Do-It-Yourself Fun: Chapter 1

Well, I know I was supposed to have pics up of Eldest’s room today. Unfortunately, she was ill on Friday, which meant “convalescing” all weekend, and by “convalescing” I mean playing Skyrim™ with her dad while her mom finished off the projects.

*Grumble, grumble*

Anyway, one of the things she wanted in her room was mercury glass. I myself love mercury glass. It is so pretty and old fashioned. But there was NO WAY I was going to pay $80 for a small vase at Pottery Barn™. Not. Happening. I thought about scouring the thrift stores, until I saw this tutorial at Katie’s Rose Cottage Designs, and I thought to myself, I can make that!!

You’ll need:

• cheap glass vases, votives, or whatever you can get at the Dollar Store.
• Krylon Looking Glass Spray Paint™
• spray bottle with a one-to-one mixture of water and vinegar
• paper towels
• well-ventilated area and plenty of coverage for the workspace

First, make sure you have cleaned the item well. I wiped them down with alcohol on a paper towel. Next, shake the paint vigorously, and apply an even coat, or as even as you can, onto the outside of the glass. I had tried doing the inside, but I didn’t get the old shiny results I wanted. After spraying the paint, just spritz the item lightly with the vinegar/water solution, enough to let beading form. Wait just about a minute, and then take a paper towel and gently blot the bubbles and beads of solution. Voilá!! The spray prevents the paint from adhering! Keep spraying paint and solution in as many layers as you wish. I did only two layers for the results I was wanting. This was the bottle before:

Those pretty bourbon bottles sure came in handy.

And this is the same bottle after:

I have plans for this….

I shall update the post with a pic after the Sun decides to make an appearance. Oh, and don’t think I stopped at just one glass bottle.

Can you say “Christmas decor??”

I didn’t go overboard. I just decided to do all of that particular project at once, so that I could concentrate on the rest of her stuff without distraction. All in all, I spent less than $5 on the spray paint, and had plenty of random glass stuff waiting for a ride to Goodwill, so the total expense of this project was well below $10, which is far better than one small vase for $80.

Best part? It was very therapeutic, sitting out in the hot sun, spraying, blotting, spraying, plotting…. 😉

UPDATE AS PROMISED!

Not That Y’all Can Tell…

….but apparently, it’s FALL!!

And courtesy of roamingfirehydrant. yet again, an awesome Sithy.

And being in South Texas, that’s as close as I will get to seeing Fall. Have a great Sunday!! 😀

Trash to Treasure

My neighbors are moving, and decided that their new abode would never contain the amount of furniture and sundry stuff they owned, so they decided to have an estate sale. He fixes and collects clocks, so you can imagine the bounty he had.

Also imagine being inside the house when ALL THE CLOCKS STRIKE TWELVE.

After the ringing in my ears subsided, I made my way over to the crafting room, which in truth is a detached garage. MORE CLOCKS!!! But boy howdy, did I score!

LOOK AT ALL THOSE GEARS AND COGS AND GOODIES!!!

Just the thing for a collage for Eldest’s room. Oh, and they had a small table that, with a bit of care, will fit right in. Time for me to jet, since I still have to turn my Dollar Tree™ finds into Victorian Steampunk masterpieces. I’m pretty sure I’m more excited than she is, but I don’t care. As long as she leaves some of it behind when she moves out 😉

Aggie Tam

If y’all aren’t familiar with the TV show Firefly, and the film Serenity, then the title means nary a thing to ye. So, to explain:

The character is River Tam, and she is deadly. Especially with a reaver sword.

Anyway, this Monday I was scrubbing dog barf from the carpeting when the doorbell rang, causing said dogs to bark and jump and wag and generally make a nuisance. I had been warned informed that I was going to receive a package from the Lemur Compound™. I thought it might be in retaliation a thank you gift consisting of chocolate or turducken, in return for the gift I had sent. I was so happily wrong.

Behold Serena, my very own reaver sword!!! Yes, I named her Serena, after Serenity.

Look at that blade. JUST LOOK AT IT!!!!

Makes you feel tingly inside, doesn’t it?

Yes, the photos were taken with my iPhone 3 GS, which does no justice to the absolute beauty of the steel. And yes, the blade is very sharp. This isn’t just for looks. It’s for life.

I think this would look great with my Steampunk costume, don’t you? 😉

Thursday?? What the…??

I was so busy yesterday, I completely forgot to post fluff. Let’s face it: this blog is just fluff, but sometimes that’s what you need because there just isn’t enough Calgon™ to go around.

Anyway, yesterday I decided to go around town looking for cheap junk items of small value to alter for Eldest’s room. As y’all may recall, she wanted me to Steampunk the whole thing. Well, that’s hard to do when she keeps it looking like Hurricane Ike hit it.

And that, my friends, is a VAST improvement over what it was like only two days ago. Because you can walk around the room!! Yes, that’s a strip of duct tape on the corner. And she does write on the little mirrors. By the way, I warned her I would be posting a pic of the DMZ room, so this won’t freak her out. Much… Anyway, today I get to paint PVC pipes, cut up corks and foam insulation board. Oh, and do some fake mercury glass, because I am NOT paying out the nose for that stuff when I can easily fashion my own.

I can’t wait to finish her room, and then I will be waiting impatiently for her to move out so I can take it over 😀

Sithy Awesome

My friend The Glorious Lemur King sent me this on advice of his better half, Cruel Wife.

Because you can never have enough lightsabers.

You can, however, have enough flying squirrels.

Have a great Tuesday!! 😀

Not Even Trying Today

I got up and felt like a cat had chewed me up, spit me out, and dragged through pond scum.

And I’m not even sick. Just tired.

I was thinking of doing a giveaway for the blog. Something either made by me or just some random weird thing I find at the clearance section of Home Depot. Or the Dollar Store. Not sure yet.

Then I thought of doing a simple dish each week and featuring it so that the food pic haters would have some angst in their lives. But that’s not how I operate. I don’t like fostering angst. I like fostering fear.

I also thought about posting pretty thought of the day. Then I recalled I am Sith.

Anyway, I will think of something tomorrow. For now, I am off to paint PVC pipes, attach a ventilation duct for a dryer on the ceiling, and make a lamp out of a flowerpot.

Don’t judge me because I’m crazy. Judge me because I am too tired to make a rebuttal, and this is your only chance 😉

Possible Death of a Salesman

I am NOT a happy camper right now.

About a year ago, one of those college/ vocational/ tech institute students came by selling magazines. My heartstrings are always plucked like chicken feathers. Anyway, he was just a few “points” from getting the level and so I decided to choose a couple of harmless magazines. That usually means family or cooking oriented. Well, they had Family Fun, which I like because it has a lot of ideas for young kids, which can also be adapted for older ones. And since he begged so nicely, I decided to order Rachael Ray’s magazine.

No, I don’t like Rachael Ray. Her perkiness drives me nuts, and feels like a cheese grater on my nerves. But it was the only cooking magazine that wasn’t labelled as “light” or “healthy”. And no, before you freak out I am NOT against eating light or healthy. I just like to do the healthy substitutions or tweaking on a regular recipe if I wish to do so. It’s easier to trim down a regular fat recipe than fatten up a thinned out one. I think I’m rambling and y’all don’t understand, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I ordered her magazine with the full intent to be more creative in my cooking, and instead, I got Newsweek.

I have nothing against Newsweek. Obviously, I don’t care for its political slant, but they have the freedom to do that. No, what bothers me is that I ordered a cooking magazine, and GOT A NEWS MAGAZINE INSTEAD!!!

And on what world does the spelling of Every Day with Rachael Ray look like Newsweek?? He wrote the title, and the numbers that corresponded were not even close to each other. I swear I’m being tested.

And if another salesdude or chick comes by selling magazines, I will greet them with machete in hand. 😉

Ugh….Starduay

There’s football today.

I can’t escape….

Wine? Check.

Beer? Check.

Cold cuts? Check.

Rosary? Double Check.

Y’all have a great Starduay!!! 😉

Food Blogging: Day Three, I Think

I told Laura that for “NATIONAL IRRITATE A FOOD PIC HATER FOOD PIC POSTING WEEK”, known as NIAFPHFPPW, for short, I would have the BEST Sunday breakfast evah!!!

I bet you it will cure a hangover, too.

And this phoned in post concludes my food contributions for NIAFPHFPPW. I can tell you I got some awesome recipes from the bloggers to try in the next few weeks…. Ok, maybe the next few months. If you haven’t been to Bad Bad Juju yet, go….NOW!!

Have a great Friday!! 😀