Hob-Knobbing
This bag can only mean one thing… TROUBLE.
Lucky for my husband, I made it out of the store having spent only $20 and took my “that’ll do nightstand”:
And made it a favorite!
Now, get out there girls and give your knobs a lift! ;)
Holy Smokes, What a Year: 2010
Life-changing and blog-changing this year has been. Excitement, challenges, and new priorities, and I wouldn’t trade it for a thing. Top posts for this past year include:
The newest addition to our family and how it all went down
My monthly rants on being pregnant {loved it, but holy shizballs it had it’s moments}
Before and After Dresser {I still LOVE staring at this dresser morph. The PERFECT color}.
Handmade Crib Bumpers and Crib Quilt
Needless to say, my new role as ‘mom’ has bumped my role of ‘bi-weekly blogger’ to ‘whenever-I-have-something-interesting-to-say blogger’. I’ve dumped my sponsor bar and laid low, posting only when I’ve completed a project. Thank you for your comments, you’ve kept me going during a busy busy year!
Homemade Christmas Gifts
For my book club last week we did a little Secret Santa exchange. We were all giggles and oohs and aahs – I think we were more excited for the homemade taco soup and gifts than talking about our book {typical group of girls}.
I had fun making my gifts for my good friend Laura:
Fun purple pillowcases using “Itty Bitty Chairs” by Laurie Wisbrun and High Society Petals.
Then a runner for her table, using Bird Swing by Michael Miller and Glass Tiles by Patty Young Fabric.
Wrapped up in the selvage edge for fun.
Bagged using Christmas tags I made last year {you can download for free here}.
Similarly, my mom’s gifts to her coworkers this year were Christmas Dreaming Pillowcases; Our yearly tradition growing up.
Last Minute Christmas Whim
This was how my brother put it when he took “scrap fabric and cheap fabric to doll up pillows for the holidays”. Only certain people can just “whip up” pillows like these, I’m so jealous. Don’t you LOVE? He made some new pillows, and wrapped ribbon around the old.
Custom Car Seat Cover – Best Grandma Ever
Owen is the luckiest little boy. My mom made him the most adorable cover for his “big boy car seat”. I found a pattern on Etsy for a Britax Marathon Car Seat, and my mom used it, adapted it, and ROCKED IT! {Previous cover was “crocodile” – Doh! No before picture.}
{Blurg. Blurry picture – not my best day!}
Before and After: Freebie Cabinet
I came across this cute little cabinet on Craigslist for free about a month back. Did I have a *NEED* for a new cabinet? No. Could I leave it helpless on someone’s curb? Hell no. Ha! Okay, maybe it wasn’t that serious, but I’m a furniture nurse and this little lady had a long road to recovery with no health insurance. I couldn’t sit idly by!
Luckily for me, the previous owner did most of the stripping/sanding; there was very little left to do! I think this used to be some kind of mid-century built-in cabinet because it had some oddities. For one thing, the top only had an overhang on one side, and not on the other. It also had a notch cut out on one side. I bought a new top and got a fancy little trim to hide the old edge.
Since I didn’t have a *NEED* for this cabinet, I painted it a neutral black hoping that it could be used in different places until I settled on the right spot. Doesn’t mean it can’t be a little fun on the inside! I used my favorite Rust-Oleum Ultracover2x spray paint {with comfort nozzle}, and in retrospect wished I painted the inside yellow. Oh well.
I tend to move my furniture around a lot – so I added casters so it would move more easily, and because who doesn’t love casters?
Made a little brass cleaner with household items to shine up the ultra-cool lion-head pulls.
Primed with my new favorite Zinsser primer {seriously heavy-duty primer!}, and painted with Glidden’s Satin Black.
So, remember the before?
Here she is, discharged and thriving:
An Apartment-Sized Christmas and My Little Bug
Affectionately named “Booger Bean”. He’s got Santa fooled. {Hat from Tippy Toppers}
Baby Quilt
My friend had a baby girl, Camila. I couldn’t resist making a pink crib quilt for her. I mean, her name is Camila. How cute is that? She’s tiny and adorable.
I had all of the pink fabrics from several projects. The floral is my ultimate fav: Free Spirit Sketchbook in Rose. I bought gobs of it when I thought there might be a teeny tiny chance I was having a girl {Okay, more like a 50/50 chance. Oh well}. Now I get to use it all the time, like I did on my car seat canopies. The soft white fabric was a bit tricky to work with, but I think it looks so cute next to all that pink!
Last minute I decided to tie the quilt with Green Apple Divine Twine. You really CAN use this stuff on EVERYTHING!
My “Go-To” Recipes
I compiled a few of our recipes we use all the time – quick, low-prep dishes that we’ve gathered from friends or new cookbooks. I put it together to share with my sister-in-law, and thought you might want it too {It’s not fancy!}. Do please share some back if you’ve got ‘em!
Hunger Games Party
My turn to host the monthly book club party last night and we reveled in my dorkiness. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to do a theme party, and the Hunger Games had the perfect material.
If you haven’t read the book, this will look cookoo-balls to you. But just to clarify: the main character’s favorite dish was lamb stew. I just couldn’t do it {bleck}, so I made chili instead. “Tracker Jacker” brownie bites, “District 12 Bread” and “Sleep Syrup {homemade root beer}” were on the menu, served with “Cornicopia weapons” for spoons. And who could forget the “Sponsor Gift” of “Deadly Berries” for a party favor.
My inner dork THRIVED.
Happy Halloween!
Treasure Hunting
I found some treasures while out at a nameless store today… but I promised myself I would only buy the one thing I was there for. No fun!
Not that you need a kit to make a pillowcase, but here it is. My mom should have done this years ago.
In a pinch for some Divine Twine?
Color wheel puzzle… SO COOL! Yes, my son will know what “vermillion” is.
Haunted House Tour
…Last Halloween post, I promise.
Every year when I was little, my family used to go to a haunted house around the corner. Fully decked-out, the whole garage was set with false doors, strobe lights, hydraulic parts; all of which was guarded by a masked man with a chainsaw. As of last year, this house was still in business, and it is still my favorite place to go on Halloween.
Last Halloween, I put together a tour of 3 haunted houses and 1 fun decorated house. We got couples together to take our tour, girls in one car, boys in the other. We had fun scaring each other and checking out the decorations in the neighborhood. If you’re in my area, you can download this tour of Pleasanton Haunted Houses {you may want to drive by on the day of to make sure all are participating this year}.
You can download my word doc here to use my template. Check out the haunted houses or fun decorations by looking at your local newspaper or radio stations.
Big Fish, Small Pond
Anybody else feeling this way? Maybe it’s the addition to the family. Maybe I’ve nipped and tucked every corner of this condo. Maybe it’s just time to change my hair color, but something has got me itching for bigger quarters. I’ve got a baby swing, bouncer and maternity clothes crowding one closet; tools, weedled-down craft supplies and bubble wrap in another. And trust me, I’ve WEEDLED. Something about Owen being on the brink of crawling has me frantic. What will he do? Bounce around from wall to wall like a Roomba?
Roomy homes are cheaper than they’ve ever been, but how can they still be so out of reach? I want to ‘get while the gettin’s good’, but I don’t want to stretch too thin. So, where’s the balance? How do you make it work?
Photoshop Brushes
In order to make time AWAY from the computer, I use shortcuts. Free Photoshop Brushes online helped me create a few Halloween party details in record timing…
This Creepy Trees brush set for a Halloween party poster…
This Graveyard Brush set and Toxic Brush set to make “Spooky Juice” and “Toxic Water” labels.
To use Photoshop Brushes
- Download .ABR file from any photoshop brush site, and save it to your desktop.
- Open Photoshop
- Open the Brushes palette via the “Window” menu item at the top
- In the Brushes palette, there’s a small arrow at the top right. Under the flyout menu there’s an option to “load brushes”.
- Navigate to your downloaded .ABR file and select.