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!

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!

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

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!