Do It Yourself (DIY) and Home Decor are a Blogger's Essential

It is very apparent that Do It Yourself (DIY) postings are a blogger's essential go to, especially to get their blog seen. Even though it's an over-saturated market, I've decided that I'll be postings tidbits of DIY/Vegan & Vegetarian Recipes/Home Decor.  I almost want to refer to them as "Ballin' on a Budget" because I do not make a ton of money for DIY projects. But DIY projects are typically inexpensive, or at least the the ones that I've completed have been. And they are fulfilling.

Some of my attempts so far:

Most of the items I've purchased have either been from Michael's on deep, deep sale or from Thrift Stores in the area of Raleigh, NC.  The vase in the picture above was provided by my best friend's wedding!  Both small trees, butterflies, all vase fillings, wall decor, and lantern came from Michael's on sale.  They were a great deal! The whole ordeal (which decorated my living room and bathroom) cost just over $45 dollars.  The candle holder, which I've had nearly 2 years and just now put LED candles in, is from Habitat for Humanity: ReStore. It's a wonderful addition to the bedroom!

The bed spread set was actually a very good steal from Ollie's Bargain Outlet!  The original set cost over $250 (according to the Kohl's website) and my boyfriend and I ended up finding it at Ollie's for $59.99. It came with all the pillows, pillow cases, bed skirt, and comforter.  It just so happened that I already had light blue sheets and blue and brown go great together!

My Next Project 

I've very excited about my next DIY project.  I'm going to "upcycle" some photo frames. It's not really going to be upcycling because I'm going to purchase them new and simply paint them to the color of my walls.  The photo below is going to be similar to what I'm going to do, just on a smaller scale. I don't need that many pictures hanging on the walls of our apartment!  I'm actually going to hang pictures in the frames, so it will be a bit different than the scale below, but it will be similar in style. 

Sourced from: Picture Perfect: Hanging a Wall Collage by Lauren Conrad

New Modeling Pictures & Some Interesting Design

This weekend I got to shoot with Brittney Bergstrom Photography again and naturally she captured some very beautiful photos.  When I saw some of them, I got the itch to get back into some design work.  Below are the photos I edited and links to the tutorials I used. I do not have formal training in Photoshop, so these are my first attempts. (Make it to the bottom and there's an introduction to my cat!)

This photo and tutorial were the ones from which I worked. 

Photoshop Splatter / dispersion photomanipulation Tutorial - Eric Schaap

This one was a sort of "on the fly," figuring out the pen tool again. It's been quite a few years since I've done actual creative work in Photoshop. 

I'm not super happy with this one at all. I'll be redoing it, but like I said, these were the first attempts at these styles. 

Tutorial Video: Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make Lightning! -HD- - RiverCityGraphix

Mewman's Clog: 
A few people have told me and so has the internet, that cats rule on the lines. So in light of that, going forward, every other post I will be including "Mewman's Clog" (that's Cat Blog, if you were curious.)  Every other post will be body work out progress. But as this is his first clog post, I will be using it as an introduction!

Without further ado, I'd like to introduce everyone to Chicory Cosmo Toothless "Mewman" Radley, Mewman for short. ;)  Mewman is a 4 year old handsome little domestic short hair who's favorite thing to do is... well... mew. That's how he got his "name."   He loves being an only cat and really does not like other animals. He takes a long time to warm up to new hoomans, but I like him. He cuddles a lot and greets me at the door every day when I get home from work.  He's my favorite little dude.  He has been married once, to a lovely little lady named Boo (get it... Boo Radley?) but she actually wasn't very nice and neither was her mom. I'm glad they're divorced now.

I'll have updates on him as we go. He's not very... cat interesting. But we'll make something up. ;)