Later I spent approximately $4 to replace the white matte with a blue one, for a little more contrast. Easy peasy.
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Easy DIY Silhouette project
Several weeks ago I needed some inexpensive, meaningful wall art for our master bedroom makeover. I've always liked silhouette art and have fun memories of creating my own the old-fashion way, back in grade school. Thanks to the convenience of digital photography and computers I didn't have to attempt keeping a two-year old still while I traced his profile onto a sheet of paper taped to the wall. Instead I simply used a recent photograph of our son, printed on regular paper in black and white. I spent less than a dollar on two sheets of good card stock, black and white. After that it was only a matter of tracing, cutting, taping and framing - all of which took about 15 minutes - perfect for when your rambunctious toddler is taking a nap.
Later I spent approximately $4 to replace the white matte with a blue one, for a little more contrast. Easy peasy.
Later I spent approximately $4 to replace the white matte with a blue one, for a little more contrast. Easy peasy.
Monday, February 21, 2011
DIY brown sugar scrub
A crafty little Christmas elf slipped a DIY orange-clove sugar scrub kit into my Christmas stocking. I finally took the time to pull all the ingredients together. It took less than 10 minutes. This is how it turned out:
Next time I will use a coarse sugar and probably less oil, but overall I am really excited to use my new bath product.
Hopefully sometime this year I'll be taking a cue from my friend Londie, another crafty lady, and DIY all sorts of bath/body and household cleaning products.
I am incredibly lucky to have so many creative and brilliant women in my life.
Next time I will use a coarse sugar and probably less oil, but overall I am really excited to use my new bath product.
Hopefully sometime this year I'll be taking a cue from my friend Londie, another crafty lady, and DIY all sorts of bath/body and household cleaning products.
I am incredibly lucky to have so many creative and brilliant women in my life.
DIY Bench Cushion
Tah-dah!!! Mimi's bench gets a makeover.
I hope Mimi enjoys seeing her old bench gettin' some sugar. It was a labor of love and frustration. While the craftsmanship is not stellar, by any means (I have a long way to go), the finished project is fully functional. Again, I exploited the expertise of my MIL (Cathy, homemaker extraordinaire) and really appreciate the time she took to help me out, including creating a template for me to work from.
We often have different perspectives and teaching me requires a lot of patience on her part. So thanks Cathy if you're reading this. And as always, thanks to my mom, the other Kathy, for sacrificing your sewing machine to my personal sustainable living cause AND giving me all the extra material from when you had that chair reupholstered years ago. I know you would be happy to help me with this stuff too if we lived closer to each other. I truly am blessed with a great mom and mother-in-law (despite not always showing it due to my confrontational nature and our personality differences). Anyhow, I hope both moms accept a little pre-Mother's Day gratitude.
Back to the cushion. I found several ways of doing this while gathering my research. Ultimately, for simplicity sake I chose the the two-piece, no-cording option. Creating the corners was the most tricky part.
You can also see where my stitching wasn't great. I think this was due to me pulling or tugging the material through the machine, as opposed to just guiding it. I imagine my technique will continue to improve as I work on other projects.
I've also improved my relationship with my iron. I have learned Irons Are Your Friend when it comes to sewing.
Overall it was great to start off with this:
And end up with this:
Jury is still out whether or not I could have found a 3'x 12" x 2" bench cushion for less than $25.
I hope Mimi enjoys seeing her old bench gettin' some sugar. It was a labor of love and frustration. While the craftsmanship is not stellar, by any means (I have a long way to go), the finished project is fully functional. Again, I exploited the expertise of my MIL (Cathy, homemaker extraordinaire) and really appreciate the time she took to help me out, including creating a template for me to work from.
We often have different perspectives and teaching me requires a lot of patience on her part. So thanks Cathy if you're reading this. And as always, thanks to my mom, the other Kathy, for sacrificing your sewing machine to my personal sustainable living cause AND giving me all the extra material from when you had that chair reupholstered years ago. I know you would be happy to help me with this stuff too if we lived closer to each other. I truly am blessed with a great mom and mother-in-law (despite not always showing it due to my confrontational nature and our personality differences). Anyhow, I hope both moms accept a little pre-Mother's Day gratitude.
Back to the cushion. I found several ways of doing this while gathering my research. Ultimately, for simplicity sake I chose the the two-piece, no-cording option. Creating the corners was the most tricky part.
You can also see where my stitching wasn't great. I think this was due to me pulling or tugging the material through the machine, as opposed to just guiding it. I imagine my technique will continue to improve as I work on other projects.
I've also improved my relationship with my iron. I have learned Irons Are Your Friend when it comes to sewing.
Overall it was great to start off with this:
And end up with this:
Jury is still out whether or not I could have found a 3'x 12" x 2" bench cushion for less than $25.
Friday, February 11, 2011
DIY homebrew
I have to confess, I did not get permission from my beloved before writing this next post, BUT I just can't not write about it anymore. Hello, I've been blogging my way through the past FOUR years!
Keeping in the DIY and sustainable living spirit, my awesome husband took it upon himself to start brewing beer. We love us some frothy adult beverage. It's something he has been wanting to do for as long as I've known him and last month we finally comitted to it. I say "we" only because I encouraged this project and support him in his endeavors. I took no part in the work of it. I must give all credit where credit is due. Currently he uses a beer kit, from a local brew making store, but we've kind of tossed around the idea of eventually growing our own ingredients, such as hops and grains, on our future farm. People will drive past our property and say, "hey, isn't that The Beer Farm?" Love it. Anyhow, his first batch, an Indian Pale Ale (IPA) was highly drinkable and he is looking forward to perfecting it before trying a different variety. The first batch produced 56 bottles of beer, that's about .60 a beer. How's that for Happy Hour? It takes about a month between the brewing and fermenting before we can enjoy Casey's handy work.
Behold, our Bathroom Beer:
The other day I caught Casey browsing cool vintage glass carboys. He's contemplating dabbling into a little wine making, for his lovely bride. Ain't he a peach? I think so.
Keeping in the DIY and sustainable living spirit, my awesome husband took it upon himself to start brewing beer. We love us some frothy adult beverage. It's something he has been wanting to do for as long as I've known him and last month we finally comitted to it. I say "we" only because I encouraged this project and support him in his endeavors. I took no part in the work of it. I must give all credit where credit is due. Currently he uses a beer kit, from a local brew making store, but we've kind of tossed around the idea of eventually growing our own ingredients, such as hops and grains, on our future farm. People will drive past our property and say, "hey, isn't that The Beer Farm?" Love it. Anyhow, his first batch, an Indian Pale Ale (IPA) was highly drinkable and he is looking forward to perfecting it before trying a different variety. The first batch produced 56 bottles of beer, that's about .60 a beer. How's that for Happy Hour? It takes about a month between the brewing and fermenting before we can enjoy Casey's handy work.
Behold, our Bathroom Beer:
The other day I caught Casey browsing cool vintage glass carboys. He's contemplating dabbling into a little wine making, for his lovely bride. Ain't he a peach? I think so.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
a DIY new year
Out with the old...
and in with the new!
Side-by-side
We still have some cleanup to do in the fireplace, but other than that we're ready to transition into decor. I have a good feeling about 2011.
Some behind the scenes...
On NYE, while Casey and my FIL tackled the fireplace, Gavin and I went to see the doctor. He had been running a fever since the night before and was complaining of a sore throat. Due to the holiday we had to go to the Children's Hospital ER, where he was diagnosed with strep throat and given a shot of penicillin. Not fun, but soon after he started feeling much better.
Since Gavin was feeling better we stuck with the original plan of sending him to his grandparents later that afternoon, so that Casey and I could tag team the priming and painting. This allowed us to take advantage of both of us being off of work at the same time and not worry about having Gavin around with all those toxic vapors and wet paint. Afterwards we also went out for some fresh air, along with dinner and margaritas on Market Square! Then we were off to hear some live music. Between the paint in our hair and the rainy weather, we couldn't quite muster fancy, so we went casual and had a great time.
and in with the new!
Side-by-side
We still have some cleanup to do in the fireplace, but other than that we're ready to transition into decor. I have a good feeling about 2011.
Some behind the scenes...
On NYE, while Casey and my FIL tackled the fireplace, Gavin and I went to see the doctor. He had been running a fever since the night before and was complaining of a sore throat. Due to the holiday we had to go to the Children's Hospital ER, where he was diagnosed with strep throat and given a shot of penicillin. Not fun, but soon after he started feeling much better.
Since Gavin was feeling better we stuck with the original plan of sending him to his grandparents later that afternoon, so that Casey and I could tag team the priming and painting. This allowed us to take advantage of both of us being off of work at the same time and not worry about having Gavin around with all those toxic vapors and wet paint. Afterwards we also went out for some fresh air, along with dinner and margaritas on Market Square! Then we were off to hear some live music. Between the paint in our hair and the rainy weather, we couldn't quite muster fancy, so we went casual and had a great time.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas Card!
Well, "Holiday" Card. Most of these probably won't make it to recipients in time for Christmas.
With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card
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Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sometimes you just have to DIY
Before picture. Notice how dark the room is, even with all the lights on. It's like living in a bat cave. And notice how the people who have lived here before us did not really do a good job maintaining the fireplace. I am so ready to give this room new life! Ignore the beige wall to the right. We were just sampling colors. We still have no idea what color we will be painting the living room. I am also on the hunt for an inexpensive, neutral, light-colored slip cover for our sofa.
Sanding has commenced!
Major sanding work is done. There are still some areas that we will go over by hand. We tagged team this wall with two power sanders. We have not decided whether or not we will paint the bookshelf yet. We'll take a step back and reassess after we get the paneling done. Jury is still out on window treatment as well, but I'm leaning toward light-colored, fabric, Roman shades. I still have some taping to do before we start painting.
This isn't a job for anyone who has a problem with getting dust or soot all over the place. In case you're wondering, Gavin is at his grandparents' house this weekend. There will be lots of cleaning before he comes home.
In between power sanding and hand sanding I took a break to work on the fireplace. The sealant on the back wall was peeling badly. This is what I found when I started scraping it off - bricks that need new mortar, before we reseal. Awesome. The peeling probably occurred because the people who did this last didn't allow the mortar to cure long enough. Sweet, we get to fix someone else's mistake. I love it when that happens.
Washing soot off bricks.
Eventually the before and after of the fireplace will look something like this. We're going for light and bright. I can't wait.
Needless to say, our living room will be in various stages of disarray while we work on this. It will be interesting to see how we manage this with a toddler. Casey is out of town all next week (again), so it will be just me with the tater tot, our dogs, my Chemistry homework, and this living room. Hopefully work isn't too crazy this week. Thank goodness for crock pots, I have a huge pot of vegetable beef soup brewing and I still have seafood gumbo leftovers in the freezer(my first seafood gumbo attempt by the way, more on that later)so hopefully I won't have to spend too much time preparing new meals. I am hoping that at some point in the coming week I can get at least one coat of primer on. It will be a late-night, after-munchkin-hits-the-hay project. Stay tuned...
Sanding has commenced!
Major sanding work is done. There are still some areas that we will go over by hand. We tagged team this wall with two power sanders. We have not decided whether or not we will paint the bookshelf yet. We'll take a step back and reassess after we get the paneling done. Jury is still out on window treatment as well, but I'm leaning toward light-colored, fabric, Roman shades. I still have some taping to do before we start painting.
This isn't a job for anyone who has a problem with getting dust or soot all over the place. In case you're wondering, Gavin is at his grandparents' house this weekend. There will be lots of cleaning before he comes home.
In between power sanding and hand sanding I took a break to work on the fireplace. The sealant on the back wall was peeling badly. This is what I found when I started scraping it off - bricks that need new mortar, before we reseal. Awesome. The peeling probably occurred because the people who did this last didn't allow the mortar to cure long enough. Sweet, we get to fix someone else's mistake. I love it when that happens.
Washing soot off bricks.
Eventually the before and after of the fireplace will look something like this. We're going for light and bright. I can't wait.
Needless to say, our living room will be in various stages of disarray while we work on this. It will be interesting to see how we manage this with a toddler. Casey is out of town all next week (again), so it will be just me with the tater tot, our dogs, my Chemistry homework, and this living room. Hopefully work isn't too crazy this week. Thank goodness for crock pots, I have a huge pot of vegetable beef soup brewing and I still have seafood gumbo leftovers in the freezer(my first seafood gumbo attempt by the way, more on that later)so hopefully I won't have to spend too much time preparing new meals. I am hoping that at some point in the coming week I can get at least one coat of primer on. It will be a late-night, after-munchkin-hits-the-hay project. Stay tuned...
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