Map Project!

I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the MAAAAAPPP!

Way too much DORA over here people.  YOWSA!

Since Hubby is all over the continental US and I'm not smarter than a 5th grader I thought a map to track his journeys would be fun!  My mom bought us a big map for Christmas last year.  I had it hung in our bedroom for a while but wanted it somewhere more public.  So when Glidden had their Paint Giveaway I knew just what I was going to do with my free quart of cinnamon spice!

I masked out a big stinkin' rectangle in  my entry way and painted my base coat over the interior edge

(so that if anything were to seep under my tape it would be the same color of the wall)

I let it dry for a couple of days (not usually my style but with two small children I work around their schedule)  Then I painted my square - I was shocked it only needed one coat - red needs like 4 coats to cover... so I really love this color!

Sorry for the blurry picture but you can kinda see how textured my walls are and how even my painted edge turned out - that technique ROCKS I have since used it doing 5 other painted accents around my house.

It is impossible to get a straight on picture of this project since it is in an entry way, but you get the idea! I had bought some thin molding to surround the whole thing, but I didn't know that trick was going to work THAT good, and now I want to show off it's perfectness (I'm nuts-o that way)

I had my map prepped days before I painted the wall (out of excitement waiting for my paint to be delivered)  I wanted to back it with cork board, but a piece as big and as thick as I wanted was reaching triple digits (um..NO!) so I found cork tiles and puzzled them together two tiles thick so that none of the seams lined up - used my elmers spray adhesive on the whole thing and slapped my map down!

I made sure it was nice and smooth (which it was) but a couple of days of laying around with a toddler it bubbled a little bit - but I think I can cope...

I trimmed the edges with white ribbon so the cut, crumbly cork edges wouldn't show and I nailed it centered in my painted rectangle.

I had used little adhesive squares - which hubby said wasn't going to hold - but I wanted to SHOW HIM!   

It fell down during the night while he was away and scared me nearly to death so I nailed the sucker up and never told him, HA!

Now I can track hubby's comings and goings

from coast

to coast

My project has now become his project because he has added the ribbon and probably a hundred pins marking his deliveries and most traveled roads...

Fine with me! Just as long as all roads lead home.

A gifted map, free promo paint, left over ribbon, extra sewing pins and cheap cork tiles!

An entire entry wall that people can't keep their eyes off - PRICELESS!

(and the couple hundred dollars of savings by doing it thriftily means hubby can spend a weekend home)

A TuTu Tutorial

A couple of yards of tulle...

 (a yard each of coordinating colors)

cut at the fold...

cut into 1.5-2" strips...

tie onto elastic...

(I should have sewn it because, for me, it would have been waaaaaay easier)

I've really been into apple green and black lately (obviously)

but this combo turned out halloweenish (good timing I guess then)

...and fluffy is always a good thing right?

Well, not so much, this thing is too fluffy...

you live and learn

c'est la vie

That is Life 

Still have the tulle and the plans to make a chocolate/pink, pink/black, green/brown, pink/green, white thrown in there - any combo really, but I think I'll mix up the style - any suggestions?

I got this easy baby from Girly Things  

But if you visit over there DO NOT click on their link to visit Katie Lynn's Boutique.

Just don't do it - I warned ya mkay!

House Facial

I missed TDC's Before and After Party

But better late than never right?!?!?!

Before

 

 

After

  

Close-Up

And The Rock fiasco got all wrapped up and looking nice too!

Before

(Well sort of before - he had the first layer chipped off before I could get out there with my camera...)

After

It was pitch black outside by the time it all got finished up but it's all in a days work. 

(I love the life of a stay-at-home mom!)

Don't get scared now...

Thump....

 Thump....

 Thump...

I am about to mess with a perfectly good door, and it is making my heart pound!

It gets worse before it gets better,

But it's about to get a lot WORSE...

Our stone work on our porch was freakishly crooked so I turned it into warranty like a month ago and he shows up the day I decide to paint my front door - GAH! 

Cutting stones and kicking up dust all over my wet paint

(48 hours before my in-laws are due to visit mind you...)

It turned out okay though - I'll post before/after pictures soon!

Spooooktacular Hair-boo's!

There is a chill in the air!!!!

The 'bers' are here :)

...sooooo...

I made some funky Halloween flower clips!

*sigh*

I love Halloween!

Flower Power

I sold my first hair bows!!!!!

Technically they were flower clips!

I put up a little display last week at the salon my moms gets her hair and nails done and I have had 7 bows sell! 

WAHOO!

I sold 4 of these babies 

(this photogenic masterpiece artfully gives you the dimensions of the flowers) 

and I have to go into the salon to see what the other 3 flowers were!

I made the magnetic/chalkboard bow holder too!

This has given me the motivation I need to craft all day!!! (as if I needed one!)

Even better, it has motivated me enough to clean my entire house so that I can craft guilt free all day 

*snort*

So does this make my little business experiment/venture/majig official?

Send any potential buyers of flowerclips and hairbows my way :)

I customize (obviously because I rarely make the same bow twice - I am ADD/OCD like that!)

I also want to sell bow holders, magnet boards, magnets, & chalkboards (also personalized!)

My Thimble Story

Like many others, my thimble memories involve a grandmother.  My Great Grandma Audrey in fact!  I remember as a little girl going to visit her and spending the entire visit looking at the hundreds of thimbles arranged with other trinkets in a huge corner curio cabinet.  My parents started me also collecting thimbles before I can even remember  (whether or not it was of my request I don't know - suppose I'll have to ask...) Whenever we would go on vacation or somewhere neat we would get two thimbles, one for me and one for Grandma Audrey.  I always envied her massive collection and wanted one just as big - an ambitious feat!  Grandma has been gone for nearly 2 decades now and my collection is still not nearly what hers was, but now if you see my collection you will know why there are several duplicate thimbles - one for me and one for her...

Soon after Grandma passed away I began sewing lessons.  I took to it like a fish to water and it has been a part of my life ever since then.  My graduation present was a 'best of it's kind' home sewing machine, and my first job after high school was at a sewing factory.  I always felt complete that I had a collection like my Grandma and that I was named after her (as was my daughter), and that my most developed talent was sewing - it just all went together.

But college, marriage and two kids later it all kind of got away from me, and I got rusty... that is why I am so excited about my new goals of sharpening my sewing skills, and I am taking you along for the journey!  I have begun making hairbows and flower clips as well and I hope to get my website up and running thimbleambitions.com to sell them, and eventually I hope to sell some home sewn goods as well!   Since we bought our first home I have been obsessed with interior design and becoming tool handy - so plan on some adventures in that area too!