Lucky Kitty

Sufferin Soffit-tash...

Our house was built in 1971, and most recently flipped by a dear friend right before we bought it. Our friend did an amazing job - fixed up the cabinets, floors, countertops, appliances, sink, etc. in the kitchen (and so many other parts of the house) - he even added a little breakfast bar! Good times...

But the original cabinets - with their soffits - are still there. They look one million times better with a coat of paint and some new hardware, but those pesky soffits have always bothered me...


See? Big, white, covered in ceiling popcorn... not a fan.

What to do? Well, we could rip all the cabinetry out of the kitchen, soffits and all, and start over... which still might be a possibility down the road... but for now...


I thought maybe they'd look better with the nice calm green wall color that's on the kitchen walls... turns out, it does a great job blending the soffits in, making them not so big and white, and has eased my urgency to start yanking those cabinets and soffits off the walls myself.

It's pretty darn amazing what a little bit of paint can do to change your mind!

Two for me, two for the shop, and 16 for Debbie's mom...

This weekend was a flurry of sewing projects... I didn't even mean to hunker down in the studio and complete project after project, it kinda just kept happening... which is fantastic - usually, no matter how hard I try, I don't get things done when I think I should...

My friend Debbie commissioned some coasters and napkins for her mom's B-day... 8 of each. I thought I would be working on these for a while, which was fine - her B-day isn't for a couple more weeks... but low and behold, I finished 'em up!


Coasters!


Napkins!

They're very un-fussy and classic, just like Debbie's mom!

So, once the B-day project was complete, I still had hours left in my Sunday... what to do... I decided to make some sewing machine covers for my machines!


One for the regular machine...


...and one for the Serger...

I don't know why I never thought of making cute covers for the machines before - I just let them hang out in their ugly plastic covers that come with them... well... not anymore! It's nice to be able to have some more color and pattern in the room!

Sewing machine covers... check... but there's still hours left in my Sunday...

Guess I'll make something for the shop!



Birdie pillows! I had some extra pillow forms laying around, a few pieces of stenciled fabric, and tons of brown polka dot, so, there you have it!

It's not very often, rare in fact, that I complete one project, much less three in one day... I should have bought a lottery ticket and entered the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes too... hmm... next time...

Etsy Finds Friday!

Good stuff to be found on Etsy this fine Friday morning!

Let's get started...

First up, it's a Racoon Party! Racoon party card, that is... brought to us by Foxy & Winston...

I love that there's only one cupcake for three racoons... what are the other two supposed to eat at the party? If it were a bird party or a cat party, there would be an issue with getting the cupcake wrapper off of the cupcake... but no worries at a Racoon party... they have thumbs!

Next up, check out the totally awesome Shhh Series Birds Sleeping on Powerline Small Bowl Set brought to us by Bailey Doesn't Bark

I know, I know, more bird stuff... I totally dig 'em! I thought these were cool because the little birdies are sleeping... I'm really loving the second bowl further back in the photo - the little birdie is so asleep, he's upside down!

...and finally today, I present to you... The Plushtache... brought to us by Shannon Gerard

Finally! Girls can play moustache too! Click on over to the listing, it has some great ideas on how one can put their plushstache to better use...

Happy Friday!

Did you mean: freezers?

Wow! Two posts in one day!

It's been brought to my attention that when you Google 'perezzers', my pet name for Perez Hilton, that my blog is the second item that comes up...

Huh?

Really?

Really.

Check it... click HERE!

I'd also like to note that the actual Perez Hilton site is 8th on the list... boo yah!

Thanks Megan!

Proj Run is back?

So, we're sitting on the couch last night, getting ready to watch more Mad Men - which is an amazingly fantastic show, by the way, and I notice that the red 'record' light on my DVR is on...

Oh snap! I thought to myself, must be recording a new episode of Cheaters...

I quickly checked the list of recorded shows and to my surprise, there's a new Project Runway Season recording... what? huh? When did that happen? Perezzers has been talking about them moving from Bravo and Nina Garcia losing her job at Elle Magazine and Michael Kors being a Top American Designer, but, no mention of Season 5 starting now-ish... AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately for me and my blog, Bravo hasn't posted any good photos of anybody doing anything from last night's episode... but I would like to go over my favorite and my not favorite with you now... here we go...

Favorite:

Daniel... Daniel was my first choice, gut feeling favorite at the top of the show when they were arriving at the apartments and introducing themselves... I liked the way he was dressed, he didn't seem too crazy/ annoying/ conceited/ etc...

He proved me right later in the show when he made a dress out of blue plastic party cups - it was amazing... he should have won the challenge for sure... so, for this week, he's my fav. Hopefully, he will not disappoint!

Not Favorite:

Blayne... Blayne... it's a major appliance, it's not a name... Blayne shows up and off the top starts in with catch phrases... look Blayne, nobody can out-Christian Christian... the sooner you realize that, the better off you will be. I do think it's fun that he has a tanning addiction - that's rare these days. Blayne also proved me right on the runway by making a horrible jumpsuit-type bathing suit with oven mits and by writing something-licious on the model's leg... puh-lease

So, there you have it - my pros and cons from this week of Proj Run which thanks to my DVR, I now know is back on the air... happy day!

Inspiration...

Inspiration is a funny thing - I never know when it will hit... sometimes, I'm overwhelmed with project ideas, design ideas, little things that I want to try, etc...

Sometimes, nothing... which is frustrating...

I read my fair share of blogs and one of my favorites is Design Sponge.

Today, over at Design Sponge, they had an amazing profile on artist and photographer YeonDoo Jung.

YeonDoo collected thousands of children's drawings, picked his favorites, and staged full-scale photoshoots designed to bring each drawing to life...

Here's a couple of my favs from YeonDoo's Wonderland collection...

Sleeping Beauty...

Cinderella...

This project reminds me of a project a friend of mine did a while back that you should also check out...

Aubrey Edwards - superstar photographer and future God-mother of our future child put together a collection of Roxy Music album covers she calls Roxy Music Renditions... you can check 'em all out here, but these are a couple of my favs...

Here's Aubrey's Flesh + Blood...

Here's the original...

Here's Aubrey's For Your Pleasure...

Here's the original...

I love that both of these artists were inspired to do their interpretation of work that already existed... it's so cool to see it through someone else's eyes!

Blik Schmik...

The hallway wall - the one that separates our kitchen from our living room - has always been a design dilemma... it's part of the living room... it's part of the hallway... it has these cut-out parts to it - which I'm grateful for - otherwise, the living room would be really closed off from the kitchen...

Since it's part of the hallway, I've never wanted to put too much furniture on it - just something to hold my purse and the husbands wallet and phone - a place to hang our jackets when it isn't 107 in the shade - that kind of stuff...

Here's what it looked like last week...




So, kinda plain - never really wanted to hang a bunch of art there either - seems like it would be too much... but what to do?

The other day, I was hanging out working and I stumbled across these...

Cute birdie stickers from Blik.

They seemed like the perfect thing! Not actual stuff to hang or furniture to place, just something a little decorative to liven up that wall...

The only thing not perfect about them was their price tag...

$50 bucks for 6 bird stickers?

Really?

That seems a little much... couldn't I just make a stencil and do it myself??



Hmmm... that was easy...




SHAZAM!



Oh snap! In your face, Blik!

I don't need no fancy $50 stickers... just some old drawing paper, a pencil, some leftover paint, and an entire Sunday afternoon!

Etsy Finds Friday!

Bunnies! Bunnies! Bunnies! That's the theme this week, fellow readers, for Etsy Finds Friday!

First up, we have Curiouser and Curiouser - a washi-scape pendant necklace brought to us by Washi By Maoiliosa


I love how simple and sweet this little bunny pendant is - so fragile!

Next, we have the Bunny Block Print Towel brought to us by Artgoodies



I have a strange obsession with hand towels... I can't get enough of 'em! Everytime I see a cute one - at Target, Ikea, whereves... I totally have to add it to my collection!

...and finally today, I bring to you a Fluffy Brown Bunny made by the fine folk over at Willowpixie.



Oh my goodness! This is the cutest thing I've seen all week (and I frequent not only I Can Has Cheezeburgerz but also Cute Overload... so, I see cute daily...). I know I'm too old to have a ton of stuffed animals around the house, but oh my goodness... this little guy rules!

Happy Friday!

I'm an Auntie!

Yesterday, at 3:59pm, my brother-in-law Matt and sister-in-law Melanie welcomed their son Logan into the world!

He's 7 pounds 12 ounces and 21 and a half inches... baby and mommy are doing great!

Congrats you guys!!!!

Living Room Mini-Makeover!

Our living room has always been a challenge for me since we bought our house three years ago... it's a bit on the small side, has windows on two walls, one wall is more like the entry way/ hallway, and then the smallest wall has a closet with a stupid door right in the middle... curses... why would they put a door like that in the middle of a wall? Makes no sense... So, yes, it's been a design dilemma for years...

Here's what it looked like last week...

See? Big stupid door right in the middle...


The main picture window - also a bit of a challenge, but it's looking much better now that I bit the bullet and ordered custom blinds for it!


...and the hallway/ entryway situation...

The wall colors we chose many years ago - when we first moved in. Since our previous house had big bright bold colors, I thought we should do more muted mature tones... These colors have been nice and pretty much not noticable, but it's been bugging me lately that the room is so dark.

So, we decided to brighten it up, move some art around, and make it more "us"... check it out...


Shazam! A more buttery tone for the walls - to compliment our area rug and make our green sofas pop...


I'm really loving that we grouped some of our favorite prints and pieces together to make an "art wall" if you will... we also took a page from one of my work daddies wife's tricks - which is to paint the walls, trim, everything - all in the same color - it does wonders to make that stupid door less noticeable... just kinda blends in now... which is a relief!


The ghost lamp in the corner there was a wedding present from some dear friends, so, I didn't want to part with it, but I felt it needed a bit of character if it was to stay in the room - so, I stenciled some birdie friends on it and voila - character!


The hallway/ entryway - we took the metal candle holder from the deck and hung it up here instead - I'm enjoying it more in this location as it is more scale for the wall inside than the one it was on outside.

A couple pieces that were previously in the room have new purposes now - which I absolutely love... starting with the handmade wedding present cabinet that our dear friend Eric made for us... it always bummed me out that we just sorta put some books and knick knacks on it and called it a day... I have been thinking and thinking about how and where it would be most useful in the house, and the other day, I figured it out...

In the sewing room!

Can I just swoon for a moment about how exactly perfectly my serger thread fits on the top shelf... and how I somehow managed to make all of my creatures at the exact perfect height to fit on the lower shelf? Oh, and here's the best part... Dr. Bologna, one of my kitty boys, has a taste for thread... he loves to de-thread my sewing machine, pull spools off of the shelf and try to eat large amounts of it... etc...

Well, too bad for Dr. B, because I now have a closed section of cabinet to store all the stuff he would like to eat...

Yay! No more worrying if he ate a bobbin!

The other large piece that has a new purpose is our big wrought iron candle holder that my fancy cousin gave us as a wedding present...

I turned it into an outdoor plant holder! It's amazing what a few 59 cent pots and some paint will do to completely change the look of something... here it is in context with the wall...

It's big enough to handle hanging out by itself on that wall!

All in all, I'm pleased with how the mini-makeover turned out - the mission of brightening and adding more art to our room was accomplished - and I found new places and purposes for some of my favorite posessions!

There's just one more thing that remains not complete, but that will be a blog for another day... stay tuned...this decorating obsessive-complusive's job is never done!