too fast

time is going by way too fast. It's almost August!

We really haven't done too much this summer. We've been to the beach and to Charleston for our 3rd anniversary!

one of the only pictures I took that weekend...

I love being married to this man.

I've unfortunately let my garden go. I was just too slow for the weeds. It's still yielding some good stuff though...

I haven't been doing too many crafts lately...It's been way too hot to work on anything outside. I had all intentions of diving into some sewing projects but have been a little under the weather until recently. I did manage to make some polymer clay earrings like this...

Source: redcraftyfox.blogspot.com via Concha on Pinterest

Working with the clay was harder than I thought so this was the best I could come up with.

You can buy the clay at craft stores. Looks like this...

they have lots of colors but I chose a neutral one because I knew I was going to paint them. You just make your shape, put in the oven (directions are on the package) and paint if desired. Simple as that. Would be a fun craft for kids to do.

Before & after and DIY printmaking

The record cabinet is finally finished except for the door handles.

before:

during:

after:

I painted the inside gray just to give myself a break from all the yellow.

The shelves are stained to match the top.

Deciding to stain the top was a last minute decision, and I'm liking it.

The yellow looks really intense in this light, but it's a tad bit softer.

Now for some printmaking! I've been really excited about this project and love how it turned out. About a month ago I went with a friend to the Artisphere festival they have in downtown Greenville. It gave me so many ideas! There were tons of printmaking artists and their work was some of my favorite. I remembered doing some very elementary print making in my high school art class and thought I could try it again having the freedom to create whatever I wanted. This was very time consuming but worth it!

First, decide on what you want to create. I was really into birds, but ended up going with a fish.

I found a black and white one online. From my experience you need to have a straight black and white image so you can know what to cut out or leave.

Next I spent $10 on a huge piece of insulation board from Lowe's. I plan on doing more prints so it was definitely worth it.

I cut out a small piece from the entire board. I created a grid on my printout and drew the same grid proportional to the size of my board. For example, there are 7 columns on the printout, so I measure to create 7 equal columns on my board as well. This is to make it easier to draw your image.

This is after I've cut out everything. I drew everything I wanted to print with a sharpie. I used an exacto knife and cut out everything that wasn't drawn over with sharpie. This could take a long time depending on how intricate your drawing is. You are removing what you don't want paint to go on during the transfer.

I had some leftover fabric I decided to use for the background.

I bought this rolling sponge at Hobby Lobby. You will want to use something like this to ensure you're getting paint only on the raised surfaces. This sponge worked really well and did not soak up too much paint.

I painted my raised surface (the red sharpie) and transfered it to the fabric and pressed down.

I had an extra pallet that was cut up to make frames with. I used some white paint and water to give the wood a white wash look. I just painted with watered down white paint and used a rag to wipe the wood until I got the color I desired.

I intended on hanging them vertically with one fish looking up and the other down, but they didn't fit under the shelf. In our next house I'll switch them because I don't love the upside down one, but it will do for now.

DIY: writing paper chalkboard

I've been wanting to do this project for a long time now. I'm sure it's been done somewhere before, but if so, I haven't seen it. I originally thought it up when brainstorming on some ideas for something over our bed. I think it fits perfectly in our kitchen though. 

Supplies: 

board

chalkboard paint

painters tape

paint (I chose a light blue)

paint brush

old board found. Sanded and filled in large cracks with wood putty. *Obviously the smoother the board the better.

Apply chalkboard paint

Lots of coats 

Tape off where your lines will go. This part will take the longest unless you can think of an easier way to do it. Paint your lines once they are taped. You may need to do a few coats.

Hang and be creative!

*My lines did not come out as clean as I would have liked because my board wasn't the smoothest. Again, the smoother the board the better!

randomness

One of the things I was most excited about when getting married was starting new traditions. Crazy weird ones. We don't have too many right now and the ones we do have are pretty normal - like going to cut down a Christmas tree. However, a couple of weeks ago we decided to start a new one. We built a fire to "shred" some of our personal documents we needed to get rid of. It was nice because it happened to be a really cold night in the middle of May. We decided to roast hotdogs and just make a night out of it;) So our new  "Have a fire, roast hotdogs, and burn personal documents on the last cold night before summer" tradition was born. :)






In other news, I've been up to a lot of projects lately that still need completing.

I did finish painting our kitchen. I went with a bright, golden yellow. I felt like going crazy with it. It's hard to get a feel for the real color from my pictures.





I painted our bathroom the exact color I said I wouldn't, but I really like it.



I'm trying to get a few projects to a presentable state...

so many things you can do with pallets.



the gutted record player. we're getting there slowly but surely.



this is going to be some random wall art when finished.




I haven't been giving too much attention to my garden. Just watering everyday if I remember and occasionally pulling some weeds. I'm pleasantly surprised at how it's doing so far.

this is a cute little green bean. It's about the size of a fingernail.



bell peppers



onion...not sure when you know when these are ready for picking.



by biggest and best producer...yellow squash.



cantaloupe



I actually planted a few seeds from a cantaloupe we bought and within a week or so it had sprouted and is doing better than most of the seeds I bought in a package. I don't think the garden is going to be as fruitful as I had imagined, but hopefully it will save us a few dollars this summer.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Garden fence shelves

I must warn you that my style is very different. There's not many "new" items in my house. I love making old things new and salvaging pieces that would otherwise be trash. These shelves are a perfect example.

These floating shelves were made from my dad out of an old door. They were hanging in the most random locations on the wall in our bedroom. I had put them up before Jack moved his king bed in and never had the time to move them. I thought they would look better over our desk.

Our house, being that it is extremely old, isn't quite straight or level when it comes to walls and floors, so I wanted to close in the side of the shelves to make sure things stayed in place. My dad had some old wire garden fence, so I cut out some and stapled them to the sides of the shelves.

finished shelves...

I like how they turned out, but like I said, I have a slightly different taste than most.;)

A.D.D.

I'm discovering how A.D.D. I am. I'm working on a very long list of things to do/clean for our house. I find myself jumping from one thing to the next without necessarily finishing the first task.

One thing I had on the list was to find or make a headboard for our bed. I found some awesome old shutters at the habitat restore in Anderson. They were painted a very pretty green and the back is a deep blue.



I sprayed the shutters down with bug spray (in case anything was living inside) and scrubbed them with wood soap and some sandpaper.

I think it turned out nicely. I will probably paint them white someday, but like the beat up green look for now....and yes, that is a belt around an old pillow. I saw it in an antique store as a decoration and found that we had a pillow just like it, so I put one of my old belts around it. Jack of course made fun of it.



I'm also working on (with much help from my dad) an old record player/radio cabinet. This thing has been sitting in the attic for a looong time. It's extremely heavy from all the hardware inside. We are gutting it and making it useable storage space.








I also just finished up painting our fireplace. It was pretty dingy. I painted it white and scuffed it up with a piece of asphalt I found in the driveway.











I was on a roll from doing so much around the house that I decided to challenge myself in the kitchen. I made us some coconut shrimp for dinner. I must say it was quite tasty and a lot cheaper than Outback's.



I'm off to another busy and too short of a weekend! Maybe some painting will get done! have a good one!

paint

I've been trying to decide on a paint color for our bathroom and kitchen.  I'm wanting to use the same color to save money and want something unique...

I keep coming back to this color... which isn't unique at all.

Source: flickr.com via Kim on Pinterest

Like this...maybe a little more golden.

Source: byggfabriken.com via Hello Tiger on Pinterest

loving this blue color too

Source: tinysprouts.blogspot.com via Kaytie on Pinterest

Source: designspongeonline.com via Abby on Pinterest

mmm...decisions, decisions.