VICTORY! (and a before & after)

AT LAST! I WIN....

Check out my remake of my fail...there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

This time I sprayed it black and sprayed MUCH more water on it and then once the paint dried I dabbed the water bunches with a paper towel to make them looked like smushed water beads...well that's what they are so I guess the look was a success...

Then I just sprayed the can of spray paint very far back on the spots that were really big and black looking to kind of dim it down a bit. It doesn't quite look like mercury but it looks a lot more like it than the other one did...and I like it so that's all that counts! Krylon redeemed themselves for me, because this time I used Krylon's CHroMe Spray.

Oh and just incase you are all wanting to know..I got my wisdom teeth out. For those of you who have never had them out before but may need to in the future be prepared to go from

This

To THIS

I know...your thinking I must be nuts showing this to all you, but I feel like we are close enough now for you all to see me at my worst.

Izzy in her new home & MORE

Here is Izzy in her new home in the bathroom (thanks to the help of my parents)...so you also have a small sneek peek as to how it's coming along. I'm soooo happy to have this in my bathroom, it just looked sooo plain before so this is a big blast of awesomeness.

I also wanted to show you a few other projects I've been scurrying around doing (teeth pulled out and all!)

Here's my wall art. I purchased these at a yard sale a few weeks back for $5.00. I loved them right away but didn't pick them up...what was I thinking?...they had them listed at $3.00 each but when I went back the second time around to see if they were still there...(thank you thank you, lucky me) I asked if they would take $5.00 for the three and they said YES...thank you thank you again!

Before and After a coat of paint.

I think they were just primed before?

I can't wait to hang them above my sofa....after I paint that wall. It's going to be soooo pretty!

And I also made this...for free of course...had this long cylinder vase and added some pinecones and acorns and a old wasp nest from around the yard...the acorns weren't quite ready but I couldn't wait.

Now that I look at this as a photo though, I should probably rotate the pinecones and acorns it looks a little off balance.

And on top of all that we got some trim up in the bathroom around the door we had to fix. and some other small projects!

Shelf-ish or Shelf-less? You tell Me

SOOOOO...I wanted something for my bathroom under my long mirror...I don't know why but I wanted a floating shelf...missed two on kijiji and now I'm stuck with nothing....UNLESS!

I bought the shelf in the photo at Michaels one day with a 50% off coupon...started to paint it white and decided it was too "fancy" not enough clean lines....SO...today I had a brain storm.

How did that happen you ask ? - Well it all started when I got up this morning to do my first brain storm post about the candlestick hurricane, and excalated from there...I'm trying to harvest up my house and get some MAJOR things taken care of before my premiere Candle Lite party. I'm becoming a rep....eeeeeekkkkk soooo excited! So I have this mat I plan on working on later today and when I went down stairs to take a peek at the "paint" situation, the shelf caught my eye....dumb shelf I thought, how am I going to finish my bathroom in time, this is all your fault you dumb shelf....Then I went up stairs and before I got all the way to the top I thought of something....Here is what I've come up with:

I took THIS leftover molding

and the shelf

and made THIS so far: It's upside down but you get the gist

As you can see from the photos I cut the bottom half of the brackets off because like I said it wasn't clean line enough...this way I don't see them at all with the new molding!

My husband is going to finish the rest while I'm away this weekend and hang it for me (even though he doesn't know that yet) It just needs to be glued, screwed (or bradnailed) I will paint it when I get back and hung (he can measure up for that when I'm gone)! Can't WAIT!

Cutie Candle Tute!

First...I want to mention again my friends NEW blog...she's typing and crafting up a storm...please go check it out over at Sew What? That's How I Roll

Now on to the project:

So this came along by mistake...I originally bought this hurricane to put this pillar candle I also bought and to wrap it in ribbon to make it look "fall like" Since I don't have a whole lot of fall decorations. But when I got it home put the candle in it and put the ribbon on the bottom something looked off...so I thought...and thought...what can I do to balk this up a bit?

Then it hit me....a candle stick for a candle holder!

First I tipped the hurricane up side down and put the candle holder right side up.

I then was going to put a bead of (PVC) contact cement (you can use epoxy or reg contact cement)...then I realized that the PVC cement lid wouldn't open to the rim of the candle holder and couldn't find my "real" contact cement...I didn't want to wait until I got to go into town next so.....

I used no more nails....it says glass...so I'm gonna use it!

Then tip it upside down eyeball it to line it middle with the hurricane vase and put a weight on it...

left it for a while to dry and turned it back over...Normally this would look horrible because the no more nails stays white...BUT since there is never going to be an empty bottom in it..It's fine. I put my coffee scented pillar in fixed the ribbon on it to look PURDY and tadaa! I love it!

I would have probably put some coffee beans in it but I'm fresh out...actually I didn't have any to begin with...ever and I should have cleaned the glass before the photos since I put my spotty little finger prints all over it but...ya know.

I'm going to get another vase and candle to make one more with the other candle stick I have.

This total project cost me 2.00 for the vase and 1.25 for the candle, that's 3.25 plus tax! That's it! Fancy and Fall..if you don't have glass candle sticks..go to a thrift store..I think I got mine at Value Village for .99 or 1.99 way back when I thought they were cute but not sure what I'd do with them.

The awesomest news is...in the winter all I have to do is change the candle or ribbon and I'm good to go!

Quick Harvest How To

Once again I have been inspired from a post by Amanda at The Hand Me Down House

She made amazing harvest pumpkins. But since I am sorta lazy these days....ok ok I'm a lot lazy...geeze. I decided to put a different "easier" twist to mine.

HOW TO (sort of):

First I bought crafting wire from the Dollar Store...this isn't as sturdy as Amanda's but it was cheap and actually I already had it at the house. Second I made mine smaller. It's a mini version.

Amanda had used a vase to wrap around the top for her sizing and she also cut each individual piece...NOT ME lol...I just wrapped the wire around my hand a dozen or so times stopped looping it mid ways through the "straightaway" and wrapped it around that a couple times. Then I twisted the original end piece a few times to make the stem....my my this is a horrible confusing sounding tut...and with no pictures at that...I'm really lazy....and well that's it...hoping you can get the gist from both looking at Amanda's how to and looking at my end result photo.

New Blogger on the Block!

Today is a special post day, because, I get to introduce you to an amazing NEW blogger...I mean really new as in Yesterday!

It's Aleisha over at Sew What? That's how I Roll. She's a great girl and a very very good friend of mine. She's very talented and can sew up a storm.

She made her appearance into blog land yesterday, as I stated before, with a little of my help (so bare with her she's even newer at this than me) and I couldn't be more honored that I was her inspiration to start blogging!

Here's her latest/first real post! It's a how to on how to make a rag quilt! She's awesome at making them and so happy she could share with us her secrets! Can't wait to see what else she comes up with...check her out over at Sew What? That's How I Roll

Enjoy & Happy Quilting!...I'll have one of these posted in the hope to be near future!

Rag quilts are the latest trend in quilting. The are quick, easy and fun to make! They are a great project for any quilter weather you are a beginner or have been doing quilts for years! If you can sew a straight line you can take this on! This quilt was my stepping stone into quilting and I love it! There is so much you can do to customize this for any room in your house.

These quilts are great for snuggling up in front of the tv, or over the bottom of your bed. My fiance and I both have one that we curl up in every night.

The rag quilt can be made of denim, flannel, or polar fleece. It has to be a fabric that will fray and unravel when washed. Anything with a loose weave is good, flannel is a very popular choice.

Once you have your fabric picked out you can make this quilt in as little as a weekend.




If you happen to buy to much fabric don't worry, use it to make a matching throw pillow or to do some applique on your quilt.







Your quilt does not have to have batting, if you are using denim for example you may decide not to use any at all because it will be warm enough without it. If you are making it out of denim and choose to use batting make sure it is lightweight as it will be difficult to sew through 2 layers of denim and your batting which may also be very hard on your machine. Another option instead of using the tradional batting is to use flannel. I find this is really nice when you are making the quilt out of flannel.




Cutting the pieces for your rag quilt
Choose a minimum of 3 colors for this quilt. The more color the better!

Decide on the size of squares you want to use. For your fabric which I am going to refer to as flannel because that is what I enjoy using you want your squares to be between 7"-12" in size. You will be using a 1/2" - 1" seam allowence so for each block so please keep that in mind while deciding on the size of the quilt you want. You will also want your batting (if you choose to use it) to be 2" smaller than your flannel square.


My personal choice of size is 8" for the front and back squares with a 6" batting, because that's how I roll.


Okay so you have cut your top, bottom, and batting squares. Take your bottom square and put it right side down, then take your batting and place it centered in your 8" square. You will then take the piece you want to use for your top square right side up and line them all up together as square as possible. You will then sew a line from one corner to the other and again making a X on your fabric.

You will do this for all of your squares.

Hint: Using a walking foot on your machine will help the fabric be more stable so that tucks and puckers don't occur.

Below I have done a pattern diagram of a quilt that I have made. I will use this to explain how to now piece it together. I find drawing how I want the blocks placed to be the easiest way to follow it.

Start by sewing all of your first row together. If you use the same color for the front and back of your squares this will be easier. That 1/2" to 1" seam you left you will be cut later so make sure the raw edges are all facing the same way.

You will then attach row 1 to row 2 and etc. again make sure your raw edge is still pointing all in the same direction.


After you have attached all the rows together sew 1/2" - 1" inside the outer border all around the quilt.



Using heavy-duty or spring loaded scissors, cut lines in the seam allowances about 1/4" apart. Try to cut as close to the seam as possible without cutting it. (If you cut the seam it will fall apart in that spot when you wash it)

The scissors above are what I bought for doing rag quilts. I got them at fabric land for about $12-$15. They are great! You need ones that will cut 2-3 layers of fabric with the last 1/2"-1".

Once you have cut all the seams then throw the quilt in the washer and run it through on a normal cycle. I use cold water becasue sometimes the colors will run so this will reduce that from happening. I do not wash these in my own washer because of the amount of lint that comes off them is rediculous! It could clog up your drain in no time and that is cause for a HUGE mess. Spend the $4 and take it to the laundrymat!




Once the cycle is finished give the quilt a good shake out and pop it in the dryer. Use pretty high heat because it will help the seams fray more and become soft and fluffy. Once again I would do this at the laundrymat.

Once the quilt is dry shake it out. Lots of lint and fluff will come off. Use a lint brush to remove any excess lint and loose threads. You may also want to trim up some of the frayed edges.
If you have some stubborn threads that you just can't get off try using the vaccum cleaner to suck it off.


The more this quilt is washed and dried the fluffier and more frayed the seams become.

If you have any questions that I may answer please let me know.

Here is a look at the finished product

On a Bad Streek...

So today...I went to try another project from my wonderful can you guess what I'm up to now post...and well I think maybe, just maybe someone of greater power wants me to hold off things for a moment, not to mention said days Krylon disaster...because.....

This happened...what is it you ask?

a counter top...(I will never do a craft on my new cupboards again!)

Please note the black spots/marks

Keep going...what's this photo?

A glue stick..?

That leads to this,

which leads to THIS...yep that's a very burnt glue gun! use to be orange and black..now it's mostly just black...hehee

It burnt the glue stick, my cupboard and ALMOST a burnt me...it made this crazy mehhh noise like the buzzers on Jeopardy and then bounced off the counter and started smoking worse than (insert a chain smoker joke here)

Scared the begeebers outta me and well obviously it was now unusable. So I got me one of these bad boys!

actually it's a girl and her name is ROC-SIE(pronounced rock - see) - why Roc-sie? Because she ROCKS that's why..duh! I mean really though..is this not the most awesome glue gun you've ever seen? I'm going to get another one next week as a spare...just incase this wonderful should ever quit on me.

So since I just got her today, you will see my idea from the photo inspired post tomorrow!

On a lighter note! Guess who came home today? My hubba's best friend...here's a photo of the poster my daughter made for him!

Fail that's not my Fault & some Ranting

So this is a fail...but in no way is it my fault...it's Krylons! Yes, I'm blaming someone else yet again for why things don't turn out...but this time it's for real! My hubba is even more thankful this time it's not his fault. So here's my issue...

Do you see this can of spray paint? ---->

Well, with that can of spray paint I wanted to make this lamp

Which would have been phase one of today's ideas

It also would have been my very first PBarn knock off!

The color on the base of this mercury lamp matches the top on the can of spray paint don't you think? I did to...but...the loverly people (jerks) at Krylon don't know how to label their cans and made me FAIL!

Here's how it all started...I found this real purdy lamp at my oh so favorite thrift store months ago for just $2.00 and I decided yesterday that I was going to glam it up by making it look like mercury glass then if that worked I would do it to my white one in my living room the same - buy a matching shade and wahhhla fancy pants lamps!

I started by spraying it black (to make the mercury effect more real when the black shows through instead of gold)...no time for primer it will just have to do...I'm way too excited about this!

Because it was not cleaned real well or primed the paint was having some problems sticking...HEY black mercury glass...but no - this is not what I wanted, and still not Krylon's fault at this point...see the picture below how it's bubbling? Might be a little dark to see..I'm to mad to photoshop photos today.

Next, after that dried, I used a water spray bottle and lightly sprayed the lamp with water to create the bubble effect, and then used the wonderful chrome like looking spray paint to go immediately on so the water wouldn't run or dry.

The "silver" metallic as they call it in Krylon Lier Land.

Here is where it is NOT my fault!

You see that...does that look ANYTHING like the lid...NO! It's a nice color and all but, no it does not! You big fat liars...not you..but KRYLON...

So here I am in the basement (because it's raining here) spraying my lil heart out all happy that I'm going to succeed and make my first Knock Off, and WHAM..suck.

I'm down there hollering at Krylon and Walmart for false advertising (even though it's not Walmart's fault either) Sounding like a mad women I'm sure...

But as you can see from below IF Krylon didn't mess up my project, it was turning out PERFECT. So YOU fail Krylon not me...YOU!

Let us recap again..and then I'm done complaining I swear...for today anyway.

Does this look like that?

and just because, I'm returning the can to Walmart today and looking for another kind of spray!

And since I'm in a mood...we'll see what the rest of the day brings for projects...might not be much : O |