Where I Blog

…and create my crafts. Mind you this isn’t exactly my choice, this is the space I had to work with.
My desk
Dr. Pepper is my Red Bull. LOL. See my chair. I had to take that back off that wouldn’t stay because no matter which screw I put in first, the other wouldn’t screw in. I am going to nail a board. Funny thing? This is my main computer but most of my blogs are actually composed on my laptop. Live Writer wouldn’t download on my desktop and I also have Adobe Photoshop on my laptop. I just sit in a big chair in this same room, right about where I am standing taking this picture. (I really like Martha Stewart’s Living magazine, but usually the cover and a few pages in the front are all that I care to see.)

This is where I am doing most of my crafting, some is outside in the backyard. This is the table that I posted before that I redid with paper and Mod Podge. The green chair in the back is the one I was talking about where I sit with my laptop. The bag with the polka dots is where all my paint is. I am trying to figure out a better way to store it where I can see the colors. Maybe a spice rack would work. (The white little bird cage is now orange and will be shown in a post tomorrow. I need a little black bird or something for it.)
The calendar looking thing hanging on the door of my computer desk? I got way creative yesterday. Got a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper. The squares are playing cards with another piece of paper over them. It’s my blog partying schedule. I have a lot more to add.
One other thing to share.
Another thing I took out of storage, but I always hated that it was white. I inherited it that way.
I found the brackets for $2 at Goodwill. I passed them up when I first saw them. I was looking for some other way to store my ribbon. Then I saw one of the ribbon “cabinets” at Michael’s and I went back to Goodwill for the brackets. I just had to drill a bigger hole in them for the dowels to fit. Used liquid nails to attach them to the side. I want to attach a piece of peg board to the other side but I would need to find someone with a leftover piece. I taped up the Plexiglas and hinges and sprayed it Cowboy Boot brown. I didn’t spray it so that it looked even, I like how it came out looking like it could be real wood. Of course it would work better on the other side of my desk, closer to my craft table, but that is where I had the room for it.

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I linked this up at

and over at
   

Stone Fox

I was out walking the dogs this morning, 3 of them, it's more like they walk me. 3 labs. The shortest one has some strength let me tell you. Last night the two young ones almost drug me out of the park to go after this baby bunny (they run wild around here so it isn't cute) that my dog was already after. Don't worry, they have never killed one. They go crazy after the wild frogs too. Having a dogs snout on them makes some of them pee all over. So the lawn guy next door tells me I need a dog sled. No joke. Except that I wouldn't get my exercise. I am walking down the hill thinking about that and the book Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner comes to mind. I read it to my son a few months ago. Loving the book until the end. Bam! This crazy ending. He hated it. We both cried. He told me to throw the book away because he never wanted to see it again. Not sure if any of you have read it but the ending is not something that would make me want to have this a 2nd grade reader like it is supposed to be.

Nobody ever told me not to try...

 

 

Color Hues from Nature from Benjamin Moore paints

I was sitting here painting a project, listening to iTunes, when Jack Johnson's "Talk of the Town" came on and the words stuck with me. 

 

 

...And if the sun comes out

I'll paint a picture all about

The colors I've been dreaming of...

...It's a part of my mind it begins with a dream

And a feeling I get when I look and I see

That this world is a puzzle, I'll find all of the pieces

And put it all together, and then I'll rearrange it

I'll follow it forever

Always be as strange as it seems

Nobody ever told me not to try...

Just a little inspiration to brighten your day. I came over to look up the words to the song after I painted and knew I had to share it in my blog. As well as pictures to go with the words. What things help inspire you? Love for you to share in a comment.

Re-done Office Chair

I had an office chair that I really liked to sit in, it was comfy. But it was too big and it was that fake suede and got really dirty looking. The arm rests were really soiled. The room that my computer desk is in is also the media room so that big chair really got in the way. Now that I have moved the table in there to work at I needed a smaller chair I could move between the two. I went cheap knowing I was going to redo it. I got the $20 one from Walmart. Comfort was not the priority in making that chair but it also makes me get up more often.

The fact I didn’t have to take it apart to do what I wanted was nice, but the back piece doesn’t screw on good, one screw won’t screw in no matter which hole I screw into first. I can’t take it back since the chair isn’t black anymore, but wonder if they would just switch out the piece that doesn’t work since it is still as is from box. I removed all the staples from the bottom cushion. Tedious work.

This and went together with  to make. A little extra padding never hurts.

The black piece is the one that won’t screw on right. Well, I also wasn’t able to take it apart to put the new material on it. So I wondered what I was going to do. Looks funny like this. I tried sewing and learned I couldn’t. But then my mom came home and showed me what I did wrong so I was able to sew a little slip cover together, not fitted by any means though.

I love the green color of the paint. The green fabric was left over from when my mom made table runners for my brother’s wedding reception. They didn’t match as well as I thought they would but with the green of the ribbon and some purple thrown in, it all works. If only the stupid back cushion would screw in, it would all work nicely.

Halloween Candelabra

Once again I have been inspired by a project seen elsewhere.  I loved this candelabra that Sandra shared over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps

I decided I wanted to make one of those too. I went perusing at some local thrift shops and came home with some parts.

I think it was a coat rack and they removed the hangers because there were holes there.

I sprayed everything purple before I started putting it together. I removed the base and attached a candle holder with a dowel stinking out from it. The hole in the base didn’t get drilled straight so the whole thing didn’t really line up right.

My cousin took the chandelier apart and I used it upside down on top of the coat rack.


I found a big pack of beads on sale at Hobby Lobby in the Christmas section, also sprayed purple. Cut what I needed.  Decided in the end to wrap some around the top of the spots where I was going to put candles. I also used the plate and another top of a candle holder to create place for a candle at the top.

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I linked this over at

and at

Love Thy Neighbor

 

The science is simple: When you give the world love and respect, the world will give you love and respect back.

--Russell Simmons, American Entrepreneur and Music Producer

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Dr. Pepper can wind swirly

I almost forgot. My cousin sent me a challenge last week. To use a DP or Pepsi can to create something (I didn’t know until later that was also the Iron Crafters first challenge). So I used a can opener to take the top off. The first one I tried to cut with wire cutters. The tips of the cutters were too short. Can in recycle bin. The second one I tried to use snippers. They chopped it up, left jagged edges and bent up the can. Can in recycle bin. I got smart by the third one. I ran masking tape around the can (in a swirly path) and used the Dremel on the tape until I got to where I was too scared to hold it anymore (a little more than half way). Then I finished it with the snippers. I attached some wire, and later some beads. My mom is hanging it on her back porch.

An owl is born and other randomness

I can’t sew. I tried, I didn’t know what I did wrong until my mom came home. It is supposed to just be a straight line, I didn’t put the foot down. LOL.

I went on and made my owl. He’s darn stinkin cute.
When my mom got home and showed me what I did wrong on sewing the straight line, I had her sew the owl together. I then stuffed him and stitched up the bottom. At least I can do that =).
Frankenstein's head is coming along nicely.
My last randomness for today, my dad collects golf balls. My parents live in a golf course community (my dad never golfs there and they are not members) but he walks a hill where he finds golf balls. I am sure he picks them up when he is out on his weekend golf game too. He cleans them all up and may save the kind he uses. He gives a lot away. So there are all these balls I was thinking I could make spiders out of. Just have to figure out how to do the legs. 

I will post my finished projects when I complete them. Since I can’t sew don’t think that the owls will be soon, unless I can convince my mom to sew all of them for me.

Sofa Table Redo

A few months ago my son and I had to move back into my parents.  For almost a year I have not had the desire to work on Brendan’s scrapbook, something I used to love.  I did, however, make a fall wreath, a Christmas candy cane wreath and a Valentine’s wreath.  My only creative work.  I decided to get into blogging and suddenly I have a creative itch.  I can’t make a huge mess in my mom’s house so I needed a solution.  I have a small desk and not a lot of room for a table.  So I decided to pull my sofa table out of storage and fix it so that I can easily wipe paint off of it.  I really like how it turned out. 
Before (except that I forgot to do a completely before, so this is after I started roughing it up)
I roughed up the whole table, removed the knobs and took it upstairs.  I was going to use a lighter colored paper, but really liked the ones I used.  Mod Podge Gloss and paper later and  

I am pretty sure I will be moving in the very near future so I didn’t put a layer of Mod Podge on the wood yet.  Will do that after moving.  Right now it is in the corner of the room my computer is in and I can start doing more work there.  Oh how I would love to have a bigger work area with lots of organization as well.  Some day.  Some day. 

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I linked this up at

del.icio.us Tags: Mod Podge,furniture redo,scrapbook paper

My First Blog Hop

Halloween Wreath

A few weeks ago I saw a post on Tatertots and Jello of a wreath made by Courtney at david, courtney and camryn from last year.  I thought I like that wreath.  I want to make that wreath. 
So I got the supplies I thought I needed:

A wire wreath frame, the size right above the smallest one at Hobby Lobby

The bigger black feather boa from Hobby Lobby, it ended up not being enough so I got the small one with the glittery threads as well

A oval piece of wood, I already painted it orange
Several spools of ribbon, paint, and this bead arrangement I thought looked perfect

I wrapped the feathers around the wreath frame and tied the ends together. Painted the sign. Attached bow and bead arrangement and ta da

I think I still prefer Courtney’s but here it is. I also put glue on the purple ribbon, and wrapped it around a rod to make it curly, we’ll see how long it stays that way.

I made a really cute owl (more to come on that later) and he had to go on my wreath.  

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I am linking this with Sandra for her Halloween link party over at

Mod Podge Office Organizers

The Iron Crafter #5 challenge was cardboard.  I posted this project before, but I went back and embellished some of the things more. 
I started with:

Note that the Kleenex box is a full size one, not the square-upright one.
I wasn’t yet sure what I was going to do with all that but after some snipping, cutting and masking taping…I cut the two whole lengths of the Kleenex box the same size, folded in half and taped together. Then I made a bottom with one of the other pieces that had a flap, taped it on. I cut other pieces of cardboard and put in slits to make the dividers. Taped the flaps of the chicken box together and cut down the breakfast bar box for the card holder. I got:
The square box in the back is what I used the Kleenex box for, and it looks like one of the square sized ones.  I was using what I had and didn’t even think to use a square Kleenex box.
3 Albuquerque The Magazines and some Mod Podge later:

After submitting that to a Mod Podge project, I decided to embellish them better.  So I got some ribbon, cut out some words out of the magazines, and ended up with this letter/magazine holder

A business card holder:

And a pen/brush/pencil organizer:

(I used paint chips on the inside dividers, and had to use a little tape on the inside of the ribbon, it just wouldn’t stick. 

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I am linking this with

del.icio.us Tags: cardboard,masking tape,Mod Podge,magazines,desk organizers