i made a chalkboard

oh yeah!  time for an official "i made it" post!

i love goodwill.

in college we'd go and play dress up there

...i went to college in a very small town...

but every once in awhile you can find something really awesome - i've found an awesome jacket, a couple of ugly christmas sweaters, and many costume accessories.

yesterday on lunch i went thrifting

and if you've been to the state fair and were interested in winning the ugly lamp contest

i found a real contender here

 

ain't it....dainty...?

and if i knew more about bikes, i probably would have picked this up

 

i thought it might be nice to have a more road friendly bike, and this guy was $100 - but i'm not sure there were gears wired.

but my real mission was to find an old mirror/picture frame with a nice frame around it.

my inspiration?







pinterest ^

and my long lost friend's instagram feed (which was also pinterest fueled)

honestly - if laura hadn't tried this first i would still be admiring pinterest and sitting on my couch knitting.

i wish i had found as beautiful of a frame as laura, but i didn't.  (she found hers at an antique mall)  sure, i could also go buy a new frame....but i found this one

at goodwill

for $5.  i took apart the frame and discarded the art - anyone interested? - and lightly wiped everything down with a damp cloth.

i went to home depot to gather my supplies

per laura's recommendation i primed everything first

my kitchen became a makeshift garage - it was too cold and dark to make this an outdoor project - i recommend wet swiffering afterwards if you're in the same predicament to collect any paint particles that strayed.

i also wore my super warm and super-duper soft smart wool socks.  if you're local - head over to quest (st matthews) they have a bin of these socks marked down (regularly $12-22, now $7-9)

and my plan was to show you the finished product - which it is almost that - but

someone changed the lid on my gold-ish tint spray paint at the store- meant for the frame - it was actually a shiny silver.  i never even thought to double check the label on the spray paint with the color on the lid...duh.

ugh.

i'm exchanging on lunch. and will finish tonight to show you guys

at least the chalkboard portion will be dry and ready for writing - which means i also need to pick up chalk...

total project cost?

$5 for frame

and about $13 for spray paint - still plenty leftover to be used on other projects

total =$18

plus an unexpected trip back to home depot...but oh well.

i still have plenty of chalkboard spray paint leftover - so if i ever find a beautiful frame i'll be ready to recreate

any other pinterest successes out there? goodwill finds?

knitting night in

back in the day

monday was just another excuse to go out

tuesdays i typically didnt have class or a heavy class schedule so monday night was fare game

nowadays

i'm in a cozy spot on the couch with tacky socks, a dog butt, and my knitting work in front of me.

i cannot wait to show you my finished product on this one!  it's a gift like the other items i've knitted - so until i've gifted them i don't want to share.  but this work in process is going to be perfect if it ever gets cold enough to wear!  which with yesterday's high in the mid 70's - it may never happen.

i've really been on the ball (no pun) with knitting lately and i'm considering knitting a few items to be sold on etsy or via the blog. 

i'll keep up updated once i finish the gifts.

any knitters out there?  i would love to host a craft night at my place with food and wine.

tacky socks, christmas themed pj's and pinot all welcomed.

what craft projects are you working on?  any meant to be gifts?

i made it!

as promised

here's what i've been creating this week:

sunday night my painting looked like this

 

and after working on it last night, it now looks like this:

i know...it's not the finished socks.

i finished one and just haven't started on the second

i promise hopefully by the end of this week i'll have another "i made it" post with both socks to show you

i'll be traveling the rest of the week and flying is the perfect opportunity to knit!

anyways -the pumpkin painting -

my "style" of painting? is basically - slap some rough outline of image up on that canvas.

let it dry.

repaint over that image.

repaint again in desired color scheme

change direction and background color

paint sections white because that's easier to paint over top of

finally start to see something that resembles the image in head.

acrylics are so forgiving

i painted over the old lettering, re-did the stem, and then free-handed the new letters with a medium-thick flat paintbrush.

i like it.

bill wanted to know if i was going to outline the letters

no.  my hand is not steady enough to do that, but now all i can think is that it looks  messy un-outlined.

but for sanity's sake, i'm slapping some autumnal colored ribbon to this bad boy and putting it over my tv.

don't worry

i took the spring banner down.

like 3 weeks ago.

whoops.

i'm hoping the pumpkin painting looks cute suspended from the curtain rod

i also wrapped the rod with some fall garland from michaels.

i'll take a photo of the finished masterpiece tonight in between packing and laundry.

it's the perfect day to head back home and crawl in bed while laundry washes, too

it's hard to tell with all the fluorescent lights glaring, but it's quite dark outside and stormy

annnnnd

my baby boy went to the vet this morning

bless his little heart

he was over due for his yearly shots, and seeing as he will be boarded at least for a few days while we're out of town, we had to make sure we got him in to the vet.

he's happy and healthy - a portly 40 lbs.  i cannot believe!  he was only 25 lbs when we got him from animal control - of course he was only about 6 months old too.

bill sent me pictures of woodford, and i guess it's been a long morning

i don't blame him.