Breaking the paper towel addiction June 9, 2008

I admit it… I have a paper towel habit.  Hands a little damp?  Grab a paper towel.  Baking and your fingers get sticky?  Grab a paper towel.  Cleaning?  Half a roll of paper towels should do.  Ugh, I’m disgusted at myself.  I’ve made a conscious effort to change my habits, starting with my paper towel dependency.  Meet my new paper towels:

Target bargain pack of washcloths, $8.95 for 30.  I also re-purposed a trashcan that wasn’t being used and put it in the kitchen to hold the rags until they can be washed.  The basket was also purchased at Target.

The next step will be to hide the remaining paper towel rolls in the house to use in emergencies (i.e. cat puke clean-up).

Flying monkeys out of my… April 30, 2008

I’m in the process of decorating my craft room (pictures later), and I finally have THE perfect idea for using my vinyl wall decal obsession.

My first idea was to just put the words, “Crafting is cheaper than therapy” on the wall. Simple, easy and oh so true. Then I started pricing out the quote for the height/width that I wanted. ::blink blink:: oh my goodness, are quotes expensive. So I scrapped that idea and just started looking for unique decals.

SCORE! Flying monkeys out of my… erm… craft room! I found them at this Etsy store. Then inspiration hit. She has quotes in her store, I wonder if she’d do something custom? YES! YES she will! Cheaper than anything I’ve been able to find out on the web too.

My craft room is going to kick monkey tush!

Photo Collage August 30, 2007

I finally decided that I need to finish at least 1 project around here, so I decided to tackle a photo collage. I have a ton of photos that are just sitting on my computer. What better opportunity to use them than a large blank wall? I chose some of my favorites (fall photos, and pictures of my cats [we have no kids, what else did you expect?]) and had them printed. I chose two of my most favorite pictures and had them blown up to 8×10 size. The rest are 4×6.  **edited to add, the wall color will change, but I wanted to put something up in the meantime**

How I did it:

Tools you will need – hammer, nails, paper, pencil, tape, tape measure, and level.

Step 1: First, select a large blank wall and decide how much of the space you want to use for your collage. At this stage, I just eyeballed it.

Step 2: Then arrange your photos in their frames on the floor. (Sorry, I don’t have a picture of this stage.) This might take you several tries until you find an arrangement that you like.

Step 3: Take several sheets of computer paper and cut them to fit your frames. Lay them on your frames and mark where nail hole will be. This step is crucial if you want your collage spacing to be even.

Step 4: Tape the pieces of paper that represent your first row to the wall. Remember, this represents your final pictures, so you want it to hang straight. This is where the level comes in really handy.

Step 5: From your first row, measure next row spacing (and all other rows) and hang them. Again, use the level. If something doesn’t look right, don’t be afraid to just eyeball the placement. Its your eye that has to be pleased, because no one is going to go up to your arrangement with a tape measure.

Step 6: Hammer a nail where you have marked your nail holes to be. Remove paper.

Step 7: Hang your photos. Viola! Pretty photo collage!

I promise, this project isn’t as difficult as you might think.

Inspiration June 29, 2007

Simple, yet elegant… Manzanita branches with small tea light lamps hanging off the branches. I found my inspiration in July’s Good Housekeeping magazine. After searching for a little bit, I found the exact same lanterns they used in the magazine picture, but the site says they are out of stock. ugh. I guess I’ll just have to keep checking back. I will use this in my house somewhere.

Another favorite site June 28, 2007

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

Despite what the name looks like, the site isn’t kinky at all. Basically it will take any image you want, blow it up to any size, and then you can print it out yourself and hang on the wall. Fun for a kids room, or if you print it out on nice enough paper and frame it, could be a sophisticated art piece.

In our old apartment I took one of our wedding photos and printed it on cardstock. I then hung it with blue tack above our fireplace. We received a lot of compliments on the photo.

Project… finished! June 28, 2007

I completed a relatively small project last night, but it gave me immense satisfaction. I replaced the ugly/dirty lace curtain that was hanging by the front door.

Materials:

• 3 yrds sheer fabric from JoAnn’s (50% off) = $3.49 per yard
• 1 sewing machine
• 1 spool thread
• 1 cranky husband to help measure the window

Time spent: 15 min

Outcome: Priceless

I’m a bad blogger June 19, 2007

Due to a myriad of things nothing is getting done to my house, and as a result nothing new is getting posted to the blog.

::raises right hand:: I solemnly swear to be a better blogger.

Moving on:

This summer I have taken a part time job working at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. The booth where I work sells gorgeous walking staffs (I know, right now you’re thinking “gorgeous walking staffs” and thinking I have lost my mind, but just trust me on this) and beautiful metal art. At first, I didn’t like any of the art, but now its starting to grow on me. The artist that makes the art works in three different metals: chrome steel, brass, and copper. If I had the money I would buy several pieces to put in my home, but alas the art is rather expensive. I particularlyl have my eye on several Aspen leaf branches that are chrome/silver/blue (not pictured below).  To see more artwork visit Blackford Studios. You can’t order the pieces online, but if you have a Renaissance festival near you, I bet they have a booth there that you can visit.

So many plants, so little time June 4, 2007

We decided that this year we would hold back on the planting. We wanted to see what would pop up around the house and in the yard. So far we’ve only purchased a few things:

1. Pepper plants to grow in pots on the porch (from left to right: habenero, super chili, and cayenne)
2. Two geraniums, snapdragons, and some sort of purple flower that I forget the name of to plant in a long planter to put in front of the house (pictured on kitchen windowsill, still not planted)
3. Impatiens to plant in a bare spot in the front of the house
4. Spearmint to plant near the base of the deck
5. Cucumber plants to plant in the only sunny corner of the backyard.

We were really tempted to buy more plants, but we held back. Next year though, hoooo boy! The gardening will begin.

Storage, how I love thee June 4, 2007

Oh storage, how I love thee
Let me count the ways…

Our kitchen is nice, with a lot of cabinets and storage space for all my baking “stuff” (as the H calls it). However, there was no storage space for the pantry items. None, nada, zilch. The H suggested that I pare down my baking items. Yeah, that didn’t go over well.

The solution was simple. We had space on the side of the fridge to add a pantry. After visiting our newest favorite store (not really, I’m starting to hate the place), Home Depot, the solution was at hand. Ta-da! Room for all the pantry items, plus a little extra space to buy new baking goodies. p Have I told you yet that I’m a baking nut?

Final kitchen color May 24, 2007

The final color we picked out for the kitchen walls is a lot darker than our original colors, Painted Turtle by Behr. We hope to paint our kitchen cabinets the light color (Cotton Whisper) sometime this summer. Last night we painted the large wall that spans the kitchen and living room this color. It looks so good with the floor, and is very rich. I can’t wait until we paint the rest of the kitchen!

**EDIT**  I wish the picture above was my kitchen.  Instead it is just an inspiration picture taken from Behr.