Hennessey House

DIY Fabric Kindle Cover Tutorial

2011-12-30T09:37:00.004-06:00

Hello all, I hope this post finds you well after a wonderful, restful holiday. My Christmas was great, and I have a fun little sewing tutorial to bring you involving one of my xmas presents! My husband got me the Kindle Touch, so I decided I needed a cover for it since I'd surely be carrying it around in my purse. I wanted fabric that'd be easy to spot inside my dark and cavernous handbag, so I chose my really fun black and white swirling fabric for one side of the cover, and a bright teal fabric for the other. I used a minty green for the inside fabric, which you'll see in just a second.

Since the Kindle Touch is almost exactly 5" x 7" I cut down 4 rectangles of fabric that measured 7" x 9" so there was plenty of seam allowance.

One rectangle of the b&w swirl, one rectangle of the teal, and 2 rectangles of the minty green. For the one side of the cover with the swirling fabric, I pinned that to the green fabric with the pattern inward:
I sewed along the edges, leaving a gap at the top (reinforced the end of the seam by reversing it and going back over it a couple of times):

Took out the pins, turned it inside out:

Then ironed the whole thing, especially folding over the top where I hadn't sewn all the way across:

I did the same thing for the teal side, ironed that one, and then got them ready to sew them together.

I laid them together, swirl side up, teal side down (so the mint green sides were inside, that sounds weird so I hope it makes sense) and I pinned along three sides, leaving one of the short side completely unpinned. That's where the Kindle will go in.
You can see how thick it is so it took me quite a lot of patience to get my sewing machine to go through all those layers along the three sides. I just used black thread and tried to keep the seam as close to the edge as I could.

And there you have it, one side unsewn for the Kindle to cozy on in:

As of right now, I don't have any way to close up the end where you put the Kindle in, so I'm considering a way to fold over the little bit of excess and button it on the back, or maybe include a little metal snap so the Kindle doesn't slide out in my purse, but we'll see.

Obviously, the Kindle goes all the way down into the cover without sticking out like this, but I just wanted to show you how it looks:

Like I mentioned, because it was a little tricky getting my sewing machine to cooperate with all those layers in the final stage, things definitely did not turn out perfect. There are some pinches in the fabric in the teal layer, not to mention, the seam is not at all 100% straight.

Oh well :) I still really like it and it serves the purpose very well. If you decide to try this, post a picture to your project in the comments, I'd love to see your covers! And if you can think of another sewing project I should try, I'm all ears.

Oh and as always, if any of these steps need more explanation, let me know - it can be hard to describe exactly what to do sometimes. Good luck if you decide to try it!

Pretty Post - December's Etsy Loves

2011-12-10T11:56:00.005-06:00

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and comment on/email me about my last blog post, your words really meant a lot to me and I thank you for sharing your stories with me as well!

I promise this post will bring much happier things, lots of prettiness. I'll just get started by showing you some of my recent etsy purchases that I'm loving.

Let's begin with these lace pieces from Sarah Louise of Branchbound. Oh. My. Goodness. I absolutely adore this lace bib necklace - when I wear it I get so many compliments and because it's black, it goes with so many things.

(You can find more of her lace necklaces HERE.)

Sarah Louise makes gorgeous lace earrings, too! I have this pair and I adore them. They are so lightweight!

(You can find more of her lace earrings HERE.)

I have talked about etsy shop Fr33na before, and since I love the lace earrings I bought from her in October, I had to return to get these two long necklaces from Cristina:

(The brass rhombus necklace is HERE and the painted triangle necklace is HERE.)

I have also ordered more earrings from one of my absolute favorite sellers, Devin of OooohShiny, and this pair is especially AMAZING. They sparkle in person the way that no photograph can truly capture. :)

One more jewelry piece!! This ring came to me all the way from the Ukraine, and it is so detailed and gorgeous. Inessa of SMAFactory was especially helpful when my local post office messed up the delivery and she's offering free shipping right now so I would highly recommend you take advantage of that wonderful offer. ;)

(You can check out all of Inessa's fabulous rings HERE.)

And I have also recently fed into my art addiction at etsy shop CalamariStudio. Oh holy cow do I love this gorgeous 5x7 narwhale print!
The rest of Michelle's drawings, paintings and papercut prints are just magical, so full of whimsy and beauty.

I knew I needed to frame this artwork in something simple, so last night I went to Goodwill and found the perfect one. I took this $2 double-matted polar bear to a fabulous narwhale:

:)

And this isn't an etsy purchase, just a good ole thrifted find. It's a fun little $.50 plate I found at Goodwill and couldn't pass up - the symmetrical design called out to me!

Have you guys purchased anything wonderful from etsy or elsewhere recently? Any new favorite shops you've discovered?

This Is Why I Swirl

2011-11-30T09:20:00.003-06:00

When I first saw this post "Share The Story of You" on one of my favorite blogs, I knew I had to participate by telling MY story here. This will be a little hard, because it feels like something that I shouldn't publicly talk about. I hate that our society is this way. But maybe if we discuss it more, it won't always feel that way. I want to tell you the story of why I swirl, why I make, why I so strongly feel the need to create things.

From very early on, I recognized a need to express myself through art. But there are a lot of other things that I also knew I was from a very young age: Shy. Introverted. Sensitive. Self-conscious. Awkward. Guarded. Sometimes depressed. Anxious. Worried. I always felt inferior to others. Oh I could go on. I can remember as early as age 4 feeling like I always needed to compare myself to the other kids I was around, and that when I did this, I was the one who would always come up short. I don't know, I just never felt like I fit in I guess, and I especially always carried around the belief that other people were so much better than me. From somewhere so very deep inside myself, I was convinced that I was not good enough. And I was profoundly sad from a very young age.

(In this photo, I must have been about 6 or 7, and my brother just one year younger. Don't I look thrilled to be in that ridiculous dress?)

I felt sad unless I was drawing. Or listening to music in my room. Or doodling. Or doing anything creative, since these things took my mind off the despondent feelings that I couldn't really explain or understand. Around age 9-10, I started to develop an ultra sensitive self-consciousness that persisted throughout grade school and high school. Around the middle of 7th grade was a particularly painful time period where I was bullied by two male classmates. Every day for weeks, it was verbal harassment that sometimes included the threat of sexual assault. While nothing physical ever came of this, and eventually my parents found out and got involved with the school, this huuuugely impacted my life and the way I felt about myself for a very long time.

That age, around 12, is precarious enough.... there is already so much self-doubt implanted in your brain and so much pressure to be a certain way, to do certain things, to buy and like certain things, say certain things, all of this in order to fit in and be accepted. The bullying only made me feel more unhappy and I cannot believe I didn't stand up for myself then. Instead, I withdrew into myself. I started spending lots of time in my room. I would draw, I would write poems, I would look through magazines and cut out pictures to make collages, I would write letters to my friends,journal, snuggle my cats, and try to not think about how sad I was and why I felt so horrible about myself.

(This was my bedroom from around age 10-16. Lots of art and collages on the walls.)

High school was better-ish, in that I wasn't bullied and I had a wonderful group of friends and a supportive family. But inside myself, something still felt OFF. I started taking electives like drawing, creative writing, painting... and then art history. Oh goodness, that first art history course opened my eyes and I can still remember the moment I saw this painting in my textbook and felt like YES, I understand.

(This is Paul Klee's The Twittering Machine, which you can see at the MoMa in NYC)

Throughout high school, I continued to struggle a lot with insecurities and was particularly critical of my body. What teenage girl isn't? I can remember times when I cried in my room for hours because I just was so so so so sad. Like someone hollowed me out almost. I finally told my parents that I needed to see a psychologist, and they quickly got me the help that I so badly needed. The counselor I saw told me to embrace the things I love and really concentrate on them, and that mainly included art. Studying art, making it, thinking about it - all of that did, in fact, help.

(My dorm room freshman year in college - again, I put up lots of pictures and paintings and drawings and art.)

During my freshman year of college, the depression really picked up and I was having awful panic attacks, so I started seeing a psychiatrist through my university and she put me on Zoloft. It was one of the best things that ever happened. It didn't help right away; in fact, those first few months were shitty - I'd wake up in the middle of the night to get sick, and my sleep was all messed up - but when it finally kicked in, it helped immeasurably.

Freshman year, I declared an art history major, which meant I was spending time in a dark classroom studying art, scrutinizing it, putting my whole self into the understanding of an entire history of people who created amazing things. Even better - as part of my major - I was required to take studio classes. Drawing, design, painting, fibers... I soaked in everything and loved every minute of those classes. Because I was on medication in college, and because my life so heavily revolved around ART, I flourished. I got to really know myself and start to become okay with who I was/am. There was a wholeness to myself that I had never felt before. And I was HAPPY.

So, this is why I make art. Why I create. Why I surround myself with color, with creations. Because it is a security blanket of sorts. It makes me profoundly happy. It makes me feel more whole. I'll be honest - having depression/anxiety sucks, it really does. And there are days when it's still hard, or when I forget to take my medicine in the morning and by the afternoon I just want to cry.... but having art in my life helps to balance that out.

I feel like people, in general, are just so unhappy these days. Everyone needs to find that thing that makes them feel more whole, and really embrace it. I cannot tell you how much it means to me that my parents were 100% supportive when I told them I wanted to be an art history major in college. They never said "well what the hell can you do with that?" They recognized that I NEEDED it not just to challenge me intellectually (which, trust me, it did) but more importantly, I needed it to help me feel safe and happy.

I hope that you are able to find the thing that makes you happy, that makes you feel complete as a person. And embrace it. Don't let people discourage you from embracing it.

And even more important? If you have depression, anxiety, phobias, panic disorders, whatever mental illness - you cannot feel ashamed because of it. I'm not saying you need to announce it to the world, but don't hide with it, because you're never alone.

Giveaway Link - Blue & White Ornaments

2011-11-17T19:13:00.003-06:00

Hello all - I'm working on lots of etsy stuff right now, and I have more of a personal post in the works, I hope to have that up tomorrow or by Sunday at the latest.

In the meantime, I'm giving away this blue and white embroidered ornament set on the Etsy Dream Team blog, where you legitimately have up to 8 ways to enter. Worldwide. :) Pretty cool!

Good luck!!

Scented Oil Bulb Refills on the Cheap

2011-10-20T15:21:00.005-05:00

Once again, the idea for this post comes from pinterest, which is from this super awesome blog post on how to re-fill empty wall-flower bulbs with scented oil so that you don't have to keep buying the (expensive!) bulb refills. I decided to try it... I had GREAT success... so I want to share with you how I did it.

Now, the whole reason that holycrickey did this was to get rid of the VOC-contaminated oils that Bath & Body Works has in their bulbs... I have NO clue if the oil I used has VOC in it, I'm not too worried about it. :)

If you have empty bulbs, it's likely that you'll need pliers for this project. I certainly needed a pair. Holding the bulb in one hand, I used the pliers to yank out the wick.

I had to twist the wick out with the pliers:

Turns out there is a nail going horizontally through the wick to hold it in place, so you'll either need to rip the entire wick + plastic cap out, or rip the wick free from the nail. (These are the Bath & Body Works bulbs - I have no idea if other brands are constructed the same).

I happened to have this oil from Michael's, it's made specifically to be heated so it releases a scent, so I figured it'd be the best kind to use. It's like a mix of lavender and vanilla.

Had to do this over the sink - I poured the oil into the empty, wick-less bulb until it hit about 3/4 full. I definitely spilled so it's important to do it in a bathroom or kitchen, I would recommend.

Then came the trickiest part, shoving the wick back down into the bulb. Also used my pliers for this, and when I couldn't shove it down any more, I ended up cutting off some of the excess tip sticking up:

Then I just screwed it back into the plug part and stuck it in my bedroom socket - hours later, I could smell the oil very strongly. Success!

The only weird part is that, after being plugged in for a few days now, the clear oil has turned this amber, honey color - not sure if that means it's burning?

All I know is, this works beautifully, and it was completely free to me since I just so happen to have 2 empty bulbs, 2 plug-ins, and that oil from Michael's. Holycrickey recommends you find essential oil so that it's not as harmful, so if any of you try it, I'd love to hear how that works!

Small Bathroom Upgrade

2011-10-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

When you walk into my upstairs bathroom, you see the glass stall-like shower directly to your left... the toilet in the back left corner, and the sink to the right. Because it's upstairs and the ceilings are all slanted up there, the shape of this bathroom is very strange. There is no linen closet upstairs either, so since we moved in, my husband and I have used this crappy $5 garage-sale-find shelf in the corner to hold towels and, because there is no toilet paper roll thing on the wall, either, it's where we put the TP roll.

Months ago, I found this TP holder at a garage sale for a dollar and I bought it because I knew I was going to spray-paint it.

Then when I was in Goodwill last week, I stumbled on this square, tiered shelf for a mere $9. I knew right away that it was the perfect size and shape for the back corner of the bathroom, but the silver wouldn't match the existing fixtures and accents of the room....

Easily fixed the color issue with a can of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.

I was so eager to replace that old ugly and stupid-shaped wooden shelf and put in this one - it feels like SUCH a space-saver, and having that third shelf is really nice.

I think for my next project in this room, I'm either going to paint something in the space above the toilet, or hang that mirror and figure out something cool to go on the wooden shelf....
But for now, I am just SO glad to have a new shelf in that corner and to have an actual place to put the toilet paper roll. :)
(Argh, I realize the colors of these photos are dreadful- there is absolutely NO natural light in this room, and I am not quite a pro at photoshopping colors apparently). :)

I cannot tell you how satisfying this project was, even though it was small and very straight-forward. Obviously, as you know from the lack of posts lately, I hadn't done many DIY things around the house for a while, and I felt like something was missing from my life, as cheesy as that sounds. It is just something that energizes me and makes me so happy to make little changes and improvements here and there, you know? I really need to carve out time for these kinds of projects more consistently, because I think they do help keep me sane.

Have you done any fabulous projects lately? I'd love to hear about them!

October Etsy Loves

2011-10-15T15:06:00.006-05:00

Hello friends, I hope you haven't given up on me/this blog! Things are just busy and crazy, and actually, I'm in the middle of a very simple DIY project, so I can promise that my next post will indeed be house-related, and it won't take another 5 weeks before I talk about it! As that is underway, I wanted to share some of my recent etsy purchases that I love. I think it's so important to support handmade, and I've had nothing but incredibly positive experiences with each of these sellers, so I would recommend each one without reservation. You might know by now that I'm not much of a clothing or shoe person, but rather, jewelry is my weak spot, and almost all of these are jewelry.

Let's start with a really fun ring, yes? This fantastic, lightweight dino ring from helloamor just makes me smile. I had originally wanted the triceratops ring, but she only had the brontosaurus left, so I gladly agreed to take that instead. I just love it.

Speaking of rings, oh goodness, this one just is SO very incredible. I purchased this super delicate, tiny and yet intricate vintage band from seller jessjamesjake, and it was one of those love-at-first-sight purchases, where I had to have it as soon as I saw it. Jess found this at an estate sale. Luckily, she has amazing taste and knew to snatch it up. She has many more vintage jewelry pieces, so if that's your weak spot, then you'll definitely want to visit her shop (but she has clothing, shoes, hats, glasses, and home-related things, too!)

Then, I'm trying to even things out with LOTS of new earrings. ;) These next few are from one of my favorite sellers in the world (THE WORLD, I say!), Devin of OooohShiny.

From left to right: Hematite Earrings, Amethyst Earrings, Black Tourmalinated Quartz Puffs Earrings, Yellow Amberlite Drop Sterling Silver Earrings, and one pair that I don't see back in her shop. I can tell you that her pieces are so well made and I get compliments every time I wear a pair, and Devin is such a sweetie, so you really should poke around her shop. :)

One more pair of earrings? From seller Fr33na, I definitely knew I needed these when I saw them. They have this small piece of lace and people ask me about these every time I wear them as well. They're so light and hang really well and I just love them.
I don't see this exact pair relisted in her shop, but she does have several other lace earrings that are just as beautiful.

And finally, I received a set of hand-made notecards from Emily of sparrownestscript and I'll tell you right now, Emily's handwriting is an artform in itself, and she pairs it with these amazing, lovely drawings on the front Swirling mandalas? A cute little dino? I am in LOVE!

These are all such talented ladies, so it's well worth checking out each of their shops. I hope you find something that calls out to you and says: "buy me right now, you cannot live without me!"

...... bathroom DIY project coming soon! :)

Uh Oh, Spaghetti-Os

2011-09-30T14:59:00.007-05:00

It is no secret that the front windows were a huge part of what made me fall in love with our house.

There is a great dormer window in our master bedroom upstairs, and two amazing windows in the front (this is the best shot I could find, from the real estate listing before we even bought the house):

(And, of course, remember that our sitting room is no longer orange, eek!)

And one tiny square of beautiful glass in the front door:

Over the two years we've been in this house (wow, JUST realized, today is the exact 2-year-anniversary of closing on the house, most excellent!), this door has gotten progressively worse. The glass keeps bowing outward a little more and a little more until finally, on Wednesday, one of the glass triangles in the middle protruded out and when I opened the door, it fell out completely and just shattered in my doorway. Awesome.

Since we don't have it in the budget to replace the front door right now, I had to come up with a very cheap, simple plan: Scotch tape. I mean, come on, just how ridiculous does this look?

And here is how my door appears from the inside looking out.
Ugh, this is just really crappy, I'm telling you, the photos don't do it justice. It looks straight-up AWFUL. In addition to looking bad, it's obviously going to allow cold air in during the winter, and heat out. So, this is something we must fix pretty soon. I think we might end up getting a solid piece of glass and knock out the stuff that's falling apart as a temporary fix, but that just bums me out - the door is so charming! And to get rid of that square of original glass mosaic, well, that just sucks.

Do you guys know where to look for a new front door, or would just any major hardware store do the trick? Argh, the joys of home ownership.

A Swap - And A Probable Screw-Up

2011-09-03T09:05:00.004-05:00

I am trying to import/export blogs here today, and that might mean some slight blog messiness. It also might trigger some kind of apocalypse, so if that happens, I'm sorry.....

... bear vvith me here! If this vvorks, it'll mean more frequent posts again (hopefully).

The Elephant Cure

2011-08-13T16:24:00.004-05:00

I'm coming out of my unintended crazy-long blog hiatus to bring you a little thrifted find/spray paint project. It's really simple but oh so adorable, so I hope you like it!

The wonderful news is that my awesome sister-in-law and brother are expecting their first baby, which means *I* get to be an aunt in about... oh.... 6 more months! :D

I was at a church rummage sale with my sis-in-law last weekend and I spotted this elephant priced at just a buck. Christina mentioned that she might be decorating the nursery in pale gray and yellow and white, with a possible elephant theme, so I had to buy it for her. The only problem was that it had a crackle finish which made the poor creature look like he had a majorly traumatic skin condition:

No worries, this was a piece of cake with semi-gloss gray spray paint on hand. It took a couple coats to completely cover the cracked finish, and I just love how smooth and modern this guy turned out:

A before-and-after comparison for ya:

So, I'm holding on to the elephant until C wants it, and if she ends up not wanting it, I sure am not going to cry over the fact that I'd get to keep him!

Ugh, I promise I won't go so long until my next post, and I promise the next one will be far more exciting. I hope you're all having a wonderful summer and discovering a ton of amazing thrifted finds and kicking ass with a bunch of great DIY projects yourselves. Adios!

Etsy Success - In My Experience - Lengthy Tips and Advice for Newbies and Veterans Alike

2011-07-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

I realize this post won't apply to the majority of my current followers and subscribers, so I'm hoping other etsians or small business owners find this post and will find the information useful. After having been an etsy seller for just over a year now, I think I've accumulated enough experience to be able to share these tips and advice. Most of these would also apply to anyone selling on ebay, or a similar online selling site (artfire, zibbet, etc) or even a brick-and-mortar store owner. So, let's get started!

1) This is not a surprise, as you will see this tip on absolutely every etsy shop-set-up "to do" list: TAKE GREAT PHOTOS. Not just good, but great ones. Luckily, you don't need a fancy, pricey DSLR to achieve nice photos. In fact, you just need natural light, a simple or neutral backdrop, and a steady hand. Google around for some how-to sites, you can start with these very fantastic and helpful pages: HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

If you will be photographing smaller items, consider making or buying a light tent/lightbox:

(Or HERE is a video tutorial on building a light tent.) I would also advise that you create a permanent "photo station" somewhere in your home or office so that you can take photos at any time without having to assemble and dissemble your photo space. And, there are also tons of tutorials to help you edit your photos as well.

Truly, there are endless resources on the internet to help you take better pictures and edit them, so utilize them! Once you've done some reading and have taken some pictures of your items, ask for feedback from friends or family members. Having a fresh pair of eyes will be good, and their critiques might help you spot a problem that you overlooked.

Also, I wish I could say that this shouldn't need to be said, but it does: CELL PHONE PHOTOS OF ITEMS are seldom a good idea for your listing photos. Oy.

2) CUSTOMER SERVICE IS KEY. You can take all the pretty pictures and network with all the other artists in the world, but if you are an asshole to your customer base, you're negating all the hard work in every other category here. They key is to have quick, efficient, positive communication. If someone emails/convos you with a question, don't take a week to respond. If you agree to do a custom project, complete it within the time frame you agreed upon. For shipping, send your items out quickly and let your buyers know their purchase is on its way. If you email your customer with a big ole thank you and include the tracking number for their package, that helps provide a little bit of security that they can track their order from you straight to their doorstep (if the USPS cooperates, that is...) and gives you one more occasion to make a connection with your buyer. If something goes wrong with the transaction, bend over backwards to fix it. If someone has sabotaged something to take advantage of you, that's a different story (for example: if you make a custom shirt according to the measurements sent to you buy a buyer, and the person receives her shirt but says it fits all wrong and is way too tight and she accidentally ripped a hole in it trying to squeeze it on and now she wants her money back, you did your part and made the article of clothing according to the measurements you were given - thus, I don't think I'd refund the money in that case. So, you see what I'm saying, hopefully).

Also, and this is very important - take the time to get to know your returning, most loyal customers. Send them unexpected little surprises every now and then, offer them exclusive coupon codes/discounts, etc. Don't forget - the key to repeat business is by being kind and wonderful to everyone from the beginning. With every purchase, I am sure to include a personalized hand-written thank you note, no matter how small or large the sale, and I always get comments from buyers that it means a lot to them. Some sellers include freebies with orders as an unexpected bonus to their buyers. Don't spam people and respect your buyers' privacy.

Also important: be nice and respectful if you are representing your business publicly or anywhere online, such as in the etsy forums, on facebook, etc. Give people the chance to only associate positive connotations to your brand name.

3) Get a business twitter account (and if you have a personal twitter, keep them separate), set up a facebook fan page, start a blog or Tumblr, or heck, do all of the above. The key here is social media, and you really do need it. With twitter especially, I am able to get out short quick messages to help me disseminate lots of information. Tons of sellers use twitter to announce new items, giveaways, temporary discounts, etc. Tweets can easily and speedily be retweeted, thus spreading the word super fast. It's very important to remember, however, that if you update ONLY about new items, or ONLY about sales you're running, people will unfollow. You've got to throw in interesting content that won't make your followers feel spammed every tweet.

Considering facebook surpasses google as the most-used website every day, you would be wise to create a facebook fan page, too. Once you have it set up and you start accumulating followers, really be sure to utilize it. Show behind-the-scenes photos of projects you're working on, ask people what they want to see in your shop, have conversations about your favorite creations, offer exclusive coupon codes to your followers, etc. Use that facebook page to interact with your "fans" and potential buyers, as well as fellow sellers, to really help expand your professional network.

Facebook is especially limited as far as customization, and with twitter you do have the choice to change your background image and the colors for your page, but with a blog or Tumblr, you can really show your true colors and personality. There are endless layouts to choose from, not to mention it's a great place to discuss topics pertinent to small business owners, a place to vent frustrations (keep it professional!) and get feedback from the artisan community.

Do not underestimate the power of social media, and its ability to help you network and spread the word of your business quickly. Note: At the bottom of every etsy listing in my shop, I include the links to my twitter, facebook, blog, and pinterest account. I also use these links in my email signatures. So, put the links out there and people will start to come. Follow those who share interests with you, and hopefully they'll follow you back and recommend you to friends/family members. Thus, other ways that your social network starts to expand.

4) On etsy, make treasuries. If you've never done one before, I recommend you check out THIS very helpful article. Treasuries are a great way to "meet" new shops, see what kind of talent is out there, pin-point trends, etc. Treasuries help you interact with the etsy community. Conversely, if someone is kind enough to include YOU in a treasury, you should visit the treasury, comment with a note of thanks, and click on an item so it helps the treasury's stats.

5) Join a team. On etsy, there is a team for just about anything. You could find a group comprised of people from your part of the world, or with members who all work in your particular medium, or find a team dedicated to making beautiful treasuries every month. Either way, teams are another great way to make connections and network with your fellow artists/suppliers/vintage sellers. Regrettably, I waited almost a year before joining any team, and I could kick myself for this!

6) Keep tabs on the monthly merch reports. Etsy basically tells you: "these are the topics we'll be promoting in the coming month." So, if mustaches, owls, vintage cars, and telephones (just picking random examples) are chosen for the August 2011 merchandise report, and you make a bunch of new items with hamsters as the theme (another very, very random example), you're already sort of taking yourself out of the running for the daily etsy finds emails and front-page-worth treasury themes. This is not to say you should "sell out" and make items ONLY according to the merch report, but have a few listings in your shop and tag them with all kinds of key terms related to the merch report. It makes you easy to find and people will want to put your items in treasuries, with the hopes of getting featured on the front page and in other prominent trend blog posts, etc. Make what you love, and if what you love isn't a popular trend, throw one or two things in that ARE popular.

7) Keep meticulous records of your transactions and financial accounts. I use a standard excel sheet to track everything pertaining to a transaction (sale date, transaction #, buyer etsy name, buyer's real name, to where I ship it, shipping method used, etc). Not only is this a wonderful way to be able to quickly see past records (you might need to check, "has this person bought from me before? The name sounds familiar..."), but more importantly, it keeps your numbers accurate and constantly up-to-date.

Also, keep a separate up-to-date log of business expenses (supplies, internet fees/usage, etsy and paypal fees, postage, etc). It's a great way to keep yourself organized, and if you stay on top of it year-round, you'll be set when you need to claim your taxes.

8) Keep your supplies organized (esp. postage things) and always have enough stock for a listing. For example, if I list a print, I am sure to have a couple printed and ready for shipping in my office/studio. Also, here's a real before/after photo of my office - I am so much saner when my of
9) Write your own unique listing descriptions with many details, including measurements. Give your items descriptive titles including key words. Use all 13 tags per listing. HERE is a good checklist for writing descriptions. Flush out your shop policies and cover your bases. This is a good explanation of the policies. Basically, be very thorough and detailed and include key terms and EDIT YOUR LISTINGS to avoid grammatical mistakes :) (Hey, I've had friends catch a few in my shop and it embarrasses me to no end knowing I had a typo live to shoppers).

There are oh so many more tips I'm missing, I'm sure, but my brain is sort of crazy so I need to stop here. :) I hope this helps! And truly, there are so many great articles and blog posts out there to help new etsy sellers with all kinds of helpful advice, so do your research and seek those out. Best of luck and if there are any questions I can help answer, don't hesitate to leave them in the comments or shoot me an email! (Address at the top of the blog).

Fabric-Wrapped Bracelets

2011-07-14T09:46:00.002-05:00

Pinterest is a magical place. It's where I got the idea for this post, based on these beauties:
Fabric-wrapped cuffs!

I decided to use these skinny silver bracelets I bought from Goodwill ages ago.
I had a bunch of scraps from various sewing projects, and foraged through my scraps box and pulled out long strips for this project:

While I like the very finished, even look of the bracelets above, I wanted the raw edges of the fabric to be exposed on my bracelets, and I didn't want mine to look so even and perfect.

1) Start by holding the beginning end of your fabric strip and wrap over it a few times to really secure it.
2) Continue to wrap and twist the fabric strip all around the cuff, being sure to hold the beginning section with your other hand. Once I met the ends, I used a paperclip to secure my twisting and wrapping efforts.
3) I used a needle and thread to sew the ends together, and even wrapped the thread around the fabric to make sure it was extra secure.
4) I love that the raw unraveling ends are showing now.

You can also use an actual square of fabric simply by cutting it into one long strip:

I love how this one turned out - the even checkered pattern in the strip produced a sporadic black and white pattern once wrapped:

I love the exposed raw edges:

So there you have it:

(And this was free to me, since I already owned all the supplies - free makes any project even better!) :)

How To Create a Repeating Pattern

2011-07-12T10:50:00.005-05:00

I have a new obsession, and it is all about designing fabulous repeating patterns for printing on fabric.

I had used Spoonflower before to print some of my drawings, centered on white fabric so that I could sew them into a pillow cover, for example:
But I wanted to create a repeating pattern that would allow me to order yardage. So, I did some research. I first found this great tutorial on Design Sponge, which helped me understand the logistics of creating a seamless pattern with using minimal technology. After I had practiced the idea with a couple designs, I was ready to try things out using Photoshop, and I found this youtube tutorial to be a lifesaver. You can see how the design started and ended as a fat quarter of fabric:

So here's how I did it.
1) In a perfect square measuring 8.5"x8.5" I drew an abstract swirling rose design, and the most important part is to NOT touch the edges of your square.
2) I scanned in that initial drawing and made sure the digital file was a perfect 8,5"x8.5".
3) Using the Offset filter, I split up the drawing.
4) In Photoshop, I lightened the lines I had already drawn, then printed the image with that free space in the middle. I then drew in connecting lines in the middle, being careful not to let my design touch the edge here either.
5) I scanned in the middle lines, erased away the corners, and fit my middle drawing into the image that you see in step 3.
6) In Photoshop, I selected the entire pattern and went to Edit --> Define Pattern, then named it.
7) Since my digital image was 8.5 x 8.5, I created a new file of 17"x17" and then in the new empty file, went to Edit --> Fill, and selected the pattern and it repeated the image seamlessly. I uploaded my design to my Spoonflower profile and ordered a fat quarter to make sure it printed without a seam.
8) Once the fat quarter arrived, I snuggled it and did a joyous dance. I really did.

And those are pretty much the steps I've been following with the other patterns that need to connect perfectly.

Spoonflower is amazing, let me tell you. They print your things in such a timely fashion, the shipping is cheap, and there are several types of fabric you can select to print your designs on. Once you've ordered at least a test swatch of your design, and you've made sure the colors print accurately and that the pattern repeats seamlessly, you are then able to make your fabric available for anyone to purchase. Such a cool idea!

This is the fat quarter I ordered:

And I turned it into a pillow. :)

If you have been following my facebook page, you'll see that I've been designing lots more, including some swirl patterns (giddy!!):

And here are some other fun designs I've done.

I have no idea what I'll do with these things, perhaps I'll sew more fun pillows, or pencil cases, who knows. I'm just so thrilled to be doing something new, something that is as fun and fulfilling as this. If you have any interest at ALL, I so highly recommend that you try it and use Spoonflower. They have been nothing but wonderful to work with in my experience.

Very Cool Things

2011-06-23T09:49:00.004-05:00

Random post today!

I had the very, very good fortune of winning a handmade fabric cuff from the lovely Amy of PonderAndStitch recently, and Amy sewed this specifically for me (she asked for my wrist measurement) and shipped it so that it arrived on my doorstep yesterday, and let me tell you, opening her envelope was quite a treat. Not only is the bracelet gorgeous and fantastic, but her presentation is so adorable!
This made my day :) The cuff fits perfectly and it is really charming. If you want one just like it, she has one listed in her shop, but she also has so many other styles and colors that you really should go browse her listings!
Also, I encourage you to check out Amy's blog because she hosts other amazing giveaways from time to time, AND she always showcases her thrifting finds (she has impeccable taste!).

The other etsy artist I'm super happy to talk about is SparrowMoon. I recently ordered this fantastic print, "Beneath The Hills," and I cannot wait for it to arrive since it'll be hung in my entry way cluster of framed art.
She does very interesting things with lines so I highly encourage you to check out her shop as well. Her pieces are insanely affordable!

And last, I would like to direct your attention to Add Some Country, a new blog started by my friend Carolyn and her husband Jason. They recently bought their second home and are constantly coming up with awesome projects, and I'm just amazed by what they've turned out so far.
Take, for example, this chandelier make-over. Are you ready to have your minds blown? Because they paid a mere $35 for this, and transformed it into something ungodly beautiful:
Also, they did some dumpster diving and scored this FREEEEE closet door and Jason made it into a brand-new headboard. INSANE:
So go show them some love because their blog is new and they have already done some spectacular projects, and I know they'll continue to showcase amazing things. Also? Jason is an artist so you should probably stop by HIS etsy shop as well. :)

So is there anything you've purchased lately that you're loving? Have a crush on any new etsy shops? Finding any good DIY projects around the blog universe? Pretty pictures? I want to see more beautiful things on this fabulous Thursday!

TP Roll Wall Art

2011-06-14T08:48:00.001-05:00

As promised, I'm here to show you a project I recently completed using only empty toilet paper rolls, hot glue, and purple spray paint. Because I technically owned all of these things, it was free!

I was inspired to try it based on this picture from pinterest:
To start, I collected about 20 rolls (& a paper towel one for good measure):
Because tp rolls are approximately 4 inches long, I measured each one and drew a tick mark at the 1 inch mark, 2 inch mark, and 3 inch mark to signify where to cut them down:

Using regular scissors, I did just that, right at the marks:
At this point, your roll will bend, and that's okay. In fact, the next step is to go ahead and fold each strip in half, so that when you let go of it, it'll automatically bounce into the teardropish shape.

Once you've done about, oh 80 strips or so, you can play around with how you want it to look once glued together:

Gahhh, they just make the coolest shapes!

For me the hardest part was starting out the center 5:

I fired up my glue gun and, as quickly as possible, hit the sides nearer to one end for all five pieces:
Then held them together with my left hand:
Be careful doing this, because the glue is hot even through one layer of the roll. From here, I just started sticking them in, trying to keep the same pattern all around, until I used up all my strips and had one giant lovely piece.

Once your glue has dried, get rid of all those annoying little strings because when you go to paint it, they'll pick up the spray:
I took my creation downstairs and hit all the angles with purple paint. This is important because it's tricky to get inside each roll and in between them, so you might have to do this in a couple of sessions, letting it dry in between. I had to spray it from a side angle, then head-on to get in between things.

You can see here that I didn't get inside every single roll perfectly, but that's okay, because it still looks AWESOME:

And here is the view from head-on if it's hanging on a wall.

I'm gonna be honest, I tried to keep my design 100% symmetrical, but once I got to a certain point, it was very hard to tell where I needed to glue my next piece, so I started just sticking them in where it looked like they belong. It's not totally symmetrical, but I still like it!

And so you can get a better idea of how this looks in proportion to my dining room hutch:

So there you have it! Totally free, fun, and FABULOUS:

I haven't linked up to a party in a looong time, so I'm jumping in here!!

Vase + Embroidery Hoop + Print Giveaway WINNER!

2011-06-12T22:13:00.003-05:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway and helped spread the word - I really do appreciate it! I just now chose a random winner from random.org, and looks like lucky number 15 is the chosen one!

That's you, K!

Please send me an email to [hennesseyhouseblog at gmail dot com] and we can go from there!! :) Congrats!! And I'll be back with a post about toilet paper roll art in my next post. Yup, toilet paper roll art all the way......

GIVEAWAY: Vase + Embroidery Hoop + Art

2011-06-08T08:33:00.007-05:00

Are you ready for a sweet-ass giveaway?
Well here it is. Not one. Not two. But THREE things comin' at ya!

The first is a hand-embroidered hoop that measures 5". A maroon thread serves as the stem color and outlines the pointed pods, leaves and circles. Each circle is filled in with a really pretty mustard yellow, the leaves are a rich lime-ish green, and the pods are a really pretty coral-y pink color. White background, wooden hoop, and the back is covered in tan felt. I embroidered this by hand and I want to say it took about 5.5-6 hours in total? (a $60 value) Lots of love poured into this guy:

Numero dos: This hand-painted black and white upcycled vase that matches the design of the embroidery hoop. The vase is about 8" tall, and it's got a narrower opening perfect for a few wildflowers, or a rose or two. :) I painted the black design and sealed the entire outside with glaze, so it's okay to use real flowers and water. (A $25 value)

Three: You get to pick any 8x10 print in my shop, black-and-white OR color, up to $20 in value.
(Psst: if there is a print that I offered at one time, but you don't see it anymore in the shop, such as this owl family, those would still be eligible.)

So, combined, this is around a $100 giveaway, and one lucky person will get it all for free. Here it is again, what's up for grabs:

(And I'll be sure to throw in a couple little extra goodies.)

HOW TO ENTER:
1) THIS ONE IS A MUST: You have to follow my blog, either through Blogger, Google Reader, etc., and please leave a comment letting me know that you're a follower.
2) Additional entry: "Like" my ETSY FACEBOOK page and come back to leave a comment to let me know you're a liker.
3) Additional entry: Follow me ON TWITTER and comment when you do so, or let me know if you already are a twitter follower.
4) Additional entry: Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post, and come back to comment with the link to your tweet.
5) Additional entry: Write about this giveaway on your own facebook page, and comment to let me know you've done that.
6) ONE MORE SHOT AT A WIN: Head over to my etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/sometimesiswirl) and let me know if there is anything in particular that you'd want to see me include or get rid of. Is there an under-represented color (ie, I know I don't have much yellow, but conversely, I have lots of blues greens and purples)? More drawings of a certain thing? More pillows? Less embroidery hoops? Do you want to see totes with swirls? Stationary? Shut the whole thing down?? :) Honest feedback, please!

Also, PLEASE be sure I have some way to contact you, so please include an email address or blog link in one of your comments.

So, there you have it. SIX chances for each person to win. I will close the comments on Sunday, June 12 at 10 p.m. central time. It's open to anyone in any country, and once I close the comments, I'll use random.org to pick the winner. Happy commenting!! And best of luck.

Letter Art

2011-06-03T14:05:00.002-05:00

Today I present to you a project that you could do for yourself, or as a present for a friend or family member. In my case, I created this for my brother and sis-in-law, as part of their wedding present (we have an inside joke with dinosaurs.... I realize it might seem strange to commemorate a marriage with dinos, but for us, it's appropriate). :)

I knew I wanted to make a big letter "W" made out of dinosaur shapes, so I googled "dinosaur silhouette" and printed off a couple collections of images that came up during the search. It won't matter if there are watermarks over the image, or if they look blurry or pixelated - just get some print-outs of different sizes of whatever shape you're wanting to use.

(You can also use search terms "dinosaur vector images" or "dinosaur outline" or "dinosaur shapes"... play around with the terms if you're not finding something that you can use.)

On a piece of tracing paper, I created an 8" x 8" square, and drew a big bold W within that square. From there, I kept rotating the tracing paper over my various dinosaur print-outs and would trace a shape if I fit into a particular area.

Sometimes, I drew the shape of the dinosaur bigger than what was on the print-out, so that I have different sizes of dinos all throughout my letter.
Here you can see my completed W, which is filled with dinos of various sizes and species. :)

Now, for the next step, I needed some technology. I scanned the tracing paper W, then pulled up the image in photoshop. I colored in the shapes, and erased the "W" border that I had included on the tracing paper.

Then, I printed off my W and put in lots of little finishing touches. For example, I included a small "5-14-11" since that was their wedding date. I also hand-drew in some dinosaur footprints and other little dinos to fill up some empty space. I also retouched the outlines of some of my shapes that got wompy in the process.

IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE PHOTOSHOP/A SCANNER..... you could do the initial step with tracing paper. That part is important because you're constantly rotating the paper around trying to find where the shapes will best fit. Once you've finished making up your letter - you could then tape the tracing paper letter to a bright window, and place your regular paper on top of that and trace through to the real paper. Does that make sense? Then just fill in the shapes with an art pen so it still looks the same:

Once I was finished, I taped it to the backside of a piece of square matting:
And popped it into a frame. Ta da!!
This actually took quite a bit of time, but it wasn't too tricky. Think of all the possibilities you could do with the idea - all sorts of animals for a kid's room, a nursery, you could make just about anything.

ADDICTION

2011-06-01T21:56:00.005-05:00

Ya know, I've been meaning to get around to some posts lately, but I've just been too preoccupied with PINNING.

Are YOU on Pinterest?

Come find me! And if you need an invite let me know, I'd be happy to send you one. If you haven't tried it yet.... yes... it is as amazing as everyone says it is. :)

Wood & Wicker Chair Re-Do

2011-05-23T09:15:00.004-05:00

To the right of my sitting room fireplace, we used to have this lounger, which my husband and I lovingly referred to as the "russian roulette chair." Because the right arm was detaching completely from the rest of the piece, we just knew that at any time, someone could sit in the chair and it would completely fall apart, therefore dumping the person's ass to the floor. It had never actually happened, but we knew the break-down was imminent, so I was extremely excited to score a thrift store chair to take its place. (And, as glad as I should be that no one actually busted the chair and fell to the floor, I am kind of sad that I never got to see that happen.)

Now, I do not normally go for wicker. But I've seen so many great make-overs on DIY blogs and felt this fabulous and sturdy chair could indeed be made pretty with a little paint and fabric action. And at just $16.99, I swooped it up from the Salvation Army on Cherokee Street with some makeover ideas in mind.
I knew I would need to paint the solid wood frame because it had a lot of scratches and wear:

I sanded down those parts:

... removed the cushion and taped around the fabric that serves as the cushion-holder:
... and covered every inch first with white spray paint.

Then, however, I had a change of heart. I loved taking the chair frame from dark to light, but felt it would be boring and predictable of me to leave it white. So instead of doing something really bold or crazy on top of what I had already done, I went with a very subtle pewter gray color.

And so far, I am loving the difference:
BUT - I'm not done yet - even though the cushion is on great shape as is, and the color/fabric is not terribly bad, I still want to recover it.

I am not going to lie - I am scared as shit of trying to reupholster that small curved cushion - YOU remember how awfully miserably I failed at tackling my couch and yes I know this is a way smaller piece and a totally different thing, but still.

So, I'm still brainstorming on what to do with that. I kind of love black and white.... but then again, that would also be majorly predictable of me. What about a bright, pretty blue fabric? I have even considered covering the wicker part with fabric.

I am kind of stuck here.... so if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. At least I'm on my way to a complete chair.... and hey, if someone sits in this one, at least there is no chance that they will bust their ass on the floor. :)

Also, I'm adding this to the Furniture Feature Friday to get some more input, hopefully :)

Hodge Podge Post

2011-05-20T08:22:00.005-05:00

Well, snap. I am sucking at blogging lately and that is lame, so I apologize. If it's any consolation, I recently got to partake in this: Yup, that is my handsome brother and beautiful sister-in-law at their wedding on Saturday - it was such a perfect, fun day and I am so so blessed to have been a part of it! Now that wedding season is slowing down for me, AND I'm done with the poetry class I was taking this semester, AND work is letting up, I think I'll finally be able to return to a regular schedule of blog posts. Whew.

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First I want to start with an etsy plug - I should have announced sooner that I'm currently offering 25% off if you use coupon code ARTISGOODFORYOU at checkout in my etsy shop - it's only good through this evening, so if you can't make it by then, let me know and I can work somethin' out for ya. Feel free to pass along the message and the coupon code.

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Speaking of etsy, I want to talk about seller JAMIESHELMAN, from whom I recently purchased a print that I've been coveting for months:

Can you get over how freaking awesome it is? And the print quality is just GORGEOUS. It's printed on this luscious cotton rag paper so the lines and colors are divine.

The thing is, I ordered the print a couple weeks ago, and despite the fact that she packaged the print very well, PUT IT BETWEEN 2 PIECES OF CARDBOARD and even wrote "do not bend" on the envelope, well, you guessed it - the *&$!@# postal service bent the damn envelope and left a sizable crease right through the cats. When I contacted Jamie to let her know what happened, she immediately responded that she was sending another one, at no cost. I mean, seriously, that is great customer service, and I really, truly appreciate that. The new print arrived yesterday and I framed it and hung it in my kitchen, and it seriously makes me smile every time I see it:

Go check out her shop or her fabulous website.

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I told you this post was going to be random!! I have an update on my backyard, after having chopped down that Japanese Maple that was planted smack in the middle. Kevin and I really struggled with hacking it down, then I tried to basically sod over that area, but that didn't work so well. I ended up tearing up the grass that I "planted" there and bought cheap-o grass seed from Lowe's, and that honestly did the trick! Because I happened to seed the area right around monsoon season here in MO (seriously), the grass grew with zero problems. It's just weird that it came in a completely different color than the rest of the lawn. But at least you can see, in the photo to the right, it's way better than having the tree right in the middle, and especially better than having a mud pit. We're getting there!!

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And I want to take the time to talk about my friend Erin, who has this amazing blog called Well in L.A. I had the privilege of sharing a dorm suite with Erin during our sophomore year in college, so I can tell you that not only is she a gorgeous person on the outside (duh), but she is such a beautiful, inspirational and wonderful person to be around and I could not be more thrilled to support her. So, go check out her blog - follow her on twitter - and like her on facebook! If you're at all interested in HEALTHY living (big difference from just dieting, etc.) then her site is such a great resource.

So that's it for now - I promise to return with a fabulous furniture rehab project in my next post. Happy weekend, everyone!

Twitter - Attempt # 2389057

2011-05-11T11:51:00.004-05:00

Okay, friends. I know I've tried twitter before, and I continuously gave up. But I'm trying it out again, and if you're interested to see what I'm up to in between blog posts, you can find out the scoop here.

@sometimesiswirl is me.

Feel free to leave your @names in the comments - I'd love to follow you back! Or if you know of any really fantastic artists, DIYers, etc who tweet really great stuff, I'd love that, too!

Pet Appreciation

2011-05-09T13:17:00.006-05:00

I am going to write about something completely un-house-related because something crappy and scary happened yesterday. And I want to talk about it, just because.

Yesterday, I went out back to go to my garage to work on a furniture rehab project. My boy cat, Conn, who is apparently silent and sneaky like a ninja assassin, slipped out the kitchen door into the sunroom without my noticing, and then somehow opened the door from the sunroom to the backyard. He got out and I had no idea. I continued to work in the garage for a bit then came back inside, and he was in the neighborhood or the yard, somewhere, wondering around.

Fast forward to an hour and a half later, I was in my studio working on a drawing and I just felt this sinking sadness come over me. I had no idea why. I just was sick and knew that something was wrong. So I got up and saw Lily, my second cat, on the guest bed, and I thought, hmm, where's Conn? I started making the clicking noises that usually get the cats to come running, and of course Lily hustled right to me... but no Conn. I got out their treats and shook the bag and still no Conn. I started to panic. I opened the kitchen door and when I saw that the sunroom door was ajar, I knew he was outside. Alone, in 100% unfamiliar territory. I ran around both sides of the house calling his name but he was nowhere to be seen.

I broke down crying hysterically. Complete guilt, combined with helplessness and fear that something happened to him, took over. I ran inside and asked my husband to help me find him, so Kevin started to walk the neighborhood calling for Conn.

Because my cats are strictly indoor kitties, and because I am so completely attached to them, it was the worse feeling in the world to know that I had let this happen. I paced back and forth in the house going between front door and back door for about 15 minutes trying not to think up scary scenarios, just crying and not knowing what to do. Then, finally, I heard some dogs barking from the street, and I hurried to the front door and opened it and there was Conn - he came running in full speed and I scooped him up. He was warm from being in the sun, and I squeezed him close and cried and hugged him. Of course, he seemed annoyed that I was loving on him and crying all over his cute face, but there was no way I was going to put him down. I just held him and was so thankful that he wasn't hurt and had found his way back home safely.

So.... it sucked, and it was scary, and it was a big deal and I got so upset about it because my cats are not just animals that happen to live in the same house with me. They are a part of my family. Each animal has its own personality, and as pet owners, we learn about our pets' characteristics and embrace their funny idiosyncrasies. We grow to love them because they are just as wonderful and different than the human beings that make up our families.

A home is not just painted walls, furniture, light fixtures and carpeting. A home is also the people and the pets that inhabit the structure. Without my two cats -- who make me laugh, roll my eyes, and feel so much joy on a daily basis -- my house would not feel as much like my home. Truly.
My cats make me a happier person. They crack me up every single day. I know they will not live forever, I know that. But while they are here, I need to learn not to take them for granted....
... and from now on, I'll be sure to watch out for the damn back door!

Hug your pet and be thankful that you have an animal (or 2 or 3 or 4) to enrich YOUR life.
:)
That is all.

DIY Lightbox for Better Pictures

2011-05-03T10:58:00.003-05:00

Last night, I created a home-made lightbox in about one hour, and because it was so simple and fast and inexpensive, I want to share with you how I did it.

I used this tutorial as my guide and pretty much followed their directions. I started with a decent-sized cardboard box and, using an exact-o knife, cut out squares of cardboard from the 2 sides and the top of the box. Then I grabbed some white tissue paper from where I keep all my gift wrapping stuff, and taped the tissue paper on the outside of the box, covering the open squares like this:

I then got a $.99 piece of matte (matte is key! no glossy paper) white posterboard from the nearest office supply store, cut it to fit the width of the inside of the box, and laid it inside so that it bends upward but is not creased.

I grabbed some desk lamps from around the house, propped everything on the dresser in my spare bedroom, set up my tripod in front, and started snapping some shots.

My normal backdrop for smaller items has been a creased piece of white poster board set up against a wall, which leaves a visible "horizon line" like this:
That's fine, and lots of people have that, but I wanted an endless background look.

So now? Voila!

I still have lots of playing to do, as far as setting up the lights on the outside of the box, and I messed around with my white balance settings on my Pentax K-x, as well as with aperture and ISO, so I'm obviously going to need some time to find the right settings.
As you can probably tell from this example, I had a lamp placed to the right of the box, which created that oval of super bright white in the background. You still get a good, clean shot of the object, but that orb in the back is no good.

So, I'll be doing a lot of experimenting over the next few weeks. But at least now I have the tools to create much better pictures of small, stationary objects. Let me tell you - this is KEY for any etsy seller. If you frequent the front page, you'll notice that objects that are photographed with a plain, neutral background in the most crisp, clear way are usually the items that make it. GOOD photographs are super important!

So there you have it. If you are one who frequently takes photos of smaller items, this would be a great project. It's not hard to find cardboard boxes, and the additional supplies are cheap and minimal.

Art Show Prep

2011-04-19T08:39:00.004-05:00

In this post, I'll bring you a behind-the-scenes look at how I'm gearing up for my first ever art show! I truly have no idea what I'm doing, so this might be laughable to those veterans out there. ;)

First thing's first - in addition to selling my prints, I want to bring a bunch of upcycled, hand-painted vases to the show. If you'll remember I did a couple of these last December, I am creating a bunch of vases just like that. So, I had to thrift it up and find numerous vases. Salvation Army provided the best assortment and prices, with most of them ticketed at $.69 or $.99.

Once I got them home, I set up a sort of "cleaning station" on my kitchen table, where I used nail polish remover to take off that annoying sticky residue left by price stickers, then I windexed all the vases so they were dust-free and their outsides had a clean surface for spray paint to adhere to.

Back in the corner of my basement is my spray painting station of sorts. I had to paint these in shifts, because I found that I kept missing spots and would have to come back and keep rotating each container to be sure I painted every single inch.
Now that the white spray paint is dry, it's time to hand-paint designs. I have ONE finished bud vase. On this guy, I used my usual Sharpie oil paint marker and sealed it with Krylon's clear spray-on glaze.

One down, about fifty billion to go. :)

Using my crappy camera phone, I captured a few more that are in the works. As you can see, not all of them will be decorated with my usual swirling design. I thought it would be good to throw some simple mod designs on a few of the vases, such as the one on the left and in the middle:
I plan to get a photograph of ALL the finished vases once they are all hand-painted and sealed.

Now, for the second part of the post, I'll talk about how I will display my embroidery hoops. Yep, I plan to bring them, too! And you know what, I wouldn't have even thought about this were it not for fellow etsy seller PonderAndStitch's recent blog posts about how she displays her hand-made fabric cuffs - using thrifted drawers painted in beautiful, attractive colors is a genius idea!!!

So when I was thrifting this past weekend and saw this dish drying rack for a mere fifty cents, I knew it would be perfect for my hoops.

Once I snipped off that crappy utensil drying part, I busted out some purple spray paint and made the rack really pop with color:

And just as I had hoped, the embroidery hoops fit perfectly in the slats that were intended to dry plates. :)

This will be perfect for the hoops!

So perhaps you are wondering, where are these shows??

The first one is April 30/May 1 in St. Louis, MO near the intersection of Clayton and Big Bend. I'll be there both days on the second floor!

And THEN I'll be participating in a second show on Saturday, June 4 in the Loop.
I am admittedly nervous about these, as it's my first time, but I'm quite excited too. If you have any tips on how to successfully tackle any aspect of an art fair or show, I'd love to hear your ideas.

I still need to find a creative box or container for my prints, and I do think I need to make a sign, but otherwise, I feel pretty set on my table display. I'd love to hear about anyone else's experiences though!!

A One-time Break from House Posts

2011-04-12T13:03:00.004-05:00

I am going to tell you a secret.

Well.

It's not that exciting of a secret.
No, I am not pregnant. And no, I am not a closet Glee fan. (I actually really do despise the show, sorry if you love it.)

My secret is that I am obsessed with Photoshop. And designing things. And fonts. And scrutinizing for 20 minutes over the correct color to use in a digital file. This has become my addiction lately, and would certainly account for the lack of exciting house projects.

It started in 2008 with my own wedding invitations. I looked around for something to fit our black and white theme, and nothing really was like what I had in mind. So, I drew up something myself and a talented graphic designer friend helped me smooth everything out in Illustrator. Thus began my obsession.

Here you can see what I came up with:
Loved loved loved our invites.

Then a friend asked me last year if I could design a baby shower invite, and I knew just the drawing of mine that I could use. I turned this black and white ink pen drawing....
... into this invite:Sorry, gotta blur out the personal info.

So you can imagine my excitement when my future sister-in-law asked me to design HER wedding invites incorporating her color scheme of pale pink and light gray. While it took a couple different drafts to get the right look, we finally settled on these. I drew the gray leaf vines and the pink part as two separate drawings, both originally in black ink, then scanned them in as high-resolution jpegs and manipulated the color and size in Photoshop. See, that's the other thing - I am learning SO much about things such as file sizes, bleeds, RGB vs. CMYK, etc.

There are some other components to their invites, such as direction cards, and that all went into a fabulous gray pocketfold.

But I wasn't done there. As the matron of honor in the wedding, I got to co-host the bridal shower, so I made sure to design a pretty invite still using the pink and gray color scheme:

My mom then asked if I could design rehearsal dinner invites and reply cards, so that prompted me to use another drawing of mine, too. :)

And how lucky I am that I get to incorporate some of this knowledge into my job. I have been making course posters for several years now, just little signs that announce the details of future courses. Here are a sampling of some of my favorites:
So, in another life, if I had to go back to school and pick something else to do, I think it would be graphic design, visual communications, something along those lines. I just love it.

I think I'm done with ditigal projects for the moment. Back to your regularly scheduled house-posts soon. :)

Still An Owl Fan

2011-04-01T18:35:00.002-05:00

I know owls probably aren't the cool thing to buy/decorate with so much these days, but I still find them charming and wonderful. That's why I couldn't pass these two up at Goodwill this week, especially when they were priced at fifty cents each.

I'm thinking about spray painting them white. Or aluminum and then doing a glaze.
Hmmm.

Is there a trend you're really on board with right now? Over at etsy, woodland creatures (squirrels, hedgehogs, foxes, etc.) seem to be pretty popular still, along with embroidery hoop art, triangles, etc. I'm curious to know what you're interested in!

I Killed the Stump, Stole Some Dirt, Then Dabbled in Sodding

2011-03-24T15:57:00.004-05:00

This past weekend, I made major progress in our backyard. The last time I mentioned our tree stump, you saw it as a charred nub holding on to any last shred of dignity.

After hacking into it some on Saturday, I finished it off on Sunday. Here, what was left of the actual rooted part on Sunday, I have indicated with a fashionable pair of red glasses:
Everything else around it is parts that I chopped off. I found that by moving around the stump and chopping into it from all angles really helped bring it down quicker.

It is very hard to tell in this shot, but here is AFTER the stump was defeated:

I covered the hole back up as best I could, but realized I would need more dirt to level off the spot.

It is very helpful living just a few blocks from a huge park. Because. Uhm. I went there to steal dirt.
It's true. I literally threw our outdoor trash can in my backseat with a shovel and filled it about 3/4 with dirt, came home, and dumped it in the stump area.

Then I came up with the idea to dig up grass from the very back of our yard and use it as sod to cover the giant muddy patch. From the purple lines below, you can see where the stolen dirt is, and the orange denotes where I moved grass to the area:

Using a little gardening shovel, I was able to fairly successfully dig up chunks of grass and walk it over to the the middle of the yard.

Here you can see the transplanted grass. After plopping the patches right next to one another, I saturated the grass with my hose, in the hopes that would help the roots take hold to the dirt there:

I have left it like this for now, in case my sod idea doesn't work. This section of transplanted grass very well could just die, and I'd be pissed if I had ended up doing that entire patch, so I'll wait a few more weeks to see what happens with this little bit. If it looks like the grass will grow successfully there, I'll move more over to cover the entire bald spot.

Now, if St. Louis weather would just stop being a bitch and stay around 75 degrees for a while, I could really work some magic on my sad looking yard!

Yet Another Clock-Turned-Mirror

2011-03-20T07:44:00.006-05:00

I have been so disappointed by many of my latest thrifting trips. Stuff is so expensive, or just ugly/unsalvageable. I guess I'm not on a winning streak, so thank goodness I found this recently!

For St. Louis readers, the Value Village that had been located off Watson Road moved into the adjacent shopping complex next to the antique mall, and that is where I found this clock:

Look at that fantastic detail, and I LOVE that there is a lot of interesting negative space created by the swirls and filigree:

As soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew I would be tearing out the clock and turning the piece into another mirror.

For $3.93, couldn't pass it up!

Using pliers, I yanked out all the clock stuff. Then I bought a five-inch round mirror from Michael's for just $1.99.

I kept going back and forth on what color to paint this, and at one point I had considered mixing up a custom color and brushing it on, but there is just no way I was going to get my brush in all those nooks without it taking foooorreeevveerrr. So, I went with basic white. I know, it's boring, but just wait until you see the finished piece!

Ta da!! Using my hot glue gun, I adhered the mirror inside the space where the clock face had been.

I just love it.
I took this shot so you could get an idea of size/scale. The mirror itself is small, only 5 inches in diameter, but the swirling all around it is just the right size. Any bigger, and I think it would be overwhelming.

It definitely belongs on a brightly-colored wall, as the color showing through all the negative space is AWESOME and looks amazing against the white.

And a final reminder of how it looked in its "before" state:

Sew a Sash Tutorial

2011-03-15T11:56:00.005-05:00

I have a really simple sewing and painting project to share! You see, I hosted a bachelorette party for my dearest future sister-in-law this past weekend, and when I was shopping for things to adorn her with on her special night of shenanigans, I was so unhappy with all the cheap-looking and cheesy bachelorette sashes I found. They were just generic ones like so: I mean, that's fine and all, but I wanted to personalize one for my future sis. So, I took to the internets and tried googling around for a free sash pattern so I could sew my own from home. Turns out, that is HARD to find.

So.

I made a pattern myself. Out of paper. Like so:

And then I was able to translate that to fabric. I cut out two strips of red fabric that were 5" wide and approximately 34" long.

Then, I set one strip on top of the other at a slight angle, which would make it the top that rests on her shoulder. I pinned it and sewed, then cut away the excess fabric.
To make the two strips converge on the bottom, I overlapped them again and pinned, sewed with my machine, and cut away excess fabric so it came to a point as well.

Then I knew I had to put some special art on the front. You see, a portion of the bach party took place at the Blues vs. Redwings hockey game, and since my sister-in-law is obsessed with the Redwings, I knew I wanted to personalize the sash with this in mind.

I found the Redwings logo online and printed it out in a couple different sizes. The red fabric was just sheer enough that I was able to put the printed-out logo underneath and trace it with a sharpie. Then -- you might not believe this -- I used white house paint to paint on "BRIDE" and a Redwings logo on each side of that:

The paint bled through the fabric, so the key was to put a piece of junky cardboard underneath. That first paint application dried clear-looking, since it went through to the other side, but once it dried, I was able to paint on a second coat that made it dry much darker.

So, there you have it. Christina absolutely loved her sash and it matched her Redwings jersey + bachelorette veil perfectly. :)

Side view, where you can see how the bottom came to a point:

The best part is that I just so happened to have red fabric, red thread and white paint, so this project cost me zero dollars, and it's something she can keep forever.

Bad Blogger Version 2.0 x infinity

2011-03-10T13:59:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe one person can suck so hard at blogging, but it's a fact: I have been SO TERRIBLE lately. I just don't have time or motivation or money to do anything incredible or fancy or wonderful lately. So, instead of showing you something that I've done, I'll show you a whole lot of things that I'm currently drooling over.

Proceed with caution, these things are pretty fabulous.

1) I so badly want two of these Ikea Stockholm easy chairs but for $299 each, one to replace the two yucky blue chairs in my sitting room.

If I weren't so afraid that my cats would instantly dirty up white chairs, I might even go for these from Pier 1:
2) The adorableness and fantastic shape of these needle-felted blooms make me want these right now (from etsy seller berryisland):

3) Oh, West Elm Window Headboard... you are calling to me.

4) And so is the West Elm Lorimer Sofa: 5) I've had my eye on this print from quite some time:
6) And ever since I saw this on etsy, I've wanted to try to make one! How incredible is this mobile (etsy seller theshophouse)?

7) Again, with cats, putting a white rug down would be risky, but just look at C&B's Remy White Rug that I want oh-so-badly:

8) Pretty much obsessed with this pillow, or any other pillow cover in kainkain's shop:

I Have a Newfound Respect for Lumberjacks

2011-02-24T08:10:00.003-06:00

Well guys, I did it. I polled you last November & asked whether I should chop down my backyard tree and you all basically said DO IT! So I listened.

And let me tell you, it SUCKED.

A refresher: the tree is (was?) a Japanese Maple. It will never ever ever grow to be big and tall and out-of-the-way. It was harboring weeds and bunnies underneath. It snagged my lawn mower and just generally pissed me off. This is what it looked like in the Spring:
This is how it looked as of last Saturday morning:

The weather was gorgeous (ie, upper 50s in mid-Feb.). I was feeling cooped up and needed to let off some energy, so it seemed like the perfect day to chop up some shit.

I came up with a plan, a vision for my backyard. You see, the City of St. Louis just put this new lovely recycling dumpster in the alley behind my house. A nice wonderful thing to have now, yes, but an eyesore. So. My landscaping priorities are to chop down the tree, grow grass back over it, and then plant bushes or something in that little alcove in front of the dumpster. That part will come later.
To start, I was able to pull off its branches without any tools. I cut the crap out of my hands and arms, however, and was incredibly stupid for not wearing gloves. Lesson learned.

Next came the grueling task of cutting down the trunk. With only a hand-held serrated landscaping knife, this took FOR-EV-ER.
Even Kevin got in on it:
FINALLY.

Next, I knew we would need to hack into the stump and try to remove as much of the roots as possible, so that we could throw dirt over the top in the hopes of re-growing grass in this general area.

The tree did not like this plan. I even went to Lowe's and purchased a freaking HATCHET. Although the hatchet + serrated tree knife DID do some damage, it quickly became clear that the stump would need to be removed by one of these other methods:
a) a couple sticks of dynamite
b) a tank yanking it out of the ground with heavy chains
c) a mega chain saw
d) magic

Seeing as how we did not have access to any of the above, Kevin instead used what we DID have..... FIRE:

I am pretty sure my husband just wanted to play with lighter fluid and fire, and oh did he play. He added charcoal, dried sticks as kindling, etc. His vision was to dry out the stump then easily hack it away.

My husband was crazy enough to try chopping at it AS it was on fire. MEN.

It took so much energy and so we put out the fire and resolved to resume the project another day.

So, alas, here is how the pathetic tree stump looks as of today:
This is far from over. As soon as the blisters and cuts heal on our hands.... as soon as we re-gather our energy.. and as soon as we catch another warm weather weekend.... this stump is toast.

Spontaneous Plate Project

2011-02-19T11:56:00.002-06:00

Saw this plate + circular wire holder at Salvation Army for $1.49 and had to pick it up because there was potential there.

The backside of the plate had two holes drilled with a hanging wire looped through, so this could definitely be put on the wall without the nail showing.
The original combination of old granny rose plate with the more modern wire holder struck me as quite weird, so I had to make those flowers disappear. I popped the plate out, spray-painted it white, then used a black Sharpie to make this symmetrical circles/dots pattern in the middle. Popped the finished plate back in and voila:

Close-up.....

And now it's hanging in my bedroom above my husband's dresser.
Cheap. Simple. Cheap. Different. Kinda fun. :)

Blue Is Better

2011-02-13T20:25:00.003-06:00

After settling on painting the window alcove a beigy tan, I got to Home Depot last Friday and realized.... I just couldn't do it. I couldn't put tan in my bedroom. So I fretted for at least 20 minutes and settled on a blue color, Gulf Winds, by Behr paint.

I opened the can at home and thought I had made a terrible mistake, the color looked so pastel blue.
But luckily, it dried much darker and I LOVE it.

It's just the perfect darkness of blue, like it's in the same family as the green that was already on the walls.
So here you have it, a before and after. I am glad I went with my gut and resisted the tan. It's just not who I am. :)

You Have Got to be Effing Kidding

2011-02-08T10:10:00.003-06:00

Last night I dug out the can of green master bedroom paint from my basement and stirred it like crazy, being careful not to make the same mistake as I did in my lavender office. I was going to paint the alcove to match the rest of the bedroom. Only...... I encountered a problem.

Is it normal for paint to change in color so drastically over just one year? Because it has been only 15 months since I used it, and it went on an entirely different green. It's now like a candy apple color, as opposed to a pale moss. Here, you can see a small blotch over the original color:

Argh!!!!!

Look above the window, and compare that to the wall behind the blue bookcase. Totally different colors.
:(

Once again, damn you Valspar! You are officially on my shit list.

I'm going to stop by Home Depot after work today and pick up a small can of something along these lines, a medium brownish tan. And then I'm DONE. Done with this damn window alcove!!

I think I like this one best, Behr's "Woven Straw":

Or should I go balls out and do a CRAZY color? Blue? Purple? Seriously. Am I losing my mind? Probably.

Drama in the Window

2011-02-07T10:02:00.006-06:00

When we moved into our house and painted our master bedroom, we left this window alcove untouched because it had the potential for great drama, but we just didn't know what to do with it then. Truthfully, I'm still not convinced I'm taking it in the right direction....

Yesterday, I spontaneously got the idea to do something about the white trim - take it to a dark brown to tie in with the thick dark wooden baseboards and to mirror the gorgeous double french doors across the room.

It was just so boring:

The windows are original to the house, 80 years old, and when I chipped away paint I found the wood's condition to be really poor. Meaning, it wouldn't be worthwhile to spend all the time stripping the white paint, staining the wood, etc.

Also, I present to you evidence of supreme jackassness. Whoever painted the white trim obviously didn't use painter's tape and have ruined a lot of the trim throughout the house by getting paint on the wood. Ugh, so much white paint on the glass and iron bars of the window:

GRR!

So here is one last "before" shot:

I used my fantastic Scotch painter's tape:

And ta da! Brown.

Already, much better.

But I did not stop there. Using a flat brush and my fingers, I applied black paint to give the wood dimension and to darken it so it would better match the baseboards. Also, think about it this way: when you apply foundation to your face, it makes everything look flat and cartoonish. Only when you contour and brighten things up with blush does the face really seem lifelike. That's kind of what I wanted to do here with the black paint.

Here you can see the just-brown trim on the right. On the left, however, (it's still wet) the black darkens the brown but also provides somewhat the look of wood stain.

I worked with the natural wood texture, too, so this looks like stain:

Okay, the black is still wet but you can at least get an idea of what I mean:

And that little bit of green is from my dad, who thought we were painting the alcove green and got stopped, hehe.

I love it so much. I have to fix a few spots with some black paint, but otherwise, the trim is near complete.
So next, I'll be painting the niche the same green as the other walls. Boring? Maybe. Probably. But WAY better than no paint and white window trim. Stay tuned for that reveal!!

Bad Blogger

2011-02-03T15:44:00.007-06:00

Seasonal affective disorder... the winter blues... I think I have something along these lines.... because every winter, I become way more withdrawn, lazy, and I lose interest in the things that normally energize me. Such as creating art. And taking photographs. And even reading. I haven't been reading much lately.

I mean, I have been doing SOME things, but I just generally don't feel like accomplishing much. I think that's why sitting in front of a movie, or having a Dexter re-run marathon day and embroidering on the couch is so appealing. It requires little energy, and yet allows me to create. No house projects, no major furniture rehabs, just lots of simple projects that can be done while sitting on my ass. Like sewing/embroidering.

These photos are all terrible, and for that, I'm sorry. :/ But at least you can get an idea of what I've been doing! I haven't been totally worthless.

If you'll remember my $2 "I love country" 'art' that I bought from Goodwill... well... I ripped all that shit out and stretched my own black fabric and used white thread to create a city series within the wooden hoop. I know people probably would look at this etsy listing and think "$75?!" But the truth is, this took me about 8 hours to hand-sew. EIGHT HOURS.

I have also been sewing a few things for the shop in St. Louis where I consign, Peridot. It is simply amazing and there are pics on its Facebook page so you should check those out. And if you live in the STL area, you should go in person and scope it out. But anyway, I recently turned over four hoops to Peridot:

"Suck it" and "Be nice or leave" are not original by any means, but I had fun making them.

Plus those two other flower ones.

AND, like forever ago, I ordered some things through spoonflower, such as this 18x18 reprint of my "Swirling Garden" drawing. On my snow day this past Tuesday, I got out my sewing machine and made a pillow cover with it, and I love how it turned out, except I cannot figure out why the seams are pulling strangely in certain areas, any ideas?? The corners seem to be especially problematic. Or is that normal??

And one last belated project to show you.... one of the vases I upcycled/painted and gave away as a Christmas present. This one went to my mom.

Again, sorry for such shitty photos. :(

I hate hate hate being in a funk. Is anyone else out there feeling kind of "blah" these days?? How do you pull yourself out of it!? Or, if you're NOT in a funk but have, instead, been super productive and creative, what kind of projects have you been tackling? Maybe if I hear about how awesome the rest of the blog world is doing, it will help kick my butt into gear.....
Here's hoping!

Upcycling At Its Best

2011-01-20T10:56:00.002-06:00

Remember these beauties?

UPCYCLED:

P.S. If you don't hear from me for a while, it's because Lily has mauled me to death in my sleep.

My Own Personal Yellena Gallery

2011-01-19T08:49:00.002-06:00

Considering my normal lazy approach to DIY projects, I'm still rather surprised by the effort I put into this one. It must mean I wanted it to look seriously good.

:)

In my last post I told you I had been buying frames at Goodwill, and like forever ago I bought these three Yellena James prints:

I finally got around to framing and hanging them! And I knew the perfect spot to display them. I combined these three with the one print of hers that I initially bought, and lined the four of them up against the short wall in my bedroom.

Since I don't own that chalk string device where you can snap a straight chalk line onto your wall, I had to be resourceful: I leveled my cat's string on the wall (hah!). You see, I wanted to line up the upper edge of each frame along that line.

Then I did the trick where you cut out newspaper to match each frame size:

And I indicated on the newspaper where the picture hanger hooks were for each frame, and nailed them to the wall accordingly:
You then yank down the newspaper and hang each respective frame in its place. Not perfectly aligned, but MUCH better than if I had just eye-balled it:

I also switched up this little nook in my bedroom by hanging that print to the lefthand side of the window and moving all my memoirs onto that built-in shelf going along the wall. I love the asymmetrical feel to this side of the bedroom.

And I love that I've finally got this art up on my wall!

Latest Thrifted Finds

2011-01-16T14:01:00.002-06:00

I haven't done a post like this in quite some time, where I show a bunch of photos of my latest thrifted finds, so I'll do that since I really don't have much else to blog about. :/

I bought this 5" embroidered cat hoop at Goodwill for $1:

I instantly ripped off that country lace crap and now, it's kind of kitschy cute:
Oh don't worry, there's more! These are larger hoops (one 8", one 10"), and I paid $2 for each. I can rip off the lace and re-use the hoops. I mean, I was tempted to keep them as is and hang them in a prominent spot in my home...... ;)

A goose in a basket? Who DOESN'T need one of those?

I've been compiling lots of frames lately because I have a good project up my sleeve.
Eeeee these tiny silver bud vases are so adorable! Scored from Salvation Army at $.69/each.
Another Salvation Army purchase - these two wall tiles for $1. They have a picture hanger hook glued to the back so I've got them hung in my downstairs hallway:

This thing is just so weird and wonderful. It was $1 at an estate sale. It's like a metal flower sculpture thing? I just think it's so unique:
FINALLY I found my very own Matryoshka dolls! $5 from a garage sale over the summer.

I PROMISE I shall bring you some better posts soon. Found any good thrifty items yourself lately????

ScotchTape Winners and an ETSY GIVEAWAY

2011-01-10T10:14:00.003-06:00

Ok, I know I've been taking care of lots of business lately, so I promise to get to some fun projects very soon. I've closed comments in the ScotchTape giveaway, and have randomly chosen my 16 winners:

I tried to email the winners if I could access an email address - but if you haven't heard from me, please email me at hennesseyhouseblog AT gmail DOT come with your name, mailing address and email, and I'll pass along your info to Scotch Tape so you can get your free roll of painter's tape asap.

The winners are:

Ashley at Le Mieux; Jen from EggsOverMedium; The Thing About Daisies; Mrs V. from On The V Side; Ashley from A Tale of Two Taylors; Brooke from Claremont Road; Fezfactiry; Macy Dawn; Leah at Storybook Ranch; Jen from Casa de Cowen; Katy; Emily H. Mary A.; MerrittTimes; Shaw byM&B; and Joline.

And also, be sure to check out Megan's blog, A Little Knick Knack, to enter a giveaway for a chance to win some of my artwork. HERE is where you enter. Good luck! :)

A Rewiew AND A ScotchBlue™ Painter's Tape GIVEAWAY

2011-01-05T08:48:00.004-06:00

When the people at Scotch tape approached me about reviewing their new ScotchBlue™ Painter's Tape with Edge-Lock™ Paint Line Protector, I was admittedly skeptical. I have used several kinds of tape before with all similar results: sometimes the paint gets under the edge and bleeds, and sometimes it doesn't. I have even spent serious cash on frog tape, which is considered the best among many DIYers, but I wasn't completely impressed with that even.

So I thought, sure, send me some Scotch tape, what the heck, I'll give it a try.
You can imagine my surprise, then, when I received this wonderful kit full of painting goodness:
A personalized note, plus all the essential tools: TAPE, rollers in two sizes, a brush for cutting in, paint trough, sample paint and even this fantastic book for ideas on putting the painter's tape to use.

After purchasing lavender paint, I began taping the office. I had two door frames, giant double windows, and baseboards around the entire perimeter to tape off, and I made sure to run my fingernail over the edge as I laid the tape down. THIS IS KEY - I HAD to really get the edge down.

I was too lazy to tape off the ceiling, and it wouldn't have mattered because the previous homeowners got that buttery cream color on the ceiling anyway, so I'll probably end up painting the ceiling white someday.

I used my brush to get right up into the edges there, and I waited until the paint was dry before pulling it off.

CHECK OUT THAT STRAIGHT LINE, YOU GUYS:

The purple paint edge might not look straight because of that other, older paint on the door frame, but I assure you, I was SHOCKED and really pleasantly surprised to find perfectly straight edges almost everywhere I had the tape down. Now, I must be honest, on the parts that I didn't press the tape down hard, paint did bleed under a little bit, or in spots where the frame wasn't straight (if, say, there was a bubble of plaster or older dried paint).... but for the most part, I can say that this is THE BEST PAINTER'S TAPE I've ever used.

And I also want to be clear that I have not been paid, bribed, or threatened ;) to say so. This is my honest review. I LOVED working with this stuff.

With that said, Scotch Tape has asked me to host a giveaway of 16 rolls of their ScotchBlue™ Painter's Tape with Edge-Lock™ Paint Line Protector. So, how might you win a roll of tape?

Simply leave a comment and tell me how/where you'd put Scotch painter's tape to use. That's it! So have at it, let's hear those ideas......

A Freaking Helpful Paintint Tip

2010-12-30T08:22:00.002-06:00

BEFORE DOING ANY PAINTING, ALWAYS STIR YOUR PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Tuesday I decided to paint my office. So I headed to Lowe's and picked out the color "Livid Violet" by Valspar. [Seriously, I dare you to not be seduced by that splendid name.]

I got home and started taping and cutting in with the brush, literally just 20 minutes after the paint color was mixed up for me and shaken at Lowe's. So I figured, it was sufficiently stirred, so naturally, I shouldn't have to do it!

But when I poured my paint in the roller container thing, I noticed it was swirly, so I stirred it then (not even thinking that would effect anything. Oh how stupid.).

This was taken as the paint was drying, so I had no reason to believe that the walls, which were rolled on, wouldn't dry as dark as the edges.

WRONG.

This picture is terrible. The lighting is off, the things inside the office are messy, but you can really see the noticeable contrast of rolled-on parts and where I cut in with the un-stirred paint.

I do not have the energy to go back and re-paint all those edges. So I'm leaving it.... for now. It looks terrible. And I cringe every single time I look at it.

I really would kick my own ass if I could. :/

Embroidery As Art

2010-12-16T22:17:00.009-06:00

Embroidered "pictures" inside embroidery hoops themselves are becoming such a huge trend lately, and I must say, it is one I support!

For a while, the trend was to hang the embroidery hoops with beautiful patterned fabrics stretched inside, like these:

That makes a really cool statement, but I love the fact that artists and sewers are personalizing compositions such as these:

Wow, this one is incredible, a true work of art (with the $250 price tag to prove it!):
That giraffe CRACKS me up.

Here is where I out myself as a 5-year-old in the body of a 27-year-old. Yes, I bought this awesome and hilarious and spectacular embroidered piece of wonderfulness:

So when I was in Goodwill this week, I saw a 10" embroidery hoop for a buck and snagged it, thinking I'd give this whole trend a shot.

I got home and found some solid gray fabric to stretch inside the hoop.
Thank GOD I was an avid friendship-bracelet-maker as a kid, and that I saved all that thread... luckily I had a ton of colors left and just went to town. No pattern, no set idea in mind. I just started sewing......

Eeeeee!! I am so so pleased with how this is going!!

Dudes, I have never embroidered in my life. I am just winging it.
Is the backside supposed to look like this???

And yes, of course, I am rocking some swirls in there.
This is not a finished product, but when I do wrap up my first piece, I'll be sharing it here of course.

This has been SO SO fun! It is a stress-relieving, mindless activity and it's something I am quickly becoming OBSESSED with. Go find some hoops, colorful embroidery thread and go to town. Need inspiration? This blog [Feeling Stitchy] is wonderful! Or, if you don't want to sew them yourself, there are lots of wonderful etsy artists who are filling their shops with them!!

Christmas Decor around Hennessey House

2010-12-09T10:01:00.004-06:00

Despite growing up in a house that practically became a gorgeous museum come Christmas-time (thanks to the decorating skills of my mother), I keep holiday decor pretty low-key in the Hennessey household. You would think I would have inherited some of my mother's fervor, but it just isn't the case.

I don't own that many Christmas decorations, and what I do own was either bought on sale after past Christmases, or was purchased from cheap-o places like the dollar store or Big Lots.

Here is what my mantle had looked like before:

And with some garland, colored lights, stocking hangers, berry sprigs and silver trees on either end:
Super simple.

Oh TJ Maxx holiday clearance stockings, how I love you. We even have two tiny ones for the kittens.

And my Christmas tree is nothing special, either. A pre-lit fake one I got on Black Friday years ago. The cats LOVE THE TREE. If there are no presents underneath, they'd hang out there for hours. And the tree skirt is actually one my mom hand-made when she was pregnant with me 27 years ago, so it has mega sentimental value. It may not be the most modern or snazzy tree skirt, but I do love it.

Lily and Conn ''helping'' with the ornament hanging......

Some of my favorites:

We don't hang tinsel, or wrap the tree in strands of beads or ribbon or anything fancy at all.

And this year, my presents are wrapped in silver, light blue and light green paper. Loving it!

And arow of santa penguins on the entry-way table. :)

I moved a couple of things from my mantle to the buffet in the dining room, as well as added some new gifts from my wonderful aunts, and I must say, I am loving this set-up:

Overall, my holiday decorations are pretty boring, Maybe I'll get the energy to go way more crazy with it next year. :)

P.S. It is my secret dream to be able to do a black, white and silver Christmas tree and decor, but that would require a LOT of energy, plus a lot of money to invest in all new stuff.

CSN Stores Review

2010-12-06T14:50:00.006-06:00

Although I was initially considering purchasing a light fixture, rug or shelving unit for the mancave with my most recent CSN Stores credit, I ended up going in a totally different direction and ordered this paper organizer for my office:
Now that it has been delivered, assembled and utilized for a few days, I’ve prepared a lengthy review, broken down by category.

Payment: A+. Easy. I was given a $45 credit, and since the shelf was $67.99, I was responsible for the $22.99 difference. I was able to cover that from my paypal account so it was quick and simple.

Shipping: A+. Free shipping was an instant advantage. Although at checkout I was told it could take 8-10 business days, I received it after just three days, so shipping was free AND fast. It was delivered by UPS so they would have been able to track it, too. It was packaged well, very protected, so everything arrived in perfect condition.

Trueness to image/description as listed on the website: A. The measurements are all correct, and the color of the wood laminate in real life is very true to what is pictured on the site.

Ease of Assembly: C. The unit came with four wood laminate pieces and cardboard shelves for the interior, with wooden dowels and nails as the hardware. Gauging by how little or much I curse, I can generally tell you how simple or difficult assembly is..... and let me just tell you, I would have made a sailor blush trying to put this thing together - thus, assembly was TRICKY. It wasn't difficult, things just kept going wrong and breaking. As you'll read below, I had problems with every part of this thing.

Quality: F. This is where I have MAJOR, major issues. Given only 4 rectangles of long lamanited wood and pre-glued dowels (that I had to dip in water to activate the glue), it should have been easy to assemble the basic square frame. This was not the case. To get the dowels to fit into the pre-drilled holes, I had to use a rubber mallet, which caused damage every single time. Let me be clear that I was not using excessive force, nor was I missing my target causing me to break the wooden pieces. I was hitting the wood with very reasonable force, and yet, the wood split each time and the cheap, crappy laminate peeled away from the cheap, crappy particle board.

In one case, the wooden dowel caused the outside of the wooden piece to pop up. Very, very unattractive:
Also, as you can see from the picture above, the two pieces of wood have a space in between them, and because the dowel pushed up a part of the piece, there is no way to make these two slats come together without pushing up that bubble even more.

Then when it came time to put the actual cardboard shelves in, I was incredibly disappointed in the quality of the cardboard, too. It kept bending to fit into the slots. The whole point of this piece was to have flat shelves to store paper on, and if the cardboard has a crease in it from where it has bent, well it’s no longer perfectly flat. Also, the piece is NOT very sturdy. I am frankly appalled that this piece of crap unit is priced at $67, and quite honestly having to pay $23 of my own money feels like I spent too much on this.

My verdict: D. The ease of online payment, fast shipment and trueness to its online picture are factors that prevented me from assigning this overall experience with an F. Let me be very clear that I think CSN Stores is positive to deal with, but this really really tainted my opinion of the quality of their products. Although I might purchase dishes or other simple home decor things from them in the future, I would never buy a piece of furniture that I had to assemble myself, regardless of the brand’s manufacturer, and regardless of any positive reviews associated with a particular item on their site.
On the website, this particular unit had 4 out of 5 stars from one reviewer, and that obviously ended up being very different from my experience. From afar, the unit looks okay. But it's NOT sturdy, and an up-close inspection would reveal flaws at every corner.

If CSNStores approached me with another giveaway or review opportunity, I would turn it down. I think I am finished shopping with them. But this is just MY experience, and I know several other people who have had positive experiences with their products and customer service.

Inexpensive Upcycled Holiday Gift Idea

2010-12-05T09:29:00.003-06:00

Are you working with a tight budget this holiday season, and looking to make inexpensive personalized gifts? I have a suggestion for you!

It involves scoping out your nearest thrift store for simple vases and a few craft supplies.

I started with these 3 vases, which cost me a total of $7 for all of them. I will use the white vessel as my example for this post, since I transformed the other 2 into gifts that I will actually give, and I don't want to spoil the surprise in case the gift receivers read the blog. :)

Since I didn't care for the color of the red and coral vase, I primed and spray-painted them a different color. Here they are with a coat of primer:

But with my white container, I left it alone. As is, it was the perfect blank canvas:

For $3.99 a piece, I invested in several Sharpie oil paint markers. You can get a wide range of tip sizes, and the one I'm working with here is an extra fine point since I wanted to be able to draw a lot of little details.
I started drawing a swirling design all over the vase.......
And once I was finished, I sealed it with this very handy spray glaze, which I found at Michael's for $6.99.

Finished:

This one, I'm keeping, but I've finished the other two vases and will be gifting them. Yesterday I hit up Goodwill and came home with three more vases and I plan to transform them as well.

If you're not artistically inclined, it's even easy to do a very simple mod design on a vase or plate. And because you can buy paint markers with bigger tips, you can also go for a much bigger design, like a vine with big leaves or the zig-zag one below:
So there you have it. Are you giving any personalized DIY presents this holiday season??

Sarah's Holiday Gift Guide

2010-12-02T09:07:00.002-06:00

I did some browsing on etsy and amazon, and here are some fantastic things I stumbled upon....

Some jewelry gift ideas:

1. $40 + $4 shipping -Blossom with bronze stamens Ring
2. $30 + $1 shipping - Custom Hand Stamped Mother's Necklace with Birthstones - Two Names (I purchased one of these for my mother-in-law from this seller and she has been so great - wonderful communication, quick-turnaround, fast shipping ... couldn't recommend her enough!)
3. $24 + $3 shipping - Linked Square Necklace

4. $18 + $2 shipping - Sterling Silver Earrings with Cobalt Blue Glass Tube Beads

5. $9 + $2 shipping - Origami Paper Leaf Earrings
6. $19 + $7 shipping - Sterling Silver Initial Ring

7. $12.50 + $4 shipping - Intricate vintage metal necklace (I love this seller!)
8. $16 + $1.50 shipping - Silver Wiredflower Earrings

For the home:

1. $8 + $1.75 shipping - Stuffed Ornament - Matryoshka Doll

2. $45 + $9 shipping - Set of 4 Square Black and White Bowls

3. $22 + $3 shipping - "Sunshine" 8x10 Print by virginiakraljevic

4. $17.50 + $4.50 shipping - Black and White Floral Pillow Cover

5. $35 + $7 shipping - mod pot with porcelain flowers

6. $36 + $19 shipping - Vintage Window Door Shabby Chic

7. $25 + $4 shipping - Black & White Flora - napkin set
8. $20 + $4 shipping - Set of 4 Collecting Clouds sized 4x6 Without Frames (SevenOlives is such a lovely seller - if you don't like these, check out her custom dog portraits, they are TOO cute!)
9. [for $89 + $9 shipping, I would never buy this but I think it's fantastic and you could make a cheap replica!]

10. $21.50 + $5 shipping - Sweet Leaves - Red and Teal Fabric Branches (set of 3)

11. $35 + $9.90 - "The Woodland" Limited Edition11.5 x 8 Giclee print

12. $12 + $3 shipping - Pair Of Mid Century Bud Vases

I LOVE giving books as gifts, and here are some of my favorites that I've read in the past year. I am a major memoir junkie, so a lot of these are memoirs, and yes some are sad, but they're so good!
1. "Three Cups of Tea" By David Relin and Greg Mortenson - a true story about a man who builds schools in Pakistan - unbelievable.
2. "Lucky" by Alice Sebold - this is a major, heavy memoir - about Sebold's rape. While it's a serious topic, the writing is beyond beautiful and the story will compel you to appreciate your life all the more.
3. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen - such a well-written and fascinating novel!
4. "Swallow the Ocean" by Laura Flynn - among the top 5 memoirs I've ever read, the story of a pair of sisters raised by a schizophrenic mother. So interesting and beautiful.
5. "Blackbird" (and also "Still Waters"!) by Jennifer Lauck - uhm, unbelievable childhood story here. Brilliant writing.
6. "Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can Be Really Distracting" by Meredith Norton - hands down the funniest book I've read all year. This is a true gem.
7. "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls - this memoir is in my top 3 favorite books of all time, and undeniably my favorite memoir. I laughed, I teared up, I fell in love with the brilliant writing!
8. "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggars - hilarious, heart-wrenching, so smart!

And book ideas for those who love decor, DIY, or crafts:

1. "The Big-Ass Boook of Crafts" :)
2. "Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens"
3. "One-Yard Wonders"
4. "Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts"
5. "Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum"
6. "4000 Flower and Plant Motifs" - I have another book in this series, and for anyone who draws or designs, these books are insanely helpful, 384 pages of pure inspiration!!
7. "[The Nest] Home Design" - I own this book and it's just beautiful to look at.
8. "Sew Everything Workshop"
9. "Black and Decker's The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair"

Happy shopping! And in my next post, I'll show you how I've decorated for the holidays.

New Dining Room Lighting

2010-11-28T08:03:00.005-06:00

So, I had been agonizing over what to purchase with my CSN Stores credit, and I had literally come within seconds of buying a chandelier online when I backed off. SUPER glad I did! Because I stumbled upon a new thrift store this past Black Friday and bought something far cheaper than what I had been considering.

Take one last look at this guy:

Because here is his $15 replacement. Yep, FIFTEEN DOLLARS. If you wanted to buy just the four glass globes at, say, a Goodwill, that could cost you $12 alone.

First thing's first, as always, my new purchase needed kitty approval.
Done.
To spray-paint the chandelier itself, I unscrewed each glass globe.

The thrift store guy joked that "the dust was free" with the chandelier, and holy shit, there was an abundance of it:
I wiped down the metal parts with a damp paper towel and that removed most of the dust, and for the four glass globes, I used a washcloth in warm water and dish soap, and that got rid of the dust there.

To paint the metal part, I hung it from a rafter in my basement. This worked well, since I could spin the chandelier to make sure I covered every last inch with paint. I primed it first, then completed the paint-job with Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze. I had been considering a silver chandelier, but realized the rest of the fixtures throughout the house are that dark bronze color, so for consistency's sake, I went with the darker paint. (So glad I did!)

What a freaking world of a difference the new color makes:
So then, yesterday afternoon, I asked my dad to come over and help with the actual instillation. To really drive home my point, let's look at how awful the old globes were, especially in comparison to the new, more modern ones:

FIRST THING WE DID: FIND THE APPROPRIATE BREAKER FOR THE DINING ROOM ELECTRICITY AND TURN IT OFF.

To make its removal easier, I took down as many detachable parts from the ceiling fan:

Then my father performed some kind of magic and skill that I didn't understand.

He got the old fan down, leaving exposed wires. Again, with the magic, he knew how to twist the wires, cap and protect them with electric tape and got the medallion and chandelier cap screwed securely back up to the ceiling. He wins!!!

One thing I had never noticed with the ceiling fan is that the medallion is not truly centered in the room. To get our table directly under the new light, we had to shift it closer to the hutch, leaving a bigger walking path near our dining room windows.

To finish off this project, I'll have to shift the ceiling medallion so the chandelier cap is centered, but that's pretty much it!

I must say, had it not been for a recent thrifting adventure with my friend Aleta, I would have never even considered buying a used pendant or chandelier. And I also must thank my husband and our friend Curtis for their help in this installation, because it is NOT fun and NOT easy holding a heavy metal chandelier above your head for many minutes on end, like they did.

Fifteen dollars, friend. That's infinitely better than this one for $108, or this guy for $125, or even this snazzy business for $350. There is almost NOTHING you can't buy used, and there is almost NOTHING that can't be made better by spray paint.

And I must wrap up this lengthy post by saying that, while my dad is not a licensed electrician, he has learned how to perform magic under the guidance of an one, plus he is endlessly handy, so he knows what he's doing. If you are not sure how to cross wires and all that crazy stuff, absolutely be sure to get the help of a trained professional. That is all. :)

(I'm thinking about painting the ceiling medallion because it's a tad off-white and looks blah, but that is for later. Right now, I'm just enjoying my new fixture which has brought this room into the 21st century.)

The "Tree" -- WWHGTVD?

2010-11-25T08:19:00.005-06:00

I'm having issues......

It's the stupid dwarf-like Japanese Maple in the middle of our backyard:

This picture ^ is pretty much how our backyard looks now, yes all the grass is practically dead. But if you need to be reminded of how overgrown the (grass and) Japanese Maple gets during the Spring, well here you go:

Because it grows so low to the ground, it is such a pain in the ass to mow or even weed-wack around it. And you can't really tell from the pictures, but the ground is somewhat recessed around the base of the tree, so it collects leaves, weeds, and is a haven for bunnies.

It is my opinion that the tree is just dumb. I want to hack it down and try to level out the yard right there, maybe plant a REAL tree that will actually grow TALL more toward the back fenceline.

What would you do?

What would HGTV do????

One more picture for good measure.....

Feel free to vote, or leave other ideas in the comments!!

What should be the shrub's fate?

Shameless Etsy Self-Promo!

2010-11-24T17:37:00.003-06:00

Just in case you would be interested, I'm offering 15% off every item in my etsy shop if you use the coupon codeTHANKFUL4SWIRLS11231 upon checkout. And if you aren't interested, but know someone who might be, please feel free to pass this along. It's only good through the evening of Black Friday!

:)

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday Shopping, everyone!!!

Another CSNstore Review Coming Your Way

2010-11-22T15:01:00.004-06:00

Happy Monday! I am incredibly lucky, as I have been asked to do another CSN Store review. In case you haven’t heard of them, they're a fantastic company with over 200 online stores where you can find anything from outdoor swingsets to tv tables or even stylish shoes. I'm absolutely amazed by what you can discover by browsing their sites.

Knowing that I could pick literally just about anything for my house, I decided to go with something practical, an item that I’ve been wanting/needing for quite some time. I've narrowed it down to three categories and would love to hear any opinions!

FIRST NEED: New lighting above our dining room table.
This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea..... our current shiny wooden fan with country-etched glass, yuck:

Something ultra modern and simple and sleek would be my dream, along these lines:

But $538 is way outta the budget.

So I'm looking more along these lines, leaning more toward this first one:

But I have no clue, I think they're all so cool.

It would be my ultimate dream to do something dramatic on the ceiling, using paint and molding like this, when the final light fixture is chosen:

NEED NUMBER TWO: Shelving.

One possibility would be this square unit for the corner in our upstairs bathroom, since we have no closet for towels up there, and are currently using an outdated wobbly shelf. This would be a huge improvement:

Shelving for the man-cave is also needed. These are some pieces I've been eying, and I think they are all spectacular and stylish:

I'm loving this one, and because it will be partially over a heating/cooling vent in the floor, it's ideal to have space beneath the bottom shelf like this one:
THIRD NEED: Area rugs!
In the size 5'3" x 7'7" this could be fun under the dining room table:

I would even be crazy enough to try a rug like this under the dining room table, 5x8:

Gah, so many decisions!!! I need help!! Are you thinking anything in particular should be my choice?!?

Coffee Table Swap

2010-11-18T16:33:00.003-06:00

I present to you...... my new $10 coffee table.

While, yes, I had recently expressed an interest in procuring a more retro style (Danish modern) coffee table, I simply couldn't pass up this one. Actually, when I walked in to the Salvation Army (on Cherokee Street, for you St. Louis readers), I spotted the table and thought "okay, that could be something good..." and as I got closer and saw the $9.99 price tag, I couldn't resist. The table is structurally sound, and although it had a few scratches in the top, and I wasn't too find of the medium blond color, those were things I could fix.

Instead of typing out the steps on how I transformed this piece, I'll refer you to this post or this one in case you were wondering what my staining process is. I used the same dark walnut color I've used for all of my staining projects, and once that was sufficiently dry, I applied three coats of polycrylic to really seal in the color and protect the wood.

Last step? Nail on those safe gliding things so the legs don't scratch the wood floors.

And there you have it.
Now I badly need an area rug to really set off the table from the flooring.

$2 Earring Holder

2010-11-11T08:35:00.005-06:00

This is a no-frills project, one that is simple, cheap, and practical. Did I mention CHEAP?

Among the clutter of my studio, I present to you 2 wooden dowel rods that cost me $1 at my local hardware store.

And a large-ish frame that I procured from a garage sale for $1.

So I merely needed to buy a frame and wooden spindle things.

On to some color....
Using acrylic paint I already owned, I mixed up a nice bluish teal color...

And painted my frame.

Once the paint was dry, I measured off and cut the dowel into segments - and because they're skinny enough, I was able to cut them with an x-acto knife. I then used super glue to adhere each end to the inside of the frame:

I know, boring gray. Boring boring boring. But I didn't want anything too crazy going on here, so for the backing of this made-up earring holder, I stretched and stapled a gray fabric, then cut away any excess:

I attached a picture hanger to the back, and VOILA!

Like I said, it's not fancy. It's not going to make you crap your pants from sheer awesomeness. But hey, it gets the job done!! I am now able to hang all of my dangling earrings here.

And most importantly, I still have plenty of room to add more. :)

This weekend, I'll be posting about a new coffee table!! Stupid daylight savings has really messed up my plans on this, so I'll be able to finish by Saturday's day light.

My Latest Favorite Etsy Purchases

2010-10-31T10:31:00.005-05:00

I have just straight-up sucked at blogging here lately! First it was getting slammed with orders in the etsy shop (which was awesome!!), then I took a wonderful five-day vacation to Philadelphia (which was even MORE awesome), and now I'm just trying to catch up with everything.

I promise that in my next post, I'll bring you an actual project, but for now, I've got a few etsy purchases I'm really excited to share with you.

I know I said in my last post that I'm obsessed with jewelry, but I might be equally obsessed with buying art. Here are my latest buys:

This print is called "Trapped" by Rheea, who happens to be one of my favorite etsy sellers.

She lives in Singapore, and her line-work is just beautiful.

The print quality is amazing and the details are insane. It's also a plus that she has free shipping and is wonderful about communicating with her buyers when an item has shipped and when to expect it.

"Trapped" is my second Rheea purchase, as the first one I got months ago is hanging in my sitting room:
I am bummed to see that her etsy shop is on vacation until December, so you'll have to go check her out when she comes back. :)

____________________________________________

Hooray, more art from Yellena James! Remember when I got one of her prints from 20x200 a while back?
Well I lucked out by finding her etsy shop at a time when she had a buy 2 get 1 free sale, so I jumped on that and chose these three:
I plan to mat and frame them and, using the one I already have, create a square of prints above my bed in my master bedroom. I'm on the lookout for frames and hope to be bringing you that finished project soon!!

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Third purchase is from a wonderful, lovely etsy seller named LeiLiLaLoo. She's located in Amsterdam, and this was shipped out to me insanely fast and the art was well protected, which is always appreciated.

The print quality is awesome, and the rest of her shop is ridiculously cute. She was so easy to work with so I highly recommend you go check her out.

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Back to my jewelry obsession, please. :)
I get so many compliments on these earrings it's not even funny. I purchased them from seller RedFaerieBeads, who has been nothing but over-the-top awesome.

These earrings are the perfect size and go with everything, and the customer service provided was unparalleled.

____________________________________________

Can you handle one more piece of jewelry? This necklace comes from seller louloudo, who is located in the UK. I also get so many compliments on this necklace, and have been wearing it a TON lately. Funny story: I had the triangles flipped last week so that the backside, the black side, was showing, and the airport security ID-checker lady said she first thought it was a tattoo across my chest - nice. :) This piece is really light-weight and goes with so many things. AND the piece arrived (from the freaking UK) in THREE DAYS. Simply amazing. :)

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Last, but certainly not least, I bring to you this ADORABLE pink stretchy headband with detachable flower clip from LittleLilyBelle. Got this for my cousin who just had a baby girl, and not gonna lie, it fueled my baby fever by... a lot.

I almost cannot stand the cuteness. :)

Have you noticed how I purchased things from the Netherlands, Singapore, the UK and all over the U.S.? It's pretty phenomenal to me how Etsy allows for this global exchange of amazing creations. It is quite wonderful to be a part of the community, and I'm so happy to support and promote each of these shops. So, go check them out and happy shopping!!

Jewelry Organizing

2010-10-18T15:20:00.002-05:00

I have never really been a clothes-obsessed person. Nor do I really freak out over shoes. Or purses. But jewelry? Now that's my thing.

The necklaces that I wear the most, I had been hanging on two fun little Ikea hooks on my bedroom wall. Shorter necklaces went on the single hook up top, longer necklaces on bottom.
After a serious tangle incident last week, I finally came to my senses and pursued something different at my local Goodwill. I forgot to take a before picture, but I purchased these wooden hook things for a dollar a piece, and spray painted them Oregano green.

You all know I'm not exactly a meticulous measurer, so I just eye-balled these and nailed them to the wall.
Rehung shorter ones on top....

Longer ones back on the bottom.
This is SO much better and leads to far less tangling. Plus I can actually see every necklace that I wear. There were ones in the pile that I forgot I even owned!

Now I need to tackle some kind of project for all of my earrings. It's getting out of control on top of my dresser.

I've been looking at projects like this or this or this, but I'm not sure what to do just yet. Any ideas? Have you done your own earring holder? I'd love to hear about more ideas for inspiration. :)

A Sheeted Window No More

2010-10-14T14:54:00.004-05:00

There are a handful of reasons that I should not have used a giant gray sheet as a curtain in my dining room for the past year. Here are just a few:
- I live in an actual home, not a dorm, or a frat house.
- I have a full-time job and could have afforded curtains at any time.
- I have mis-matched sheets on my bed.
.... it goes on.

Literally for a year, we had this queen-sized sheet draped in front of our three dining room windows.

Last night I was in Target, and I finally took the plunge. I bought two packs of 84" long double panels (for $17.99/each) in crisp white cotton. The look is SO much better than the bed sheet!
Still wrinkly out of the packaging, but you get the idea.

Now, my ultimate goal is to get some black on these curtains, but not by way of dirt or kitten paw prints (the likelier things to happen). Either free-handing a design myself using fabric paint, or some kind of printing method, I really want to eventually get a black design on the lower part of these. I feel inspired by patterns like these:

Yea yea yea, we'll see about that one. For now, I'm just enjoying the sophistication of actual real curtains. :)

(And I'm determined now, more than ever, to replace that ugly country ceiling fan above my table! I think then the dining room will feel complete. For now...)

Purple Post

2010-10-07T20:59:00.003-05:00

Tonight, I bring you two projects involving the fabulous color PURPLE.

Numero uno: a fabric scraps pillow. :)
First I gathered my gray and lavender fabrics:
And cut out circles and leaf shapes, pinning them to a solid purple 12x12 square for my pillow front.
Once again, I sewed my shapes down using my free-motion foot and then followed the exact same pillow-cover-tutorial as in my last post.

Back again as a model, I present to you.... Lily and the finished pillow!

Here is what the back looks like:
Nice.

And project #2 is an artwork/frame revamp.
I purchased this oval frame from a church rummage sale for $5. That's more than what I would normally pay for a used frame, but the shape was really unique and the frame spoke to me, so I had to get it.

It came with this creepy little boy print:

The details of the frame are pretty fabulous though:
So I pried off the back, yanked out some staples, trashed the little boy art, and drew my very own original ink pen drawing to fit inside. I also spray painted the frame a VIVID, beautiful plum color:
And used this AWESOME scrapbook paper as the backing to the frame, too:
The finished product:
So, I've stepped out of my black-and-white obsession, into a little purple. I like it!

I Made My First Pillow Cover. Lily Found Her Calling.

2010-10-04T10:48:00.003-05:00

I love black and white. This is no secret.
Therefore, it should be no surprise that I have accumulated a metric-crap-ton of b/w fabric. Using all of my favorite patterns, I decided to make a pillow cover....
I first purchased a 12x16 pillow form from Hancock Fabric, and therefore cut my pillow front background at 12.5x16.5 to allow plenty of edge.

Sorry for the blurry pic, but here you can see that I cut out circles and leaf shapes and pinned them to the black background, knowing I could sew in white flower stems later.

Instead of typing out all the steps myself, I'll refer you to this fabulous tutorial, which I followed to a T and it did not fail me! (Actually, no - they use a 14x14 pillow and I modified the measurements to fit my 12x16 pillow, but the rest was the same.)

I wanna say from start to finish, this took me about 2, 3 hours? I used my free-motion foot to stitch the shapes on and so there are lots of raw fabric edges here - I love the look when it frays.

And I do love how it turned out.

The front:

The back:

Lily is clearly loving life as a pillow model. She just gets to sit there and look cute.

Hmm... maybe it's harder than it seems.
Lily, wake up , can you try to at least look A LITTLE interested??

Anyway, I'll be doing MANY more sewing projects in the future, because I'm selling my pieces at a local store!! That's right - drawings are going to etsy, and some jewelry and sewing pieces (and even some prints, too) to the store. If you're curious, don't worry - I'll post very very soon about this amazing opportunity with pictures and details... so stay tuned!!!

A Warzone? No. It's Just My Studio.

2010-10-02T12:22:00.004-05:00

This is some shameful shit I'm about to show you.
Life is so busy around my house... I've been drawing, printing, cutting, sewing, and even sleeping here and there.
As a result of my auto-pilot-etsying, I've allowed our office/studio/spare bedroom/space-that-accumulates-all-extra-crap room to become nightmarishly cluttered and unorganized:

The black folding table serves as my sewing table... the daybed just attracts random STUFF, the desk is where I sometimes draw and do other things, and the floor is obviously where I cut all my prints, as evident in the numerous paper cutters, cutting mat, roller blade.... and there's a stapler in there for good measure (cause that's safe, right?).

This is officially THE most inefficient room in the house. I need to come up with a better system. The most obvious solution would be more work space, like another long table, and LOTS more storage to hide my endless amounts of crap and supplies.

Do you have any inexpensive tips for organizing a home office or studio/craft space??

I need more room. And thus, I'm considering moving this all down to the basement. The creepy basement with murder rooms. Because when Kevin and I have our first child (no worries, there are no buns currently cooking up in any ovens around here), this room will become the nursery anyway, so all the shit will need to go eventually....

Maybe this is my next project. Making a corner of the basement a nice lovely little work space.

So, if you have any lovely ideas for storage, decorating or table space - let's hear it! Or any inspiration photos to share? I'd love to see them.

And I shall leave you with some crafting spaces that leave me swooning:

[Image from Craft and Creativity.]

[Image from Apartment Therapy.]

[Image from Super_Ziper.]

[Image from Everything Etsy.]

[Image from If Sew.]

And I know, I've been terrible with the updating lately - I hope to find something fabulous to transform soon.

DIY Recycled Magazine Bead Necklace

2010-09-22T09:39:00.005-05:00

Today, I'm switching up gears in a major way. This has absolutely nothing to do with my house, unless you consider the fact that I'm using magazines that are delivered to my house.

Time for a recycled magazine bead tutorial!

You'll need:
- old magazines
- Modge Podge
- a crappy old tiny paintbrush
- thin ribbon

To create a bunch of handmade beads that looks like this, here's what you do:

1) Scope out your magazines and tear out pages that have any color you might want, much like this column of yellow:

2) Cut out a looong triangle from that color column. The length of the base of that triangle will determine how long the bead will turn out.

3) Starting at the widest point of the triangle, roll up the paper with the color facing outward. Along the way, brush Modge Podge inside as well so that the bead will really stick together and set up hard. Also, I start by wrapping the paper around something like a pin, so that the inside is smaller, does that make sense (probably not, since that is now shown in the picture below)?

4) Modge Podge the outside of the bead as well so that it is nicely sealed and becomes hard:

I hunted for pages with purple so that I could amass a nice pile of beads:

5) Next, take thin ribbon (I bought this black ribbon from Michael's for $1) and cut a loooooong strand. Starting in the middle, tie a few knots until they create one mega-knot. Feed your first bead onto the ribbon so that it stops at that knot:

6) Right up next to the other side of the bead, make a couple more knots until those, too, create one big knot to serve as a stopper on the opposite side. So, now you've got one bead in between two big knots to prevent it from sliding up or down:
7) You can play with color and spacing, so just keep tying those knots and stringing on your beads until you've covered the entire length of the ribbon:
8) After you've got as many beads on as you want, tie the ends of the ribbon together. I saturated this knot with modge podge, so that it hardened up, then cut off the excess ribbon ends.

Now I have a fantastic colorful necklace. I can either double it up:

Or wear it long:

If you're anything like me, and need something mindless to do while you watch TV or whatever, this is the perfect project. Listening to music and making beads, that's how I relaxed on Sunday night. If you try this and get stopped up at any of the steps, just let me know and I can try to help. I promise, it's worth the effort. :)

Color Palette Generator

2010-09-17T15:42:00.002-05:00

I stumbled across a website and found it to be quite phenomenal and useful, so I'll pass it along in the hopes that someone can find it helpful, too.

It's the Color Palette Generator, and it can be used for many reasons.

Say, for example, you spot the Cherished Garden Bedding at Anthropologie and want to design an entire room around that bedspread. You'd simply find the URL to an image of the bedspread, plug it into the site, and it would come up with a range of colors represented in the image to look like this:
You could use any of those squares to pick paint colors, the hue of bedding or throw pillows you'd pair with it, room decor items, etc.

Or, what if you've found the perfect artwork for a room and you'd like to know what colors to put in the room to tie in to that particular piece of art:

Want to know what colors would go well with this Pier 1 throw pillow?
Not a problem.
:)

I have been playing with this site for... oh, let's just say... quite some time. Hey, it's a slow Friday afternoon around here.

I promise to be back with more projects of my own next time, but until then, I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

SWOOOOONING over a side table

2010-09-09T09:05:00.001-05:00

Say hello to my newest love.

A side table so sad looking in its garage sale state that I almost passed him up.
It was dusty. Covered in cob webs. The top was scuffed/scratched to hell and the hardware looked all rusty-textured.
But just look at all there is to love about this piece:
And did I mention I swiped this guy up for just $3?? For serious. It's real wood, too.

When I got it home, I gathered all the supplies I would need for the project I had in mind:
I started by sanding every surface, even the inside.
After wiping the piece down with a damp cloth multiple times, to get all the dust up, I was ready to begin the staining process.
1) Using a disposable sponge brush, I first applied Cabot's pre-stain wood conditioner on every side and on the inside, then wiped up the excess with clean cotton rags after 5 minutes.
2) Using a different sponge brush, I brushed on my dark walnut stain so that it covered every side.
3) I didn't want the piece to get too dark, so I wiped off the excess stain after only 8 minutes or so.
*** IN WOOD STAINING, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP: make sure you wipe up ALL excess stain. If you leave some behind, it turns sticky and tacky and will not come off, which is a pain in the ass because it will come off on your skin or clothes. Wipe it allllll up, check in creases and under ledges and such. ******
4) After waiting 12 hours (I'm impatient - the can of poly says to wait 24), I used a third sponge brush to wipe on Minwax polycrylic and came back after 2 hours to apply a second coat.
I also spray painted that awesome drawer pull Rustoleum's 'Aluminum,' which gave it a whole new life.

I waited 24 hours for the poly to set, then I brought my beautiful new side-table into the house:

(Yup. Dinos and home design are of equal importance in my home.)

No more scuffed top. No more creepy-textured handle. No more dust or cobwebs. This is just a beautiful piece of furniture.

In the attempt to revamp my sitting room, I placed this in the spot where I had my white side table. The white two-drawer guy is now in my guest bedroom.
And in case you need a reminder of how ugly it was in its 'before' state and how beautiful it turned out:

Now I am on the hunt for a new coffee table to really make the room look more fantastic. A new chair or two would make it even better.

Also, please let this post serve as proof that wood staining is NOT tricky and requires no special skills. If you can sand wood, brush crap on a flat surface and wipe it away, you'd be able to save a piece of furniture. Trust me. :)

Linkin' up here.....

Scarf Pillow

2010-09-07T15:04:00.004-05:00

I've blogged before on how I've made pillows out of skirts, fabric scraps and whole yards of fabri c; in today's post I'll show you how I turned a silk scarf into a pillow.

I found this pretty thing at a church rummage sale for $.30, and I knew I wanted to sew it (or at least try) into a pillow... but if it didn't work, I'd only be out thirty cents.

I loved the colors, and, duh, I swooned over the fantastic swirly designs:
Lily loved it.

(NOT.)

I first ironed out the creases on a low heat setting:

And pinned the crap out of it:
Because the scarf was really long, I decided to fold it in half. I have never worked with silk before, so I was not prepared by how much this material "moved around." Silk is stretchy, almost, I can't think of any other way to put it. Much unlike all the cotton fabrics I've worked with before. It was not super fun to pin and was especially tricky to feed through my sewing machine.
After I sewed around all four edges, here is the seam that came from folding the scarf in half:
And the other three edges look like this, since I was able to use the brown part as a border, if that makes sense. Unfortunately, because of the fabric, my pins kept getting caught under the sewing machine foot and created a few pinches in the seams, like this:
Oh well, it's not perfect, but from afar, you can't really tell.
It's kind of old-lady-like, and I like it. :)