Constant Cravings - Tree Houses

Today's constant craving - tree houses. I think the craving is especially strong for those of us that did not have a tree house to call our own as a child. My cousin had one growing up, and it was army green with a wood plank stair case, and a  rope swing. He was kind enough to share it with me, and that is perhaps where my obsession with tree houses began.

What's not to love about a tree house. You can't beat the view from up there and it appeals to the inner child in us all. Maybe it's because I could use a different perspective, or because of the desperately sad, leafless, snow covered trees that make up the current landscape, but lately I've spent a lot of time daydreaming of a faraway place with a tree house just for me. You can come too, if you would like! Until then, I leave you with some of my favorite tree houses featured in movies. Also, I realize that the cliff structures in The Time Machine are not technically tree houses, but I really like them so they made the cut.

The Perfect Shirt for the Furry Little Man in My Life

I love dogs. Your dogs and my dogs, and dogs I have yet to meet, I love them all. I don't currently have a dog of my own, but my roommates do, in fact they have three. We also dog-sit pretty frequently, and at any given time there can be up to six of them running around the house. So today, I would like to introduce you to one of our precious fur babies--Quizno.

Quizno is a Schnauzer, and he is also our only male, and if he were human, he would be your cantankerous great uncle who drinks too much, and smells like cold cuts. He is actually a very sweet dog, but not very trusting, and a bit of a loner. It has taken me a long time to build a relationship with him, but earning his love and acceptance was so worth the time and effort. Now that I am a part of his inner circle I've come to realize that Uncle Quizno, who's not so quick to warm, is quite the ladies man. In fact, the other day I watched him bound into the living room and mount our very willing Pit Bull, Maggie (don't worry they're fixed). Since Maggie was laying on her back at the time I can only assume that Quizno was attempting the missionary position. Needless to say I have never seen anything like that before, but I try not to make it a habit to watch dogs in coitus. And because the missionary position is to the canine population, what doggie style is to humans, a bit adventurous, I can only conclude that Quizno is more complex than one might expect, and that bitches love him. Which is why I made him this shirt, and boy does he look handsome.

DIY Wrapping Paper - Beyond Newspaper

I don't usually celebrate the holidays, at least not in the traditional sense, but as I am now back in Colorado and living with friends who do celebrate in a big way, I kind of had no choice. So this year I decided that if I was going to participate in the gift exchange I was going to do it my way. Because I was short on cash I decided I would wrap all the gifts with materials lying around the house. All of the embellishments and gift toppers were found, except the ribbon, but it was on sale and can be used for oodles of other projects.

Now honestly, I feel kind of silly blogging about diy wrapping paper, but I had a lot of fun, and I saved a lot of dough. Also, it was empowering, yes I said empowering, not having to buy super expensive/super cheesy wrapping paper, bags, and bows from Walmart, or the like. And like any diy endeavor, making your own gift wrap is seditious, however subtle it may be. With the holidays behind us, we should all have plenty of time to accumulate lots of stuff that can be used as next season's gift wrap.

It all starts with a raggedy old Kleenex box

And a few pieces of wheat from my roommate's arrangement.

And the paper that was shoved inside the toe of my new boots.

The final product.

We begin again with an old Kleenex box

I used the top of the Kleenex box as a template.

And then glued the Kleenex cut-outs to yellow index cards.

I wrapped the gift in a leftover fabric remnant and glued on a piece of garland that was on the top of a popcorn tin I had received.

A piece of upholstery strapping and an anonymous button

I wrapped this gift with a brown paper bag, ribbon and an image I found on the internet.

Hello and Happy 2011

This is my first ever post on Crave-Connect-Create. I am very excited to share this lil ole blog of mine with you. I am looking forward to us learning and growing together, so please be patient as this is new to me, and a bit intimidating. I will soon be sharing some post-holiday photos and a diy on homemade wrapping paper. It was a big hit this year, and I think you will be surprised that you really do have these everyday materials just laying around the house. So y'all come back now, ya hear.