For those of you salivating for some amateur photos of my crafty genius, I thought sharing the journey of the mandala dresser would be a great start.

This is yet another piece from The Basement where I dwell and Grandpa had no problems with me taking it over. I had to start with a base coat of a cream color to cover all the purple tones and I started with on a different project.

Thanks to the might interwebs for the next hint on transferring an image to a surface!
I used a charcoal crayon (PrismaColors makes these nifty, albeit dirty little charcoal sticks that deposit lots of color in their wake) and coated the back of the image I wanted. I was then only a matter of taping the image down so it didn't move during its transfer and tracing the lines of the design with a stylus. This took a short while but enabled a quick and decent image behind that I could trace for better visibility.

I used a Sharpe paint pen in brown and traced all my lines. A couple breaks in between each "petal" kept me from getting sloppy with speed. Then it was a matter of collecting paint and settling down to my favorite Pandora station (Muse, TV on the Radio, Blackmill, and Tya mix)

It took a few hours to decide what colors go where as I didn't want two colors too close to each other. After it was painted and dried, it got a few minutes of sanding to take down the vibrancy and "newness" look. 

This is where it is where the project is currently: not quite done. But I am getting a move along with a lot of other projects and this was instantly commandeered as storage as soon as it was dry again.  

To be continued...

As I welcome myself (and only me seeing as I have no followers I can tell of) back after a long break, I have excitement bubbling out of my toes for all the projects I have queuing for the summer! That's saying a lot for a snowbunny like myself . I miss the slopes already and sadly disassembled my board and bindings for the year. Fortunately for me, Mattness understands the need for me to keep myself busy and has been a great advocate for projects.
Lots to recap and post:

• Mandala Dresser
• Wrapping paper redo 
• Pallet bench masking project
• Honda wing vintage art
• Jiffy Shelf Update
• Treasures Curio

And potential upcoming projects if I can keep myself focused and carrying on!

• Nebula Moose Art
• Multimedia Buddha 
• Ganesha Shrine
• Coffee and end table face-lift 
• Bath Salts aplenty!
• Stepstool bookshelf
• Nightstand update
• and whatever else happens along the way ;) 

Realizing that I needed to make room for more crafts and shed some guilt for the large collection, I trimmed my scrapbook empire down by nearly 70% and kept the things I really wanted. It was hard but opening up the possibilities for a lot more creative outlets has been worth the goodbye.


   

Post Halloween and some Holiday Rumbles

Adult holidays aren't nearly as fun as I remember my childhood holidays. My mom did an amazing job of getting the house overwhelmingly decorated with Halloween items. Back in the day McDonald's used to place the items of a Happy Meal in these little plastic buckets that were witches or pumpkins, and my personal favorite, the glow-in-the-dark ghostie! Mom worked hard and made holidays memorable. However, as a single and often overworked chicka, decorating is not on the top of my priority list. One night on my own I did make the effort to get my small collection of cute out and around my apartment. But honestly as time comes to put it away, I am sincerely saddened by the lack of time and attention available in mine and other's personal lives. Decorating shouldn't be a chore. Nesting and creating an atmosphere of celebration for the holiday, any holiday, needs to be more of a priority. It forces us to clean and organize our regular space. And the nostalgia of pulling the same items out for the next few years makes me excited for the future.

After another misguided attempt to maintain an online presence, this poor blog got left in the dust. At first I wasn't sure if it was all my fault. The pressure to maintain a blog, as a woman particularly, is to cook, craft, be a total tool master, all while wearing a polka-dot apron that YES! I made myself. There was a fizzle of enthusiasm as I realized that my first and only previous to this post on the blog was indeed a crafting/sewing type post. Had I damned my one and only online profile to be a DIY blog?! Apparently there was shame associated with that as I haven't crafted like that or written here since. It's time to break open the can of worms and bring all hurt parties back to the starting ground and move upward.
It's fall after all, so may as well start... Baking. I KID!
Actually I have been uncomfortably busy for my liking and haven't had guilt free time recently to enjoy or divulge into the crafting world. But that's not to say I haven't been allowing my creative juices to go without airing. Recently Utah opened its first ever Lego store and not more than a few miles from my house. Hew was sweet enough to go with me and even had the wherewithal to let go of me when I started to skip into the store. We bought a Hero Factory creature named Dragon Bolt. That night we made a blanket fort on the floor, listened to music, and played Lego. Not too shabby for a Wednesday.

Shell Planteroo!

What I wonderful holiday week! Hope you all got some BBQ, beer, 

sunshine, and celebrating done! 

Collections of thunderstorms and exams kept my schedule pretty 

during the last few days. Happy to report I got a little yoga time!

But down to business... Another lifetime ago this sweatshirt once

belonged to a husband of mine. Now that I am single, fabulous, 

and broke (they all correlate :) ) this is being rehabilitated from 

a Men's XL lounging sweatshirt to a tailored, striped Cate affair. 

We'll see how this turns out... there is a lot to cut down. 

 Seems there is a smaller individual in this house that

doesn't really  manage thunderstorms well. Memo 

got his kitten nerves all set on edge more than once

during the storm and decided to take it out on an

unsuspecting jade plant. Thankfully I was able to get

a couple of the ravaged stems back into some dirt in

a clever mini shell planter. 

Cat + Lightning = death to plants = succulent + shell = 

NEW PLANTER!

I had to fill the back of the shell with loose dirt, so I decided to use cactus potting soil. Then I added just enough filler dirt for the stems of the rescued succulents into the wedge. It took a little trial and error to figure out the best way to situate the new little environment.Once I was able to anchor one of the spines on the shell into a wooden pencil holder (which, yes I made) I was able to happily put the new planter with his new friends. I added a couple crystal gems for good measure. 

Working away on many, many projects. Adopted a table, started creating a miniature gemstone collection, and made a whole new collection of iced teas. Ri (Romantic Interest) is starting in a adult competitive baseball league which means I will have quite a bit bleacher time coming up. Research, reading, and working away on projects while I can... 

Love from Me and Memo 

XOXO

Where it all started from...

In this world full of blogs, Pinterest, and the fan favorite, Google, I was flabbergasted this afternoon to find that no where could I find a DIY for revamping a sweatshirt. At least not in the way I wanted. After going through some clothing yesterday I dug out and old jacket and it occurred to me that it SHOULD not see another season in its current state. Thus the search for ideas or at least pictures of other beloved sweatshirts getting new life. I saw lots of jean jackets, plenty of men's sweatshirts getting sized down (my next project), and even turning sweatshirts into skirts, but nothing along the lines of what I was wanting.
Luckily, I work with a pretty awesome seamstress who was more than happy to bounce some ideas off. With the tips from her, a little inspiration, and two quarts of iced tea - I set off.
It's not as though I hate sewing, but it has never been a strong suit of mine. I was a little intimidated but because I was determined to make this work, I took my time. Which apparently is the key.

This is the poor sweatshirt prior to deconstruction. Notice the buttons worn through the fabric and below, the sleeves having been loved clear to their bones. 

I started by taking the sleeves off. Pretty straight forward and luckily by the nature of the jacket, the seams remained intact even after having the sleeves taken off. Whew! Saves me a step...

Little vest had to go into the bleach bath. Took a little time to figure out how I wanted to do it, but after about an hour and a fair amount of babysitting it turned out. I loved the color immediately! I had wanted to do a burnt orange or spicy pumpkin color and was thrilled to see the color come out uniform (one baby bleach spot aside).

And for the first time in years: Buttons! I kept the original buttons that were on the jacket when I bought it back in 2008 and kept them all this time. Totally worth carrying around that box of mismatched buttons! I also really liked the contrasting detail on the seams and hems. I half expected the bleach to get them as well, but I like this more. The "Element" symbol looked good as well and helped tie the bright buttons into the theme. 

I was torn between utter madness and shear genius when I was digging through my scraps and found an Old Navy skirt in a rather ugly brown plaid and thought.... "I wonder if I could cover those unsightly buttons with a panel of this..." Sure as the snow flies in our mountains, it works! Still have a little more to go, but this is a decent start for a girl who hasn't sewn in a long, long time. Yeh!!