How many of us have a lot of jewelry?

I do! I do! I do!

I never 'knew' what all I had though because I couldn't find it or see it all. It was in drawers or in piles in a couple of different places in the bedroom.

Not any more! I can see almost all of my earrings and brooches now. A few select necklaces are out as well.

You know what's even better. I reused an old window that I had to make said jewelry shine! Here's what I made!

These jewelry holders are all over blog land, and I'm happy to say that this project didn't cost me one red cent. Well it did at one time, but I did not buy anything new to make this jewelry display.

So here are some close-ups!


I just stapled the hardware cloth inside of each frame. This was not as easy a task as one would think, but I made it work. Fitting the hardware cloth inside the frames and then laying down a bead of silicone probably would have been easier and more secure than the staples I used, but silicone would have taken too long to dry. I wanted this thing up pronto!

Another note - did you notice the heart hanging from the window? Its full of rose petals from the first rose that the hubs ever gave me.

Now I just need a good way to organize all those rings I have!

So I know we all have  things pinned under the "I want to try this" file.

Personally - almost everything I've pinned is in that file.

I can knock one of my pins to the "I've done that" file!

I saw this project a while ago and I knew I wanted to try it.

I like to think of myself as artsy. Not in the painter-can-draw sort of way, but in the ways I can interpret things. What I'm sharing with you today is definitely under the I'm-trying-to-be-a-painter category, and I think it turned out pretty darn well.

This is a progressive water color painting and I got the idea from here!
Elise has such great directions on her site, that I didn't have any trepidation about starting this  project. Seriously, she made it so easy.

Here are some more shots of my art project. I love the pop color she adds to the wall in my bedroom. You all know I've got a soft spot for orange. :)
So there's my pinterest-inspired art! What do you guys think?



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Well I finally bit the bullet and made myself a new skirt. I've been avoiding making stuff for me for the longest time because of my weight, but I've lost 40 pounds so sewing and outfitting myself with new clothes is fun again, not to mention why should I make myself some clothes that may not fit in a few months? Why? Because all of my old clothes are not fitting. Some are not even wearable, others are getting a significant amount of help from my belts. My friend's bachelorette party was the perfect excuse to get dolled up and step out in some new clothes.

Enter Butterick 5756.

How cute and flirty is that skirt? Perfect for winery hopping and enjoying the day with the girls!

The pattern was easy to follow and quite straightforward. The only thing that a little hairy was the pocket construction. The images in the guide sheet were not as clear as they maybe could have been and I really had to read carefully to make sure that everything was lying correctly so that the pleat didn't look funny. Otherwise, its a super simple pattern.

So here I am all dolled up. I paired the skirt  with a tight tank and then topped it with a nice cardigan.

 Sorry about the cropping, but I don't have a picture of me by myself. And why is it that out of three pictures I'm holding coffee in two of them. Oh well, I guess that is how I usually am. Coffee is my friend. :)

I completely love how the whole outfit came out and I love how girly and swishy the skirt is. What do you guys think? Does the skirt work?




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So what started off as a very long project has finally reached completion!

Wahoo!

So the journey started like this.

She's really beat up, but she's got such pretty potential. I love her lines and her femininity. Unfortunately, there's no saving the veneer. It has to come off.
It was tough going at times, and then I just had to stop, because the veneer was not coming off. So a $6 iron, some perseverance, hard work and about an hour later She was completely free of damaged veneer. yay! Now how to finish her? It would take me a while to figure it out. I fixed the pitting and gouges and then sanded until she was baby-butt smooth. Then it sat. And sat. And sat some more.

Then hubs and I moved it inside, and it sat for a few days. I did figure out what paint treatment she needed on the 2nd day though, then it was just finding time to do it. :) I decided on a dry brush technique using the yellow color already in our master bedroom and antique white.
After a mishap where I painted the desk portion and forgot to paint the mirror, the whole painting process took no time at all. So here she is back up in the room!

 Please pay no mind to the mess just off camera. I still haven't gotten all the fabric back into my sewing room. You'll also notice that pictures have moved around, and maybe even see a few new ones. More on one of them below!


 The hubs wasn't so sure about the shabby finish of the piece, but after everything was put together I think he liked it. He said he did, so that's what I'm going with. I love it! I love the whole look and how it all came together! I really love all the details too, including some of the cracked veneer that I didn't remove.
 So are you wondering about one of the pictures? Do you follow Straight Stitches on facebook? If not, then you have no idea that inside one of the drawers of this vanity I found a page of scribbles and math equations from either my aunt or my mom. How cool is that? The vanity was in my grandparents' outdoor shed and lots of critters took advantage of her, but they also left some nice details. Anyways, back to the paper, I decided that the perfect way to showcase it was to frame it and put it up near the vanity. I really like the story behind it and its just a cool thing to showcase.

So there's my new vanity and I am in love.


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Last night, on a whim, I decided to paint my nails. I never paint my nails. The polish doesn't last. And here's proof.

I did this lovely damage by assembling the vanity that I've finally finished. I am so pleased with everything and how it all came together!! I just need to snap some pictures of the finished product(s) and I can share everything. :)

Aren't I nice to make ya'll wait?

So last Friday was the last day of teacher appreciation week and Dev and I made his teachers some crayon monograms.

Now these have been done and done and done but I'm still going to share the ones that Dev and I made.

First I glued the crayons to some matte black poster board and then put it in a simple unfinished frame from the dollar store. Kind of makes it look like a chalk board, don't you think?

It's been awhile since I've shown up here hasn't it? I apologize for my absence, but he reality is still that I haven't crafted anything. At least until last night/this morning and the night before.

Yesterday kicked off teacher appreciation week at Dev's school and today was bring in flowers for your teacher.

Since I'm trying to save money at every turn, I decided to see what I had around the house that would work.

Enter coffee filters.

I actually tried this project a couple of months back, but never completed it so when we started this project Sunday night (nothing like teaching your kids about time management) I figured it would be quite simple to get it done. The instructions can be found {HERE} on Ms. Martha's site.


I'm so silly. I should know that nothing ever goes as planned, but despite my mishap the flowers got done and look lovely.

I would say a few things about them though.
1) Make sure that your floral wire is secured tightly with the tape and maybe even add a drop of with glue to the first set of petals so that the stem doesn't pull out while you're working with the flower.
2) This is probably a no-brainier, but don't use pen to trace your petals on the coffee filter. I couldn't find a pencil so I used a pen and that's why I have nice blue tinged petals in the purple rose.
3) Martha uses nice water colors. I used crayola watercolors. They're not as intense as what Ms. Martha got but I like them nonetheless.
4) If your stem does come out of the flower after you've painted it, like mine did, I just folded the tip of the tape back towards the flower and taped that up like a boutonniere. Worked just fine.

I'll be sharing another teacher appreciation gift later this week!