Ukulele ~~ LuLu

Brown~eyed Girl

Now that we've been working so hard, it is time to have some FUN. LuLu was my birthday present this year .... I got her about 3 wks ago. She's an Alulu Acacia tenor uke w/ MOP (mother of pearl) inlays of 3 koi fish. She's gorgeous and has a precious sound. ~!~!

Finally did a vid w/ her... Hope u enjoy. Be sure and sing along... or it's not any fun.

~~ Peace ~~~

And Uke ON !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lloajDa4rew

YeLLoW & BlaCk AccEssoRies

YeLLoW & BlaCk AccEssoRies

for BedrOom < tHan  $ 10 DoLLaRs

As u know, I am also working on one of the bedrooms... I am "hooked"
on yellow, black, and grey ~!~!
Now I see it everywhere ~

I bought 3 yards of material and made a mural.. &&& got inspired

to do something more w/ the material left over....
The burgundy pillows in this room had to GO GO GO...
and so did the quilt on top of the bed.
I took the pillows apart and remade them into some fresh new ones ~~
UUUUU yummy !!!

3 pillows

small rag quilt (for color)

and a covered basket

The buttons were from my aunt's button bucket...

I just hot-glued them on ~~!~!~~~

These pillows used to be Burgundy. I took the

stuffing out of the inside and made "new"

pillows. I didn't want to store the old

ones....

These rag quilt pieces I've had for almost a year

from an earlier project  ~!~!

Rag Quilts are a great way to use scraps.

The back of this is black denim / an old

duster jacket that no one was wearing and

came to me FREE... 

Hippies Luv Free Stuff ~!~!~

I painted and re~purposed a brown basket to hammered black

with Krylon spray paint,

covered the inside with grey scrap material,

 and wrapped w/ white netting (that was given to me free) for a

"softer" look... This is to hold my favorite books !~!~!

While out TrEaSurE hUntInG I found some

items to go on the dresser...

a square black Plate and glass, black vase from Good-Will

 total of $ 3 Dollars

(Mondays are 25% off days)

&&&

a Big Yellow/ orange Flower from

Dollar General

$2 Dollars

So these treasure~hunting items were

< $$$ 5 Dollars (total)  ~!~

Happy DIY~ing



Strip Quilt Mural ~ Easy

Strip Quilt Mural

Repurposing what's on Your wall

w/o Spending Much $$$

$10 Project

I had a pic that I have had for a long time that was rather large.
It hangs in the spare bedroom. The spare bedroom is a conglomerate
of mismatched furniture... an island of misfit toys. One piece from
the 1950s, which was given to me... another piece from the 1970s... also
given to me. (another outcast), and the bedframe purchased by
my hubby during his 'single' years... which is rather quite stylish
and from overstock.com. The poor saggy lamp was a resale shop pickup and
is very generic.... which is rather 'safe' in our house....
The whole room just needed some freshness... something to pull it all together... to
make it at least appear that it was purposed to be together and not just
cast aside .... :(
So... I got busy w/ a color scheme in my head... and with a lot of snooping
around on pinterest, DIY blogs, and how to sites....

I started first with the big out of date picture... A big HONKING thang... it
was just not my style and it was another 'freebie' that someone cast off on me...


 I didn't want to get rid of it or store it... so ... I decided to repurpose it.
O.. so much fun %%%

Yellow ~ Black ~ and Grey... I've been seeing these
fresh, popping, happy colors a LOT of places...
or maybe it was just the bumble bees flying around the yard....
but I just HAD TO HAVE those colors somewhere in the house~
I didn't feel brave enough to bring it into the "master"... but
what could hubby say about the guest room? NOTHIN~~~
 

AFTER

BEFORE

(sorry about the glare ~ )

I took the measurements of the frame: 27 " x 37"

and took the glass and picture out of the frame.

This is MUCH bigger than the pics show ~~

I repainted the frame Krylon / Hammered Black

(also used in the hallway)

which does look line a dark grey.

U LiKeY ? ? ?

I cut out of an old sheet the size of the frame and marked the center of the sheet.

I made a center patch w/ 5 sides and pinned it in the middle.

I then began using the "Strip Quilt" technique.

Instead of making many small ones (8x8)...

 I decided to make one BIG ONE  ! ! !

 I saw this material other

day @ Hobby Lobbyand couldn't help myself.

I got a yard of each pattern... which

was WAY too much, but gave me left overs for another project 

 ~!~! (Uhhhh.. what can I do NEXT???)

Aren't the colors GoRgeOUs ??? So yellow~ yummy !~!~!

I also added some scraps from other projects...

Making a strip quilt is easy. It just takes time.

Cut strips about 2 inches wide and rather long if making

as big project like this one.

***

Really, I recommend doing small projects first... b4 starting

one this big.... U could make coasters (Another idea pop pop popping #*#*)

Sew the strips on one at a time, being sure to cover the raw edges of the piece sewn on before. Eventually it will work outward from the 5 sided center piece.

I have found it best to iron each strip BEFORE and AFTER sewing it on.

Lining up a strip before sewing it on....

Sewing on the next strip....

Now iron it down flat...

Keep adding and trimming...

(GOSH.. my hands look old.. I guess that's bc they ARE * LOL)

It all came together nicely for less than $10 ~!~!~

And hangs beautifully on the guest bedroom wall

just in time for SPRING ! Woop Woop.

AFTER

(I put my hand up there so u cld get an idea of the SIZE of this piece)

There are many youtube vids on how to make strip quilt pieces...

I watched quit a few before attempting to make strip quilt pieces.

But BEWARE ~!~!

U have been forewarned !!!

Once u get started it's VERY addictive...

U can NOT stop !!!

* * * * *

Happy DIYing

FraMed Dry~EraSe NoTepAd

FraMed   ( dRy~EraSe )   NoTEpaD

My hubby and I leave little "notes" of luv and appreciation
to each other all the time. I have stacks of note pad papers
with sweet little notes from him.... but I decided to try
something funky and fun.... A dry~erase notepad ~!~!
This is so simple. I made it all out of scraps I had around the house.
All I had to buy were the dry~erase markers for $1.
I already had the black frame from the Dollar Store.

Take a frame that u are not using. Trim material, special paper, or something u like to fit into frame. In this case I used scrap~book paper that I will never use up.

Make a cute flower out of matching material.

In this project I used some tow~sack material that had been given to me.

 Cut a strip about an inch thick and 12" long.

Cut out a circle of felt.

Begin glueing the material onto the felt, making pleats as you go.

The only hard part about this is not burning your fingers! (which I do every time)

Then use a decorative piece of jewelry, buttons, or something you

have in your craft box as the center of the flower.
I used 2 buttons...

Glue onto side of frame!

Now u can leave notes to those u love around the house w/o having
to look for paper ~!~!

Cute ~ Cute ~ Cute !

Easy ~ Easy ~ Easy !

Now, leaving little "heart" notes to
hubby is much more fun ~!!!

Using Material for Splashes of Color

Office Make~Over Continues.....

 

The office just didn't seem to have any color scheme... So I decided to make one. After painting
a few things turquoise with Krylon paint, I decided to play ....

I am not super great at painting... but I wanted some splashes of color thru~out the backdrop of the shelves... So I took my little self down to Hobby Lobby w/ a Christmas giftcard and purchased some "fun fabric"... This wld have been WAY out of my "sanity zone" to try to paint! I cut out a  few blocks, got out the hot glue gun, and glued away!

 I think it turned out pretty fab.

Even hubby liked it ~!~! ( and he doesn't likey likey much bc he isn't artsy fartsy...)Material can work better than paint sometimes for accents, small areas, etc.

Give it a try ~!~!

Rotary scissors, fab material, measuring tape, cutting board, and glue gun !~!~

Nuthin fancy here ~

Hot glue edges...

In case you don't remember... here's the B4...

Wahhh Lahhhh ~!~!

(I think I will add some more later on...)

This project took about $5 to create!

More to come w/ the office make~over ~!~!



OffiCe MaKe~oVer

oFFiCe MakE~oVeR

w/ PoPs of bLue
(organizing and decluttering b4 projects)

We have to admit that no major project can be started until the "area" has been
organized and decluttered. This is NOT a "fun" task, but the emotions
afterwards are very rewarding !

Our office is a total disaster ! @ ! It's as if we are slowly but surely being taken captive by our clutter w/o even being aware of it # ~ # Today I took time to dust and refresh our office shelves. This task had not been attempted in YEARS. (The pics will prove this ~%~  ) If you know me personally, you know WHY I have not attempted this in 3+ years !!! Didn't do much to the rest of the office. That will have to come later. B4 thinking about "decorating" up a room, I have to do the

'not so fun' dirty work.

I spent less than $5 with this little project today. A can of paint ~!~

Valspar Gloss / Tropical Oasis

(the same color I used in the hallway wall decor)

I'm almost embarrassed to put up the B4 pic ~*~*~

but here goes Nuthin...

 Before                                                              After

Just a conglomeration of collected "stuff, junk, and more stuff"....

{ { {Plz don't call "Hoarders" !} } }

Before decluttering

 After decluttered

Even Paco was horrified  ! & !

Before starting to clean and organize I had to

 promise hubby (cross my heart & hope to die ~ stick

a thousand needles in my eye )

that I would NOT throw anything of

HIS away. Even if the date on it is 1955. Yes...

I have found newspapers that OLD in this house.

 It terrifies him when I get into this mode!

After hours of pulling everything off the shelves, cleaning thoroughly,

and using a dab of turquoise paint on a few doo~dads,

it looked MUCH better.

Personally, I still think this looks quite cluttered, but it does look better.

Many of the "things" on the shelves have sentimental value.

I hope that u can see the "pops" of blue here and there.

It does help "tie" it all together.

And I'm planning on adding a "surprise" piece later... so

keep in touch !

Very little was thrown away. I put up the big white panels on the bottom and

behind them are things eliminated from the shelves.

A lot of dust was removed!

Pops of BLUE

used thru~out the shelves !~!

Happy de~cluttering, organizing, and dusting !~!

Painting Picture Frames

Painting Picture Frames
to match & coordinate !!!

I decided that my hallway looked kinda drab... it just needed some updating.I love pics of family and friends but sometimes the collection of frames just seems so hodge~podge.. and I wanted a little more coordination and cohesiveness. I had painted the hallway about 3 summers ago, but did nothing with the frames and wall decor. It was time for a change... a little update.... hippy style. Not wanting to spend much $$$, I decided to paint the frames I had and just coordinate them by spray painting them the same color. I like hammered black. It's a textured look and doesn't show up if you mess up too much. Even better... ~! It seems like leafy wreaths, greenery, and fake trees are on their way OUT... so I got rid of the grapevine over the frames and pulled a wall decorative thing off of the wall of the bedroom. It was gold and wasn't doing much in that room anyway. I spray painted it a turquoise blue... and instantly LOVD it!!! O WOW... ~ And I don't even like blue all that much ~!!!  But for some reason it really popped to me and I think it looks really great over the black frames. So, this little project took little to no time, little too no money... and that's very hippie.... bc we hippies like things free and for a great price ~!~!

Before          &&&&          After

But I do not have much in the $$$ budget for new picture frames that match!  So.... I took the pics off of my hallway wall today and painted them...

I used Black Metallic Krylon Fusion Hammered Finish, which looked more like grey when finished.

• Dries in 15 minutes
• No sanding or priming
• Use inside and out on most plastics

Great for wood, metal, ceramic and more!

How can it get any easier that THAT???

I simply removed the pics, dusted the frames, laid them outside on trashbags, and SPRAYED.

Once they were dry... I put the pics back in and rehung. I think that my hallway now looks a little more "put~together" and coordinated! Such an easy project for less than $5 bucks!

While I was in the "painting mode" I went ahead and bought some turquoise paint, then sprayed a  gold wall deco piece that I had purchased @ Hobby Lobby (on 70% off)  a lo~o~o~ng time ago. It took some searching but I finally found Valspar - Gloss Topical Oasis @ Lowe's. I sprayed the piece to replace the vine swag originally over the pics. I also dug out a beautiful crocheted pic out from the back of the closet and put it on the wall. . . .

Now it's finished

I really don't hang pictures very straight! I need to work on that! LOL

Happy Painting~!~!~!