Built with my own 4 hands...

Sunday I found a genius idea on Pinterest. My guilty pleasure. I decided that I wanted to conquer building a chaise lounge. WE built it:) The project I got from THIS site and just adjusted the plans a little. The original called for 1x4x8 pieces of wood for the actual chair and for the frame and legs. I just didn't think that thin wood would be sturdy enough for legs so I changed the frame and legs to 2x4's.

 One girl said she made it for $25 but after adding the costs of nails and screws it came to about $45. We will only have to buy the wood for the second chair so for 2 it should total about $70.

The supplies I used:
7 - 1x4 @ 8 feet long
4- 2x4  @ 8 feet long
1 - 1x2 @ 8 feet long
1 - 2x2 @ 8 feet long
1 - set of hinges less than 1 1/2" wide
1 - set of 3" hinges       

box 2 inch screws               

2.5  inch finish nails

Really the only thing we adjusted was the spacing of the boards and the supports on the chair back. I cut them down from 17 1/2" to 16 1/2". Fastening hinges was by far the hardest part, trying to get the two pieces to line up right. Now all we have to do is sand and stain and eventually build number 2!

I did all the measuring, placing and even some nailing. Hubs did all the sawing and drilling. Circular saws are a little intimidating, but maybe I'll make a few cuts on the next one!

 WOOHOO!! Our first building project! Now what's my next project?!?!

weekly menu...

I've been wanting to make one for a while now and finally did! Hopefully it'll keep me organized and cooking better meals. Giving menu planning another shot! I enjoyed it when I did it before, I just got off track.

Been wanting...

I've had my eye on this since I saw an infomercial a couple of years ago. Well for my birthday my sweet mom and brother surprised me with one! Let me introduce you....

Meet The Cricut Expression!! Mine is the yellow one:)

I've just tried it out for the first time. It's awesome and I can't wait to get a few more cartridges to play with. I'm Hoping that I can make my own cards, gift labels, scrapbook, etc...

It can cut paper, vinyl and fabric! I'll post some of my projects when they are finished :)

Pin Cushion Ornaments

I am participating in a Holiday Market at a friends house in a few weeks and along with some ruffle T's, rosette tanks and T's these are a few of the "pin cushion" ornaments I have made. I have some other designs that haven't been made yet, but here are a few of the one's I have right now.

I hand wrap every ornament in a silky yarn then attach the figure and finish them off with pin accents.

Nativity Scene- set of 4

Special Request for a Mary Kay Consultant

Green and brown Owl - I have another owl shape I am making. It's a little more whimsical.

I'm also making "Gift Ornaments" to give your packages a little extra touch :) I'll post pics as soon as I get them finished.

12 Days of Christmas

Edie at Life{in}Grace is hosting a 12 Days of {Handmade}Christmas tutorial on her blog!! She will be posting 12 different projects and  how to make them!! She had some really cute one's last year like how to make THESE personalized tags.

I'm looking forward to see what she has to make this year!!



Hopefully this "button" will show up. It seems as though blogger is having some difficultly loading. If not, just click on the link to her blog above.

MY "ps-I made this"

I decided to get crafty the other night after I posted about my new found love for Erica's ideas ...P.S.- I made this.

I took an idea from her site of a one shoulder top made from a white t-shirt and created my own version...

I think I've found a new obsession!. I will be making many more and trying out some other designs. I already have two friends in line for my next couple of t's. :) making things makes me happy!!!

PS She made it...

I have fallen in love with this girls site/ideas. I saw her on a Martha Stewart show and the two DIY projects she demonstrated sparked my interest. You know my love for anything crafty! I wouldn't make all of her projects{not all my style}, but she did have several cute ideas for making accessories, one shoulder tops and decorating tips.

Her passion is to go off designer ideas, use items she might already have and create. Genius! I have my mind set on making a one-shoulder ruffle tee and a few headbands! In fact, I just went through hubs T's and found my first guinea pig T.  I'll post pics as soon as I complete my "P.S.- I made this "attempt!!!

Check her out....

P.S.- I Made This

or you can grab her book on Amazon.com



Happy Crafting!!!

picture this...

Last week in PA, Natalie showed me some of the things she painted white, including two beautiful {now white} frames.

While I was organizing my hubs office yesterday, I came across pictures of the hub's dad from 1934. Frames too! I have been storing them in the office for 4 years and wasn't a big fan of the frames. Problem is, the picture I want to frame is such an odd size I would never find a frame to fit it. It's an antique frame, but very simple and an ugly color of brown. I literally had thrown it in the trash, but a few seconds later realized that I could paint it!

I painted three old frames so far and have one to go. I have decided it would be really neat if I got a picture of each one of our parents and frame them in a cluster in our guestroom!

I'll take a picture once I get all 4 pictures and the frame are up! Hopefully it will turn out cute!

This is the one of his dad that I absolutely love. Crazy thing is, hubs and his dad look identical at the same age. He's a little clone of his father!

Ft. Worth Art...

Friday night we headed down to Ft. Worth to see one of the top 8 art festivals. I love to paint and draw so these events are always so much fun for me! We went a little later than we should have, some of the vendors had started to shut down their booths. I did find a few that I absolutely loved and can't believe their talent.




Roderick E. Stevens from Arizona has a way of making his paintings look so real and life like. AMAZING!

JD Hillberry was probably my favorite. He draws with charcoal and pencils and his works are so detailed; everything in the frames...drawn. From the background that looked like wood, to what looked like masking tape...INCREDIBLE! This kind of talent blows my mind!

JD Hillberry says this about this drawing:

"Putting It Together"
"My two-year old son was the inspiration and model for this drawing. At this age, he was just beginning to learn about himself and what the world has to offer. I believe that this self-exploration and development continues throughout our lives in our quest to make ourselves whole. When we keep our minds open to new experiences, we are continually "putting it together".

isn't he amazing?? He offers a summer workshop that I would love to participate in one year. It's sold out fr 2009 but maybe 2010 or 2011?? We'll see. My dear friend Katy is an amazing artist. She has done some awesome work of her own. Katy, I think you and I should go together. It's in our favorite state of CO!!

Actually, the price for the 3-day workshop is very reasonable. It's $320 for 3 days, from 9-4pm. It includes all kinds of supplies as well! I might just have to whip my drawing stuff out from college and play around! He inspires me!

initial project...

for some time now, I have wanted to paint a flower pot with our initial "n". I finally bought one last week and painted it. Now it's found a little home on our back porch with some lovely begonias!

It's really simple, but still cute! I'll try something a little harder on the next one...

Handmade Ornaments...

I saw some cute ornaments made of yarn, felt and pins and decided instead of paying $20-$24 each for them, I would make them my self. I made a quick trip to Michael's and got started. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but here are my first two. They are more of a classical look. I think they turned out really cute! I have several other ideas that I want to make next. Who knows, maybe I will sell them next year! I would love to sell all kinds of Christmasy things one day! It's kind of a dream (not really a realistic one) but everyone knows, I heart Christmas!! I have some time to play, so we'll see what kind of designs I come up with!! I want to get some fun/funky fabrics to play with too and bright color yarn as well!

The back has the year!

Poinsettia ornament

The back is just a funky little design.

Holiday Idea Friday...

Since my bloggy buddy got her gift, I will post my fun Halloween craft.

Before my surgery, mom and I went and bought the supplies and while I was down, we made these!!

I got the idea from Michael's and added my own touch and personalized them...

It's a fun little project and they turned out super cute!

Supplies needed:

One carve-able pumpkin (shaped like a candy corn)
versa-tool (or sharp knife, but this tool is incredible and very handy for some fun crafting!)
Yellow Acrylic Paint
Orange Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
clear coat spray paint
Paintbrush
Low Tack Masking Tape
White Glitter

How to do it:

Use the Versa-Tool to cut the top off of the pumpkin for a lid. Set the lid aside for later use.


Apply a strip of tape around the pumpkin, about half way up from the bottom. Paint the bottom section with yellow. ( i recommend painting the whole pumpkin white as a primer, if you don't, you will have to paint a million coats of yellow to get it to cover right) Remove tape and let dry.


Paint the lid with white (except stem). Let dry.


Paint middle section with orange. I found that putting the tape over the painted yellow section caused peeling so I free handed mine.

If you want to personalize them, paint your name in black, paint pen will be the easiest. When I was doing mine, the store was out of black paint pen so I wrote in sharpie then free-hand painted over it.

Once the paint is dry, spray the clear glaze all over, lid too, and sprinkle with glitter until covered. Once dry, spray another clear coat to help the glitter stick! Do this outside, it stinks and is messy

You have your cute candy corn pumpkin! I was going to use mine as a candy dish, but didn't clean the inside out with kitchen cleaner first and it made my candy taste like paint. Be sure you let it air out and really clean the inside before putting any candy in it! It's a really fun project, just takes some time! Let me know if you try it!

(i took the pic with my phone, so the colors look a little crazy, the orange isn't neon! haha)

DIY

Mom came out to Keller to have lunch with me and just run around town. While hubs is working during the weekend and on Monday after my surgery, mom is going to come out here to make sure I'm ok/ be there in case I need anything, plus it's always good to have your mom and hubby around when you feel bad!

We went to Michael's today and got some stuff for our DIY pumpkin/floral/fall arragements to do while I'm house ridden next weekend. Mom is super crafty and creative and is going to help me with mine and do her's too! They had mock ones at the store so we decided, instead of paying a little more for a completed one, we will make them ourselves. I will post pics as soon as we finish them!

*warning* I might just post pics of hers b/c mine might not turn out great! YAY for fun, fall, after surgery porjects!

Thanks mom!!

Here's another project i have in mind for another pumpkin

I'd like to think I'm crafty...

Tonight while hubs was working I decided to paint...again! This time on a much bigger canvas. I found a painting that I loved at Target, but I just didn't want to pay $60.00 when I thought I might be able to duplicate it, or at least try...I think it turned out as good as I could have made it. It's not a masterpiece or anything but I did put a lot of time into it. I mean, there are definitely differences between the original and mine ,but I will proudly hang it up above our pantry door.

The original ("Share a Random Moment" by Rodney White )is the top picture (like you couldn't tell just looking at it) and mine is the bottom...