DIY ADD

That is one abbreviation-filled title....but I digress...

Do you suffer from DIY ADD? This debilitating virus strikes crafters of all kinds and results in loss of production and an increased likelihood of a messy home, forgetfulness, and feelings of being overwhelmed.  Some doctors describe the biggest symptom simply as, "running around with your head cut off."  One is most likely to catch this virus when working on a large project, a boring project, or sometimes just a project.  Though DIY ADD, like all viral infections, is unable to be treated there are ways to treat the symptoms.  List making, schedule planning, and napping tend to help as do watching television and staring into space.  You may think that completing one project at a time is the perfect cure, however, that has never been successfully done by a DIY ADD sufferer.

Why is it that when I have a bigger sized diy project on my plate, I end up getting ADD and start a billion plus one additional projects? My weekend was a crazy blur of to do lists and Home Depot trips and painting mental pictures for my husband.  Not a single project was completed, but about 5,000 were started.

This is what I woke up to today:

We're pretty excited about this new project...

Even Layla started chipping in and helping

Remind me to tell you about my oil -based primer fiasco

Lead warning? Really?

Yeah...we're a mess over here!

Please tell me others suffer from the debilitating DIY ADD virus....

Inspiration Boards

I recently discovered OlioBoard.  It's a pretty awesome site that allows you to create and play around with inspiration boards. If you haven't played with it, I suggest you do.

I've been frustrated with how slow creating the perfect home happens.  I can see it in my head and I can see what needs to happen, but due to time and monetary limits (not to mention we're living in an apartment now), it's been slow going. So, I decided to create my ideal rooms in OlioBoard so I have something to motivate me and keep me excited.

This first one is of my master bedroom. The color scheme is gray and green with nature dispersed throughout.  Right now we have all black and white photos (aspen tree, birds, wedding photos) with white frames from Ikea, a gray duvet for the winter and green quilt for summer, and silver touches around the room.

We still need to paint our furniture. Right now it's a mish mash of 70's brown, cream, and black.  I'm picturing white or gray or even a fun green.

Our master bath is currently green and white - a smooth transition from the bedroom.  We have white towels with green stripes and matching rug. Our shower curtain is white as well.

I can't wait until we have a prettier bathroom. You should see the cabinets and mirror we have right now...sometime I'll have to take a picture for you.  Oh, and check out that cool stump/stool! Awesome!

For our office I want bright and fun but soothing.

This inspiration board makes me smile.  Right now all we have is the two person desk and some ugly bookshelves in our office. I can't wait to make a fun and spunky office!

I wish I had the sources of each of these items ..though honestly I doubt they're anywhere within our budget.  The inspiration boards are simply that: inspiration. A fun way to get excited about decorating when I feel sad we can't make everything beautiful at once. 

Now, if you'll please excuse me I'm just going to stare at these until my rooms miraculously improve.

Branch Glimpse

Yesterday our little family went on a walk to explore the wooded area behind our apartment. It was a fun little walk and we returned with something interesting.

Yes, that is a huge branch laying on top of the television. I can't wait to get started on it so I can show you the end product....I just hope it turns out the way I have envisioned it in my head...

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend! This weekend I'll be working on cleaning our balcony, playing with this beautiful stick, and cleaning the apartment - we had our windows open all week and now every single thing is covered in a thick layer of green-yellow pollen.  Our allergies are killing us.

Appliqued Bird Pillow

Yes, you are looking at my brand new sewing machine!!! I received a big box in the mail in February and when I opened it, I was surprised with this amazing sewing machine. I've always loved sewing things - if I can't find a cheap, beautiful pillow or blanket, I have no problem just making my own...however without a sewing machine I spent many sad nights sewing by hand. This little machine will soon become my best friend - a pillow that use to take me 5 hours to sew by hand I can now complete in about 30 minutes.

When I opened my surprise, I immediately skipped off to the fabric store with yet another surprise I received - a gift card (it was as if the month of February was raining surprises) and bought some beautiful blue fabric.  I had a throw pillow that was looking a little worn and decided to warm up the machine with a simple pillow cover.

I love the envelope pillow case - so easy to sew and so easy to slip on and off pillows.

A couple summers ago I made several fabric flowers to pin onto summery dresses...unfortunately I made them too large and their weight pulled my dresses down dangerously.  They lived a sad life in a box until I decided to group them on the new pillow cover to add some interest and texture to my couch. 

The pillow stayed like this until last night. The month it sad on my couch it just never seemed to fit in and assimilate with the rest of the pillows.  I've been oogling applique projects lately and decided spur of the moment to re-do the pillow. 

I traced a bird onto a scrap piece of paper and used it to cut the fabric out.

I pinned the fabric onto the pillow after ironing small hems around the perimeter.

I have learned my lesson and will never again applique onto an already created pillow. Ugh, such a pain!  Let's just say there were several times I had to tear out some sticthes because I caught the back of the pillow case.

I love how it turned out! The white fabric has a white-on-white flowery pattern that adds some interest to the silhouette.

I may still add another branch with some leaves in the upper left...we'll see after I live with the pillow for a few days.

Already I love this little bird more than those flowers. I guess they are headed back to their sad little box until I find another way to use them.

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Five Minute Art

It seems as though the theme of the week is quick and easy (and no, not me, my crafts). If I had a television show I'd entitle it, "Five Minute Crafting with Kristen".

We're in the process of re-doing our office gallery wall. Over the past few months we've collected several new pieces of art and wanted to incorporate them. I had painted a frame bright blue and needed something else to tie it in so it wouldn't look so lost and out of place.

Using the same blue I had painted the frame, I decided to paint a small canvas we had on hand. I printed out a LOVE from the internet, cut it out, and placed it on the canvas. Then, carefully, I painted around it, lifted it up, and voila! A pretty blue piece of art....that I traced from the internet.

This has been another episode of "Five Minute Crafting with Kristen."

Five Minute Improvement

I love quick fixes, especially quick fixes that fix a problem that's been plaguing for years.

I've had a stack of these coasters that were given to me for my birthday about five years ago...maybe longer. They were fun in college and grad school when we had many wine-filled gatherings but they stick out like a sore thumb now.  I hated the thought of buying new coasters when we had a stack of great ones but it was time for something new. Enter the five minute improvement.

I had some scraps of paper from my decoupaged pot and decided to finally do something about our coasters.

Before

I traced the coasters onto the paper, glued them down using mod podge and then painted an additional layer of mod podge on top.

After

Simple!

Chalkboard Creation

Chalkboards are awesome.  They allow you to make to do lists, display great quotes, show off doodles, and leave notes.  Due to the awesomeness that are chalkboards, I knew I had to make my littlest sister a chalkboard for her dorm room.

Enjoy the silent, but educational wordless tutorial:

Happy birthday, Leslie!


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Decoupage Pot Fix

A few years ago, before I really knew my style or what a style even was, I bought a pot. This pot was facing away from me and I was under the impression it was a plain white pot.  When I got home, I realized it wasn't a plain white pot but this.

Instead of returning it I decided to simply turn it around, no biggie.

Three years later and my poor little plant was growing lopsided!  So, I took a scrap piece of pretty paper and used mod podge to decoupage it over the not-for-me tile.

Now it's more colorful, happy, and matches our style more than the vintage wine label did.

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