Flowerdom

The main bath is being redone due to some water issues and a hankering for modern aesthetics. It won’t take long for the contractor to finish so there’s that. In the meantime, I have managed to get the new(ish) car registered and clean my bathroom, and to pass away the time since the noise level is rather high, I decided to make felt flowers, including cacti. Usually my thought process goes like this:

“Hm…. I think I will make some flowers.”

*cuts felt shapes, glues, makes flowers*

*looks at pile of flowers*

*wonders what to do with finished flowers*

*throws in basket*

*sighs*

Nothing is more calming than making sure you don’t pour hot glue on your fingers. So I have that going for me, which is nice 🙂

Nothing Screams “Halloween” Like Getting Ready for Christmas

I swore I would never become one of those people. You know who I’m talking about. The people who start their Christmas decor shopping before October arrives. I went to a home decor superstore to get some artificial flowers and was bombarded by a giant air-powered snowglobe designed for the front yard. This was the first week of October. I had to pass twelve aisles to get to the fall stuff.

Twelve out of twenty-four!!

Now, I don’t criticize anyone who starts their Christmas gift shopping early. My mom is usually two years ahead of schedule with it. I usually start around February for the coming Christmas. But I do wait to get any decor until after Thanksgiving. But y’all know me: once an idea gets under my skin, I have to do it. And this year I got the idea to make a winter wreath for my front door. I have already made the flowers to use on the wreath. I made them this week while also making Little One’s costume and mum. Once the hot glue gun is on, I keep going.

The yellow one is an outlier. I had extra felt and made it because I could. Now, some people don’t think that’s a big deal because I am making the wreath, but keep in mind I have yet to make a fall wreath.

Yes, I do feel some shame.

I do have my Halloween wreath, which has been out most of the month, so I have that going for me which is nice. But no fall wreath. So in my mind I have to rectify that by making the fall wreath before I do the winter one, right? Translation: making fall flowers and buying a wreath and more glue sticks and more felt. It’s a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. 😀

Boredness

No, that’s not a word. But it describes my feelings rather well. Hubby and I embarked on a new experience called, “Let’s install hardwood floors and watch the dogs go insane”. For the most part it has been hilarious. The past two days I have kept busy cleaning and dusting as the floor experts worked. But today everything cam to a standstill, because the painter (who will be caulking and painting the baseboards) had a flat tire. And I have no idea where he is. And neither does his boss. And until they finish tonight I can’t run errands. And that means I can’t get lunch or a new air filter.

So I decided to work on a project that I had no idea I wanted to do.

In my house there is this…. hallway. I call it the Hallway of Lost Souls. Because we have a bonus room upstairs, there is a wall that the builders put up to be load-bearing. Well, this wall divides the “formal” dining room from the …… three feet to the kitchen wall. It is a useless hallway, and if I A) had the money, 2) was planning on retiring in this area and keeping the house, and iii) cared enough, I would have hired some contractor to put a support beam and get rid of the damn wall. But as it is, I just dealt with it by hanging wall art that really didn’t fit anywhere.

There is obviously a crappy light fixture which I will replace pronto. Anyway, those prints don’t go with anything in the house. I just hung them there when we first moved in because I had no idea what to do with them. That was eight years ago. The little house is a keepsake with all our names hanging from the hearts. That also really doesn’t go there. So, I went to the garage and dug up some stuff I had: old frame, fabric, cork pieces, an old “S”, and paint. I also had a chalkboard sold “as is” at Michaels™ that had been gouged on the bottom of the board area. And I got to work. I spray painted the old frame in an heirloom white, covered  cardboard in the burlap-like fabric, painted the “S” and adhered to wrapped cardboard, and added a flower. Then I cut pieces of corkboard to fit the gouged area and adhered to the board. I found one of my Longaberger Baskets™ to hold chalk and eraser, and now I have a message center.

And now I have less crap in my garage, all because I had boredness. Now it’s time to work on the mirrors that will go in my dining room, flanking my Wall of Light™. But that will have to wait until I change the drapes and paint the block shelves. Change is coming, oh yes it is 😀

So Here We Are…

It’s Tuesday, and the entire weekend got away from me.

It’s not that I didn’t even try to write a post. I did. Every time I sat down to write something just came up. First, a friend came in for a weekend visit, then parents surprised us with a weekend visit, then we had to celebrate said visits. It was fun and very hectic, but tiring. Probably because I gave up sugars for Lent.

Anyway, today I get to do something I haven’t done in a long time: stained glass! I enrolled in a class to get my skill level back up to “tolerable”, and will be making a pretty window hanging of a hummingbird and flower.

A word of warning: mine will look NOTHING like that. But that’s the general pattern I will be following. I’m hoping I get to keep this one. Every time I make something new, someone in my family ends up with it. Maybe I’ll have enough time to make more than one. All I know is that it will grace someone’s window next month.

Hopefully mine 😀

Got $20 in My Pocket

Sorry about the earworm. But I just couldn’t resist.

Yesterday I went to the local thrift stores. My mom liked the little cupcake stands I made for my friend’s birthday party, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go check out the treasure troves in search of a candlestick to use, since I have oodles of dessert plates and saucers. In fact, I just found a couple of antique acid-etched saucers in the top shelf of the cabinet. Those I am going to use for another project. Besides, she wants something for serving cheeses as well so I have to use a dessert plate. Whatever makes her happy, right?? I had in mind using a Desert Rose by Franciscan™ dessert plate I bought at the flea market. But I was dissuaded when I went thrifting.

And boy howdy, did I score!

Yes, to many of you that’s just a bunch of junk. But see those pink plates? Those are Majolica from Portugal. And that’s an antique Ball™ blue mason jar. And the cup and saucer is Noritake™. And the little white frame is wrought iron from Italy. If you’re unfamiliar with all the names I just dropped, let me just explain that the plates alone are about $30 each. And out of my $20 bill, I had enough to buy lunch at the local chicken joint. And still have change left over!!

So today I shall be showing my mom her new cheese stand and maybe getting a few orders for more. After all, she has a lot of friends 😀

Better Than Biting Nails

One of my kids’ friends won a scholarship to flight school. She aspires to be a pilot in the USAF. She is a very dedicated young woman and I have no doubt she will achieve her dreams. Tomorrow she will be doing her first solo flight, and has asked us to go watch.

She is just shy of 17 years of age.

And I am just shy of having a full blown panic attack.

It’s not that I doubt her abilities as a pilot. It’s just that ZOMGSHEISFLYINGSOLO!!! I am not sure I can handle that. And she’s not even my kid!! Usually when I am this nervous I tend to eat sweets, but that would means making a cake and having to explain to the kids why it’s gone. So today I shall be crafting my little black heart out, keeping my mind off tomorrow as much as possible. So, I’m going to the garage to find a book to murder to alter.

I’ve been dying to make this for my craft area, or for Little One to pilfer, and found the perfect book for it a few days ago, an old illustrated German book. This project looks like it can’t be messed up. If I do mess it up, I can always use the pages for something else, right?

Sharp blades and scissors always calm me down, so it’s worth a try 😉

Time to Work on Little One’s Room

I’m sure y’all remember the amazing transformation I did to Eldest’s room. If you don’t, go ahead and click on the link. I’ll wait.

*waits a few minutes for the awesomeness to sink in*

Amazing, isn’t it? Well, she has done a great job of keeping things pretty organized. So far. But now it’s time to do something special for Little One. And that will NOT be a picnic.

My youngest daughter has very specific tastes. Very…. interesting tastes. Anyone who smiles while watching Rear Window or The Birds has interesting tastes. That’s what I call it, anyway. What can I say? She’s a chip off the old block(head). Thankfully, her room is painted, and she wants to keep the furniture and drapes. So not a lot to do, really. But one of the things she wants in her room is a reading nook: her own chair, her own chandelier (I did say chip off the old block, and meant ME, you know), vanity area, etc. She’s growing up, and wants to make sure WE know it.

Like this, only waaaaay cheaper.

I don’t think I’m ready for that.

But she is. She is just a bit…. stubborn when it comes to getting rid of certain things. So today we will be rearranging her things and moving stuff around. The screaming will be epic. But I am sure she has ear plugs for that 🙂

By Popular Demand

Well, not really. But some of y’all wanted to see the flowers I was going to make from my wondrously wonderful felt.

It’s a dahlia. I am loathe to wear them because when I was little my grandmother taught me one of the Languages of Flowers and dahlias were considered the Flower of Death. But I can fool myself into thinking this is like a chrysanthemum, right? Anyway, I was going to make it into a brooch, but I think I will just make it into decor for my purse. Now I need a black purse so I can put this on it.

I can always find some way to justify anything.

Anyway, the sheet of felt was large enough to make this four inch beauty, plus plenty left over for another few flowers, as well. Which by the way, have been claimed by Little One. But not this behemoth. This one is all mine!!!

As soon as I get a purse for it 😉

UPDATE:

The tutorial on how to make this gorgeous flower can be found here.

Is It Spring Yet???

Nope, not complaining of the weather at all. For once. But for some reason I find myself itching to get home improvements started.

This is highly unusual. So much so that Hubby still can’t picture my vision. And it’s a GRAND one. This is my To-Do List for next weekend:

• Paint the main bathroom.
• Frame bathroom mirrors with stone tiles.
• Hang antique mirror in foyer.
• Update light fixtures with paint.
• Finish making light fixture for Little One’s room.

This does not include cleaning out and reorganizing the garage, which is a constant battle, truth be told. But I am making progress slowly. I took several garbage bagfuls to Goodwill, and thrown out crap that had been boxed up since North Carolina.

That was before Germany, which was ten years ago.

I am NOT a hoarder!!

Anyway, this week I will be prepping rooms and light fixtures and even wall decor. Hopefully things will be ready by next Saturday. But if I know Hubby, he’s hoping the majority will be done before then 😉

My Boring Life

Today finds me waiting with bated breath for the mail carrier. Why? Because the only thing I have to look forward to today is my shipment of felt.

Yes, the stuff we played with in elementary school to make Christmas decorations with Elmer’s Glue™ and popsicle sticks. But the felt I ordered is wool, so it’s more sturdy to use for the flowers I am addicted to making love to make. Hopefully this evening I will be sitting in front of the TV cutting out shapes in preparation to hot glue my fingers together make the pretty new styles I found on the interwebnets.

I did tell y’all my life is boring.

Anyway, I’m off to stalk the mailbox check to see if it’s here yet. Hope y’all have a far more exciting Saturday!! 🙂