Spring Break Crafting

Hi there friends! I'm officially the worst blogger ever. I haven't posted since New Years...my life is absolutely crazy right now. I have a bunch of midterms this week, but then I'm booking it out of here and heading down south to South Padre Island, TX for a week of sun with my friends! We've been getting ourselves ready for a few weeks now, and that included making the cutest thermoses to use on the beach! I debated for awhile what to put on mine, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out! I painted the Lilly print 'Chiquita Bonita' on one side-it's the same print as my agenda! The other side says, "Girls with class don't need a glass." I hope you like it!

I just used acrylic paint on a plastic cooler and sprayed it with a clear finishing spray so it wouldn't chip. I can't wait to use it on the beach next week! My next spring break project (if I have time before we leave) is to decorate my own fanny pack so I'll have something to keep my things in on the beach. Look for a post about that coming soon! 

xo

Keeks

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a fabulous and fun New Year and all the best for 2014!

xx
Keeks

ps. I don't make resolutions...

So here are some NYE party inspirations instead!

Completed Cork Wreath

It's finally done! I'm proud to announce that the wine cork wreath I've been working on since...well, since June, is finally DONE! I could have completed it in much less time, but I put it off for awhile when school got busy.

I got the inspiration for this wreath from Pinterest, but I didn't love the ideas I saw there. Most had the corks laid out flat on the base wreath. I wanted mine to look much fuller. Of course, this meant collecting a lot more corks. I thought the wreath would be the perfect addition to my house, the Wine Cellar, for our front door. Luckily, my friends and I drink a lot of wine and with the help of some family members, we were able to collect enough for me to make a full wreath. I love the many of the corks have personal stories that go with them; one is from a vineyard in southern Illinois where my roommate lives, others are champagne corks given to me by my boss, and many were saved up during my semester in Europe.

If you want to make a similar cork wreath, here is what you'll need:

plenty of wine or champagne corks (I would estimate I probably used 200 or so)

a styrofoam wreath for the base

metal floral pins

ribbon or other accents

Basically, I used pliers to bend the metal floral pins straight and poked one end into the cork and the other into the wreath. I used the synthetic corks I had for 'fillers' along the inside rim and saved the prettier, natural corks for the rest. I also tried to place some of the stained ends from red wine face-up for color variation. After putting in the corks one by one, I left a small space for a bow of printed burlap ribbon from Hobby Lobby. I couldn't decide what to put in the center, and I had a few leftover champagne corks, so I just decided to use those and I'm so happy with the way it turned out!

Planner Organization 101

Yikes! It's been over a month since I've written a post...sorry everyone! You would not even begin to believe how busy my life is now that school is in full session and nearly every hour of my day is planned. It's finally starting to feel like fall (despite the 80-degree forecast for the next couple of days) and my birthday is 6 days away! yippee!
These days, my life is kind of a whirlwind. My roommates always joke that they never see me. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever have time to get a full night's sleep or work out at all this semester. I'm taking 16 credit hours this fall, working about 25 hours a week at my internship, volunteering, I have weekly meetings for three different organizations I'm in, sorority commitments, and I'm trying to have some semblance of a social life. If that wasn't enough, I just applied to another Greek honors society and I'm nominated for Homecoming Queen. Whew-just thinking about my life wears me out.
I don't know where I would be without my trusted planner, however. We all know my obsession for Lilly and my beloved agenda. I've promised a glimpse inside this sacred territory, and it's your lucky day! Here it is, ladies and gentleman...A Look Inside Kira's Agenda:


If you've never seen the inside of a Lilly agenda (you're missing out) but every one comes with these adorable stickers on the first page. I've only used one so far, but they're fun little additions to the already cute pages inside!


Another great feature of the Lilly agenda that is a new update this year is the laminated tabs for each month. They make flipping from month to month easier and they don't bend like the ones in last year's version did.

I really like how they have a full month calendar before each of the weeks. It helps me outline my month and all the big things I have to do, but I can write individual assignments and plans on the daily/weekly sheets.

The planners have a great section for notes. Inside mine, I've written my color-coding system. Color-coding is HUGE for me. More in a minute...I also included my class schedule, which was more for the first week of class so I would remember the room numbers and instructors.

On color-coding: I cannot stress to you enough how important color-coding is when writing in an agenda. I use brightly colored pens to distinguish between events. For example, homework assignments are written in light green, work is in red, and so on. The markers I've been using are pictured here, but unfortunately, I bought them in Spain when I studied abroad and I can't find them anywhere in the U.S. or online. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! I've also been using Sharpie Pens which are great too because they are really fine tip but won't bleed through paper.

Now that I've ranted about school supplies and things that are probably boring to everyone but me, please just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful the month pages are in this planner:

It's that time of year again...

Back to school time. I always have mixed feelings about going back to school. On one hand, I'm so excited to see everyone I haven't seen in awhile; on the other hand, I am NOT ready to start classes again. Luckily for me, I have a week and a half before the first day of class and I'll be spending all week next week with my sorority sisters as we prepare for recruitment. The week will be full of workshops, sisterhood events, and plenty of practice!
Despite dreading classes starting, the thought of school supplies is always a fun thing for me. I'm absolutely obsessed with organization. I've always loved back-to-school shopping-from clothes to notebooks and pens, I'm a sucker for starting fresh in the fall. So what are my favorite new things for my senior year, last year, for this year of college? (I'm a little bitter about being the "s" word...)

1. My new Lilly Agenda of course! I finally wrote everything in and have my color-coding down. I can't wait to do a future post about my agenda organization.

2. The best color-coding markers EVER: MoLin markers! Unfortunately these awesome marker pens are only sold in Spain, where I bought them when I studied abroad. The next best alternative in my opinion are Sharpie Pens, which come in several cute colors now.

3. I can't get enough of how comfy this J Crew chevron maxi dress is! I got it in green and blue at our J Crew factory store for a great deal.



4. Speaking of new things to wear for the school year, I found this amazing tortoiseshell and gold chain link bracelet at the Polo Ralph Lauren outlet. It was 30% off and with my student discount, I ended up getting it for only $15!

5. I bought a lot of great things at our outlet mall a couple weeks ago, including a white jean jacket from Gap, some crewneck sweaters from J Crew and Gap, a new black patent leather Kate Spade wallet, and a classic white Ralph Lauren oxford shirt.

6. A new phone case! Mine was cute, but didn't protect my phone very well. I'm in love with this one from Vera Bradley.


7. Ok, so my final back-to-school favorite I just bought today from....WALMART! I was walking down the aisles, when the most adorable notebooks caught my eye from across the store. They're CHEVRON. Are you kidding me? Chevron, anchor and whale notebooks in the most adorable colors!! And the best part was that they only cost me 97 cents each. 97 CENTS PEOPLE. I showed a tiny bit of self-restraint and only bought 5. They also had folders and several other prints. They make starting classes a little bit easier!

Why my "& Co." is amazing

So by now you've probably all figured out that my "& Co." is my best friend...my mom. She's been the biggest help in making The Wine Cellar the cutest off-campus house Bradley University has ever seen. Seriously, she is awesome.
Last weekend, my mom, sister, dad, grandpa, uncle and great uncle came down to visit me! The guys went golfing while us girls did one of our favorite activities...shopping. I found some really cute clothes and jewelry, as well as few more things to decorate my room with. My mom also brought a bunch of stuff to finish the last room in the house that needed some TLC. I think our house might finally be complete! For our living room, we had to work off the colors from the plaid chair, so our accent color was kind of a burnt orange and some navy blue as well. Of course we weren't going to take the easy route and just buy some pillows and wall art. Instead, & Co. found some cheap pillows at Goodwill and re-covered them with fabric in our accent colors and stenciled them, just like my stenciled rug! She also made the most adorable wall art for the awkward wood wall in the living room. Each picture is just painted and stenciled on recycled pieces of wood!

Lilly Agenda Upcycle

I never thought the day would come where I would cut up one of my old planners. I am incredibly OCD about my planners and writing everything I have to do in them, so I have a ridiculous attachment to them. I have every planner I've used since my Sophomore year of high school- it's crazy! So why did I suddenly decide it was okay to actually CUT UP one of the most expensive, beautiful planners I've owned? Well, it's quite a tragic story actually. While in Spain last semester studying abroad, I brought along my beloved Lilly agenda. On one of the many rainy days there, I had the planner in my backpack and my travel-sized umbrella dripped water all over my backpack, causing my planner to get completely soaked. I was absolutely devastated. I spent over 2 hours with a hair dryer on the pages and all of my notes were completely smeared. Once it finally dried, it was a crinkly, warped mess.

I'm still a little heartbroken, but I've tried to make the best of this minor tragedy. The day the new Lilly agendas went on sale for pre-order, I placed my order for the Large Agenda in "Resort White Chiquita Bonita."The new agenda starts in August and I can't wait to start writing in it! I'll do another post in the future about my organizing tips for my agenda and how I stay on top of things (hint: LOTS of color coding. It's marvelous). So now that you're brought up to speed and my new agenda is just waiting for me, I feel at peace with cutting up the old one. I bought a coffee thermos at Starbucks today that is blank and you can put any pictures or paper inside to decorate it yourself. It looks like this:

Next, I went to town cutting up the old planner. I have a lot of leftover scraps that I'm in the process of planning a new craft for.

I traced the shape of the paper onto my own scrapbook paper and glued the pieces into a beautiful Lilly collage!

Here's the finished product!

Hope you enjoy!
Keeks