birthday dreams and wishes

birthday dreams and wishes by jekinthebox featuring sephora collection

My birthday is coming up in a few days and people keep asking me what I want. Here are some things at the top of my wishlist that I am working on purchasing for myself and I thought well, if anyone else wants to then I will make a pretty list for them. Let's see if I can explain some of it to ya. 

The shoes there are somethng I really want and I keep revisiting them to remind myself that I am serious about them. They are not exactly birthday priced but they make the picture look a smidge prettier.

The sunflower seeds are up there because I really like snacking on the microgreens and am in need of organic seeds for sprouting. I'm thinking sunflower, chia, and peas sound really tasty! 

The birdie shirt is really sweet and I really like the neckline and of course it being grey just ups the ante in my mind. I am also keen on acquiring a purple, grey or orange shirt from our local record store, speaking of which I added some music up there that I would like to get and think an iTunes card would always be appreciated...or a GC for the record store. 

As for the brush, I want to try dry brushing. Do any of you do it? What do you think?

Stamps are there because I want more stamps. Real usable USPS postage stamps for writing letters. I am trying to write more and stamps would help. This picture was a lot prettier than the one at the USPS site, also you can't clip images from there anyway.

I'm still on the lookout for a pretty embroidered Mexican peasant blouse or dress. They are all so lovely but I think a white top with colorful embroidery would be perfect for summer here in town.

My nose rarely works but I would love to have some chocolate tea around in case it DOES. Adagio teas are really tasty and I like so many it is hard to choose. For now, I will say chocolate with black tea...not rooibos. I'm not really a fan of the rooibos.

The mascara is because I am almost out of mine and I get lazy and buy the cheapie cheap kind and the cup is there because I broke the straw from the one I already have and this one here is not only prettier but BPA free as well.

Lastly, back in highschool, my favorite bag was an old army surplus bag that my brother got me. I loved it and wish I still had it. I think a hefty green army sack would be perfect to use as a camera bag of sorts and would look really cool with some hand-making, patching and embroidery. 

Not included is the ever famous butter fudge I am always talking about. Being anosmic means I don't get to taste much and not tasting much means I have fallen out of love with chocolate. The texture isn't very fun when you cannot taste or smell it. This butter fudge is amazing when you can taste it and smell it and pretty darn good when you can't because the texture is so perfect. It is a hard and chewy fudge...kinda crumbly but is so satisfying to bite into. It was the first thing I added to my polyvore pile and I cannot believe I forgot to actually toss it in the mix. 

So there ya go, sweet dreams for a soon-to-be 42 year old. We're not planning anything big, just lunch or dinner at my favorite place in town (they make the BEST pita bread ever) and I have demanded asked the mister to make me an apple pie...with homemade whipped cream. The week after that we will visit L.A. and see my brother and a few friends, jump at the fountain, and eat ourselves silly so really, I will be celebrating my birthday for a week! 

ten garlands in ten days: falling stars

I love the way this little garland turned out. I had a wee bit of a misshap while making it but I managed to fix it just fine. You will need a pack of wooden stars or shapes (I found mine at Michael's), thread, scisors, and a glue gun. 

My orginal garland was one sided but that proved just silly when the sides with the glue preferred to face outwards. A second date with the glue gun and another pile of stars solve the problem, so make sue you have two stars for each star.

Plug in your glue gun and lay out a row of stars, gather your thread and have it at the ready. Add a drop of hot glue to a star, press a bit of your thread into the glue andsandwich with another star. I kept my thread on the spool until I was finished, and had to gently pull it taught as I worked. 

I added a loop at the first star and again at the last, cutting thread where I thought it would work and looping it before pressing into the hot glue. 

And of course...hang in a happy place! 

ten garlands in ten days: pom pom happy

This little garland is another easy to make. Use a fat needle to poke through the poms and plain old thread, doubled up, You can space out yer poms but I like them really close together. 

I just grabbbed my pom poms all willy nilly with no plan, but this might be a great way for working on patterns with your kiddos and yes, fingers do get pricked. I haven't tried a darning needle but they may work and keep fingers ouch free. 

I did not tie off my ends as the poms don't slippy slip too much. You can tie off your ends by looping around the first and the last pom or maybe use a button or small bead. 

happy stringing! 

ten garlands in ten days: paper chain hearts

Not one to waste a lovely sheet of painted newspaper, I managed to use up almost every bit in this newest round of ten garlands. With a few snips of the scissors you can create a nifty chain of paper hearts. Grab a length of painted paper and accordion fold it four or five times. Once folded, draw a heart that extends to all edges of the paper. Kinda like a top part of a heart and a bottom part of a heart. I am sorry I do not have photos here for ya...lemme see if I can find something on the internets....oooh, like this! 

ten garlands in ten day: amaranth blossoms

I found a jar of amaranth tea at an asian market in Los Angeles (well...more like blossoms, not tea but it was in the tea section). The jar was pretty as were the dried blossoms inside and I scooped it up lickety split! When I was planning this garland-fest, I thought the blossoms would look extra pretty all strung up on strng and so I grabbed a needle and thin silver thread (found at my fabric store) and whiiped up this bit of pretty. 

 You could probably use any sturdy dried blossom for this. Even the the amarath blossoms were pretty sturdy, I still managed to decimate a handful while jabbng a pointy needle into them.

I also brewed a cup of tea. Even without any sense of smell it was delightful with a smidgey-smidge of honey! It's also good for you! 

You can find amaranth tea or blossoms or even blossoming tea online. Enjoy! 

ten garlands in ten days: bead easy

This garland is super simple yet packs a colorful punch! The best part is it can be done while chilling out witha favorite flick or handed over to your kiddos to do. 

Mostly made of plastic pony beads, this garland uses yarn to string on along with a darning needle that has a large eye. If you use embroidery floss instead, you'll probably be able to use more beads froma bucket assortment. I picked up my bucket of beads many years ago from Michael's.

So, dump your beads into a bowl or tray, grab a length of yarn or embroidery floss, a needle with a large eye and get to it! You might need a needle threader to get the yarn onto the needle. I used a scrap piece of paper in lieu of a threader (kinda like this). If your a doing this with a child (older than four please) a shoelace might make a better bet and stick with large pony beads.