be you project {printable}

Happy weekend. :)

So lately I've been really worried about how young women tend to view themselves.  I think my concern spawned from the overwhelming amount of self esteem issues I see on reality TV (my sister is a bit of a reality TV junkie), but I also see the same issues reflected on my Facebook news feed everyday.  I'm not sure why, but it seems like everyone (women especially) goes through this phase of believing like they're just not good enough or smart enough or pretty enough, and we tend to forget that we're perfect just the way we are.

I've been in that position many times, where I will compare myself to everyone who I see as "better" than me, and convince myself that I'm just not enough.  I'm happy to say that I'm usually able to pull myself out of that rather quickly, but it's hard to not go there every now and then, you know?  So I decided to make myself a little something to remind myself how amazing I really am.

I made a short list of the qualities in myself I really like (and maybe want to portray more), and I made this to inspire myself to stay "me".  It serves two purposes: to remind myself why I'm awesome, and to motivate myself to stay true to me.

It's only been a few days since I've drawn this up, but I have to say... it does do a lovely job of perking me up when I'm feeling a little down about myself.  You should definitely try it.  It might be a little hard thinking up qualities that describe you (especially if you tend to be modest ;) ), but after a while your list gets longer, and you start feeling pretty good about yourself!

And in case anyone was interested, I've included what I made as a printable.  It's quite a large drawing (I wasn't sure how big I'd want it in the beginning), so make sure you resize it if you wanted a smaller print. I also made two versions, one with a butterfly and polka dots (like in my photo), and a plain version without the butterfly and dots.

Be You Printable {With Butterfly}

Be You Printable {Plain}

Enjoy!

heart paper chains {tutorial}

What do you do when all the decoration supplies you have are paper, scissors, and stapler?  Why... make heart paper chains, of course! :)

We were looking for a fun way to use our office cardstock supply to whip up some quick heart decorations, but the thought of just cutting out a bunch of little hearts seemed daunting to me (I had a long day :P), so instead I opted to make these heart paper chains.  I like them because they're quick and cute... and also because we have a paper slicer that did all the cutting for me. ;)

[again, I apologize for the terrible photos... I had to use a cellphone to snap the pictures.]

First step is to cut your paper into strips.  Mine are 6 inches x 1 inch wide.  I wanted to make my chains two-toned, so I used different colors.

Then start with 4 strips.  Sandwich them so that one of the colors is sandwiched between the other color (for example, mine is white, red, red, white).

 Line them up, and staple.  I stapled mine pretty close to the edge, but if you move it further away, it creates 'fatter' hearts. :)

 Bring down the two outside strips to make the heart shape.  Before you staple it down, add two more strips of the next color for the next heart.  This creates the "chain".

Then staple together. :)

Repeat the process, and make it as long as you'd like!

If you notice, I left a strip at the top that wasn't "heart-ed".  This was so I could join it with the last heart in my chain, and make a paper heart wreath, which ends up looking like this:

If you don't like the wreath look, you can start with just two strips of paper, and add on as you go. :)

I had a ton of fun making these in all different colors.  They look pretty nice hung up:

Enjoy! :)

office daze

About a year ago while I was cleaning out some of the desks in our office, I discovered a package of construction paper.  It's almost sad how excited I got over this discovery.  Since then, I've been using it for various "projects" and decorations for different occasions.  It's always kind of a fun challenge to see what things I can make with just the supplies we have here.  

Every now and then, I'll whip up something quick while I'm waiting for documents to load or when I'm on hold during a call.  It's never anything spectacular, but it keeps me busy, and keeps me happy. :)

Today I got a small jump start on valentine's day decorations by making a small banner.  Unfortunately, one of the tools we don't have (but always need) is a ruler, so I always have to cut things by freehand.

And since you can't tell what the heck that is from far away, here it is a bit closer:

Just a quick "happy valentines day" banner using red and white paper and some string we had left over.

But my favorite part is what I did with the scraps of red and white paper I had:

One of the perks of having your girlfriend working at the same office is that she makes you pretty things :).  I love that you can see his reflection in the framed photo of us.  And I love how the flowers came out.  Better than I thought they would, especially considering I only had a glue stick to work with (note to self... keep hot glue gun in purse at all times!)

[sorry for the terrible photos.  I don't bring my camera to work, so I improvised with my phone.... it goes along with the whole use-what-you-can-find-in-the-office theme, I guess. ;) ]