Makers Gonna Make.

I want this shirt!

I was recently telling some friends that I'd never photograph or talk about all the things I make. Why? Because I'd be embarrassed about how much time I spend crafting/painting/sewing/whatever.

I made these paper pinwheels out of scrapbook paper and painted dowel rods using a tutorial from Miss Mustard Seed. Then they sort of sat on the ironing board for about a week. Maybe they even got moved to the dining room table a couple times. I realized I had no use for them. I couldn't even think of a place that I could stick them. I think I was going to put them in the entry way as part of my spring decorating, but I couldn't remember exactly how I was going to do so.

They sat there long enough that John finally asked me what I was going to do with them.  I didn't know. I just wanted to make them.

They ended up in this pitcher type thingy on top of the hutch in the dining room. I can't say I even really like them. But there they are.

Is that the Easter bunny? What's he still doing out in mid May? Well, he's just a 75 cent thrift store bunny to me. He has the sweetest face and ears. I didn't even have to spray paint him. I did paint that pot with the fern though. Sometimes I just randomly paint stuff with craft paint while I'm cooking dinner.

It really must be true. Makers gonna make.

Speaking of which, back to the sewing machine I go.

Finally sunny!

It's cold today, but it is sunny. It's been raining or snowing for days now.

FYI--there's still a hole in the ceiling where the old light used to be.

I pretend that the hole isn't there. I'm hoping to patch it sometime in 2012. Ellie even asked the other day why it is still there. Mary gets up every morning and plugs in the tree herself. I'm glad she loves the Christmas decorations as much as I do. She, Ellie, and I did the tree ourselves this year while John was outside playing with his chainsaw.

Ellie watches educational TV while I take pictures of the furniture.

In my defense, she was out of the room making some play-doh pancakes for me when I took this picture. She was making them on her grill. They were raspberry pancakes, and they were delicious!

I put my normal Christmas decorations out on the TV cabinet this year, but I didn't like them. So I took them down and looked at it for a while. Then I had one of my wonderful ideas. Ah, the ones that send John out to the freezing cold garage at 10pm to cut, glue, and nail things for me.


He used some of the left over wood from the barn door. And no project would be complete without adding some old dining room paneling to it. It's on the bottom. When the glue dried, I stained it inside and out. John even drilled a hole in the back so that I could run the cord of lights through it. I love how it turned out!

Tree number two

Once again, it was John to the rescue. I had the tree. Then I bought the pail. We had thought of about 10 ways to get it in there, but none of them seemed easy.

Pinterest to the rescue!

I showed the above to John, and he said it would work. Thank goodness we have a huge pile of wood in the yard from the storm in May. John just drilled a hole into a piece and set it in the bucket. Then we shoved the tree into the log. It actually looked pretty cool with just the pink tree shoved into the the log, but I wanted to use the bucket since I bought it specifically for the tree. It's really steady which was my main concern.

I have all my Christmas decorating done! I even started my Christmas knitting last night. I think I'm at least two weeks ahead of where I was last year.

I'm not dead.

I am not dead. I am busy. And tired. I sort of forgot about my blog.

I've been knitting pants for Ellie. And I have hat yarn. And scarf yarn. And I worked on my log cabin blanket some more.

I've been decorating for fall too. I've never decorated for fall before, so I'm mainly using what I have.

My sad little mantel, if you can even call it that. I think that's a tiny camel on the fireplace there. Oh well. No time to pick up when you are busy hot gluing fake leaves onto a wreath form. I switched out my Fiesta to some fall-ish colors and bought some cute little gourds from a local pumpkin farm.

I put some stuff out in the dining room too.

See the top book? I think it's from the 1940s. It says pregnant women shouldn't gain over 14 pounds. It also had tons of....interesting....info about nursing a newborn. About how they should only have sugar water for the first day or so in order for the mother to rest up and until her milk started to come in. And the pumpkin art? I did that.

Then I made this wreath. I'd seen something similar online. We have tons of sticks in our yard. But somehow it seemed much smaller when I made it out in the garage. Oh well, I do like it despite its size and it was free. I can always compost it later. 

I haven't given up on the entry way. It's just slow going. I'm holding out on pics until it is completely done. But let's just say that it is to the point in the project where last night I had a beer in one hand and a paint brush in the other...............

Spring eggs...before and after

So here are my eggs. You can buy something very similar looking to my finished product from Pottery Barn. They are $14 for 12 eggs. I got mine for a dollar at Dollar Tree.



And after!

That glass jar is one of my favorite things. I think I paid 75 cents for it at Salvation Army. Glass is super thick.


I'm so ready for spring! I took down the Valentine's decorations today. I had a few winter things out too, and they are put away as well.


I have my 4 brass candlesticks primed and one coat of paint on them. Unfortunately it's going to take 3 coats of paint, so they won't be done tonight. I'm going to try to get them done tomorrow though.

I cheated on myself.

I couldn't last a month without buying more supplies for more projects.

It started so innocently. There were these candle sticks I'd been eying at Meijer. I liked the shape. The color was....brass. Ick. Well, maybe someone liked them. They were $10 or $12 each. Last week they were 50% off, then this week....75% off! Woot! The small one was $2.49 and the large was $3.24 I think. I've never bought anything new only to come home and paint it, but there's a first time for everything I guess. I have another brass candle stick I bought at the thrift store for $1. I'm going to paint them all black. I'm thinking of just doing them with regular paint (not spray paint) as I could do it at night inside.

But then, I needed candles of course. I thought maybe I'd run to town tomorrow and get some. I got online during Ellie's nap and found a really cool painted eggs project on Dollar Store Crafts. Hmm. When Ellie got up, we went to the Dollar Tree, then JoAnns, then Family Dollar. We took cash. We didn't browse. We got in, got what we needed and got out. If I would have been alone, I would have browsed which would have resulted in more supplies for new projects. Maybe taking Ellie is a good idea! I had about a dollar left in change, so we hit Salvation Army. I found a really pretty silver bowl for 75 cents.

Tonight I primed my clearance candlesticks, and the one I'd had in the basement from the thrift store. In a way that means I'm working on saved up projects, right? I almost went back the the basement to see if anything else needed primer, but figured I should just focus on what I already have started. They look so much better already! I also worked on my Dollar Tree eggs. Mary helped a bit. I think I'll let her finish them tomorrow. At least I didn't just come home and throw the supplies in the closet. I'm hoping to finish up the candlesticks tomorrow night.

I should be knitting. Ugh. I'm not feeling it though. Three pairs of longies in two weeks is apparently my breaking point. I'm only an inch into the legs of this pair. I'm hoping to get them done in the few days. I have yarn for one more pair I want to make before we go on vacation next month.

Looking forward.....and trying to get some projects done

It's the weekend. Time for me to go to the thrift store, the antique store, or the craft store. Somewhere. Anywhere away from the girls. I find something to make, or to paint or to decorate with. I bring it home, and put it in the craft closet or the basement. I do work on things, but cannot keep up the pace at which I bring things into the house.

My main focus right now needs to be on the baby blanket I'm making. And I have a couple other things started I need to finish. But I'm going to make myself stay home and NOT buy more stuff. I'm thinking for a month? Like all of February? After I finish the blanket, and a cushion cover I've started crocheting, then I could......knit longies, work on some Valentine's crafts (some started and one that I have supplies for but haven't started), repaint the pink closet, spray paint tons of stuff if we ever have a warmer day on the weekend, clean out the closets, or print off a year's worth of digital photos. I'm sure there's more. I know I have enough yarn for 4 more pairs of longies. Or I could make shorties since spring is just around the corner. I could finish up some Christmas crafts/projects I never got around to. I wondered the other day if it would be possible to complete even HALF of the things I have planned before I bought anything else. I wonder how that would feel.

Today we had a little birthday party for Mary. Grandma Mary brought me a dresser that she didn't need anymore. As soon as I saw it, I thought about painting it. But then Grandma went into this long story about how it used to be painted, and she lovingly and carefully refinished it. Ugh. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wanted to paint it again. You know, so Mary or Ellie could refinish it again in 30 years:). She also gave me two lamps that I really, really want to spray paint, but I probably won't. They are super cool, but not my style. So, I can either paint them and use them, or keep them in a closet and not use them. They need new shades too. The shades that came with them are not working for me at all. Then she gave me one more thing....it's sort of a table runner but smaller. I can't really think of what you'd call it. Anyway, she had 2 of them so she wanted to give me one. She embroidered them herself. It really is very pretty. I asked her if it was old. She said sort of. She'd purchased the cloth BEFORE SHE WAS MARRIED!!! So like 60?65? years ago. She embroidered the first one then, and just did the second one last winter! Crazy! I'm so glad she's a crafter too. She has a massive yarn stash. And a fabric stash too. I love going to her house because she always gives me stuff or inspires me to make something I would not have otherwise thought to make.

I can't wait to see how much I can get done in the next month. I might even be able to open the craft closet without stuff falling out soon.

Finally a working camera!

There are the picture frames that took forever. Maybe some day I will get real pictures for them, but for now scrapbook paper will have to work. And there are my 2 new pillows too. I still need to get some red flannel and make a couple more. That way every time we go in that room, the kids can throw them all on the floor, and I can pick them up again and again. I'm crocheting a couple cushion covers too in red, pink and green. I have one done and another half done.

Here are the picture frames before:

That picture was taken last fall right before I primed them. Before that, the frames were in the closet for probably 2 years. I loved them in Evansville, but I tried them 3 or 4 places in this house and they just didn't work. I saved the pressed ferns. Maybe I'll use them again some day. All those ferns were in our yard in Evansville. Most of them moved here, so I could always recreate them too. I'm just glad I decided to use the frames again instead of being mad they didn't "work" in this house.

Here's something Mary wrote recently:


Her handwriting has improved so much recently. She'll be four this month. I really love the picture of Mary and Ellie. I love their HUGE toes and fingers. I didn't want to send it off to "Papaw Toe" aka Papaw Joe, but I did anyway.

I've been taking a break from the baby blanket I'm making. I was burnt out big time. Back to it soon though! I still hope to finish it this month.


This week I'll be busy cleaning the house in preparation for Mary's birthday party! I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 years old.

Off to BED.

Inspired.....or crazy?

My newest obsession is decorating blogs. It started when I went to One Pretty Thing one day and there was this dresser makeover. Well, I clicked on that blog, then another, then another. I landed on a blog called Nesting Place. Suddenly, I had ideas! One of her suggestions is to "shop the house" to makeover and decorate when you can't afford new stuff. Huh. Well, between that and another new obsession with spray paint, I was ready to go. I made a list of things to paint. Then last night I went to town. I have some random things to paint, but mainly I wanted to make over the top of the bookshelf in the living room.



Before: some mismatched pictures I just threw up there when we moved in almost 2.5 years ago. The vase looking thing, hmm, I'm not sure I ever really liked it. And the basket was a gift that I want to keep, but I just can't find a place to make it fit in.


Stuff to paint:

1. Vintage cats. From Mom. They've been packed since the move.


2. Vase thing I wasn't thrilled with, but like the shape of it.



3. Picture frame. It was on my dresser. Not my style anymore.




Then while I was at it, I grabbed:
1. Another frame which was stuffed in a drawer




2. A little basket--guess I didn't get a pic.
3. The little metal heart shaped hanger pictured above. It was in the box with the cats. I swear I've never seen the thing before, but clearly we had it before we moved.

I'll be using those three things later when I find a use for them.




Here's the top of the bookshelf after. I grabbed some other things and put them up there. The painting above was done by John's Grandma and was hanging on a different wall where I wasn't thrilled with it. Cost of this makeover: $3 for two half cans of spray paint. I'm pretty proud of it.

Of course now I have three more areas of the living room that need help. 1. Top of the way too big for this house TV cabinet. 2. Wall where I stole the painting that I placed above the bookshelf. 3. little table behind the oversized chair. But, I'm out of ideas. For now. I assume there will be more shopping the house and spray paint involved! Before this week, I was frustrated with the living room because the furniture is too big for the room, I want to repaint the walls, we need new windows, I want a smaller/shorter TV cabinet and a flat screen TV mounted to the wall (hey!!! I can dream, right???) and I'd love to have less toy clutter. But I realized something reading the Nesting Place blog. I need to do the best I can with what I have (aka, a $10 budget) and enjoy our home even if it isn't perfect. I'm going to keep thinking on the three areas that still need help. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. Stay tuned!