gratitude jar

Posted on February 13, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi, friends! A quick post today about a new habit I’ve started this year that I’m really loving so far. I’ve kept a gratitude journal in the past, which is a terrific way to cultivate awareness of the many blessings in your everyday life. As I learned last year doing my kindness challenge, gratitude is such a major component of happiness. I sincerely believe that a grateful heart is a happy heart.

This year, instead of keeping a gratitude journal, I am using a gratitude jar! Every time something large or small happens in my life that I am grateful for, I write it on a slip of paper. Then I fold up the slip of paper and drop it into a glass mason jar.

This is a wonderful visual reminder of all the blessings in my life, and I know it will be such a fun and moving exercise at the end of year to dump out the contents of my jar and relive all the happy memories.

Here is a neat website where you can virtually share what you are grateful for, and read the gratitudes of others: http://www.thegratitudejar.com/

Questions for the morning:

Do you keep a gratitude journal or gratitude jar?
What is something you are grateful for today?

5 thoughtful gift ideas for valentine’s day {or any day}

Posted on January 15, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Today I was browsing Target while waiting for Charley’s routine service appointment to be over, and one thing was very clear: Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Yes, people — hard to believe, but it’s officially less than a month away.

I LOVE love and I love Valentine’s Day. I’m single this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be celebrating my little heart out. I don’t know about you, but I think the scope of V-day is often presented too narrowly. Why just focus on romantic love? To me, Valentine’s Day is a holiday that celebrates love in all its forms; an excuse to let all of those special people in your life know how very much they mean to you.

So today I’ve rounded up some thoughtful gift ideas for Valentine’s Day — or any day, really!

1. Personalized gifts. Anytime you can personalize something, I think it makes the gift that much more thoughtful. For my cousin Julie’s bridal shower, I ordered this beautiful blanket for her and her husband-to-be from Personal Creations. The company embroidered a corner of the blanket with their names and wedding date. It turned out beautifully and I could tell that the personalized touch made the gift even more special to Julie.

2. Homemade cards. As attested by my massive stash of stationary, it’s obvious that I love browsing stationary and greeting card stores. {I sometimes need to put myself on “probation” from buying anything, my habit gets so out of control!} But, for every adorable Taylor Swift greeting card I have saved up to send to Holly, there’s something to be said for homemade cards. Knowing that you put in extra effort to craft not just the personal message inside, but every aspect of the card, makes it extremely thoughtful.

3. Creative gifts or craft projects. Use your imagination and have fun with it! Pinterest and blogs are a wealth of ideas for homemade gifts and creative scavenger-hunt-type gifts. I discovered this clever poster idea last year on Peanut Butter Fingers and thought it was so cute, thoughtful {and easy to do, even if you don’t consider yourself very craft-savvy!}

4. An experience that you can share together. Try something new like a painting class, wine tasting, disco bowling night, a local concert — any fun new experience that you can share with the recipient is a sweet gift that builds awesome memories.

5. Homemade baked goods. Okay, maybe I just love baking! 🙂 But in my opinion, you can never go wrong with homemade treats. Last year I made red velvet crinkle cookies for the nursing home and they were a big hit. Here are some other recipes you might try:
– peanut butter cup brownies
– white chocolate pretzels
– chocolate-covered popcorn
– strawberry coconut cookies
– carrot cake with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– butterscotch pudding cookies
– classic chocolate chip cookies

Questions for the evening:

What are some of your favorite thoughtful gifts? {That you’ve given or that you’ve received!}
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

diy t-shirt pillow

Posted on November 6, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Happy hump-day, friends! Hope your week is going wonderfully!

Back in August I promised to share a new craft project that I did to “upcycle” two t-shirts that no longer fit … sorry for the delay, but I bring it to you now! This might be a neat Christmas gift to get a head start on. It’s simple and straightforward — even if you don’t have much sewing expertise, I guarantee you can do this project!

I made this t-shirt pillow for my brother {that’s one of his running icons, Steve Prefontaine, pictured on the front.} I made another pillow for myself out of an old, too-small t-shirt with a book-cover of Catcher in the Rye on the front. Both turned out great!

Here’s what you need:
– a t-shirt
– a needle and thread
– scissors
– stuffing*

* I went out and bought a bag of pillow stuffing from a craft store. But I also had some old, torn socks I wanted to upcycle. So I used scissors to cut up the socks into tiny pieces and mixed them in with the store-bought stuffing. It worked out very well and made the stuffing go further!

Directions:

1. Turn the t-shirt inside-out and mark with a pencil the dimensions you’d like your pillow to be. Use a ruler to draw the lines straight and even.

2. Pin the fabric just inside the lines so it will stay together as you sew.

3. Cut the extra material off the shirt {i.e. necklines, sleeves, etc.}

4. Sew three sides of the pillow, leaving the top open.

5. Turn the pillow inside-out and fill with your desired amount of stuffing.

6. Carefully sew the top of the pillow closed.

TA-DA! Now you have a fun, attention-grabbing, conversation-starting new pillow to display or to give as a gift.

you might also enjoy these crafty posts:
– diy no-sew baby blanket
– homemade photo collage poster
– adorable homemade owl
– upcycled gift containers

recap of my clutter-busting summer!

Posted on August 23, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Friday, friends!

This summer — inspired by the Clutter-Busting Challenge hosted this past May by Crystal at Money-Saving Mom, and the amazing Victoria at Snail-Paced Transformations who is continuing to give away, get rid of, or sell 3 things from her home every week this year — I have been on a mission.

My goal: get things out of my house that I no longer need or use, and get them into the hands of people who do need or could use them.

It’s amazing how much STUFF we accumulate, right?? I am not even the biggest shopper, and still I am just floored by the amount of THINGS I manage to bring into my life and into my space. Books, clothes, magazines, papers, flyers, do-dads, mementos, knick-knacks … where do they even come from??

In regards to clutter, this summer has been a perfect storm of sorts. I moved back home into my childhood bedroom, which was still crammed with stuff from high school and from the year I lived at home after graduating college. Plus, I brought home boxes of new stuff I’d accumulated while living in Indiana.

I was determined to slowly sort through everything through the course of the summer and get rid of as much as possible before moving up the Bay Area to begin my Steinbeck Fellowship. Also, as longtime blog readers know, I really don’t like to waste things, not even uber-ribe bananas. So if an item was useful, I didn’t want to just throw it away — my goal was to repurpose or donate as many items as possible!

Three months later, I’m happy to report my room is much cleaner and less cluttered, and I’m feeling more energized as a result! Here is a list of all the things I got rid of this summer, including how I repurposed some items:

3 boxes of books: donated to the local library and the Boys & Girls Club
approx. 40 back issues of various magazines: donated to local senior centers and hospitals {just make sure to tear off the address label and any other personal info before donating!}
2 large bags of clothing, including my heavy winter coat and a bunch of scarves: donated to Goodwill
3 lovely little girls dresses, still in great condition, from when I was a little girl: also donated to Goodwill
4 pairs of shoes I never wear: donated to Goodwill
2 large fleece Snuggies that were not being used: repurposed into two handmade no-sew baby blankets for two friends of mine who each welcomed beautiful babies into their families recently
2 outgrown T-shirts: transformed into diy pillows
10 small hotel shampoos and soaps: donated to a local homeless shelter
1 no-longer-used cellphone: donated to a soldier through Cell Phones for Soldiers.
3 large trash bags full of old papers no longer needed: recycled

WOO-HOO! It feels so wonderful to de-clutter! Not only did I physically get rid of a ton of items, I feel like the act of clearing and sorting and donating was emotionally cleansing as well.

This task was an amazing reminder of what a difference you can make little by little, day by day … I never imagined at the beginning of the summer that I would be able to get rid of so much unnecessary stuff, but slowly and surely I did!

What goals have you been working on this summer? Any fellow clutter-busters out there? I’d love to hear your tips for STAYING de-cluttered — my next task! 🙂

some related posts you might enjoy:
– cleaning out my closet clutter
– tips for selling things on craigslist
– year of kindness challenge: donating clothes
– year of kindness challenge: donating books
– year of kindness challenge: donating toiletries

diy no-sew baby blanket

Posted on April 11, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Hi, friends! Hope your week has been splendid!

Last month I posted one of my goals was making a homemade baby blanket as a gift for my friend who is expecting her first bundle of joy later this summer. I was pleased how it turned out so I thought I would share it with you! It only took me about an hour or so one evening to complete it. You could obviously use this same technique to make a larger blanket, too!

Here’s the supplies you’ll need:

two identical squares of fleece {mine measured about 25 inches square}
scissors

And that’s it! Crazy, right?

Here’s how I made mine:

1. Lay out the pieces of fabric one on top of the other. Pin them together if desired. A large table is a good work surface for this project — or, in my case, the floor works too!

2. Cut a small square in each corner, a couple inches wide. I found a post-it note is a good measurement guide!

3. Use the scissors to create a “fringe” on each side of the blanket, one side at a time. Try to only cut in as far as the square that you cut from the corner. But don’t worry — you don’t need to be exact. I just eyeballed it.

4. Tie each of the pieces of fringe together in a double-knot. Make your way all around the blanket. If the fabric becomes bunched up from the knots, you can gently tug it flat.

5. {Optional} Sew a label in the corner to let the recipient know it was handmade with love by you! Aren’t these labels cute? My sweet dad gave them to me as a birthday gift. {I realize that sewing on a label technically voids the “no-sew” promise of this project, but feel free to eliminate this step if you REALLY do not want to sew!} 🙂

Ta da! All done! A lovely, warm, soft, adorable baby blanket, made especially by you!

Have any of you made a no-sew tie blanket before? Any tips or suggestions? Anything I missed? This was my first one, so I’m still learning!

Have a great day, everyone —

Till soon,
Dallas

valentine’s week: an adorable owl craft project

Posted on February 8, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I’ve got a little craft project to share with you today as part of Valentine’s Week. I was browsing Target the other day and this adorable little owl sewing kit caught my eye:

I scooped it up, put it together last night, and I am so pleased with the result! Look at this cute little guy:

The kit I bought had all the pieces pre-cut and the sewing holes pre-punched, so all I had to do was assemble it. But I was thinking that it would be quite easy to make from scratch {and I might do so in the future to make more of these cuties!} You could even make it simpler by making a heart shape, for example, instead of an owl.

Here’s the materials that you will need:
– red and white felt
– a needle and pink/red thread
– red & black markers for drawing on the owl’s eyes and beak
– fabric scraps or stuffing

1. On a piece of red felt, draw the shape of an owl and cut it out. Trace the shape onto another piece of red felt and cut that out two. You should have two identical owl shapes made out of red felt.

2. Cut a heart shape out of the white felt to be the owl’s “face.”

3. Sew the white heart onto one of the red felt shapes.

4. Draw two black eyes and a red triangle beak onto the white felt.

5. Sew the two red owl shapes together, leaving a hole at the top.

6. Fill the owl shape with fabric scraps or pillow stuffing.

7. Sew the top of the owl closed.

Ta da! You have a cute stuffed owl to give as a Valentine’s gift!

Hope your weekend is filled with rest, laughter and love!

Till tomorrow,
Dallas

a simple, successful bridal shower!

Posted on December 24, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Yesterday afternoon, I was so excited and honored to host a bridal shower for my cousin Amanda! We were born only three months apart and went all through school together, from pre-school through college. She is one of my closest friends and I am so happy for her and her fiancee, Justin. They are so cute together and I know they make each other very happy.

In elementary school, we started calling each other “cuz” {short for cousin} and the nickname has stuck!
She will always be my “cuz.”

My Gramps generously let us use his beautiful, large living room to host the shower. {Having a lot of space was a necessity, as we had more than 20 attendees!} Can you spot him peeking out in the pic below, preparing to make his escape before the twenty giggly, wedding-giddy ladies showed up? Haha.

We set enough chairs around the room so that everyone would have a place to sit, but also tried to keep the room open to encourage guests to walk around and mingle.

And we designated an area by the fireplace for guests to set down their gifts for the bride-to-be:

* decorations *

Amanda’s favorite color is pink and her wedding isn’t until June, so even though we held the shower right before Christmas, we went for a summery pink-and-white theme instead of having a Christmas-themed shower.

Fresh flowers really brighten up a room!
Dress up a plain tablecloth with colorful streamers and bright napkins.
Use cups to corral forks, knives, spoons, and toothpicks.

* food *

We went with a simple veggie tray and some h’orderves. The real stand-out were the gorgeous cupcakes, made by one of my mom’s friends:

She’s a professional cake decorator; if you wanted to make homemade desserts, here are a couple of my tried-and-true recipes:
– red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– carrot cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting

For drinks we did mimosas, red & white wine, soda and water. And of course coffee with dessert!

* games *

Amanda is a competitive person and specifically requested that we play some party games! After doing a little research for ideas, I settled upon two games: Pictionary using wedding-themed phrases, and a “Newlywed” style game to see how well Amanda could guess her fiancee’s answers to a series of questions.

Both games were a big hit, but they did require a bit of preparation. Here are the phrases we used for Pictionary:

To Have and To Hold
Happily Ever After
Just Married
I Do
First Dance
Bridezilla
Father of the Bride
Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride
Tossing the Bouquet
Bridal Shower
Till Death Do Us Part
Bachelorette Party
Tying the Knot
Wedding Cake
Wedding Bells
Going to the Chapel
Flower Girl
Ring Bearer
Best Man
Maid of Honor
Honeymoon

The Q-&-A game was an idea I saw on the always-wonderful blog Peanut Butter Fingers. Here’s how it worked: a couple months ago, I sent a list of questions to Amanda’s fiancee to answer about her, himself and their relationship. Then I wrote out these questions and his answers out on pieces of paper and made them into a book. I used a small, inexpensive photo album and cut each piece of paper to 4×6 inches to fit perfectly in each slot. Then I decorated the pages with colorful stickers and markers.

Here is a full list of the questions I asked the groom-to-be {feel free to add or subtract to fit your needs!}

When and where was your first kiss with the bride-to-be?
Where was your first date with the bride-to-be?
What do you think the bride-to-be’s favorite gift is from you?
What is the one item the bride-to-be cannot not live without?
What is the bride-to-be’s dream job?
If the bride-to-be could move anywhere without having to worry about a job or family, where would it be?
What is the bride-to-be’s most obnoxious habit?
What is your most obnoxious habit?
What turns the bride-to-be off the most about a man?
What turns you off the most about a woman?
What do you think is the bride-to-be’s favorite memory of your relationship?
What is your favorite memory of your relationship with the bride-to-be?
What does the bride-to-be picture when she looks into the future?
What do you picture when you look into the future?
What do you think the bride-to-be loves most about you?
What do you love the most about the bride-to-be?
What is a big dream of the bride-to-be’s?
What is a big dream of yours?
What is one thing the bride-to-be will never forget that you did for/said to her?
When does the bride-to-be want to have kids?
How many kids does the bride-to-be want to have?
How many kids do you want to have?
If the bride-to-be were an animal, what type of animal would she be and why?
If you were an animal, what type of animal would you be and why?

To make it into a game, we asked every attendee to guess the number of questions Amanda would get right. Then we passed the book around the room, taking turns reading out questions and keeping track of how many of Justin’s answers Amanda guessed right. The trick, of course, is that the “right” answer wasn’t always what was true for her, but what Justin thought was true for her. She had to try to think like him, which is the fun part! This game certainly evoked lots of laughter. After we made it through the entire book, we tallied up the number of correct answers and the two attendees with the closest guesses won prizes.

* party favors *

We found these cute scented candles and thought they would make the perfect party favors! To make them festive and pink, we just wrapped them in a sheet of tissue paper {folded in half} and tied with ribbon.

Here they are all lined up and ready to go for the party!

The bridal shower was a blast and I think Amanda had a really fun time! I snapped pictures throughout the afternoon that I’m going to print up and slip into a pink photo album for Amanda as a little post-shower gift, so she can look back and remember the day!

It was a simple, successful shower! Have any of you hosted a bridal shower before? What are your favorite party-hosting tips or shower games?

* This post is linked up at Fine Linen & Purple!

saturday upsides: special delivery to the nursing home

Posted on December 22, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Saturday, everyone! So we all survived the end of the world … hooray! There’s an upside right there. 😉

Another upside: today is my brother’s 23rd birthday! Happy birthday, Greg!!

We are going out to brunch, per our special sibling tradition, and we’ll be going out to dinner as a family. I’m excited to celebrate the birthday of my amazing brother! My first-ever memory is when he was born. I was two-and-a-half years old and I just remember standing in the living room of our old house, telling my mom to “Call Daddy, call Daddy!” My dad was at work and my mom was home with what she thought was the flu {it was two weeks before her expected due date} when her water broke … my dad rushed home and we just barely made it to the hospital in time! My family always jokes that I almost delivered my brother that day!

My final upside for this lovely Saturday is based on the idea “Do good, feel good.” There’s nothing like those warm-fuzzies you get when you feel like you did something nice for someone else — I find it especially powerful during the holiday season. It means so much to feel like I could make someone’s holiday a little brighter!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of my friend Jewell, who passed away two years ago in February. She was an incredibly sweet and compassionate person and I used to visit her at the local nursing home, where we shared many meals and long conversations. Here we are about a year before she died:

And here she is wearing a scarf I made her for Christmas:

I used to enjoy making Jewell homemade Christmas gifts and cards, and last Christmas {the first once since her death} I really missed her. This year, I had an idea: I could still give a gift to Jewell by doing something kind for others in her memory.

So I whipped up a batch of sweet treats {my butterscotch pudding cookies & holiday white chocolate pretzels!} and spent an hour making homemade cards. I used crayons, stamps, stickers, and markers to make my own designs, and I also “upcycled” some Christmas cards we’d received in previous years by cutting off the front picture and gluing it to a new piece of cardstock to make a new card.

I made sixteen cards in total. Then I packed up some treats on a plate, gathered all my cards together, and headed out to the nursing home for a Yuletide delivery!

I could feel Jewell’s warm spirit with me as I delivered the cards and cookies to the nursing home residents. They were so happy and waved and hugged me and said, “Thank you!” and “Merry Christmas!” I hope Jewell was looking down and smiling.

Want to do a similar project in your town? Here are some examples of notes I wrote in the cards:

Hope your holiday season is filled with joy and peace! Love, a friend
Someone is thinking of you this holiday season and sending warm wishes your way!
Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful season filled with warm memories, hope and love!

Now I’m off to finish wrapping Greg’s birthday gifts! 🙂 Have a fantastic day!

homemade christmas gifts

Posted on December 13, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

When I think back on my favorite gifts I’ve ever received, they are not the most expensive or glamorous, but the most thoughtful. Many of them are homemade: the blue-jean quilt sewn by my grandmother and passed down to me; the handwritten letters my dad writes for me on each birthday; the paintings made for me by my brother. My other most treasured gifts are not “things” at all but experiences: the “girls trips” I’ve taken with my mom; the Taylor Swift concerts I’ve been to with my friend Holly; the time my Gramps took me on a tour of the small Ohio town of his boyhood; the trip to Ireland I took with my brother to explore our family’s Irish roots.

This holiday season, I am approaching gift-giving not as a money-draining, stressful obligation, but instead as a fun challenge. How can I show all of the people I care about how much I care about them? How can I be thoughtful and proactive in gift-giving without breaking the bank?

My answer: homemade, personal gifts.

I mentioned in a post last week about my quest to upcycle gift containers rather than waste money on brand-new bags and boxes. Not only is this good for my wallet, it’s also good for the environment — AND it seems more thoughtful and personal, to boot!

One of my favorite homemade gifts to make for loved ones is hand-knitted scarves. My junior year of college, I studied abroad in England and my friends Janet & Lauren taught me how to knit. Ever since then, I constantly have some sort of knitting project going. {It’s a great project to do while watching TV or on long car rides!} My favorite thing to make is scarves because they are straightforward, versatile, and get a lot of use. With each stitch, I love thinking of the recipient wearing the scarf and staying warm during a cold winter day.

One Christmas, I made a “scarlet and gray” spirited scarf for my Gramps to wear to cheer on his beloved Ohio State football team. It was one of the first scarves I ever made and I worked on it painstakingly for months, trying to make my rows even and neat. I was so proud of myself when the scarf was completed. And my Gramps’s surprised smile upon opening the gift is one of my favorite Christmas memories!

Here are some good online tutorials for how to knit a scarf:

– http://www.wikihow.com/Knit-a-Scarf
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqeG05HFP1E
– http://www.ehow.com/video_12221356_knit-scarf-beginner.html

I also love to give homemade baked goods as gifts. I mean, think about it: even “the person who has everything” could appreciate a nice big batch of still-warm-from-the-oven brownies, right? 😉 To me, homemade food gifts carry the message of comfort, delight, and indulgence. One year, Holly mailed me a batch of cookies all the way across the country and they made me feel SO special and loved — I swear those were the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten!

Here’s a wrap-up of some of my favorite recipes for delicious holiday treats that would also make great gifts:

– holiday white chocolate pretzels
– butterscotch pudding cookies
– chocolate-covered popcorn
– pumpkin-oatmeal cookies
– red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– rice krispies treats with m&ms

Making someone a homemade gift is almost like prayer: as you work on the gift, you spend time thinking good thoughts about the person and how much you care about them and how lucky you are to have them in your life. I love homemade gifts because, to me, they are the ultimate testament to the warmth, joy, gratitude and selflessness of the holiday season.

Are you making any homemade gifts this year? What are some of your favorite gifts you’ve ever received?

upcycled gift containers

Posted on December 12, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

This holiday season, I am making an effort to produce the least amount of waste possible, in particular with gift bags, gift boxes, wrapping paper, etc. During the crazy-busy holiday season, being kind to the environment often falls down low on our radar. I mean, it is so easy to pop into the store and buy a brand new gift bag and reams of tissue paper. I cringe to think of the trash bags filled with crumpled up wrapping paper I’ve thrown away in the past. It seems so unnecessarily wasteful!

Then I started thinking about the concept of upcycling {which is defined on Wikipedia as “the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.”} It is even better than recycling because it is giving old products or materials new life! This seems like the perfect way to approach gift-wrapping this holiday season.

When I finished the last of my oatmeal a few mornings ago, I knew just what I wanted to do with the empty container:

Upcycle it!

I wiped out the inside, wrapped it in some pretty paper, added a shiny red bow, and hooray — a lovely homemade gift container!

I filled it with a batch of homemade chocolate-covered popcorn and it made the perfect gift for a coworker of mine who has been especially helpful to me this semester.

I also have plans in the works to re-use metal tea canisters when making homemade chai tea latte mix for some of my friends. {Look for the recipe in an upcoming post!}

What are some of your favorite upcycling and environmentally friendly gift-wrapping ideas?

Hope your week is going great!
-Dallas

Day-By-Day Masterpiece

Category Archives: crafts