One Year Blogaversary!

I can't believe we've hit the one year mark already! This year has been a whirlwind. We started this blog exactly a year ago (under the name e plus l) and have learned so much. I've definitely become more comfortable with talking about our blog in the real world, and would even dare to call myself a blogger - out loud, to real live human beings! When we started out, we were still living in the dorms, and blogging was so much more difficult. This apartment has made a world of difference! We would take our photos out on the deck because our dungeon-esque rooms had such terrible light, but then were so bashful about taking pictures when there were other people around! Oh, how times have changed. Now we just march out to the middle of the street to take some quick shots.

I like to look back at some of our earliest posts - our content, photography, everything has been quite the learning process. I can say for sure that I am incredibly thankful that we started a clover & a bee! At first, it was a bit overwhelming. Trying to balance school, work and then the blog was a bit much at first, until we realized that the whole point was for it to be enjoyable! That's when it turned into more of a creative outlet instead of another time commitment, and has been so much better.

Here's to 2014, and another year of blogging! We've appreciated everyone's encouraging words along the way. We love you all. And Happy New Year!

- a clover & a bee

I can't believe we've hit the one year mark already! This year has been a whirlwind. We started this blog exactly a year ago (under the name e plus l) and have learned so much. I've definitely become more comfortable with talking about our blog in the real world, and would even dare to call myself a blogger - out loud, to real live human beings! When we started out, we were still living in the dorms, and blogging was so much more difficult. This apartment has made a world of difference! We would take our photos out on the deck because our dungeon-esque rooms had such terrible light, but then were so bashful about taking pictures when there were other people around! Oh, how times have changed. Now we just march out to the middle of the street to take some quick shots.

I like to look back at some of our earliest posts - our content, photography, everything has been quite the learning process. I can say for sure that I am incredibly thankful that we started a clover & a bee! At first, it was a bit overwhelming. Trying to balance school, work and then the blog was a bit much at first, until we realized that the whole point was for it to be enjoyable! That's when it turned into more of a creative outlet instead of another time commitment, and has been so much better.

Here's to 2014, and another year of blogging! We've appreciated everyone's encouraging words along the way. We love you all. And Happy New Year!

- a clover & a bee

DIY glitter star wrapping paper

Ah, the Christmas season is here! I seem to feel differently about it depending on the day.. some days I am excited, some days I am pretty indifferent, and others I am panicking and trying to figure out gifts. Luckily though I had the perfect idea for wrapping gifts this year. I gathered up some craft paper, mod podge, and gold glitter and got to work. I first cut the amount of craft paper that I needed to wrap my moms gift with. I created a stencil by cutting a star out of a cereal box. Using a sponge, I applied the mod podge inside my stencil in a regular pattern on my craft paper. I sprinkled glitter onto my stars as I went. After letting it dry I wrapped it up and tied a bow with ribbon! It turned out so cute! Definitely the cutest wrapped gift I have ever created. Warning though... your hands will be messy by the time you are finished!! How are you wrapping your gifts this year? -a clover & a bee

Ah, the Christmas season is here! I seem to feel differently about it depending on the day.. some days I am excited, some days I am pretty indifferent, and others I am panicking and trying to figure out gifts. Luckily though I had the perfect idea for wrapping gifts this year. I gathered up some craft paper, mod podge, and gold glitter and got to work. I first cut the amount of craft paper that I needed to wrap my moms gift with. I created a stencil by cutting a star out of a cereal box. Using a sponge, I applied the mod podge inside my stencil in a regular pattern on my craft paper. I sprinkled glitter onto my stars as I went. After letting it dry I wrapped it up and tied a bow with ribbon! It turned out so cute! Definitely the cutest wrapped gift I have ever created. Warning though... your hands will be messy by the time you are finished!! How are you wrapping your gifts this year? -a clover & a bee

Our favorite crafts recap

In an attempt to inspire our creative sides and to celebrate our blog's six month birthday (it was on July 1... oops), we have decided to review some of our favorite crafts we have done so far on a clover & a bee!  Bleach Dipped Plaid Button Up- we got really excited about bleach for awhile there...My dorm smelled constantly of bleach. This bleach dipped plaid shirt turned out really well and we got a good laugh because people thought that I was pregnant due to some odd camera angles...

Glitter Dipped Mason Jars- we love all things shiny and involving mason jars (usually) so making a glitter dipped mason jar seemed inevitable. We loved the ways it turned out-Our toothbrushes look so fancy in it! Bleach Dipped Levi Shorts-Its true, we pretty much live in our Levi shorts. Thus the need to own several pairs that look slightly different so we experimented with bleach and added a few studs. Cute right? Cat Print Dress-We don't own a cat and may be slightly allergic, but cats are just to cute to leave out of the crafting fun. we used an apple to print little cat heads all over one of our dresses and love the way it turned out. Heart Print Table Cloth- During our Valentines themed week we made our own heart print table cloth using, you guessed it, an apple! This process of printing is our new favorite. Embroidered Cocktail Napkins- Wiping your face is so much more fun when wiping it with cute fabric with adorable phrases hand stitched into them. Its true, this is a real testimony. This was such a simple DIY for making your table just a little cuter. Crochet Skirt- In the winter we lived in these crochet skirts! They are adorable paired with a big chunky sweater and some tights. Turns out they are also pretty simple to make (that is if you have atleast some sewing experience!) Here is to another six months (and then some) of crafting! Hope you guys are having fun with us! - Leah and Erin

In an attempt to inspire our creative sides and to celebrate our blog's six month birthday (it was on July 1... oops), we have decided to review some of our favorite crafts we have done so far on a clover & a bee!  Bleach Dipped Plaid Button Up- we got really excited about bleach for awhile there...My dorm smelled constantly of bleach. This bleach dipped plaid shirt turned out really well and we got a good laugh because people thought that I was pregnant due to some odd camera angles...

Glitter Dipped Mason Jars- we love all things shiny and involving mason jars (usually) so making a glitter dipped mason jar seemed inevitable. We loved the ways it turned out-Our toothbrushes look so fancy in it! Bleach Dipped Levi Shorts-Its true, we pretty much live in our Levi shorts. Thus the need to own several pairs that look slightly different so we experimented with bleach and added a few studs. Cute right? Cat Print Dress-We don't own a cat and may be slightly allergic, but cats are just to cute to leave out of the crafting fun. we used an apple to print little cat heads all over one of our dresses and love the way it turned out. Heart Print Table Cloth- During our Valentines themed week we made our own heart print table cloth using, you guessed it, an apple! This process of printing is our new favorite. Embroidered Cocktail Napkins- Wiping your face is so much more fun when wiping it with cute fabric with adorable phrases hand stitched into them. Its true, this is a real testimony. This was such a simple DIY for making your table just a little cuter. Crochet Skirt- In the winter we lived in these crochet skirts! They are adorable paired with a big chunky sweater and some tights. Turns out they are also pretty simple to make (that is if you have atleast some sewing experience!) Here is to another six months (and then some) of crafting! Hope you guys are having fun with us! - Leah and Erin

glitter dipped mason jar diy

The moving process continues! It feels as though things are slowly coming together. Little decorations pop up here and there even though there are still big blank walls and open spaces left. Over the weekend we made this little glitter dipped mason Jar for my toothbrush. Erin already had spray painted hers, so we wanted to make one that matched.

You'll Need: Mod Podge, painters tape, glitter, a mason jar, a paint brush, and a small bowl.





This ended up being incredibly easy to make. All we did was put a ring of tape around the outside of the jar and mix up a bowl of mod podge and glitter (this prevents you from getting glitter all over your house...). We then painted on the glitter glue mixture, peeled off the tape, and turned it upside down to dry. We think it ended up being really cute! And they look so good next to each other in our bathroom.

We can't wait to see what little decorations we'll think of next. We'll be sure to share them!

-e plus l

The moving process continues! It feels as though things are slowly coming together. Little decorations pop up here and there even though there are still big blank walls and open spaces left. Over the weekend we made this little glitter dipped mason Jar for my toothbrush. Erin already had spray painted hers, so we wanted to make one that matched.

You'll Need: Mod Podge, painters tape, glitter, a mason jar, a paint brush, and a small bowl.





This ended up being incredibly easy to make. All we did was put a ring of tape around the outside of the jar and mix up a bowl of mod podge and glitter (this prevents you from getting glitter all over your house...). We then painted on the glitter glue mixture, peeled off the tape, and turned it upside down to dry. We think it ended up being really cute! And they look so good next to each other in our bathroom.

We can't wait to see what little decorations we'll think of next. We'll be sure to share them!

-e plus l

Glitter Peter Pan Collar DIY

We have already posted a Peter Pan Collar DIY with doilies but when we saw this DIY for Glitter Peter Pan Collars, well, we just had to do it. We were so inspired it literally jumped to the front of our to do list as well as to the top of our list of scheduled posts.




And here is the finished product- along with some outfit pictures from today. Erin is also wearing the crochet skirt we made a couple weeks ago.








We absolutely love how it turned out! Thanks for the inspiration Armommy! (Armommy is a blog that Leah has been following for awhile. They post really cute DIY's as well as other things. If you haven't heard of them before you should probably check them out) You can get the full DIY with instructions and pictures on their blog.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway!

 -e+l.

We have already posted a Peter Pan Collar DIY with doilies but when we saw this DIY for Glitter Peter Pan Collars, well, we just had to do it. We were so inspired it literally jumped to the front of our to do list as well as to the top of our list of scheduled posts.




And here is the finished product- along with some outfit pictures from today. Erin is also wearing the crochet skirt we made a couple weeks ago.








We absolutely love how it turned out! Thanks for the inspiration Armommy! (Armommy is a blog that Leah has been following for awhile. They post really cute DIY's as well as other things. If you haven't heard of them before you should probably check them out) You can get the full DIY with instructions and pictures on their blog.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway!

 -e+l.