Week 17 Project

I knew I had a problem when I said "Well, in my current BOT the topic was pre-New York State Manna-hatta (Manhattan to us today)...." Yep, in conversation with my peers I said "BOT"
Oh, you don't know what a BOT is?
Book On Tape

I went away for college and road tripping has been a part of my life since then. I usually ride solo and can't stand searching for a new radio station every hour passing in and out of different cities. When I found audio books (most now come on CDs or are download-able) at the library, the nerdy side of me could not have been more stoked. It's been a love affair ever since.

I currently live 63miles away from work. ( I know, I know)  Fortunately I only work four days a week, but that's a  minimum of 8hrs in the car commuting every week... that's if I'm lucky. I live in Ohio, a state that gets snow, has traffic, and who's department of transportation always finds something on that stretch of highway that needs fixing. Oh, Hi orange barrels.   So, I always has a stack of BOTs with me. I think I currently have about 75hrs in the car. Libraries are the best! Online renewal is even better!

Back to the project.

 All those BOTs tend to end up all over the car. I put them in a shopping bag, but they spill out and it makes me look like I go shopping all the time, which I don't, I promise. Jo-Ann's doesn't count right? The shopping bag just doesn't work well.



Time to make a BOT tote.

Rather than shopping for more fabric, I remember that I had some old tab-top curtains from an apartment I had like 4 years ago. 






I thought I'd try gusseting the corners on the bottoms so that it would sit like a paper grocery bag. I cut off most of the tabs, but kept one, opened it and attached it to the opposite side to make a handle. I kept some of the buttons on, but will probably take them off and set them aside for a future project. Believe it or not, I made one cut to the curtain (except for removing the tabs) and completed the project with three stitches.!


BOT tote, Done.

Week 16 Project

I haven't felt that any of my projects have been fails.. until now. The idea was good, end results, not so much.

My house came with maybe 10 lawn chairs.
You know the kind white, plastic and stackable.

They still serve a very useful purpose, but they are at the point of no return when it comes to making them look clean.
I tried everything.Bleach. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Dawn Detergent. everything.

The spray paint they have for plastics has intrigued me, so I thought I'd give it a try.

 Seemed like an easy fix and I hate throwing useful things out.

My original thought was a goldenrod color, but the only

 color I saw at the store that I liked was a color called "brick red".

Does that look red to you?

My cousin/roommate and I both decided its not.

I'm ok with pink.

What I'm not ok with, is how the chair looks. 

I didn't think through that the paint might hide the "dirt", but highlight the imperfections; the scratches and dents and scraps and wear and tear that happens over 10 odd years.


Paint the lawn chairs chair. Done. Not again.

I now have one pick lawn chair and nine white. Good thing that won't bother me.

Week 15 Project

I watch a lot of YouTube videos. A Lot. Most of what I know is from the internet or TV.
I bragged on Facebook awhile back that I could hem a pair of jeans, without actually knowing that I could, you know, 'cause I saw it on YouTube.

Sooo, my first attempt was on my cousin/roommate Lia's jeans.

I folded them to what will hopefully be the correct length. We measured, but then I remembered that I needed to pre-wash them. When I got the energy to actually do the hemming in the middle of the night and I didn't want to wake her.... Fingers crossed.

I watched one video that showed that hammering the inseam will help it flatten out so that its easier for the machine to whiz over. I figured that it couldn't hurt. Sure, anyone driving past my porch at 2:00am seeing me hammer jeans, while wearing my pjs might wonder, but my question to them is where are you going at 2:00am on a Sunday night? Never mind, I don't wanna know.






 The seam before and after.

 I stitched right along the inside of the old hem. I'm pretty sure this is called a Euro hem. See, you can't even see my stitch. At the end of the process, the old hem will still be at the bottom of the pant and the new stitch will essentially be hidden. I like that the original, usually gold colored, thread is still at the bottom of the jeans.

Hem Lia's Jeans. Done.

Week 14 Project

    Mario was not very happy the last time I saw him. I had made this shirt for his sister Maria and failed to think of him. He told me "I don't like you very much right now" I would have been heart broken except every kid I hang out with at a certain age doesn't "like me very much" and then they the get over it and go back to thinking I'm awesome. However, I did feel a little guilty for leaving him out. M&M are like two peas in a pod... leaving one of them out does deeply affect the other.
 

This was his "model face"

  

       Mario loves to emulate his dad, Jon, in anyway he can. His dad fishes and so Mario loves to fish. Jon's a handsome enough guy, but as far as I know he isn't a model. Mario isn't a model, but he is a ham. It was hard to get a good pic of him in the shirt I whipped up (literally took like 30mins!) But I'll share the ones we caught of him modeling in my room this Easter before they hit the road home.

Such a heart breaker

Is he throwing gang signs or rock concert symbols?

A few close ups of the shirt.

Fishin' Shirt Done!.

Week 13 Project

Note: My wonderful friend Mindy, (here is her crafty blog), made this awesome banner for my blog. Thank You Mindy!

     Not much of a story for this project. I took a dyed onsie from this post and took a hint from Kim's pics of Lilly's Ruffle Bum update. Apparently, I didn't know the effect diapers have on a baby's bum or Lilly has a great bum... probably both. I added two additional rows of ruffles (everybody now hears that little hamster in the insurance commercials say "row, row, row" right?!) to really cover the bum. I added another of my flowers, this one made from ribbon.

Teal RUFFLE Bum, Done!

Week 12 Project

     Here's the thing, I'm not a Pinterester. I know I would get addicted. Its already hard enough for me not to spend everyday on Etsy. I have too many projects started and too many projects in my head that need to be started. However, all the projects my friends are doing got me thinking...

     I've loved glass bottles since high school. We smashed some for a mixed media project and I loved it. (the smashing and the glass and the art that came of it all) In college I got a melted glass bottle cheese tray from my friends Andrea, its one of my favs. Oh, and I have a wine cork collection, one I'm not sure I'll ever do anything with except display. I am a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright. He incorporated wonderful glass pieces to complement his architectural pieces. Ok, you get the point.

Anywho, my home has a fireplace. Not a working one, but a fireplace all the same. I love them for their charm and  their ability to be a decorating accessory. I tried to have one in every house I've lived in. However, my hearth was lacking.

So, I collected some glass bottles, not all from adult beverages. Painted them different shaded of white, silver and butter cream. Added candle,s all I cut from all long tappers and turned the ends into short chunky candles.Painted the back with some glossy black paint I had left over from part of the kitchen and Voila! A hearth I can be proud of having in my home.

 Fireplace overhaul, Done!

Meg

     I removed a ton, A TON, of ivy from the front garden last summer. It took me months. One of the things I was glad to have accomplished was to save the forsythia.

     The saddest looking of the two plants was the one I transplanted close to the other "stronger" plant. I wasn't sure they would make it through the winter. Winter, what winter? We had no winter in Ohio this year. I turned the heat off at the end of February.

I took a picture of it and once I saw the photo, I realized I needed to cut them back a bit. I attempted a make one of those underwater floral arrangements I've been seeing at weddings. I liked it, but couldn't get a good pic.

     My attempt to bring nature in the house reminded me of Meg and her farm. I love it out there. She has horses and fields and an old historic farm house. She and her husband have built a lovely house that they have made into a home, the truly reflects the nature around them.(Wow, this isn't a crafty post at all)
 ...and then I remembered a post she made a while back
        Meg had taken this great photo of her different boots in the sunlight and talked about what they mean to her and the purpose they served.

 

      Well, here are my boots. Not a beautiful photo, but here they are, captured for posterity.

I'd like to say I put thought into them like Meg, but I hadn't till I read her post. I had to gather them from all around the house and took them out to my front steps. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm crazy.

I've got brown heeled boots, cowboy boots, paisley boots what was I thinking??!!?, rain boots and snow boots, hot little booties, black heeled boots, hiking boots, and black riding boots for fashion really, brown scrunchy boot with lots of buttons and my Uggs. 

      Between looking at this photo and the super spring weather we've been having, some of these boots did not make it back in the closet they came from. A few got "spring cleaned" right into the Goodwill bag.

I'm counting my floral arrangement in this supper random post as a craft, but I won't count it as a weekly post.