Rosewater DIY + Tijuana Rose Margarita Recipe

After Valentine's Day, my boyfriend and I fell into a rather LARGE concentration of roses.  How large?


                   

I was very excited to receive that many roses, to be honest. I love them! They're all so beautiful...but what do I do with dozens of roses?  My boyfriend had the grandest idea: make rose simple syrup.  Of course!  I looked up some rose simple syrup recipes and they all started with the same ingredient: rosewater.  It's a lot easier to make than you might think!

Get the steps after the jump

Adventures in the Kitchen: Limoncello

Extra Virgin is one of my absolute favorite shows on the Cooking Channel.  I have adored Debi Mazar since FOREVER and to watch her and her husband, Gabriele, be adorable in the kitchen is the best!  When they made Limoncello, of course I was all, "I can do that!" and I put it off for quite some time...
Until I was thinking of the perfect wedding present for Lauren and Chandler.  Their home bar rivals that of the fanciest bars and speakeasies around town and I wanted to give them something unique.  So why not homemade hooch?!

Click through to check out the process!

Instagram Jams!

Found some cute Deery Lou stationery from FOREVER ago!  I may or may not have sent a letter (or two!) // My guy and I got creative with some Shrinky Dinks I found while packing // I followed fellow ATLien, Erica Loesing's tutorial on Design Sponge and created my own embossed cards!  I also played around with my faux calligraphy! Is it too early to start thinking about Valentine's Day already? // Lauren took my guy and me to experience Ration and Dram last night and it was AMAZING!  I mean - look at that guitar-shaped dessert!

Happy Friday!

DIY Pie / Cake Box Care Package

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on Craftgawker.  It's true.  I spend my days scrolling through pages and pages of creative craft ideas and bookmark them all in the hopes of maybe trying them out one day.  Take that, Pinterest!  Just kidding.
But seriously, I really do love Craftgawker because I've found so many great blogs through them: Alana Jones-Mann, The House That Lars Built, Minted Strawberry...the list goes on and on - trust me, the bookmarks on my iPad will agree.

Anyways - one of the coolest things I saw was this Birthday Cake Care Package from The House That Lars Built.  So cute!


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It also contained a link to the cutest, scariest DIY I'd love to try: the Cake Postcard from She Knows.  I say it's scary because there's sponge cutting and caulk "frosting" involved.


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Pretty awesome, huh?! Alana Jones-Mann took it another step further by using that same tutorial to make business cards!  WHAT?!?!?


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Okay, if that isn't cute overload, I don't know what is (except, maybe, Cute Overload).
I didn't have any neat pie boxes already made like Brittany did at THTLB but I did find a few tutorials on making your very own with Martha Stewart and Lavender's Blue!  Thanks, Internet! :)

I took advantage of my extremely long render times and assembled some boxes for a care package I'm putting together.  Granted, it's super late to the recipient but I think he'll be okay with that.  Why did it take me so long?  I have no idea!  Usually, I'm on top of this birthday thing!  Ugh - I've been slipping...



Bonus - the envelope for the Birthday Party Kit holds Instax Mini prints PERFECTLY!  I had just enough glue to glue down the "Happy birthday" wedge to the inside of the blue slice but I had to tape the other cake slices together.  Not as pretty as I would like but still cute, I think!  Now, I get to take them home and fill them with goodies (and make a few more!)  I'll do a big reveal once I know the recipient has received it :)

Hope you're having an awesome week!

Instant Adventures #3: A Surprise Party Adventure!

I'm a little light on the Instant Adventures for this past week because, well, there was a surprise party for my Mom being planned and preparations for Lauren and Chandler's Engagement Brunch...on the same day!  Needless to say, this weekend was wild and lots of fun!

1. The gorgeous bouquet I got for my Mom's birthday on Tuesday
2. A photo of our memo board at home with the very special addition of Lauren and Chandler's save the date + the heart garland I DIY'd



I did find time to make a cute heart garland for a certain someone's birthday that coming up in May!  I need to make 2, actually.  I've got two wonderful May birthday folks that need some hearts!  :)
I stumbled upon Alana Jones-Mann's wonderful blog and saw this pretty garland that I just had to make!  And this pretty heart backdrop and this marquee light heart and so many other awesome projects to try!

So...about my Mom's surprise party...My aunt had been planning it for a little while but because my Mom's birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, my aunt held off the party for the weekend after her birthday - which led to hilarious sitcom-style anguish from my Mom because this was the big 6-0 for her and she wanted a big blowout!  But she was expecting it the weekend before her actual birthday, not the weekend after!
She complained to everyone that my aunt wasn't doing anything for her and I had to hear all about it last Saturday, which led to the impromptu visit to Lips on Sunday, the bouquet on Tuesday and a whole lot of secret-keeping.  Thankfully, she was definitely surprised!  I didn't take any photos (bad blogger!) but others took care of that for me!  The only thing I got was the cake - which I glad to order because that meant I could choose what the message was!  Heeeeyyoooo!



I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Happy Monday!

Handmade Valentine Swap!

Valentine's Day might be over but I'm not over receiving hearts!  Yesterday was a great mail day because not only did I get more Creepy Hearts for the Creepy Hearts Club, but I also received the last of my Handmade Valentines from the Handmade Valentine Swap!









Aren't they all beautiful?!

The first card I received was from Mayra.  Know I shared it in the Incoming / Outgoing Mail post but I wanted to do a proper Handmade Valentine post, so here it is again!  :)

You know me, I love a good pun and the card from Claire is the cutest!  "You hive my heart" with bees AND star confetti?!  So cute!  I'm hoping the weather in England has calmed down some so she can maybe start to have a Spring of some sort!  I'm trying to share some of this weird Georgia weather with my friends overseas.  Can you believe we're supposed to have a high of 69º+ today?!  We were just frozen last week!  (I'm not complaining - I'm ready for dresses and sandals!)

The button cupcake is from Steff.  She has a cute aesthetic and it totally shows in the card!  She hosted a party recently and I'm totally jealous of the set-up that she posted (and arranged).  So cute!

The last set is from Kasia, who makes beautiful jewelry at Kashen Jewellry.  Just look at this necklace!  Love it!  Looking at her Instagram, you know she's super talented in a variety of fields.  And the origami heart is so cute, it makes my origami skills looks terrible.  That's right - because I don't have any (yet!)

I'm so glad I signed up for this swap because I loved making and sending out the Valentines to four new friends and the ones I've received have inspired me to make better parcels for my new pen pals!

Happy Wednesday!

It's not bad to do good things for yourself

I was putting together a little package for someone during our Snow Days last week and one of the things I made was a little book full of quotes and mantras that inspire me.  I made the book with the hope that they will inspire the person it's going to and I loved it so much that I made one for myself!

I'm taking a cue from Gala Darling's Radical Self-Love project.  I feel like lately, I've been neglecting myself in many ways.  I wasn't really seeing it until my friend kindly pointed out that I hadn't plucked my eyebrows to their usual state of prettiness.  I made up the excuse that I was trying to grow them out (which was kinda true) but then I confessed: I just haven't had the time.  She scolded me and reminded me that there is ALWAYS time for ourselves!  And she's right.  I didn't need to take out my sorrows and stresses on myself and make sure everyone around me is okay - I need to make sure I'M okay.  And I'm not saying that to be self-centered, I'm saying that because it's true - we need to take time for ourselves.  I think fellow bloggers on the same page since Kailey posted a wonderful post about pampering ourselves on her blog, Mermaidens, and I took it as a sign that it's time for me to stop feeling bad about wanting to do something better for myself!  I need to get back in the habit of painting my nails, plucking my eyebrows regularly, dressing up for no reason and doing all the things that make me feel good from the inside out.  And you should too!

Here are a couple of pages from my notebook:



Some of the mantras are from Louise Hay's wonderful app Heal Your Body A-Z.  I picked mantras to help stimulate love in yourself and with that, it can help balance other areas that you may or may not be having issues with.  I notice that when I'm saying one of her mantras (with love, of course), I feel so much better that I've forgotten what was wrong in the first place or that my headache or stomach ache or whatever was bothering me has totally vanished!  I focus on the self-love part because I know healing starts from the inside out and once I'm in a good place with myself, I can focus on the rest.

Enjoy! xo

Do you have any mantras or things you like to do for yourself?

Incoming / Outgoing Mail + Some Creepy Hearts Club Love

      

      

      


1.  My outgoing Valentines for the Handmade Valentine Swap
2.  The Creepy Hearts Club heart cutting process
3.  Incoming mail from the super-awesome @lowercase_r.  Check out her blog here!
4.  My first Valentine from the Handmade Valentine Swap!  It came at the best time, too, because I needed to read the lovely message.  It reads: "In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures.  Valentine's is not only about lovers, it's about friends too!"  So sweet!
5.  My second Valentine from the Handmade Valentine Swap!  (I'll post photos from that later)
6.  A collection of cute things for a Journaling Kit
7.  Cute food erasers!
8.  Another collection of cute things for a Mail Art Kit
9.  The latest Creepy Hearts Club outgoing mail

Once I get all my Valentines, I'll do a nice little post on the swap and include all of the things that were sent and received.  I can't wait to share them!

Have you checked out the sweet write-up about the Creepy Hearts Club over at Busy Weekends?  Check it out!  Many thanks to Michelle for writing such sweet things about the Creepy Hearts Club!

If you want to get in on the Creepy Hearts Club action but don't have an Instagram account, you can submit your photos to the Tumblr here or email them to creepyheartsclub@gmail.com

I hope you're having an awesome day!

The Creepy Hearts Club is OFFICIAL!

  

Okay - I started a Tumblr for all the Creepy Hearts Club fun!  I just had to because I mailed out my first sets of hearts today and I had so much fun assembling everyone's packages that I had to share it!

If you want to join, email me your mailing address and I'll send you a cute little set of Creepy Hearts!  Post a photo of them to Tumblr and tag it with #creepyheartsclub and tag @creepyheartsclub to join in on the fun!  I'll repost all photos to the Tumblr.  And by the way - this will not be limited to Valentine's Day!  It'll be all year long!

Send inquiries to:
creepyheartsclub@gmail.com
OR
shelovesyoublog@gmail.com

Hooray for making new friends!  Happy Saturday!