day 30

I have learned so much these 30 days about myself and about what I want. I have learned that it really is impossible to do it all at once but I have also learned that blogging is something I want to do more. For me this month was about finishing a ton of unfinished and some even not started projects that have prevented me from doing what I want around my house. I ,like many of you, have been upset by the economy and how my 5 year house has become my maybe forever house due to the current market. All that frustration manifested itself in tons of small "affordable" projects to make up for not getting what I really wanted. This was my craft room on day one  from all the stockpile of supplies I had accumulated.

 

I have made some real project progress but what has impressed me most is that it took just a few hours a day and I felt more energized each day to do more. Stay tuned tomorrow for the grand finale of the project list and the plans for next month.

Day 26- What can I do with what I have.

I was able to finish  Victoria's tufted headboard and hang it last night. It started with some leftover hardboard from another project . As part of my participation in the Nester 31 days the plan was to do what I could with what I had and blog about it. I have planned to make this headboard for about 5 months and like all the projects in my house I stockpiled the supplies but never took the time to do it. All I still needed was a piece of plywood. Well I found one while cleaning out my basement. Not plywood but hardwood. 

Pretty simple plan. Cut out the hardboard with a jigsaw then trace the pattern to the 4 inch foam and cut it out. Use adhesive to keep the foam in place. Then draw your grid and cut foam holes, cover with batting and tuft away.

 

 

 

I didn't get a photo of the tufting grid but because I was using what I had I used a drill to put in the holes and buttons to hold the wax thread in place. I plan to do a full tutorial on tufting next month so check back if you are interested. But in case you can't wait if you want deep set buttons like these you have to cut the shape of the button out of the foam and use deeper foam.

If you want shallow buttons like these you just pull the button taunt, this is 2 inch foam.

 

I was so excited to have amazing pictures and share them with you but I am not loving  the way it looks in the photo. It does not look this wrinkled in person. You get the idea though.  Tips for next time. I am happy I completed this project using what I had but I would not recommend hardboard. It is too hard and the staples get bent which is very frustrating, I have done several upholstered headboards and plywood works much better. Total cost for this project was $10 for the french cleat to attach it to the wall. All other supplies were bought at least 3 months ago, waiting patiently to be used to make something beautiful.

 

What can you make this weekend using what you have?

Day 25 Progress as Promised

My month of October was supposed to be blogging and doing all those unfinished projects that fill my work room. In my naivety about blogging I thought that would be the easy part but due to my nature I just keep plugging away at the projects until bedtime and the blogging doesn't happen. I am beginning to think November can be my blog beginning and October can be my trial run. I am getting so many little projects done. But the photos and the tutorials and the linking. That all takes so much time to learn. Kudos to all the real bloggers out there. As for me. This is what I finished this week.

 

PROJECT 1

BEFORE

AFTER RIGHT SIDE 

AFTER LEFT SIDE

 

Pretty simple use of left over boards to make shelves for the girls bathroom. I am planning to paint their cabinet during their bathroom remodel on my endless list of projects but for now this makes the space so much more functional. Total investment is time only and about and hour if you don't count cleaning the bathroom afterward. Teenage girls are pigs sometimes!

 

PROJECT 2-

BEFORE

AFTER

 

This is a sofa table we bought about 15 years ago. It has spent the last few years being hid by the sofa thank goodness but when we began Victoria's room redo I decided it would be a good desk. I sanded it lightly though there wasn't much of a finish anymore and primed with oil based kilz and painted it with Martha Stewart Living Precious Metals in Silver leaf. I had all the supplies to do this project from other projects including the new glass knob I had been saving for a special project.

 

I am constantly amazed how much of a project hoarder I am. Today I will hopefully finish Victoria's tufted headboard for tomorrows post. Who has all the stuff to make a custom tufted headboard? I am a nut. Progress as promised.

Day 22

One of my objectives for this month was to clear out some unfinished projects and either do them or get rid of them. I am so excited about the progress I have made on that front and whereas the blogging part has been really hard for me because I am dog- butt tired after a day of projects and purging. I do not know enough about blogging yet for it to be able to do everything at the same time.

Here's my project progress!

 Several years ago I bought some uppercase vinyls at a school auction and since then they have been busy being moved from the desk to the table and back again. It is big trash week in the burbs  so as I was throwing out some scrap lumber I had an idea. What if I used that for the vinyls I keep moving around my house.  Voila seasonal decor for my house.

 

I had a halloween one too and a bunch of wine bottles I have been collecting for some pinterest project ideas. So yesterday I tried a few different spray paint / wine bottle crafts.

 

 

I never have my dining room , or any other room, really finished. I get ideas and then I loose focus and move on to the next thing so this room usually looks like a collection space but today it looks like a dining room . I love it !

 

 

 

The best part is that all of the supplies for all of these projects have been collecting dust in my office for ever and so my total cost was $2 for candy corn. Absolutely everything else was already here!

 

What decorating crafts have you been storing? Spend a day and get your craft on!

 

 

Day 21

 

How many times have I looked at this mess and opted not to use something I wanted for fear of tackling this, our cord container. We have 5 people who live at our house. That is a whole bunch  of cords, chargers , and ear buds.

 

 

Simple fix. I am all about trying out a system before investing in it so at some point I may get fancier containers but for now I just wanted to see if anyone uses the system , then I can make it pretty.

 

Each Ziploc has the name of the item the chargers and jacks go to. Good to have when you have 5 camera's, ipods, and cell phones in one house.

 When you need your chargers etc. just grab the Ziploc and use what you need then put it back when you are done. The entire project took about 25 minutes and I can promise you it has been driving me nuts for at least a year! So simple and yet it is a big improvement. Fingers crossed it works, and the kids put things back when they are done. I will keep you up on the progress.

Go tackle something small in your house that always drives you nuts.

Day 13

Today was a rainy day in Missouri. Storms kept shaking up the schedule so nothing new done today. We did have Alexis' family birthday dinner and Isabelle made taco seasoning from scratch. We got tons of compliments!Here is the recipe.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container. Yields about 2 3/4 tablespoons.

To use: Use about 2 tablespoons of the taco seasoning for every 1 pound of meat. Use more or less depending on your preference. Brown meat and drain the fat. Add your taco seasoning along with about 1/2 cup of water. Simmer and stir until water is absorbed. If you want more of a sauce throw in about 1 tablespoon of flour with the water.

 

Day 11

Today marks the beginning of fall fun in my life. I am one of those PTA moms that spend from the beginning of the school year until conferences (tonight) preparing for the big year. I am done tonight after 6 weeks of fundraisers, board meetings, membership drives and a last minute bylaw amendment and I am so excited. After the book fair tonight I get a whole 6 months to just enjoy the fruits of my labor. It takes a village to start the PTA year and add two schools to the mix and it makes for one busy fall. I love being part of my kids school and I love feeling involved in my community but I am really looking forward to spending my me time on me!

To celebrate I went out house parading with my bestie. We have so many ideas for our houses and I feel like today is really the beginning of the productive part of my year. I hope to get my sh*t together to start posting projects soon. My daughter is coming home this weekend from college to show me how to edit photos.

Day 9

Sooo I finally got the order I have been working on for two weeks done and with a  whole 3 days until her party. I have been sweating bullets and not sleeping over promising them to her in 2 weeks. What was I thinking?

 

Sometimes I think the only way I will get anything done is to have a deadline. I hate being rushed , but I am so good at it.

 

At the same time I will put absolutely everything my family needs,  in front of what I need. Actually what anyone needs, I am feeling guilty about not staying up tonight to revise the PTA bylaws that lapsed in April that I volunteered to do .(who does that?)

 

That gets me working between the hours of bedtime and wake up and very cranky. As part of my 31 days to finish it; I want to  be done with that. I want honor my own time and committments as well as take care of my family. I don't have to be first on the list but I do need to be on my list. 

Day 3-8

Day 3- What was my excuse for day three? Oh yes it was Wednesday and I worked on the slipcover order I am making until the kids got home. Then I did the kid/dinner/ running for the night and before I knew it it was 11 PM and I remembered my blog. Fail!!

Day 4- Homecoming Carnival- My second daughter is a high school cheerleader and they were set to perform at the high school carnival. We took Isabelle, my youngest to enjoy the carnival and before Victoria even got to perform it started to rain so guess what , no performance. Returned home with wet kids and exhausted. No time to blog after that traumatic evening. I still had to wash our wet cheer uniform for tomorrows big game. Fail!!

Day 5- Homecoming game. Three hours in the freezing cold! No blog post. I did however find time to watch a movie with the hubby though so I guess he should be pleased to rank above the blog in my life. Hell right now watering the dead flowers ranks over the blog. Why is that??

Day- 6 Homecoming dance!! If you have girls that explains everything but for those of you whom do not. It is a marathon of nails, hair ,make-up that literally takes a village to get these high maintenance princess's ready. We did pictures with some of her friends and then a play at our local Middle School for Isabelle. Done at 9:00. Cool lets have a few friends over for drinks. Now done at 12:30.

Of all the fail days Day 7 is the worst. A lovely Sunday with kids that slept until 10:00 AM and I spent it folding laundry. Really laundry is more important. Then hubby occupied watching the Chiefs loose and I make pumpkin bars with Isabelle. Then evening homework, dinner and showers. So much time wasted today ironing and dusting because as you know not getting that done would be a national disaster.

Day 8- PTA conference dinners at 2 schools so cooking all day followed by squeezing in some work on a job that has to be done tomorrow and is still not done. I guess the blog has some competition on the neglecting what matters to me front. Two hours of fighting with an 11 year old about practicing violin, a trip to the school to pick up the said violin we "forgot" making it impossible to practice ( she was not happy about this) and tumbling until 8:30.

The point is today I was going to remove myself from the 31 days blog roll because I haven't been doing it like it was intended. I haven't gotten one meaningful thing done toward my 31 day goal but instead of giving myself permission to just give up and put everything else in front of what I want again I have decided to stick with it. Maybe the humiliation of having to face my peers will motivate me. Maybe at the very least it can become a net for catching days.

Day 2

I would say that day 2 was an epic fail except, it was  my anniversary dinner in celebration of 18 years of marriage yesterday. Yes it should have been yesterday but in true form we were going to let it go by with no pomp and circumstance because we are too busy. But I decided NO , not this time. This time we will do something different. And for that reason alone we will call today a success although nothing was done towards our goal. Sometimes the biggest changes are in your head, not in your house.

BTW- Avenue Bistro in Brookside was amazing. Especially the bacon wrapped dates, I know it sound wierd but they were really amazing!

I knew the first week would be hard because I have so much  work but I know I can do this 31 days experiment to at the very least commit to the blog. Hopefully I will get something done around the house as well.


Have a great day!

Heather

31 Days to Finish It!

I am going to take the challenge from the Nester to write 31 posts in 31 days about a specific topic. My topic is using what you have and finishing what you start! Wish me luck.