gettin' my craft on...

so, i'm ready!

i have organized the basement.

got all my craft supplies on a shelving unit.

(that used to be in our bathroom.  holding towels.  it was too rickety for that use, so i took it out and put up some "hotel shelves".  those shelves are a vast improvement!  you'll just have to trust me on that one, because the likelihood of you actually seeing our master bath?  slim.  to never.  sorry.  so the rickety shelves - which i should add have been around for awhile...long enough to have been silver when bought and then as they rusted i decided to spray paint it a nice bronzey color...which is the color it remains.  i took it to the basement thinking it would be useful in the storage room.  oh, now THAT is a place that could use more shelves.  i digress...SO...instead i decided that those rickety shelves could work for my craft supplies...and with my table pushed up against the shelves?  genius!  they are not rickety.  they are ever so useful.  and heck, it doesn't even look like it was bathroom shelving.  at least that last one i'm telling myself.)

and i have our big old kitchen table for my workspace.

so i.  am.  ready.

thus far, i have crafted tags for christmas gifts.

made a really cute birthday card.

and made wren's birthday invitations.  2 versions.  the first for her friends.  the 2nd for family.  she wanted an "artist party"...so it did take a little extra searching for a caricature of a blond artist...but i found one, downloaded and whaaaa-laaa.  she loved them!

now...i know that i'll be there again doing valentine's in a few weeks.

but in the meantime...here are some projects i really, really, really want to do.  some i already have all the supplies on hand.

via susie harris "where friends become family"

via gus+lula

via jones design co.
seriously - i have one of these that i primed last summer...just needs a coat or two o' paint, some UL numbers and...done!

via jones design co.

via jones design co.

via jones design co.

via jones design co.

a couple of the above will require my sewing machine (obviously), which means i will have to actually clear it off, dust it off, and thread it up and get it going.  i have not used it since we moved (bad me. bad. bad. bad.)

so...beyond that...there is the dresser in wren's room that needs to not be dark brown any more.  the armoire in our bedroom that needs some paint.  more walls that need paint, too.  so, there should be enough to keep me busy until warm weather, right?  i'll post photos as i do these.  stay tuned!

last & first...

our basement

is my last project of 2010...

and

1st project of 2011...

will be working on 2nd stripe in the next couple days...

since this part of the basement is

the girls' "playroom", it took me awhile

to decide on color(s)...

they wanted pink and purple (their fave colors),

but i wanted to do something that could

grow with them...

so, i chose ("chose" based on what was on the "whoops shelf"...)

neutrals...and when it is all painted, i have some

colorful "stuff" to add...

canvas, framed posters, uppercase living quotes and graphics...

that way, if i want a change, then i don't have to re-paint...

we can just take down the wall stuff and put up new!

happy new year!

projects...

one sunny, lovely summer afternoon while my girls were doing this:

and this:

and trying to spy....

. . . this:

(yup, wren caught a butterfly moth in the net/holder thing that blew into our yard in june and no one has ever come to claim it...)

so while that was going on in the sunshine,

this was happening in the shade:

poor, overturned, brown bench, you say?

naugh, it's en route to be "happy"!  but first?

primed.

and sat up properly.

and those markings on the grass?  yea, nothing a mowing won't take care of!

besides, drop clothes are so over-rated.

so are protective gloves.  hey, it's fun to go places with primer, paint, stain, what-not all over your hands because you could not wash it off.  even if you had some lava soap.

don't be all acting like you do not know what lava soap is.

you do.  or at least you should.

anyhoodles....

this what a little of my time, a coat of primer, two coats of behr's "blue tequila" paint can do for a drab bench in desperate need of a make-over:

i have painted the lower half of the entryway wall...and had been struggling with what color to do the upper parts in. 

we have a very open floor plan and the entryway gives way to the stairway, to the living room, to hallway to the girls' rooms and the laundry room. so i need to choose a color that will not only coordinate with the "granite grey", but the "fern green" living room wall, and the leather sectional and chair, my ikea curtains AND eventually the kitchen around the corner.

schwew!

it was daunting.

and i spent time online.

trolling paint sights that i could select colors and "paint" a room with my palette.

that was sorta helpful.

but do you know what was more helpful??

when the clouds parted and heavens sang!

or...when the lights of target shined and the voices in my head said "that's it!"

and it was.  is.

this little rug incorporates each of the colors that will occupy the entryway. 

AND it provided the upperwall neutral that will work throughout the rest o' our humble abode!

(my husband, at this juncture, would probably say, "i love it when a plan comes together.")

 

another

anyhoodles...

and another afternoon, only this one was rainy, and i decided to do something about the 5 colored tees i had purchased on clearance for wren.  each was a mere $0.75 (yeah, that's right:  seventy-five cents, babee!).  but alas, my 5 yr-old told me that she really does not prefer just plain shirts and that she probably would not wear them.  ummmm, ooo-kaaay...

so what is a momma to do?

put them away and hope that the younger sister will wear them?

(and risk hearing her say the same thing next summer??!!)

no way!

you go and

get fuzzy, cute kitten iron-ons!

that's right!

and with a warm, dry iron.

about 2 minutes per shirt of my time.

these previous $0.75 boring, plain tee shirts

suddenly become a-freakin'-dorable!

for about $1.34 each!

and the 5-yr-old who loves wearing them??

priceless!