My DIY crafts

Over the last year I have been really into doing different crafty things.  I also got into this website called "Pinterest" which has just daily overwhelming inspiration for so many ideas I can't stand it.  I have always been creative and get into certain things, jewelry making, painting, drawing, writing, and recently I've been into the DIY crafts.  Some of this stuff is so easy to make and just great and handy little additions to my life haha. So now is my chance to share them..

Here is one that was inspired by Pinterest.  I went to the swap meet and spent about 2$ on a few framed pictures, i knocked out the pictures, spray painted the frames, added hooks for the necklackes and jewelry wire for the earrings.  It was so simple, cheap and cute!

This was also another really simple one! I think I saw it on Pinterest as well but it is a headband/clip hanger!  It is so handy and easy to make.  All you have to do is buy some ribbon, obviously a pattern or color you like, double it over and sew buttons on to create separate spots to loop your headband through!  The bow on the top is just a little extra decoration, i love it because i can put bobby pins on it, hair clips, and headbands all in one nifty spot!

For years I have had an odd childhood obsession with collecting seashells.  I know a lot of people are probbably thinking what the heck can she do with all of them?  Well I have used them for a few things!  I don't have a photo of it but charlie and I did a great colorful under ocean puzzle and so I decided to frame it and glue seashells around the entire frame.  I have put in our bathroom because we have an "ocean" theme in there and it looks really cool. I also have used shells to create some unique pots for my plants, I just use a hot glue gun, and put them around the rim so that it adds a nice touch to a very cheap and boring looking plant pot. Another idea I have wanted to try out was creating a seashell wreath.  I went to Michael's and for about a dollar got a circular plywood piece as my base, I bought a little bag of fake moss to add some texture and other component besides the shells, and lastly a cheap topcoat to paint the shells so they would have a glossy look.  It only took me about two hours and I absolutely love it.  I think it is one of my favorite crafts I've created. Not to mention the shells are from all over, San Diego, New York, Puerto Rico, and even Hawaii :)

These next few aren't exactly "crafts" but my experimentation with painting things to give them a little more personality.  I found a great looking (good shape and clean) stand by the dumpster the other day, it was a funky brown and looked like it may have belonged to an entertainment center.   We have needed a little extra shelf place (for all of our crap) and I had an idea to spice up this one!  I decided to spray paint it black to match our TV stands and other stuff in the living room, and then I bought a few stencils to create the pattern on the side.  I really like the color and I think it goes with all the other random colorful stuff we have in the house. The stenciling was a lot trickier then I thought but overall it came out pretty well, at least on the side that I took the picture of :)

This was just a little random painting as well, I saw the idea for painting the oil bottle on pinterest and found one at the dollar store so I decided to experiment and I found the fish and it was so faded out from its original color it was almost white so I revamped that sucker also.  

Thats all for now!  I have been making a lot of jewelry as well but I may do a separate post about it later.  I've been wanting to sell the stuff on Etsy or do a little stand at a street fair but I'm afraid I don't have enough crafted yet.  Maybe one day..!!

9/29/2012

On September 29, 2012 Charlie and I celebrated a six year anniversary :)  We kept it pretty low key but we had a really nice times together, as usual.  We walked to the movie theatre and saw "Loopers" which was good, but I personally liked "Lawless" much better. But they were both equally good.  Then we decided to try a BBQ place called "That Good Boy" that just opened around here and enjoy some authentic pulled pork and fried chicken with watermelon and cole slaw on the side.  This place was legit and delicious!  We exchanged some gifts too..

This is what I got for my sweet Charlie, also a subscription to the "Surfer" which he has been saying he is going to get for a LONG time.  Unfortunately we didn't make anything off the scratcher!  And for the toothbrushes, he made a joke in passing about me getting them for our anniversary so i went out and bought them :)

Charlie is extremely generous and wiling to share whatever he has and get me anything I want BUT i have to ask because he never has any clue what to get me so I made it easy on him and told him exactly what I want.  I found a great deal on a radio, alarm clock, iphone charger and speaker.  I have been wanting one of these for a while and he was more then happy to get it because we both benefit..heh

And of course I wanted flowers, I didn't really care what kind but Charlie must have noticed me commenting on the orchids when we went to the grocery store because this was what he came home with..It was really beautiful and he just made me so happy, as usual.

These aren't from our anniversary day but some recent pictures of us on some beach days.

Really a beautiful little town we live in.

We have been fortunate enough to love this place we live in..

And were back..

I bet you all thought I was never going to make it back to the blogging world huh? Well BAM here we are..

Since the end of summer life hasn't changed much, still working through school, spoiling our baby (Johnson), enjoying the ocean (& a crazy heat wave), and going through the motions.  Charlie is working part-time jobs while he looks for something stable or decides on a trade.

Over the summer i did a mini post with a video from a trip to Czech Republic.  It had been over 6 years since I had gone back and I felt like I was gone maybe a week, it was such a wonderful trip it is hard to put into words.  I guess that being with family does that to you (sometimes) ;-).

I had originally planned to post all my pictures with nice descriptions and the names of the places but since it has been so long, will see :)

My Father and I flew out together and I stayed for about two weeks.  He had some performances lined up in CZ and Deutschland  towards the end of  my stay but I still was able to go to one of his concerts which was really special to me (and that was the video i posted previously).

I unfortunately and absent mindedly did not talk photos of my family or of our families house.  I think because it is so familiar that it didn't occur to me or something! Anyways, too late for that.

We did a lot of sightseeing!  We went to castles, churches, chateaus, museums, restaurants, villages & lots of walking!  I met my cousins son Honza (1.5year)  for the first time and it was love.  He implored me daily to play, it melted my heart to hear him say "Miso machinka prosim," meaning Misa (my nickname) come play trains please.  He got me every time.  My Great Aunt is our eldest living relative and she is doing so well for being in her eighties!  She outlived all of her siblings, including my Grandfather by 45 years, and I consider her a Grandmother, needless to say it was marvelous to see her.

So what was my favorite part of this trip?  I would have to say the evening barbecues drinking pivo and wine while eating delicious sausages, vegetables, bread and sweets.  I was worried about how much of the language I had lost but to my surprise, and everyone else, i was able to understand SO much of the conversations that I didn't even notice it wasn't English!!  My other most treasured memories of the trip are walking in the woods behind the summer house with my Dad, just talking, exploring and bonding.   Our other great bonding experiences was our regular trips to a coffee shop sipping cappuccinos with amaretto talking about life.  It's been years since I spent that much time with my Dad and i will forever keep it in my heart.

Finally, Here are some pictures!!

Czech culture and its people greatly pride themselves on a few things but primarily it's their beer!  Pilsner Urquell was founded 1842 and it is where the type of beer "pilsner" comes from.  I have a cousin who works in public relations for the company so we got to do a "special" tour in the underground cellars tasting some a very unique brew!

Here is a pictures of the entrance of the brewery

Inside the cellars where the beer is stored & brewed

Next set of pictures are just of some Czech countryside from one of our day trips to a Hunting Chateau that hasn't been in use since the Communist era.  It was a nice day because there were only about 4 people on the tour and it was really peaceful to just walk around and take in the scenery.

My Dad, Jirka.

The following pictures are from our families hometown Plzen (Pilsen in English).

These were taken from the concert hall that my father and Fred performed in.  The town square is literally a square with a church in the center.  It has some great architecture.  The town was founded in the late 10th century and as far as we can trace our family origins, they resided in this region!

Benedetti & Svoboda had their performance in the town's city hall!  It was a really neat room they did their performance in.  

My Dad was nice enough to take me into Prague for a day.  Luckily we had a friend who was going to be there to ease the pain of getting and being there.  To drive to Prague was a few hours and then we had to park to take the metro (subway).  Because it is a huge tourist spot it is crowded and can be overwhelming and my Dad would match rather just go drink a beer at the local pub but he was going to humor me because of how long it had been since the last time i was there!  We did the usual, walked over Charles IV bridge and visit St. Vitus Cathedral which holds the remains of Czech Hero, Charles IV. I have albums and albums of this place from previous trips so my pictures of it are rather limited.   

Right when you come out of the metro this is what you see!  

The statue is St. George

                                                             Old Town Square

                                        Gunpowder tower and the entrance to Charles Bridge

St. Vitus Cathedral

Archangel Michael

Czech Coat of Arms

 Another beautiful place we went to, and personally one of my favorite Czech Towns, was Kutna Hora.  In the town there is a beautiful cathedral called the Santa Barbara and it was built by the son of the architect who built St. Vitus Cathedral.  The town also houses a very well known as "bone church," but actually called sedlec ossuary.  During the bubonic plague and after the Hussite wars, the number of victims was so great that there was no where to literally bury the bodies, they wanted them to be buried on holy ground so the employed Frantisek Rint.  Rather then describe what he did you can see the pictures.  It houses somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 remains.  It seems macabre but it is actually fascinating and mind blowing.

Santa Barbara Cathedral

View from the top of the cathedral

The ceiling was littered with coat of arms 

Amazing architecture.  It's funny because the building cost so much they were unable to finish it because they ran out of money but you can't even tell it wasn't finished!

Organ

Beautiful stained glass

I can't get over the architecture.  Here is a cool shot of some flying buttress's

Another view from the top of the cathedral

Kutna Hora

Sedlec Ossuary

Schwarzenberg coat of arms.  They were the rulers of the time. 

The rest of my photos are randoms!

My Dad played a soccer game while we were there and of course it started to rain and there was no where to sit (Reliving my childhood).  But I did get to see a double rainbow! But I think I was only able to capture one. 

This is in Radnice which is the village we were staying in.  There is a little piece of the church which has been abandoned but I was so tripped out to see a horse and wagon!!! And when I say village, i meant real, authentic, Eastern European village..

Local art in a Czech park

Just thought this was funny!

And this was our bedroom view.  The line of trees was the path we would walk to lead into the forest.  The fields are a beautiful yellow, and that's because they are mustard flowers!  To see this every morning and evening was spectacular.  

I am so proud to not only be a Svobodova but a Czech citizen as well.