Gaunt Designs

open to change

2012-01-28T22:46:00.010-05:00

Work has been insane recently. There has been trend shopping, garment imports that won't quit, industry expos (Surf)...

I'm trying to keep it together, but I'm starting to run a little low. Regrettably, there isn't anything exciting on the horizon. I think I need a new project that falls on the side of fun and not work. Any ideas?

Coworkers= awesomesauce!

Love this backpack:

Old screens used as wall art:

Gratuitous Little A shot:

a little bit of play

2012-01-19T06:24:00.003-05:00

Work feels like it has been non-stop lately. I'll post properly this weekend with pictures of all the going ons. First, though... a little bit of play thrown in. Goodness knows I love me some giraffes. Especially warm fuzzy inducing babies!

These were taken at the Brevard Zoo.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T20:45:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to you and yours, from our growing family.

JOY

2011-11-22T04:50:00.003-05:00

We did Santa pics this weekend and all the elves fell in love.

excuse the mess

2011-11-09T22:12:00.003-05:00

So this week I've already been rear-ended by someone without insurance and run my car out of gas. It's only Wednesday. Add all that to the fact that beebay is teething and I'm ready to break. A pooping otter is all I have left in me for the week. I will see you on the next one.

Snapshot in time

2011-11-07T10:30:00.001-05:00

Just a little photography for your Monday.

Laundry is a necessary evil

2011-11-04T10:30:00.000-04:00

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of laundry. Well, let me clarify, I'm not a big fan of folding laundry. Laundry itself isn't so bad. There's something satisfying about dumping all the dirty clothes in, getting to choose lotions and potions from the supply of nearly free couponed accouterments I have acquired, and pulling out spanking clean yummy smelling garments at the end. With all the money you put into clothes, it's frustrating when your whites start to fade or you have color bleed. Who separates colors anymore anyways? When I received a sample of Carbona Color Run Remover in the mail with the request that I try it and give my opinion I was stoked. I love freebies and I'm opinionated. Score.

I wrangled up a little 'test' group to give it a go. I selected a baby sleeper with a bleed stain on it, a few of my husband's work shirts (if it whitened these I would know we were in business), a white dress shirt of mine, and bedding that was starting to look dingy. Don't mind the adorable model. He wanted to help.

Anyways, In the wash they went. Highest water setting and as hot as possible.

The final results were impressive on the white tees and bedding. Sadly, it didn't get the stain on the sleeper out. In it's defense, I inherited it and I'm not 100% sure that it is a color bleed stain. All in all I would give this product a B+ for the job it did cleaning up a few dingy items.

I wrote this review while participating in a test campaign by Carbona and received a product sample to test. All opinions are my own and I have not been compensated for them.

Laundry image credit

Manufactured Musings

2011-11-03T10:30:00.001-04:00

I was a busy lady over the break. Here's another DIY project I finished, but this time it was for the house. I hated the old style kitchen knobs we had. They were original and straight out of the 70s. I didn't want to completely trash them though. Instead I figured I'd try a face lift before spending the money on something new.

They had years of nasty green hand goo on them. Pretty gross. I started by removing them and soaking them on high in a crockpot with soapy water. To my surprise they came out nice and clean and... gold. I could have sworn they were silver given their original dingy grey/ green color.
After I got over the shock of how gross they had been and they were completely dry I placed a piece of painters tape on the front of each knob. I mixed up a batch of Activa PermaStone. I bought this box years ago at Michael's so I'm not sure if it's still available, but you can get it online here. I just used a regular watercolor paintbrush to apply.

After each had dried for 24 hours I removed the tape to see what i was left with. The end result showed the internal metal scroll with white permastone filling in the gaps (sorry no picture). They still looked dated to me so I wasn't happy with the results. I figured I'd completely fill the front in with more permastone and paint them once they had been sanded flush for a result something like this:
Once they had dried another 24 hours I took the sander to them. To my surprise I loved the end result with no painting involved. The white middle and now distressed metal look completely modern and expensive. They are definitely unique. I thought about finishing them off with acrylic, but I didn't want to lose the matte finish of the stone. I figure I'll see how they hold up and if they need a coat later I can always take them back down.

There was a lot of down time waiting for the permastone to set and sanding took a little while, but overall it was a pretty easy project that I think add tons to the look of the kitchen. Here is the final result in place:

Here's a cleaner looking split finish version I found selling for $7.38/ knob!

Close up of my version for comparison:

Love! The next step is doing something about the ugly cabinet doors, but they will have to do for now.

Recent DIY

2011-11-02T10:30:00.000-04:00

Here's a project I threw together on maternity leave. I hand studded a blank pair of faux leather shoes using $4.99 brand new Goodwill kicks, a leather punch, tailors chalk, and 200 silver conical metal studs from StudsandSpikes.com. Total cost came in under $10. I eyeballed the spacing using a pair of scissors to measure out the distance between each stud. Love them! They are already my favorite pair of shoes.

I'd love to see what DIY projects other people are working on. Email me at gauntdesigns@gmail.com if you have a project you'd like me to share on GauntDesigns.

tutu DIY

2011-11-01T10:30:00.001-04:00

Finally got a pic of my neice in the tutu I made her. How cute is this?

The Return

2011-10-31T10:30:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween!

In honor of my return to work last week I put together a few of my photos. I miss my baby like crazy, but it's good to have a little stimulation. Screenprinting can be problematic though. I'm currently working on importing garments for major theme parks (I'll let you guess which ones). One thing to look forward to is development for next year's holiday lines. I'll try to post more about importing, but I'm contractually limited on what specifics I can share. I will, however, try to post more on the abstracts of garment importing and sourcing in general.

Cute kid... check

2011-10-24T11:38:00.004-04:00

Asher was chosen as a finalist in Parent's magazine weekly Cute Kid contest. I would appreciate if you would go by and vote for him here. You can vote daily up until 10/30 if you would like. Thanks!

Quick Style Note

2011-10-23T16:35:00.005-04:00

This is the most amazing sweater I have ever seen. I just know I would do amazing things in it.

Found at Fashion to Figure.

Tinkerbell explosion- my weekend in review

2011-10-20T04:57:00.008-04:00

Sunday we headed toward the Gulf coast to celebrate my neice's second birthday. She's in love with everything Tinkerbell. The end of last week was spent in a flurry of fabric strips, during baby naps, making her a fairy tutu ala adelynSTONE. Found on Pinterest, of course. Check out my boards.

The tutorial for the tutu lives here. Sadly for me, I don't have any finished product photos. Sometimes I get so into doing projects that thinking about documenting it is an afterthought. If I end up capturing her wearing it I'll make sure to share. I love giving hand made gifts. There were a lot of hard plastic toys so my gift really stood out. I love the thought of her wearing it for years until it's even more tattered and eventually unuseable. Gives me gooey feelings.

On to Christmas gifts just as soon as I revamp my wardrobe for my return to the workplace. One week and counting. May sound greedy, but 3 months just isn't enough time.

To the Moon- A Family's Poorly Executed Space Adventure

2011-10-10T11:39:00.014-04:00

This weekend we had our first family outing since beebay was born. We headed toward Melbourne on the Atlantic coast. We originally planned to visit the Brevard Zoo, but it turned out to be the rainiest day in the last 6 months. Instead we ended up grabbing a couple of amazing burgers at The Burger Place. They make their own buns and fries. Love fresh baked bread! I loved the retro decor too. The only down side was no baby changing table in the bathroom. With it raining the way it was I couldn't really run little A to the car so I had to brave it with a blanket on the bathroom floor. Not fun.

From there we decided to drive up to the Kennedy Space Center. I hadn't been there since since Space Camp in '97 (little known fact about me) and hubby had never been. Braving the rain we took in as much of the complex as possible. Why NASA can send people into space, but can't build walkway covers at their visitor center beats the hell out of me. In fact, A LOT of the exhibits had major leaks in the roof with buckets collecting the rain. Funding has for sure been cut. Not that you would know it from the $26/ person limited access tickets. I've paid less for major dental works and I'm pretty sure that was more fun.

I was able to snap some shots that I really liked though.

2011-10-07T12:16:00.003-04:00

Today I say sayonara Summer. Everyone else in the country did it weeks ago, but understandably it comes a little later in Florida. I look forward to turning the AC off, opening the windows, wearing boots, and enjoying my baby's first Halloween. That and spending hours pinning fall outfits and holiday crafts. Check my boards out on Pinterest here.

First Ana White project

2011-09-27T23:52:00.011-04:00

What can I say, maybe I've been living under a rock, or maybe I've just been pregnant and out of it for the past year. I just recently discovered Ana White's DIY furniture design blog. Call me excited. My project list just grew exponentially.

I have no illusions of making this a DIY home design blog, there are much better options for that out in the blogosphere, but I do love a good project and plan on documenting as many of mine as possible. Often I get too absorbed to grab a camera, but I'll try my best. I consider this a lifestyle blog and as a small piece of the bigger picture I'll try to document as much of my life and creative hoopla as possible.

That being said I just finished my first project from Ana White's plans. It was the much needed laundry basket shelf organizer. I can now separate out Baby A's clothes from mine and JJ Mah-Gs. I don't think I've ever been so excited about laundry before. It makes sorting a million times easier. I have to say that J did most of the work, but I did hold the sides while he screwed them together. Go me!

It still needs painted. I just haven't settled on a color yet. I have ideas of making it a laundry and toy chest in Little A's room one day. Most of the baskets you can find out there now are white. The blue and green basket are ones I already owned. Purchased at the dollar store years ago. Check out the plans to the original here.

Some days you just don't feel like being bothered...

2011-09-25T19:47:00.004-04:00

Both images are mine and I reserve all rights.

Little Mave Guest Giveaway

2011-09-23T04:18:00.002-04:00

Checkout these adorable bloomers! Grosgrain is giving away a $120 gift to Little Mave. Check out the link below. I will be entering to see if I can win something adorable for my niece.

Little Mave Guest Giveaway

Goodnight from Florida

2011-09-23T00:01:00.002-04:00

Photo is mine and has not been altered. I'm a lucky lady.

Number 1008 on the list of Thing I Didn't Know About Babies

2011-09-21T03:00:00.004-04:00

Little A can sleep with one eye slit to make sure I haven't left the room. I didn't even know that was humanly possible! Bed time has become one of my least favorite times already. He fights sleeping and even worse we aren't at sleeping through the night yet. Some nights we're up the whole night. Last night, for instance, I didn't get in bed until 8:30am. Tonight has been much more manageble, but I'm still up writing a blog post at 3:00 am, and feeding myself (I have lost 6 lbs since Thursday) to keep up with the demands of breastfeeding, instead of actually sleeping. Hey, It's hard to be up and down a few times a night. I for one have always loved sleeping. Hopefully after month two my little love will develop the same fondness. Until then I'll have to contend with his wonky eye that watches me like a hawk.

Target website blunder... also know as Missoni mayhem

2011-09-14T04:13:00.004-04:00

It's embarassing for Target to think they didn't prepare for the onslaught of strip enthusiasts out there. They launched their ~~dumbed down~~ affordable Missoni line on Tuesday to overwhelming demand. So overwhelming, in fact, that as of Wednesday at 4am their website is still incommunicado.

Aside from the bike, which is tre chic, I don't really see the appeal. Check out the full lookbook at Fashionista.com. Unless it's on the clearance rack I'm stearing clear of it all together. Then again, I'm prepetually frugal, which isn't the case for everyone. I thought I was in pretty good company, but apparently there are people out there able to blow large wads of cash on cartfuls of mediocre sqiggle. Too harsh? Wait until you see this photo:

Hopefully she has a whole stripe loving family out there to clothe. Anyway, here's hoping the Target website comes back up later today so I can do my coupon matchups and avoid at all costs the Tickle Me Elmo that is Missoni for Target.

(Photo credits: First and last photos Stylephile via Boston.com and the print add is from The New York Times)

All the Right Places

2011-09-10T09:38:00.005-04:00

No, this isn't a post about my love life. Although, that is what got me here. Life has gotten exponentially more complicated in all the right ways lately. Little A is 4 weeks now and the most lovely thing in my life. He has made me evaluate everything I thought I wanted. There's so much sunshine now. Look at his little face... who wouldn't want to shower it with kisses at the expense of doing anything else? Side Note: Did anyone else know your boobs leak when your baby cries? Yeah, me either.

In between all of the forays into late night zombie-ism (it's a word, get on board) and getting peed on (he is a boy after all) I did find time to order his first Halloween costume. In our house there was really only one choice... young Padawan it is. I ran it by my husband "They had the white version, but it was $20. Anakin was only $10." His classic response "That's okay. That means he turns into Darth Vader." Oh the hilarity. Years of that to come.

Costume source: Halloween Costumes dot com

summer flavors

2011-06-27T21:35:00.004-04:00

In anticipation of watching Master Chef and vegging out tonight I threw together a pineapple upside down cake. It turned out nicely if I do say so myself. I totally would still have my apron.

New Format

2011-06-25T09:28:00.004-04:00

I'm still working out the kinks, but I have a fresh new format for summer. This has been a sleepy and almost non-existant blog for nearly a year. I'm dusting it off and getting it ready for a new summer and the surprises that will bring. I figured I'd start with pictures of Florida, one of my favortite photography subjects. Here's to many more new postings in the future!