zombie houses

Last night I had one of my zombie dreams. It was one of those dreams where I was thinking and dreaming at the same time. I was thinking about a great treehouse design. The house was built in a huge tree and was big enough to house several people. The only way from the ground was to climb up a rope.

Zombies can't climb trees, that's what my dream was about. It got me thinking about tree houses you could live in, or other kinds of houses that might be good in a zombie apocalypse, that you don't see so often. Like great houseboats, or stilt houses or, the obvious choice, island homes.

Sources: 1. 2. 3.* 4. 5. 6.

Those stilt houses look a little broken up, but you get the idea. You should definitely check out the link to the island house, it's absolutely gorgeous. And, who wouldn't want to live in a treehouse, just because? 

I've always been fascinated by tree houses in particular. When I was younger I used to watch Extreme Homes on HGTV. They feature all kinds of unusual houses like these, and I remember one episode (though maybe it was different program) where they talked exclusively about amazing tree homes around the world. 

I sure hope I'm not the only weirdo thinking about the perfect post-zombie apocalypse house. Let me know I'm not alone! :)

-A.

*I do not have a source for this photo, I just found it on Google image search....

simple crafts: glitter critters

These adorable little guys are another part of my DIY Christmas. I found these wooden critters at Michael's for $2 a piece.

For this cute fish I used Martha Stewart Crafts Glitter paint in Smokey Quartz and Aquamarine. I like this paint because so far it seems as though the glitter sticks pretty well. Since I'll be giving these creatures to my five-year-old niece, I wanted to be sure the glitter wouldn't be flaking off all over my sister's house. So far, the paint seems pretty solid once it dries. 

 For the snake, I used the same Martha Stewart aqua glitter paint (which is more green than teal), but first I did a green wash by mixing a little of the green paint (that came with the wooden snake) with water and coating the wood. I let that dry thoroughly before adding the glitter paint. 

The glitter paint requires several coats to create the glitter coverage you see on the fish and the snake. The fish especially because I didn't paint the wood first. I probably did ten coats there, to ensure the wood was completely covered. I found dabbing it on worked better than brushing.

I did the same thing for the gecko as for the snake, except that I used red paint that came with the kit and the smokey quartz glitter paint. I decided for this guy to use the glitter paint only on the head, legs and back of the body and not to do so many coats. I liked the way the red looked.

It was a really simple handmade project which I think makes a great gift for little ones! It'd be great to do with kids, too.

And how cute are they?

Peace & love,
-A.

the burlap wreath

I'm pretty jazzed about this post. I do plan on doing a tutorial in the next few weeks, along with the first ever l'élan jolie giveaway, so stay tuned for that! 

This particular wreath I made for my mother for my DIY Christmas (like this scarf, for my niece!). It was really easy and the result is beautiful (if I do say so, myself!). I got the idea from this wreath which I posted about here.

Burlap wreaths seem to be the thing right now and it's easy to see why. They're so simple and so rustic and lovely.

I'm excited to show you how I made mine! It came together easier than I anticipated. The trickiest part was definitely positioning the flowers. I let them sit on the wreath a while before I committed to permanently affixing them. I could make a million of these, it was so much fun.

Check back in the coming weeks for the step-by-step and the chance to win a wreath of your own :)

Peace & love,
-A.

fry fail

Here's a really good example of why "winging it" is not always the best way to cook. This past weekend I tried to make some baked carrot and sweet potato fries. I'm not sure where I went wrong, but they started getting a little blackened before they came anywhere near being crispy fries.

I set my oven to 425 degrees. I cut up the sweet potatoes and carrots very thinly, as uniformly as possible. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper (we don't have non-stick baking sheets, though maybe I should pick some up?). I drizzled with a little olive oil. I baked for like 40 minutes, turning them over a couple times.

Here is a really great simple recipe for baked sweet potato fries that I probably should've looked up before attempting (though, in my defense, it seems tough to screw this up). I have more sweet potatoes so I will definitely be attempting this again.

It seems my biggest error was an over crowded pan. I'm super impatient so I didn't want to do two batches. Also, the recipe I linked says to cover the fries evenly with oil, which I did not do, and heat to 450 degrees, and not to use parchment paper because it will burn. Which it did.

So there you have it. Sometimes I'm wrong. But at least I admit when I am! :) You can trust me!

The not-fries were still yummy, though. They just turned out to be like, roasted carrots and sweet potatoes (imagine!). I've been having them for lunch at work, along with the chickpeas I made. Pretty satisfying.

Peace & love,
-A.