Pinterest Strikes Back

Long time, no see! I definitely fell off of the blogging wagon about the time that I started getting ready to move. Now I am settled into my apartment in Charlottesville and getting ready for classes--it's amazing how time flies.

Part of moving always involves projects, right? Three projects in particular consumed a good portion of my time but in the end were totally worth it: a mail rack, a necklace organizer, and two picture frames.

The mail rack took up the largest amount of blood, sweat and tears. I found an old wooden floor vent at an indoor flea market in Jackson and it was in rough shape.

I mean, rough.

I sanded and sanded, and sanded some more, attempted to strip the paint off ("attempted" being the key word), and then sanded even more. I contemplating giving up on it, but decided that I had put too much time into it and that I should at least paint it and see how it looked. So I bought a sample size of "Safflower" and put two coats on this baby.

It's as bright as you would imagine. 

And that did it! I got some brass hooks and screwed them into some pre-existing holes that had probably been used to secure it to the floor, and I was finished!

Finished...

...and hung up in the foyer!

It's not ~perfectly smooth~ or anything, but I like it and it's definitely already had it's fair share of use as you can see. It's great for racking up my bills and Netflix and outgoing mail. Success!

The next project was my necklace organizer. Leigh had made her own with a few glass knobs and I'd always been a bit envious of her crafting skillz. I had been on the lookout for a piece of wood that could function as the backing, and, luckily for me, replacing a backyard fence yields a good amount of spare, hefty wood. I found a 2x4 that had an odd channel cut out of the back and picked the side that I wanted to use.

There is also some interesting bark detail along the top...I don't think this wood was suited for the fence, but it certainly makes the 2x4 interesting for an accent piece.

Next, I sanded it and used a richer, more intense stain because I knew that it was going to be hanging on a white wall. The bark area was delicate, so I just dabbed around it as carefully as I could and didn't wipe away the stain like I did everywhere else.

The darker the better, imho.

I got my knobs at anthropologie, but obviously any type of vintage, retro, modern, etc, knobs would work just fine. I also chose knobs that had a bit of a "neck" on them so that the necklaces would have a cradle to lie in.

random owl is random.

I worked with my mom, since the power tools are hers, and we spaced the knobs out across the wood, measuring from the outer edges of the shape of each knob, since they're all different sizes and five "even" spaces wouldn't exactly be even.

Finally, we used a dremel to cut off the backs of the long screws. This is where it came in handy that the wood I picked had that funky channel in the back. because of that, the piece can sit pretty much flush up against the wall.

Like so!

It's nice to be able to clear up some space inside my jewelry box, which had been overflowing up to this point. Success!

Finally, I repainted a set of frames that I picked up on an outing with Leigh and her mom. The pictures inside of George and Martha Washington are what I really wanted, so I decided to tape off the glass and give the frames some love.

The biggest mistake I made was trying to paint them outside on a muggy Mississippi afternoon. I also used a paintbrush at first, and even after two coats, the paint coagulated in streaks. Finally I got a roller and carefully rolled on a third coat, and that seemed to do the trick. Some paint got on the glass but I figure that I'll get them reframed at some point so I'm not too worried about it.  I used some mineral spirits to clean the worst of it up and packed them up into a box!

Final resting place.

I had thought to hang them in my office, over my desk or something, but I ended up hanging two pretty large prints up that my dad gave me, and my window-less galley kitchen needed some brightening up. Now Martha watches over my stove and George over my coffee. Success!

On a side note, HRH Skittles, Queen of the Mississippi and Marquess of Charlottesville, is settling in just beautifully:

Surveying her kingdom

A Crafty Christmas!

I've been meaning to write this post since Christmas, but the fact that I haven't quite finished and delivered Faison's gift yet had slowed it down. I finally decided to just write it and save Faison's gift for another post. Problem solved!

Everybody knows that I peruse two pages on Pinterest more frequently than my own email account: Fitness (for motivation) and DIY & Crafts (also for motivation, albeit of a different type). I decided around Thanksgiving last year that I wanted to be super crafty this year and MAKE gifts for some people. And I did! And I loved it. I am consistently blown away by the creativity of some people on Pinterest--or at least the people whose work gets pinned on Pinterest. I haven't quite reached that plane of thinking, but I'm not ashamed to say that I ride on their coattails with moderate style.

Leigh is obsessed with owls. Don't let the AOPI letters fool you--she's an owl girl through and through. So I had been thinking that I would make her an owl ornament or something like that, but then I saw the most amazing gift idea ever:

[source]

I had no choice. The internet had spoken. I got all the at Hobby Lobby and set to work. Overall, it was a very easy pattern. Only the zigzag stitches around the eyes gave me a problem, and that had more to do with the fact that I was trying to stitch around very tiny pieces of fabric than anything else. Here is my own process:

All pinned up...

Halfway point...

Finished!

I gave it to Leigh a bit before Christmas and she loved it! (or so she told me....it could be stuffed in her closet for all I know, only to emerge when I come to visit.) I actually really recommend this project to anyone who is interested in it. I know that it's ~for the children~ but it's the perfect size and design for a travel pillow. I will say that I used a relatively higher-end fill called Cluster Stuff and I believe that it made all the difference in the world in the "pillow quality," if you will. I've used cheap poly fill in other projects and I can honestly say that I'm glad I didn't in this project. I really want to make my own soon!

What I have learned from this project:
+Sewing for other people is scientifically associated with stress and an elevated heart rate.
+Chenille is so frakking hard to work with and it sheds like none other.
+Zig zag stitch + rounded edges = cussing. Lots of it.
+When in doubt, keep stuffing in that fill. There's always more space.

My other big project was a laptop sleeve for my stepsister, Audrey. I used the Cottage Mama's beautiful tutorial for my pattern:

[Source]

The theory is simple, and so is the practice. Here's the problem: I have the same laptop size and protective case as Audrey, and when I tested the fit of the finished product on my own laptop..............it didn't fit. I think the fleece didn't want to slide against that textured plastic like it was supposed to. When I popped the case off, it fit like a dream + a bit of breathing room, and I will go to my grave swearing that I measured correctly. On the upside, my mom has a smaller netbook, and the sleeve fit hers perfectly. I recut the pattern and did it over again, and the second case worked and ended up under the tree for Audrey! I wish that I had been better about taking pictures for that one, but the stress overcame me so I only have this picture from my iPhone:



Even though the Cottage Mama's pattern calls for a cotton exterior, the cotton fabric selection at Hobby Lobby felt flimsy between my fingers. So, for the durability factor, I used a printed duck and stayed with the fleece on the inside. Instead of fabric covered buttons like the Cottage Mama used on her own, I used some plain wooden ones, which actually ended up looking really nice against the light greens in the fabric. I want to make one for my own laptop, but I'm going to be vigilant about the sizing this time. This tutorial is actually wonderful in that it's based off of measurements instead of a shape, so the pattern can be adapted for a larger or smaller laptop, a kindle/nook, an iPad, etc.

What I've learned from this project:
+Fleece and sewing machines don't get along.
+Top stitching is not my strong point.
+Neither is sewing in a straight line, apparently.
+For the above reasons, have a seam ripper and reading glasses handy.
+I really do love sewing. You can make some cute stuff! Just don't look too closely at the seams, y'all.

Faison's present is so close to completion and I am swearing on a stack of bibles that it will be hand delivered to her this weekend. I also have a few other projects on the back burner and I'll just have to remember to take pictures so that I can have detailed posts! I love doing these crafty things, especially when it involves paint or stains and hardware of some kind. My grandfather built houses for a living, so I think that it's in my genetic makeup to want to, you know, make things.

I hope that y'all's weeks are looking like they're going to wind down on a positive note...happy Wednesday!

Look at this little elf...

Look at this face. Take it in. That's my son right there. And look at how patient he is being with his holiday "ruff" on!

My last post was from Halloween. Uh, what? Have I really been that lazy?? (yes, I have.) Anyway, now it's the Christmas season and We've already started the gift giving at my house. On my mom's side of the family, we trade names with each other so that we only have to buy a gift for one person instead of like, fifteen. It's worked out really well, especially for us in the younger generation that can't really unload a bunch of cash. We also have a tradition of "Robber's Christmas" (some people call it "Dirty Santa"). In the end, I walked off with a nice little haul!



From my cousin, I got seasons 2 and 3 of Battlestar Galactica, the Cranium game was from Robber's Christmas, and the dish towel is from my lovely aunt. I guess I'm a nerd, but I had no shame in asking for the BSG DVDs, and of course I ended up with the braniac board game. The gift that had been opened just before had been a bottle of cheap wine with an Elvis label and an accompanying can of spotted dick. Yes, this exists. It's some sort of bread pudding, I think. I'm really just trying to wipe the whole sexual references + family from my memory. When all of the knee-slapping was over, I chose the box with the dancing penguin wrapping, and then was like, "Wait. This could be a trick. They're attempting to lure me in with cute wrapping." Luckily, it was the Cranium game, and I remember saying, "Okay, I'm satisfied with this." Of course, I've never played it before and I need three other people to play it, but at least I didn't end up with the spotted dick or the two-toned bath towel--the white end for your face and the brown end for your butt. Yeah. That happened too.



Back in November, I went to Mistletoe Market at the Jackson Fairgrounds with my aunt (the same one who gave me the tea towel) and my cousin. It's a really big marketplace hosted by the Jackson Junior League and it's always super crowded. I have mixed feelings about Mistletoe, mostly because I think that it is aimed at a demographic that I am not a part of: women in their 30s married to hunting and sports fanatics with toddler children. However, I did find some stuff that I liked. (duh.)

The two posters are from Brittany Fuson Paper, and I am in love with them. All of her stuff is so snazzy looking! I haven't framed them yet because I didn't realize until I got home that they're on 8.5"x11" papers, so I have to trim them down to get them into my 8"x11" frames. The ring is from the Diamondhead Pearl Company, the same place that I got my pink pearl starburst earrings and matching long necklace. I honestly love their stuff! The ring is kind of big, though, so I have to get it sized or something. But it's this beautiful irregular pearl set into the ring, and the way it catches the light is absolutely fantastic. Everyone knows that I have an obsession with rings, but I had been on the lookout for a while for a chunky cocktail ring. The two jars of marinade are from Loredana's. I got a garlicky one that made fantastic garlic bread and a sweet lemony, almondy one that I've used twice on salmon steaks. They're delicious and made of organic and other natural ingredients. Finally, I got a chunk of honeycomb from the Savannah Bee Company. I will admit that I haven't used this as much as I would have liked, just because in order to eat a fancy snack of apples and honey is actually more time consuming than I would like. Still, I would swear under oath that it is some of the best honey that I have ever tasted. It's still sealed in the honeycomb when you get it, and it doesn't get any fresher than that! You can also eat the beeswax without any adverse effects.

Happy Christmas and Hanukkah to everyone! I hope that you find yourselves in a charitable and giving mood over the rest of the season.

Nail polish: "Dear Santa" by OPI