So one thing I'm really good at is making playlists! Here is my Sum-Sum-Summertime playlist from 2012...it will likely need to be updated with all the new albums that are coming out this spring! This is meant to be listened to on shuffle so the order is not crucial. It is also meant to be all over the place, because that's how I like it!
-American Girl: Tom Petty
-Here Comes My Baby: Cat Stevens
-Stay Positive: The Hold Steady
-I've Done Everything For You: Rick Springfield
-Rave On: Buddy Holly
-Crazy For You: Best Coast
-Hold On: Alabama Shakes
-I Feel Fine: The Beatles
-Top Of The World: Danger Bob
-Denis: Blondie
-Tame The Sun-Male Bonding
-Sunny Afternoon-The Kinks
-Meladori Magpie-Smashing Pumpkins
-Sugar Sugar-Mary Lou Lord with Semisonic
-Mr. E's Beautiful Blues: Eels
-Oh, Madison!: Cowboy Indian Bear
-Iron Woman: Devin Davis
-For Your Love: The Yardbirds
-Shake It Up: The Cars
-Along Comes Mary: The Bloodhound Gang
-Sweet Talking Woman: Electric Light Orchestra
-I'm Still Standing: Elton John
-Let's Go Parking Baby: The Caesars
-In The Summertime: Mungo Jerry
-We Ok: The Very Best feat K'naan
-Notorious: Duran Duran
-Hot Blooded: Foreigner
-What About Us: Handsome Furs
-Tall Boy: Har Mar Superstar
-Rubber Twice: Danger Bob
-Rubella: Smoking Popes
-Dune Buggy: The Presidents Of The United States of America
-Pretty Girl From Cedar Lane: The Avett Brothers
-You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl): The White Stripes
-Don't Go Breaking My Heart: Elton John
-Mr Tambourine Man: Bob Dylan
-When I Come Around: Green Day
-Rich Kid Blues: Lykke Li
-Where You Lead: Carole King
-Close To Me: The Cure
-Do You Think You're Beautiful: Dance Hall Crashers
-Build Me Up Buttercup: The Foundations
-Michael Jackson: Das Racist
-Motownphilly: Boyz II Men
-Fancy: Drake
-You Can Do It: Ice Cube
-We Are Young: fun. feat Janelle Monae
-The Only Place: Best Coast
-Valerie Loves Me: Material Issue
-Leave the Biker: Fountains Of Wayne
-Some Nights: fun.
-Here In Your Bedroom: Goldfinger
-Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake: Grandaddy
-Clothes Off!!: Gym Class Heroes
-Barracuda: Heart
-Girl Problem: Her Space Holiday
-Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter: Herman's Hermits
-Flamethrower: J. Geils Band
-Funk #49: James Gang
-11th Dimension: Julian Casablancas
-Move Your Feet: Junior Senior
-Never Said: Liz Phair
-Weekend: Smith Westerns
-Machu Piccho: The Strokes
-Inside Me, Inside You: Ultimate Fakebook
-Horchata: Vampire Weekend
-Surf Wax America: Weezer
-The Wall: Yuck
-Julianne: Ben Folds Five
-Bus Stop: The Hollies
-All Day And All Of The Night: The Kinks
-Paranoid: Black Sabbath
-I Melt With You: Modern English
-Yes: Merry Clayton
-Revved Up: Tripl3fastaction
-(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame: Elvis Presley
-Better On Holiday: Franz Ferdinand
-Shake Your Love: Debbie Gibson
-Handle With Care: Jenny Lewis
-Superstar: Sonic Youth
-Summer Breeze: Seals and Croft
-Girls Only: Har Mar Superstar
-Coffee & TV: Blur
-Gangsters Want to Cuddle Me: Har Mar Superstar
Let me know if you want to come over for a pre-summertime dance party!! (or if you want a 5 disc set of awesome!)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Catching up on crafts!
Happy Sunday!
My energy was renewed this week, finally! First I'll show you the fantastic Valentine's Day wreath that I made!
I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I directly copied it from this project. I usually try to change things up, put my own spin on it, but in this case the original was so perfect that there was no need to make a change.
I've been working on finishing up several in progress. Here is a purse who's progress has been halted by lack of appropriately colored bias tape:
I made this out of some old menswear fabric that I brought home from my old job. I brought home a ton so it is my plan to crank these (and other patterns) out at some point. I suppose I intend to try to sell them so we'll see how that goes! This is reversible! Any feedback would be much appreciated! Let me know if this is something you would buy, and how much you'd be willing to pay for it!
My energy was renewed this week, finally! First I'll show you the fantastic Valentine's Day wreath that I made!
I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I directly copied it from this project. I usually try to change things up, put my own spin on it, but in this case the original was so perfect that there was no need to make a change.
I've been working on finishing up several in progress. Here is a purse who's progress has been halted by lack of appropriately colored bias tape:
I made this out of some old menswear fabric that I brought home from my old job. I brought home a ton so it is my plan to crank these (and other patterns) out at some point. I suppose I intend to try to sell them so we'll see how that goes! This is reversible! Any feedback would be much appreciated! Let me know if this is something you would buy, and how much you'd be willing to pay for it!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
So very full!!
This week has been particularly trying. Although there is no one reason I haven't felt able to do anything, creative or otherwise. It's a huge bummer! On top of feeling blah my sleep had been awful..which is rare for me and thus upsetting.
I had hoped the weekend would bring rest but that hasn't been the case. That said it may have recharged me none the less. It has been filled with music, food (lots of food), baseball and love! It's been a long time since I have visited so many of my old rock haunts in one weekend and it felt awesome!
So needless to say I have no new projects to show you but I cleaned the craft room today and I'm feeling spy so I hope to have exciting reports next week!
In the darkest hole there's alway a light, and usually it's not a train coming right at you, but even a train is something different right? Ha!
I had hoped the weekend would bring rest but that hasn't been the case. That said it may have recharged me none the less. It has been filled with music, food (lots of food), baseball and love! It's been a long time since I have visited so many of my old rock haunts in one weekend and it felt awesome!
So needless to say I have no new projects to show you but I cleaned the craft room today and I'm feeling spy so I hope to have exciting reports next week!
In the darkest hole there's alway a light, and usually it's not a train coming right at you, but even a train is something different right? Ha!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Make it Brighter!!
Hello!!
Despite a horrible bout of laziness, coupled with what was likely a bit of seasonal affective disorder I have managed to crank out a project!
Now that I have a mister I feel that unexplainable desire to monogram the crap out of everything! I was inspired when I saw this project. Here is my version:
As mentioned in the original project I found all of these items at Hobby Lobby and they were darn cheap! I went with a simpler frame style, and for ease of painting I'd say I preferred it. Normally I would have just spray painted the whole she-bang but its way cold right now I didn't want to be outside! I picked up some acrylic paints and went down that road...at least at first!
I knew I wanted the letter to be a super bright color so I chose this fabulous glow yellow! I at first painted the frame (which started out as black) a medium grey color. It looked alright but I wasn't in love with it. I turned to my left and caught sight of this great poster in our living room...its colors changed my course of inspiration!
I find these colors so delightful I may even change out the ribbon color for a lighter teal! Unfortunately part of the catalyst for my color change was the necessity to go back to the drawing board as far as getting the yellow to work. The glow color is so sheer that it is almost like a glaze or a wash. It was impossible to get it to cover the original cardboard-y color of the H! I figured I better go back and get some white to do a base coat, hoping that it would help the glow color cover and pop. While I was at it I picked up the new teal and a high gloss top coat as the acrylic was both matte finish and water based. I wanted it to be both glossy and durable. The teal covered like a charm, but after several coats I still couldn't get the glow to cover! It was sheer and streaky all over the place! I finally gave in and went for some spray paint. I had a coupon for Ace, but it did still drive my project cost up a bit!
Even after switching to spray paint I was having trouble getting good smooth coverage. I guess glow colors just aren't meant to be used this way! I will say that it was beginning to hurt my eyes to look at it! I finally sprayed on a super thick coat out of sheer frustration and that seemed to work and gave it a nicely covered look!
I really like how the final product turned out! I wish the colors showed up more true to life in photos because the H really is a bright neon yellow and I love it so much! Its a really good non-seasonal door decoration!
Materials:
Cardboard H from Hobby Lobby
8x10 frame from Hobby Lobby (on sale!)
Anita's Acrylic Paint in: Ocean Blue, Glow Yellow, and White
Tree House Studio Clear Acrylic High Gloss Coating
Ace Glo Spray Fluorescent in Yellow-Green
Despite a horrible bout of laziness, coupled with what was likely a bit of seasonal affective disorder I have managed to crank out a project!
Now that I have a mister I feel that unexplainable desire to monogram the crap out of everything! I was inspired when I saw this project. Here is my version:
As mentioned in the original project I found all of these items at Hobby Lobby and they were darn cheap! I went with a simpler frame style, and for ease of painting I'd say I preferred it. Normally I would have just spray painted the whole she-bang but its way cold right now I didn't want to be outside! I picked up some acrylic paints and went down that road...at least at first!
I knew I wanted the letter to be a super bright color so I chose this fabulous glow yellow! I at first painted the frame (which started out as black) a medium grey color. It looked alright but I wasn't in love with it. I turned to my left and caught sight of this great poster in our living room...its colors changed my course of inspiration!
I find these colors so delightful I may even change out the ribbon color for a lighter teal! Unfortunately part of the catalyst for my color change was the necessity to go back to the drawing board as far as getting the yellow to work. The glow color is so sheer that it is almost like a glaze or a wash. It was impossible to get it to cover the original cardboard-y color of the H! I figured I better go back and get some white to do a base coat, hoping that it would help the glow color cover and pop. While I was at it I picked up the new teal and a high gloss top coat as the acrylic was both matte finish and water based. I wanted it to be both glossy and durable. The teal covered like a charm, but after several coats I still couldn't get the glow to cover! It was sheer and streaky all over the place! I finally gave in and went for some spray paint. I had a coupon for Ace, but it did still drive my project cost up a bit!
Even after switching to spray paint I was having trouble getting good smooth coverage. I guess glow colors just aren't meant to be used this way! I will say that it was beginning to hurt my eyes to look at it! I finally sprayed on a super thick coat out of sheer frustration and that seemed to work and gave it a nicely covered look!
I really like how the final product turned out! I wish the colors showed up more true to life in photos because the H really is a bright neon yellow and I love it so much! Its a really good non-seasonal door decoration!
Materials:
Cardboard H from Hobby Lobby
8x10 frame from Hobby Lobby (on sale!)
Anita's Acrylic Paint in: Ocean Blue, Glow Yellow, and White
Tree House Studio Clear Acrylic High Gloss Coating
Ace Glo Spray Fluorescent in Yellow-Green
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Its a new year!!
It is a new year indeed! I'll be honest 2012 was so very good that I worry a bit that 2013 will somehow be awful! Here's hoping I'm wrong. At any rate I'll do my best to make sure that I'm wrong!
As with every other blog on the web I thought I might mention some New Year's resolutions. Generally I think resolutions at the new year are kind of silly. I try to make the necessary changes in my life year round. That said, the new year is as good a time as any to try to do some things a little bit differently. So here's what I'm trying to change:
1. New blog every Sunday!!
2. Improve my posture!
3. Purge my possessions!
Number 3 is the biggie! I'm a huge pack rat, its a real problem. This year I discovered that I feel a ton better every time I get rid of a pile of stuff. Getting rid of things is something that's very difficult for me. I attach emotional value to nearly every thing and that makes it hard to let them go. I feel totally weighed down by all the stuff I have, not to mention that its hard to really get things done when you have to wade through or clean up a bunch of things every time you need to do something! I am going to be trying very very hard to shake out the unnecessary and free up the useful. Its going to feel really good to get out from under the weight of all of that stuff. Then I won't have to feel like this lady anymore:
Now, in the interest of using this blog to really discuss what I've been up to creatively...here we go!
I had a lot of Christmas crafting going on pretty much down to the wire. I couldn't post about them at the time due to them being presents and all, and of course in the rush I didn't get any pictures...so you don't get to see those I guess! Don't worry though it was mostly scarves and such, I didn't crochet the whole solar system or anything! While I have been working some of my own creative projects I've been spending more time on something the hubs and I have been working on! We are taking the first steps to becoming Model Railroaders! We're becoming your grandpas! Despite being a house divided as far as N or HO scale we're pursing N scale for now. Last weekend we went to a train show and picked up some kits. I made these little "suburban homes" this weekend:
I'm sure it will be some time before we have anything impressive, but its nice to have yet another hobby! Hahahahaha!!
We also like to antique...because we fancy ourselves...well...fancy! This weekend I picked up these gems:
Aren't they gorgeous?!?! They are about 4 feet high by a bit over a foot wide. The roosters are made of a mosaic of tiny little rocks. I'm sure there's a technical name for it, but I don't know it. Something fabulously 70s! They need a bit of cleaning (need to figure out the best way to do that, could be tricky!) then I can find them a permanent hanging home! Or, more likely, tuck them away until we make the home buying leap.
I hereby promise to have more for you next week!
TTFN Kids!
As with every other blog on the web I thought I might mention some New Year's resolutions. Generally I think resolutions at the new year are kind of silly. I try to make the necessary changes in my life year round. That said, the new year is as good a time as any to try to do some things a little bit differently. So here's what I'm trying to change:
1. New blog every Sunday!!
2. Improve my posture!
3. Purge my possessions!
Number 3 is the biggie! I'm a huge pack rat, its a real problem. This year I discovered that I feel a ton better every time I get rid of a pile of stuff. Getting rid of things is something that's very difficult for me. I attach emotional value to nearly every thing and that makes it hard to let them go. I feel totally weighed down by all the stuff I have, not to mention that its hard to really get things done when you have to wade through or clean up a bunch of things every time you need to do something! I am going to be trying very very hard to shake out the unnecessary and free up the useful. Its going to feel really good to get out from under the weight of all of that stuff. Then I won't have to feel like this lady anymore:
Now, in the interest of using this blog to really discuss what I've been up to creatively...here we go!
I had a lot of Christmas crafting going on pretty much down to the wire. I couldn't post about them at the time due to them being presents and all, and of course in the rush I didn't get any pictures...so you don't get to see those I guess! Don't worry though it was mostly scarves and such, I didn't crochet the whole solar system or anything! While I have been working some of my own creative projects I've been spending more time on something the hubs and I have been working on! We are taking the first steps to becoming Model Railroaders! We're becoming your grandpas! Despite being a house divided as far as N or HO scale we're pursing N scale for now. Last weekend we went to a train show and picked up some kits. I made these little "suburban homes" this weekend:
I'm sure it will be some time before we have anything impressive, but its nice to have yet another hobby! Hahahahaha!!
We also like to antique...because we fancy ourselves...well...fancy! This weekend I picked up these gems:
Aren't they gorgeous?!?! They are about 4 feet high by a bit over a foot wide. The roosters are made of a mosaic of tiny little rocks. I'm sure there's a technical name for it, but I don't know it. Something fabulously 70s! They need a bit of cleaning (need to figure out the best way to do that, could be tricky!) then I can find them a permanent hanging home! Or, more likely, tuck them away until we make the home buying leap.
I hereby promise to have more for you next week!
TTFN Kids!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Repurposing...reinventing!
For awhile I've been looking for a way to display my Grandma Luckey's china. I feel very special that she choose me to give it to, but my transient lifestyle in small apartments has meant that it has spent far too much time in storage! I knew I didn't want a traditional china cabinet...too big, too stuffy! As an avid garage sale enthusiast I'd been keeping my eyes peeled, but for what? I didn't exactly know.
Several weeks ago my partner in sale-ing and I stopped by a friend's sale. I definitely wasn't expecting to find the perfect thing there, but find it I did! Well...almost perfect:
What it was was an entertainment shelf. The kind of thing with the false cardboard back that you can punch the holes out of to run your cords through. But I saw its potential! At $8 even if I failed I wasn't out much! We loaded it up and carried on!
I was toying with the idea of losing the glass doors. I wasn't sure they would fit with my vision. As we unloaded it from the car one of the doors came off, no big deal, I carried up to the porch for safe keeping. Somehow the minute I got on the porch it shattered into a million pieces! I'm not sure how it happened but it made my decision for me! And thank goodness for safety glass!
After a couple more weeks of lolly gagging and picking out paint colors I finally got to work! I researched the heck out of how to paint that crappy fiberboard manufactured furniture and actually make the paint stick! Seems the secret is lots of sanding and lots of primer!
Here it is all sanded:
In hindsight I really should have sanded it more but I have the upper body strength of a T-rex and I was wishing for a belt sander! In addition to the painting I was planning to do I also wanted to make sure that the shelves had some kind of rim on them to keep my special dishes from sliding off. I purchased a very very long piece of what I suppose is some sort of wood trim and nailed strips onto the edge of each shelf. Not only does it keep things on the shelf, it looks pretty sharp too!
I was also delighted to find that the front of the drawer came right off, that made painting a lot easier as I didn't need to paint the whole drawer and I didn't want to ruin the hardware.
Here are the colors I went with!
I did hit a few snags. After painting the green portions I took off the tape that I had used to protect the areas that would be pale yellow...and it took of some of the green paint too! It doesn't take much to make the paint want to abandon this material so you really have to treat it gingerly. As such my corners and edges aren't as sharp as I might like. Also in putting the shelves back in I scraped off some paint on the inside and had to touch that up. I expect that next time we move I'll have issues with it again, but I have plenty of paint left...and Lowes stored my colors!
Here it is all finished and empty:
I also wanted to get new knobs for the drawer but that hasn't happened yet as I want to find just the perfect ones! I put the old ones back on for now. And now, the most important part...how good it looks with my Grandma's china!!
I'm not totally sure how to properly display china, I may get a plate stand or two, maybe something to lift up that back row of tea cups and saucers, but overall I think it looks fantastic!
Now my most special things will be with me everyday! And that makes me super duper happy!
I would also like to point out the fantastic skull and bones platter. This was a delightful wedding gift from my friend over at Folded Pigs! I don't suppose it would be my Grandma's taste, but a little old a little new right?
Materials:
-1 Thrifted entertainment shelf
-1 gal Valspar-Jalepeno Jelly
-1 qt Olympia-Silk Sails
-Various painting and sanding who's its and what's its
-Long strip of molding cut down for the shelf edges
Finally I'm going to try to start up a regular blogging schedule. Its mostly for me I suppose, just as an exercise and to keep me in mind of what I'm working on, but perhaps you will find some interest in it as well!
Several weeks ago my partner in sale-ing and I stopped by a friend's sale. I definitely wasn't expecting to find the perfect thing there, but find it I did! Well...almost perfect:
What it was was an entertainment shelf. The kind of thing with the false cardboard back that you can punch the holes out of to run your cords through. But I saw its potential! At $8 even if I failed I wasn't out much! We loaded it up and carried on!
I was toying with the idea of losing the glass doors. I wasn't sure they would fit with my vision. As we unloaded it from the car one of the doors came off, no big deal, I carried up to the porch for safe keeping. Somehow the minute I got on the porch it shattered into a million pieces! I'm not sure how it happened but it made my decision for me! And thank goodness for safety glass!
After a couple more weeks of lolly gagging and picking out paint colors I finally got to work! I researched the heck out of how to paint that crappy fiberboard manufactured furniture and actually make the paint stick! Seems the secret is lots of sanding and lots of primer!
Here it is all sanded:
In hindsight I really should have sanded it more but I have the upper body strength of a T-rex and I was wishing for a belt sander! In addition to the painting I was planning to do I also wanted to make sure that the shelves had some kind of rim on them to keep my special dishes from sliding off. I purchased a very very long piece of what I suppose is some sort of wood trim and nailed strips onto the edge of each shelf. Not only does it keep things on the shelf, it looks pretty sharp too!
I was also delighted to find that the front of the drawer came right off, that made painting a lot easier as I didn't need to paint the whole drawer and I didn't want to ruin the hardware.
Here are the colors I went with!
I did hit a few snags. After painting the green portions I took off the tape that I had used to protect the areas that would be pale yellow...and it took of some of the green paint too! It doesn't take much to make the paint want to abandon this material so you really have to treat it gingerly. As such my corners and edges aren't as sharp as I might like. Also in putting the shelves back in I scraped off some paint on the inside and had to touch that up. I expect that next time we move I'll have issues with it again, but I have plenty of paint left...and Lowes stored my colors!
Here it is all finished and empty:
I also wanted to get new knobs for the drawer but that hasn't happened yet as I want to find just the perfect ones! I put the old ones back on for now. And now, the most important part...how good it looks with my Grandma's china!!
I'm not totally sure how to properly display china, I may get a plate stand or two, maybe something to lift up that back row of tea cups and saucers, but overall I think it looks fantastic!
Now my most special things will be with me everyday! And that makes me super duper happy!
I would also like to point out the fantastic skull and bones platter. This was a delightful wedding gift from my friend over at Folded Pigs! I don't suppose it would be my Grandma's taste, but a little old a little new right?
Materials:
-1 Thrifted entertainment shelf
-1 gal Valspar-Jalepeno Jelly
-1 qt Olympia-Silk Sails
-Various painting and sanding who's its and what's its
-Long strip of molding cut down for the shelf edges
Finally I'm going to try to start up a regular blogging schedule. Its mostly for me I suppose, just as an exercise and to keep me in mind of what I'm working on, but perhaps you will find some interest in it as well!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Fall Wreath
Hi All!
I recently finished this crafty fall wreath I've been working on for awhile:
I was inspired by this post and my love of yarn pom poms! They are so fun and easy to make!
I used this set of Clover Pom Pom makers (size Large) which make it really easy to crank out pom poms pretty quickly! I had a floral foam wreath lying around so I covered it with felt just to keep the yarn from sticking to it in a weird way. Once I hung it on the door I felt that it didn't hang quite where I'd like it to so I put a brown ribbon on it which I think kind of ties it all together. As Halloween approaches I think I will stick some paper bats on there too!
As far as materials used here I just pulled all the fall colors out of my yarn stash. I think there is only Red Heart Super Saver and I Love This Yarn in there. You'd want to keep the yarn weights and types similar just so the balls hold together right. I backed off on the number of balls a bit so I may put more in at some point to fill out some spots around the edges. It doesn't look too off in the photos, but in real life its a little unbalanced.
I recently finished this crafty fall wreath I've been working on for awhile:
I was inspired by this post and my love of yarn pom poms! They are so fun and easy to make!
I used this set of Clover Pom Pom makers (size Large) which make it really easy to crank out pom poms pretty quickly! I had a floral foam wreath lying around so I covered it with felt just to keep the yarn from sticking to it in a weird way. Once I hung it on the door I felt that it didn't hang quite where I'd like it to so I put a brown ribbon on it which I think kind of ties it all together. As Halloween approaches I think I will stick some paper bats on there too!
As far as materials used here I just pulled all the fall colors out of my yarn stash. I think there is only Red Heart Super Saver and I Love This Yarn in there. You'd want to keep the yarn weights and types similar just so the balls hold together right. I backed off on the number of balls a bit so I may put more in at some point to fill out some spots around the edges. It doesn't look too off in the photos, but in real life its a little unbalanced.
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