Made on Main

Renter's Plight | ANOTHER GALLERY WALL

2013-03-29T20:41:00.000-06:00

These gallery walls are just EVERYWHERE, aren't they? Well I'm going to throw another one your way, just in case you're still unsure of how you want to lay out your gallery wall. (Oh hey ladies, notice the sexy man in that "before" picture? You can look but you can't touch!)

My particular gallery wall hurdle this time was a variety of devices attached to our wall (some of them non-functioning). I utilized some three-dimensional boxes to cover those ugly devices and add some interest to the typical frame set-up. By the way, I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures. I wanted to get natural daylight in the living room but then all of my frames had glare on them. It was a sad day.

Here were my basic rules:
1. I used all black frames with an accent gold frame.
2. I created a top and bottom border. All of my frames touched one (or both) of those borders.
3. When I continued the gallery across to an adjacent wall, I maintained the same center line for those frames. (The border was less relevant since all the frames were tall enough to only stack one high).

To make this process as smooth as possible, I used two tools:
1. Brown paper. I cut out the footprint of each picture and taped the entire gallery on the wall before hanging anything to make sure I liked the arrangement.
2. 3M velcro strips. When used correctly, these things are amazing for renters. I've never had one tear a wall before and they are pretty simple to use. However, they add up in cost quickly, and our walls were kind of slick so I had to apply extra pressure for extra long to each strip.

I suppose I should call this more of a gallery strip based on its size and shape. Whatever it is, I like how it frames out our living room. If I had my choice, the strip would be about a foot higher and go all the way above/behind our TV, but that darn security alarm box forced me to place the gallery lower (to hide it). I have such rough first world problems.

Mod Bod | UPCYCLED LACE SKIRT

2013-03-23T19:44:00.003-06:00

I have seen some really chic lace skirts lately--the type with soft white or beige lace over a nude toned under layer. They kill me! (In a "I could die, I'm so happy" kind of way). Given that I had some so-so pieces in need of reworking laying around my office, I decided to try my hand at one of these awesome skirts!

I started off with a pair of (grease stained, torn bottom) slacks and a (very oversized) white lace shirt.

With the slacks on, I marked about 3 inches below where I wanted the skirt to end (I was shooting for knee-length) and marked each leg. I took the slacks off, chopped the legs at the marks, and discarded the lower legs. Then came the time for some seam ripping. I ripped up both legs to the intersection at the crotch and ripped just an inch or so into the front and back seams of the crotch.

I folded the slacks so the sides were touching (is there a name for that? It's the fold I do when I'm hanging my husband's slacks) and pinned everything together. Using a skirt I really like with a similar fit to what I had in mind, I traced the front and back seams of the skirt. I sewed a really wide basting stitch, tried the skirt on, and adjusted in a few places. When I had the fit how I liked it, I sewed a tighter straight stitch and a tricky zig-zag stitch (of which I don't know the name) before cutting off any excess fabric.

To finish the bottom hem of the skirt, I straightened out the bottom edge, folded it under twice, and finished with a zig zag stitch. (I did this for aesthetic reasons, because I didn't want my stitch to be obvious under the lace. If I was just making a simple skirt, I probably would have done a straight stitch here.)

Seriously, if these slacks weren't splattered in the most embarrassing grease spots, I would have stopped here and called it a day!

The way I put the lace on this skirt was kind of a mess and took so guesswork and seam ripping, so I'll try to simplify the process. Basically, I cut the lace fabric to the same form as the new skirt with an extra inch along the bottom and about 3 extra inches at the top. (I did some tricky folding to accommodate the zipper in the front. I can't explain it, it was a bit of a mess to figure that part out).

Here is the main takeaway for attaching the lace to the underskirt: I fit the skirts inside of each other and pinned the lace exactly where I would like it to sit when everything was attached. I tucked the top excess of the lace over the slacks and pinned in place. I then sewed a seam about 1 1/2" down from the top of the skirt to attach everything.

Then I rocked that skirt like I do. (Ok, that was a bit arrogant. Honestly, though, I've become a huge fan of skirts and dresses, and I think I wear them pretty well!)

P.S. I already have some other slacks in mind to make into a simple skirt. Now that I know what I'm doing this second skirt will be so quick!

Organization Nation | IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

2013-02-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how many crazy papers you get in the snail mail and e-mail every day? I feel so overwhelmed by all of them, especially by the fact that so many of the papers are considered "important". Even in this digital age, My Main Man and I can't shake the feeling that it's important to keep a hold of all those papers (rather than just scanning them in) and we even print certain e-mails and digital receipts that seem important. We don't mean to be wasteful, we just want to keep all of our bases covered!

With such a thick stack of papers stacking up, I saw a major need for a good organization system. Of course, there are plenty of options for important documentation organization floating around the internet, but it can't hurt for me to throw in my two cents. I'll lay this out like a tutorial in case you feel like following along!

SUPPLIES:

- (1) Large 3-Ring Binder*

- Plastic Page Protectors

- Cardstock

-3 Hole Punch**

*I bought a 4" binder from Staples when they had a rewards event happening. Even though the binder was about $20, we had all that money refunded in a $20 voucher that can be used for anything at Staples.

**I am ghetto so I use a single hole punch and use notebook paper as a template for where to punch my holes.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Gather any papers that are too important to throw away, but not important enough to keep in a fire safe. (You should definitely keep things like social security cards, birth certificates, etc in a fire safe!)

2) Create divisions for your papers. I have (7) divisions so far: Taxes, Bank Accounts, Student Loans, Utilities, Auto, Health, and Payroll. Some of these may be useless or redundant for you, so edit as necessary.

3) Print on your cardstock paper. I printed a cover for the binder, which listed all the divisions (kind of like a loose table of contents). Then I also printed one cover page for each section. On that cover page I listed my subdivisions as well, which varied depending on the section. (For example, the Bank Accounts section had subdivisions for each account.)

4) Start filling your notebook. First stuff each cardstock cover page in a page protector and set in the binder. I realize that labeled binder dividers would be good solution for some sections, but I wanted to use page protectors so I could stuff small, loose papers in the pockets. I also printed my subdivisions of pieces of cardstock, but I hole punched those so they don't stick out as far and the primary divisions. Then start placing the important papers in the binder. Punch holes in the papers and place them in their respective sections. I made one exception to the hold punching rule: taxes. I would really hate to accidentally punch out an important dollar value on one of our forms, so I just stuff them all in a page protector.

5) Maintain your binder. Like I said before, I get "important" papers on a nearly daily basis. I keep a basket on the corner of my desk, and My Main Man and I use the basket as a dumping ground for all of those papers. Every so often I sort through the papers and file them into the binder. Even though the initially organizing phase took a decent chunk of time, maintenance is amazingly quick and easy--perhaps 10 minutes at the end of every week.

So how do you stay organized?

FAREWELL

2013-02-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

"So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye!" Don't worry folks, I'm not leaving this blog anytime soon. (Did I scare you a tad?) I have been taking a bit of an unintentional hiatus, though. I have transitioned to being a full-time working stiff (from the easy, make-your-own hours life of a college student) and learned to cope with a husband who is only home select evenings and weekends due to work and school.

However, the most exciting reason I've been absent is the slow but steady start of my design business The Main Event! I've had a link to the business page in the upper left of this blog for a while now, but I thought it might be fun to share a little bit of what I do and why I am particularly in love with this job that eats up the rare free moments I have anymore. I began designing wedding announcements, which are a blast because they can embody so many styles and come in a million varieties.

As I played around with fonts and graphics, I realized that I was ignoring a very important part of what I have to offer as an artist: graphics and text from my own hands! I braved incorporating some hand-drawn fonts into my first baby announcement and I was hooked! Each invitation or announcement is supposed to tell a unique story about its announcees, and I really felt like hand-drawn work allowed me to embody the little nuances that made my clients so special. The moral of this story is that now I include a unique graphic element for each and every design of mine, because there is simply no better way to make an announcement or invitation memorable!

So now I spend my afternoons and evenings crafting wedding invitations, shopping for envelopes, drawing baby names in sweet fonts, and waiting for graduation season so I can bust out a horde of announcements for all my intelligent friends! When you have a moment, take a look at The Main Event website and let me know when you're ready to start designing the perfect announcement or invitation!

By the way, this card I've showed you is a farewell cards for the girls in my youth group at church who graduate up to the next age level. I hate it when they leave me, but I sure love the time I spend with them and I try to remind them of how special they are with a card when they turn twelve!

Sew Awesome | FLOUR SACK TOWEL PILLOWCASE

2013-01-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

I don't understand why pillows and slip covers are so over-priced. It doesn't make sense when you can make a pillow cover for about $2. In case you'd like to give it a go, here's how I created a simple white slip cover for a pillow!

I bought a couple of flour sack towels from Wal-Mart, which cost about $1 each. I cut off one long side and reattached it so the towel would be more of a long rectangle than a square. I used some of the scraps to make loops that would hook around the button closures. I sewed the closures onto one short end of the rectangles. I then folded the rectangle around to form a square that was overlapped on one side and sewed both sides closed. Once I flipped it right-side-out, I marked where the loops reached and then sewed a button onto each of those locations. I stuffed a pillow form in the cover and extended the loops over the buttons to close the whole packet. It was a super quick and easy project, and it looks great thrown on a chair!

Sew Awesome | BURLAP TREE SKIRT

2012-12-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

As I stated in my last post, "Last year our tree was a little sparsely decorated due to our college-kid budget, but the day after Christmas I did some stocking up and found a nice assortment of red and gold ornaments for pretty reasonable prices. Before MMM had even gotten out of bed on November 23rd, I had our tree up and decorated to the nines."

Part of these decorations included a simple but awesome tree skirt. I know that burlap was totally in last year, and many of you may be a little "over it" by now, but my minimalism combined with my bargain-hunting determined this was just the perfect choice for a fabric. I spent less than $10 on the skirt and only one or two hours of sewing (while taking many small breaks to pay attention to the shows I was watching on my computer).

MATERIALS:
- 2 yards of 48" (or wider) burlap
- 16" of 48" wide medium weight red fabric
- Sewing machine (and typical sewing tools)

DIRECTIONS:
1) Cut your burlap down the middle. If your burlap already has finished edges along two sides (like mine did), make your cut parallel to those edges.
2) Connect your two burlap pieces to form a long, skinny rectangle. To keep my connection clean, I folded the edge of each piece under 3/4", then layered the two raw edges inside of each other (making a type of "z" looking from the top) and stitched along both sides of the fold.
3) Finish the short sides of burlap by folding each edge over about 3/4" two times and stitching down along both sides of the fold.

4) Pleat one long edge of your burlap. For me, it was easier to create a series of large pleats (about 8 inches each), sew those down, then return and do another series of smaller pleats to that same edge. Pleat this edge however you want with the goal of making that edge about 12" long in the end.
5) Create a long tie from your red fabric. Cut the fabric into two 8" strips.
6) Cut a miter edge into each red strip (what is this called in sewing terms?): lay the two strips on top of each other, and cut the edges along a diagonal. flip one piece up-side-down, re-align the diagonal edges, and sew the pieces together. Open up the connected piece and press to make a flat seam. If your short ends are unfinished, fold under once and stitch.

7) Fold the two long edges of your red strip over 1/2" and press. Align the center of one pressed edge with the inside of your tree skirt. Stitch along the entire red strip, connecting to the tree skirt.
8) Fold the entire strip in half and pin the pressed edges together on both ends. Pin the pressed edge to the tree skirt in the middle portion and stitch along the entire length of the red strip.

9) Wrap the skirt along your tree trunk and tie a fat, happy bow with the red tie.

I love this simple skirt because it lets our tree get most of the "glory" and it reminds me of real trees at nurseries whose roots are tied up in a burlap sack. This may be stretching it a bit, but the rustic feel also makes me think of Christ swaddled in a rustic little manger.

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

Luke 2: 7

Craft Confessions | SHINY CHRISTMAS TREE TOPPER

2012-12-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's already December? It's my favorite month, probably because it's full of my birthday, chilly weather, warm hot chocolate, sparkly lights, and Christmas! I'm somewhat obsessed with Christmas, and I've been anticipating it since about September, but My Main Man keeps me tethered and makes me wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up my Christmas decorations (little does he know I go crazy listening to Christmas music for four whole months).

Last year our tree was a little sparsely decorated due to our college-kid budget, but the day after Christmas I did some stocking up and found a nice assortment of red and gold ornaments for pretty reasonable prices. Before MMM had even gotten out of bed on November 23rd, I had our tree up and decorated to the nines...minus a tree topper. With all of our pretty new ornaments, this just couldn't be! Crafty powers of the world united, and I created a total failure of a Christmas star. It was supremely ugly and time-wasting. I was upset, and my husband suggested we just spend the $5 on a store-bought star instead of countless more hours. Well, my stubbornness won out, and while MMM was at work I gave the star another attempt, with success! In case you, too, need to top your tree beautifully, here is a template and my step-by-step process to creating a sparkly Christmas star!

MATERIALS:
- One large poster board
- Masking/Painter's tape
- Spray adhesive
- Gold glitter (or whatever color you prefer)
- Exacto knife (or scissors)
- Bone folder

DIRECTIONS:
1) Decide how tall you want your star to be. Enlarge the template below so that the distance from point A to B matches half the height you want. (This template printed at 100% on 8.5 x 11 paper will give you a 10" tall star).

2) Print off the template, tape to your poster board, and carefully cut out four times. (I cut my sections a little different, so ignore the differences in the photos.)

3) Score the star pieces with the bone folder. On one side of the piece score only the connections from star tips to the center point (B). Flip the templates over and score only the connections from the star valleys to the center point (B).
4) Fold your star pieces in accordion fashion to shape star points.
5) Use masking tape to connect piece 1 with piece 2 for each side of the star. Then use the tape to connect the front and back halves of the star, beginning at the top point of the star. Leave the bottom 4 edges unconnected (you'll need an opening to stick your tree branch into). At the end of each star point wrap the masking tape into a sharp point.
6) In a VERY ventilated area (preferably outside), spray the front half of your star with spray adhesive. Liberally sprinkle glitter all over the adhesive-covered area. Repeat as necessary until the entire surface is covered in glitter and none of the poster or tape underneath show. Do the same for the other side of your star. Pay special attention to the edges of the star (they were a little tricky for me to glitter).

7) After allowing the adhesive to completely dry, place the star atop your tree and admire the sparkly beauty you have created!

Like I said, I love Christmas, and beautiful decorations really make me happy. This decoration is especially awesome because it reminds me of Christ and why we really celebrate:

"Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him...When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."

Matthew 2: 2, 10

Stay tuned for an easy tree skirt tutorial!

Sew Awesome | SIMPLE VALANCE

2012-10-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

Remember when I showed you these easy peasy drapes here a month ago? Well if that wasn't quite challenging enough for you, I've got a valance you can sew for your smaller windows. I sewed all my window coverings at once, so I may have taken the easy way out and repeated a few pictures (sorry, folks). Ninety percent of this design came from Sarah and Cozy.Cottage.Cute in this post. (Her decorating tastes are really similar to mine, so I totally creep on her blog all the time.) I just made a few changes to hopefully streamline the sewing process and add some versatility.

Start with a single length of 36" wide muslin and 2 simple buttons. You will need two 3" wide strips of the muslin, plus a large rectangle to cover the window. The measurement of the large rectangle varies depending on your window length, but if you add 6-8" to the length of your window you should be in good shape.

1. With each 3" strip, fold in half and press. Then fold the rough edges under about 1/2" and press again.

2. Pin together the strip edges that you just pressed.

3. Sew a tight stitch along both long edges. Fold ONE end (on each strip) under twice and sew another tight edge. Create a button hole in that same end of each strip. Put the strips aside for later.

4. On the large rectangle piece, fold both rough edges over 1" and press.

5. Fold those same edges over once more and press.

6. Pin and sew along each edge.

7. This step depends on the thickness or radius of the rod on which you plan to hang your valance. Mine was a standard aluminum flat rod (probably the cheapest thing you can get) that the last tenants left behind. To fit this rod in the valance pocket, I folded the top half over about 3 inches. Place the two strips just under the folded-over lip with button holes facing DOWN or AWAY FROM THE POCKET (it would be a shame to hide away all that good work). Run one last seam over the folded over edge to create a pocket.

8. This part is tricky to describe, but important to grasp to sew your buttons correctly. In image 7, the side I show is actually the back side of the valance (the side that will face the world outside your house), and the side where you just sewed the pocked edge down. The side on the ground in image 7 is the front side, and the side where you will sew on both buttons. Sew these buttons directly opposite where the strips connect to the pocket.

To hang your valance, simply thread a curtain rod through the pocket. Roll or fold excess fabric up and pull the strips from the back to the front, attaching to the front of the panel via the buttons.

P.S. Notice how my buttons mysteriously changed colors? I have another tutorial headed your way in a few days on a really cheap faux antique metal technique that I used here!

Craft Confessions | CREATE PANORAMIC PRINTS

2012-10-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Our bedroom still needs a lot of work, but there is one piece of art we just added over our bed, and it totally makes my day to see it before I go to bed. My husband and I vacationed in Playa del Carmen, and we took a series of pictures while in the Mayan ruins at Tulum. Here's the full how-to from camera to wall:

1A) Capture your panoramic image. If your camera doesn't take panoramas automatically, take a series of 4+ pictures from the same exact spot, overlapping each image a little bit.

1B) Use photo software to merge your photos. I have Photoshop so I used the photomerge function, but here's another tutorial I found with software that may already be on many of your computers.

2) Buy canvases to hang your photos. I chose 16" x 20" because they come in really affordable multi-packs from Michael's.

3) Trim your panorama to match the dimensions of your canvas. We wanted to use four canvases in a landscape orientation, so I cropped the overall image to 16" high x 80" long. Chop your picture into units to fit each canvas (for me this meant creating four images that were each 16"x20"- see the images below).

4) Print your images on photo paper. Costco has pretty good print prices so I used them.

5) Prep your canvas. I chose to paint each canvas black around the edges, then I rubbed a silver paint roughly over the edges to create an industrial, rugged look.

6) Adhere prints. I glued each print down to a canvas, then mod podged the heck out of each print. I wanted to make sure the prints and canvas acted as one solid object, and I wanted to give those prints some longevity and ability to weather a long time.

7) Hang prints. I chose to hang the prints immediately touching so they would read as one image, but it might look good to put some spacing between each.

Anyone else interested in giving this a try?

Craft Confessions | WITCH'S LAIR (So excited for Halloween!)

2012-10-05T12:04:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited for Halloween this year. The weather in Kansas City has been nice and chilly and crisp lately; I love it! In our new home, we have a little entry room before guests walk upstairs onto the main level of our home (check out some pictures below and you'll understand). We have a beautiful roll-top desk inhabiting this space because it is way too heavy to haul up our stairs, and because it makes a good drop-off place for our mail, umbrellas, motorcycle helmet, etc. I had tons of fun decorating the table by our front door last year (check it our here), and I couldn't resist the urge to do something similar but so much bigger with our entry desk this year!

Let me break this down for you. I have to give kudos out to all the great designers out on the interweb who did most of the heavy lifting for me. I just put their great ideas and creations together!

We have a small, skinny window that is usually covered by wooden shutters. I opened up the shutters and placed some trace paper over the window (so a soft, spooky glow will come out at night). Then I cut out a rat silhouette and glued it onto the paper. That ought to look good at night :). In the right picture, I have a lovely bouquet of dead leaves (stacked on some degloved Harry Potter goodness) and a jar of "bat skulls" (courtesy of Love Manor's amazing flickr page).

On the other side of the desk top, I've got a collection of ingredients for good witchy remedies. First we have a jar of berries and leaves, a bottle of snakes (label from Love Manor and rubber snake from The Dollar Store), and a little sign that says "Kick off your shoes and head on up". Granted, the sign isn't witchy at all, but the fonts and graphics match the lair's theme, so I left it up. Behind the sign is a large candlestick (from my wedding centerpieces) and a dollar store candle that I made drippy with melted wax.

Across the mirror I draped a creepy looking cloth (also from the dollar store) and clipped a few witchy recipes on top (also printed from Love Manor). In the center of the desk top, I stuffed and labeled a brown paper bag (with an awesome free label from The Graphics Fairy- isn't she awesome?) and a candle I purposely melted on freezer paper.

On the writing level of the desk, I placed a few books covered with very spooky titles including "A Pocket Guide to Transfiguration". In the middle is an old college textbook of mine with a fake chapter on Cyanide (all text copied from Wikipedia) placed in the spine. These book covers and fake pages are created from scratch, but I've included them at the bottom of the post in case you'd like to use them!

On either side of the desk are awesome cubbies that I filled with more "utilitarian" items. The left side has paper bags, clothespins, mixing sticks, and a can of dead man's toes (with another label from Love Manor). On the right side are small glass jars filled with graveyard dust (dirt from the yard), witch hazel (a random plant from the yard), and blood (tomato juice).

I wanted the other corner of this tiny room to get some love, too. So I wrapped our monogram in a bit of spider web. (The picture on the left might help you understand the set-up of our house a little more.)

So here's where we started (the images on the left) and where we ended up. What do you think?

BOO!

Here are my sources:

Love Manor

Graphic Fairy

My book sleeves and cyanide pages (some images from The Graphics Fairy):

Sew Awesome | EASY INDUSTRIAL DRAPES

2012-09-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

I recently discovered a deep love for Restoration Hardware. The store's aesthetic is strong, neutral, timeless, and enduring. I think I could decorate my entire home from there and it really wouldn't ever completely be "out" of style. To ice the cake, I've been leaning towards various decorating styles that are very feminine, but my manly husband is far more happy with this style than any of my other recent obsessions. Obviously, we don't quite have the budget ability to shop from RH just yet, but I'm a pretty decent copycat. First quick and easy RH copy: industrial drapes.

Not only are only two simple ingredients needed, but only two lines of stitching exist in each drape! My windows sit above the ground by seven feet, and I wanted my drapes to gather on the ground, so I cut 8' (for each drape) out of 36" wide muslin. (Muslin is amazingly cheap and by using a width that fits my window, I can leave the edges alone and save myself work.) I also found some clips at JoAnn's meant to hold curtains. They were kind of pricey (I believe $10 for each package) but considering how cheap the fabric was, I didn't feel too awful spending that money.

After the edges were cut, I finished the top and bottom of each curtain. I folded each edge over twice, and simply stitched right across, with a reverse at each end to secure the threads.

When I placed my curtain hooks, I made sure to measure out even intervals for each hook. (7 hooks over 36" means one hook every 6" if you want to avoid doing that algebra.) There were already cheap-o curtain rods over our windows, so I simply hung the drapes and voila! I would love to change out the rods some day, but these were already in place and do the job for the current time.

(Please excuse the fact that I had to use my flash for both of these pictures. It's really difficult to take pictures of these drapes from inside on a beautiful sunny day!)

Renter's Plight | UGLY CLOSET DOOR

2012-09-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

Many moons ago, I mentioned doing a series called "Renter's Plight" where I present temporary solutions for dealing with ugly rental conditions. My post today is really similar to my first post, found here, where I covered the back of some awkward cabinets with stylish wrapping paper.

In our new home, we have three bedrooms, which means both My Main Man and I get our own home offices. I actually get a bit lonely without him working next to me, but I'm taking this opportunity to create a clean, well put-together space where I can meet with clients for my design business, The Main Event. Just behind my desk (and immediately next to the space where clients might sit) is a closet with sliding doors. The doors are a dark wood, which actually isn't the most awful thing aesthetically. However, those doors are my view anytime I sit at my desk, which is often, and I needed to make them either prettier or more functional.

In one of my infamous dollar store trips, I found a 15 foot roll of brown craft paper, and I had to have it. I taped one sheet of craft paper to each door, and drew out calendars for the upcoming months. (I even made a super sweet/dorky template so I can quickly draw new calendars when I run out.) I tried two different formats, and I'll figure out which one I like more over the next few months. I'll use colored markers to classify different activities, like green for birthdays, purple for client deadlines, red for holidays, etc. It should be a really helpful organizing tool to have everything mapped out right in front of me, and I honestly like the craft paper a lot more than the wood doors!

Have you done anything similar to cover up less-than-wonderful finishes in your home?

Craft Confessions | DOLLAR STORE CHAIR CUSHION

2012-09-14T08:00:00.001-06:00

Remember how I repainted this chair, and how I was trying to stick to a super tight budget at the same time? Well as I was painting the chair, I know I was probably going to need some kind of cushion if I planned on using my office for any extended periods of time. If I still lived in Utah, I would probably just speed down to our local Ikea and score a super cheap cushion for a couple bucks. Alas, I am not, and that option simply doesn't exist here, so I had to get crafty.

In the same outing to the dollar store where I purchased the candles to finish the chair, I also grabbed a canvas tote, which had a flower design on one side. I snatched the bag and set off with a plan.

First, I made a freezer paper stencil, which incorporated the bracket element from the logo of my business, The Main Event. I ironed the stencil onto the back side of the tote, and filled in the openings with the most gorgeous pearl mint (I really fought hard to avoid the pricey Martha Stewart paints, but she just makes such perfect colors!). I already had the paint from a previous project, so I count it as $0 spent toward that particular element of the project.

Once the paint was dry, I cut off the bag straps. I cut each strap in half, then folded and finished one end of each piece (I had four pieces at this point). I wanted to round the back edges of the pad to fit into my chair better, so I flipped the bag inside out and traced an arc from edge to edge. I measured across my chair to the two rungs onto which I would tie my cushion (about 9" on center from rung to rung) and marked those intersections on my cushion. Each of the four straps were pinned to the arc, two straps per mark, and I sewed across the entire arc. Then, I flipped the cushion right-side-out, made sure my arc was nice and rounded, and stuffed away. Here's the thing: I'm really frugal, and so is my husband, so instead of buying a section of foam padding (which may actually be really affordable), I used leftover stuffing I already had sitting around. Make fun of me crafting world, but I saved dough and that's all I care about! Once the cushion was stuffed, I sewed across the opening with a basic long stitch.

Let's have another moment of honestly. I didn't realize until the end that this cushion is a lot smaller than the seat of the chair. Pretty awkwardly so. But I went ahead and tied the thing onto my chair, and I'm quite fond of it. My husband got a chuckle out of it, so I can feel better that I gave him something to laugh about, right? It makes my rear happy, and that's really all I care about!

Craft Confessions | CHAIR RE-PAINT WITH SEALANT FOR PENNIES!

2012-09-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

In my efforts to set up my home office, I realized I was in dire need of a good chair. I previously used an inexpensive folding chair I purchased at Ikea, which totally did the trick, but then a certain family member of mine managed to crack the back support. The chair still technically works, but every time I lean back in it I can just hear the back support screaming to its other, slightly attached half, "Hold on for your life!" (probably in a pirate accent, just for effect).

When I was reunited with My Main Man in Kansas City, there was a sturdy, nicely detailed wooden chair sitting in our entry-way that had been left in our garage by the last tenant. I promptly adopted the chair, evicted the three spiders who called its underside home, and began my scheming. We're on a pretty tight just-spent-thousands-of-dollar-to-move-across-the-country budget, so I knew I really couldn't spend much, if anything. Luckily, I had a small can of interior primer + paint already on hand, and I'm pretty obsessed with white, so I went to town on the chair. I really didn't do anything special during that stage, so I'll spare you the boring details. The awesome part happens to be how I finished the chair. I learned this finishing technique from my awesome daddy, who happens to be a general contractor, and I used it on a conceptual model during my architecture undergrad. Here's the secret: candles! And really, I only used half of one candle, which I purchased in a set of four from the dollar store. After the paint on my chair was all dry, I simply rubbed the candle over all the contours of the chair, then buffed it out with a white washcloth. If I missed a spot, I simply repeated the process just in that area.

Let me tell you how much I love this finishing technique: SO MUCH! It seems so simple, but it works amazingly and the benefits are really too great to miss:
(A) It's so cheap. My total candle usage amounted to 12.5 cents!
(B) It's fool-proof. As long as the base paint color is a light color (or you can apply this directly to unpainted wood), you can't mess the process up.
(C) You don't inhale toxic fumes or have to worry about your kids/animals making a mess later with remnants of your finishing solution.
(D) It gives a nice, matte finish to any project, which I think is really nice and natural without being overbearing.
(E) The finished product is totally finished immediately! You don't have to wait for the finish to cure or dry before use. This sucker is ready to go ASAP!
(F) Depending on the candle you use, your finished piece might smell really good for a long time. Score!

Really, the only downside to this method is that it wears off slowly with use, so I may have to re-finish my chair in a year or two. But to be honest, it's so little effort that I'm still not deterred at all! What kind of projects would you like to use this process on?

P.S. Next week I'm going to show you the amazingly simple cushion I made for my rear to better enjoy this chair!
P.P.S. I'm in love with our new yard. Seriously want to build a tree fort between all of these guys, but they're technically not part of our property... or our state!

The Main Event

2012-08-31T08:00:00.001-06:00

Did you folks notice the new little logo on the left? Maybe you've even clicked it? (You should if you haven't yet.) This is my business that I've been working on since the beginning of this year, and I am so excited to tell anyone and everyone about it! It's called The Main Event, and I design print pieces for all kind of special events a.k.a. I do beautiful wedding invitations, birth announcements, party decor design, etc! I have had an amazing batch of clients so far, and I am really excited for a couple of great engaged couples I'm currently serving.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all a "heads up" because (A) many of my next posts will be related to getting my home office rolling, (B) I may obsessively refer to how much fun I have with this business, and I want to know what business I'm talking about, and (C) if you wanted to enlist my services for you or a friend I would be tickled pink!

Do any of you have great home businesses that you gush over all the time?

Mod Bod | BOOT SOCKS FROM STOCKINGS

2012-08-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

For my birthday and Christmas last year, my mother-in-law gifted me two adorable pairs of boots, and I cannot wait until the weather cools down enough to wear them again this year. However, I did realize last year that wearing the boots without stockings or tucked in pants could get really uncomfortable, and even chafe my calf pretty badly behind the seams. Instead of discarding a pretty beat up pair of stockings, I decided to refashion them into boot socks!

The steps were pretty easy, here's what I did:

1) Cut stocking ends to remove holes (for me this meant cutting where the previous ankle was)
2) Close end with zig-zag stitch
3) Try on stocking with boots to determine length of sock, add 3/4 inch to this measurement and cut stocking here. Turn each remaining sock inside out.
4) Cut open top waistband of stockings, remove elastic band and cut into two equal pieces
5) Close each piece of elastic into loop with straight stitch.
6) Situate each elastic loop around the top of one sock, 1 inch away from the edge. Fold excess sock over and pin in place.
7) Sew around the folded over edges with zig-zag stitch, being careful not to sew through elastic
8) Try on new socks with boots, perhaps showing off not-so-awesome booty in pictures (see top of post-sorry about that).

Now I can wear my lovely boots with all kinds of outfits and minimal ouch-age!

Mod Bod | DRIVING HATS

2012-08-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

My Main Man has mentioned a few times that he would really like to wear a driving hat, which I agree would look very handsome on him. However, his head is a little on the large end, and he always gets disappointed trying on the hats at regular clothing retailers because they're just too tight.

Fast forward to this month. After spending a summer living in separate states (due to conflicting work and school schedules) I finally joined MMM in Kansas City two weeks ago. I love getting to be with him again, and my first impressions of this mid-western oasis are great. To top it all off, I've been reunited with my lovely sewing machine and all of my other crafting goodies (which are housed in my own office that I'll have to share with you later). I was lucky to quickly get a job offer in the city, but my start date allowed me a two week break once I got to town. After tackling all the boxes MMM had only half-way unpacked, I have finally been able to return to my projects (hallelujah!) and I decided to start with a gift for MMM.

This brings us back to the driving hat discussion. I am not a pattern-maker, but I'm great at following instructions, so I did some quick Googling and found this pattern from Bouncing Buttons. It was perfect! To make it fit My Main Man's larger head (he wears Large/X-Large), I simply saved the PDF, opened it in Photoshop, enlarged the pages to 107% (based on some quick arithmetic) and printed. I won't try to confuse you by re-describing the process, but I'll include some pictures below. I also ended up making myself a hat with some scrap wool from this re-fashion of my winter jacket, and since MMM prefers not to be pictured on this blog, you get to see pictures of me modeling my hat!

Give this pattern a try and give some love to Amber at Bouncing Buttons!

Mod Bod | SECOND SKIRT REFASHION

2012-06-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

Remember when I showed you these dresses from the thrift store I was going to refashion? Well I finally did something with the second dress and turned it into a casual skirt. My supply of shorts and capris is pretty small, but instead of replacing them, I've decided to opt for skirts and dresses. Let me just say, when the weather gets warm here, it's really great to put on a breezy skirt and feel cute and comfortable.

Anyway, using a pattern I bought at the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, I adjusted just a bit and made this simple skirt. I was able to salvage a pocket from the original dress, which is always a perk. However, it was a mess of about 5 attempts to get the pocket attached. I guess I need to research that particular piecing method more next time. I also chose a contrasting zipper in mint green to mix it up. My Main Man thought it was an "interesting" choice, but I think it's spunky! (Oh- and I chopped my hair! What do you think?)

Craft Confessions | PASSPORT BOOK

2012-06-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

Some of my posts for a while will be related to things I made for my trip to Thailand and Cambodia this spring with my husband and his classmates. Hopefully they're applicable for your traveling OR everyday needs!

When I travel internationally, I feel like I have so many things to keep track of like my passport, plane tickets, maps, credits cards/cash, ID cards, and so on. My wallet isn't really the perfect size or shape for all of these items, so I made myself a simple passport book for my many checkpoints through Asia.

My materials included a cheap hard cover notebook, grey vinyl, a heavy-duty sewing needle, scrap fabric (for the pockets), and later on I added in a binder clip.

First, I dissected the notebook and pulled out all the paper while maintaining the binding in the center. With the book open, I measured it's perimeter and cut out a piece of vinyl to those dimensions with a bit of wiggle room. I then measured the dimensions of one cover side and cut that out twice (with wiggle room again). I wanted to hold my passport on the right side, so I cut a slit up and down just a bit longer than my passport binding. On the left side, I wanted to hold cards, so I cut multiple strips on top of each other a bit longer than a credit card. To keep the cards in place, I measured a long piece of scrap cloth just wider than a card and as long as the number of cards I wanted to hold * 1.5 (it was really a lot of eye-balling, so you might have to test this out a bit on your own).

I stitched the scrap cloth in an accordion pattern onto the vinyl. I then stitched each pocket side onto the larger piece of vinyl. The pieces kind of moved around, so I trimmed off the excess to even things up. I flipped the hard book cover backwards, and slipped the vinyl sleeve onto it. In addition to the slit for a passport and cards, I could slip maps into the space between the vinyl and book covers. The passport book was complete! However, when I got to Thailand, My Main Man wanted me to keep his passport and other papers with his, so we attached a binder clip to the left side. It turns out that it worked really well and holds plane tickets really well! Good thinking, MMM.

Renter's Plight | COVERING UGLY WALLS

2012-06-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

Before we moved into our house, the landlord gave us permission to paint the walls as long as our colors were fairly neutral. I've had a similar option in the other rentals I've lived in, but I've always fought a battle in my head that goes a bit like this,

Creative Me: "Wow! How fun to personalize my space.
I should go grab some paint chips."

Logical Me: "Are you going to live there long enough to make the paint worthwhile?

Remember how much time and money you'll have to invest in this project."

Creative Me: "I suppose if I might only live there a year
or so painting isn't very economical."

I then stare sadly at blank, bare walls and wish for what could never be.

Although this same scenario played out with our current home, I couldn't get over the dark wood paneling on the back side of our cabinets that greets every visitor to our house. We hung some pictures as soon as we moved in, which did quite a bit to hide the ugliness, but it was really still a bit of an eyesore. Since painting or staining the wood wasn't really an option, I searched for some neutral, cute wrapping paper in the post-Christmas clearance bins at Target. To my happy surprise, I found a few rolls of this silvery paper for $2.50 each. I attached the paper with masking tape underneath and I cut off the excess with an Xacto knife.

I think one of the reasons I love this solution so much is because it took about 15 minutes, although a few more minutes probably would have guaranteed a bit of a nicer edge on the paper I cut. Sometimes I just get into a rush and I can't help myself :).

That bottom right picture shows where I cut a bit too fast and ended up paying the price. But you can't tell from a few feet back, so I'm not going to sweat it!

Do you have any great ideas you'd love to share to battle "Renter's Plight?"

Mod Bod | PUMPED UP KICKS

2012-05-31T11:19:00.001-06:00

I love high heels. At an astounding 5' 2" (cue laughter here) I can always use some help in the height department, and I love how heels can instantly make an outfit look polished. Even though it's often more practical to don flats, I don't have a very extensive collection of cute and comfortable flat shoes. I knew there would be lots and lots of walking involved in our Asia trip, so I headed out to Target (my second church) to find some cute and simple kicks. My options were a cute floral print (which I loved, but it seemed so trendy that I could imagine those shoes being out-of-fashion by next summer), some navy or teal lace-less slip-ons (also cute, but potentially problematic when matching to multiple outfits), or plain white gals. I didn't want to be a bore, but none of the colors/patterns available really fit the bill, so I went ahead and bought the white kicks.

Never fear, though. I had a plan! Using some gray acrylic paint I had on hand (I told you I'm obsessed) and some masking tape, I marked out a simple striped pattern on both shoes and painted a couple coats. When I removed the tape, I realized my shoes looked kind of nautical (which is totally alright with me), so I searched the internet for some interesting shoe-tying methods that would look like sailor's knots. The picture below shows what I settled on.

I'm pretty in love with these shoes. Besides travelling to Thailand and Cambodia, they followed me to KC and Vancouver. They're really in need of a wash, but I'm a little sad to wash off the dirt from so many different places. Is that weird of me?

I'M BACK! (MOSTLY)

2012-05-21T12:17:00.002-06:00

Whew! I have had a crazy few months. I originally gave myself a blogging break because I had just returned from Thailand with my husband. We had been separated for an entire month while he explore Thai medical clinics, and we really needed some good catch-up time. Once that need was mostly satisfied (I still can't ever seem to spend quite enough time with him for my liking), I was in full-force finals for my spring semester of school. My Main Man and I both graduated two weeks ago (even though I still need to finish one more semester), which increased our errands and time commitments even more. The next week, we headed out to Kansas City to look for housing for our upcoming move (remember when I mentioned that here?). The next week-- a.k.a. last week-- I traveled to Vancouver, B.C., for a field trip with my architecture studio. (By the way- it's a super cool city. I highly recommend it for a fun vacation. However, everything there was expensive plus they have really high sales tax!)

So are those good enough excuses for my long absence? I sure hope so, because I was sure I was losing my mind a few times in there. With the fun news that I'm going to start blogging again comes a slight caveat: I'm not coming back full force. Here's the honest reason: it's far too easy for me to put aside more important things (like washing laundry when we have nothing clean to wear and will look like beggars if I don't take care of it ASAP) in favor of crafting, photographing said crafts, or blogging. Also, I started to put some ridiculous pressure on myself, thinking that if I didn't post super regularly, and get lots of views, and make irresistibly adorable projects, I was failing myself and the world in general. Can you tell I'm a perfectionist and get really fixated on meaningless things?

My compromise with myself is this: I will post only one craft per week and I will do it on whatever day I feel like. It might be cute, it might be a total flop. Whatever. I just want to share the things I've enjoyed so other people can have inspiration to try a DIY every once in a while.

I hope you're OK with that, because I am, and that's how things will go here for a while.

AWAY FOR A SPELL

2012-04-12T14:09:00.001-06:00

Oh didn't I tell you? I'm giving myself a short hiatus. Sorry I basically dropped of the face of the blog world. After an amazing trip to Thailand and Cambodia (which inspired more than a few crafts I'll have to share sooner than later), I came home to realize I was only about 6 weeks away from the end of one especially hectic semester! Also, two days after our return we found out we're moving to Kansas City! Awesome, right? (If you or your friends/family have any great advice on moving or Kansas City, please share.)

So- life is so busy but so exciting. My Main Man is about to graduate and begin his residency in KC. I get to walk at graduation and then finish classes in August. And we have to move (twice kind of since I'm staying behind for six weeks), which requires so much work! The long and short of it is, I miss you all, but I have to take care of the rest of my life right now. I hope you understand and I hope you're still around when I make my next appearance!

How to Throw a Winter Party | Decorations!

2012-03-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

This week I've been sharing how I put together a "Cozy Winter Social". It was a perfectly fun way to distract myself while my husband was out of town. If you want to see the other stages of putting the party together, check out my posts from the rest of this week!

This week I've been sharing how I put together a "Cozy Winter Social". It was a perfectly fun way to distract myself while my husband was out of town. If you want to see the other stages of putting the party together, check out my posts from the rest of this week!

I saved this post for the end of the week because decorating was ABSOLUTELY my favorite part of this whole party. It managed to occupy the better part of two weeks (which was perfect to keep me busy without My Main Man around).

I was holding the party at night, so I thought it would be perfect to play off of that. I wanted to create the illusion of spending a wintery night out under the stars (let's be honest, the stars look so pretty and bright through a clear winter sky). I draped Christmas lights across the downstairs ceiling and only turned on the light at the top of our stairs (I'll explain why in a moment) and, if necessary, the light in the laundry room (since it's around the corner and only provides indirect light). Anywhere else I needed light, I sprinkled tea lights across the various tables. Again, keeping budget in mind, I needed to be creative to find easy candle-holding solutions, so I scoured my house for glass jars. I used a combination of jelly jars, baby food jars, the lids to those jars (painted white), and a metal tin to create a grouping of candle-light.

Flowers get expensive, and this party was winter-themed anyway, so I grouped some funky-shaped sticks as my "arrangements" at each table. Again, the sticks were free and the glass jars came from food I had already eaten, so they were basically free decorations. Remember when I showed you my super cheap candlesticks a few weeks ago? Well they were originally creme-colored, so I painted a few of them white to match the decor and hot-glued glass gars to a couple of them.

While I was putting together my Valentine banner using cheap felt, I also put together two triangular banners with my party colors. One was draped across the living room, and the smaller one was hung in a "U" shape over the food table to create a central focus.

The final piece to my party decorating was a photo booth at the top of the stairs. I tend to be lame at taking pictures during parties, so I thought a fun photo booth would help me document all of my lovely guests. For the backdrop, I draped a grey sheet across the wall and pinned various twine and long jewelry over the sheet. To make it fun, I set up a table with props including winter accessories and a dry-erase sign to write messages.

Check out yesterday's post to find out more about these super cool women. (Cousin-in-Law, Winter, The Rocker, Share-and-Tell, Half-Rich, and more!)

To tie everything together, I used ribbons, twine, and some grey strips as decoration. By keeping to a simple color and material palette, everything tied together well and I was so happy with how my decorations turned out!

This finishes up my week on throwing a winter party. I'm still vacationing, so I may not get right back into the swing of things next week, but I promise I'll be back ASAP!

How to Throw a Winter Party | Fun Activities

2012-03-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

This week I've been sharing how I put together a "Cozy Winter Social". It was a perfectly fun way to distract myself while my husband was out of town. If you want to see the other stages of putting the party together, check out my posts from the rest of this week!

***All of the photos in this post were generously donated by the lovely Winter of The Redd Party. You should totally check her out.***

I already mentioned the awesome raffle I had for my guests on Tuesday. I wanted to party to be a fun social where people just chatted and snacked, but I knew that might be hard with women that don't all know each other. So to prepare, I planned some Minute-to-Win-It games (do any of you watch that show and repeatedly say "I can totally do that!"?). We split up into four teams and played marathon-style until an ultimate winning team was chosen! (I may be fibbing on the names of some games I couldn't remember.)

ROUND 1: CD DROP
Essentially you try to drop cds onto a cup and get three to land withing a minute. All four teams gave it a go and no one could do it, so everyone moved on!

The O.G., Beautiful Brunette, and Cousin-in-Law give round 1 a go

ROUND 2: UP IN THE AIR
The object is to keep three balloons in the air using your hands, feet, or head for a minute straight. We had a hard time with this one, too, so we decided the three teams who lasted the longest would each move on.

Share-and-Tell, The Rocker, Half-Rich, and My Colorado Home Girl may have flailed around in pretty funny ways.

ROUND 3: ALL WRAPPED UP
One teammate would hold a roll of toilet paper on a wooden spoon or dowel, while another member had a minute to spin in circles, holding the toilet paper, and wrap their body with all of the paper from the roll. Every team managed to do this, so the two fastest teams moved on.

Nurse-in-Training (top) and I (bottom) did pretty well, but Winter's Asian eyes made her aerodynamic! (Her husband made up that joke, so I can't take credit, but really, she was speedy fast.)

ROUND 4: HEAD BANGER
This one was pretty simple. We tied a pedometer to each contestant's head, and she had to bang 125 times in a minute. This was particularly suited to The Rocker, who is a serious rocker/concert-lover. I loved her comment after her frenzied minute, "That's not even the most head bangs I've done in one night!"

The Rocker and SuperNurse were so in the zone and ready to head bang their way to fame and fortune.

ROUND 5: BRUSH WITH DANGER
I know that is the correct name for this game, so go look it up if you're interested. It was confusing, and basically impossible, so we had to make up an alternative round 6.

I really failed at this, but at least I have my serious concentration face on!

ROUND 6: GROUP HUG!
Like I said, we made this one up. All three members of each group had to hug a balloon between their three bodies while running a full lap across my living room, and the fastest team won. I hate to brag, but my team totally won! My other group members with my Colorado Home-Girl and SuperNurse; we're just awesome, what can I say?

For all the time I spent on decorating and baking, playing games was totally the most fun part of this extravaganza, and I was so happy to hang out with all my girlfriends!

Coming up with all these nicknames was hard, but here goes:
Top Row (L to R): SuperNurse, Beautiful Brunette, Share-and-Tell, My Colorado Home-Girl, Cousin-in-Law,
Nurse-in-Training
Bottom Row (L to R):Winter (her real name is too cool to warrant a nickname), Half-Rich, Me, The Saint (she teaches 8-11 year olds each Sunday, she deserves this nickname), The O.G., The Rocker
Whew!