two projects and a party

Last weekend, my husband had to work a 48 hour shift... right??? Can you even imagine it? He's a paramedic, and I'll tell you one thing, unless I'm unconscious, you will never see me on an ambulance! They work medics to the bone around here, and 48's and sometimes even 72's aren't all that uncommon, so you never know if you are getting a fresh medic or one who hasn't had any sleep. Poor guys.

But anyway, off that soap box. While he was gone, I had two goals, I wanted to get Journey's new bench made and my crochet/knitting chair recovered. My mom came over to help, thanks again mom!

This is what I started with. I think it was a coffee table, but it was pretty weird. I bought it for $3 at the thrift store by my work. The lady started a $10, but I made a "you've got to be kidding" face, and she said "ok, $5, but that's as low as I'm going". I said, "ok, do you have the glass pieces that slide in the sides?"... and I got it for $3. That's right people make faces and haggle.

 

 The laminate on this thing was rough! The corners were terrible. You could see the composite chipping in lots of places. It had weird holes in the middle section that maybe dowels or something went in? The sides had weird shelves with wide ridges on them. I have no clue what this things intended purpose was, lol. It says patent pending on the bottom. I wonder how that worked out for the inventor, lol.

 Friday, I removed the weird shelves, sanded and primed it. The fire you see in the background is the stumps from our ugo-dead Christmas trees that Justin finally cut down. We are planning some big stuff for our yard this year. I will try to remember to post some of our ideas soon. I can't wait!

 When I woke up Saturday, I decided that I hated this little quarter inch lip on the middle section.

 So I sanded, and sanded, and sanded the ba-jesus out of it. Then I decided, I could not live with the weirdo holes everywhere. (Even though I planned on buying baskets for all of Journey's stuff, anyway... I was going to do this right.) So I got out the wood filler, and I patched up all the holes, the corners, and the yucky spots.

 Meanwhile, my mama came outside to keep my company and sew my new chair covers.

 Journey just chilled. She LOVES to be outside, and she was obviously feeling no pain.

 Finally, the wood filler dried up, and I primed over the bad spots. Then I painted the whole thing "Brighton Beach" blue by ACE. It came down to two blues, but I went with Brighton because that's where Lydia Bennett ran off to, and I love me some Jane Austen :) Did you notice my patch work?

 No more weird shelves.

 Then I cut some MDF to fit the top, upholstered it, and wa-la! Doesn't it kinda look like it's smiling at you?

 Journey loves it already... but mostly she just loves having a soft place to lay around and look out her window. It's way more comfy and sturdy than the last coffee table bench I made.

 I got the baskets at Micheal's. They were having a 40% off sale on all their baskets, score! AND they fit perfectly. One has her toys, one has her meds and treats, and one has her harness and clothes. (Yeah, she's a fancy clothes wearing dog sometimes. My favorites are her footie pj's and her Valentine's tee shirt.)

 She's such a crazy good photo creeper model.

 While I was working on the bench, my mom was sewing, sewing, sewing. I needed to recover this chair, and the ottoman. (p.s. the ottoman turns into two little people chairs and a foot stool. My nieces love it. The bright starry red was a little much though, lol)

 I bought the fabric for the top of my bench and this fabric at Hancocks. I got this soft stone color on the remnant table, represent! It was only $5 a yard. The butterfly fabric was thrifted, and I think it made a good springy pillow cover.

So that was last weekend :) And even though we worked from dawn til dusk Saturday, it was really fun! This weekend was great too. It was my niece Emilia's birthday yesterday. I was painting faces, so I put mom in charge of taking pictures. (I think my camera was giving her some trouble, but here are some cute ones.)

 This is her opening the tutu I made her. (She lives in tutus!) Mom chopped off her head, but the stance is great!

 She put it on under the tutu she was already wearing. I also made her the sea horse necklace she's wearing.

She had a fairy/pirate party. My sister is dressed as Tinker Bell, and Mia is Rosetta.

Today I went over to my mother-in-law's for Easter brunch, and it was wonderful too. I hope you've had a great Easter weekend! Love, Clare

Pipe Dream

Justin and I worked all day, and my pipe dream (what Justin started calling it), is finally a reality. Our giant fire place wall is now adorned with pipe shelves! I know what you really want is to see pictures, so here ya go...

 

TA-DA!!! I'm so pleased with how they turned out! It was a little iffy for a second whether or not they would fit, but even my midnight math skills are pretty good apparently. I'm kinda in the middle of transitioning our fall/winter stuff into our spring/summer stuff. The big geese picture in the before photos is part of our winter stuff. The empty frame is on it's way to becoming something colorful and fabulous. (Spoilers)

Ok, if you are not a total nerd like me, you might want to stop reading there... but I took lots and lots more pictures, and I want to post them!

 This is what the sky looked like for us all day... Which is not a bonus when you need to spray paint, BUT it never did rain, and I made it through. (YAY!)

 

Like pretty much everyone else who has made pipe shelves, I cleaned them and spray painted them. Most people go for black, but I am not big on black, so I went with gray. I used Painter's Touch, my absolute favorite spray paint, and my spray paint gun attachment. This is the first time I've used the gun thingie, and I will never do another project without it! This is the first time I've spray painted without A. having a sore pointer finger and B. being covered in spray paint.

OK, more pictures of my shelves (quick and dirty) styled up. This is "my" side. The top shelf has some of my favorite things, owls, driftwood, and a funky puzzle box. It also has the Laura George print Goggles. It was one of my first art purchases, because it reminds me of me and all the different glasses I've worn since Kindergarten. I bought her print Mustachios at the same time because it reminded me of Justin. (It's on "his" side) My second shelf needs some help, but for now it has a cool ceramic piece I picked up at a thrift store, one of my favorite sets of teacups, and two canisters from Delft Holland. I am really excited to finally have a good place for the All You Need is Love set I made Justin for Valentine's. The bottle collection all along the mantle is Justin's... he's been collecting them forever, and that is another thing I'm glad finally has a place.

 This is Justin's side. The giant orange flame vase came free with our dining set forever and forever ago. On the top shelf you can see Mustachios. The ceramic cross piece is called Resurrection, and it was made for me by a friend in a ceramics class we took together. She made three Death, Burial, and Resurrection, and I was really honored when she gave me one. Justin's second shelf needs a little help too. (I had planned to put books on them, but now I'm not so sure.) The three bottles are from our wedding. The middle is our unity sand. (Try lighting a unity candle on the beach!) The other two are Jone's bottles with sand from the beaches where we were married and honeymooned. The piece next to them, I bought at a craft fair from a really sweet lady who actually went out and found the letters of the alphabet in her area. I really liked her eye, so I picked out RANEY. (Our last name for those of you just joining us.) Then more and more bottles... and this isn't even all of them.

 This is my favorite view... it's like pipe shelf porn.

Here's the break down of what we did

1. went to HD in the morning to buy everything
2. cleaned the pipes and fittings
3. put them together
4. spray painted (1 coat primer, 2 coats paint)
5. we left the shelves raw (poplar)
6. assembled
7. attached to the wall
8. cleaned the shelves
9. applied a wood cleaner 
10. styled them up

We used lots and lots of flanges, which are like $5 a piece, so this was kinda expensive to do. It has such a big impact though. I don't know how much it cost, and I don't want to. Justin knows I operate on a thrift store budget all the time, and I get terrible sticker shock. We decided just using a bunch of flanges was way easier than using a paddle bit and drilling a hole for the pipes to go through. Also it's true what everyone who's been making these have been saying, these are really sturdy. I can't really give you a tutorial because ours were specifically for our space and wouldn't work anywhere else, but there are a bunch of good ones out there I could direct you to if you're feeling the pipe shelf love. I'm so excited about mine, I think I'll go make myself some tea and just stare at them awhile :) ta-ta

thank you thrift store

dear thrift store that is right across from my work,
thank you for having great stuff. especially today! You're the best,
love, Clare

Gorgeous Asian mugs!

 

The best part is they have built in tea strainers. I've been seriously considering buying some online, but HA! now I don't have to! They were only $2 a piece. I made out like a bandit!

 

My little owl collection is growing.

 

I added this cutie patootie today :)

 

And a quesadilla maker, hooray!

True story- five years ago when we were registering for our wedding, Justin and I put a quesadilla maker on our list. Like lots of people, we hacked into our registry list online (by pretending we were going to shop for ourselves) to see what people were buying us. Someone bought us a quesadilla maker, but they NEVER gave it to us. I've kinda been waiting for someone to give it to us for Christmas or something, but NO! Someone bought it, and I guess decided to keep it. Worst of all, they bought it off our registry, so no one else got us one. I've been wanting one for 5 years, and I finally broke down and got one.

five days worth of slacking

day 22- trees

day 23- sunset

Sunsets are pretty lame here in the Midwest. You know where they aren't lame? Sanibel Island, Florida. That's why Justin and I decided to get married there at sunset five years ago :) so romantic!

day 24- a smile

day 25- sun flare

 

I didn't even know what sun flare was. I like it! I like all the pretty colors it makes!

AND FINALLY!!!

day 26- something old

My friend Amanda picked up these fabulous 70's owls for me. I can't wait to hang them in our nursery!

pillow case to dress :) finally

You might remember these pillow cases I found at the Goodwill outlet a few weeks ago.

I have since turned them into a pretty fabulous dress. (The original post says tunic top. I didn't think they would be long enough for a dress. I'm glad they were!)

Also in the original post I said I would do a tutorial... unfortunately, I'm one of those crafty minds that can create, but cannot explain how I created. It's frustrating I know. I will try to come up with something if anyone is interested :)

What do ya think?

today's thrift haul

So I went back to the Goodwill outlet store today with my mom and my sister Annie. I was kinda afraid it would be all the same stuff. I was wrong! (awesome) Their turn over is amazing. I didn't see one thing that I saw last Saturday. (With the exception of the furniture area, but even most of that was different.) I learned two things: this is the best thrift store ever AND if you like it get it cuz it won't be there when you go back. All that being said, here's what I got today... starting with my favorite finds of the day!

Is it fall yet??? I want to rock this amazing outfit we found me! I found the shoes and the hat, mom found the purse, and Annie found the cardi. My favorite thing about this outfit is that all the pieces are legit vintage. The shoes remind me of my Grandma Hilda.

Here's a close up of the hat. I crochet, so I rarely buy hats or scarves, but this one is lovely. It's the perfect shade of 70's mustard, and it's a light weight intricate knit :)

Amazing wood beaded bag made in Czechoslovakia. Eat that China!

Pretty geometric tank.

 cardi 2

cardi 3

Ok, so these are SUPER boring boot socks, but I bought them for my dear husband. They are fabulously thick and will be really warm when Justin, who's a paramedic, is digging people out of snow drifts this winter.

Speaking of Justin being a medic, look what I found this time! Last time, I found a cute BP cuff. This week, I found a stethoscope (which makes heart thumping noises), trauma shears, and two syringes. There were two different Dr. bags, but I didn't like either. I'm just going to have to sew one that's super cute. All I really need now is some band-aids and gauze... oh, and a baby to play paramedic, lol.

Speaking of us having a baby (no, not yet but soon) I found these awesome animal cracker tins. Annie had the awesome Idea to use them as bookends in the nursery! Great thinking Annie! I love it!

This green army blanket is going to provide the base for my nursery rug upcycle project.

I got a zebra, monkey, elephant, camel and tiny rhino for my class.

Recognize this shark? It's Bruce from Finding Nemo, AND he's a puppet! My class is gonna freak!

I got this stuffed animal for me... yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be a grown up lol. It's so cute though. Apparently it's from a show called Maryoku Yummy which is about the land where wishes go to come true. There's a pocket in back where you can put your wishes. I put in two wishes :)

 I'm going to upcycle this little wallet. My sister does not believe I could do anything to make this cute. She thinks it is awful. As is, it pretty much is awful, but look inside.

It has storage galore and is really clean... the front is going to meet my new friend mod podge :)

Finally, I found a really cute little jewelry travel case. This is much nicer than the zip-lock my jewelry usually travels in. 

Done any good thrifting lately?

I really feel like sewing today... I might see about making that Boho tunic I promised you... or a little medic bag... or both... or whatever I can find....