success

 Who would have thought that reading this...

 could help me turn this....

 into this...?

 I finally achieved success and learned how to work my new sewing machine!


Merry Christmas to me!

I think I also got some help from that big chill,


<-----this guy,


and the Meg Ryan movie I was watching.

"I could make that"

One of my biggest pet peeves when I was a kid was how my mom would often say, "I could make that."

Example: Me: Look at that cool shirt/blanket/furniture/anything.
                My mom: I could make that.


This drove me batty.  If we're being honest she rarely ever made it, but the thing is, it stuck in my head.   She was right, oft times things that you could end up spending a lot of money on are things you could make yourself.   Sometimes I hear myself not really saying it, but thinking it.  Some day we all turn into our mothers. 

So here's some stuff I made lately. Forgive the horrible pictures, my camera apparently has forgotten how to focus photos.  If I take 5 pictures of the same thing, one might be in focus.  So just saying sorry in advance.  Time for a new camera, since mine apparently is going through alzheimer's.

These are some jeans I never wear because they are "too flared."  I am not a skinny jeans only girl, but if the flare of the leg touches while I walk it bugs me.  I am not trying to make a tutorial on how to do this and I cannot find the one I used, but here's another.

Basically I put them on inside out, pinned them the way I wanted them to fit, took them off, drew a line with a sharpie of where my new seam would go and sewed along the line.

PS: I do not have a fan and a hammer in the floor in my bedroom this is one of our spare rooms which I have taken over as a sort of craft room.

Here's the final product:

 

Hey, look that one was actually in focus.

 

I also got this sign at the DI for $1.50 

Sorry if you are a fan of the original, but I painted the red edges black,
took off the decal and slapped a new one on.

PS: I got this vinyl statement at Wall Written.

My friend's sister-in-law owns the company and they had an amazing clearance sale the other day.

Do you ever catch yourself doing something (mimicking a parent) that you swore you would never do?

before & after

I painted my bedroom furniture, bought a new comforter set and a new hamper, and if ya ask me it looks pretty darn good.  It did not turn out according to the plan/the way I picture it in my mind, but does anything ever?

dresser: Before

dresser: after & new hamper

$5.00 Mirror that inspired me. I guess I forgot to take a before of my nightstand but you can see it in the background (sorta).

Nightstand: after

$10 Table

Bed: Before

Bed: After

After all was said and done it didn't turn out how I thought it would, but I still like it.

My tips for painting furniture are as follows:

1. Do not skip steps! Steps should go: 1. Prep/Sand 2. Primer 3. Paint
2. Using a glaze or stain does NOT work out on furniture that is not made of real wood.
3. Yes, there is such a thing as awesome primer to help you prep laminate furniture and/or prep furniture without sanding, but it is CRAZY sticky and that is why it works. Here is a picture of my brush I tried to soak in hot water and vinegar to clean it.  Notice how the sides of the bucket are painted. Yeahhh I painted the bucket from underwater.  Be careful with that stuff.

trash to treasure

I saw these great pictures on pinterest and it linked back up to a simple how to.

Unlike the other site, I did not take pictures of the project in progress, just the final project.  Since I bought four frames for this I decided to do one for each season.  I was being drawn again and again to autumn and winter silhouettes so I forced myself to include the summer and spring pictures.  This was so easy, but I did ruin one of my DI dictionary pages trying to send it through the printer.  They were very thin so I glued them down to a piece of paper to keep it from jamming the printer. 

I found these little gems recently and they begged me to take them home.

Mrs. Potts $1.00

I actually made this cake plate/platter with a candlestick and a plate and some E6000, but watch out that stuff is toxic! Yikes! The topper/cover was $3.00.