On a side note...

Tatertots and jello, one of my all time FAVORITE blogs, is giving away a silhouette machine! These things are amazing! I have wanted one since I found out about them. They are just a little (ok a LOT) out of a semi- newly married college student budget. The possibilities for this thing are endless! Keep your fingers, toes, eyes, whatever crossed that I win!

From me to You

Hello there readers. It has been a while. The hubs is down to one crutch and should be back to normal soon. I couldn't be more excited, especially since we just got dumped with snow in our neck of the woods. Seasonal colds have hit here as well which has kept me down a bit. But now that we are feeling better and some big papers are done it's time to have get some crafting done. This project was for my sister and bro in law. My sister told me that she can't seem to figure out what to do with their bedroom. They know that they want to incorporate their favorite colors, blue and green. They just can't figure out what to do. She came to me and I was ecstatic for the opportunity to help make their space a home. The first thing it needed was some color. So I thought of doing some cute and personalized wall art that will add a spring feeling. This was one of those ideas I actually thought of myself. I feel like such a smarty pants when I do that. So I headed to the Hobby Lobby (that place can be dangerous) and Home Depot to get some tools.

DIY Art Work
canvas
blue spray paint
tape
hot glue and glue gun
small silk flowers
small silk leaves (optional)
distressing ink
brown paint

I started by taping the trunk of the tree on opposite sides of the canvas, like so:

Now for the branches. This one goes to my awesome sis. I was going to just put strait pieces of tape on for strait branches but she thought of something much better. When you tear the tape it gives it a nice natural edge. LOVE it!

Now for my favorite part... SPRAY PAINT! You could paint these with traditional paint but 1: spray paint goes on nice and smooth and 2: it's a lot faster. Here's my sis displaying the lovely paint we selected.

After the paint dried we took off the blue tape and starting placing the flowers. 

I  gave the tree a little brown definition and distressed the edges of the tree. Now I decided to add some leaves to bring in more of the green but you certainly can opt out on those. On one of the trees I had my sister who is an art major make an M+J in the tree (their initials, cute huh). It turned out a little bigger than expected so I would recommend making a smaller one in the very corner but the bigger version like so also looks great as well. What ever floats your boat.

We hung them up above the bed and they are a welcome burst of color. And the best part, my sis LOVES them. The room is far from finishing its face lift but its a great start.

Now I'm going to curl up in some blankets and study. Good night all!

I'm Looking Through You

Hello you stunning readers you!

You know how I said that my hubs and I were working on an incredibly amazing project? The time has come to show it off the the world! In my last post I introduced you to our newest family member, the lovely Lucy. She is soooo much fun! She loves to play and digs sliding on the kitchen floor (it kills me every time). From the moment we brought her home we couldn't figure out one very important thing... where do we put the liter box? As my blog title indicates, we live in a one bedroom apartment so we don't really have an abundance of space. We decided that we needed to get creative. So we headed to the local thrift store and found this:

This end table has defiantly seen better days. But this project was all about thinking out side of the box... literally. And at $3, if we trashed it we wouldn't feel to guilty. With some spray paint, power tools, and a lot of elbow grease the side table now looks like this:

Yes that is the same table. And I LOVE it!

The new handles are a HUGE improvement. It gave the end table a huge leap out of the early 80's.

I spray painted the whole thing black and antiqued it with sand paper. But it was missing some thing. So I added some lovely stencil designs to the front and top. It gave it the color and definition that I was hoping for as well as contribute to the antiqued feel I was going for. Here is a shot of the front:

And here is one of the top:

Now you may be thinking "Well that is a great looking table, but how does this tie in with Lucy and the liter box?". Let me show you...

This is the kitty door on the side. The kitty door leads to the hidden liter box inside the end table. That's right, I said inside:

This is where the hubs and the power tools come in. He was sweet enough to cut a hole in the side for the kitty door and vent in the back (we had to give her fresh air in there- sorry, didn't take a picture of the vent). He loves using power tools.

We placed a mat on the bottom so that it was 1: softer on her little paws and 2: collect a little liter. There is a good 4-5 inches between the door and the liter box so she has a little room in there.

I wish that I could take credit for this genius idea but I can't. I found it here:

http://www.remodelaholic.com/2010/05/cat-astic-old-cabinet-transformed-guest.html 

Our version is not as big as hers because we have a smaller home and a smaller cat. But we also added one other addition. Because our table did not have the cracks in the wood for light we had to find some way to add some light in that dark little box. So we got a little light and placed it on the door:

This little light makes for one much happier kitty. 

Well folks, it's time I go get dinner started. Plus I think some one is ready for me to get off the computer:

Have a safe and happy week!

Lucy in the Sky with Dimonds....

Welcome back lovely readers! Happy Halloween! It has been a couple of crazy weeks. The hubs is healing well (only two more weeks of crutches!) and is back to work. And we just added a new member to our family! Meet Lucy!

Isn't she beautiful! We are crazy about her and she seems pretty found of us. We came up with her name from two of my absolute loves: The Beatles and Lucille Ball. She is spunky and has quite the sence of humor so she fits her name well. She is a doll and we are so happy to have her. We are working on an uber awesome project for her (I say we because the hubs had to help me with the power tools. Oh yeah.... it's THAT awesome!) that I am hoping to post the results to very soon. 

Since it the week of Halloween, I wanted to post some of the litte decorations that I have completed other than the pumpkins that you can see in my last post. Sorry, this time there really aren't any before-and-afters or how-tos but they are still cute and I still want to show them off. If you want anymore information on any of the crafts let me know. Oh, and a couple of these aren't really Halloween. They were the crafty part of the gifts for my M.I.L and S.I.L. I was pretty proud of these too so of course, I'm posting them. Enjoy!

I am so proud of this wreath because it's my first non-traditional circular wreath. This was a wood frame-thingy that I found at the DI and just knew that it could be something beautiful (Yes, I really did just use the word thingy, and it will likely not be the last time). It has that shabby chic Halloween look with I love. It makes me smile everytime.



Yep, I even decorate at work. This is at on the top of one of my cabnets. I still have more coming but I love how simple but still adorable it is. The best part, I got all of this, with the exception of the labels, at the Dollar Store. The hidden jewels that place holds! It can be dangerous. Oh, and the labels came from the Martha website- also a dangerous place.

At Old Navy they are clearancing all their flip flops. I picked these up for my MIL for .75 cents. They are going on a tropical trip soon so I thought I would make her something fun to wear on the beach. I used a cheap tshirt, felt, and hot glue to create these. I just love how they turned out!

They were so cute that I just had to try them on myself! I'm going to make a pair for mye and when I do I will take some how-to pictures. This is such an easy project you will want to transform all of your flipflops!

At Down East Outfitters this month any pink shirt is $5 with half of the proceeds going to breast cancer research. My SIL is a darling gal that just turned sweet 16 so I wanted to get her a shirt that was as fun as bubbly as she is. The $5 shirt was far more tempting than the $20 super cute ones but it was just so....plain. To fix this, I added a flower to the shoulder. This really turned out better than I thought it would. Here is a shot of the flower up close (sorry it's kind of fuzzy... one day I will have a real camera...):

Well folks, there is what I have been working on as of late. I hope that you all have a fun and safe weekend. TTFN!

You are so BOOtiful... to me!

  Happy Sunday all! It's been a while since I posted anything but it's because I have been taking care of my poor broken hubs. He had some orthopedic surgery on his hip and has needed a little extra TLC. I know- all of these surgeries would make you think that we are in our mid 60's rather than our mid 20's but we just hope this means we are getting all the yucky stuff out of the way now so we can play hard later on.

  I am so excited that it is finally beginning to feel like fall in our corner of the world. I adore the changing of the leaves, the cooler weather ( I love sweaters) and, of course, crafting and decorating for the holidays. Since its October, I am of course working on Christmas decorations. I'm just kidding ya (even though there are already decorations out at Target, Walmart, Michaels, etc.); I am working on Halloween decorations. For a long list of reasons, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I know, I'm weird. But I do love crafting for Halloween. And I'm thrilled to have any reason to decorate so I am learning to embrace the holiday one baby step at a time. To start of the Halloween season at our apartment, I created this darling little center piece for our table. And because I was smart enough to think ahead, I even took pictures. Yeah me!

BOOtiful pumpkins

Supplies:

-3 Pumpkins (mine are fake, but this would work on real ones as well)

-Sticker letters: 1 B and 2 O's

-Modge Podge

-Black Paint

-Paint brush

Ok, so I said that I thought ahead, but I admit that I did not take a picture of step one. I modge podged one letter on each pumpkin. You can hand paint this or hand draw it with a sharpie, but I had the stickers on hand so I opted to go that route. I also used some of the extra punctuation stickers to frame the top and bottom because the letters looked so plain by themselves. Then I let the modge podge dry. (Sorry, I didn't realize how fuzzy the pictures were)

Once that is all nice and dry, get out our paint and paint brush. Using the non-bristled side of the brush, dip the end of the brush in the paint like so: 

Once you have the paint, start painting dots on your pumpkin. I free-handed my design but it might be more time effective to stencil out your design first. Here is side one of my pumpkin:

Now complete on the opposite side. Repeat on the other two pumpkins and tada!

With some creepy candles and some leaves, this little center piece almost makes me like Halloween.... almost. 

You light up my life...

Happy weekend all! I hope that you all had a great week. I'm back to work and even though I am all sorts of tired and sore after my shift, it kind of feels good to be back in the swing of things.
  This weekend my siblings, the hubs, and I are going to finish my parents Christmas present. I know it's a little early but we are painting their front room for their gift and it's easier for all parties to do this in the warmth of September rather than the freezing temperatures of December. We have already finished part of the walls and it looks BEAUTIFUL. In the entry way of their home is a light fixture that was is pretty out of date. I just could not imagine having these gorgeous walls illuminated by these not-so-lovely light. I have been searching KSL for a new light with no luck. And then, quite by accident, I stumbled upon this:

A lamp that needed some love. And did you see the price?

   At $3.12, I can try to show it some love. With the assistance of my suave brother, we removed what ever covering was on peeling on the lamp so we could start fresh. And then... it sat... for a good week until I figured out just what I wanted to do with this little misfit from the home improvement store. Out of nowhere, it hit me, mosaic! Since really didn't want to try to find glass squares for this little project, I tried to think of what else could work. Do you know that book, "Everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten"? The older I get the more I find this to be true, especially in crafting. Once upon a time in elementary school, I made a mosaic design using tissue paper squares. This would be perfect for the light fixture as it will give me the design that I am going for as well as let the light shine through. After a trip to the dollar store for tissue paper, I whooped out my handy modge podge and got to work.
   I decided that I really wanted to have some of the squares to have a sea shell effect. But how to accomplish this.... And then, all on my own, I figured out how. You will all be so proud not only because I thought of this by myself but because I actually took pictures! Behold: my first tutorial:

Sea shell Tissue Paper
Materials:
-White tissue paper
-Antiquing stamp pad

First I took a square of white tissue paper and crumpled it. You can do this any way you would like. This gives texture and makes step 2 much easier. Mine just happened to look like this:

Next dab the tissue paper on the stamp pad. Be sure to move the paper around so you can get the brown distributed throughout the paper.

It should look something like this:

Open up the paper and if you are satisfied with the amount of brown than you have your done!

If you think it could use a little more, simply crinkle it again and repeat. I modge podged this to the light and it looks great if I do say so myself.

 This could also add a great effect on a picture frame, a vase, etc. You could also use it to add some pizzazz to wrapping gifts with bags and tissue paper. And don't be afraid to think outside the box. You can use the same effect on various sizes -I used it on the wide piece around the middle of the lamp as well as the little squares for the top and bottom. Try us same technique would look great on other colors of tissue paper and stamp ink. If you do try this I want to see it! Post a pic and show it off! I can't wait to see what your imagination can come up with!

Well folk, I hope you enjoyed my very first tutorial and that you make your way back to this little corner of the world wide web soon. Have a great weekend!

Head shoulders knees and toes

Happy Sunday all! Last week I did in fact have my gallbladder taken out. It has been an interesting experience. I have learned a great deal over the past week. I would like to share some of those with you today:
1. My family and friends and the bee's knees- To everyone one who brought in meals, called, sent messages, sat with me while the hubs was at work (especially my mom- she's always been one of my heros and this week you have gone way above the call of duty-your the best mom!), said prayers and good thoughts, and just showed some love-Thank you!
2. You use your abs for just about everything- I have had a couple of other surgeries that required some incisions in my midsection and it never ceases to amaze me just how much those tiny incisions can hurt when you try walking, sneezing, coughing, sitting up, sitting down, and so forth.
3. Things can always get worse- On top of having my gallbladder out this week, I developed a sinus infection. And my hubs has had to work all week. I know, way to much fun.
4. Things can always get better- Last night the hubs took my on a cute mini date (I still get really tired really quickly) and my mom has brought me a fresh Dr Pepper almost every day. Plus I found Season 2 of I Love Lucy.  All in all, it's been a pretty good week.
5. Just because you want to do a thousand things (such as crafting) while you are recovering, doesn't mean you actually have the energy to do so- I really wanted to do a whole plethora of crafts this week. In my mind it seemed pretty feasible. That idea lasted until I woke up from surgery. But I have done a few things and have a few more in the process. Here is my favorite one. Sorry there isn't really a before shot or a great tutorial- I blame the pain pills.

At work, I sit next to the lovely gal who has one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. So when I was up at the outlets a couple weeks back and found this darling white baby hat for a dollar, I knew I could make this little boy hat into something as cute as her baby girl. I can't take credit for the flower design-  I totally used a tutorial from one of my favorite blogs (I can't seem to remember which one though... again, I blame the pain pills). I made the leaves of the flower from burlap and with the assistance of my handy-dandy glue gun, put this all together. I can't wait to see this on her cute little head!

Well folks, I'm pretty much exhausted and I think that it's time that I go and take a nap. Thank you for dropping by and have a fantastic week!