My Van Gogh Knock-Off: I don't think he's worried...

Last night I joined a co-worker at Dip N Dab.  You know one of those places where you BYOB and they provide you with paint, a canvas and instruction so that YOU TOO CAN BE AN ARTIST!  Last night we knocked off Vincent Van Gogh. 

Van Gogh's Sunflowers

My Van Gogh knock-off.  I don't think he's worried about the competition. 

As much as I hate mass produced art, I really like Dip N Dab , or Sips N Strokes, or  Canvas By You.  I always leave feeling talented and really inspired to go home and paint. 

Once I get home and get out my paint,  I realize that I am not a talented painter.   I guess that's why Dip N Dab is in business.

Making a Palm Tree out of Pineapple

So I've been neglecting my blog, but seriously, I promise it's not because I haven't been doing anything. 

I have been doing LOTS OF STUFF. 

I just haven't exactly finished ANYTHING. 

But there's no rule against posting something that I created two years ago right?? 

So here's a centerpiece that I made for a tiki party that we threw for some friends who were getting married.  This was in 2011, the year that I actually finished things.  

 

 

Pineapple Palm Tree Centerpiece

 

To make the centerpiece I hollowed out some pineapples and stacked them on a frame I made by hammering two dowels into a piece of 2x4 (save the pineapple for your pina colodas! fresh pineapple makes them so much better). I used sago plam fronds from the farmers market for the plam leaves.  I poured some brown sugar on a tray to cover the base and create "sand." Obviously, actual sand would have been a more realistic and less sticky choice, but that would have required a trip to the hardware store. 

 

Now you know how to make a palm tree out of pineapples for you next tiki party or luau.  

 

Since its January, I know you're probably running out to buy those pineapples right now....  

 

But whatever, that's not important.

 

What's important is that I have finished a blog post in 2013!   



Happy Halloween!

This is my entry (okay so its really the Legal Department entry) for the office pumpkin carving contest.
 I have a great job!

I really love pumpkin carving but hate the part where you have to clean out the inside of the pumpkin.  This year I decided to forgo the guts cleaning part and that worked pretty well. Wish I could say the same thing for the black paint that I used. 

It's Been a While..

I've been neglecting my sad little blog recently but it's not because I haven't been doing anything! 

I've actually tackled quite a few projects recently.  Since my last post I have:
 Recovered my headboard
 Made new pillows for my bed
 Made a rectangular wooden side table for my entry area
 Made a nice little tailored skirt for said table
 Hosted a baby shower. 

Hosting this baby shower involved:
 Embroidering pennants with the baby's name on them
 Hemming fabric to make a table cloth and table runner
 Growing wheat grass in metal containers (which is super quick and easy BTW)
 Making bunting
 Making a million cupcakes
 Throwing half a million cupcakes away
 Making a dessert stand



Blue cabanna striped tablecloth is made from Ikea fabric.  Pennants were embroidered on my sewing machine. 
The DIY dessert stand was made from MDF, a square dowel and some 1/4" trim.  The metal containers are from Ikea and I grew the wheat grass from wheat berries that I got at the local health food store.

 The baby shower was a lot of fun and most of the things that I made were pretty cute.  Unfortunately, I did a terrible job of taking pictures. 




Pennants and wheat grass.

 Atleast you know I haven't just been sitting on the couch watching soaps. 

DIY: How to Make a Colander

1.  Heat one stove eye on high for approximately two minutes or the amount of time it takes to make stove top pop corn.

2.  Turn off stove. 

3.  Place plastic bowl on top of stove eye.




Place bowl here. 

4.  Remove bowl.  Your new colander is ready for use!

DIY Colander

Future Projects

I'm super excited for my future projects!  

I'm going to (attempt to) make a bench out of a headboard! 

Unless you've been living under a rock and are completely deprived of Pinterest and all home decor blogs, you've probably already seen a million benches made from headboards so this announcement is probably less exciting for you than it is for me. 

This project is particularly exciting because I'll be making it for Work BFF's Mother.  Someone actually trusts me to turn a family heirloom into a piece of furniture! 

This bench from Twice Lovely is one of my favorite examples head board benches.
Don't expect mine to look anything like that for two reasons:
1) I have no idea what the headboard that I'll be using looks like, and
2) I have no idea how to actually build a bench from a headbord.

Okay, so its not really an heirloom. That would be too much pressure.  Work BFF assures me that this isn't an heirloom and has been taking up space in a barn or some other location where you store your less than cherished items.  So her mother probably won't cry and/or forbid Work BFF from associating with me if I mess this up. 

That's reassuring.  I'd miss her if that happened. 


I'm also redoing my headboard and pillows and everything else that's red and black in my bedroom.  I got a new rug a few months ago and that has (obviously) necessitated a complete decor redo of my entire condo.  Luckily my condo is just basically one big room so redoing everything shouldn't be too hard.  

Bye-bye blah black and white bedroom!

Of course at the rate I'm going I'll be finished with the redo just about the time that blue ikat rugs become the avocado green applicances of the world.

Oh well.  

Struggles

After completing the ottoman, I decided that I should do a "simple" project that would just take a few hours.  I'm pretty impatient so I appreciate any sort of instant gratification project. So I decided to make some pillows.  I sew and make pillows all the time so didn't think I'd have any problems. 

Now, an entire month after I started, this is all that I have accomplished:

Pillows I made for my work BFF.
 It was the least I could do after I hijacked her on the way home from a meeting and
forced her to go with me to one of my favorite fabric stores. 

Okay, well there are two of them, but that's all.  I'm always amazed how "simple projects" turn into month long affairs.  This was one of those projects where nothing went right.  I swear that I must have defective thread.  

The pillows look okay from the front.  Just don't turn them around (luckily this is the internet so you can't).