I Miss Good Ol' "Made in the US"

Ahem, let me start over.

Do you remember our new bed? And do you remember the oopsie? Well, guess what...

Yes, we ordered a mattress - one that actually fits. It got delivered today. Sort of.

They were supposed to be here at 4 p.m. Five hours later it was finally in - I was particularly happy about that especially after having a day at work where I just wanted to strangle everyone, figuratively speaking.

Only, when the mattress gets here it turns out it's not a mattress. It's a box spring. Yes, that's right, your eyes are not deceiving you. A box spring. Technically, it's a box spring/mattress because it has padding on top but a wooden frame beneath. A wooden frame that's over 1/2" out of square and doesn't fit the bed frame at all. In times like this I let a mental curse out and really miss the good old American craftsmanship where things actually work and are built with attention to detail.

Good thing I have a hubby who grew up in the construction industry, knows what he's doing and has some serious muscle going on, because if it were up to me I'd be drowning in my own tears by now. After some extensive pushing and pulling, prodding and tweaking, and some scary screeching and cracking noises that our poor little bed frame made to let us know it didn't really appreciate all that attention, the thing is finally in. What a sigh of relief!

On the plus side I have 6 days off of work starting tomorrow so that will give me time to focus on my crafting and gardening. I am really looking forward to that!

Don't forget, I'll be posting about my giveaway tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Some Book Lovin’

My friend Dessy recently loaned me her copy of The Historian to read since I left mine in a box in Melissa’s basement in Colorado. And because books here, for some odd reason, are overly-priced, I borrowed rather than buying. On the plus side, I’m being Green!

Because Dessy’s book is in mint condition (it looks like it hasn’t even been opened!) I decided I’d bind it to keep it that way. But I didn’t want a boring binding, so I was slightly creative and came up with this!

I made the binding from hand-made paper, and added an odd little mother-of-pearl detail at the top right corner, finished off with a cord.

I’m not sure I like the way the cord is tied and I am thinking of re-doing that one.

And to add some more book lovin’, Dessy gave me two ribbons she salvaged from a shirt and because I thought they were the perfect size I made me and her a couple of bookmarks! Nothing fancy – in fact, it’s even quirky!

Not the best color combination either, but I like the kitty ornaments.

The whole set of “Book Lovin’”!

In addition I am working on a little hand-crafted item I will be hosting a giveaway for, so stay tuned!

Hope you’re having a great day!

Such an Oopsie…

Remember our new bed? Well, after all that excitement we discovered that we had made a huge mistake with certain measurements….

When we bought the bed, I went with my mother. She had just bought a new mattress a few weeks before, and so we decided it would be wise to just buy the bed frame and a topper and use her old mattress. I trusted she knew the measurements on her old one, since she had just ordered a new one, so we all went home merrily.

But yesterday the bed gets delivered, along with mom’s old mattress (which we had shipped to my grandma’s house for storage) and lo and behold – the mattress is 8 inches narrower and 5 inches shorter than the new bed!

We assembled everything and put the mattress and topper on, since we need to sleep somewhere, but now we’re looking at spending more money to get a brand new mattress that fits the bed. Thankfully, we only need a cheap-o one, since the topper is what makes the whole bed what it is (did I mention I love memory foam?

See, I’m not blaming my mom for not remembering, I think the whole thing is funny, and we should have measured before buying such a major thing, but oh well… Lesson learned.

On the plus side, this new bed is so much bigger than our old one, I feel like I’m swimming! Timmy liked it too, other than the fact he was sliding off the bed the whole night!

Of course, this new piece of furniture inspired me to do some constructive re-decorating in the bedroom. Here’s some inspirational photos I found. Hope you enjoy them!

 

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The last picture is part of Laura Ashley’s collection. Have you heard of Laura Ashley? I adore her style! I wish I could decorate our whole new house with her design, but due to some hubby disagreement and pricing issues, that will not happen…

Here’s the official website.

Hope you all have a great day! More updates coming soon.

SITSas!

I wouldn’t know what SITS stands for if it weren’t for Chris over at her blog, who is the reason I found out about that lovely community with an amazing goal.

So if you would like to find out more about SITS, head over to the website and join in the fun!

In the meantime I am enjoying a hot cup of white/mint tea as I am preparing to go to bed, early for a change. I had a tummy ache all last night and managed to fall asleep at 5 a.m. but had to get up at 8:30 a.m. so I really didn’t get to sleep that much. Besides, tomorrow we have a busy day!

Remember me telling you about the new bed? Well, it’s getting delivered tomorrow morning, and we need to take out the old one before that, so we’ll have an early morning. Fun, fun.

And so, since I am in a “tea mood”, let me share some tea photos I found to (hopefully) set you all for a nice relaxing evening! Enjoy.

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Hope you have a wonderful rest of the day!

Fabulous Friday!

Lovely Seleta has been hosting a cute event every Friday in order to make people end their work week with something nice on their minds. This is the first time I participate, and I feel excited!

My fabulous thing? Easter.

Strangely enough, our Easter (Orthodox church) is this weekend, a week after pretty much the rest of the world’s Easter. The church follows a different calendar and so some holidays are a bit off.

But I am really looking forward to finishing work today, then coming home and relaxing, because tomorrow we get to paint eggs!

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The custom is to wake up before dawn and paint the eggs. The first egg has to be red and before it’s dry you dab some color on your forehead and cheeks (don’t ask why, because I don’t know!). Then we leave it out and name it for the house. The rest of the eggs you can do whatever you want to!

However, we don’t do much before midnight, when we go to the church. And when midnight comes, we celebrate Easter.

We have “egg fights” instead of egg hunts! We hold the eggs, pointed sides up, and smash the eggs together. Whoever’s egg stays whole is the winner.

But, the best part about Bulgarian Easter is the kozunak.

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Kozunak is a sweet bread with dried fruits and nuts, sometimes stuffed with jam. We only make it for Easter, but people crave it all-year-round.

This is my Fabulous Friday snippet!

I will make sure to take come pictures over the weekend and post them here.

Have a great day!

DIY: Dress a Box!

It’s my aunt’s birthday today and I really wanted to get her a handmade gift, rather than something I bought from the store. And so, after an idea-seeking visit to the art store, here’s what I came up with. This can be used to store napkins, jewelry, or anything else you see fit.

All materials I used came in a set, but you can get your own materials and play with the box as much as you want.

What you need:

• Box with a lid
• Cloth (different kinds or just one)
• Quilt batting (or a sheet of cotton, or anything that can provide light stuffing)
• Double-stick tape
• Cardboard to cut inner walls, bottom and lid parts
• Cord
• Glue
• Scissors

How to make:

1. Cut cloth so that it would be able to warp the whole box (without lid), leaving about an inch on each side to fold.

2. Cut batting slightly smaller than sides of box and lid.

3. Put tape on each side of the box and the lid, and stick batting.

4. Next, put tape on the inside of the box (on the walls), keeping close to the top. Do the same to the sides of the lid.

5. Next comes the tricky part. Make sure the box is in the middle of the cloth and carefully fold it around the box, then stick excess to the tape on the inside of walls. A good practice is to do opposite sides first. You can use a pen to make the folded edges look better.

6. Do the same with the lid.

7. You now need two pieces of cardboard slightly smaller in size than bottom of box and inside of lid.

8. Put tape and cut cloth to fit, leaving about an inch on all sides.

9. Repeat step 5 with both pieces.

10. Now put some tape in the middle of the lid piece and stick it to the lid. Don’t stick the bottom piece yet.

11. Use cardboard to cut 4 pieces for the walls of the box. Make sure the pieces are smaller!

12. Now cut cloth (of a different color and pattern, or the same, depending on what style you want) to fit all 4 pieces and stick with tape like before. Put tape in middle as well, and stick to the walls.

13. Now you are ready to stick bottom piece to the bottom of the box.

14. Put glue on inside of the box, on top of the “dressed” walls.

1. Glue cord.

Now let dry and you have a newly dressed box to keep napkins in and serve dinner with style, or store your jewelry, or use for whatever you see fit!

I also have something else in the works, but more on that later.

Hope you had a great day!

Garden party goodies!

Lola B is hosting a lovely little giveaway over at her blog, so head that way and sign up!

If you’re a new reader, then you can enter an additional pool of names for a $150-worth shopping at her Boutique – and trust me, her Boutique is gorgeous!

All three pictures taken from Lola B's Boutique.

Some Inspirational Photos

I was browsing the good ol’ net and stumbled across the lovely photos that I find extremely inspirational. With our new house almost in the works, I’ve been looking at deco ideas and while Timmy and I don’t really agree on the painted wood I love, I’m sure we’ll find a compromise.

Enjoy!

All photos taken from here.