I'm on a DIY Role.

Last night I spent a good chuck of my time making mental notes about what projects I was itching to take on. This Bower Power tutorial was near the top, just because I have a jar of sea shells Brett and I collected on our visit to Tybee Beach. Those shells are special because it was my first visit to the ocean and the first visit Brett and I had together.

Look at those piggers!

Ok, back to the point. Since I live in Iowa there was no way I could get an actual sand dollar let alone murder some like Katie did :) so I visited the next best thing...Michael's. I found the shadow box frame on sale for $4.99, I didn't even need a coupon! Instead of using paper as the background for mine I used burlap. Michael's had a 9 yard roll for $4.00. The one thing Michael's didn't have was a sand dollar which was fine really because I'm more of a star fish kind of gal. The following is how I put my sea themed frame together (sorry there aren't any pictures, I didn't think of making this a tutorial until after I made it).

1. Find your shadow box. I wanted one that was perfectly square but Michael's didn't have any so I settled for a 5 x 7 frame. It was $4.99 who could turn that down?
2. Choose your background. I really like the idea of using burlap to add texture and I think it has more of a beachy feel to it.
3. Choose your sea critter. I remember when Michael's had sea horses and a large array of sea friends. The only ones I saw there today were sea fingers (what I bought), star fish, coral, and shells.
4. Make sure your critter fits in your shadow box. This is very important. I thought Seth (I named my sea friend Seth fyi) would fit in his box but I was wrong. So very wrong. I ended up having to cut a chunk of one of his arms off and filing two more to get him to fit.
5. Cut strips of burlap off your roll. I just cut it to make sure it covered the back of the frame. I then used my hot glue gun and stuck the material on. Now my burlap was woven very loosely so I did this two more times to make sure you couldn't see anything other than material.
6. Place your new sea friend in his new home, close up the back of the frame and admire.

Here is how mine turned out (sorry for the not so great pictures).

I love the burlap as a back drop for this.

I love these two together. I just need to get some sand for the jar o'shells.

I also returned a Christmas present for a set of 3 cube shelves. I have always wanted a set of these and since they were the exact price of the present I was returning I figured it was fate. There is a picture of them just laying on my table.

The boy hasn't hung these up yet but I'm hopping this will happen tonight.

I have been working on my Palindrome Scarf for my good friend Steve. Palindrome is a cabled scarf, but I absolutely love it because it is reversible. Yep. No unattractive side that has to be hidden. It's just all awesome cable on both sides. I was hopping to have the scarf done by tonight but I haven't even picked it up today. By the way Steve's girlfriend Christa is also a blogger, much better than me, I assure you of that.

Aww there they are. Maybe Steve can borrow her scarf until I finish his?