Create Something Project : Week One

I've only been home 2 hours from the 8 hour road trip home from a weekend in Lake Tahoe and I've stumbled across something.

A "Create Something Project".

Just the "SOMETHING" part of that intrigues me. Because I know that everyone out there looks at the crap I'm making, or workouts (I do or DONT get in) and thinks "I dont have time" or "I cant CREATE ANYTHING!". 

With the PROJECT there are no limits. You could create an IDEA, and it still amounts to something you have ACCOMPLISHED.

So since I found this, Ive been staring at into space thinking "What the heck can I make at this moment to become apart of this project? I'm exhausted and cant possible CREATE a paper airplane right now!". So I read through some of the posts of the ladies that are participating in this project, and all of what they did was so simple, and were just things that they did today.

So I thought "What have I done today?"

A LOT.

So I cruised over to my TUMBLR page and saw this...

Its like a little scrapbook page! All day(weekend) I have been posting pictures of the shinanagans that we have been getting into. It makes me so happy to scroll through the photos. Plus the INSTAGRAM app gives it such a vintage look, that you cant help but to keep looking. 

So though I was only updating the world of my life, I really was CREATING everlasting memories that I am now sharing with you!

What have you created?

Do you run too?

Did you know that I run/bike/swim?Well I try to, how about you?

Gathered Clutch Purse

 "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"< insert crazy evil laugh here. Or more the laugh Tom Hanks does from the movie A League of Their Own, after he throws the baseball glove at Stilwell.
That is my accomplished laugh.
Why the craziness? Because the kids were crazy, like crapping on the floor, mac'n cheese pasted to the walls, naked child bouncing on trampoline (while the gardeners were working), kids breaking into a can of coke and pouring it all over couch, while another is washing his hair in it as the little one pours it out.
It was complete madness. Which means I was freaken out, eyes popping out of my head, and nearly having a heart attack while reading directions on how to cut a zipper.

**Breathe**

 For this gathered clutch, I got the tutorial from NOODLE HEAD. Which is one of the blogs that you fall in love with and end up digging through it for an hour (or more). I know I'm obsessed.

 So even though I messed up a little (Notice picture above where the "gathers" were to short), I think its the most amazing thing I have made yet, and cant wait to make it again!
I have to say once I completed it, and really felt it in my hand I had an sense of once holding something like this before. This may be weird to say: But I felt as though I had a flashback to a time that I once had something like this before, I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride and nostalgia. Weirdest part, it wasnt MY flashback....

I've already loaded it up with my goodies. Ditching my over sized Vera Bradley wallet for my homemade loveliness.

Note: As I am posting, my daughter makes a paste out of Ritz crackers and puts it down my shirt. SHE has been the GREMLIN today.

As with all projects I have accomplished this month, I have learned so much, and as always cant wait to expand into something HUGE!

I now can cross this off my February Project list!

Frame & Twine

Finally finished!!

This is one of those projects that I have had sitting around for 2 weeks. Lonely, and questioning me when I would finish it. Yes, my projects harass me, don’t yours?

So a little while back I scored this picture frame for $5 at my local craft store. I knew right away what I wanted it for, thank goodness my husband was away on a research assignment to not question my random madness a HAVING to have the frame.

There was a bottle IVORY Rustoleum spray paint waiting to be used. And let me post a friendly reminder, to ALWAYS SHAKE YOUR SPRAY PAINT VIGOROUSLY! Apparently I did not shake hard ENOUGH, and was having different colored layers on my frame. I was NOT a happy camper.

So the frame sat….. a long time painted with NO WHERE to go.
Though I had the twine, and glue gun, it wasn’t until today that my mind was cleared enough to think “oh yeah….”

So I cut up the twine in different sizes, positioned it where I thought it looked sexy, and worked patiently with the hot glue gun .

This was looking to be a productive Sunday.

Then though the frame was complete, it had to be adorned with cute clothes pins. Yes, CUTE. So out came some scrapbook paper & mod podge. As I wasted 3 hours of my life watching ‘No Country Old Men’ (that movie sucked, I’m sorry if you like it, did you?) with the hubby (it was just one of those movies that was on queue with Netflix that was sitting next to the TV for 2 months), I traced the clothes pins, cut, modge podged .

Then I chose some favorite pictures, hung em up. Had my hubby come and stare at the wall with me, constantly asking him “what do you think? Are you impressed? Looks good huh? Seriously, what do you think?”.

Well I think I love it.

Are you loving the “natural” light? Hahaha, I set up a lamp… it doesn’t look THAT bad.

The clothespins are too cute, or my kids are …maybe both:)

February Project Wish List

Do you have lists?

Not just lists of the mounds of things you SHOULD be doing. But lists of things you would LIKE to do?

I don’t, but I think tonight is a good night to create a list.

I spend my relax/quiet/hiding/calm-down time reading blogs, and collecting tutorials on things I REALLY want to do. One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to post not only projects completed, but projects I would like to do.

Now thanks to everyone in bloggyland I  have TON of projects to tackle, so where do I start?

With a MAGICAL list.

This list isn’t going to be EXACT but a rough estimate of what I would like to accomplish by the end of February (keeping it to a month of projects, not adding a list for the year, that just calls for failure).

1. Thee Clutch Purse: I have been eyeing this tutorial here at Noodle Head for awhile. See the gathers and the zipper? I have the URGE to accomplish those things!!

1.    

            2 . Tee-Shirt Dress Reconstruction: Using this tutorial from Threadbangers, I plan on making a some semi classy with a cute table cloth I found at Goodwill, and with an old shirt I WAS going to donate to GW.

3.     3. The Circle Skirt: Check out this AWESOME tutorial from Dana over at MADE, I feel as though I NEED it, but have yet to score the perfect fabric during my hunts to GW.

4.   4.   Elastic Waist Skirt: I know one to many skirts, but I have only one that fits at the moment, and I think people might start to notice at church. Following this tutorial from Freshly Picked, I have the PERFECT material I found last week from GW, its total flower power, but I think its coming back into style.

5.    5.  Amy Butler Blossom Handbag: Check out this FREE Amy Butler tutorial over at Sew Mama Sew. I think I may have a sewing buddy on this one: DENICE *cough cough. Though it says advanced I think 2 brains can push through and make this darling purse. I can already imagine finishing it, taking to bed with me, tucking it in, kicking out my husband, then dreaming about tackling a weekend bag …. Aww, I am daydreaming.

6.     6. Reupholster my Goowill High Back Winged Chair: This project was actually supposed to get done this weekend, but with the hubby’s birthday and returning from a trip it was pushing it. But both DENICE and I will be tackling this upholstering job. I been reading this tutorial by Molly over at the Creative Maven. Using her WISDOM, this will be completely hopefully sooner (like within the next 2 weeks) then later.

So those are what I would like to get done. Anything extra is just sprinkles on the cupcake.

But though those things aren’t completed, I have some AWESOME things I have tackled in the past 10 days my hubby has been gone.

Stay tuned!

What does your project list look like? Leave a comment or post on the Facebook page!

My Alter Ego

So the intention of me starting a blog aside from my fitness blog over at See Mom Run Bike swim was a place to document all the projects Ive been getting into.

I told myself, that I will only post what I have MADE.

But then Ive been getting emails, lovely comments, seeing Moms out in town asking what Ive working on, or where I get the time to do these things … So I think I need to express myself more here in bloggy land.

(please take note to the craft madness on my kitchen table. Does anyone elses table look like that?)

 Expressing myself nightly to my journal, well, the journal doesn’t talk back saying “oh I know how you feel” or “I totally want to make that too” or “get glass votives from the dollar store and glue them to you candlesticks” <-- Thank you Melissa from The Joys of Home Educating.

I’ve always loved blogland, and I adore the friends Ive made across the world, and the friendships Ive deepened through the random things I post.

I don’t really know where this post is going. There is so much on my mind.

All in all this is a blog to share my alter ego.

It makes me happy that people know me as “the girl that works out a lot”, I mean that’s better then being called something worse. But there really is more to me than the miles under my feet.

So here I am :)

Good Movie a Cure for Sewing Disasters

Tonight a game plan was set for completing a quilt my sister and I started this weekend. We magically thought that with the 3 day weekend ahead we could finish it.

I think not.

Our biggest issue was that I have never finished a quilt (well a QUILT QUILT), and the whole business was new to her anyways. To say the least there was A LOT of tutorials I was parked in front of, trying to absorb the information into my noggin. I was able to figure out to finish the quilt with this awesome tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew.

With this in depth tutorial, I learned I didn’t even have the right presser foot my sewing machine. So we had to make a trip to one of my local quilt shops to buy a new quilting foot for my sewing machine. Then watch a butt load of YOU TUBE videos on how to QUILT.

Oh my, then of course we start with this massive twin size quilt to learn on.

It has been an adventure.

Anyways its Tuesday night, and I only have one section of the quilt left to “quilt”. Once I completed it and I was THRILLED. Now only the binding, but on double checking that I removed all the pins did I realize that part of the extra backing was folded over and quilted over …. Along the LONG side.

When you see things like this you don’t know if you are going to cry, scream, or just throw the blanket away.

A couple deep breathes were taken, and I cuddled up on the couch with the seam ripper and got to work.

The smartest thing I did tonight was give myself a time limit on how long I would be “ripping”.

So once it hit 9pm, I set it down, popped in one of my favorite movies, and starting my nightly journal time.

Does anyone else feel “relaxed” while watching one of their favorite movies? I swear, its like a drug for me.

Time to give a young Michael Douglas some love.

Goos-fra-bah

Some Sewing Yoda Wisdom

Recently at church I over heard a conversation behind me , what they were talking about I forget but what I got out of the conversation is that one of the women was an amazing seamstress. After the lesson was over I turned around, introduced myself, and admitting I was listening in on their conversation asked if she taught people how to sew.

She straight out said “No.”. Having learned herself only from watching her grandmother make her and her siblings clothes during the summers when she grew up, she taught herself to sew at age four. Never really being taught, and it being something she always knew how to do she was never really comfortable with teaching others.

“But, I’ll give you some pointers”. Awesome I thought.

“Never stare at the needle. Always look at the measurements on your sewing machine.” Great, I thought. Deep wisdom from sewing Yoda, and this is just common sense.

“Start small. Don’t attempt making temple dresses”. Ok, I admit, do I stare at Gerties Blog for Better Sewing and imagine sewing an evening dress to wear around my house by myself? Yes, but I’m smart enough to stick to little projects that include a lot of straight lines.

“If you want to get better, sew everyday. You have to sew.” Ah, Yes Master Sewing Yoda, this again common sense but probably is the most important piece of wisdom I received that Sunday.

Now did these “pointers” sound easy? Yes! But when I came home and started to make a cover for sewing machine, and thought of NOT staring at the needle and I was making STRAIGHT lines did I realize: “THAT WOMEN IS A GENIUS!”

Since that day I have sewed EVERYDAY. It’s only been a short time, but being persistent, my skills are becoming better.

Candle Holder

Does anyone have candle holders just hanging around?

I don’t. But goodwill did ! After
stalking
seeing a lot of different crafts during Christmas using candle holders, I just had to start a collection of my own. So one day during one of my trips to Goodwill I stumbled over this. Cute. But a different color?

I think I'm addicted to Rustoleum spraypaint. I was itching to see how the metallic came out.

Very surprised to see the out come of this Rusteleum project.

Wanted the silver look and I totally got it. I put 2 coats on, and let it dry over night and now have a classic SHINY look. I can see my reflection from paint that came out of a spray paint can! I looooooooove it !!! Now go and get your self a bottle and re-do your entire home. LOL.

The Brass Elephant

(look at him in the WILD)

3 years ago I was in Japan, digging through one of their amazing thrift stores with a best friend. Waiting for me covered in dirt was this precious elephant. Though I found it so cute, everyone else seemed to hate it *cough my husband. So for the past 3 years he has been hanging out in whatever spare space we have had during our many moves. His favorite place seems to be the guest bathroom.

(Perfect model)

Today I decided he needed to come out of hiding and get a makeover.

With a can of rustoleum hammered bronze leftover from my NOEL project, I became this little elephants stylist.

Now he looks like a REAL elephant. With a modern updated look!

My husband came home and saw my little elephant and asked what happened. I said “You hated it, so I gave him a makeover!”, he replies “Yeah, but that was so you.” I was actually surprised to hear him say that, cause its true, the décor on the elephant was my look, I’m surprised he noticed.
So now little Elephant has a great view in my kitchen….

Maybe during one of my thrifting outings I can find a baby elephant to pair him up with. What do you think?

Linked up to :)

Kitchen Subway Art

 

After all was placed I needed to decide on a color. So I whipped out my box of “oops” paint from Home Depot *All priced at $0.50 a piece, I cant ever leave Home Depot with 2 in my hand.

After the little ones passed out yesterday afternoon, I snuck out to the living to start on a project. I had told myself that not until I was done with ALL the cleaning would I let myself start something. But after an incident where my son destroyed a room I had just organized, well I thought I deserved to zone out with a craft.
Knowing that I had about 3 hours I went to work. On Monday I had purchased a canvas which was on sale at Beverlys. I knew in my mind that I had wanted something to fill the "hole" of my kitchen I decided I would jump onto the “subway art” band wagon.

Items Needed:

• 16x20 Canvas
• Vinyl (white)
• silhouette
• Rust-Oelum Leafy Green Spray Paint

So out came the wonderful Silhouette (out? That thing seems to have permanent residence on my kitchen table). Since the kitchen was my theme,I started to think of words that reminded me of kitchen! Thanks to all my wonderful friends on facebook, I was able to get just the right amount of words in to fill up the canvas  Decided to print out all the words and stick them to my canvas, then spray paint over them.

I spent a good deal of time looking for the PERFECT font. I looked around at other pieces of bloggers had done, and still couldn’t find what I wanted. I ended up just digging through what I had on my computer and settled on COPPERPLATE GOTHIC BOLD.

Now in the midst of printing out the words onto vinyl I realized that this was a time consuming project with all the printing, cutting, transfer paper… well I was going a tad crazy. Ashley over at Lil Blue Boo a great idea here WITHOUT using vinyl. But all in all I really think that you need an afternoon to finish it.

Took some time into the detail of placement of the words. Near the end I was randomly printing out words to fit the exact size I needed. *Apparently I didn’t go into this project with to much planning.

My first thought was to make an amazing painting, using multiple colors, making it edgy. Yeah, I dropped that dream, the colors I had weren’t floating my boat.
After the hubs came home, I had him be my final decision, and it came down to the fact I just didn’t have the color I needed. Road trip to Home Depot!
Well road trip by MYSELF, and I came back with THIS:

The perfect green for a modern look in my kitchen.
So I set up camp on my porch and applied 2 layers.

Using the spray paint was a perfect choice for a smooth finish. Plus the wait time is a matter of minutes, and I really wanted to be done with the project.

After making sure it was completely dry, I broke out the tweezers & exacto knife, and the hubs and I “cuddled” while picking off vinyl☺ Ok, we didn’t cuddle, but it was one on one time as we “picked” our way through this project.

There are A LOT of letters. But they all came off very easily, and there really wasn’t any bleeding through of paint. NICE.

Viola. Gorgeous.

I’m thinking it looks pretty classy, and I’m satisfied with my first “subway art” project.

Linking up to lovely parties: