What a Mesh

Seriously, decorative mesh is awesome!!

My sister Reno Queen made those for her front door, because her house is so far from the road, she wanted them to be seen. A wreath just looks like a splotch on her door. You can download the instructions for it: How to make a Santa

You can find deco mesh in any hobby store, but some florist suppliers usually carry it for far less, so shop around!!

Hm….I wonder if you can make a wreath with those bath poufs, too. Yay!! PROJECT!!! Time to drive down to the Dollar Store wait for Hubby to come home to drive me to the Dollar Store.

GAH!! I hate waiting… 😉

If You Wait Until the Last Minute, It Only Takes a Minute…

Seriously, I am not the biggest procrastinator around. But for some reason, I completely thought I had plenty of time to make ten Christmas cards for a swap I am attending this evening.

I only have to die-cut the ornament pieces, paint them, decorate them, measure the cardstock, decorate the front of each card, embellish the ornaments, embellish the card, adhere everything, and voíla!! I will be done.

In a couple of hours….

Hope y’all have a more productive Friday 😉

Down to the Wire

I have been crafting like mad, trying to get a bunch of Christmas presents done well before Christmas.

This year, I WILL BE ON TIME!!!

Ok, I will try. But I do have a lot of incentive. This year we are travelling down to my brother-in-law’s for Thanksgiving. Which means I want to have all of their gifts done so they can have them under their tree. Of course, that also means taking down gifts for the rest of the family in the area. And that also means birthday presents because December was a good month for those who celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.

This is me, only not young, male, or blond.

And no, I can’t post any of the stuff I’m making because there are some recipients that actually bother to read this fluff. So, y’all will have to wait until after Christmas. But that’s ok. I’m making plenty of other crap with which to bore you, so don’t despair 😉

Out of My Gourd

I love pumpkins. As an Aggie, I had…. issues with their color for a long time, but once I had my first slice of pumpkin pie, my issues were over. Carrots weren’t such a big deal because Texas A&M figured out a way to make maroon ones. But not pumpkins, which is a real shame because I bet a maroon pie would look amazing.

Anyway, yesterday I showed y’all the paper mache, or if you are a stickler for correct terminology, papier-mâché pumpkins. I had waffled around trying to figure out what to do with them for months. But finally I managed to decorate them.

First, I applied a thin coat of medium and laid strips of Ideaology™ tissue as I went along, pressing it into the curves. Once it dried, I sprayed some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist™ in Tattered Leather, a dark brown, and then rubbed in Distress Ink™ in Spiced Marmalade, repeating the process twice. Once THAT was dried, I glued jute twine into the crevices for definition. I applied some Distress Ink™ in Peeled Paint to the stem, as well as to some Sticky Back Canvas™, also spraying it with the brown glimmer stuff. Then I cut out leaves from the canvas, peeled the backing off, and stuck it to some more tissue paper. I crumbled it, and then reformed the leaves to suit, gluing them to the stem. I curled some more twine and voìla! Rustic pumpkins for my Great Pumpkin Mantelscape of 2012!!

And yes, the big one in the middle is a mercury glass one that I purchased a while back. It is open in the bottom, so I placed some Christmas tree lights inside and light it during the holidays. I couldn’t light it for the pic because A) it would be too bright for my crappy phone camera, and 2) the extension cord was too short. After Thanksgiving it will be moved down to the hearth area so I can once again plug it in.

Oh, and I just remembered the rest of the pumpkins I have stashed away. I may or may not have enough room on the mantel, but hey, that’s what the fireplace is for 😉

Cut to the Quick

Yesterday afternoon, my friend Jennie told me of a scrapbooking class she will be teaching. Five minutes later, after a round of SQUEEEE!!!– I confirmed my spot to take her class. Five minutes after that, I was taking inventory of everything I would need for it.

This is where I noticed some of my stuff was *ahem* out of commission.

Apparently, one of my kids needed to use some of my paints and tools for a project. Normally that would be fine, since I am of the opinion that things are there to be used. But it hurt to see the sorry state of my scissors. My beautiful, magnetized, do-everything scissors, which someone thought meant “do-everything-including-use-as-pliers”. I am not at a loss for scissors, not by a long shot. But these are special!! They cut through chipboard and wire and short of doing dishes, they make me happy. Now I have to make do with regular, run-of-the-mill scissors, and that’s going to take a bit of adjusting to do.

But enough wailing about that. Some of y’all may remember this.

Well, I finally found some paper mache pumpkins!!

So today, I am working on altering these for the Great Pumpkin Mantlescape of 2012™, without my scissors. But no matter. I can do just fine with a knife and a ballpoint pen.

Trust me. I’m a professional 😉

The Big Reveal!!

FINALLY!!!!

Ok, so I am still not completely done. I’m working on a coggy collage that will go over the headboard. But I got tired of waiting. Anyway, y’all remember what it looked like, right? For those who don’t, here you go:

What a nightmare that was. There were days I wanted to take a rake to it. And a lighter.

And here is the after!!!

Guest DIY Post!!!

My sister, Reno Queen, puts my DIY skills to shame. Actually, compared to her, I have no skills. I am a total and complete n00b. In my family, we all agree she is Bob Vila’s fraternal twin, only prettier and far younger. You need new screens? She builds them for you. New backsplash? She will cut tiles to fit and make a mosaic that would rival those of Pompeii. I’m telling y’all: the gal can do almost anything.

And I say “almost” because she never got around to working for SpaceX™.

Anyway, she was gracious enough to write a tutorial on making a beautiful work of art for your home. So without further ado, here you go!

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How I Planned to Paint Furniture and It Turned Into Some Other Craft 🙂

Supplies: Cabinet door, sander with 60 grit sand paper, Krylon™ Fusion paint in Satin Black, Paper towels, 180 Grit Sanding block, Stencil, Precious Metals liquid leafing, sponge paint applicator, E6000 and a Cross.

First you take your piece (in my case it was a sample cabinet door) and using 60 grit sand paper you sand off the original finish. (Image 1) I used my mouse because it is easier and faster, but if you don’t have one you can do it by hand (but it will take forever). Make sure you sand the grooves well. (Image 2) Make sure you do this in a well-ventilated area because dust will be everywhere!

Image 1

Image 2

I May Need an Intervention

As y’all know, I’m still working on Eldest’s room. Furniture has been repositioned, shelves readied, and knick-knacks are done and ready to be displayed in the manner I know should be done. But there are some things still being worked on, and she has been slow to purge her childish things, so we are still moving at the speed of galoshes in quicksand.

Nevertheless, I have been busy being creative, as well. Boy, have I been having fun making new things out of random crap old stuff I find. I had this cheese dome, bought foolishly at a home party, just collecting dust in a kitchen cabinet and taking up precious space better served by my Lolita™ glasses. I’m making it into a bell jar for her room, complete with a skull.

Like this, just not as cute.

No one can say I am NOT a cool mom.

In the course of making last minute adjustments to her stuff, I have had to go in periodically to the local home improvement store. I was there last weekend, asking about a light kit. The young man who was helping me was interrupted by an older gentleman:

Gent: Can you tell me where to find a filter for a pitcher?

Salesguy: Hm…not sure, but I think you can find them in the kitchen supplies section, right next to the paint section.

Me: No, they are in the plumbing section, far back wall, right past the kitchen appliances and before the salt for water softeners.

Gent: (looking strangely at me)

Salesguy: (looking strangely at me)

Me: I’ve been in that section recently…

Salesguy #2 walking by: Hey, Ms. Aggie*. Haven’t seen you in a couple of days!

Me: (sighing)

Salesguy #1: You should work here.

I’m seriously thinking about it. But I get the feeling my paycheck would just revert to the store anyway 😉

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 😉

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!!