I'm going to attempt to dye my hair now. The top looks good, but the bottom where I ombred it is looking really brassy. I should probably just get that stuff chopped off. I'm using the mix it yourself stuff from Sally's which I've never done before, so wish me luck! 

5

Happy Birthday to the Most Severely Awesome Kid in the Universe!!!!!

xoxo

This past weekend was pretty fun. Cristian turned 17 and we went to a bonfire, then to celebrate Lo's birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time.

We roasted these giant marshmallows at the bonfire. Have you seen them? They are so HUGE! As big as your head!!! And pretty ingenious. You roast them and eat the toasted layer then roast again. And well, again. They're that big.

google

My whole family and Ricky showed up for Lo's birthday thing. This is a major deal because my family does not get along. I feel like the buffer a lot. Granted, I'm opposed to my dad's craziness. It's strange. Well, not really, I've always been in between not getting along people. Damn Gemini mutability. Why do I have to capitalize Gemini? That's stupid... Anyways... CEC. Yeah, good times. I have to get the pictures from that. Log wound up getting like 1200 tickets all together so he got 10 centipedes and a spider because he's a freak like that. He said he got them to creep me out. He succeeded.

I've been working on his birthday cake. He wanted Astro Boy so I said okay. I had the brilliant idea to make it blue velvet only I'm a bonehead and it's not turned out so well thus far. I'll post something once it's all said and done. Hopefully end result will be a success.

I've been trying to work on a header for this stupid thing and I hate it so much. MEH. I need to figure something out, but it's late sooooo... later I guess...

Dear Santa...

Just kidding before...

All I really want for Christmas (minus the world for the Log) is

for Nick Arrojo to do my hair.  SERIOUSLY.  This man totes PWNS hair.

google images

Nickypoo, I've been growing it forever, but you can do whatever you like... I trust you.

I thought I was going to have to sell my Wii in order to buy Christmas gifts but now I really really want Just Dance 2. I have had a lot of fun with the first one and this new one has my favorite Mika song and Vampire Weekend!  ACK!

OHMYGOSH!

My little boy is going to be 5 on Tuesday.  How insane is that????

LololololoLoooogan

UPDAAAAATE

This is a long ass semi crazy post of what I've been up to. Read at your own risk.

About Marley

I've had a lot of cats in my day. And I mean A LOT. I guess we were borderline hoarders when I was a kid. But we always took care of them. I always have had a soft spot for orange ones for some reason. When I was in high school, there was Rufus. My little Roofie. Heh. I have fond memories of him sleeping on this bookshelf of encyclopedias in my room while I studied for AP English or something.

When I was older I wound up adopting this kitty, Marley, from my boyfriend at the time who couldn't have him in his dorm or something. The details are fuzzy because I have horrible memory about certain things. Anyways, Marley is the best cat in the universe.

mounds of unfolded clothing seem to dominate my life. Folding laundry = worst chore ever!

He was there with me through a lot of stuff. When I first got him, he used to scratch on the furniture really bad so I had to stick these little glue on nail covers over his nails because I would never get him declawed. They really worked and he eventually stopped, but until then, every couple weeks I had to pin him down and give him a bright blue manicure. It's funny, okay?

Then I moved into my first apartment by myself when I was like 7 months pregnant with Logan. It was kind of scary you know, and kind of lonely, but Marley always cuddled with me and made me feel better when I was sad. They say you shouldn't have cats around babies, but Marley was always perfect. I was never worried about Logan at all.

He lives with my parents now because I've been moving a lot and everything is always so disgustingly up in the air. He is quite fond of my brother Kyle now. I'm happy for him, but miss him too.

Onto the point of this. I don't know how I found this guy, but he's on my google reader and I always check it on my phone when I'm internetless and found this on there the other day:

It instantly reminded me of Marley and how that darn cat puked on my Ugg boots that I had coveted forever and searched all over manhattan for when they first became popular and never found, but scored like a year later locally. Anyways, I first got Marley and he ralphed all over them in my closet one day. And yet, I still love him times a million and I have no idea where those boots got to.

Now I really want to take up cross stitching funny things like this.

True story.

Dear Santa:

The things I want for Christmas are to never have another one like last year (worst of my life) and most of all for Logan to have a really kick ass one. He deserves the world and I always wish I could give it to him.
Legit, thats all I really want... 

"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much,  and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin." 

We went down to Sarasota the other day. I should have taken more pictures.

 At least I got this lovely picture of a Segway tour.

Oh and some legit outfit pics. I guess.

Everyone really liked this outfit. It was kind of not so typical of me, so it was interesting that both old ladies at the thrift store said I looked cute and some weird guy at the bus station had to tell BF he liked my outfit. Maybe I'm being ridiculous in thinking I'm too old to dress like I used to or have pink hair or anything. I've been thinking about this lately. I think I'll write another post on it.  

 Sweater: Target  Tank: Target  Necklace: Handmade  Shorts: Vintage Express  Tights: Target  Boots: Target (omg I'm a Target whore... just think, I'm totes hoping to get a job there...)

I made home made biscuits and they actually turned out fluffy. I was so proud, I had to take a picture. My 1940's Better Homes & Gardens cookbook totally pwns my mom's from the 70's. Ha! Baking powder is where it's at. 

Logan found this sticker the other day and now he has to wear it on his hoodie all the time. Awww.

I've been doing recon missions at thrift stores and am really itching to jump in feet first to my online store. My mom is being a voice of reason and explaining that I really need to research before I get in over my head. I just keep finding so much incredibly awesome stuff, but I really have absolutely no capital nor business plan. Deeeeeetails. SIGH.

google images

Small world story: I was talking to my grandma yesterday. I had sent her some pictures I've taken since we've been here and one of them was of Log and I at that Kissing the War Goodbye statue. She told me that her last husband, the love of her life, had actually been on the same boat as that sailor forever immortalized in that picture. Hrm. I'm really bad at telling stories. It sounded way better when I was talking to her/ in my head. Whatevs, kinda cool, huh?

When were were in SRQ there was this shell statue downtown that I totally saw as being a Birth of Venus type deal, but my hair isn't anywhere near long enough. Plus I stupidly put my hands in the 'I have to pee' position, so I had to mspaint them the right way.

I'm averaging one thing crossed off my list a week. I wish it was more, but at least I'm making some forward motion. 

 Next week: I have to pick a school for Logan. I'm nervous. This is the first time he's been in like school. It's just VPK but... I've always been fortunate to have family around to watch him. Or that stint with a babysitter, that wasn't so good. We'll see how it goes. 

Final note: I have a lot of navy blue dresses and a few red dresses. What color tights should I wear with them? 

30 days of me purge

Okay, this 30 days of me has taken entirely too long so I'm just going to dump the rest to get it over with.  Sigh.

Halloween

I suck at blogging. Not like anyone cares, but I've been busy. I have these posts I've been writing to put up but they seem sort of irrelevant now. I wonder if I can back post...

I wound up partially making Logan a Batman costume for Halloween. I was really worried that the whole day would suck for him, but my kid is so awesome. He was uber stoked with his costume and had a blast with the picnic in the park and trick or treating. We wound up being a lot of places first trick or treaters and he got a ton of candy. I had a good time too.  It was the first time I had been trick or treating that I could remember. When I was growing up my dad decided Halloween was a holiday we should not be celebrating so I missed out on that. IDK. I'm torn on the whole thing. I really don't see it as being a devil's holiday. I guess its cause I'm not a hardcore Christian or something. I just feel bad enough for Logan and the stuff he has to deal with regularly, I really don't want him missing out on anything he doesn't have to miss out on.

yeah I know the mask sucks, but I couldn't do the whole head one and just making a bat with eye holes is too Bat Girl

The Law of the Garbage Truck

I had to go to the health department yesterday to get my birth certificate. That's a long stupid story I don't want to get into, but while I was there, they had these lying out with a "Take One" sign, so I did. I read it later at the bus stop and it made me smile so I figured I would post it here.

"Something to think about...
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking spot right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'


He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.


Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.


The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so... Love the people who treat you right, Pray for the ones who don't.


Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!"


It's kind of corny or whatever, but sometimes I need all the positive inspiration I can get.