Thursday, October 4, 2012

Have Faith!

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One of the things I love most about browsing Pinterest is the random quote that makes me re-read it a couple times, then really think about what it means.
That's what today's blogpost is about!
I was browsing this morning over breakfast and coffee (honestly could not survive without coffee)
...and found this image. I think it's a tote bag or something, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the message.

This is one of those messages that I hope to one day pass along to my kids, and anyone else I can.
So of course, I pinned it, and thought...this needs to be on a tee shirt!
On to CafePress I went to make this happen!
I love CafePress by the way, literally anything you can think of being on a shirt is available for you. I'm not too sure about inspirational quotes though...I'll have to check. Feedback/thoughts on this?
Here is the shirt I created, then immediately ordered:
If you'd like one, here's the link :)


Monday, September 17, 2012

Drinking Glasses Double Whammy!

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We like Scotch.
Not just any scotch though, it must be Laphroig.
If you even slightly like scotch, next time you're out, try this one. The depth of flavors are amazing. That said, a close friend introduced us to this brand, and we have been in love ever since. So between them and us, we aquired four bottles.
They are the prettiest green, too!
I found a pin for turning bottles (wine, in this case) into drinking glasses, and decided, why not?
Inspiration photo from Pinterest
I tried the cotton cord and acetone trick, as shown here, and for some reason, it didn't work for me. Oh well, there are other ways. I already had a butane torch (I'll explain that later) and bought an etching tool, that sort of vibrates at a very quick rate. So here are my photos...
Here, from the left, etching tool, bottles, and torch.

Right where the bottle gets wider, there's a bit of a 'lip' that was prefect to etch under...
See that?
You can kinda see where I started etching.
Trace all the way around that little lip...
Then, light the torch and turn the bottle slowly, to evenly heat the etched crease.
I would have got a picture of this, but the flame wasn't showing in photos.

Then...taa daaa...
You'll hear a little crack, but don't freak out and drop it, just turn the torch off.
It'll crack around the etched line, and break clean off, assuming I etched deep enough.
Hooray! Continuing this with all bottles...



















Use the sandpaper around the "mouth" of the glasses to get rid of all sharp edges.
I used Emery paper, 150 grit.


Now to get the labels off...
I soaked them in VERY hot soapy water. (read: darn near scalding)

This got one...ONE of the labels off easily.
The rest of the labels were like "LOL...no. We are staying."
So, I used WD40.
That did the trick.



Oooooo...Pretty.
So this concludes the first half of my project.
Then, I found a pin for painting glasses with dots, to make them look uber cute.



The idea here, is to dot-paint them with the ends of paintbrushes, kabob sticks....etc.
Then, you allow to air dry, then bake at  350F for 30 min, then turn off the oven, and allow to cool while still in the oven.

All Done!
They turned out super cute, too :)

Hope you all enjoyed this, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

DIY Cleaning Wipes

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Cleaning the house. Not everyone's favorite thing to do, or to buy supplies for, but it still has to be done. Enter the DIY category. Save money? On house cleaning products even? Sign me up!
So I watched a video about a woman who has learned to make four different kinds of DIY wipes. Moisturizing hand sanitizing wipes, bleach wipes, glass cleaning wipes and baby wipes. I went for the bleach wipes, sans bleach, because I am afraid to clean with bleach. I'm just fine using a bleach pen and making cute designs on things, but when it comes to wiping down surfaces all over the house with it...I just have this idea that I'll lean against a counter that I'd cleaned with bleach, and my shirt will suddenly have a bleach stripe. It would probably end up being my favorite shirt too, lol. So, Here's what I came up with... :)

I started with Fabuloso, peppermint essential oil, an empty bucket of doggie treats, and a roll of Bounty towels.
I don't like the smell of fabuloso by itself, but when mixed with the peppermint oil, it's very crisp and fresh, and peppermint oil actually wards off pesky bugs like sugar ants.

So we start by cutting the towel roll in half. I used a french knife, but I think I'll be using a serrated bread knife next time. Using a non-serrated one is like trying to slice frozen meat with a butter knife, lol.

Taa-Daa! Now to shove this fat roll down into the treat bucket...
*shove*

Now to prepare the cleaning solution...
it's 1/2 c Fabuloso (or whatever CONCENTRATED solution you have)
approx 1 tsp peppermint oil
and 2.5 c water.


Seriously...peppermint smells so clean!
Now, we pour the mixture over the roll, be sure to pour down the middle too, to saturate the center roll!

Now for the REAL Taa-Daa moment...ready for this?

Look! There's where your roll will center pull from!

Now just reattach your lid, and you're good to go!


The little bottle of Fabuloso MIGHT have cost me .50 (coupon shopping for the win!)
and the peppermint oil was something like $4 at Hobby Lobby, and I didn't even use 1/4 of the bottle.

Now that I have this post up, I'll check back for the date when I go through this whole roll. I wonder how long it'll last!

**As a side note, in the spirit of Fall and all things Autumn-y, if I figure out how to make these smell like Pumpkin Spice, I'll let ya'll know :) ***

Friday, September 14, 2012

Makeup Organizing!

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I am not what you would call a girly girl. I do plenty of girly things like sewing, cooking, crocheting, and my nails, but I'd rather be on a horse, gun range or trail in the woods most days. That said, I somehow still have a ton of makeup. Not like, metric ton, entire MAC store or anything, but there have been days that I'll look at an eyeshadow like "why do i have this?" As a matter of fact, this morning, I JUST opened a golden yellow one called 14 karat. Just opened, as in it was still sealed, lol. So with all this makeup, comes a storage problem. Sure, you can use the little drawers from Walmart, but then you can't really see everything you own. Enter Pinterest ideas. So you take a cookie sheet... A plain, non-coated cookie sheet and hot glue fabric on, securing it in the back. I've also seen them painted, with scrapbook paper glued on... And I'll be making each of them soon, to test these methods. They will be available for sale, too, so keep an eye out for my "From Pinterest, To you". For the frame, Lowes and Home Depot sells cute moulding that can be easily cut and painted. Mine does not have a frame YET, but I imagine when I make the others, I'll be adding one. Then, a trip to a craft store for a package of magnets, to hot glue on each of your eyeshadows, etc...and youre done!
So, here is the inspiration photo, and my finished one, without frame.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Comfy, Warm Slippers

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Now that it's September, the air is getting a little cooler
(in Texas, it comes and goes)
and the leaves are starting to change up north.
I'll be going on my yearly "Yarn Crawl" in October, and I've started crocheting now. I joke with my friends and patients that crocheting is my "winter sport". I found these slippers on Pinterest a couple years ago, and I can't tell you how many pairs I've made. One year, someone had me make a pair for every woman in their family for Christmas. Talk about speedy fingers! I suspect I'll be receiving orders soon to start these for stocking stuffers, and to go in gift sets, with body creams and plush, comfy robes.
If you'd like a pair, let me know! As they are every year, they're $20 a pair. Any color of the rainbow! I will need to know your size, too! :)
What I love most about them is that as you wear them more and more, the wool fibers actually bond together (we fiber nerds know this as felting), which actually makes a tougher "sole" to them. They're also SUPER warm.
So here's the Pinterest picture. Beyond cute, right?
Here are my versions, I only managed to get pictures of two pairs. The purple ones are now on my mother's feet, and the cream ones (and more worn ones) are mine <3

This flowery pair I'm adding just for fun.
The flowers are a wool-blend,
so they keep my tootsies extra warm!



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Pretty, Chic, Striped Curtains

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My living room sliding doors were looking quite naked. Sad, too, for that matter. So, to Pinterest I went, in search of a cute, simple kind of curtains I could make to make them pretty AND covered. I found a mom who had covered her window with white curtains, and used iron-fusible interfacing to attach the black stripes to them. Pretty genius, if you don't want permanent stripes! I, however, did want permanent stripes. So, I acquired about 6 yards of the black and white fabrics, which are a sort of linen-canvas texture, and 6 yards, in two 3 yard parts, for the backing. I sewed 1/2 inch seams and pressed flat towards the black panel after each seam, to keep the white looking crisp. Once the panels were complete, I sewed the backing to them, with right sides together. This seemed to take forever. Once I was all the way around, I left a 6 inch gap to turn them inside out. Once turned, I pressed all the edges flat, and folded the 6 inch section in, so it looks like the rest if the edge. A seam around this, only the width of the presser foot from the edge, and adding the tabs were the last bit, then voila!
Striped Curtains, as seen on Pinterest!
Pardon my messy sewing area!


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Premiere Post!

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I am so excited about this blog! For the last year, I have been finding things to keep me busy (the board is actually called that) on Pinterest, and making them in my free time. My little apartment is absolutely filled with decorations and useful items I have discovered on Pinterest, and found a place for. This said, I've decided to start posting photos of all my projects and the inspiration behind them. This blog will start as simply a "sharing my victories" outlet, but may evolve into a way to order things you see here or on Pinterest that you have no time or think you dont have the skill to make on your own. I'm so excited! Did I mention that?


Here is today's Pinterest Inspired project...
So I had this old twig wreath laying around the house, (actually stashed in a closet) and found a cute picture where someone had spray painted it, and added an initial to the center of it.
So I bought Rustoleum spray paint, in the color Satin Aqua. Then, Joann Fabrics has different sized letters for sale, and I chose a wooden one, that was already painted white, and painted just the face of it black, sorta gives it a reverse-shadow look, don't ya think? Finally, a very wise man looked at the picture with me and said, "Those little flowers on the bottom edge would look better as a bow, I think." So that's just what I did. :)