Postcard Swap Valentines

 

 These are the Valentine postcards for a swap I am in over at Latest Trends :)

Here is my heart..Fabric hanger <3 <3 <3

More DIY :))

I said I was going to do more blogging about my art and what I have been up to. I have put my art on hold to get some DIY stuff done in my studio. Last week I found an entertainment center at a thrift shop for $25 and it was all hardwood. It had two drawers on the bottom and even the inside of the drawers were wood. I thought it would sit in the garage for at least a month before I could get the hubby to work on it but this past weekend he volunteered. I did not want something that big in the studio so I had him cut the drawers off the bottom and put the top of the entertainment center on for a top. I then painted them black and put the little aquarium stand that was already in the office on top. I had purchased it some time back and gave it a paint job to match my other office furniture. So now I have this great little cupboard for storing all my vintage fabrics and lace and canvases. I use foam core board to divide the drawers for my fibers. I plan to put a few dowels in the bottom drawer for ribbon but I have not gotten there yet. The leftover wood was use to replace the fiberboard desk that I had attached the shutters to on the other side of the room. It now has a lot more storage as shelf’s were added where before was just a hole where the kick area of the desk had been. I have spent several days rearranging and organizing my office and now I am ready to get inky again!

Fridays!

This is just a little card I did for my local stamp club that met on Friday. We each trade stamps and then have to design a card with that stamp. This time I got my own stamp back. Then my little shoebox project was the optical lens pen or pendant. You can either put it on a chain or just glue a pin back on it. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture but it has little micro beads that swirl around under the lens

It has been a DIY week

Many of you know that I moved from California to Idaho 3 years ago. While moving I hurt my back really bad and had to have a couple of surgeries the first year I was here. So my first couple of years here were spent recovering. Anyway when I arrived my son and his wife set up my house for me unpacking the things they thought I needed. Although I had everything I needed I felt like I was living in a hotel. A lot of my furniture was new so it really did not even feel like I was home. Now that I am feeling better, I have spent this past year trying to make my house my home. Of course I started with my office and you can find pictures of that posted on my website. Then I did a few things with my living room and kitchen because that and my office is where I spend most of my time. Well this week I decided it was time for some changes in my bedroom. We had bought a sleep number bed and put it on a metal frame, I had my dresser and vanity and fireplace from California and a little corner desk that had the TV on. We really did not spend much time in there though because it just was not comfortable.

I started with the corner desk. It was really just a cheep students desk but I got hubby to build some shelf’s above by adding backing and sides and suddenly it looked like a cheep students desk with shelf’s…lol. So I used some textured paintable wall papers then painted it brown and highlighted the texture with gold. I think it came out pretty well!

 

 

 But that left me with one more problem. If we wanted to sit in bed and watch TV there was nothing to lean against and we would hit our heads on the window seal : [ We needed a headboard and I wanted it to be padded so it would be comfy. Hubby cut a piece of wood paneling and we used spray glue to attach some foam and batting. I then covered that with muslin thinking I would just make a slipcover to match the bedding…. But I did not like the bedding : / It had been a gift from my mom. It was a beautiful quilt but it was an orangey red with yellow and gold flowers :P just not my colors….So needing to do this on the cheep, I got a bottle of red dye … I figured it could not get worse …lol. I actually like how it came out. The red is a much more blue red and now all the yellow flowers and kinda rose colored. Well I ran to town and picked up so red ultra suede fabric. Because the tailored look is just not me I smocked the slip cover for the headboard and then made a couple of pillow shames too.

The last little problem you can see in the picture. It is my 15 year old little yorkie. He recently started having trouble getting up and down off the bed he shares with us. I did not want to make the little set of stairs because I just think it looks stupid so I fixed that problem by adding a couple of wood boxes to the foot of the bed.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have started mine off with a few resolutions.

To keep up with my blog a little better. When I started blogging last year it was my intention to post about my life and art. I did not want it to be about my business : / However, I love to offer blog candy found myself often offering stamps and collage sheets from Inka Stamps when I was too caught up with my swaps and such to make a piece of art for candy. Well I have resigned myself to the fact that my business is part of who I am so the blog candy will continue as it is but I do want to start posting more of my own artwork and also more about what is happening in my life too…. I thought it a reasonable compromise :)) I also want to take more time for myself to go blog hopping and drink in all the beautiful art that others have done as well as spend more time on my own art and doing the things I love.