Friday, August 30, 2013

Check #3 off my to-do list...

Our trip to Ace was extremely fruitful in terms of my weekend creative to-do list.  I got some screw eyes for the yarn revamp though I still need some bolt eyes and short bolts with nuts.  I also got zip ties for the 2 milk crate projects.   I had thought about bolting them together for a more permanent hold and maybe I will in the future.  But for now, zip ties will definitely do the trick.  I was able to get the plastic spray primer for the milk crate bench seat (on sale!).  I got a couple other random items off the dollar tables.  As aforesaid, the trip was very fruitful since we hit the grocery store after that.  Sky absolutely had to help me with the milk crate plant stand project I decided to start after lunch.  Once I put her down for her nap I was able to install it out on the deck. 
Here's a few shots of our afternoon endeavor:



dookie face


Plant stand installed*

My cute little deck with newly installed clothes lines...

and hand-me-down grill (Thanks Dad!)
*Once I got the stand in place and all the zip ties tightened, I snipped the ends.  I like the clean look.  It's a little sparsely clad right now but I'd say the project was a success.  Next spring I'll be planting herbs and other little whatnots for use in the kitchen and I'll have plenty of space to grow them on my sweet milk crate plant stand. 

I said "we'll see if this happens".....pfffffft, I squashed this project off my to-do list!

And so it begins...

It was all I could do to survive that horrible 8-day stretch at work and now I'm on vacation, HUZZAH!

I just re-read my to-do list and just made a mental shopping list for things I can get from Ace...we're going now :)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Todotodotodotodotodo

I've been meaning to make a to-do list of projects I'd like to tackle during my 6 day vacation from work that starts Friday.  I have sort of a long complicated love/hate relationship with paper lists that I won't get into right so I've decided to make this one on my blog.


1.  Yarn Storage Revamp Project:  Right now, I store my massive yarn stock in old plastic milk crates I got back in my Wicker Park JJs days.  I'm looking to use those crates for other various projects so I need a new alternative.  After combing Pinterest for ideas that could work for my specific needs, I found one picture from a fellow blogger that inspired my revamp project:
Pic courtesy of YarnBombLove
The blog doesn't say how the storage is made so I've done some creative problem solving which will be economical and free!  My little brother manages a fast food restaurant and has access to plenty of 5 gallon pickle buckets.  I found that a good scrubbing with my Norwex cleaning paste takes the gross smell out of the buckets.  I plan on sawing the rim of each bucket off just below the hinge part that holds the handle so that it's flat outside all around.  Plus shortening the bucket brings it closer to the actual size of a yarn skein.  It looks to me like this blogger used something like large pieces of pvc pipe and brackets to mount them.  I like the idea of my tubes having bottoms so that I can potentially take them down and transport them upright.  I also think that I'm going to bolt the tubes into rows of 3 and will likely hang them from the ceiling rather than the wall.  I will probably hang them in some sort of pattern, calculated in some way.  I'd thank this blogger for the great inspiration and look forward to posting pics of my successful completion of my Yarn Storage Revamp Project.


2.  Milk Crate Bench Seat:  3 of my (17) milk crates have already been reserved for this project for Sky's room.  Another project that I cruised from Pinterest which will of course have all of my flare.  I'm not easily finding the source of this pic but the link to the pin is here.  My crates are a variety of colors so I want to prime them white for this project and possibly do a bright coordinating color to match with the rest of Sky's room.  I already have a piece of the pink gingham from the window treatments measured, cut and pinned to size for the cushion.  I either need to stuff it with white stuffing or cut a lining for it because the gingham has an embroidered flower pattern with holes.  I'll probably attach it with a ribbon or strips of the leftover gingham.  I'm going to bolt the 3 crates together.  I already have baskets to fit in the crates that match other basket storage in her room.  The successful completion of this project will mark a near completion point on Skylar's bedroom decor.  I've been excited about this project for quite awhile and I'm looking forward to it.


3.  Milk Crate Plant Stand:  This project may not happen over my vacation time, but a girl can dream can't she?  I saw someone posted a pic of a shelving unit made from 5 milk crates in a sort of W shape on their edges.  I'm not really set on any particular pattern yet, I just want an economical layout that will allow plant life to flourish on my little deck.  I have to complete my yarn storage revamp before the crates will be free for me to play around with layouts.  For the time being, I don't really feel the need to prime or spray paint the crates I'm using for the outdoor shelving but eventually I'd like to do them right.  I plan on just bolting them together into the best suited pattern and putting them to use right away.  We'll see if this happens...


4.  Family Picture wall:  I have a wall that I've designated for my family pictures in frames but I have yet to put any of them up because I need to get my wall shelves from DJ's place.  Once the wall shelves are up I'll have space for all the table top frames and can determine where to put the wall frames.  This is one of the last move-in details (though more seem to pop up daily) that I want to get taken care of.  This has to happen...

5.  Outdoor family name sign (for Aaron and Terri):  I plan on spending some time at my folks house while I'm sawing buckets for the yarn project so I figured it would be a great time to cut down a piece of wood for a project I meant to do months ago for my older brother's family.  I did one last Christmas for my little brother's family.  His just had our last name in simple font burned into a long narrow piece of walnut.  I had some nautical hooks I painted to look aged and my dad helped me attach them along the bottom of the sign.  I covered the rest of the board with sand and seashells from a family vacation years ago.  For the new design I plan on a more fancy or Gothic style font and a softer wood that will burn more easily.  I don't have hooks for this one but I still plan on using the same sand and seashells.  That will be extra special for them since it was the family trip with their beach side wedding proposal.  For the most part, I just want to get a jump start into this project.  Just having the surface in my possession will help me start moving forward with it.


6.  Sky hooks:  Another project to just get a jump on since I'll be sawing it up with my dad.  I want a cloud shaped piece of wood to mount the wooden letter SKY hooks that I got earlier this year on mega clearance at work.  I just want to paint the cloud and the letter hooks, mount the hooks on the cloud and then mount the cloud on an over-the-door hanger for Skylar's bedroom door.  I don't think the total project will take long once I have the cloud shape but it's not a major priority on the to do list.

And a few little 'tweeners:

*work on my Pink Project: I'm several layers deep already and looking forward to slowly building it up

*work on Aaron's pirate ship tattoo drawing: He wants to get the tat done in early September so I want to finish it up before the vaca is over.

*make baby hats:  it's never too early to get a jump start on my inventory for winter craft shows.  I've made a few hats over the past week or so up to the point of assembly.


That's it, I think.  Ready? Set?
Gooooooooooo!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

At least the daydream was pleasant

All day today I looked forward to my work day ending, picking up Sky, grabbing some groceries, and heading home for dinner, then after Sky's bedtime making some art.  Life had different plans for my evening when we pulled out into traffic from the grocery store parking lot and stalled out mid-intersection.  So a grumpy Sky and a sad Ash sat waiting for my dad to come, followed shortly by a tow.  I'm so frustrated right now.  We didn't get to come home and enjoy dinner.  Instead Sky ate a snacky little supper of cheese, crackers and fruit at my folks' house where we ended up (to get the van while my stupid car is in the shop).  We finally got home after Sky's bedtime so we rushed through our routine.  I ate nothing of note and have done nothing of note since I put her to bed.

Stupid car ruined my arting tonight.
And I was so excited to finally get the starter fixed...yesterday.  Ass.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Pinking...

So on Monday when I gathered my belongings from my parents house, I must confess that I purged some old artwork into the dumpster at my apartment.  It was a necessary purge that resulted in a springboard into my piece for the Paint the Night Pink Exhibition.

 The artwork included in the purge:
Peace Garden
Coffee Cup
Antler
Hell's Organ
The insides of Self Portrait Installation (the cupboard itself will be turned into an artwork storage closet, but it was too heavy to take out by myself the other day)
And finally, I took apart the Backend of Forever Installation saving only the cradled board it was assembled on.

That cradled board, sans the hounds tooth coat is now the surface for my Pink Project.  The coat left a really excellent pattern that I'm going to use as the background for a mixed media collage.  I put a coat of mod podge over the remnants of the fibers last night to keep them from fraying or flaking off when I paint and collage over the top.  Here's how it looks so far:
I'm not sure where it will end up but I've got some pretty good ideas...

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Think Pink.

I've been working up a major sweat today moving some stuff from my folks house over to my apartment and unpacking.  I got a TON accomplished!
Projects included:
set up the microwave stand, utensil holder, and temporary spice storage, move up the towel bar in the bathroom, set up my desk area in the living room, unpack various art supplies and find appropriate storage for them all, hang some art, generally clean and organize pretty much everything.

And now I'm exhausted.

But I've been brainstorming ideas for the upcoming "Paint the Night Pink" Art Show.  Last year I showed new collage work related to my mom's experience with breast cancer.  I'm a little stumped so far, but I'm feeling more inspired after hanging these today.  I don't have much time, so I'd better get to it.

A Journey: Part 1
A Journey: Part 2

A Journey: Part 3

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Completed Window Treatment

I finished Skylar's bedroom curtains the other day and assembled them with the valance on the wall.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out:

Some progress shots:

Center curtain panels and completed valance
The purple panels are made from a set of old full size jersey bed sheets.  The jersey was a bit warped in places which required repinning and sewing to get rectangular panels.  I decided to line the center panel with the accent green tulle.  With the remaining tulle I lined the top of the 3 original panels.



The valance is made from 3 layers of foamboard taped together, wrapped in pink gingham and pinned in place.  It is a lightweight decorative accent to hide my curtain casings and the curtain rod.


With additional outer panels (later added 2 more purple panels)
 I had a scrap of the pink gingham left which made perfect side panels.  However, they still didn't have the total window coverage I'm looking for.  So I made 2 more jersey panels to fill them out a bit.

Close-up of valance corner: pearl head pins are decorative and functional!
My sewing isn't amazing but I think my curtains are great but I absolutely love my sweet awesome valance!  It was actually pretty easy to make and beautifully hides the sewing flaws in my curtains :D

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Fork it...

I'm having a proud mom moment...I know it's a little thing but Sky figured out how to use a fork:
Just stab it.

Then eat it.

I'm awesome!

But I still may use my hands now and then.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Window treatments

Another boring day at work left me craving some craft time when I got home.  So after a hasty late supper of leftover egg bake I decided (since Sky's at her dad's) to work on her curtains.  I had thought I was done but upon seeing them up on the window I decided they needed some more work.  The basic construction I have so far is 3 purple panels that are adequate in length but don't have sufficient coverage.  I initially added 2 slightly longer, narrower panels in the pink gingham that I used to cover the valance.  I didn't have enough of the gingham to make any more additional panels from it.  So this evening was spent measuring, cutting, and pinning 2 new purple panels to fill them in a little.  I embellished the center panel with a folded layer of green tulle down both sides and used the rest of the unfolded tulle to embellish the casing at the top of all 3 original purple panels.  Now I'm wondering if, once these 2 new panels are sewn, will I need to get more tulle to go along the casing?  Or would it look stupid if I put the 2 new panels on either side of the center panel therefore staggering the tulle embellishment at the top?  The question I should be asking is why I'm staying up so late when I have to work so early...at least I can fall asleep brainstorming a solution to my crafty conundrum.

And yes, there will be pictures of the curtains...I've taken a few so far but I'd rather save the big reveal until they're completed and hung with the valance (which btw is awesome!).

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Wakey wakey, tasty egg bakey

Another apartment woe:  the horrendously loud dishwasher.  The first time I heard it I described it as T-rex mating season in my kitchen.  And the reason it sounds like that is because it is literally tossing the light-weight dishes around inside the washer (I can hear them bouncing around in there now!).  I decided that I should get it loaded and run it right before I leave for work or where ever whenever I can.  But we're running low on dishes so it's running now...how annoying.  Once my dish tabs are gone, maybe I'll switch to hand washing all my dishes instead of just the knives and pans...it would save me in electricity and really is the greener thing to do.

Anywho, onto the more interesting.  I'm making one of my tasty egg bakes for breakfast since I've got the morning off and am home with Sky.  Such a goon: she just shoved about 3 big bites of egg bake in her mouth all at once!  My egg bakes are SUPER easy and really quite tasty.

This one went like this:
I sprayed a small square baker and layered it with one can (10 ct) of small refrigerator biscuits.  Over that I put a layer of cooked and cut up little sizzlers sausages.  Over that I poured about 7 eggs whisked with a bit of milk.  And finally a layer of shredded cheese.  I baked it at 350 degrees for about a half an hour...voila! Breakfast:


My chubby monkey eating a (whole!) banana after dominating her portion of egg bake.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Button frame mirror


The other day I was finally able to put up Skylar's button frame mirror.  I made it for her room back when I was still living with her dad and then it went into a box for about 6 months.  It was just waiting to become part of her totally awesome bedroom decor.  I think I nabbed a pinterest tutorial for this one but I can share how I actually created it for anyone who might like to try it.

Materials:
12"x12" tile mirror (I got mine at Ace in college...I bet you could still get them there)
duct tape
buttons (mine came from work: the $1 bins at Michaels)
ribbon (again with the $1 bin)
tacky glue

Instructions:
Line the edge of the mirror tile with duct tape, 1/2" or less showing on front.  This will keep the raw edges of the mirror from slicing you or anything else.  Glue the buttons in irregular fashion around the edge of the mirror, taking care to cover the duct tape.  Continue adding buttons until the desired width of "frame" is achieved.  I used Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue, though it didn't appear to shorten the dry time of regular tacky glue.  Once all the glue is completely dry, determine which side is the top and how you'd like to hang it.  I chose to attach a ribbon for the hanger with tacky glue and then reenforced it with duct tape.  That's pretty much all, but I had to go one step further...

My hanger needed some embellishment so I concocted this crazy idea that I could make a massive bow with a collage button center out of 3 narrow ribbons.  I tried every tutorial I could find on making bows but couldn't find one that would look like I wanted it to.  So I tried layering multiple partial "hair" bows of various sizes, sewed them together and topped them with my glued collage button center.  It looks pretty much exactly how I wanted it to look but the construction was so confusing and catastrophic that I must share some progress photos for you to grasp its complexity.


And the totally finished product now hangs between Sky's closet and bedroom doors:

Ginger Teriyaki Pork Chops with green beans and brown rice

Tonight's dinner was ridiculously easy, cooked entirely in my rice cooker!

My loose recipe:

ginger teriyaki sauce (marinade)
2 butterfly pork chops
about a cup of brown rice
half a bag of frozen green beans
water
salt
extra virgin olive oil

Marinade the chops in the sauce.  Warm the oil in the rice cooker for 5 minutes.   Cook the chops in the cooker about 5 minutes on each side.  Then add the remaining ingredients including the marinade and cook until it switches to "keep warm".  (My brown rice it took about 35 minutes or so; white or jasmine probably would take only 25 minutes.)


It was pretty delicious and the leftovers will make a tasty dinner tomorrow night when I'm at work.

As an aside, any recipe that I post is likely some sort of variation or combination of a recipe I've read or tasted.  I'll probably post links to ones I find online.  The origin of this one in particular is from my rice cooker recipe book; at least that's where I got the cooking method.  The rest I pretty much made up...and that is how I cook.  I learned from my mama and she learned from her mama.  I hope Sky picks up a thing or two, even if she decides she hates cooking...ya never know, she may come to find she eventually likes it after all.  It's actually a lot easier that I ever imagined it would be in my younger years, when I surrounded myself with folks who could cook partially so that I would never have to.

New apartment woes.


I discovered that the dino-dryers don't actually get clothes dry... My first load ended up going through the dry cycle twice.  Because I didn't bring enough quarters down to dry 2 loads, my second load went out on the deck.  The third load, into a different dryer which still didn't get them dry so it and the fourth load ended up on the deck.  So now, I've decided that hanging my clothes out on the deck is a perfectly respectable way to dry them until it gets to0 cold to.  So my next task is making clotheslines that can take up the entire deck (since I do 3-4 loads at a time, every time), but can be taken down easily.  I think I will do a little surfing on Pinterest for some ideas.  But I'm sure that I will come up with something crafty and clever.  Cuz hey, I'm crafty and clever, and I've been especially such lately.  Just wait until I post some pics of the curtains and valance I've made for Skylar's room over the weekend.

yet another mundane facebook update?

So I just found myself wanting to post a pondering moment on Facebook but decided against it because I don't want to be that person that posts every little part of their daily lives.  So I thought I'd ponder via blog for a moment. :)

I'm doing laundry in my new place (yes, we're mostly settled in) for the first time.  I'm wondering how long it will take for my clothes to dry in the dinosaurs they're keeping in the laundry room.  The machines are seriously old.  The laundry room is one of the only major downfalls of this new apartment.  I can live with it but it is pretty disappointing to know that all of our stuff has to be cleaned in machines that everyone else uses chemical-filled detergents and fabric softeners to clean their clothes.  I wish I didn't have to share machines... or, even better, get everyone else to use Norwex!  I don't know how I could ever make that happen but it would be pretty sweet.  I can't imagine it takes more than 45 minutes to dry.  I'm going to check now...

Mundane?  I think not, I just had a genius idea.  Suck it, nay-sayers!