CAUTION: Woman In Progress

It's been a while since I shared a project here. If you want the truth, it's because it's been a while since I worked on any projects. I did some stuff at Christmas but since then? Nothing. I bought the materials for this particular project in January, including ordering the prints for it and then everything sat on my dining room table until the Saturday before Mother's Day. Cleaning up to host Mother's Day lunch was just the push I needed to see my inspiration become reality.   This little patch of wall used to host a big round clock that I had half-arsed "re-done" with some wrapping paper. But we're coming up on 7 years in this house so I wanted something different. I also hate that I have all these cute pics just sitting on my hard drive (or on my phone) and if I want to look at them I have to hunt them down and scroll through with my arthritic thumb. (Anybody else with a smart phone develop arthritis in their "scrolling thumb"? Just ...

Before: Um. No thank you Rival Team's colors.  After: Hellos, breath of fresh air! This desk is one Mama picked up for her "room" and had me paint to match the dude table I did a while back.  I have another desk to paint for Alyssa...if I can ever get Mama to come get hers outta the way. 

So, I've been staring at this blank wall in my living room for about three years. I can't seem to quite figure out what to do with it. I made that cross that's propped up in that chair (and by "made" I mean painted and such) about a year ago to put there. But it's too small to stand alone. And with a gallery wall right next to it, I don't know that I want to put a gallery style wall there. I'm afraid it may make it feel too cluttered. Also, I have no idea how to secure the cross to the wall. It didn't come with any brackets on the back and it's sort of heavy so I'm scared to use command strips. Then Thursday night I got inspired to finally do some crafts with the things I bought at Hobby Lobby and JoAnne's in December. I mean, I've had the stuff for six months and it's been literally gathering dust in Libby's room. I did the following:   A wood plaque painted and decorated with a ceramic cross that Sis2 ga...

Room's not finished but here's the cabinets in action, thanks to the my dear ol' daddy. I'd been slowly working on piecing them together all last week. Between my bum knee and the fact that I lack any powerful tools (Daddy teases me about my "manly" tools) it took me all week just to get one cabinet put mostly together. Daddy had been sick with bronchitis, though, so I swore up and down I would not ask him to help. Plus, I hate asking for help. It's a single gal thing. Probably. And I didn't ask him. Friday morning, he just rode up on his white horse truck, anyway, and saved the day. As usual. It must be exhausting being such a hero. ;-) We spent probably an hour and half hanging doors, assembling the last cabinet and cracking jokes about how unfair it was that it took me a WEEK to get one cabinet put together and it took him twenty minutes with his powerful cordless screwdriver to do the other. I marvel at how awesome it must be to be a ma...

So. I'm sorta thinkin' maybe I want to paint my kitchen cabinets. Actually, I'd rather someone else paint my kitchen cabinets. Or heck, since I'm dreaming, I'd really like NEW kitchen cabinets. Or a complete kitchen renovation that would enlarge it a bit. But since it's just me, myself and Libby who'd be doing the work and since we have no real monies to do it, I think I maybe want to paint my kitchen cabinets. They're not hideous or anything. I'm just maybe a little sick of them? And maybe a little jealous of people who have very stylish kitchens? What I'm thinking of doing (and the colors I'm thinking about) is probably not going to be a very popular decision in the land of Jana. My family can be a little weird about stuff. Like when I painted the paneling my family was split on their feelings about it--some very passionately against painting it. Being a rebel with specific taste I went ahead and painted and nobody told me it w...

I purchased these two birdhouses for the sisters when Mama and I went shopping at Hobby Lobby . The one on the left went to Sis2 and the one on the right, went to Sis1.  You may not can tell, but I altered the one on the right. It used to look like this: But Sis1 is getting away from burgandy so I just panted over the burgandy parts with some craft paint. I think I like it. Sis2's has a neat feature on it... It opens up in the back! I can see me using it as a bank, of sorts. I have a rule that when I come across a dollar bill in my wallet, it gets tucked away in a "fun money jar". But wouldn't it be neat to stuff it in a birdhouse instead? You know, if you don't intend to actually stick the thing outside. ;-) I'll let you know when I get back "in office" if the sisters liked them.

Because ya'll ain't tired of that crap, yet. ;-) So, Saturday I felt a little less like death (after breakfast and a nap) and got busy finishing(ish) the Christmas decorations. You know, by the time I'm actually done it'll be time to take them back down again. So ya'll? Just to warn you? I may celebrate Christmas clear into Spring. Now, as for what all else I done gal-darn done did... I "finished" the dining room? What all else did I do, you ask? Well here. Let me show you it. I put up the garland over the doorway to the kitchen. (A five minute job with a 85% chance for injury--a step stool was involved.) And can I just say that clip on poinsettias are DA BOMB even if nobody says "da bomb" anymore? Because they totally are. Seeing that pic makes me realize how badly I need to clean off my fridge. It's a clutter of stuff I don't even know what all. Also, I did this! Which is only vaguely different from last year . ...

None of the places I've lived in the past ten years have had fireplaces with a mantle. The lake house  had a propane space heater (and that was the ONLY heat!) but no mantle. If I'd had the money or energy I would have faked one over the space heater but back then I think I was just too beaten down by the broken down mess that house was to really want to invest in that kind of inspiration. Anyway, all that to say, I've always been terribly jealous of the people in magazines, TV and the Internet (and my sisters!) who have mantles to decorate at Christmas. You know, with garland and stockings. My stockings have always hung on the wall. See here . That was at the apartment. Apparently I never bothered taking pictures of the stockings in the lake house or this house the past couple of years. That's how sad it is to hang stockings on a wall, ya'll. All the time we were growing up we hung them on the mantle. Even after we removed the old wood stove that used to live b...

Prior to mine and the Devil Pup's photoshoot Tuesday night, I made another Christamas decoration. This time, a wreath. Mine from last year is currently out of commission because I had to use it to make a wreath for the showcase/gala at the library. One of the head cheeses liked it so well she decided to keep it up in our department until we leave for Christmas Winter Break. It's just a basic green garland wreath with some photo reproductions from a collection attached to it with a Dollar Tree bird and pine cone clip clipped on. So Tuesday after work, Mama and I had to stop at Wal-Mart for a few things and while there, I picked up the stuff to make myself a new wreath. Because my door looked nekkid without one and it's three weeks before the break. All I used was some hotglue, two clip on poinsettia blossoms, a tree ornament, and two boxes of these... on a new green garland style wreath. I managed to burn my fingers probably only a half dozen times which ...

I've seen a ton of DIY'd little Christmas trees around the internets over the past few years made of various materials such as card stock or floral cones. I always thought, "I could do that." My favorites were this one  (the wax paper tree) and this one.  Well, I tried both and ended up with a big fat mess. And lots of burned fingers. I had already bought two floral cones--one smallish one from Dollar Tree and one bigger one from Wal-Mart so I knew I had to use them for SOMETHING. And then it came to me...Yarn trees! I still had some soft white yarn left from the afghans I'd made Lyssa and Efan when they were babies and I had a box of corsage pins--you know, the ones with the pearl on the head? I had to paint the green Wallyworld cone to keep the green from showing through but after that it was simply a matter of wrapping each cone in the white yarn and decorating them. It was a slow and tedious process but once it was done, I liked these two so much th...

Did I ever show ya'll this? It's the finished and dressed newly blackened bookcase. In case you can't tell, I went with brushed nickle spray paint on the legs. I'm totally diggin' it. Savin' some dough for some major carpet replacement. Wish me luck! Or send donations! Totally your call. ;-)

So the other night, Mama and I hit up Wal-Mart after work. She had to pick up some things for the kiddos so while she went off in search of juice and yogurt, I headed to the fabric department. I still wanted to finish that corkboard and get the fabric to finish covering the chair in Libby's room. I searched and searched and drooled over fabric and debated and compared and decided for sure this is it five times. I finally found a pink piece in the pre-cut squares that I thought might be big enough. It was an inch wider than the piece I'd bought the previous trip and was a solid...well, sorta solid...instead of patterned. I figured if all else fails, I could use it on the chair. Then I discovered the scrap bin. You know, where all the pieces of bolts go to die be sold. Actually, I think they're called fabric remnants instead of scraps. But whatever. Anyway, I found a bundle of this soft plum colored remnant that was marked as 3/4 of a yard and priced at $1.13. Score! Ex...

Ya'll, I am in love...with an electric sander. As you might recall from my pretentiously long and rambling post from last week, Daddy loaned me his. It's a Black and Decker with the little bag that allegedly sucks up the errant dust. Since I'm not stupid--not entirely, anyway--I first read the manual which is pretty basic. "Load the paper, grip the handle, press the 'on' button and let the sander do the work." (meaning, don't apply pressure) Naturally, having never used one before, I was a little hesitant about applying it to the drafting table  or to the small chest  in the dining room. I did, however, have this small bookcase that used to live in the guest bedroom and now lives in MY bedroom. It originally belonged to Daddy. He'd had it since before he and Mama married (I think) and it used to live next to his recliner in their house. I inherited it about eight years ago and it has moved with me everywhere since then. As you can imagin...