Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Pinterest Report: Painting Nails

Hello,

I am hoping to post some projects in the next few days. It looks like we might actually get a couple of days where the weather isn't super hot and there's no rain. Wahoo! I just picked up three benches for a whopping 3$. That's a dollar a bench! They were pretty rough though so I might only get two benches out of the deal. We'll see.

This Pin says that if you put a thicker lotion around the nail, paint the nail, then wipe off the lotion, you will get a perfect manicure.


I decided to try it with the ultimate test.....a three year old. She loves to get her nails painted, but she never holds still. So, usually there are a couple of piggies that end up pink or red.

So I grabbed some Vaseline we had sitting out and some Q-tips. I did one foot at a time and did a couple of coats. I didn't do a perfect job (mostly to see if this would work), and my daughter also wiggled her toes enough that it seemed to smear.

It totally worked! I was able to wipe away the excess polish once the nails dried. It took a bit extra rubbing on some where the Vaseline wasn't very thick, but it did work. I also tried it on my nails (since I'm less than talented when it comes to painting my right hand.) Also worked great, plus my cuticles were really soft.

I would definitely recommend this idea to someone who is dealing with a wiggly kid or just wants a clean polish job.



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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

DIY Sunday: Ikea Poang Children's Chair Hack

Hello There!

Last week I decided to try something I saw a while back. I decided to paint some fabric. I had seen a couple different posts on how to do it. You could mix acrylic paint with a fabric medium so the paint dries soft. I thought about doing that but then I saw how expensive the fabric medium was.  Now, I have a tendency to mess up projects (please see below), and the last thing I wanted was the pressure of using expensive materials on an expensive piece of furniture with the possibility of permanently screwing up all of it. I got cold sweats thinking about it.

Then I saw a tutorial on using fabric spray paint. My local retailer had some in a three pack, so I decided to give it a go on a project I've been wanting to jazz up.

For Christmas, my daughter got an Ikea Poang chair. I had been wanting to give her a chair to sit in while she watch tv or read a book and at $19.99, it was a steal. The cushion doesn't come in fun patterns like it's adult counterpart, so I had decided eventually I would make a cover. Then I realized that would involve sewing and cutting large pieces of fabric, and I hate sewing a bunch of fabric. I always do something wrong where I bunch fabric or sew the wrong side and end up pulling stitches while watching a HBO series in it's entirety. (Recently, I did that while watching Six Feet Under)

It seemed like the perfect project to try out my fabric spray paint.

Here's the "Before"

Simple linen colored cushion. I decided to use the "Caribbean Blue" color. The fabric paint was a bit spendy at $15.00 for a three pack (Blue, Pink and Green), so I decided to do a stripe pattern so I wouldn't have to buy another three pack. I grabbed some painters tape and went to work.



So I'm spraying along. Things are going great. It comes out pretty thick so it covers well. I was taking my time. Well...that's the thing about spray paint. You can't really take your time because you are practically spraying money out every millisecond. So, I ended up having a well saturated bottom half and only half of the headrest done. Son of a gun.


Hmph. So now I'm trying to figure out if I should just give up and run to the store and buy more paint. I look around at my daughter attempting to feed my hungry son sand and realize that a run to the store was more certainly not in my future. So, I figured I would just do the top head rest in Pink.

Err. Well that went well. First off, I was thinking the color might be a bit more muted. Instead it was neon pink. I was going for a teal color not highlighter pink. Plus I thought it would cover the blue. Yeah. Not so much.


Well that's an epic fail.

But the bottom part didn't look so bad.

So at this point I let the cushion dry and had a little brainstorming session. I decided I would make a cover just for the top portion, and hey, since I was at it, I could add my daughter's name.

I just so happen to have some Ikea fabric that would match this blue color. Perfect.

There's something else I probably should share. In addition to my inability to sew large pieces of fabric, I'm also pretty bad at measuring. So, yeah. I thought I had made a big enough cover. Turns out I was off by like an inch. Time for another silent shout of SON OF A GUN. Good thing my kids can't read minds.


Errr... that's not going to slide down on the chair. I could have redone the entire thing, but it was late and I was finishing up Season 3 of West Wing. Plus, this is a kid's chair. It will enviably have some sort of bodily fluid on it eventually. I decided I could live with it being less than perfect.


I just ripped the seam out of one side and hemmed up the side. I figured since the head rest folded over you wouldn't see it anyways. So I ripped and hemmed, and secured the back piece to the back with a little stitch.

It does look a bit weird when you lift the head rest.


But after all that trouble, it does look okay when you put the head rest down. So, after many many screw ups, I'm glad to report my daughter told me it was "pretty" when she came downstairs this morning. Then, promptly spilled milk on it.



 

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Monday, June 3, 2013

Gone Junkin': Beds Galore!

Hello Readers!

It's that time of year where I spend my Saturdays fishing through other people's junk. It's Gone Junkin' time!!

This past weekend was city wide garage sales and then yesterday it was city wide clean up. I got lots of treasures with my driving around. I got some stuff for the babies, found some Princess House maragretta glasses to match the other PH stuff I inherited from my grandmother, and found some junk to refunk. 

This is just the start of the stuff I got. I also have a chair and really really cool magazine stand that I haven't taken pictures of yet. (I like the stand enough I might not want to part ways with it. My husband doesn't share the enthusiasm).

First, two beds I purchased at a garage sale that was benefiting a local shelter for woman and children. Since they are intact with bedrails and all, I think they will remain a bed but with a little love put into it. Maybe some sort of stenciling or decal or color blocking? I foresee some pinterest-ing in the near future.

I really like the design of this headboard. I also want to keep this but I know that there is no way I'd convince the hubby. It just wants to live in our guest room!

Isn't that gold detail beautiful? My husband turned to me and told me that it was the ugliest thing he had ever seen when he was moving it into the workshop aka my backyard.

Old crib featuring an awesome puppy picture. Sadly that will probably have to go. I'm thinking a bench, or desk or message center is in it's future.

Headboard. I might leave as a headboard, but I kinda want to do something fun with it. Maybe this will be a bench instead?



Old window frames. There were TONS of free windows around this weekend. I found they don't sell all that great because, well, there are TONS of free windows around! I liked these frames. They have some cool woodwork. I might do some sort of art piece or message board with them.
 
Old directors chair (missing the back piece). I jazzed up my own directors chair, so I think this one might get some of the same treatment. Fun fabric and color are in its future!

Anyone else find some fun finds?!?


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Sunday, June 2, 2013

Thirty-One Tip and Tricks: Super Organizing Tote

Hello there! I post this tip and trick from my phone as we drive home from a fun weekend with family.

I am currently training to do a 5k. I finished Couch to 5k last week and I have my first race next Saturday! I hit the 3.1 mark in Wednesday. I was quite proud since 10 weeks ago I didn't exercise at all.

Anyways, I am running over my lunch breaks or right after work. I am super lucky to have a workplace that organized a C25k program and has a full gym and locker room.

That means that I need a bag that will hold all my workout gear and everything I need to use to become presentable after the workout.

I had a smaller tote but it just wasn't fitting my towel and shoes. I decided to go for the big bag the Super Organizing Tote. It big enough to fit everything, has pockets on the sides for water bottles, sunglasses, iPod, etc. plus it has a zipper to close everything up.

I also have the pocket to attach to the inside of my tote (which also attaches to my other organizing tote and large utility tote). I use it for my hair ties, headbands, shampoo etc. Mine is personalized with "Lil' Extras"

If your interested in getting some cute personalized bags or hosting a party and getting them for FREE, reach out to me by using the "contact me" tab above! 

 




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