Pictures to go with the words...

 Still needs more coats of yellow paint to cover up the brown puff paint, but a cute addition...

Guess I could have taken this during the day. We used Frosted window film in our bathroom to give us privacy but still let in a lot of light. Not sure what I'll do with the sheers yet... Paint...? 

I Spy with my little eye...

They must be in the laundry room when I am doing laundry room. Anywhere else is too far.

Picked up the tan pillows on clearance for $10 at Target today... Maybe will go up on our bed?

Also picked up the purple one (in front) today. 

My very simple lamp re-do with scrapbook paper and mod-podge. Cute.

I re-did the canvas to look like this. Looks much better spaced out. 

Not trying to show you my toilet, just the view from the entry hall.

A few things...

Nope, I have no pictures to share today. However, I got a few projects done this weekend with more on the way... We have guests coming over this weekend so John and I scurried to get a few projects done that we haven't been motivated to do. John (finally) got all the Christmas decorations down and put away. He ended up doing some organizing in this process, which is great. I, on the other hand, just did fun crafty things.

Remember this lamp, which I re-did for my classroom?

Well, see it's naked brother to the left? He's been sitting in my craft room waiting for his time to come. And that time was yesterday. These lamps were on sale for I think $5 each, so I figured whatever happened happened. I wanted to put another lamp in our living room since we don't have a ceiling fixture, and it may still be too small, but for now it works. So, I mod-podged some awesome scrapbook paper onto the lampshade. It's a purple floral pattern and I think it's a fun little color pop next to the TV (on top of the Turquoise tv credenza).

I also completed a smaller version of this project with one of my extra canvases.

I think my canvas was 11x20 or so. I had originally penciled out a geometric pattern on it to paint, so I painted over it with some white interior paint I had laying around (to touch up all of our trim when we moved here). With that done, I went with the method that the girl above used (link attached). I bought a $3 bottle of shoe polish with a sponge tip and wrote with that. Mine turned out a little lighter, but the strategy works great because you don't have to fill up your paintbrush, yet it turns out imperfectly perfect.

I poorly planned, however, and think I will re-do it. The words I chose stopped in a weird place and ended up bunched, so... It shouldn't take me long to paint over it and re-do... But, it looks great as a pop of personality in our downstairs bathroom.

I also used puff paint on a teeny tiny canvas I had, a la:

Not sure where I'll put it yet. It's small.

The snow kept me in today (and the homework), but I plan on picking up a few things at Target and Ikea (like a bathroom rug and some drawer organizers). I also found what I think will be our entry way runner. We desperately need one, and I think this will last:

What do you think? I might look into making one, but we'll see. Not sure if it will clash with our entry chair. Which I may change out for a bench... Changes!

Design Board

So, I just wanted to share a design board that I made just for fun for a friend. I wasn't expecting it to actually come to life, I just loved seeing her new home and her style and had fun making it. If you can't tell, I am not a professional. But it's fun. I have another friend who is hopefully buying a new home and it's so exciting! I wish I could just look at, buy, and decorate houses for a living. Is that a job? Just kidding.

Other crafts in the works:

• My gallery wall is finally taking shape. After months of it sitting empty (and, admittedly, with the Goodwill pricetags still stuck to the glass) I've started filling them. A few are just random shapes and pretty paper from my Cricut. I also included a coaster from our stay at the Centralia McMenamin's, a teppanyaki menu from our cruise, our one-year-anniversary picture, and a few other do-dads. I don't want it to just be pictures, so I'm trying to find mementos from our life to share. Oh yeah, and a cat picture of course! 
• I finished building this, but still need to stain and stencil it. I'm thinking the cricut will be handy in making a stencil with my saying of choice:

•  I'd like to make a large supply of "Any Occasion" cards with my cricut and get them out more. Everyone loves a card to brighten their day!

 

•  I finally bought sheers for our bathroom and some "frosted" window film. However, attempt #1 failed. Here is what I learned: applying window film is not a one-person job. window film is not like a window cling. don't mess up; scraping the adhesive off the window is a pain. Attempt #2 will commence this weekend because I gotsta have my privacy!

•  I bought (another) credenza. It was a WHOPPER of a deal. My mom and I both gravitated to it at the Goodwill before seeing it's craftmanship. The drawers are dove-tailed, the wood is in wonderful condition, and it doesn't smell. Get this, it cost $130. Great deal, right? Wrong. It was marked down to $99. Awesome score, huh? Wrong. It was senior discount day and my lovely mother fit the age requirement which knocked another 10% off. That's right folks, I paid $80 for it. That's approximately $200 less than what I paid for the now-turquoise tv stand. Ugh! But, I'm excited because I can have one that is paintable and one that is not. This one would make a great baby dresser, or who knows what. All I knows is this girl is excited. 

Alright, shut me up. Over and out. Back with more pictures.

Back to reality.

Well, I haven't blogged in awhile 1) because I haven't been particularly crafty as of late, 2) I'm too lazy, and 3) because my head is completely overloaded with MATH. Don't get me wrong, I love math. But, I am currently taking a week-long workshop on grades 7-10 math concepts. On top of that, I am doing two weeks worth of coursework for both of my masters class (which would really be like 4 weeks worth since there are two classes. see how good at math I am?). Now that it is Wednesday and someone else did some of my homework, I am feeling much more confident that I can complete my final papers and projects before we leave on our cruise. Which is awesome. Anyway, enough blah blah.

Here is what has been happening:

1. Kitten almost has a name. We've had her a month. John is doing this to torture me (remember, I said he could name her since she was a surprise). I think he likes my top pick but doesn't want to name her that since he's "punishing me" for bringing her home without permission. She's not growing much, and I'm okay with that. Definitely is 100% kitten mode.

2. Being more active, which includes elliptical-ing, zumba-ing (as usual), and zumba wii-ing. Also, walking. My goal is 900 minutes of walking in August. That is 30 minutes per day, elliptical included. So far, so good.

3. My gallery wall is slowly but surely coming together. Missing still are the two square frames. No photos added, but I have definitely decided I like it.

4. More cat time. Carlton is putting up with kitten more. It's cute to see them interact and follow me around all day. Carlton likes to watch me play zumba wii with his judgmental eyes. He is hoarse right now from a cold and it is funny to hear his smoker-meow. Kitten likes to follow Carlton and get caught on dresses in the laundry room.

5. Did this a while ago. Called "water marbling." Look it up on youtube. Could definitely stand to do more subtle colors next time, but it was fun to try. Since I'm so girly.

6. Long time, no see Snoqualmie Falls. My mom and I had a date and came here with our matching Black Tea Lemonade. Then we hit up Famous Footwear and scored a sweet sale + buy one get one 50% off on matching white Pumas for the cruise. and Zumba. We are so cool.

7. Home-grown Zucchinis are a success! Check out that beauty up there. This is numero uno of dos. Stay tuned on the yellow squash and corn, they have yet to make an appearance. Good job, John.

8. Used Heartsy to get this handmade, one-of-a-kind circle scarf from Tea Rex. And holy-crapoly she posted a bunch more cute ones since I bought... Boo.... Soooo. fun. Decided this school year is all about simple, flattering clothing with fun accessories! Because I'm so girly.

9. And finally, another project I haven't completed. Someday it will be stained in "Kona Brown" and will have something artistic painted on it and will hang on our landing. But until then... it doesn't.

Sleepy, Rainy Monday

Well, I slept in later than I have all summer (hey, that's pretty good) but it's okay because it was thundering and pouring rain when I got up. Also, I found my camera charger, so that motivated me to take a few shots of what I've been up to. That list of mine is slowly getting checked off.

First, I'm making progress on my gallery wall, which I started months ago (I want to say December...sad). I couldn't commit to where I wanted to put it but I'm going for it this time! I still have 2 more frames to paint, but that's not too shabby. I have the configuration up on the wall and plan on hammering in the nails within the next few days (trying not to set myself up for failure here). Can't wait to see it done!

I also started working on the paper dahlias I mentioned. I finished one, but ran out of hot glue sticks and will possibly run out of paper for the second one... which could throw a kink in things. Anyway, it took a few hours of watching The Talk, All My Children, and The Doctors the news to finish one, but I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to hang them above our bed! This is my first book-paper project that turned out well, unlike my horrible Christmas tree... Also, did I mention the book I picked up at Goodwill to use happened to be Schindler's List?? What an uplifting book to have on the walls of our bedroom... sorry anyone who is offended that after I realized it (when I got home) I still used it. The pages were stiff and white!

I also hung up a few other things, namely my copy cat made-it-myself print of  "I heart you because ____." I've seen so many versions but realized that I know how to work Photoshop enough to just make and print my own. Turned out pretty well - and we finally have something up in our bathroom.Oh, and there's that toiler paper art that's been sitting on the floor for months... It got a little tore up waiting.

Oh and I had a great time scrapbooking with my mom and sister, although I only completed one page.

What else have I been doing?

My last post was a quick one just to show my kitten and my floor lamp. But, there are a few other projects I have going and a few projects I hope to get going.

One of my goals this summer was to get a few more supplies for my classroom. If you are not interested, please skip ahead. Now that I've got two years under my belt I'm starting to get a better sense of my needs for organization and how I use the room. For example, I didn't like my turn in system. I never taught my students to use the turn-in bins, and it wasn't cohesive for them all to pile to that area of the room. So, the paper collector would collect the assignments and just give them to me. And I'd occasionally put them in a "to grade" folder. Meh. I would also have the student helpers give out missing work slips at the beginning of class, but then I would have to file them all before I could see which students had 3 missing work slips (which means detention). The other major thing I didn't like was having the stapler/tape/extra pencils up on my desk. The caused a lot of traffic in the front of the room and a lot of encroaching on my space. Short story long, I've acquired two new tables and one will go in the back as a more organized student center (I had one last year but it wasn't well utilized). It will house all the major supplies: extra pens/pencils, correcting pens, stapler, and 3 turn-in bins (math, science, late/absent). It will also have a missing work log for the student helpers to check off and monitor who has three missing work slips. There will be separate pass-back bins for work I've graded that student helpers can work on organizing in homeroom. Under the table will be the portfolio bins that took up way too much precious counter space last year. If I can focus more on student jobs this should alleviate much of the needless stress and choas. I'll post some pictures of the stuff I've gathered.


Whew. Okay, you can tune back in non-teachers. Here are my home to-do list items with a brief update:
- Paint the downstairs bathroom: probably not happening. Over the last year I have painted so much, and I'm feeling a bit burnt out. Plus there are actually 9 walls in the bathroom with three doorways and it would be a huge paint. Did I mention it's also dark blue? I would love to paint it, but I'm not sure if I can muster the motivation.

- Finish wall decor in living room: I will probably still order the ceiling medallions. If they don't turn out to "fit" the living room they can always go upstairs. It's about $80 to order 5, which isn't bad, I just haven't bitten the bullet.

- Decorate master bathroom: We found wall hooks on clearance at Pier 1 and got 2 to hold our towels. They will probably go behind the door since that's one of the only places a towel can hang. That still leaves new curtains, some sort of art on the one big wall, and blinds/etching the window.

- Pillow Covers for the Couch: Well, I'm making slight progress with this one. As I mentioned in this post, we will eventually be moving the sectional upstairs into the rumpus room. But, that's a ways off as it doesn't quite mesh with our financial goals. But back to pillows. I had been putting it off because measuring fabric and sewing is not exactly my forte. Then I ran across this method through pinterest where there is knot any sewing involved. Get it? Anyway, I haven't tried it yet but I plan on using the ol' JoAnn's coupon to procure some fabric to try. If not I supppoooose I can try sewing one. No promises. I would like to get this done, though!

- Gallery Wall: Yes. Happening. I checked my 6 cans of white spray paint, however, and I think I'm about out. I'm fairly decided that I will do a small gallery wall outside the bathroom door in the entry hallway. I've seen many-a gallery wall that is totally overdone and stressful to look at, and I'd like to steer clear. However, the nook in the main hallway will be a great place to show some art that has been sitting patiently (like my Fife city map from Jenna Sue!). I have all the frames in a bag from when I planned it in the past, now it's a matter of doing.

- Something for the classroom: Consider that done. Moving on.

- Scrapbooking/Card Making: Happening Thursday at a home near you. Will post my creations.

- Plan for rumpus room: I better bring it. Oh, it's already been brought. We have a plan, which = moving sectional upstairs and buying the biggest TV we can find, but... not yet. We set up the hoosier as a little bar, but right now there is just a table that I do my homework at and some extra furniture in there... Someday...

- Other crafts:

- Finish giant wood art (already assembled, just needs stained) for landing

- Make book-page dahlias for above master bed:

- Hang all the things that are waiting to be hung...
- Stop doing finish doing schoolwork
- Exercise more

Ha! Someday. Hopefully I can make your head explode in a few weeks with all the awesome stuff I've done!

Finally crafting.

Well, I'm starting to become less of a bump on a log and getting a few projects going. Of course there are other projects I still need to start/finish on my list, but I got excited about a few new ones. That always seems to happen.

The only complete project I have to show you is one that didn't take very long. I saw a "pin" of this DIY from The Painted Hive and knew immediately I must do this. We've been looking for a floor lamp for our living room since there is no ceiling lighting, but hadn't found one we especially liked or wanted to pay for. Enter the tripod lamp.

Hello Beautiful. I've been wanting to buy a lamp kit and turn something into a lamp, but hadn't found anything. However, I happen to have a cheap metal music stand from my cello-ing days.

I had to modify it a bit by sawing off a bit of the top part where the actual music stand part goes, but other than that it was ready. Well, no. I'm lying. My dad sawed off that piece and then made the bottom of the lamp kit fit snugly onto it by smashing the rod a bit. He's so handy.

The bright silver wasn't cutting it, so I bought some Oil-Rubbed Bronze Rustoleum spray paint ($5) and got to work. It only took about 2 coats so it was super fast (except when it randomly rained and messed up the paint a bit)... Then I got a $10 shade at Ikea. Altogether it was probably $25 for the paint, lamp kit, and shade, but the satisfaction of creating such a neat piece is... cliche coming... priceless. Can't find my camera charger so phone photos will suffice.

Also, I got a kitten. Yes, I just got an adult cat a few months ago. This was a spur of the moment (sort of) decision and I was in a bit of trouble for coming home with this sweet baby girl who is currently walking all over the keyboard. She's about two month old and weighs what feels like a pound. Carlton is transitioning well from what we can see and we're enjoying seeing them interact and having them around. Since I surprised John with her, I gave him the change to name her... which I regret because currently his top pick is Hurricane... I think he's doing it to drive me crazy. My vote goes to Mabel or Edith, which I think would fit quite nicely with Carlton's classy name. Anyway, get ready to say "awww"