"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."--Dr. Seuss

I hate being sort of sick.  You aren’t sick enough to stay home from work, but you are sick enough to feel like crap.  I’ve been sort of sick for over a week.  Instead of blogging or crafting, I’ve been sitting around every night after work wearing my stretchy pants and watching The Wonder Years and The Jersey Shore on my DVR.  Now that I’ve explained my blogging absence I can talk about the little bit of clarity I had in between Kevin Arnold and GTL. 

One of my most favorite blogs is called Dude Craft.  I’m always so inspired by the posts.  From nerdy needle points to toothpick art, you just never know what you are going to get from this blog.  Over the weekend I ran across this post with a link to the finalists in the Say Something Poster Project:

Say Something Poster Project

I think this poster project is so unbelievably cool.  Trying to find the right visual and phrase to motivate teens is super hard.  I spend a lot of my days trying to do this exact same thing in a totally different way.  They are a tough crowd to reach which is why I’m so inspired by this project.  I was looking at some of the entries and thinking this thirty year old teenager needs some motivation like this, too.  My favorite one didn’t make it to the top ten which is a little disappointing.  It said something along the lines of a little weird is a lot awesome.  If I had to write a definition of me that would so be it.  No doubt.        

Craft Blog Link of the Week #5

This week’s craft blog link of the week just so happens to coincide with a conversation I had with someone a few days ago about something I secretly love:  cassette tapes.  I love the way they sound, caught somewhere in the middle of the pop and crackle of records and the digital clarity of CDs.  I love the click of the button as I hit play on my Sony tape player.  I love the whirring noise of rewind and fast-forward.  I have a box full of them, which I have dutifully carted from dorms to apartments to houses since going off to college many years ago.  I even drove a car until 2006 with a tape player in it.  And if I hadn’t been so concerned with the likelihood of it spontaneously combusting (the car not the tape player), this girl would probably still be cruising around town listening to her tapes.

Obviously, it was a pleasant surprise when I came across this little craft project:

Make a Casette Tape Lamp



My tapes are strictly for listening.  I couldn’t possibly risk ruining a single one of them.  They are my musical memories, after all.  However, I would imagine there are quite a few of you who might be ready to let go of their not-so-beloved cassettes.  This would be a nifty way to repurpose them.  I’m thinking that when I finally get around to throwing an 80s prom party this would make a too cute decoration.

Craft Blog Link of the Week #4

T-Shirt Scarf

I wear a scarf almost every day.  Winter, spring, summer or fall, I'm wearing one or have one in my purse.  The bottom line is that I'm always cold.  I'm cold in winter, spring, summer or fall.  Heaters are never on high enough during the cold months, and air conditioners are on too low in the warm months.

Several friends have told me they hate wearing scarves.  They claim I can “pull them off” fashionably and they can't.  To which I explain that I “pull them off” because I'm not making a fashion statement; I'm actually cold.  They keep my neck warm and prevent air from shooting down my shirt.  They are a necessity. 

I found this really neat scarf project last week.  I was a bit worried about posting this link because I don't want this to become the t-shirt craft blog but I absolutely love, love, love this idea!  And I love, love, LOVE repurposing stuff!  Okay, okay...and all the stripes remind me a little bit of retro Doctor Who!  Do your inner geek a favor and google “Doctor Who scarf”. Trust me ;)

      

"Crack is whack!"--Whitney Houston

I’m a big fan of the shabby chic style of decorating.  I love big flower prints, ruffles and cracked paint.  I love it despite my husband’s confusion over the idea that I would want to buy things that look used.  I love it despite Tori Spelling selling all of her shabby chic furniture in a yard sale and declaring it dead a few years ago.  I never thought my husband and Tori Spelling would agree on anything! 

Crackle medium is this crafty girl’s best friend.  It can make anything have the aged look that defines shabby chic.  It’s super easy to use.  Paint a layer of paint.  Let it dry.  Paint a layer of crackle.  Let it dry.  Paint a top layer of paint.  Let it crackle then dry. 

My sister and I spent a Saturday afternoon a few weekends ago in Savers (a giant thrift store chain in case you don’t know) where I found this jewelry box which seemed to have time travelled back from 1985.  Can you just imagine a teenage girl keeping her Swatch watch  and bangled bracelets in it?

I had been looking for something small to hold the jewelry I wear most.  However, in the above condition, it didn’t really fit in with my décor unless I planned to hang up some posters of Madonna and Scott Baio.  I paid the $4.99 for it and made big plans to make it shabby chic.  Luckily, several days later Arkansas was hit by the Snowpocolypse of 2011 which left me home from work for a few days to craft to my heart’s content.

 

I began by taking off the hardware on the front of the jewelry box and doing a little sanding.  There was a tense moment when I couldn’t find my sanding block and thought I was going to have to use a finger nail file. 

I painted on the base coat, a dark brown—though I plan to use a more bold color on my next project—and let it dry.  Then I added the crackle medium which paints on clear and running.  I let each application dry for about twenty-five minutes each or in my case one episode of The IT Crowd.

The next part is a little tricky.  I would advise anyone using crackle medium for the first time to practice on something you don’t mind messing up just to get the feel for it.  The best technique I have found is to put the final layer of paint on as thick as possible in the first pass. The paint begins to crack very quickly and painting a second coat might cause the paint to crumble.  Use a lot of paint, and paint fast.

This is the final result.  I’m pretty pleased with it…even if Tori Spelling wouldn’t be. 

Craft Blog Link of the Week #3

I’m going a bit retro for this Craft Blog Link of the Week post.  Yep, I’m going all the way back to 2009! 

Book Page Wreath

I really love this blogger and her post because she refused to pay $40 for something she could make for less than $10.  She’s a girl after my thrifty heart for sure.  I made one myself, and it turned out pretty cute.  However, I must admit as a booklover it was pretty hard to violate a book even for the sake of crafting.          

“If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”—Love Actually (2003)

I think Valentine’s Day is the most perfect holiday for crafting!  And I also think handmade valentines are the most perfect craft.  Make them.  Give them for love, like or appreciation.  One thing is for sure: no one will ever say they hate a handmade card…except for that Tiger Mom lady. 

This year I decided my handmade card efforts would be directed toward my coworkers.  You see, I have to brag.  I really like these folks.  We all work in the business of helping people, which sometimes leaves me in admiration of their patience and kindness.  The best part is sometimes they don’t know they’ve done anything at all other than do their job, which is pretty cool.  Since my valentine will be out of town and I will be spending the bulk of my V-Day with them, my coworkers will be receiving the reward of my handmade hard work. 

I knew I wanted to make very traditional cards.  And I, also, knew I wanted to use my “All You Need Is Love” rubber stamp I bought on sale last spring.  It’s one of my favorite Beatles songs and featured in Love Actually, one of my most favorite movies ever.





I thought I had hit the jackpot when I found dark red, heart-shaped cards at Michaels for the amazingly low price of ten for a dollar.  But when I got home and opened them up, I found out they weren’t exactly work appropriate.  Though they came in a clear plastic wrapper, the strip of paper on the front announcing the package’s contents covered an “XO” cutout right in the middle of the card.  It is one thing to remind my coworkers all they need is love, but hugs and kisses are another thing.  I thought at first it would just be a craft challenge to hide the “XO”.  Then I came to my senses and took the two-dollar hit.  (I bought two packages in case I had a crafting stamp disaster.)  I headed back to Michaels a few days later to purchase plain, square, red cards with plain red envelopes.

With a little help from Martha Stewart and her sale on wedding scrapbook stickers, as well as the funky letter stamps I bought on sale a few weeks ago, I ended up with a very simple and traditional Valentine’s Day card. 

Craft Blog Link of the Week #2

Naughty Secretary Club is one of my favorite craft blogs.  Now don’t get the wrong idea.  I promise it’s a blog about crafts.  I’ve had to explain this to my work every time their adult content filters block it from my computer.    

This lovely craft blogger always comes across as someone I would want to hang out with on a Saturday afternoon.  And her hair is an amazing shade of red I could never pull off...but I digress.  Her crafts are quite attainable and fun.  Below is Craft Blog Link of the Week #2:

Valentine Paper Chain

This particular craft makes me want to cut out hearts, make cards and, well, make a paper chain!  I simply adore Valentine's Day handmade retro!  However, the thing I love most about this craft is the possibility for interpretation since photo booths are hard to find these days and time travel back to 1950s Coney Island is impossible.  So, play with it and make it your own.  Get crafty!