Lovingly in Painting Lockdown

For the past couple of weeks we've been painting our entire first floor... and when I say entire - I mean entire! Trim, walls, and ceilings. To fully understand the extent of our painting experience I'm going to back track two weeks.

Once upon a time...

*chuckling*

Seriously though - When we first thought about painting my husband and I went to Lowes to pick out paint colors. I knew I wanted a tan color for the living and dining rooms and I was thinking that having one wall of the dining room as an accent color would be nice. So we (basically me) picked out a tan swatch for the walls and a camel swatch for the accent wall. We also picked out a deep chocolate for the trim and a country white for the ceilings. We brought the swatches home to see them in our lighting and as much as we could tell by the 2"x 4" piece of colored paper... we liked them.

Really, the 2" x 4" strip is a lie and totally not good enough. If you are ever thinking of painting it's totally worth getting the samples. Having said that - back to my story -

So we go back to Lowes, purchase 8 cans of paint. 8 cans!

2 qty : tan

2 qty: trim

3 qty: white

1 qty: camel

My father-in-law came over to help me get started. We painted the living room tan. As we were painting I was looking at the walls and they looked very golden colored to me. After the paint dried it wasn't any better either, but I kept telling myself that I would eventually like the paint and that I shouldn't worry. We had been painting all day long and the two cans of tan were running out so I called my husband to stop by Lowes on his way home and get two more cans for the dining room.

( unpainted trim)

Why I did this??? I don't know! The more I looked at the finished living room the more I hated the ugly tan color - which in our lighting actually looked gold. Truly people - gold. Our doorways are arched and our walls are plastered. A combination that made the inside of the house look like a pueblo rather than an 80 year old brick bungalow! In a word = UGLY!

(Stained glass window in the living room... not western in the least bit)

So, the question as to why I had Der get more paint and basically waste $40??? I was trying to force myself into liking the paint because I didn't want to admit that I had make a huge mistake. If you know me, you know that nothing bothers me more than waisted money. I thought that $40 would over power the ugly pueblo-ness of the room. It didn't.

That night I confessed to both Der and my father-in-law that I hated the color from the depths of my being (strong words I know... but totally how I felt.) Der, being a wonderful husband told me that he would take the next day off from work, we would go back to Lowes and get samples, bring them home, test the color, and repaint the pueblo :) My love for him that day multiplied ten fold!

Now we have wheat walls in the living room & dining room, a teal blue accent wall, and a happy ME. Honestly the whole paint situation and the thought of the money spent kept me up the first night until 1am! Since that night we have painted our hall way, kitchen, and bedroom. All rooms went according to plan - no random golden walls :)

(me painting the kitchen )

(Der taping off our cabinets)

The only thing left we have to paint is our main floor bathroom and L'bug's room - both of which will be a country white. We should be completely done with the main level within the next week... or at least by the end of February! I hope :)

What am I going to do with the two random cans of gold? Come spring I'm going to go antique shopping for outdoor furniture... who knows I might have a post in April with golden colored patio chairs!

Beeswax Holiday

This week I have been visiting my parents. We have a local bee keeper who sold us some beeswax so that we could make candles. We also bought some honey... you'll see why in a minute!

Ok... back to candles.

Mom and I have been experimenting by using freshly rendered beef tallow, beeswax, and paraffin wax to see which ones burn better and longer. The candles that we made last night are a mixture of beeswax and a left over wedding candle that mom had saved from our wedding 4 years ago! Wax is wax :) We melted the wax in a double boiler [a pot with water in it and an old coffee can] I wouldn't suggest using a real double boiler b/c the wax is so hard to clean off anything that it touches...

For the wick you need to use cotton. I braided ours to make it stiffer. We also soaked it in a mixture of borax and salt - then let it dry over night to make it burn clean (without black smoke.) You'll need to pre-dip your wick into the melted wax, then tie something to the bottom of it to weigh it down. I used a nut. Once the wax was fully melted we poured it into the jar.

(When the wax is melted you'll want to add any type of scent - before you pour it into your jar. We added citrus :)

Burn and enjoy!

We also made lip balm - I know what you're thinking.... "really?!"

It's true!

It's wonderful smelling, it tastes good, and it make your lips feel great.

Don't let the Altoids box fool you -

**Recipe For Lip Balm**

Melt - 1 tsp. beeswax / 2 tsp. coconut oil / 1/2 tsp. lanolin / one vitamin E capsule

in the microwave. [BE CAREFUL - beeswax is highly flamable]

Once melted, add 1 tsp. honey and stir.

Pour into a container and put into the fridge until completely set.

Sustain-O-Nomically Simple

I've been thinking alot about a quote my mother told me this past week. It's by a woman named, Dolly Freed. In the late 1970's Dolly wrote (at only 18 years old) a book called, Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and with (Almost) No Money.

The quote is this, "It's easier to learn to do without some of the things that money can buy than to earn the money to buy them."

My quest to live more economically has morphed somewhat... into a quest I call

Sustain-O-Nomically Simple

Sustainable Living: (n) any lifestyle based on energy-saving and environmental responsibility

Living Economically: (adv) in a thrifty or frugal manner; as regards to the efficient use of income and wealth

Simple: (n) easy to understand, deal with, use, not elaborate nor ornate or luxurious; modest

Thus far my main eco-conscious ways have been using cloth diapers (something that I thought was crazy about a year and a half ago... honest - I love them now, but before I had my own child the thought of cleaning poop totally freaked me out - LOL now poop is just an everyday activity) & making my own laundry detergent (works fantastical.)

So..... to make my life more sustain-o-nomically simple I'm going to try to not buy anything that I already have. Meaning - Under my sink I have probably 20, no lie, different cleaning products. And I looked into my shower and saw that I currently have 3 shampoos and 4 different body washes/soaps. To help me use one of them (a beautiful bar of gardenia soap) I have made a cotton crochet soap holder.

I'm ready to start saving more money and living more simply. If you have any ideas totally feel free to share and comment :)

Simple Pleasures

Over the holidays we went to a friend's house and saw these lovely paintings that

their little girl (4months old) had done :)

You know, it had never occured to me that L'bug could paint!

So yesterday I found out that we have two artists in this house *hehe

Picture it:

A little girl, 6 1/2 months old sitting in her Bumbo

(which now has a rockin cool tray attachment - thank you g'ma p)

I place three paint tubes infront of her. One pink, one green, and one blue. She looks at them confused and so I point to each one and ask her which one she'd like to use. She throws up her hands and dives at the pink tube!

She really wasn't interested in the paint... or eating it or her fingers for that matter -

what her heart desired most was to eat the construction paper.

After she slobbered over the paper we began to paint and here's what we came up with.

Enjoy :)

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Back to work -

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Warm weather where are you??

I just got done with a beautiful name plate for a little girl's 1st birthday present... and it

was a beach scene - ahh the sand between my toes!

For more pictures of Name Plates check out my

August 12th '09 post!

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Girls and their purses....

A subject that is very dear to my heart, as I own probably 40 plus purses and bags.

(For the record however, they are almost all handmade, thrifted, or given)

I found this owl purse on etsy, but the item itself was only for purchase... there was no pattern - so I made one up.

If you had a bigger one I'd probably line it, but the owl is only approx. 6 inches tall and 4 to 5 in diameter. Just large enough for her to put her little nick nacks in.

I've got two other little girl purses that I'm currently working on and should have them up in a week or two.

See ya then!

My Needle and Thread Christmas

I feel, as I'm sure you all do, that this past month flew by... I guess it's even

more evident now that we have a little girl. I'm reminded of what someone told me right

after L'bug was born. "This will be the shortest year with the longest days."

Boy were they on the money!

December is the month when I'm busy making gifts :) and so now that all

of the presents have been opened I can post the pictures of my latest works.

Thank You to all of the people that ordered items!

And now for the pictures -

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I had no idea how much people would like those felted hair pins I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Here are a couple more, plus in my shopping travels I found a holder for them and

I couldn't wait to make one myself.

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I think my most gratifying thing to make is a speciality bag.

One, because there are no other bags like them... and two, because I know that the client

will really be able to get a lot of use out of it. This first bag is a "super bag."

My friend, N, asked me to make her a bag that would hold... are you ready for this...

[cloth diapers, a child's toy, her camera,

medicine supplies, her laptop,

and her regular purse items (wallet, lip gloss, keys, and cellphone)]

Basically - everything!

:)

Here is what I came up with.

It has three separate compartments. The purple zipper area is for her purse like and medicine items. The larger middle red zipper area is for her diaper bag stuff and camera. The back teal zipper part is for the laptop. All the compartments are lined. The front and middle areas both have inside pockets, there are three front pockets, and there are two side pockets -

(hmmm....wondering if I could think of another sentence to use the word pockets....)

She can carry everything she needs and then some, plus to make the bag more durable I put two straps on it to help distribute the weight.

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This bag was a treat! I love suprises - especially this one. A friend's mom emailed me and asked me to make her daughter a sewing bag to hold her sewing machine as well as some notions.

One side has an area for scissors as well as smaller notions, and the other side has a pattern holder and a round pin cushion.

The side has pockets for fabric. I wanted to make it so that she could pick up her bag and have everything that she would need to sew right there in one place.

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Here is a fabric teddy bear - I used the same pattern as before, however this client asked if I could embroider "Avery" on the leg. I wasn't sure how the dark/light contrast of the fabric would look when I cut out the pattern, but I'm very pleased with the "retro-ness" of it all.

I'm also so excited when things just work out - example:

I was sewing this foot together and when I turned it inside out I saw that there was flower in the center of the footpad! Totally not planned!

Well I hope you all had a great Christmas season - and in a couple of days - a Happy New Year! As always, feel free to email me if you have anything that you'd like me to make. I'm looking forward to another year of blogging. In the fall and winter months I crochet, but in the spring and summer I'm all about sewing - and sewing this coming year will be fun!

L'bug will be wearing regular clothes rather than onesies all of the time - and I've been doing some of online research and I have a lot of things that I'm very inspired to make. I found a fantastical French website that has free children's patterns. The site was very vintage meets Heidi of the Alps, meets home-maker! In other words - Amazing!

Again, thank you all for following my crafts and randomness!

sing_82@yahoo.com

Pattern Collector

As the days grow closer to Christmas I find myself enjoying projects that I can get done in a couple days or two. I like the instant gratification... As a crafter I am always looking for different patterns - printing them out - and filing them safely away for a rainy day. I looked at my shelf of several binders filled to the gills with patterns, and realized that it would take me a life time to do all of those projects! LOL

I didn't know I was a pattern junkie, but I have all of the symptoms and tell-tell signs... my sewing room and computer are stuffed with them. So, to justify my "collection" of patterns I decided to make a few items - to make myself feel more like a "do-er" rather than a "horder." I'm not even going to tell you how much yarn and fabric I have - not that obsession I get from my beloved mother (love you mom!)

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*Leg Warmers*

I've seen them several places, but they are just too expensive for me. Call me cheap - but $12 for one pair of leg warmers is a little much... so I made some. At Target you can get three pair of woman's socks for around $7. Each pair of socks makes one pair of leg warmers. You simply cut off the foot part and finish it off. They are really cute and they work great for when L-bug is rolling... no crawling yet, but all in due time. I'd make them for $5 a pair if anyone wants them. :)

*Pacifier Leash*

I found this pattern at Hook Candy.com and had to make it because it looked so easy - the pattern also happened to be free. I have since made like seven of them! I use the leash all the time. I hook it onto those connecting or magic rings {that was for you MW} and then connect the rings to her car seat or her jumperoo. I realize the concept of the pacifier leash isn't a new one - but the crocheted aspect of this one was what got me. The leash also gives L-bug more to hold onto and play with - which she quite enjoys :)

*Wash Cloths*
After I made my own laundry detergent I was thinking of other ways to get more "green."
Ok, I also had some time to kill while I was watching sports center with my husband so I made some wash cloths. I actually really like them. They soak up water well and the stitches make for good scrubbers. I have been doing things the old fashioned way with L-bug's diapers... I use cloth diapers and a wash cloth to clean her rather than wipes. The crochet cloths have been good to clean her with because they are soft.

*Felted Hair Pins*

I'm not a Black Friday shopper, however I did go out this year. Granted I didn't leave the house until 1:30pm and by that time all of the crazed shoppers had gone home. [If you just so happen to be one of those shoppers please do not take offense - more power to you!] While shopping with my mother-in-law I found these amazing felted hair pins! L-bug has lots of hair, but it is really fine and normal clips don't stay in - but the felt holds onto the hair without pulling it. The clip that I bought was $8 per clip - expensive! So I went to Hobby Lobby, got some felt, and made my own. And, without tooting my own horn - I really liked the way they turned out!

*Raga-Muffin Doll*

I was making a doll from a book pattern that I had. I was happily crocheting along when I looked down at my work and realized that the pattern that I was following (to a T) was looking horrible! The doll was supposed to be a teddy bear, but it didn't look like a bear at all... So, I improvised. I made up my own doll and the outcome was the Raga-Muffin.

I'll keep you posted as much as I can thoughout the holidays - but if I get too busy with all of the festivities...then Merry Christmas everyone!!