Hello Sunshine...My first completed Pinterest Project

I finally did it...yay me! I actually completed an arts and crafts project that I had pinned on Pinterest. It is a very amateur attempt and I have debated for days about posting it but in the end I decided to share. I made a starburst mirror out of two plates, some clothes pins, hot glue, gorilla glue and an old mirror. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the spraypaint. McGyver would be impressed even if it doesn't explode! I added a little flair by painting the outer starburst a bright turquoise and the inner burst a bright orange. The original just used the raw wood of the clothes pins. I hung this in my extremely bright laundry room which means I will have to wear shades when doing the wash. I forgot to take pictures to show my process so I will explain the best I can. I bought wooden clothes pins and a very thin dinner plate and saucer. I spray painted the pins and then, once dry, clipped them to the plates. I initially clipped four clothes pins in the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions and went around the plate clockwise filling in the spaces. I then spray painted each plate with the safety pins attached. I used hot glue and gorilla glue to adhere the two plates together. I used the hot glue to stick the mirror in place and then flipped the plate upside down on top of a wide cup and glued a picture hanger to the back with gorilla glue. I let it sit for about 18 hours, not because I am so thorough and patient, but because I had to work all day before I could hang the piece. If I could rewind I would adhere the pins to the plate with the glue gun to make them more stable. I havent had any problems with pins falling off but I have to handle the mirror very, very gently. Once hung I had to shield my eyes but right now my laundry room is the happiest place in my whole house. This is a good thing because I need something to cheer me up when I am slaving away at our piles of dirty laundry.

She's (attempting to be) Crafty

My friend Allison has a part time job as my personal shopper. She found a gem of a coffee table at a local flea market and picked it up for less than $20. I wanna say it was super cheap, like $5, but I don't want to exaggerate too much. So, I loved the lines of the piece but it was rough. One day I got inspired and cleaned it up. I took soap and water to it, sanded the whole thing, spray painted the base in turquoise and applied chalkboard paint on the top. Voila! Super cool table for my son's room. A few lessons learned while doing this project. First, your hands get really cold when using soap and water on a 30 degree day. Second, do not spray paint on a hill. I am not an expert painter and I had a lot of paint runs made worse by the slope of the hill I was spraying on. The good news was that the runs were on the underside of the piece, not the legs, and not noticeable. Third and final, chalk board paint needs to be stirred much more than my puny arms are capable of. In the future I am going to have the store shake it on their shaky machine then take it home and use it immediately. I spent more time trying to stir the paint than it took to cover the table top with two coats. Oh yeah, and turquoise ivy (due to some over spray on our yard) is a great addition to any home.

A Little Dab'll Do Ya

Definition of DABBLE

To work or involve oneself superficially or intermittently especially in a secondary activity or interest <she dabbles in art>

 

I have always been accused of never sticking to anything. I try a little of this and a little of that and then get all shot in the butt about something else and take off for the next big project, leaving a trail of things half done in my wake. This trait made itself obvious when I was very young. I  bounced from jazz dance to soccer, clarinet lessons to clog dancing, gymnastics and karate to sewing and cross stitch. All that before the ripe ol' age of 12.  I am like the dog that sees the squirrel and totally forgets that she was having a great time chewing on a tennis ball. That said, I have also tried to create blogs before. One was called "Lose One Thing" where I attempted to reduce my household consumption by one thing per month. That lasted all of one week. I made the poor decision of taking paper towels out of my home the same weekend that a dear friend with three children was visiting. Chalk that up to bad timing. My second blog was "Kitsch My Grits" and I am still patting myself on the back for coming up with that clever title. It was dedicated to all things vintage. I still love the idea of it; however; I was too fenced in. Vintage is a huge part of my life but not the only part. I started thinking about it and TaDah...the new blog that you are now looking at. It is a free range idea, I am going to post about any and everything that pops into my brain. I can jump from shiny objects to new obsessions as much as I want and not feel the least bit guilty. Who knows where this will take me, if anywhere at all. All I know is that, while a dabbler, certain things have been a strong central theme through my life. I love to read and write, I love to hunt vintage goodies and resell them (okay, I was forced to resell because I was accused of being a hoarder), I like to be social, I looooove arts and crafts and lastly, and maybe most randomly, I love owls ( I mean I REALLY love owls). I think the blog will help as an outlet for the things I love and maybe, instead of a dabbler who can't stick to anything, I will become a Jill (or Kellie) of all trades. Dabblers unite!!