Crafty Supply Boxes

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Mar 312012
 
This is part one of many. You see, I have a craft room. It’s still a bit of a dream for me.
I. Have. A. Craft. Room.
And it’s a disaster. So bad I can’t bring myself to show you. That’s right. I’ll cheerfully tell you I did laundry next to two tubs of chickens for months but I won’t show you my craft room. It needs organization. Badly. And it needs cheap. I don’t have a real budget or time line. But I’d like to spend as little as possible by using what I have on hand and get it done ASAP so I can focus on my garden planning and outside stuffs. In an earlier post I talked about being a crash organizer. I need baby steps. (Actually I need a miracle) I need to make this so easy for myself that I can’t NOT be organized. 
I started out by sorting some piles of stuff. I figured out what stuff I had a lot of and assigned some photo storage boxes (these are available everywhere and always on sale somewhere) to different categories. I used my Slice and white adhesive vinyl to cut out some fancy shapes and labels. 
The Paint Box:
Just so happens that 8 bottles of paint (Apple Barrel brand, Americana ect.) fit exactly across! See! miracles! I used my finger to smear painted each cap so it matches the contents. Not only does it show the color but also the finish.
Black is gloss and orange is matte. Now I can tell at a glance what I have without digging through a box. AND I hope I can stop buying new paint for every project because I can’t find the one I need. It’s a sad. I was the same way with make up and such for dancing (seriously, ask me how many sets of fake lashes I have).

Mixed Media Spring Art

 DIY  14 Responses »
Mar 292012
 

I had a whole bunch of stuff hanging around and I needed to do something with it all!

I started with:
 one failed painting, 4 mini wooden picket fences, blue and white paint, green vinyl, white buttons, spring-y paper, hot glue and my Slice.

I love how it turned out but I have no idea where to put it!

WW: The footprints on the wall

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Mar 282012
 
I love my puppy. I really do.
But.
He’s a bit slow sometimes.

Despite looking like a garage door, this actually leads into the basement.
And directly above it is a window.

This is the window I yell out when I want to take a shower and Mike is filling water and I want to know how freakin long it could possibly take because I JUST WANT TO WASH MY HAIR.

ahem.

Anyways, those foot prints belong to Mr. Fluff.
He gets all sorts of confused when I yell out the window.
He can hear mommy.
But he can’t see mommy.
And that it not nice.

So until my dog learns to look up (or I stop yelling out windows) I’ll have muddy paw prints on my basement doors.

Barn Quilt Reveal!

 DIY  30 Responses »
Mar 282012
 

I finally finished it!
 
Honestly, that should say I finally started it!
All in all it only took me 3 days of work and a lot of that was waiting
One for the base coat. 
One for the marking, taping and painting:
I tried to do all of one color at a time to cut back on brush washing
Ignore the random junk. We still haven’t unpacked the garage, don’t judge!
And one for hanging it up.
We wanted it to stand away from the barn to inhibit moisture retention
The base color is Behr Cream Yellow (I had 3/4 gallon left over from the living room)
 
The rest of the paint came from Lowes.
I bought 5 sample jars:
La Fonda Copper (orange)
Mark Twain House Grey Brick (green)
La Fonda Deep Blue (blue)
Fairmont Penthouse Garnet (burgundy)
Bees Wax (dark yellow)
I’ve got more than 1/2 jar left of each color, you could easily do a 2 color quilt with the same amount of paint.
My ‘quilt’ is only 4×4, my barn is only one story and an 8×8 quilt would have been monstrous! 
Once we put in some plants it won’t look quite so lonely.
View from the road
Like that plywood against the left side of the barn?
That’s to keep Sophia in. Some how she squeezes out of that 1.5ft space.
The total cost was around $20 for the paint, brushes and tape.
The plywood was salvaged from the turkey pen at the old house (free!) 
I also got poly- sealer but the temperature tanked so I’m waiting for it to warm up out of the 30′s and I’ll seal it on the barn (but you should totally seal it before you put one out!)
Before touch up

Some tips:
*If you use rough plywood – buy some cheap chip brushes.
You’ll mangle them trying to get the paint in all the cracks
*Thick and Sloppy is the name of the game (come back here!)
This board was so rough (and sucked up paint like crazy) that I found it best to slap on massive amounts of paint
*Step back – you’ll drive yourself nuts trying to make the lines perfect.
Step back 3 feet, if it looks straight leave it alone!
*Don’t do ‘Broken Dishes’ (bottom left)
I just about went cross-eyed trying to fill that in and it doesn’t stand out as well as the others from far away
Keep it simple! Large block of color work best at long distances
*Don’t worry about spills
They are easy to cover up with a few dabs of paint
*Don’t be afraid to fudge a bit if your lines don’t meet up
This is much more forgiving than an actual quilt!
I loved making this and I wish I had another barn so I could make more!

Linked up at Farmgirl Friday

Rainy Sunday

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Mar 262012
 

Ugh. It’s been a day and a half here!

I’ve been working on my super awesome project for the last two days.
Hopefully I’ll have it done and ready to share by Tuesday when I have help putting it up.

Got a bit side tracked when a neighbor stopped by to tell me my turkey was down by her barn.
Cut to 1 hour traipsing trough the woods looking for the hen.
Almost caught her once but then she got away.
We lost her about 1/2 mile from the house so I’m hoping she’ll hear the toms (all 4 are gobbling up a storm these days) and make it back.

So far we’ve been incredibly lucky with predators. We’ve lost one duck and 2 polish hens that refused to go in the barn at night, preferring the life threatening strategy of sitting in the middle of a field.

Who wouldn’t come back for this? Check out that beard!

I’ll keep you updated!

Spring Wreath

 DIY  12 Responses »
Mar 232012
 

I made this last year, when we first moved in to decorate for the summer. Unfortunately I doesn’t say ‘summer’ to me.

But it does say Spring!

DIY Spring Wreath

Ribbon and Button Wreath Decorations

If I recall correctly, I used 3 whole spools of ribbon and a handful of vintage buttons.
I’m sure you can find a dozen tutorials online!

Easter Wreath

Very happy to have some tulips coming up right in front!

One more close up:

Love these buttons!

Update: This wreath stayed up all summer and while the ribbon faded quite a bit I didn’t lose a singe rosette even with the strong winds we get at the front of our house.

Fan Fig-ingtastic!

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Mar 222012
 
Welcome to Part 2 of Grow Gourmet!*

Wandering around Lowe’s looking for stuff for the clothesline.

Somehow, even though Mike was with me I came home with a plant.
Not just any plant.

A fig. A Chicago Hardy Fig.
I agonized over it. I’ve had a fig before, but my dog ate it.
Or at least tried to. He dragged it out of the pot and around the house no fewer than 3 times.
It died.

Continue reading »

WW: Relaxing

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Mar 212012
 
Do you have ‘a spot’? The place you go to relax, decompress and forget the world?

I do.

By some miracle the stars aligned and we found a clearance hammock at Lowes days after we officially moved into the new house. The stars stayed aligned and we happen to have 2 quaking aspen the perfect distance apart to hang that hammock. In the summer the trees fill out and when the wind blows the leaves rustle and it sounds like gentle rain. From the hammock I can see the pasture and the garden, as well as the future site of the orchard (more on that later)

This past weekend we did a lot of work out side, including putting up the hammock.
Let me tell you it took lots of will power to stay out of that baby.

Eventually I gave in and then this happened:

Big Plans!

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Mar 202012
 

Ok, maybe my plans are actually pretty small.
(ignore the colors, they mean NOTHING!)

But the end product is big!
I’m going to make a barn quilt, 4×4 feet. So each block above will be 2ft x 2ft.
I’m not sure on colors yet, I want to keep it simple, probably 5 colors. This side of the barn faces the road so I’d like it to not look awful.

As you may have realized, I suck at quilting. Not the actual craft, just the whole getting started thing.
But I’ve had The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt book for a while and I like to look at it all the time AND I’ve been saying I’ll make a barn quilt since before I even had a barn.

Combine the two and hopefully I’ll get a nice decoration for right here between the windows:

Like how the barn is two colors? When we move in it was a 3 sided shed. Lots of money later we had a second half, two doors and three windows. Sophia, the cow, learned how to open the windows (theirs in the one one the left) and had since removed 2 screens.

Someday the whole thing will all be blue metal, we’ll likely get it done just after the blue fades enough that they never match.
But that’s gotta wait, at least until the wood is no longer useable, or we win the lottery.

Alright arty-folk:
What do you thing? Color wise or pattern wise
Do you like the block I chose?
Should I include ‘sashing’? (I’m leaning to yes)

11 Things

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Mar 202012
 
The Rules:

1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you’ve tagged them.

11 Things about me:

1. I am actually engaged, I have a pretty sparkly and everything. But I HATE the word fiance so I call Mike my boyfriend
2. I have a barbell through the top of my nose. I got it done (the first time) when I was 18, had it out for a year or so then got it done again. It didn’t hurt and I forget its there until someone pinches the bridge of their nose and squints at me asking if it hurt.
3. I used to dye my hair A LOT. It’s been every shade of drug store auburn available, platinum blonde and full out cotton candy blue. I stopped a few years ago and now its a pretty boring dark blond with some red (My moms a ginger!)
4. I feel better covered in dirt
5. I hate wearing shoes
6. I am a kodak certified photo lab technician (seriously! I worked in the photo lab at CVS for 2 years in high school)
7. I’m a pet food snob and I can’t stand people who have ‘outside’ dogs (one exception:livestock guide dogs that live with their protectees in the barn)
8. I used to know all the mammals in NY state by latin name and common name. Used to know a lot of insects too
9. I am not squeamish at all, blood, guts, poo… nothing bothers me
10. I have a tattoo on my inner right ankle of Cornus canadensus
11. I got hit in the eye by a cat toy when I was a kid and had to wear a pirate patch. I swear my eye lid droops but no one else sees it


Questions from Jamie:

1. If money, schooling or time was no obstacle, what career would you choose?

I would be a farmer. I know. Shocking. I prefer to spend my days in the dirt with chickens and alpacas than in an office. I have an overwhelming drive to feed people good food and teach people where their food comes from any why they need to appreciate and respect it.

2. What’s the one thing you look forward to every day?
Spending time with my boyfriend, puppy and cat

3. What is your number one, all-time, favorite blog?
ooooo tough one. I have a few that I love to read:
Chiots Run – about ‘simple living’ gardening and such
One Dog Woof – Awesome Crafts and Food
Scissors and Steam – She’s nuts, just nuts. Also crafty and fun

4. Biggest online pet peeve?
When people comment “I follow you now you have to follow me” 
It’s so rude! It drives me nuts. Usually it’s also a blog that I have no interest in at all! 
Seriously, I follow over 100 blogs in my reader I’m not following one I don’t want to read just so you can get your numbers up 

5. What is your all-time favorite book?
Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follet. Both books are over 1000 pages. WWE is the sequel to PE, it takes place 100ish years later (I think). I usually reread them every year. 

6. Have you ever been in a fight and thrown something made of glass at someone, like they do in the movies?
No, but my mom threw a soup bowl at the floor and it shattered and cut me, does that count?

7. Do you believe in love at first sight?
ehh not so much. I actually strongly disliked Mike when I first met him. He was a drunk asshat. Glad I didn’t pass on that one though!

8. What would your ideal Sunday morning consist of?
Coffee and a book in my hammock after the poplars have leafed out and the leaves rustle like rain

9. Why do you blog?
Because I’d be doing all this stuff anyway. Now when people ask me why I just reply “I’m a serious blogger” and walk away

10. If you had to choose one color to wear forever, what would you pick?
Blue or green. I tend to wear those colors all the time anyway

11. What is your all-time favorite band?
Changes with my mood but at the moment I’ve been listening to Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert




Got tagged by Melissa @My Meller too:


1. If you could be an animal, what would you be and why? 
I’d be my dog or my cat. Probably the dog so I could go out side

2. What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of? 
Graduating from college with honors from a freakin hard program (BS in Wildlife Science from SUNY ESF)

3. What is your favorite breakfast cereal? 
Cheerios. or granola. Or fruity pebbles but I haven’t had them in years


4.Do you fall into the stereotype of your birth order? Oldest sibling? The baby? Only child? 
Oldest – probably, my sister definitely fits the baby stereotype!

5. What is your favorite household chore? 
I really like to iron

6. What is your LEAST favorite household chore? 
I hate to clean the bathrooms. Luckily Mike does it because he likes to soak everything in bleach

7. If you are sitting down alone, what do you watch on TV? 
 Sons of Anarchy. Or some documentary type show (LOVE Fatal Attraction on Animal Planet but it’s not online and we don’t have TV service)

8. What would be one word to describe your personality? 
Variable

9. How often do you check your email? 
Way too much

10. What is the most interesting thing in your purse right now? 
I had a flashlight but my sisters boyfriend took it. It was magnetic and it had a hook! I miss it

11. How tall are you? Would you rather be taller or shorter? 
I’m 5’10ish. I like being this height. I’d hate to be short and too much taller would make buying clothing impossible


My questions:

1. Could/would you live alone on mountain for a year (you can have a dog)?
2. Do you still have a teddy bear/stuffed animal?
3. Would you rather swim in a lake, the ocean or a pool?
4. How do you feel about cruise ships?
5. What is your favorite vegetable and how do you like to eat it?
6. Do/would you let your dog sleep in your bed?
7. How do you feel about spiders in the house?
8. Do you still talk to people from high school/college?
9. Are you like your SO’s mother? Is he like your father?
10. In the car: windows down or AC?
11. Do you eat seasonally?

I’d love to hear from anyone but I’m tagging:

Chi Wei @ 1 dog woof
Melissa @ My Meller
Barb @ Grandma Barb’s This and That
Jamie @ Scissors and Steam

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