Industriality

Well, since Eldest still hasn’t finished purging her room of the unwanted, I thought I would share an idea I got from the Lowe’s Creative Ideas site. It came out so cool, I will make another for Son’s room.

You’ll need:

• Amerimax Flex-a-Spout in white
• Utilitech 6′ Incandescent Rope Light
• Strong scissors to cut through plastic

The original link said to use a 12″ LED rope light, but guess what? Lowe’s no longer carries it. Also, in my opinion the 12″ would have been too short (shut it, people), as you will see.

First, take the Flex-a-Spout and cut off the square part. I chose to cut it off right where the flexing of the tube begins.

The directions at the link tell you to fold the light in half and place inside the tube, then bend the tube into the shape you wish. But I found it easier to bend the tube first, and then push the folded rope light through. Once done, you have this:

BEHOLD THE AWESOMENESS!!!!

The total cost for the light was less than $20. And Lowe’s gives the military a 10% discount, so it came out to less than $17.50 with tax. I think it goes well with the whole Steampunk vibe in her room, plus it gives her another source of lighting without breaking the bank, since the lamp I originally wanted was a whopping $90.

I love my kid, but there are limits.

Hopefully she will be done this evening, and the furniture moved and situated the way I want it where it needs to go. If not, I will treat y’all to a food hater’s recipe. Or bad Youtube videos. Whichever strikes my fancy and drowns out the gnashing of my teeth 😉

Feeling Stabby

I am not a happy camper today. Aside the fact that Eldest is STILL not finished reorganizing her room, I now have been dealing with a rather ornery thorn in my side: my phone bill. It’s not what I pay. It’s the fact that I’m not getting paper billing when I have requested it five times already.

I understand that I may get someone in a foreign country to help me. I have no problems with foreign accents. But I do have a problem when I keep requesting paper billing, and I don’t get it. It is still an option with my carrier, after all. And the worst part? I can’t see my bill online, because apparently the sign-up feature doesn’t recognize me as being a customer!!!

But hey, let me skip one payment and they sure as heck find my address to send me my overdue bill.

So, if they can send me an overdue notice, why can’t they send me the freakin’ bill in the first place???

Yes, they are now on my Voodoo List™. Here’s hoping that after a stabby session with their representative doll, they get their act together. If next month comes around and there’s no bill, I will make origami machetes out of $1 bills and deliver them personally 😉

In My Next Life

Y’all have read that cute little email or post about how women want to be a bear in their next life, right?

I don’t.

Sure, you get to sleep through your pregnancy and eat whatever you want, and never have to shave, and kill whatever threatens your cubs, and hey, even fish all day.

Before caffeination.

I’m a “glass empty” kind of gal. I don’t want to come back as a mama bear. That just means I will end up as someone else’s fur rug or trophy. The only upside to being a bear is being able to terrorize campers in Yellowstone. And even then you run the risk of being shot with thorazine, or worse, shot with bullets. No thanks. I’ll pass on being a bear.

No, in my next life I want to be an American Bald Eagle. Awesome eyesight, sharp talons, great nesting, and totally protected. Even my feathers are protected.

I just hope I come back in the US side, and not Canada 😀

It Feels Mondayney

Because it is.

It all began with setting the wrong time on my alarm: PM for AM. I overslept, and the dogs barking at the door roused me from a rather interesting dream where I was selling mangoes by the side of the road and Richard Burton buying a peck for his crush, Lindsay Lohan. I asked him if he knew he was dead, and he said he did, but he “came back” for Lindsay. I asked him if he was interested in dating her, and he said she thinks it’s just for dating, but that he needs to fill a roster for the Grim Reaper.

If I were Ms. Lohan, I would take rehab seriously.

Anyway, I took the kids to school, dropped off my neighbor’s little girl, and came back to the smell of colitas spray paint, rising up through the air. Turns out Hubby drove over a can of spray paint in the garage. So, not only is one of Eldest’s things for her room ruined, he got spray paint on his car, too. Luckily, I know how to take that off. Then it was off to take my BIL back to his barracks, and then finally to take Little One’s PE clothes to school, because since everyone overslept, she forgot.

I ask you: why do I have to be the one to wake everyone, when they ALL have their own alarm clocks??

Anyway, this week can’t get any worse, right? RIGHT?? Here’s hoping y’all’s doesn’t, either 😉

Sunday Sithy for Roamy

Today is my friend roamingfirehydrant’s birthday, and in tribute I offer this awesome Sithy.

I always knew astronauts used the Dark Force™. I KNEW IT!!!

Happy Birthday, Rocket Chick!!! *MUAH* 😀

And the Winner Is…..

Before I reveal the winner, I want to thank everyone for commenting. Y’all were awesome! So awesome, that I ended up making another little pincushion jar to give away!! It’s empty, but ready for your goodies. Hey, there’s just so many spools I have laying around, ok??

The winner of the sewing kit is….

FlyOverHere!!!

When Little One pulled her name out of the jar she said, “Mom, what kind of name is Foh??” When I told her, she was all smiles and said she missed your other name 😉

And the winner of the pincushion jar, which is empty, but still pretty, is….

Jennie Outterson!!!

Which is great, because I know where she lives 😀

I will email the winners today. Thanks so much for entering my rather weird little giveaway. I’m glad y’all liked it enough to want it!!

Do-It-Yourself: Steampunk Accent

It is amazing the stuff you can use to give a room a Steampunk vibe. So far I have concentrated on the Victorian side of Steampunk, and now I will show you an easy tutorial on how to add a large Steampunk accent.

Because with Steampunk, you have to have presence!!

You will need:

• PVC pipe, 4 inch wide, 5 feet long
• PVC 4 inch coupling
• PVC 4 inch 90* elbow
• Rust-Oleum Universal Hammered in Copper
•  Two corks
• Sharpie™ marker
• E-6000

Set up the pieces of PVC on a tarp in a well-ventilated area.

Once you wipe them clean of dirt and dust, apply a thin streak of E-6000 to the inside of the coupling and the elbow, and connect the pieces. Allow them to set for about 30 minutes.

Do-It-Yourself: Old to New

Note to self: I will NEVER undertake such a room makeover again. At least until next Tuesday.

One of the items Eldest needs in her room is a small bookcase. It was a piece we acquired in Germany, solid wood and unfinished. It took a beating and kept on…. holding books just fine. But it didn’t really fit in with the look she wants.

Nice, plain, utilitarian… boring. But really, all it needed was a nice coat of paint and something that made it pop. Her room furniture is a nice espresso color, so I went with Rust-Oleum Universal in Espresso Satin, which is a very close match. Just painting it wouldn’t give it the Oomph! it needs to stand out though, but I didn’t want to put decorative pipes and stuff on the top, when she needs to use bookcase to hold her lamp as well. And then it hit me: decorate the inside of the bookcase!!

And so, I did!

I found a backsplash option that was bronze in color. The backsplash is sold in sheets, and fortunately made of flexible plastic. This was the second most expensive item I purchased at about $20, but since it was going to make a big impact, it was worth it.

And yes, I did adhere it with E-6000, but you can use any silicone glue made for it.

Total work time was about two hours plus curing time, and total cost of the redo was about $26. I had a few pieces of the façade left to fashion part of her wall display. It was a bit more money but well spent, and now I’m thinking of redoing the other unfinished bookcases in the same manner.

I just hope I’m done getting stuff at  Lowes’. They already know me by name 🙂

Do-It-Yourself: GIVEAWAY!!!

Ok, so lately I have been going a bit nuts over DIY stuff. As soon as I am done with Eldest’s room I will get back to other fluff. But for now, I am enjoying the whole repurposing/ recycling/ redoing bug I have acquired. Seriously, I keep walking around the house looking for stuff to alter or repurpose. Only the dogs are safe.

Last night I was trying to decide what to do with a small jelly jar I had, courtesy of my SIL two Christmases ago. It had been hiding in the back of the pantry, behind the spaghetti container, which is a tall Tupperware™ thing that obstructs my line of sight, given how short I am. So…. I looked around, and thought hey, maybe I can make jelly! Yeah, that ain’t happening. I rummaged through the Box O’Stuff™ chock full of fabric and sundry items, and then it hit me.

A cute little sewing kit!!!

So, all y’all have to do is comment on this post in the next 24 hours with a wish that you want to win it. That’s it! At the end of the day (actual 24 hours), I will do the whole names-in-the-hat thing and let Little One choose. I can’t let one of my dogs choose because they may end up eating the whole hat.

I know I suck at this, but bear with me. It’s my first giveaway. Enter as often as you wish, since I don’t get that many peeps over here, and good luck 😉

Giveaway closed!!

Thanks so much for commenting, and I will post the winner tomorrow!!

Do-It-Yourself: Chapter Two

Yesterday, I showed you the faux mercury glass I made for Eldest’s room makeover. I admit I went a little overboard, but like I said, I had other stuff to do, so it was best to get it out of my system so I could move on to the other accoutrements. Doing these went a lot faster, but a couple required curing time.

Which is just as well, since Eldest STILL hasn’t finished her room.

*Grumble, grumble*

First up, I have to let you in on the secret of my success:

This stuff glues glass!! AWESOME!!!

It glues fingers too, so be careful. E-6000 is my go-to glue for the stuff I never want to move again. Anyway, while at my neighbor’s estate sale, I noticed they had a small bell jar for $1. Hey, the Victorians were notorious for having specimens in those, right? So, I did the next best thing, because there was no way I was trapping a bunch of insects.

I simply punched out butterflies out of different colored cardstock, embossed them randomly, hotglued a small stick to the bell jar base, and then hotglued the butterflies onto the stick. DONE!! And no butterflies were harmed in the making of this bell jar display.

I also acquired a round silverplate serving dish for $3. Admittedly, I was actually going to use it for serving, but then I got a better idea. Monogramming became popular in large Victorian families, for obvious reasons. It was popular with my youngest sister too, until she remembered that all of us had the same initials. Eldest had a small block letter laying around the floor in her room, so I decided to put it to good use.

For the monogram sign, I painted the letter black, then adhered it to the dish with the E-6000. After curing for about 24 hours, I adhered the ribbon with more E-6000, reinforcing with duct tape. It looks so nice with the patina, which is great because that meant I didn’t have to polish it.

One thing I didn’t purchase was a gorgeous hurricane candle holder. It was way out of my price range, and I just couldn’t justify it. But it did give me an idea to make my own itty bitty little hurricane!!

I bought a round votive holder and a small candlestick at Dollar Tree™, and used E-6000 to glue them together. After curing for a couple of days, you have either a small hurricane to show off small pretties, or a wine glass, which is why I adhered the rose to the glass. No chance of using it for imbibing.

Total cost of these: less than $10, including the random stuff I had around and the E-6000. One tube of that will take you far, trust me.

And so will the fumes, so use it in a well ventilated area 😉