Dog Food Container Courtesy of Ballard Designs

Ballard Designs strikes again.  They’ve gone ahead and come out with another catalog full of great things to either buy or imitate.  I have no money, so I imitate.  It stinks to be poor.  Pooh!

My husband has a dog.  The relationship between the dog and I is, at best, considered complicated.  We live to dislike each other, yet we look out for each other.  It’s a little weird.  She protects me and I feed and shelter her in return. 

Because of this mutual dislike, I don’t think to prettify any of her things, however, in the Ballard catalog there were these cute dog food containers that were just simply adorable!  I liked these so much that I decided to put our differences aside and make it for her. 

Remember these cans from here, well that’s what I decided to use.  They were just the right shape and all I had to use was spray paint.  No brainer, right?  Duh!  I shot the can with some white primer first to cover up the lettering and then I hit it with Rustoleum’s heirloom white spray paint. 

Since the lid on the original Ballard dog food container was black, I decided to make mine black too.  I just hit it with ruddy brown primer and then with Rustoleum’s satin black paint. 

The lettering on the can was done on my Silhouette machine using text that resembled the original. 

I think it came out so CUTE!  Now my baby daddy’s dawg has a great place to keep her nom noms.  Oh and the cost of this was…you guessed it FREE!  Here is the Ballard Designs original.  Here is mine:

All is well in the evolution of home bubble. 

Nydia 8)

Extreme Makeover Cabinet Edition

I have a hard time turning away used furniture.  If someone asks me, “hey do you want such and such”, I say sure without hesitation.  I don’t know why I do this and frankly it’s not like I have the room for it.  However, I take the free item and either use it, modify it, give it to someone who can use it, or donate it. 

My wonderful mother in-law is famous for offering me things.  GAH!  I just love her!  Seriously guys she’s awesome.  She is an extremely generous person and I’m lucky to have her.  In-laws are the side dishes of marriage.  I ordered a beef cake husband and he came with a side order of mother in-law.  She’s like a great side of steak fries that come with your burger.  Awesome! 

Enough about that though, there is a point in all this.  About a year ago, she gave me a curio cabinet that she no longer had the room for.  (I’m sure the actual story was she no longer liked it.)  She offered it to me and I snatched it up like a squirrel and a nut.  Trust me I didn’t know why I wanted the cabinet because it didn’t go with any of my stuff.  It was a dated brown oak-ish color and that is my least favorite oak-ish color.  IT NEEDED TO BE CHANGED!  I’m using my caps lock voice here people.  

I set out to change it and believe it or not this project began in the early fall when it was still rather warm out.  I dragged it out all this time because it was so DARN HEAVY and because the weather got icky.  So in the garage this thing sat primed and ready to go, until this past weekend. 

Initially when I primed this piece I used white primer because I was going to paint it white, but then I had an idea.  Poof if occurred to me that a white cabinet wouldn’t go with a thing I own, so black was the only option from then on. 

Here you can see the original "brown" and my attempt at white.

I primed the whole thing with a ruddy brown primer just because that’s what I had on hand, then over that went the satin black spray paint that I also had on hand.  I knew I wanted to display some of my white serving dishes in it so I painted the handles white to add contrast. 

Here the final result.  I love it!

Now I have a cabinet that was free and that I love and that serves a purpose and that looks chic and that’s why my mother in-law is all that and a bag of chips!

Nydia 8)


Linking up to:
http://todayscreativeblog.net 

Seed Tape To Get Your Spring Sprung

I’ve come to the realization that I AM LAZY!  I usually blame my slothfulness on Winter Blues but let’s face it I’m lazy year round.  I’m lazy inside the house and out.  Sure I have my spurts of energy but those max out at about an hour; after that I’m useless. 

There is no situation though that makes me feel lazier than having to work outdoors, specifically planting and tending a garden.  That crap is back breaking work!  I’m talking major buns and thighs workout. 

Every year I plan a garden and every year I fail miserably.  It’s what I’m becoming known for.  Case in point: One year I tried growing pumpkins and all I grew were some brown mucky vines!  That same year my bratty younger brother kicked a rotten pumpkin in my yard and every place those darn seeds landed a gorgeous pumpkin grew.  What the heck?!  He made no effort at all!  My husband took great pleasure in this and teased me about it for a LONG time.  The major reason I'm no good at growing things is because the hard work turns me off.  My failure as a farmer/gardener is my motivation for this project here. 

A couple of years ago, Martha Stewart Living magazine featured a small tutorial on seed tape.  I thought this was ingenious but I kept forgetting to try it.  So this year is the year I WILL have a garden!  As God is my witness I shall never go flowerless again!  (Picture Scarlett O’Hara in a barren field shaking her fists at the sky.) 

Martha’s tutorial used paper towels.  I took her basic idea and tweaked it to my needs.  I decided to use toilet paper instead because I figured the tissue would break down quicker than the towels. 

I placed a tiny (I mean tiny, people, because toilet paper is thin) dab of Elmer’s glue spaced out according to the seed spacing recommendations on the seed packet.  I used a lollipop stick with a damp end to pick up each tiny seed and place it on the spot of glue.  It’s important that you use non-toxic water soluble glue so that your seeds can sprout. 

The all surface cleaner is for the removal of evidence.  My husband got mad because there were glue dots everywhere!

Once I had all my little seeds in place, I laid out the strips to dry.  When these are dried, you can go ahead and fold them up and store them with the original seed packet so you can refer to it.  When you go to plant these, all you have to do is set the seed tape down, cover it with soil, then water and watch it grow. 

I also made some for the veggies I'll be growing.  8) Hopefully!

I can’t wait for spring!  I’m chomping at the bit!  This time I’m ready!  Best of all, all my little plants will be growing in a nice, neat line!  This will make it easier to weed and take care of, making me look less lazy.  Shoot, people might even think I placed them in the ground like that.  I’ll post about this again when I’m ready to plant and then again when they’re in bloom. 

I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 

Nydia 8)

A Heartthrob T-shirt To Drool Over

So as I stated here, my niece just turned 15 and I was looking for something meaningful or at the least funny to give to her in addition to her gift.  I wanted this “something” to be handmade because I know that these things tend to be treasured more.  After powwowing with my sister, we came to the conclusion that she would appreciate something featuring her latest teenage girl crush, William Levy.   Please do yourself a favor and feast your eyes upon this gorgeous morsel of man meat.  (oh wow I lost my train of thought for a minute)

So I chose to make her a T-shirt with his picture on it.  Here’s the process of that. 

So I found this image copied it and transfered it onto a plain white Tee.  Mistake #1 I forgot to reverse the image.  AHHHH!  Prayer for patience!

On the back I used my Silhouette to create this image.  Mistake #2 used too hot iron directly onto the transfer paper, hence the faded parts.  No worries though it looks vintage that way.  (I hope she buys that.)

If you notice I covered up the backward lettering with some puffy paint flowers.  Problem Solved! Oh yeah I also cut all the seams and pulled it giving it a torn up, jacked up look.  (I think she'll like that.)

For the back I chose to shred it some more and I know you can't see it in the pictures but I cut the sleeve to make little ties. 

I SOOOOO hope she likes it or at least gets a kick out of it.  By the way, I did pick up an actual present.  This is just an extra. 

My niece might need to wash it before she wears it because I swear I drooled over that picture more than a few times. 

Nydia 8)

Ballard Designs Knockoff Pears Big Enough To Choke A Horse

Last week I was thumbing through a Ballard Designs catalog and I happened across this picture of some pears.  Super Fab no?  I thought they were delightful and since I'm a pro (hardly) at paper mache (remember the Achey Breaky Heart?), I thought I would try my hand at making them.  I must have bumped my head to think about taking on this type of project again!  I do have to say though that the second time around it was easier.  I guess that horrific first experience served for something. 


I made this using garbage!

First thing I did was find somethings that were similar in shape.  For this I used a couple of empty plastic containers straight out of the recycling bin.  One was an oil container in its past life the other was diswashing liquid.  Yea repurposing is fun!  I'm a true environMENTAList!  I wrapped these bottles all up in newspaper to make a pear shape and I taped the crap out of them.  On the one bottle I ran out of paper so I used plastic bags. 

For the bigger pear.

For the slightly smaller pear.

Once I had a pear shape I liked, I went ahead and shredded some newspaper and mixed my paper mache paste.  I placed the wet sticky strips all over the pear.  (Oh I should add that the stems are twigs from my yard.  I just stuck them in the holes of the container and secured them.)  As soon as I had a satisfactory level of bottle mummification, I set these puppies out to dry. 

I learned my lesson from the last paper mache project I worked on.  This time I used small dabs of hot glue sporadically to secure the jute twine and attached the rest of the twine using Elmer's glue.  This simple change made things so much neater and faster!  I can't even begin to tell you what a difference that made time wise.  I wrapped the twine carefully around the two beasts making sure all the seams were covered up nicely. 

Once they were covered and the glue had dried, I was done and my pears were ready for display.  What do you think?  Not quite Ballard Designs but certainly not $88!  These, my little Evolutionites, were absolutely FREE!

The student has become the master.  I am officially the Bruce Lee of paper mache!  (In my mind.)

Nydia 8)

I'm Sick

Haven't posted because I'm down for the count maybe tomorrow I'll feel better.

We Have A Winner Folks

I know I said I would announce the winner on Monday, but folks that family road trip was BRUTAL!  My son ended up projectile vomiting all over me, my coat, my food, himself, my handbag, and the passengers in front (my parents)!  That was a WHOLE LOT OF CLEAN-UP!  After all that, I needed all the rest I could get!  Oh also, I forgot what day it was.  All day long yesterday, I walked around thinking it was Sunday.  Call me Forgetful Jones.  Well with no further ado, the lucky winner of the Joanne gift card was Michelle comment number 13.  I will be emailing you shortly little lady.  As for the rest of you, a promise is a promise so when I reach 100 followers we’ll do it all over again. 

Yeah Joann’s!  I just love that place!  Every single time I go in there I get the best deals and bargains.  I wish I could sew better but I seriously don’t have the time until summer comes around.  Tomorrow I will try to post that totally kewl project I was telling you guys about.  Right now I’m working on a birthday present for my niece.  I just know she’s going to ADORE it!  Can’t wait to show you guys!

I can't believe this little beauty is 15!

 

Ta- ta for now! 

Nydia 8)