9 Ways to Make a Combo Home Office, Craft Room, Guest Bedroom Welcoming for Guests

Like many people I have a guest bedroom that does double duty. 90% of the time it is my sewing room and craft studio. Every once and awhile it hosts a guest. That  can make it challenging to make it a welcoming, hotel like guest room experience for my visitors when I’m in the middle of working on a big sewing project – but not impossible!

9 Guest Room Must Haves for the Best Most Inviting Stay

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25 of the Best Gift Ideas Under 25 Dollars

Tis the season to think about gift giving! Fa, La, La, La, La. La, La, La, La!

My 2017 gift idea guide has something for every one on your give giving list whether it be a co worker, boss, or teacher, to the man, woman, or finicky teen in your life.

Pop on over to my food blog Lazy Budget Chef to read:

25 Unique Gift Ideas Under 25 Dollars

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18 Gift Ideas for People Who Are Always Cold

I am that person who is always cold and as luck will have it I’m also the one who is assigned the frozen tundra polar ice cap infused office at work. Because apparently most office buildings think you have to keep the IT department people as cold as the servers and computers we work on – or at least it feels that way.

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Influenced by a unseasonable cold snap and freezing while I shuffled around the house while wearing many layers, I put together a holiday gift guide for people who work outside in the cold, inside a cold building, or just like the snuggle up at home when it it cold outside.

Holiday Gift Ideas to Keep You Warm When it is Cold

How to Make a Grass Hula Skirt

My husband and I are invited to a friend’s annual August luau.  Last year they had a woman give the party hula lessons. I want to be prepared and wear a grass skirt as part of my Hawaiian party attire.

Unfortunately there is one teensy problem with this plan.

Have you ever tried to buy a grass hula skirt or for that matter any Hawaii themed clothing in August when it is 100% still officially Summer?

You’ll be out of luck because everything in the store is Fall, Halloween, and Christmas is starting to trickle in too. Argh!

Fortunately making a Hawaiian grass skirt is quick and easy with supplies you can find year round!

Hawaiian Inspired Grass Skirt Tutorial

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Father's Day Gift Ideas to Buy or DIY

 Father's Day is just around the corner. Do you know what gift you will give Dad this year?

Me neither.

We better get to it then!

 I put together a Father's Day gift guide of Father's Day gift ideas while scouring the Web for something fun and unusual to give the DIY Dads (my Dad and Father-in-law) for Father's Day. Some you can buy (time crunch, yo) others you can DIY. All are awesome!!

 Scoot on over to my food blog, Lazy Budget Chef to read:

 18 Unusual Father's Day Gift Ideas Dad Will Love!

 
 Dad will be glad you did!


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How to Make a Reversible Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day Garland

I don’t decorate for Valentine's Day or St Patrick’s Day very much, if at all. I’m not hating on either holiday.  I don’t have much room to store extra decorations that will be up for only a few weeks for Valentine's Day only to take them down and put up new decorations that will be up for only a few weeks for Saint Patrick's Day.

I got a flash of inspiration when I saw the servants hall in Downton Abby decorated with colorful cloth pennant garland in a recent episode. I know I’m a little late to the cloth garland party but a Valentine’s Day decoration I can flip over and reuse as a Saint Patrick’s Day decoration will solve my storage and holiday décor problem nicely.

Let’s get our DIY on!

St Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day Garland Decor Tutorial

 

 

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(No dog Project Mangers where harmed in the making of this project.)

 

Project Me: Pick a Personal Word of the Year

When I stopped making New Year’s resolutions for the sake of having one on New Year’s Eve, it became easier for me to keep them. I often make New Year’s resolutions but now I do it at a point in the year when I need it.

It is my way to keep New Year’s resolutions that works.

The same can be said for choosing a personal word for the New Year. I thought about doing it last year when I saw all of the other cool blogger kids were doing it as a way to keep or instead of making a New Year’s Resolution but couldn’t come up with a word with meaning. The only word I came up with at the time was vague and too general. I knew I’d forget about it soon after January so I didn’t do it.

This year, I picked a personal word of the year a few weeks after New Year’s by happy accident.



Learn how to make my New Year’s Memory Jar from a recycled salsa jar on Lazy Budget Chef here!

Our Favorite Condo Blues Craft Projects of 2015

We’re celebrating the New Year by looking back at some of our favorite Condo Blues craft projects and tutorials we published in  2015.

When it comes to crafts, upcycling and recycling materials are the things you crave. 8 out of our most popular craft post tutorials feature reclaimed materials. Woo hoo! Who says green living can’t be cute and creative living too?
 

Our Top 11 Condo Blues Craft Projects in 2015

Make Candle Wax Warmer Melts, Tarts, and Cubes: The Complete DIY Guide!  

 
 
 

How to Make Aluminum Can Coasters 

What it is Like to Spend New Year's Eve in Times Square

I remember as a kid, telling my parents on New Year's Eve that someday I want to be in Times Square with all of the people we saw on TV. I never thought about that childhood wish until many years later as an adult, Husband and I announced to our New Year's Eve party guests that we weren't throwing a party the following year to give other friends a chance to host.

One of our best couple friends were relieved. They said we made it easy for them to move forward with their plans to spend New Year's Eve in Times Square the following year.

"Lucky, I've always wanted to do that!" I said.

"Come with us!" They said.

So we did.

Ironically the day after we signed our lives away and closed on our condo Husband and I skipped town on a plane to New York City to meet our friends for New Year's Eve. We had the trip planned long before we decided to become homeowners!

Spending New Year's Eve in Time Square is a little different than what you see on TV. I wrote about our Times Square New Year's Eve tips, tricks, and what to expect on my food blog Lazy Budget Chef in  this post:

The Everything Guide for Spending New Years Eve in Times Square

 

What are you doing for New Year's Eve?


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How to Make Quick and Easy Peppermint Gift Tags

I have one more gift tag tutorial in this year’s series and it couldn’t be easier! We’re using cute printed packing tape to make Christmas gift tags!

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You will need:

How to Make Evergreen Window Swags for Free!

We’re bumping up our outdoor Christmas decorations this year. We have a house full of energy efficient disco projector Christmas lights to replace our dead strings of LED Christmas lights.

I saved some Amazon Subscribe and Save boxes and wrapped them as Christmas presents and put them in the barren flower beds. We’ll recycle them after the holiday because storage space for holiday decorations is at a premium.


The front yard still needed a little something and when I saw a pair of dachshund Christmas decorations (learn more about them here.) in a neighbor's yard I had to have them too as a tribute to Lacey. What can I say? We are dog suckers through and through.
 

 The dachshund lights come apart for storage after the holiday. They make make me insanely happy.

Make Peek a Boo Window Gift Tags

After a two day craft room excavation I had a couple of boxes of old business cards and nice little pile of random paper, ribbon, buttons, and punches on my worktable. The following day and fueled by probably more hot chocolate than one person should drink in an afternoon I started to play.

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Once I got on a creative roll, I upcycled a bunch of old business cards into gift tags I’m not ashamed to tie onto our Christmas gifts this year. I have so many handmade stash buster gift tags, that I’m going to turn this craft project into a blog series. Come craft with me!

 

How to Make Embossed Gift Tags for Hanukkah or Christmas

How to Make a Christmas Countdown Calendar Candle

When it comes to Advent calendars, I am more about the Christmas Countdown than the extra treats and trinkets that fill the calendar. I’m not knocking anyone who likes the prizes. It’s hard to find one that isn’t filled with milk chocolate. With a milk allergy, I don’t need the daily reminder that I’m stuck with a relish tray at the Christmas party while everyone else is wolfing down yummy milk chocolate desserts and treats.

But Christmas is the time of year I like to honor my Danish heritage and Danes love their Advent Calendars. Danes also love burning candles. That means Christmas countdown candles are very popular in Denmark.

Instead of opening a little door or pocket, you countdown the days until Christmas by burning the candle to each marked day until Christmas Day.  Unfortunately, Advent calendar candles are hard to find and when I did find some on line they were $30 for a decorated taper candle.

30 bucks a pop? I can make it for less!

So I did.

How to Make an Advent Calendar Candle

Bottle Cap Wreath

Husband and I have have a huge bottle cap collection just waiting for me to reuse them to make awesome bottle cap crafts and DIY projects. Last year Create. Craft. Love. gave me a blank wreath form and challenged me to make a wreath for her blog. The first thing that popped into my mind was - make a bottlecap wreath!

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If you do not have five years worth of bottle caps in coordinating colors you can still do this project if you spray paint your mismatched bottle caps in coordinating colors before you start making this wreath.

How to Make Wine Cork Napkin Rings

I want to switch up my dining room decor for Thanksgiving. One of the easiest and cheapest way to do that is to decorate with fall colored napkins and napkin rings. The cloth napkins I have. The cute fall napkin rings I do not.

I have a TON of wine corks in my craft room, just waiting for a crafty wine cork project. Time to get my upcycling on and recycle some of the corks into handmade napkin rings!

Recycled Copper Beaded Wine Cork Napkin Rings

This is a quick little project you can do for yourself or make and give them to someone as a homemade gift. Christmas is just around the corner you know!

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For each napkin ring you will need:

10 Natural, Reycled, and Upcycled Acorn Crafts

Fall is one of the best times of the year to decorate with nature. A simple walk in the park or, if you are lucky, a few steps from your front door is a whole host of Mother Nature’s splendor just waiting for a little green Fall decorating and craft magic.

 

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Autumn leaves, pumpkins, and cornstalks (I almost bought some from a farmer’s market on a whim last weekend,) are what I normally think of when it comes to Fall décor.

It wasn’t until I saw Dandelion Patina ‘s  recycled sweater and coconut shell acorns that I thought about decorating with acorns and acorn crafts. I pinned her post to my Fall decorating Pinterest board (follow me @condoblues on Pinterest pretty please?) and fell head first into real, recycled, and upcycled acorn crafts and decorations.

Renaissance Festival Handmade Craft Shopping Haul

Through vendor friends and fellow performers, the renaissance festival is where I started learning about essential oils, creating herbal tea blends for both medicinal and yummy purposes, and fell head over heels with handmade health and beauty products.

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It is also where we got the idea of starting our Christmas gift shopping early and somewhat year round. Years ago a fellow performer proudly declared that he finished all of his Christmas shopping at the faire and was chuffed he was finished in September. Naturally being the good friends that we are, we kidded him about it.

Carve a Life Size Snake Pumpkin for Halloween!

You may not know this but I have something in common with the archaeological adventurer Indiana Jones.

I hate snakes.

I think snakes are creepy, ugly, slimy, and icky! Icky! Icky!

Spiders I can handle, but snakes? Not unless they are incredibly and undoubtably fake.

 

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 Or they light up. Like this guy!

Cedar Point Halloweekends Halloween Easter Eggs

Last weekend I went to the BloggyConference blog conference to learn how to be a better blogger for all of you, the greatest community on plant Earth.

BloggyCon is a little different than the blogging conferences I attended in the past because it was held at Cedar Point. During the day, I took a ton of notes during the sessions and networked with bloggers and brands to bring you the best content possible. At night, I rode all of the roller coasters and saw the sights at Cedar Point. It is right next to the conference hotel, how could I not?

Keep reading and pin this post! I made a video about Halloweekend and embedded it in this post!

Just so you don’t think I’m biased because I got free stuff, I here to tell you I didn't get free stuff. I paid for my tickets to Cedar Point. My enthusiasm in the video is fueled with 6 hours sleep for the weekend total and a ton of coffee.

16 Easy Halloween Tutorials