by Amy | May 21, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Art, The Art of Design, The Art of Gathering, The Art of Projects
About a week ago I found myself in Bismarck. Naturally, while there I was faced with a difficult decision: TJ Maxx or boutique shopping? I went the boutique route and found myself at a darling place called Junk Yard Chic. Their wares boast gifts of the salvaged, shabby-chic, rustic variety.
When I checked out, my goods were carefully wrapped in the cutest Popsicle tissue paper I’ve ever seen. Which got me thinking all about summer’s best treat, and how I could incorporate those fun, sweet, melty colors and flavors into my life this summer. Here are seven great things I came across.
1. I have been itching to host a summer ice cream social. But I might just do a Popsicle social instead. These invitations from Free Pretty Printables are sooo cute I could eat them up. Oh, yeah. And they are FREE!
2. There are a ton of amazing popsicle recipes floating around on Pinterest these days. I fell in love with the wholesome ingredients and easy prep for these made with blueberries, strawberries and honey. Get the recipe here. The blog, In Sock Monkey Slippers recommends this mold.
3. Dreamcicles anyone? Those are soap! Yes, soap. The perfect summer gift for a summer hostess. Get them from Sun Kid Gifts on Etsy.
4. If technology is more your style, sport this adorable phone cover this summer. Get this one and other cute Popsicle prints at Peanutoak Case’s Etsy shop.
5. These aren’t edible at all! They are crayons. How amazing is that? I found this image on Pinterest. Which led me to Etsy…only to discover that the listing is no longer active. I’m guessing you can melt down crayons and cool them in a Popsicle mold. You’re creative. I know you’ll figure it out.
6. I dig these nails from Lacq Lustre. She did them herself and shares all the colors she used. So even if you don’t make the mini Popsicles, you can still have some poppy color.
7. And lastly…I searched high and low for the tissue paper that started this whole thing. I couldn’t find it. What I did find was this adorable wrapping paper from Clementine Store. Now who do I know with a summer birthday…?
Amy
by Amy | May 20, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects, The Art of the Moment
I did some walk in portrait sessions about a week ago. So I made a new backdrop.
Did I have other things I could have used? Probably. Okay, fine…yes. But I was in the mood for something new, something reusable, and something versatile. So I made a the backdrop you see above. It was insanely easy. Insanely. Let’s go.
You’ll need:
- 2.5 yards of fabric in 3 patterns
- 2.5 yards of lace {if you want it}
- Rope
- Scissors
First, find yourself a good episode of Dateline or Call the Midwife to watch while you are doing this. It’s easy…but a little mindless…so obviously, I like the TV on.
Next, unfold your first cut of fabric. I used flannels since they were on clearance the day I shopped, but any cotton weave will do. Snip along the short edge, making cuts every couple inches. I varied mine a bit to give the finished product a little variety.
After that, pull our your muscles and start ripping. That’s right. Just tear the fabric into strips, starting where you snipped.
Repeat on all your fabric.
For the lace, I accordion folded it a few times, then cut it into strips. You want all of your strips to be 7.5′ long…so be sure you are making strips that extend down the fabric…not across the short side.
You’ll be left with a pile of fabric strips. Take those and tie them onto a piece of rope. I just tied them once…no fancy knots here. This amount of fabric will create a backdrop that is 7′ tall and up to 8′ wide…more if you don’t mind sparse streamers. Once all your strips have been tied on, you can hang the ends from anything that is convenient. Whether that is a backdrop stand {if you are really legit}, a drop ceiling {that’s what I did}, or something you have laying around your house is totally up to you. I just wouldn’t use it outside on a windy day.
Then, keep your eyes out for clearance fabric that would make a good backdrop. These are a little addictive.
xo
Amy
by Amy | May 13, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
When we moved up to Practically Canada we had a few home options in mind. Derek moved up before me, so he visited properties and acted as our eyes and ears and gut instinct. I did the searched online and sent him addresses to check, names to call, places to scout. We knew we wanted another fixer-upper, and we found this place. So we bought it and moved in.
It had a lot of good features, no wall paper to remove, it was out of the flood plane and was settled in a nice, safe neighborhood. Sure, it only had one bathroom, offered only 1150 square feet of finished living space and needed a lot of updating…but all that aside, it had an ace in the pocket that we couldn’t ignore: a full, unfinished basement. {Click here for all of our house’s before photos.}
So we started small with painting. Then we moved on to other things that made the main floor look presentable. Last summer, I renovated the second floor and did a lot of work in the yard. Which means we are finally ready {and have money saved} to start on the basement. The big goal here is to add a couple hundred more feet of living space, which will include a second bathroom…yay!
While the beginning stages of this giant undertaking are not my idea of fun, I know it has to be done to get down to the parts that I actually enjoy. First thing that needed to happen: clear out everything.
Gross. I mean, there’s a reason I left all that stuff stored in the basement. It’s like, I like that stuff, and I don’t want to get rid of it, but I don’t want in the part of my house that people see all the time, and I like, need some it of, but I don’t want to take the time to go through all of it, and I just hate looking though boxes, and couldn’t we be watching an episode of Dateline right now? You know what I mean?
But it had to happen. So slowly we’ve gone through everything in the basement. And like any good “start of a project” post, I’ve got oodles of before photos to record this occasion. Before you start judging the hot mess that you see before your very eyes, let me explain. I took these when we had started sorting through and clearing things out. All good organizers know that the mess will usually look worse before it looks better. So, yeah.
To give you an idea of size…I circled an object that appears in both photos above. It’s the same half of the basement, just from two different sides.
The basement is pretty small. But there are a lot of weird things down there. Let’s see…we’ve got faux wood paneling on the walls, some other wood nailed right into the cement on other walls, a make shift closet that Panda chose to use as a litter box for a while last summer {that was a nasty surprise to find}, a couple weird work benches that have been attached with a combination of nails/screws/bolts {yes, bolts}, not to mention the most precarious electrical work I’ve ever seen. All that stuff had to come out too.
We started sorting through our things about a month ago. At that point I hadn’t gotten any results back about my back from an MRI or anything like that. I held to the philosophy that if I hadn’t been shown proof that there was something really wrong, I could work through the pain, no big deal. Well…turns out the MRI did show some nasty news and I’ve since been ordered to refrain from all lifting, twisting, and lots of stair climbing. So while Derek has been doing the fun part of the job, ie: tearing out walls, ripping down paneling, and being awesome–I’ve been upstairs finding new NPR apps to download and working on some computery projects. {Being useless is so lame.}
We’ve contracted a company to do waterproof the space. That’s something we don’t know how to do ourselves, and it seems like a better investment to let someone else do it, who will guarantee their work. In order for them to come get the job done everything has to be off of the walls. As you can see, what we found behind the weird paneling was not the prettiest thing in the world. Damp, cruddy, yuck walls.
Even the stairs had to be taken away from the wall. That proved to be the hardest part of the prep stage. Our stairs run right down the side of the foundation, but the pros told us they’d have to be moved. So Derek set to it. Naturally, he found a few ancient layers of linoleum under the carpet. But he also found the most jimmie-rigged staircase I’ve ever known to exist. Tiny pieces of wood all nailed together, stacked on top of each other, all to fill in a small gap. Tiny nails barely holding anything in place. Long screws holding a scrap of carpet in place.
All these pieces of wood were stacked on top of each other in this little gap.
Really, it boiled down to two 3″ nails toe-nailed into the rafter at the top of the stair case.
Like I have told you before, Derek is awesome. So of course he got the stairs moved.
But it came at a price.
The first casualty. Every good project comes with one. Like this.
I heard a crash and came running to the basement doorway, only to skid to a halt, just shy of stepping off of the kitchen floor and down onto the basement foundation. The stairs weren’t there. They had fallen down…apparently with Derek on top. Yikes. He walked it off. No stitches, really he’s okay. The stairs have since been secured more safely–out just a few inches from the wall. I’m sure this is just the first of many odd stories to come from this very large endeavor…
Wish us luck. Especially Panda. All this construction noise is very scarey for her.
xo
Amy
by Amy | Feb 22, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Projects
Waaaay back before Christmas our church’s youth pastor {who is also really cool and I also consider a friend} asked if I’d help him remodel his office a bit.
Ummmm. Lemme see. Yep.
It took a while to get off the ground because of all the holidays, but over the last few weeks we’ve really gotten things turned around. See, I’m just about out of things to make over in my own house, so this was a perfect opportunity. Not to mention he’s a youth pastor who described his style as “bold, modern and colorful.” That’s pretty much the opposite of my style at home. I’m terrified of color, white is my favorite accent choice and 90% of my furniture belonged to my {or Derek’s} grandparents.
This has been a way fun project.
It’s not done, but I’ve just been itching to show it off to you. So here’s the progress.
I wish I’d taken better before photos. But I really dropped the ball. Originally there were huge, dated cabinets {upper and lower} and a counter along the side wall. Those were removed because the storage just wasn’t necessary. We painted with poppy colors and I {with the help of some handy teen girls} built a new shelving unit from galvanized pipes.
The remaining cabinet got an accent treatment and some sweet framed-out chalkboard doors.
But my pride and joy is this architectural accent shelf. I dreamed it up and built it with my own two, girly, winter-chapped hands. It took about six tries, but I finally got it right and anchored it up today. Pretty cool, huh?
I can’t wait to show you more in the coming weeks! Furniture is coming, as is new carpet and some cool wall art. Oh, and a mini fridge too. If I was 16, I’d totally want to talk to the person who works in this office.
by Amy | Feb 1, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Remember 2014’s first project? Yes, that hideous closet that I left untouched after completing the bedroom remodel…that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Well, it’s done. And I even had a day or two to spare. It might not be as lavish as other cloffices floating around the Pinterest world, but it’s functional, I think it’s pretty, and it’s a heck of a lot more productive than working from the couch.
The next big house project we are planning to tackle is the basement. Task number one of that job is getting all our stored stuff out of there. Which means, my craft supplies. Honestly, I was all too happy to go through my things and move them upstairs to a well-lit, cute space. It’s nice to have {almost} all of my go-to supplies in a location that isn’t shared with Panda’s litter box.
I sorted out all my string and ribbon and stored it in a basket. And I used a box left over from Christmas, covered in scrapbook paper, to organize all my writing/drawing/doodling supplies {chalk, charcoal, markers, crayons…} Buttons, which I rarely use but seem to have an abundance of, are stored in a vase that came with some flowers from the florist. And my stack of unused notebooks for list making are finally all together in a bin from Martha.
The basement is currently unfinished except for a few “walls” made of peg board. It’s all going to get torn out soon, so I salvaged a chunk, gave it a coat of spray paint, and made it into a vertical desk. I had a hard time finding pegboard hooks, so I’ll tell you where I finally bought them: Menard’s. Really any big-box hardware store should have them. Insist that they find them for you. At Menard’s I asked three employees before one knew what I was talking about. In the end they were by the closet stuff.
In days to come I’m sure I’ll have more things to pin up, but in the mean time I clipped up a few old photos that I came across while sorting through the desk. They make me happy.
I took the same can of paint that I used on the pegboard and sprayed the old, ugly-gray file cabinet as well. Much improved!
We had that silver utility light in the basement. I bought it once upon a time to use in dim photography settings. I haven’t used it in a long time and it’s perfect for the desk space. I love that it clamps onto the shelf so it doesn’t take up {precious} desk or floor space.
Eventually this closet will return to an actual clothing closet. With that in mind we installed all the shelving on a closet kit from Rubbermaid. The shelves are adjustable and you can buy additional accessories to add hanger rods or additional shelving. It was easy to install. Derek helped with this one, but I used a similar kit in the bedroom and put it in myself.
I’ve already been more productive the last few days since this has been finished. It’s really amazing how having a dedicated space that you actually enjoy coming to can change your attitude about work. This project also serves to show that with organization and creativity, even a small, overlooked space can be transformed into something useful.
Amy
PS…In case you missed it, here’s how I made that cute dry erase board. And going even further back…here’s how I made that wreath.
by Amy | Jan 30, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects
Well friends, Derek worked late last night…which means I was up late working on finishing the cloffice. Today is January 29 and my goal was to have it finished by the end of the month. Looks like I met the goal with 2 days to spare. It’s really nice when that happens.
One of the final pieces of the cloffice I really wanted was a dry erase board. I’m a major list maker and I’m trying to cut back on the amount of small pieces of paper with mini lists on them floating around. Hopefully a board near the desk will allow me to make an ongoing to-do list without paper trail.
The only problem is, I think white boards are kind of ugly. Especially against a white wall. Then a friend mentioned that he was going to replace his office’s white board with a painted glass storm door. That got me thinking, “Could any glass be written on and erased from with dry-erase markers?”
Google told me yes.
So I went to Goodwill last night and picked up an old frame. It even came with a complimentary picture of a sad little boy in period clothing. Case in point it was $3. Just be sure you get one with real glass in the frame. I’m not sure the markers would erase as well off of plastic.
Once I brought it home I painted the frame. While that was drying I cleaned the glass and started making a stencil. I free-handed a curve similar to the shape Martha uses on her labels. Also, to keep things tidy, I used the frame’s poster to prevent paint and markers from getting on my table. I only drew one quadrant of it to keep things symmetrical. I used the poster that came with the frame to find the center of the glass and a dry erase marker to split it into four equal sections.
Once the quarters were drawn on I traced my curve four times…once in each section. Then I flipped the whole thing over.
Next I used the curvy line as a guide and acrylic paint to trace over it. Let that dry.
Then put your frame back together {minus the dated poster}. I used a staple gun to attach a ribbon to hang it by, but if your frame comes with a hanger on the back you could use that too.
It’s cute and it writes on and wipes off easily.
If you aren’t known for your artistic handiwork here are some alternatives to making your own curvy frame.
1. Trace a platter to make a circular frame on your board.
2. Print out a giant brace…that’s what these are called {{ }}…and use that as your template.
3. Paint all of one side of your glass a solid color.
4. Use painter’s tape to create a guide for a square frame.
Get ready because tomorrow I’ll show off the finished cloffice!
by Amy | Jan 21, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects
I know many of you are creative types. Like me you probably have the skills {and enjoy} whipping up a new wreath, making felt flowers, pretty-ing things up with scrapbook paper, doodling, stamping, sewing…
If any of that describes you, you’ll probably also relate to this word: Accumulation.
For those of us who like to create it’s easier {and more cost effective} to slowly amass an arsenal of supplies instead of running to the craft store every time the making-mood strikes. And since our supplies are often put away in a closet, binned up in the basement, or neatly shoved under a bed…sometimes we don’t even realize how much stuff we’ve accumulated.
I’m still working on the cloffice, which will also serve as a place to store some of my crafty supplies. So while I was making the move from dark, dingy basement to bright, pretty cloffice I started to process some of my goods. Let me tell you…it’s a little disgusting. I’ve got supplies that date back to my freshman year of college. At this point, if I haven’t used black plastic beads, wooden star cutouts, and glittery wired ribbon…chances are I never will.
Going through it all was quite a task. As I’m sure you can tell by the photo, it was a messy task and a lengthy task. But I’ve been through my ribbon and string, tested all my markers, sorted my colored pencils, wrestled my buttons into one location, and weeded out my stationary. In the process I’ve made quite a pile of things I don’t need any more.
It’s so easy to hoard craft supplies. I think we all get that irrational itch, thinking “I can’t throw this out…what if I want to use it someday?” Friends, take it from me, you’ll feel better when you purge. And 5 years down the line if it turns out you actually do need a handful of black, plastic beads, it’ll only cost $1 to get more. In the meantime I think that’s money well saved to take back your space, organization and peace of mind.
This year I’m going to try to use up some of my arsenal. So put some cute things on Pinterest, so I can make them. Okay? Thanks.
Amy
by Amy | Jan 3, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Excuse the mess.
This is embarrassing, but it’s real. This is real life. In my house. What you see before you is a 2013 project left unfinished. In its uncompleted state it festered into a catchall eye sore, a place for me to stash things without a home. My favorite gym bag packed with some items that need to be donated, lists of workouts of fitness classes gone by, printer paper, a curtain rod…When it got too ugly, I hung a curtain. To hide it until I found time to finish it.
This space is a closet. A really nice closet, even. It is the byproduct of my bedroom makeover I took on over the summer. In the original second floor layout the master bedroom and guest room had identical closets that backed up to one another. They were only separated by a flimsy sheet rock wall that was easy to knock out in an afternoon. {You can see that destruction here.}
When I finished the bedroom {see that here} I put a wall in front of the original closet opening and built in a brand new closet into the newly expanded space. It was a win-win. The master bedroom gained its own, larger closet–and the guest room closet doubled in size by taking on the original master closet.
I prioritized my projects, and to be honest, prettying up the closet in a room no one really uses wasn’t at the top. But, as you can see, things are getting out of hand. I’ve been asked a lot recently what the first project of 2014 will be. Well folks, you’re looking at it.
The grand plan is that 2014 will also bring us a finished basement {that’s a whole other story} as well. In the basement we will add a third bedroom and a second bathroom. That will turn into guest quarters and the current guest room will become my office. When I renovated in the summer, expanding the master bedroom meant that we lost our office space. So until all our construction is done, this over sized closet will serve as an office nook for me. Granted, it’s not as cozy as sitting under an electric blanket on the couch with Panda Kitty…but I think it’ll be much more efficient. Maybe something more like this…
The goal is to finish the cloffice {closet-office, get it?} by the end of the month.
