A random collection of crafts, costume ideas, recipes, and other miscellaneous nonsense.

When I was searching for an outdoor wedding location in 2012, it was difficult for me to find many of the locations that were near Columbia, SC that could host the wedding and reception. I found a few lists on different wedding websites like the Knot, and decoration ideas on Pinterest , but most of the actual locations I found were from general searches and driving around. I thought it would be useful for Columbia brides to have a list of outdoor wedding spaces available, so I bookmarked everything for later use. If you are just looking for a reception area, you can still look through the links below. These are in no particular order. The links are included for the locations that do have websites, so you can view the galleries and features. Dupre Catering hosts 3 venues. They have The Hall and Wedding Garden , 300 Senate , and The Manor House . I believe you have to use their catering for these venues. I drove by and looked in 300 Senate and the exposed beams and paper lantern...

 My dog can be a bit of a maniac when it comes to his toys. He often won't sleep until we find his stuffed dog for him to cuddle with. He goes crazy over frisbees and soccer balls. Whenever we throw toys for my Shih Tzu to fetch, he undoubtedly will run into a wall. I finally compiled a short video of his craziness.

Want to make some extra cash during those bored moments when you're in the elevator or a doctor's waiting room? Yes, there is an app for that. There are actually many apps for that. I've had the iSecretShop app on my phone for months now, and i've yet to find a secret shop available near me to make even a dime off of the app. I decided to search for other apps that might pay out, and do a test for a week or two to see which (if any) are successful. I started out going by this infographic from topapps.net: The one I was most interested in was App Trailers, but unfortunately that one is no longer available in the Apple app store. It appears to still be available in the Android market, so I may try that one on my husbands phone. Some of the app reviews had less stars than this infographic shows. I focused on apps that pay through Paypal and only tried to only get the ones with 4 stars or more. One or two of the ones i'm trying currently have 3.5 stars in the App...

When I was planning my wedding, I was constantly researching decorations, invitations, and other little things that could show a part of my husband and I. As I've reviewed different parts of my wedding and those i've attended with friends that are planning their upcoming nuptials, I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to write a few wedding posts. My mind tends to get muddled and I go off from one topic to the next, so I apologize if this gets out of order. I'll bypass the norms for now, and give some examples for what may not be mentioned as often.  For someone who has lost a parent or loved one, they tend to want to have them in their wedding somehow. Here are a few examples of how to honor and include your deceased love one in your special day: - Place a rose on a reserved chair in the front row (you can add a tag saying "In Memory of") - Have a photo with a lit candle in front of it at the reception, or at the alter. If you have more than one lost...

We've always hated our gold brass chandelier, but haven't had the money to buy a new one. When at a friends house recently, I saw that she had spray painted  a similar chandelier for her baby's room.  I love the nickel finish, but as we have black furniture in our dining room, and had black spray paint on hand, we went with black. I read some reviews online of people that hung the chandelier from a tree to paint it. We had some empty boxes in the attic so my husband decided to make his own spray paint chandelier holder.   As you can see, he removed the bulbs and used painters tape around the bulb holders. He painted the bulb cylinders silver.  We may change our mind and go silver but for now its a heck of a lot better than the brass it was before!

I'm planning a Roaring 20s party for my upcoming birthday and I'm making most of the decorations. When cleaning out the attic recently, my husband found this really old door mirror. He was ready to throw it out but I saw potential! I didn't take a before picture because it was just.. Ew..and I wanted to clean it right away. Stick on letters are best, but since I didn't have any I just made my own letters out of construction paper and taped them down.  I sprayed frosted glass spray then removed the letters after it dried. Some of the spray went under the paper so I used nail polish remover to wipe the letter spaces clean. Next I covered the mirror with paper to spray the frame black.  I'm very happy with how it turned out. Since we had all supplies on hand we didn't spend a dime and got a great decoration for the party!

Shur-line touch up painter is a great find! There was an old brand I saw on Pinterest a while back that was no longer being sold. The only place I could find it was on Amazon and it was ridiculously overpriced! When I saw these at Lowes recently I bought 3! They worked pretty well. You fill up the paint color you want for retouching and after using it, you can cap it and store it for the next time it's needed!