It's too hot to play...

Seriously.

 

It's hot.

 

I sort of wish my boys were here so I didn't look so foolish running through the sprinklers by myself.

 

Okay.

 

I didn't really do that, but I did find something else to do!

 

It's been the weekend of SEWING projects.

 

See, my sewing machine has a short power cord.

 

So I pull the kitchen table over closer to the outlet.

 

Which is also RIGHT NEXT TO THE AIR VENT!

 

Score me!!!

 

So, what did I sew?

 

A quilt top... but it's too hot to quilt it right now.  Nothing says "Heat Exhaustion" like holding a quilt on your lap when it's over 100 degrees outside. So instead it's hanging on my banister just waiting for a cool day or a long drive.

 

 

Some new... uhhh... I don't know what they're called.  They hold my curtains back.

 

 

 

 

A "couch" runner... which if you have children and your couch back is open to the dining room table and right next to the back door will save you tons in cleaning... because every time they got up from the table or came in from outside they would run their hands along the back of my new pretty grown up couch.  I was NOT impressed.   So, I made this removable, washable, kid friendly piece of insurance.

 



 

 

And my favorite... runners for my new living room tables...

 

 

Seriously, my favorite.

 

It's weird that a small piece of fabric can put a smile on my face.  It's not just the fabric... it's all of it. 

 

Now that our basement is finished, and we have a great family room for the boys to be boys in, I can finally have a PRETTY adult space. 

 

And it's exactly what I want.  I spent ages shopping for the perfect couch, months for tables... and now, it's the little things that are falling into place.  I still need lamps and one more small table for next to the couch, but it's almost done... and it's perfect.

 

 

Furniture Shopping!!

So, Mark and I have been shopping around for proper living room furniture for a while now.

This weekend, we took advantage of the holiday weekend sales, and bought some real grown-up living room furniture.

Well... not exactly grown-up... still kid friendly, and a little slightly bohemian accent thrown in for good measure. 

The medium grey in the lower right is the couch and chair color... and the brown in the upper left is for a leather recliner.  The others are all accents... and even though it looks a little flat, the lower left is a chenille rich olive green.

Now, I need to figure out tables and coffee tables and lamps. 

It won't be delivered until April, so I have some time.  And I feel some serious crafting should be involved! 

A New Simple Canvas...

 

Okay, so the idea has been floating around the internet world for awhile, but I finally sat down and made one this year!

 

Just simple folded hearts... and then the two dictionary page hearts are layered for added dimension. 

 

 

So simple and quick, and I love it so much, it might stay up even AFTER V-day is over!

Weekend Creative

I've started to hang the collection I've made so far for my "Quote Wall" in the basement.

 It's still a work in progress... pictures to come later. 

As I was hanging what I've put together so far, I found there was small 5x7ish hole that I needed to be fill in the current arrangement.

Saturday, I made this little chipboard sign to hang in it. 

It was so quick and easy, and by far my favorite thing on the wall so far!

I used spray adhesive to adhere the "uncommon" page from a dictionary to a piece of chipboard.  The red letter stickers are My Minds Eye, and the blue "uncommon" is just card stock cut on my cameo.  I used Old Paper and Pumice stone distress stains to age the paper a little... and left the definition of uncommon lighter.

Oh, and because I wanted it to hang by a ribbon, I hot glued a button to the nail's head to it would be decorative and cute!

DONE!  And did I mention it was CHEAP??  Gotta love home decorations that cost you less than pennies!

A Pinterest Project

 Oh, Pinterest... I love thee.  lol

What?  You don't know what pinterest is??  It's many things... crack for crafters as far as I'm concerned. 

Need a good recipe??  Best place to search. 

Want to remember that thing you saw so that after you finish your other 50 million started projects, you can have a visual reminder??  DONE.

And that is where this lovely came from.

It's actually one of the first things I pinned!

It was originally done on metal... with beautiful rusted aging.

Mark would have hated it.  lol.

It's been coming together in my head for ages now.

I bought the canvas last fall.

It's 18x24. 

And it's actually a rich brown tinted grey.

And since I couldn't get away with hanging a rusted piece of metal on our bedroom wall, I had to distress the canvas. 

First I painted the canvas a streaky creamy white with raw umber highlights.  Just enough to give it a little worn/aged look.

Then I planned everything out on my Cameo, cut the letters out of vinyl, and placed them. 

I mixed up some paint until I got the color grey I wanted, and painted over the whole thing... adding some streaks of the raw umber again.

Once dry, I peeled off the vinyl, revealing the white underneath.  And then I went to town with some sandpaper, and of course, some Tim Holtz distress ink. 

You can't quiet see in the picture, because I was too lazy to pull out my REAL camera, lol, and used my phone, but it's totally worn looking... like an old pair of jeans. 

And it's possibly one of my favorite projects. 

Backyard Swing Gets Updated!

My parents gave me a porch swing for my birthday soon after Evan was born.

That first summer, I spent many many hours rocking him on that swing.

Each summer, it looked a little rougher, until three years ago, when it was so threadbare, my husband told me he was taking it to the dump.

I begged him not to, I thought I would be able to find a new cushion for it. 

Uhhh, No.

It was not a standard size or shape. 

But I couldn't bare to just toss it.  So I took a razor to it, and took the threadbare seat cushion off.  I left the back, it was in pretty good shape. 

That left me with a great mesh base on the seat, but it was uglier than all get out (and a little uncomfortable on the backside!).

So I planned and measured, and debated and figured.

And I came up with the simplest idea on the planet. 

That was two summers ago... My original slip cover was looking a little faded and worn... and a few moths or other creatures had decided it was a great winter snack, so this morning when Ryan and I were wandering the aisle of Joanns, and we spotted a great orange canvas remnant... I was ALL over it!


It was just about a foot to short, but I still had some cream canvas from another project at home...

And I must say, I love it. 

It's pretty simple, really... just a flat slip cover.   It just takes a few straight hem stitches around the edges, then some twill tape attached to each corners, plus where the back meets the seat, and two pieces along the top and the bottom (a few years ago, I attached some D rings to the frame that the middle pieces tie to).  

Two years ago, I went all out and made a "pillow" for the seat using some clearance batting, this year however, I just used some old pillows that were pretty close to being thrown out. 

This way, they can be brought in and washed, I can take them off in the winter and store them, etc.

After I put the bright orange on it, I decided one day this summer, I'm going to spray paint the frame... maybe a deep brown??  Dunno... but something... maybe... if the wind ever stops blowing!

A Crafting Break

So, this weekend, after scrapping for almost 72 hours with just two short 4 hour breaks for sleep, we needed to venture out of the craft room for a little bit.

So, uhhh, we took over the garage.

Because what to scrapbookers do when they need a break?

They put pretty paper on wood.

Duh. 

Earlier that day we had stopped by the grand opening of the new Wood Connection in American Fork, and they had some adorable spring crafts. So even though we had planned on ONLY scrapping... in fact Andrea was trying to finish a HUGE scrap project (over 200 pictures)... we all agreed that it would be a good distraction! 

So, here are the cute little birds I made... the lighter one actually has sheet music on it.    They make me happy. 

A Blank Canvas

Okay, well, it's not blank anymore.

When we purchased (I'm still in shock over this) a dresser set for our master, I needed a place to put my beautiful red linen chest (Ikea beauty), so I moved it into our living room.

Against the Giant Wall.  (Need a reminder?)

The problem was that it left this weird gap.

And I wasn't about to take everything down and re-position.

I have family pictures IN the cabinet, on the window frame (yeah, yeah, still haven't printed a picture of me for the top right corner), and just out of sight of this picture is a family picture on the hearth. 

So no pictures.

I wanted something... solid.  Grounding.  Something in the "Umber" category. 

So I pulled out a bunch of my wooden African pieces, picked out the phrase, and went to town. 

So I ended up with this:

We like it.

I finished it!!

I pinned something similar to this ages ago... but couldn't find the motivation, until Mark and I purchased the most beautiful piece of furniture we've bought our entire married life. 

Now I've decided it's time to focus some decorating energy in our bedroom!  (Seriously, the only thing on our walls are some abstracts I asked Evan to paint for me when he was 4.) 

I found the & at Hobby Lobby several months ago and used a coupon... so it was a HUGE purchase at $3.50.  Almost broke the bank.

When I bought it, I thought I was going to paint it.  Never been a tarnished gold type.

But then, I put it next to the dark wood of the bed, and realized it popped more than pewter or silver. 

Then the search for the smaller letters began.  Nothing was really what I wanted... and I thought about special ordering them or having someone cut them for me, but that was either too expensive or too labor intensive (oh the sanding!). 

Then I found these (almost) perfect letters at Hobby Lobby... they were a little bigger than my plan originally called for, but I liked the simple font, and THEY WERE ON SALE!   ($1.25 for each letter)

I painted them a base of raw umber, then a light wash of jet black, that I used a paper towel to splotch off (splotch is a real painting term, I'm sure of it).  They ended up pretty much the same color as the bed!

But I wanted them to pop just a little more, so I stamped each one with a little bit of blingly metallic ink.

Not too shabby for a $10 piece of art!! 

Oh, I love DIY!



Give Thanks

Last weekend, because I was trying desperately to catch the craft bug so I could finish some Christmas Gifts, I decided that I needed MORE Thanksgiving decor.

And by "MORE", I mean I have none and needed SOMETHING.

So, I went down to the craft room, pushed the pile-o-crap that I have yet to put away after a weekend scrapping at my friend's house in mid-October, and closed my eyes.

Where to start? 

Hmmmm. 

I started with where I wanted to display it.

There was a bare spot above the fireplace where I had hung my bunting.

What?  I never posted a picture of the bunting I hung where one day I will put a mantel??  

It was another "Get in the mood" project.  I made it out of leftovers from a quilt I made ages ago instead of sewing Ryan's Halloween costume (which I EVENTUALLY finished).

Here:

Okay, so see that spot of wall in the middle??  Yeah.  It's BORING.

So I pulled out my coluzzle, because I'm not as cool as some people who have electronic cutters.  I'm OLD SCHOOL!

Sorry... off topic.

Anyway, I thought I'd use up some scrap paper, so I cut a few hearts with my old school tools.  I distressed them with some TIM products... and then added my lettering.  MM stamps for "thanks" and BG letter stickers for "give" (with a little glossy accent for dimension).  Used some Tim Stain (oh, wait, it's called DISTRESS STAIN!) to age a couple of clothes pins, and TA-DA!!!!!

Shhhhh... don't tell anyone, but I haven't finished the gifts yet.

A Pinterest Inspired Sign

So, awhile ago I saw THIS:

Source: Nanny Goat

And, just like the blogger I hijacked the idea from, I NEEDED it for my oldest's room.

Evan is such an awesome big brother, I couldn't think of anything more fitting!


So, I found a board, used MS Publisher to layout the type, and then asked my darling friend Robyn to cut the letters on her Pazzle for me.


It was my first vinyl project, but I had to go all out... after all... just like the sb page I posted a few days ago, the emotion behind the quote translated into the fact it had to be PERFECT!

So, rather than putting vinyl on a painted board, I wanted to mask it, to give a distressed look... really go all out. 


So, after prepping the board with a combination of dry brushing and white washing, Robyn came over and helped me lay the vinyl letters (way more fun than I thought it would be!). 

When we walked upstairs and showed the unfinished board to the husbands, I'm pretty sure they thought we were nuts to be THAT excited.  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  Robyn used scrap vinyl for the letters, so it was black and brown on a streaky grey/black board, and was NOT impressive (unless you could imagine it as it was in my head)!

We went into the garage and slapped a REALLY quick, thin coat of glossy latex cherry red paint over the top, and pealed off the letters.  I got more and more excited as every letter came off.

I had to make myself walk away so it could continue to dry. 

Now, a week later, I finally finished the distressing, and hung it in Evan's room....

Just a Peak...

Last weekend, my friend Robyn cut some vinyl for me.

It was my very first vinyl project.

And, being me, I couldn't just slap some vinyl on a board and call it good!

First, I painted the board white... then I dry brushed it.

THEN I used the vinyl she cut as a mask.

Then I brushed a thin coat of glossy, cherry red paint on.

And the black just barely peeked through.

Right now it's in my garage drying... this week, I will finish distressing it and post a FULL picture!

For now though, this is all you get!

A Little Extra Time

Well, thanks to my two little buggies... I had some extra time off from work this week. 

And nap time was VERY productive!!  (Okay, he didn't really nap, but I made him lay down and watch a movie for quiet time, lol!)

AND LOOK WHAT I DID!!!!!!

It's my first "mixed media" canvas.

It was a lot of fun... Very very therapeutic.  And when I screwed up... very easy to fix (well, all but that slightly crooked rub-on... dag nab it!) by just throwing more layers on!  It was definitely a learning experience!  Loved trying different tools to spread the modge podge and paint (fingers of course were my favorite).  Also loved mixing and layering the colors to get the feel I wanted. 

TOO MUCH FUN!

It's not as "embellished" as some of the other pieces I've seen around, but hey, I tend to be sort of simple and clean in all my crafty adventure, and I will have to plan out my next one a little more... seeing as how my supplies were limited to what I had on hand due to "quiet time" crafting.

After setting it up with my little fall pumpkins, I think I want to add one more word up in the top left corner...

Thoughts?

So Satisfied.

I love Pinterest.

Seriously.

A few weeks ago, I found this:

Source: makaiserman

And I loved it.  #1... It's a jar.  #2 It's a BLUE jar.  #3 It's a USEFUL FUN BLUE JAR!

So I pinned it, so that when I stumbled across a blue mason jar that I could afford (man those things have skyrocketed in price!), I'd remember it.

AND THEN, this morning, my dear friend Robyn, pinned THIS:

Source: momtastic

And guess what I have in my pantry???  MASON JARS!!!  And guess what I have in my craft room??  MODGE PODGE!!!!  AND GUESS WHAT I HAVE IN MY BAKING CUPBOARD??????  FOOD COLORING!!!!!!!!!

And guess what I made!!

 As I've pointed out a million times, I JUST DON'T FOLLOW DIRECTIONS WELL!! 

But, uhhh, I think it turned out really well.  The original directions said to mix the food coloring with water, then the modge podge. 

After reading some of the comments on the post, it seemed that the water was what everyone kept blaming for the streaking.

And who wants a streaky jar?  Plus, I wanted to make sure I had a brilliant blue to match some of the other (actually vintage) bottles I have in the bathroom this is going to live in. 

So I skipped the water.  It made for a VERY thick coating of modge podge, and I let it sit upside down for over an hour (the original directions said to let it sit upside down for 30 mins). 

Also, I didn't follow her baking directions.  First of all, my modge podge was a lot thicker than hers, so I started out upside down (at 200F) for 10 mins, flipped it for 10 more.  Flipped it back upside down for another 10 mins.  THEN right side up for yet another 10.

You could totally tell when it was done, all the cloudiness was gone, and it was a brilliant blue everywhere.

One little bonus of using the modge podge at full strength... itty bitty bubbles... like you find in old blown glass bottles.  

 I am totally in love with it! 

One other wonderful part:  It was practically free!  The jar was saved from the trash after a spaghetti dinner... the votive was in my stash, and it took less than 10 cents worth of my craft supplies! 

 

Painting the Town... errr... Table... Red.

So, a few weeks ago, Ryan and I went to a few garage sales. 

And I did pretty dang good!  My itty bitty car was a little crowded... thanks mostly to the little pine table I scored!  See it other there, holding my other loot?

I think it must have been a shop class project.  The legs are hand made, and it's solid pine... not a single scrap of particle board.  It's not exactly level (one of the legs is just a touch short, lol) BUT it cost me THREE DOLLARS!!  Three... as in One, Two, THREE! 

Seriously, a solid wood sturdy table for that little!  I was all over it!  Plus the lady threw in a little toy phone for Ryan (not pictured, because he was dragging it around the house) for free!  Anyway, the top was in really bad shape, it needed sanded something fierce.  So last weekend, that's what Evan and I did. 

Then it sat in my garage while Evan and I discussed how we should paint it. 

I was thinking something like this:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/109120507/ .  Love the yellow... or maybe a fun green... but that got nixed.  So every night, the dinner conversation would go like this: 

Evan:  How about NAVY BLUE?

Me:  Well, I was thinking the top would be black, like a chalkboard, so that might be too dark.

E: Well, I really like navy. 

M: Well, I really like yellow.

E: Okay, so navy AND yellow are out, we can cross each other off.

M: I see.  Well, what is your second choice?

E: (Grinning like a Cheshire cat) DARK BLUE!

M: ORANGE!

E: Ugh, this could take forever!

Anyway, after a week of THAT... we both decided RED would be a good color. 

Bright.  Glossy.  Cherry.

And, yes, Evan helped me paint! 

For now, because I forgot to buy the stuff to make chalkboard paint, it has a red top.  Next spring, after the snow melts, we will make it a chalkboard, and I think add casters.  For now, it has a home in the basement, so the boys have a place to draw and play. 

The Giant Wall

Well, after hanging everything up, I came to the realization that this wall will always be a work in progress.    I have a few more ideas... but, alas, they are still in my mental "queue".

Here's a reminder of what it looked like before:

And here it is now (excuse the picture quality, I wanted to get them posted quickly!!):

Oh, man it looks so SMALL!!

Here's some close ups, and more info:

I found this window frame at an antique store in Montana... and I got it for just $9. 

It's 24x42... and beautifully weathered.

I need to print a picture of myself to go just to the left of the D... I just haven't found got around to it... so just pretend it's there!

This letter press drawer is from Germany... it's one of my most favorite "finds"... even though I'm not the one who found it... my sister snatched it up for me!

It's approx 21x26. 



I used some scrap ... errrr ... scraps to embellish chipboard tiles with each of our names and the "est" date.

 The rest will slowly fill with time I'm sure.  On Saturday, I put these together:

One for each of us!

And finally, the tin.  It's actually a sheet pan used to make eclairs.  And it's a beautiful rusty green color, and the clean pattern looks really nice against the randomness of the letter press drawer.  Again, I'd love to take credit for finding it, but my sister pointed them out to me, and arranged for one to find it's way into my home!

It's 19x28.

 

The little iron piece I picked up at Hobby Lobby a few months ago thinking it would be a simple piece to move around and add balance as I added to the wall.  It seems really small right now, lol.



Well, like I said... it's a work in progress... ideas are welcome!

Funny story about it... When I first got home from Montana with the window, I hung it and the letter press drawer up, just to get a feel for the size, and what else I needed.  Mark walked in and said he hated it.  However, within a few days, he commented on how much he actually liked it because it made it feel more like home.  Silly boy. 





A little something adorable.

Oh my goodness.  I saw this while perusing pinterest last night.

And I had to do it immediately. 

Part of my oh so close to complete (reveal coming soon) giant living room wall is a letter press drawer.  I need to adjust the threads just a little, but other than that, I am in love with them.  So simple and cute.  They took me about 3 minutes to put together.  The little bottles are Tim Holtz.  One for each of us.  I just keep looking at them and thinking HOW SIMPLY ADORABLE!!!

It's coming, I SWEAR!

So, I posted about my awesome plans for the great wall in my living room...

A MONTH ago.

Sigh.

Well, due to circumstances beyond my control, the final piece took a tour of the US.  Well, at least it got to spend some time in warm wonderful Cali!

But it's finally in my possession... and today I was allllllll over it. 

See, it's a little tricky in the hanging department, but today I figured out a solution... and I went to Lowe's to grab some extra supplies.

I got home, grabbed my picture hanging kit from the pantry... and discovered that I only had about 4 inches of wire. 

SON OF A GUN!!!!!!

So, it got put on hold again.

Sigh, soon  you will get to see it all pretty an on my wall!  In the mean time...

Sneak Peek of Decor in Process

Remember my post about the HUGE wall in my living room?? (< click if you need a refresher)

Here's the wall:

Well, after a lot of "figuring", some hunting, a little help from my sister, and a lot of thrifting, I've got it figured out. 

It's going to take a little bit of time (there are a few DIY craft projects involved), and so far Mark HATES it, lol.

But while I'm working on it, here's a little sneak peak.