Remember when I said you can't have a pink guest room?

Well, you can't. Or I can't. We couldn't. It just didn't work. Unless our guest was a 5 year old girl. And they weren't. They were brothers, mothers, fathers and a few drunken friends. The pink 'big girl' bedding (as those mothers who recently purchased the set from Overstock for their 3-5 year old girls put it) just had to go. I wanted to buy new, but sometimes you just have to work with what you have. And what I had was the bedding in the master bedroom....which gave me an excuse to get new bedding for that room instead! Score - I still got to shop AND I'll get two room makeovers with just one purchase!

So this is the bedding I had:

Before I did anything else to the room. I wasn't too concerned about it. 

But this is how Tommy Hilfiger styled it:

Yeah, it looks nice there. Just didn't look nice in the guest room. Here's what I came up with:

See that headboard? Yeah I know, it's hard to see it. I paid 59 CENTS for it so it's okay. 

I'll probably change it another 3 times before I actually love it...thanks Pinterest for that complex!

Imagine those canvases painted pink and green...something like this:

These just looked really bad in pink and green.
(Oh hey jewelry box, haven't forgotten about you!)

And no room in the house is complete without a tgdesigns pillow:

Pretty simple but I like it!

I still have a few more projects to finish up for this room. I bought an old vanity for $5 this summer and it's about to get a coat of yellow paint! I'd tackle that tomorrow but I'll be practicing my hand at making a boob cake for the bf's birthday. I asked what he wanted, that was his first request. I'm sure it was a joke, but my baking partner in crime Val and I will be attempting one tomorrow as a practice run. Dana will be there to provide booze and suggestions. Saturday Funday - doesn't quite have the ring that Sunday Funday does, but I'm sure I'll have a ringing zinger on Sunday from all the fun on Saturday. 


Happy (project) weekend to you all! Hopefully I'll have something to report back on Monday with - besides my opinion that is :)

My Opinion Monday - idiots at the gym

I'm going to preface this post by saying that it's awesome for anyone who starts a gym regime, congrats and go you. 

But what the fuck are you doing there in a class if you're not going to follow the simple instructions given by the instructor?? It's like a waste of your time, a waste of my energy watching you and a distraction to everyone else in the class. 

I went to a bodypump class tonight which consists of 1 hour of weight lifting. It's a full class and I ended up in the front. Which I thought was fine because then I would only have myself to look at in the mirror and not everyone else in front of me. Well I was wrong. Being in the front gave me free range to stare at anyone else. 2 people caught my eye tonight. 

First was the older lady behind me. She was buff, you could tell that she'd done this before. HOWEVER, she did NONE of the moves correctly and I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself is that's how she always does it. While everyone else is looking up at the instructor, her eyes and head are facing down doing lord knows what. I couldn't help but watch her behind me. She was taller than me and I had no choice; it's hard to watch yourself for an hour.

The second dipshit to catch my eye was the lady that first was on the treadmill while I was warming up before class on the elliptical behind her. I immediately judged her running form (I know, I'm not a pro either but you'd  think she'd never jogged before) and was annoyed at the fact that she had her purse on the treadmill with her. I throw mine in the trunk of my car, therefore I feel like everyone else should. There's nothing in your purse that you need while in the gym (that goes for you cell phone talkers too, get off the phone and workout). Well this lady happens to be in the bodypump class and has a hard time getting the 1-2-3-4 counts down. Instructor says "Okay we're going to do 4 down and 4 up" - idiot lady essentially does 1 count down, 1 count up and just stands there. And she does that again. and again. and then puts the instructors step away - which is another distriction during (class can't you all just wait to put your stuff away AFTER class like the rest of us??) And then she continues to do nothing but stand there and chomp her gum like it's her job. Continues to have a hard time with the simple 1-2-3-4 counting the instructor is doing. Puts more of the instructors equipment away. And then I follow her out and her butt crack is hanging out of her pants. Hot mess. Fix yourself lady. Please. 

I am beginning my fitness routine once again - so much harder the 4th time around - and am aware of what I'm going to see and how often. I just never understood those that come to class and don't follow the instructor or do anything but stand there. Telling everyone you went to bodypump doesn't count if you didn't  do anything. I'm not saying that I'm super amazing and am ready to be a certified instructor, but I have mastered how to count to 4 and can follow simple directions over the loud speaker for an hour. Seems simple enough to me. And to my friend Summer (who witnessed all this tonight as well). Summer says if  you can't handle it, go to Curves. 

Why didn't I think of this?

Sorry to those that missed my opinions. I decided that I'd just keep my mouth shut these past couple Monday's since it was the day after Christmas and then a few days into the new year. I didn't want to start the year off by bitching - I do that plenty enough without writing it down - so I took a few weeks off. I'll be back on Monday though....and now back to the original post...

I find myself saying that a lot lately since I joined the timesuck that is Pinterest. You can even follow me, just click the button above this post. I've decided it's the place where most people who aren't engaged plan their weddings and babies, which is odd to me to be honest. I've got a few boards and have found some fairly useful ideas - it's just actually doing them that seems to be most everyone's problem. I've done one item so far, and am trying not to pin something I'm not really going to do.

However, today when I decided I needed a fabric storage idea, I Googled it - sorry Pinterest. I eventually came across this post and decided that I must do this and I must do this tonight. So I did.  And this is what it looks like now:

I didn't take a before, but  I can assure you it was a disaster, like an angry 4-year old
took over and just threw every piece of fabric wherever there was an opening. Not pretty.

I luckily already had the shelves built in in my craft cave, I just had to remove a few shelves and viola! I'm completely in love with this, I did a little happy dance - probably because I realized I did have the fabric I needed for a custom order that I just reordered and have been waiting on. I'm hoping this makes me much more excited about organizing - because like I said, craft cave is a total disaster right now. CPS would take away my kids if that was their room.

Did you notice the yellow and gray fabrics?

Remember I redid a chair with one of these?

Well, that color scheme is about to dominate this color scheme:

It looks far more girly in person.

Turns out you can't have a pink guest room. It just looks dumb when the rest of your house looks awesome. I just can't make the pink and green work. So I'm going to take the duvet and turn it into fabric and make a bag for a soon to be baby momma. and no it's not me, that would just be ridiculous.

Anyways, if you're running out of space and need a new way to store your fabric, do this. It's form core, cut into eights and then fabric wrapped around. It can't get easier than that!

Project follow up - I finished it!

Remember when I gave a new project alert? Well, I finished it - like along time ago, I am just now getting around to posting! My friend whom I so lovingly call "Derf" asked me to make her a big gray bag with a giant pink flower on it.

Ask, my friends, and you shall receive.

I didn't take any pictures, so again, this is a cell phone pic from Derf.

I even lined the inside to make it look all fancy and stuff:


Looks like a diaper from this angle, no? Side pockets for cards and phones too...

I used what I remember of making this style of bag from 7th grade Home Ec class. I could not for the life of me remember how to magically sew the top seams and turn it inside out to have them looking all snazzy, so I improvised and just tucked them under and sewed. Not a big deal.

And once Derf gets tired of carrying this stylish little bag around, she can repurpose it:



It's CAT approved. I should get an award for that.

I hope to get this in my hopefully soon-to-be Etsy shop so cat lovers all over the world can buy one of these bags. And even if you don't like or have a cat, you can still buy one - they make a great bag!

While everyone is just pinning...

I'm doing. I'm not loading my boards with projects I won't ever do. I am leaving those things for the recipe board. A few days ago I pinned this cute little ornament project and here are how my versions turned out. I picked up the knitting needles from the Salvation Army (I know, duh) for $1.00 and used ornaments that my mom had and ornaments we had.

Here is the one I made for my parents house:

The lighting in my parents house is obviously better. 

 And here is the one I made for our house:

A little crooked I know. I don't want to talk about
the shattered ornaments or the fact that you can see
me in the balls here...I like the other one better but used
what I had. Call me practical if you will. 

I don't think these turned out too bad. I know if I had a better camera they would look better. This project was really pretty simple and I like how you can use things you already have (minus the knitting needles - mine are currently wrapped up in a scarf project since about 18 months ago).

My next Pinterest project will be this:

Source

I plan to tackle the projects I pin to Pinterest. If you haven't noticed, you can follow me on Pinterest by clicking on the red button at the top of the page!

What Pinterest projects are you doing? Are you doing projects or just pinning?

My Opinion Monday: Voicemails and those that hang up AFTER the beep

I can’t be the only person that hates voicemails. There has got to be someone else out there that dislikes calling their voicemail box, entering their passcode (which 9 times out of 10 I’m told is wrong by the idiot lady recording – and by the way lady, it hasn’t changed in about 10 YEARS!), then listening to the callback number in the robotic tone, then the date and time of the call…and then….nothing. The dipshit hung-up. What the?? I just spent about 3 minutes going through the process to actually get to the voicemail only to hear that I’ve been hung up on. Good thing for caller ID (on cell phones, my office phone not so much) so I can be sure to not call that person back in a timely fashion.

For some reason, people still leave voicemails on my cell phone. I have a confession – I delete them before listening to them and I have no idea what you’ve said before I call you back. I just deleted 6 from a few months ago the other day on my way to Chicago because my cell phone was reminding me every 2 minutes of the 6 hour drive that I had messages (my phone is junk, it should have gone into the “reject” pile but somehow made it through US Cellular’s “rigorous testing” phase – that’s what they told me anyways). I always use to say that if something is important, someone will leave a message. Now I’m the mindset that if it’s important, they’ll send me a text message because they know I’m not going to listen to the voicemail, nor will I likely return the call. I’m immediately annoyed when someone leaves me a voicemail (am I really my mother’s daughter?? Sorry mom…) I think the voicemail lady now goes into a tirade saying, “If you don’t intend on leaving a message, hang up now.” I feel that’s a bit obvious and is similar to putting the warning label on the hair dryer noting you shouldn’t use that product in the shower. Duh.

We all know how cell phones work these days. I remember a time when my mom thought voicemail was the same as an answering machine. “Hi Trac, it’s your mom….pick up if you’re there….okay you must not be there….call me back when you get this…love you.” No worries, she has it figured out now.

My work phone is a little different. I am keeper of the general mailbox as well as my own. When someone (or an automated caller) listens to our recording and doesn’t select an extension, they’re dropped into a general mailbox and I get to check those messages. So many times I have gone through the process of entering my password, listening to the lady tell me I have voicemails, only to hear, “...(silence)…..(click).” What? Why? Who doesn’t know that if you’re not going to leave a message you hang up BEFORE the beep, not after!! Nowhere in any of my greetings have I ever said, “You’ve reached my voicemail, please hang on until the beep and then wait a few minutes to hang up. Thanks!”

I just don’t get it. If I get someone’s voicemail greeting, I hang up. Honestly, I probably hang up a few rings before their voicemail. If someone is going to answer your call, it’s going to be in the first few rings; not that many people don’t always have their phones with them. Although – in my defense – I misplace mine quite a bit. The other times I’m just usually in the craft room – the house dead zone for service considering the concrete walls and ceiling and all. And then there are times that I do have my phone, see the caller and silence. You’ve all done it too…(right? Haven’t you? Or am I admitting in this post I’m a cruel person?)

I would disable my voicemail all together, but I know how much my mom loves to hear my voice so I don’t. (Yes I could answer her every call, but she doesn't call me much - she's suppose to call me whenever she wants to talk...she's getting better at it). Even though I’m not only the narrator on my parents answering machine, I’m the only messages saved to the tape. Whoop whoop, go me! But she did just ask for a new house phone for Christmas…guess this means I’ll have to call and leave a few messages for her.

In conclusion, if you have my phone number and need to reach me and I don't answer your call, send me a text message. I'm either forgetting that my phone isn't where I thought it was or have crafted myself into a corner in my concrete cell office. If you must leave a voicemail, be warned that it will not be listened to fully unless you make the first 2 seconds amazing. And it shouldn't be time sensitive, I won't get around to it until a few weeks later either.

And for all you idiots that insist on hanging up AFTER the beep, go (beep) yourself. And have a nice day!

Custom orders - finally finished!

A few weeks ago (okay...4 weeks ago) I was at my very first holiday show. I had some large orders and delivered the final products yesterday! I know that it took me a little while to finish - I was hoping to have them done within 3 weeks - but after being at another party and having one of my own (and someone closing the craft room for a few days because I spend all my time there), I just couldn't find the time to get everything done earlier. I can honestly say my first party was a huge success and I wasn't expecting to have that many orders at all. Lesson 1 - always be prepared. I wasn't. Now I hope I am.

Please excuse the horrible photography quality...I MUST get something better in place for this...

Here are the orders I completed for Linda:

The ribbing effect with flowers was a pretty popular choice....

I'm going to make these in different colors for display, love how they turned out.

Colette's order:

The H stands for h-awesome...or their last name. whichever.

Ribbing with flowers. 

Squares - the other pillow behind is my outdoor pillows that I recovered. 

And all together now. This is on my gray couch - they looked great on her patterned chairs!

And at another party, I had an order from Josie for a wreath:

Very classic Christmas.
 I wasn't sure about the color combo at first, but I reall like how this turned out.
Looks great next to the fireplace too. 

I'm working on personalizing some owls to be more sports-like (which is only for family, I'm not really into the whole displaying sports stuff everyone in your house type of decoration - but for family and special requests - I will do it) and am working on some other designs for small handbags and more pillow designs. I'll be doing a cupcake for a Christmas gift and a girls stocking...oh wow, I have lots to do!

Let's just hope I don't see this sign again anytime soon:

I pretty much spent 3 full weeks in the craft room.
This is what I encountered after my first party.
Apparently someone wants to spend time with me. psh.