Archives for January 2010

Bible in 90 Days Progress Report…


So, there I am, obediently reading the day’s assigned pages for “Bible in 90 Days” challenge. Lots to do today in general. Was tempted to just jump into the pulse and start doing, but resisted, knowing that I must keep on the regimen of BIBLE first if I am to finish this task. It was a milestone – 30 days completed, 1/3 of the way through the Bible. Unbelievable. I am starting to tire, to be honest. But I have faith I will be provided what I need to endure.
Anyway… cute beagle (you may have seen his portrait I posted yesterday on FB, and the ensuing comment flux) jumps up to cuddle, so I think. I was stunned to find him projectile vomiting in my lap. Good news… none got on the Bible, and I finished my reading before handling the situation. My favorite passage from today’s Word, you ask… 1 Chronicles 16:34 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Filled me with gratitude, despite lap vomit.

Quilting for Beginners


I finally made the jump from non sewing chic to proud (yet clueless) Singer Esteem II owner. I have tons of fabrics, because I like to decoupage various objects with funky prints. Don’t even get me started on all the cool things you can do with fabric that do not involve sewing.
So I find a great deal on this machine, bring it home, watch the instructional DVD, go to follow along in threading the bobbin, when it dawns on me that I have no thread. Pretty key ingredient. I guess I kinda assumed that in the big box bearing Martha Stewart’s smiling mug, would be everything I could ever need.
So off to the craft store AGAIN. They love me there. Back with thread. Good to go. Except for a plan…
Opted to cut 30 squares out of coordinating fabric, which I would stitch together in 6 rows, 5 columns. In my mind, I envisioned piecing these squares together to be the most difficult part of the endeavor. After cutting 30 not even close to square pieces, that resembled each other very little in size and shape, I called my sister. Aka Quilt Diva. She pointed me to a squaring quilt ruler thingy in combo with healing mat and rotary blade, and away from my big scissors. I have never in my life been able to cut a straight line. With the advice of the pro, I soon found myself with 30 real squares. They were square. And the same size.
I stitched them together in no time flat, creating the quilt top shown above. I was pretty impressed with myself. I had quickly thrown together a lovely quilt, fairly effortlessly…
Little did I know what remained to be done. More to follow, once I either go take a class, or kidnap my sis.

Hand Knit Fingerless Gloves’ – Malabrigo Wool

I knitted these from a pattern I found in the awesome book “Knit One, Embellish Too” (click here to learn more). My niece Ashlyn loves purple. This was her Christmas gift.

First time I had used Malabrigo wool (here). I love it. Can’t wait to do more with it.
But it’s gonna be a minute. I have ventured into the land of sewing. Never thought it would happen, and like everything I do, I am addicted. Stay tune for quilt pics. I am loving this sewing machine. My creative brain is in full force. A whole new world…

Amigurumi Monster Pattern

This is what I made for my rockin’ nephew, Taylor. He appropriately named his new buddy “Top Hat Head”. Gotta love how that kid thinks. He makes me laugh joyously.

The pattern came from Roxycraft, which you can find by clicking here. Her patterns are crazy cool. I bought the whole package deal from her, and have had a blast playing with her designs. If you don’t already own them, you need to.

Country Shelves Turned Distressed Chic Hip…




I found these oak, country 80’s knick knack shelves at Goodwill for $2.99 total. They were brown oak, which you can kinda see through the first coat of the black spray paint. I was so excited to do these that I forgot to photograph them before I jumped in, but you can imagine. Brown, totally outdated country heart shelves. Moving on…

Instructions:
Sand lightly and spray paint with black (I used flat Rustoleum). Let dry and recoat if needed. With acrylic paint pen by Sharpie, I added gold to the edges and lightly sanded for a distressed look once dry. I sprayed a coat of matte finish. Onto embellisments…
I slapped some scrapbook chipboard shapes to cover the hearts. Added some bows and flowers, attaching everything to the shelves with a dab of hot glue.
I also drilled a hole in the bottom of each shelf for the knob placement. Hard to tell in the pics, but the flowers each have a letter in the middle, spelling “FAITH” down the shelf on the left. Adorable, cheap, and easy. The shelves I mean.

Cupboard Door Turned Cute Chalkboard

 

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I got this cupboard door at a thrift store for $3. I sanded it lightly, drilled 2 holes for the ribbon hander, spray painted it (Rustoleum Hammered Gold). once it dried, I put a clear coat finishing spray (matte) and place adhesive chalk board paper to the inner rectangle. I guess chalkboard paint would be fine too. I have never used it. I am a sucker for adhesive papers.

I put various scrapbook elements on as shown, using glue gun and or nails. I decorated the clothespins with scrapbook paper to, an idea I first saw at the Creative Crate, on this tutorial. EASY and Adorable. Questions/comments appreciated.
Don’t forget to enter to win a free art print (click here or go to previous post). Be well…

 

Cute Tray Revamped With Funky Fabric and Decorative Tape

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Found this tray at Goodwill marked $1.99. It gets better. It was red tag 50% off day. And the tag was red. Nice.

I popped the back out of it, attached some funky fabric from my remnants stash, and added decorative tape for the red plaid border.
Finally, I stapled some rope to the back and hung my new masterpiece above my fridge. Red and robin egg blue to continue my incorporation of this lovely color palate into my kitchen.
There you go. $1 plus stuff I had at home. Life is good. So is the movie Extraordinary Measures, which I saw this afternoon.
May you be well, live safely in the land, and prosper!

Cool Revamped Thrifty Find Wall Decor

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Here I am, milling through the aisles of my favorite Goodwill store with an awesome girlfriend (hi, Debbie), when this rounded corner white frame appeared in my periphery. For $0.99 I brought the lil’ thing home. After some trial and error crafting, I ended with the final product pictured. SIMPLE. I threw a piece of fabric between the 2 glass panes, stuck some chipboard letters from my scrapbook supply stockpile on the front, stapled a ribbon to the back and… there you have it.
 

 

Photoshop collage and Revamped Frames…




Me, photoshop, and a very important date. I am

obsessed with collage, digital scrapbook-ish style right now. I am gonna post some killer photoshop tutorials when I hit 5,000 followers (heehee)…
Blessings,

Old Window Into Art…

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This is what came of my unrelenting urge to find an old window and make it purdy. The flame was lit when I ran across this post at Creative Crate. So cute, I had to get me a window…

After combing thrift stores and flea markets to no avail, I got on ol’ trusty google and searched “old windows for sale, Indianapolis”. One of the results was an architectural salvage warehouse. I called (and by that I mean I had my husband call) to see if they had old windows, which was funny to us when we arrived and they had 5 million old windows, amongst other treasures. That is for a whole other post. Suffice to say I found a lil’ piece of heaven that will surely provide craft materials for all of my days…
Anyway, I picked out the window you see here. Just seemed like the one. Turns out, it was ideal because of the dimensions of the individual panes of glass. The large center one was 8.5 inches in height, perfect for my Hobby Lobby 8.5x11in cross paper. The other rectangles were 12 inches wide, perfect for my scrapbook paper. For the tiny squares, I also used scrapbook paper, cut to the appropriate size.
The orange knobs I picked up in the treasured $1 rack at Michael’s. Drilled 2 holes for them, screwed them in. Easy.
The “relax” is vinyl wall decal lettering from Michael’s as well. Again, perfect fit without any alteration from me. There was divine intervention in the choosing of this window. Finally, black bow for cuteness, stapled to top. 2 hinges already present on this heaven sent window provided the hanging mechanism.
This color scheme rocks out with my bedroom decor. And who couldn’t use a little reminder to RELAX as the first thing seen upon awakening?!
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