An Apology and some House-related venting

No, I've not been away.  Just starting to get over being sick (again.. sheesh!).  Not sure if it was a bad cold, or if perhaps I have some allergies....  That, and besides training for work, amping up my fitness program, and some construction related stresses around here, I've done little home improvements, or shopping.  Infact, I don't believe I have touched the home computer once in the last week.

So sorry if you've missed me. In my usual fashion, I've started a bunch of little projects here and there, but unfortunately have nothing big, or any actual progress photos to share.  But I will, now that I am on the mend!

In the meantime, what I do have, are some photos of some issues going on around here, that are real sore spots for me. You see, we live in a brand-new area.  Infact, when we moved in this past July, other than the showhomes on the street, there were only 2 other families moving in at the same time as us. There were no other houses around!  Unfortunately, that picked up and they have been working on the properties around us.  The streets here are RIDICULOUS!!

Leaving in the morning and coming home from work are almost UNBEARABLE!  There is no where to park, cars everywhere.  Messes are consistently left on our property, and the construction noise sometimes carries late into the evening (especially on warm days...)

I get that this is part of the territory that comes with owning in a brand new neighbourhood, but is it completely silly of me to ask for some respect?  I mean take the following photos for instance:

What's that you ask?  Hmm.. here's a closer look.

Yup, it's one of our downspouts, damaged by the construction workers next door.  And no one bothered to tell me, they just locked it back in place, and went about their way....

Same thing with the one at the back of the house....

 Why are they walking around in my backyard, so close to the house you ask?   Well, if you look closely behind that chair there, it's an outlet (with a GFI plug!!) and I have the electricity bill to prove it! 

 Yup, it DOUBLED!!

If that didn't knock me on my ass, then this might: 

That's in my front yard, and as you can (sorta) see, the boards are sticking out, far past my front porch. 

I'm lucky I don't knock my head when I leave the house!

I did however get smoked in the shin with a big piece of metal, as seen below:

Wonder if my neighbour is having as many issues as me?  I should ask, since it seems they are visiting his power outlets too!!

Sigh.... well, hopefully my well-put letter and incessant phone calls will get me somewhere soon....

** just a note:  the issues we are having, are with a different builder than we had build OUR house...*

Thankfully, all the construction will be done soon, and there was no landscaping done this past summer to ruin!

Embarassing Predicament

This post is a little embarassing, for two reasons:

1. What I am about to show you, is esthetically, a disaster.  I looks disgusting, and I've been living with it in the manner for months now.

2. The cause of the disasterous site, is something I am incredibly ashamed of.  I am aware it is incredibly bad for the environment, yet I am embarassed to admit I don't know what the best alternative is.... which is where I need YOUR help.

Without further ado, I give you the sink in my laundry room.  Albeit, it's an ugly white plastic tub in the unfinished cave that is my basement.  But nonetheless, serves a great purpose.

What you are looking at, my friends is my sink after I washed a paintbrush in it!!!!  Yes, that lovely Antuque Sterling wallcolor that looks like such a lovely light blue in our house, is actually GREY!!!  The paint would NOT go away!!!

Tonight, while Cory watched District 9 (which I  had no desire to see, and re-affirmed this decision 30 seconds after he ordered it), I headed downstairs to finish my laundry.  As I walked past the sink, grimacing at the mess in my sink, I suddenly had an idea:  MR CLEAN MAGIC ERASERS!!!

Wonder if they'll work?  Can't hurt to try, I suppose...

So, I spent about 15 minutes SERIOUSLY scrubbing the sink.

Thankfully, all that hard work paid off, because here's what it looks like now:

Yes, there is a tiny bit of discoloration still left on the right corner at the back (the first place the splash-back hit..) but it's a huge improvement over what was there.  Plus, after much scrubbing, I'm feeling pretty secure that the hint of grey paint is not something that would do any damage to any washables I soak in the tub!

Okay, okay, so now to address the real issue:  Why am I cleaning paint brushes in the sink?  The only reason I have:  My mom always did it when we were younger, and I can't say I'm done much painting in the last 10 years.... so I really have no other idea on what else I should do??

Now, as we start to embark on some home decorating projects in the near future, I know we'll be doing a lot more painting, so I ask all you bloggers in the know:  How do you clean your painting supplies?  Where do you put the dirty water?

I'd love to be more environmentally concious and I would love your input!

Bits of this and that

Lessons learned this week:

~ spray painting when it is cold out, is a bad thing.  Yeah, so I decided to put another coat of paint on the lamp I am re-finishing.  Unfortunately, I think this project might need to put off until the spring, since I don't have anywhere warm to work, and I think I may have ruined it now, and will need to start over... sigh.

~ paint and other construction-related materials like Liquid Nails, Poly-fil, etc. should not be kept in the garage when you live in freezing North like I do! Especially if your garage isn't insulated, such as ours!  Oops!  Point taken, and I will make sure to assign a special cabinet for such items in the laundry room when we finish the basement.

~ there really is no good way to clean up glitter.  Especially fine glitter like Martha Stewart`s.  Best option is to wash it away, off the table, the floors, your face, and entire outfit.  You will however, still find it EVERYWHERE for the next year....

~ no matter how hard you try to keep things organized, if there is a male in your household, all hope will be lost.  Take for example my kitchen drawers.  Here's a sampling of what they looked like yesterday afternoon:

hmmm... I think it's time for that pasta sauce -stained container to hit the trash....

I organized them, and I give it two days TOPS before  Cory makes a mess of them again.

~ Lastly, I think it's just IMPOSSIBLE for me to start and finish a project in a timely fashion. Despite my insistence that they should take 5 minutes TOPS....sigh.  There are suppossed to be 2 chandeliers hanging here, but I was short one hook!

Anyway you "Slice" it...

You may not know this, but I used to be a Demonstrator for Stampin' Up! . I started doing it, mostly just to get the discount, but eventually started doing workshops and stuff.  Unfortunately, any of my friends who were interested, either started doing it themselves, or weren't interested in the capacity that required them to buy stuff, so it ended up being a lot less lucrative than I had hoped.  So, when it started to cost me more money than I was bringing in, I decided to give it up.

While I still stamp, and make cards for myself, and occassionally for others, I have to admit, I've not done too much lately. Plus, I never really got as good as some of those girls out there!  But I still have a desire to someday be good, and create beutiful paperthings. 

Anyhow, the point of the post, is that since I stopped doing it as a business, I never got around to owning a Cricut or one of those other fancy cutting machines.   I just couldn't hustify paying that kindof money when I was barely making cards even.  However, lately, I've been seeing a ton of home decor items that people have been creating, with the help of one die-cutting machine, or another.

It got me thinking, so I went out and checked the prices of some of these machines.  Still WAY outta my budget. Shoot!

Today however, as I was going thru the archives of some of my new fave blogs, I stumbled across a mention of a Slice machine while over at Little Birdie Secrets and had to check it out! 

The Slice  is small, cordless and a lot cheaper than some of the other models out there!  The design cards offer seem pretty versatile, and there are quite a few cards that offer different fonts, in addition to  a slew of pretty designs, so it seems possible not to have to spend thousands of dollars, just to get the shapes I want!

Does anyone else have any reviews of this product?  Is it worth the buy?  Or should I save up and buy another model?  Thoughts!!

Valentine's Mantel thus far

Okay, so as I said earlier, this is my first year decorating for Valentine's Day.  So, I am limiting the decor to my mantel, and possibly a wreath... if I can find the form that I am looking for, that is!

However, I had NO budget, so other than the bucket o' blooms, I used what I had!  That alone, was incredibly difficult.  I actually didn't think I had anything that would work!

So please don't juge me too harshly!  I also think I will most likely add some sort of garland/banner later this week.... I'll post pics if I get around to it.

In the meantime, it made Cory  smile when he came home from work just now!

Here's a closer look at each side:

The tall pink vase usually sits on my dresser (it has clear polka dots all over, that you can't really see), I got it years and years ago at HomeSense.  The pink rose picture is 1 of 5 art cards, purchased at Ikea years ago, as well. The frame was made by my mom, at my request, and was laquered in black to make the images POP.   Behind that is a little "floral" arrangement I made this afternoon in about 2 minutes. 

First, I cut some branches out of a vase I had in a corner, and combined them with some curly gold sparkle branches from a Christmas arrangement, and threw them in a heart-shaped Crystal vase. To add some interest, I used some felt flowers from  Stampin Up and attached them to the branches with glue dots.  (this will allow me to remove them without destroying them when I dismantel the display!)

On the other side, I placed a pink striped box under my blooms pot, to give it a little extra height.  The box is actually a gift set of floating candles.  Infront of that a little decorative pink bottle I got in Junior High from the dollar store.  There was already a little heart-shaped keychain around it's neck, so I left it there.  Next to that is one of my mercury glass candlestick holders from Ikea  and a vanilla pillar candle.

Simple, pretty and pink!  I'm pretty limited for space, with the tv above the fireplace (which I hate!!!), but it works for now.

Thoughts?  Any ideas how I can jazz the space up a little bit more?

Linked up to:

The Stories of A 2 Z

Bloomin' Hearts!

I've never decorated for Valentine's Day before, but after seeing all the great displays of love over at everyone's blogs, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon myself this year.  However, it will be small as I start to grow a collection.  I figure by the time we get around to having kids, my collection will be appropriate enough to be appreciated by little ones!

Anyhow, after looking around, I realized I really have NOTHING that screams " Happy Valentine's Day" or even "Love"...I guess that's what happens when you don't have a family, the focus stays on less sentimental things, and more DECOR stuff... I wanna change this!  So, I was going to have to start from scratch!  A trip to the dollar store yielded a display of a lot of CRAP!! However, I will most likely be going back to pick up some heart appliqed dishtowels and a gorgeous door knob hanger, since I realized that we have a ton of interior doors that open up in the main space.

Amidst all the crap, I did find one crap item that got the wheels turning in my head.  It was a little box thing, with hearts splaying out in all different directions, and crazy streamers and floral pick things.  It was not my style at all, but I liked the idea that it could create height and dimension on a mantel!  So, I figured I could create something myself, that would be 100 times nicer.

My idea?  A flower pot blooming with hearts!

Supplies:
~ small,heart embossed, mini pot - ($1.97 - Walmart; admittedly, I could have used something from home, but this was cute!)
~ small, half-round styrofoam shape ($2.00 - Walmart)
~ spanish moss ($2.00 - Walmart for a big bag that I only used a tiny corner of; forgot to get at dollar store)
~ 1 package of 8 small, styrofoam heart shapes ($1.00 - Dollarama)
~ bamboo skewers ( already had)
~ white glue
~ paint brush ( already had)
~ glitter ( I used a combo of large glitter I already had, and a three-pack of Martha Stewart's fine glitter in "Coral", which is really just 3 shades of pink - love this! It was $7.50/3pk at Walmart)
~ scrapbook paper scrap
~ rub-on greeting (from my stash; Stampin' Up! brand)
~ ribbon
~ metal hardware tag


How To:

1. Make your "flowers".  The easiest way to do this is to spear a styrofoam heart with a bamboo skewer.  This way you can rotate the heart as you go, and get nice, even coverage!  (Note: if you want your stems a different color, paint them BEFORE you start.  I realized this too late, and simply used a white paint pen after the fact)

2. Coat each speared heart with white glue.  I used an old cheapie sponge paintbrush for this.

3. Cover each glue covered heart with glitter.  I chose to do 2 hearts of each glitter color.

4.  Put hearts aside to dry.  Assemble pot while waiting.

6.  When glue on hearts is all dry, insert your skewers into the foam at the bottom of the pot.  This may involve the ends of your bamboo "stems" needing to be cut, to get varying heights of "flowers".

7. Add some Spanish Moss to your pot to fill it out a bit, and add some interest, color and texture.

8. Create a little tag to add some interest to the base of the pot.  I grabbed a scrap of pink scrapbook paper and used a "love You" Rub-on for a sweet little greeting.  Using glue-dots, I adhered the message inside a metal tag embelishment.  To attach, I wrapped a piece of wired, silver ribbon around the pot and tied the ends.  ( I think I need a brighter ribbon, so this will most likely change the next day or so...)

9. Place your pot on the mantel, and admire it in it's finished glory, as you try to decide what else to put up there!

So, what do you think?  I'm gonna change out the ribbon today, and possibly cut down a few more stems to make it a bit more symmetrical, but I really love it!

Check back later this weekend for more projects, and a finished Valentine's Mantel reveal!

This regularly scheduled post has been delayed due to unexpected guests....

I had hoped to have some crafts ready to go for some posts, but mom is in town for some doctor's appointments, so things are a bit delayed.

However, small bits of progress have been made and the following are in the works:

~ the first coat of paint went on Vintage Lamp #1 this weekend, since it was actually pretty nice out and tolerable in the garage.  (it has gotten cold again though, and might be a little while still before another nice day... cross your fingers for me!)

~ some supplies have been purchased and some more are being sought out to get the V-day decorations started.  This is my FIRST year doing these, I am going very minimal

~ the base for the ottoman re-upholster project has been brought inside, so that means it's on the board for projects.

Just a quick, very late post as I check in for inspiration!