coco, the glove bunny

It’s time to get stitching for spring with this super cute glove bunny. This is Coco, bunny #1 in my bunny making journey (I have since stitched up and shared over 20 of these little guys) Hippity-hoppity.

You can either use a pair of holey gloves that aren’t going to make it to next year, or a pair of cheapo worker man gloves from the 99 cent store like I did here.  The details of the project are outlined in the pictures below… you are going to have to CLICK on the pictures to see them in more detail.

For the arms: I stuffed them about 3/4 full with the other pieces of glove that were cut off and then tucked the rest of the finger (the cut off part) back in to the finger with the stuffing, creating a smooth edge. Stitch the arm on to the bottom of the body, below the rim of the glove, with either matching or contrasting thread if you want a patchwork look.

Stuffing the bunny: Stuff the head and body, use a chop stick to get the filler up into the ears and legs. You can use whatever type off fill you want, but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I like to use recycled fill like stray sock stuffing or an old clean t-shirt all chopped up.

Attaching the head to the body: If you notice, with this particular glove, there is a lip (or a rim) around the bottom of the glove.  If you notice on the top picture, it looks like the bunny is wearing a turtleneck… I simply shoved the head all the way down into the body portion of the bunny. Sewed along the edge where they were joined (I went around twice with the stitching because some of my bunnies were going to kids and I wanted them to last through some heavy hugging) and then flipped the rim of the glove over the stitching to create the turtleneck effect.

And if you only have one stray glove lying around the house, be sure to check out the baby glove bunny project.  Happy Spring!!

So…. accidents happen!!  For example, when your dog throws up on your comforter and it says “Dry Clean Only” but there’s vomit on it, and it’s gross, and you put it in the wash anyway, only to realize later why you should have followed the instructions.

See the picture above, well that is what my comforter now looks like. A bag of stuffing and some fabric. After a nice wash and dry in the machine, all the batting clumped to one end and the fancy patchwork comforter was no more.  I cut open the fabric, put the batting in a bag and shoved it to the back of my closet.

Meanwhile, my dog had taken to lying in the pile of fabric as sort of a makeshift bed. After doing a little spring cleaning (and washing his dog-pile bed) I decided to whip out the sewing machine, put the batting to good use, and make my little guy a real bed.

click the pic for another tasty pet recipe! woof.

Let’s preface this by saying – I have extremely sensitive skin.  Because of this, once I find a product regimen that doesn’t dry my skin or cause breakouts, I’m not quick to stray. As far as face wash goes, for years I was hooked on an alternating system of Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream and MyChelle Dermaceuticals Fruit Enzyme Scrub. Then, one day when the Hauschka was empty, an amber jar of  ‘cleansing powder’ appeared in its place (I was not the primary product-purchaser in the household at the time) and I freaked out.

My first thought was… WHAT??… Where’s my Cleansing Cream? and,  How on earth am I supposed to clean my face with POWDER?? But I gave it a chance and was surprised to discover that the ‘new stuff’ was phenomenal. Although, in a house with two women, spending $20 a pop on a 6 oz jar of powder that disappeared in less than two weeks, was bit of an expenditure.

Luckily, the ingredients were clearly printed on the label, and with a little experiment and some help from our friend at the beauty counter at Integral Yoga and Natural  Foods, we came up with the magic formula.

The ingredients are simple: Organic Oat Flour, Lavender and Sweet Orange essential oils.  Add one cup of flour, 10 drops of Sweet Orange and 10 drops of Lavender oil to a lidded container, close the lid tightly then shake vigorously!!  Like jumping up-and-down kinda shaking. And wall-ah — you’re done.

I keep my magic powder in a glass jar in the bathroom with a little scoop. To use, simply place a small mound (see top pic) in your hand, add water, work into a paste and apply to your face as you would any other cleansing product.  I’ve been using this formula for two-plus years and I’m extremely satisfied.  (**I do still alternate with the MyChelle scrub once every two or three days).

If you sit around like I do, daydreaming of museum-sized photographs filling your walls, then maybe you should try rasterbating!! (no… it’s not dirty, notice the “r”)

Rasterbating, also known as tiled printing, is a way to take a large image and break it down into smaller, page sized pieces, which can later be reassembled into a whole. So, instead of spending thousands on a 30×40 print, you can get an artful effect for the price of a new cartridge of printer ink and some photo paper. (really, you could use any sort of paper that suits your fancy, I just so happen to have boxes of glossy photo paper laying around my house so I went with that)

Here are some easy-to-follow instructions… clicking on the image will allow you to see the full-sized details:

Since I happen to be a bit of a tech-nerd, I did all of the image tiling myself via photoshop & imageready… but for the not so tech-savvy, there is this great website (although it looks like the website is down right now, so I might just have to write up some steps for the photoshop novice) that will help you through the technicalities.

Here’s a project I can’t wait to replicate. Eliza and her mom crafted this project after being inspired by a Spend Share Save box at a friends house.

The idea is simple, start by digging an empty box out of the recycle bin:

Divide the inside into sections (scotch tape and cardboard):

Using a sharp knife, and adult supervision, cut the lid into three pieces to match the sections created on the inside:

When all the chopping and taping is done, decorate your bank and start dividing up your funds. My favorite part is the ‘share’ section.

Thanks for the great idea Eliza!!

is this a trash heap or a piece of trash?

Once again, I’ve transformed a piece of furniture that has been following my family around since the 70′s. This record hutch used to be some other color? before my mother stained it black in the 90′s. The doors no longer slide and I would have tossed it to the curb, if not for the serious lack of places to put things in my apartment.

paint samples from Home Depot are everything I dreamed they could be

Instead of adding it to a landfill, I discovered paint samples from Home Depot. These 8 oz tintable testers come in a variety of brands and can be color matched to anything, all for under $3 a pop!

The last time (and first time) I redid a piece of furniture I went with a semi-gloss, a recommendation from a friend. At first, I was upset to learn that the testers only came in an eggshell finish, but after I was done, I learned that I prefer eggshell for furniture. Try and learn.

prep and paint!

Preparing this piece for painting was a bit more entailed than I envisioned. After I got started with the sanding, I decided to find a way to get rid of the non-working sliding doors. It took a lot of elbow grease, hammering pulling and prying, but I managed to pop the pieces out one by one. (I saved the pieces for other projects)

...oh, the choices...

Once the prep and paint was complete I decided to get crafty and transform this piece of furniture into a work of art.

it's getting exciting

After choosing some beautiful paper and carefully cutting out my designs with an x-acto knife, it was time to test out a layout.

layout, decoupage, seal

I decoupaged the paper onto the chest with mod podge. I applied a thin layer and then let dry completely before applying another. This is important, because if you try to paint more glue over the paper before it is dry you WILL tear the paper.

the hardest part is aways... waiting

I wanted the design to lay seamlessly on the chest so I applied several layers of mod podge. The last step is to seal the entire piece with an acrylic sealant so that water will not damage your hard work.

Pretty nice!!

(note to self: take better pictures because these don't do it justice)

While boot chains may be the latest runway runoff, this project is more like the poor girls solution to the glitzy holiday party. New boots were not on this year’s priority spending list, so instead I bought two new things for my holiday getup.. bright teal tights and a $20 necklace overflowing with chains. (If you could imagine, the necklace pictured above is actually what was leftover AFTER making boot chains, so I got 2 new boot chains and a necklace all for twenty bucks!)

All you really need to make DIY shoe jewelry is an amply overflowing necklace, some old shoes and needle-nose pliers (pictured on top). Every girl should have a pair of these in the house, both for crafty projects and DIY jewelry fixes.. they have a pointy tip for squeezing tiny pieces and a cutting mechanism near the axis.

Pull apart the circle links holding the necklace to the clasp and save them for reattaching. Wrap the chains around your boots to determine the length needed to create your jewelry, and then cut the chain at the appropriate place with the cutting part of the pliers.

Now, reattach the chains in the form you want by inserting the circular link between the two ends of your cut chain, and then squeezing the circle back into shape. I did a wrap-around anklet with dangling ends…

While writing up this how-to post Refinery29 conveniently dropped this link in my inbox, check it out for some more great ideas… and then make your own!

This dresser has been following me around for thirty-some years. There’s a picture somewhere of my mother painting it Sunkist Orange. I was in the picture too… large and in her belly.

Twenty years later, I’m visiting my parents and noticed it’s new ‘wooden’ look. Five years after that they moved cross-country. Guess who got the dresser?

Now, I’m the one to give it a new look. Two coats of semi-gloss and new drawer pulls made this old piece come alive.

Before I repainted the dresser, I did a bit of maintenance. With use, I noticed that the bottoms of the drawers would sag under the weight of my clothes, so I reinforced the bottom board in each drawer with hammer and nails.

Then I unscrewed the old knobs, lightly sanded the dresser, rubbed it down with mineral spirits and applied the first layer of paint.

The hardest part.. waiting 12 hours before applying the second coat.

Instead of just painting and replacing the knobs, I decided that a small investment would take the dresser to new heights. My first instinct was antique looking glass knobs.. but the prices were either too high, or the gratification was not immediate, so I decided to open my options.

After rummaging through countless hardware stores, websites and eBay lists, I settled on handcrafted deer antler knobs from an artisan on eBay, $25 for 12. Since I only needed 10 for this project, there’s a lucky two laying around for something else.