Lookie Up There!

My partner-in-craft Miss Jessica and I are doing a bit of a craft swap. I asked her to make me a new banner (look up) and in exchange, I'm sewing up some throw pillows for her (I think...unless she changed her mind). She gave me lots of good choices to pick from, but the owl was my favorite. And, she said she could switch the owl's pattern and colors according to the season. So cute! Yay for Jess! (Thanks, J!)

Here were the two color options she gave me. I love the green...but I like the brown, too. Versatility is so nice!

Blanket from Way Back...and RAK Yarn Scraps

Back in June, I started this scrap blanket thinking I had plenty of leftover yarn to go on for miles. Alas, I was wrong. However, the wonderful world of RAKs is going to breathe new life back in the old girl (the blanket, not me).

This is how far I got on what I have. Granted I have more scraps left, but I want to make sure that I didn't have weird repeats in the beginning that couldn't make it to the end.

But then I received a little package of wonderful yarn scraps that a gracious RAKer sent to me. Yay! The blanket can continue.

Bathroom Mini Makeover is Underway!

While Shane is patching walls throughout the house, I was able to get started on the mini makeover in the bathroom. I still need to patch and paint the walls, and then I can do some decorating. But for now, the vanity is painted and the mini-blinds are gone (thank, god!).

Before

After (so-far)

The vanity. I painted the outside yellow, and painted the hardware a light silver.

The fabric roman shade. I went with the polka dot fabric. I think I'm going to use the floral fabric as a valence once the walls get painted.

Mini-blinds before.

Mini-blinds after (the back).

Backyard Bits

I thought I'd show you a little bit of our new backyard. It's not big, but I'm beginning to think that's a good thing. We've never had a yard, so this is baby steps in. The previous owners did lots of landscaping for us. All we've had to do is move some plants around and maintain the rest. They did have a very large pond/water feature that just took up way too much room and was more maintenance (and cost) than we wanted. So the big dirt spot you see is where it previously lived and the all the rocks piled up by the garage were part of the structure. Once the land has a chance to settle more, we'll put in a patio or garden of sorts next spring/summer. Like the rest of the house, it's a work in progress. =)

And below is a picture of what the pond looked like. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but it took up about 1/3 of the yard and was more upkeep than was worth. The dirt plot isn't much of a comparison now, but I think the patio/garden we put in will be nicer and more "us."

A Mini-Mood Board for a Mini-Makeover

As hard as it was, I actually made a decision on the fabric I'll use to turn my bathroom mini-blinds into a fabric roman shade. I ordered and now have in my hot little hands new Amy Butler fabric from her Midwest Modern 2 line. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this new fabric is going be all pretty and all alone in my ugly bathroom. And ugly bathroom doesn't appear look like it's going to be getting the big overhaul anytime soon. So pretty fabric led to wanting to paint my vanity, which led to wanting to paint my walls, which led to the need for mini-mood board. I'm hoping this is going to be a pretty cheap little makeover since I just need a wee bit of paint (I already have the towels and the fabric now), but one that makes me not hate getting ready in there in the mornings. The paint is Behr's Gobi Desert.

Below is the ugly bathroom in it's current state. I'm planning on painting the vanity the yellow color pictured in the mini-mood board. Now if only I could do something about the ugly medicine cabinet that had really bad lighting. Hmmm...I suppose that can wait.

New Photo Turns Vintage

I love current photos that have been given a vintage makeover. I've seen a few on my Web travels and in various Etsy shops such as: honeytree's and kristybee's. I figured it's mostly Photoshop work, but I had no clue where to begin. With a quick Google search, I found these instructions. In the eight not-too-complicated steps, I was able to turn my nephew's fish catching picture (as taken by my brother):

into this:

Not perfect, but pretty cool. I can't wait to try some other filters and colors.

Crafty Tattoos

No, I'm not thinking about getting inked, but if I did, I think I'd head in the crafty direction. Really, I've just been seeing more and more crafting tattoos popping up on blogs, so I thought I'd feature a few that I think are cute.

Elsie (from abeautifulmess) got this vibrant thread spools.

Another one featured on abeautifulmess. Not sure if it's Elsie's or not.

Found this on a google image search.

Saw on Craftster.

Saw on Craftster.

Saw on Craftster.

Saw on Craftster.

Found on abeautifulmess.

Why I'm Not Currently Crafting

In addition to hating mini-blinds, I also hate wallpaper. Well, the wallpaper in my bedroom anyway. See that below? That's a 3/4 wall of wallpaper topped with a wallpaper border. The wallpaper border goes all the way around my 18x14 room (yes, big room). There was also wallpaper in my bathroom--same style, one wall of paper with a full room of a border. The bathroom, while considerably smaller, took 55 minutes to take down. I was sure that was some sort of record, elevating me to Wallpaper Remover Master!

On that high, I decided to tackle the bedroom. And that's where my rank dropped to Nearly Novice. To do two walls of just a wallpaper border, it took 2.5 hours! This is some truly sticky stuff. Still, I've been forging ahead. Three days of stripping behind me and I think I have just one more night left.

Here's what was left after two days of stripping (I did more last night, but didn't take pictures). There is also a small piece of border left (about a yard long) on the other wall, but I need to move the TV to get to it. Tonight...the bedroom SHOULD be wallpaper free. God willing.

My Feather Duster

While I was crazed with worry about buying a new house, subletting our apartment and moving, I kept myself busy knitting the following little beauty. It's a shawl called Feather Duster, and the pattern is by Susan Lawerence. It's my first triangular shawl/scarf, and I really love how it turned out. The yarn is KnitPicks Shimmer in Cumulus. It came in my sampler pack.

I HATE Mini-Blinds

Yes, "hate" is a strong word, and therefore it is perfectly fitting for my feelings toward min-blinds. If you have blinds in your home and love them to pieces, then rock on with your bad blinds self. I, however, do not have the patience for blinds. In our new home, every window...and I repeat EVERY window, has blinds. At first I was going to embrace them. I even cleaned (like removed them from the window and hand scrubbed) 7 sets of them. And I still have 11 more (did I mention EVERY window? Yeah.). To clean 7 sets of blinds, in varying lengths and widths, with at least 20 years of grime (at least, from the looks of it!) it took almost 5 hours. Making dirty things clean usually brings great joy to me, and so I thought once they were hung I would revel in how wonderful they now were, all bright and sparkly clean. Not so much. Why? Because those stupid things still bang on the window whenever the wind blows, never make a straight line when pulled up (and rarely stay up when pulled), and never drop down correctly without being man-handled.

With a new house, I'm trying to be frugal. I know that I can't run out and by 18 new window treatments and be able to come home to a husband who won't be holding divorce papers. And I like my privacy, so I can't just take them down either. But I HATE them!

And that's where Google becomes my friend. I found the Little Green Notebook, a blog with a tutorial that shows you how to turn mini-blinds into a roman shade. Now, I'm not sure I'll like the roman shade since it's based on the mechanics of the mini-blinds, but it's worth a try, right? (please work...please work).

Jenny's Little Green Notebook version. Very sweet.

If I want to try this out, it will require dismantling a pair of blinds. If it works, yipee--success! If it doesn't, well, I'm out not only the mini-blinds (which I could care less except for that money and divorce issue I mentioned) but also fabric. And I can't really use fabric I don't like since I kind of only have one shot. With that said, the only room with one window where this will work is the upstairs bathroom. At some point we're going to be remodeling that room (new tub, new floor, new everything). In the meantime, I guess spending $10-15 on fabric to make it livable would be worth a try. And it could mean the end of the mini-blinds throughout the house as we know it. Ah....to dream.

Here are some fabrics I'm thinking about for said bathroom. There are so many great fabrics out there though, that I have FAR too many options. My choices will probably change by tomorrow.

I was thinking of painting the ugly vanity we currently have red and this fabric would be a perfect complement. (Dear Shane, if you're reading this, remember paint is not a bad thing...and red paint is pretty.)

I was thinking of using some combintion of these with one being the front, and one being the back...so that you just get a little glimpse of it when pulled up.

And here's one that I may choose if Shane vetos my red vanity idea. Maybe that said vanity could become yellow. (Love you, hubby.)

Another Peanut Blossom Contest

With her other contest still running, Miss Tiffany at Peanut Blossom is giving away more fabric! Head over to her new location and find all the fun ways to enter her second contest. (Or you could just visit and not enter so that I have a better chance of winning...I need fabric for my new house, people! hee hee.)

Jimmy the Chipmunk

NOTE: I did not make this. I wish I had because it's adorable, but alas, it's not my handiwork.

Shane and I are getting settled into the new home and actually tore out the water feature/pond that was in our backyard over this past weekend. Hopefully I'll have pictures coming soon. The first "being" to greet us, is a little chipmunk that I've name Jimmy. He's a little skitzy but also kind of brave. I think we've freaked him out a few times just by working in the yard, but I'm hoping his little ticker can take it. I saw the following knit toy over on Fuzzy Thoughts this morning, and I couldn't help but think of lil' Jimmy. I hope he's enjoying the beautiful day in our backyard while I'm stuck in a cubicle for the long haul. I guess I'll need to start living vicariously through my little fuzzy new friend.

Name That Serger!

Miss Tiffany over at Peanut Blossom was the lucky birthday recipient of a brand new serger! Now her serger needs a name. Head on over and you just might win these fabulous prizes:

Thanks, Patty!

Houston, we have a house! After two years of searching, five failed offers, and a lot of hopeless feelings, Shane and I have finally found a home we can call our own. Our awesome realtor Patty was with us through it all, and we couldn't be more grateful to her for sticking in there with us. As a thank-you gift, I knit this scarf using the remaining yarn I had from the Upstairs Shawl. The pattern is the Pyrifera Scarf that came with the lace sampler pack.

Thanks again, Patty!