monday projects: sneak peak

We're having some wonderfully early spring weather here in Wisconsin. It's really lending well to some outdoor DIY projects. I was so motivated to work on stuff today that I ran errands in the rain (not snow...BIG difference) and, AND, I didn't read a single page of Mockingjay. (I'm halfway through. eeek.)

The rain cleared early this evening and I got to work on some things outside....in flip flops!   

Here are some of the projects that got a kick start today. 

I even got my dad involved. I snuck a pic. He's not one to stop a project and say 'cheese.' Which is also part of the reason there won't be a picture tutorial for this project. It's pretty straight forward (and AWESOME) anyway. 

I stopped to take a quick break for dinner, catch up with the Voice, and show you what's up. 

Back to work!

be: wall art

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at the hardware store to pick up some spray paint- and then I just wandered around. There are literally endless DIY possibilities if you open up your mind to them in a place like that. I came across an endcap in the door department and spotted Shims. I hardly know their real purpose but what my mind instantly saw was a pack of 42 evenly cut pieces of wood- maybe the perfect size for some wall art. 

Yes. The perfect size. 

The whole pack cost less than $4! 

They are shims, so they are thick at one end and get thinner. I might not have realized that when I bought them- I seriously didn't even look at the pictures on the wrapper. I was so distracted by my ideas!

Enough about the shims. I've gotten way ahead of myself. You have to see what I made with them & then I'll teach you how.

I saw this on Pinterest a while ago and really liked it. 

Source: liveafabulesslife.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

So, all it took was those shims to inspire my own adaptation. 

Nice, right?! I'm totally loving how it turned out. I love that it was inexpensive to make. I mostly love that it is a daily reminder to be all of these great things.

So, heres what you gotta do:

Buy some shims and sand 'em smooth. I honestly have no idea what grade of sandpaper this is. I just had it sitting around so I used it. It was gentle.  You're basically just getting any slivers off. 

I learned the hard way that it's best to paint the shims first. If you glue them together first, the paint won't cover the spots where the glue dries. It looks funny. Trust. 

I used a rag instead of a brush because I liked the look. You could use a brush if you want thicker/smoother coverage. 

Or, you can get bored with the process and think it might just be better to spray paint them instead. 

This was seriously what I did half way through painting. But, then I didn't like the shimmery finish so I went back to hand painting.

I sprayed my large chipboard letters with primer so that they'd cover easier with paint. 

Here's glance at how I really work. Neatness can be overrated!

I used this stamp set for my lettering. I think they were $12.99 at Hobby Lobby and then I used my 40% coupon. The projects I can use the for are endless- as very good investment. 

I used some Acrylic paint I had on hand for my lettering. 

It took me a little practice to get the stamping just right. I recommend using a blank shim to practice. 

Because I wanted to right align all of the words, I started stamping from the right and working backwards. 

Once I was finished stamping and the paint had dried, I was ready to assemble everything. Here you can see that I put two shims together for the backing that would hold it all together. This will allow it to hang flush to the wall. 

Once I had my two back supports made, I took E-6000 glue to the whole thing and put large globs on every other one because they are alternating thickness. I learned after the fact (and by pure luck) that you have to be pretty careful at this stage. If you use too much glue and it'll seep through the cracks potentially sticking to the surface below and ruining your art. So, just be careful. You'll also notice that I used a painted shim; this is so that if there are any gaps when the glue dries (intentional or not) you'll still have a finished look.  

Ok, this was the hard part for me. Put a heavy book on top and walk away for the night so that everything dries completely. 

The next day I simply took a piece of wire (again, I don't know the gage, just had it sitting around) and hot glued it to create a hanging bar. 

 

I reinforced it with some felt. Honestly, it just felt like the right thing to do. I don't know if it will have any added benefits of reinforcement or not!

I haven't decided where I'm going to hang it yet. I'm making some changes in my living room and it'll most likely find a spot in there.

What do you think? 

What words would you add to the list?

walking with dice

Walking in my neighborhood is a workout that is always available and completely free. But sometimes just the idea of it bores me. The same route can be unmotivating. Non-the-less, last night before I fell asleep, I resolved that today I'd go for a walk. 

I set my alarm and the coffeepot for 7am. But the coffeepot malfunctioned I didn't set the timer right and it didn't start brewing, my snooze button was in reach, and it's Saturday. So, I made excuses to stay in bed a little lot longer. When I finally got up, I did some housework and then got ready to go. 

But just before I left, I was struck with inspiration to make my walk a little less mundane. I grabbed a dice and sticky note and made this quick variation:

This simple idea really made my walk around the neighborhood more enjoyable. I went down blocks I wouldn't normally go and probably walked a little longer than I would have otherwise. Usually, about half way to the end of the block, I'd simple take the dice out of my pocket and shake it in my palm, using whatever number was facing up when I opened my hand. 

There were a few times that I had to forgo the advice of the dice because it didn't work out or because I didn't want to get myself too close to home because, let's me honest, I'd be tempted to go in it! Eventually when I had gone far and long enough, I stopped using the dice and just headed back home. 

It really was a perfect day to be outside and, bonus, with daylight savings time there are now more evening hours to spend outside.

 

spontaneous trip

Last friday with the exchange of just one email from my mom, I decided we needed to get out of town. Her family lives in northern Wisconsin and they made their own spontaneous plans to tear down 3 of the old buildings on their farm; a project that wasn't supposed to happen for months. 

It didn't take much convincing, and at 6am Saturday, my mom and I started out on our 5 hour trip. We didn't tell anyone we were coming. I just love surprises. Her sisters even called a couple times to let us know the progress of the project. It all was happening much faster than we thought it would. So we put the peddle-to-the-medal and got to the farm by noon. M aunt called just as we made our way to the dirt roads of the country. She and asked what we were up to for the day. "You're going to be surprised," my mom said. "We'll see you in 5 minutes."

 There were tears of joy and excitement! It was great. 

When we got there, almost all of the buildings were down. I didn't even have time to get a picture. 

I must admit I had a couple motives for wanting to be up at the farm for this day. Aside from spending time with family, I just had to get my hands on as much barn board as I possibly could- and I did! They had saved me a few pieces for me, but I saved many more pieces from the fire! And, I have to say, my uncles and cousin were so helpful. They didn't question me. They even encouraged me to take more when I was afraid I had already asked for too much. 

And when I wanted to save cinderblocks to recreate this, they jumped in and loaded up. 

I have to tell you, I was impressed by my uncle Brian. He owns his own excavating business. It was so cool to watch him use this giant claw with such precision. At one point, he spotted a board that he thought I might want to keep and he so gently picked it up and moved it off to the side. I thought it was pretty neat. 

One of the buildings that got torn down was the chicken coop. 

Here's a picture of it from the summer- just so you can see all that awesome barn board! o yeah!

The poor chickens are displaced now. But they're still doing their thing. 

My cousin Jess and I went shed hunting. I had never heard of  it before. I envisioned looking for, like, little houses in the woods. But, NO! Shed hunting is looking in the woods for antlers that the deers shed. We didn't have success. But we did have a beautiful walk in the woods (We went our seperate ways, and I had a moment of panic and a daydream of Hunger Games itensity). It was just fun whipping around on the ATVs and goofing around. I do wish I had my camera in the woods, it was so beautiful. But we did get a snap of our beautifulness when we got back. I mean, come on! We're so hot. 

As for my loot:

We fit what we could in the car to bring back this trip. I have more piled up in the shed at the farm for my dad to bring back in his truck. 

I don't really have specific plans for them yet. But I'm pretty sure I'll come up with something. Of course I've been on Pinterest looking for inspiration. 

These drawers are from my grandpa's old workbench. My mom thinks they're gross. I think they're beautiful. I probably won't do anything with them for awhile- but I like 'em. 

Now, I can agree that this chicken grate is gross. But, I can also see it cleaned up, painted, and functioning as a coffee table. It fit in the car, but I couldn't see out so it, sadly, got left behind. 

There you have it. Our little spontaneous trip! It was perfect & now I have projects to focus on.

resolutions

At the beginning of the year I wrote this post.

You probably remember that in January I vowed to:

and it went well. I wanted to carry this resolution on. But, there were a couple weeks in the middle of February that I didn't drink as much water as I should have. Over this past week, I've really recommitted to this. There are so many benefits of drinking water and now I notice the negative side effects when I don't get enough. I had more headaches, retained more water, and found it harder to lose weight---all because I wasn't drinking enough water! psh. I'm back on track. 

And then, in February, I made one of- what I thought would be- the hardest resolutions:

NO FAST FOOD. NO EXCEPTIONS.

And how did I do:

awesome!

I even started this resolution early. I think I went to a drive thru for the last time on, like, January 25th. There were certainly days or certain times that I really craved fast food. Sometimes on the way home from church, work, and shopping- some of the typical times I used to stop. I mean, I used to stop a lot- so I had many triggers. 

But once I started and got into the month, I really couldn't break my new healthy habit. I would have been SO disappointed in myself. I would imagine writing this post and having to say I caved. I certainly didn't want to have to say that. So I stuck to it. I fought against my habits. I created new healthy habits.

I packed healthy snacks for work-

healthy lunches too.

And created delicious alternatives to fast food. Things that were fast, easy, and healthy to make so that I wasn't tempted to stop because I knew I could come home to quickly whip up something yummy.

It really wasn't so bad.
 I've actually only had fast food once in March so far. My mom and I stopped the other night on our way home from out of town. We probably would have gotten Subway or something healthy, but it was after 11pm and most places were close. Going without for that length of time helped to change my perspective. I still entertain the idea of going to a drive thru, but now I think of all the other options I have, and they win. 


Moving on to MARCH. 
My resolution:

Focus on Blog
Learn how to make the vision in my head match the actual layout and atmosphere here. Make a schedule. Post tutorials. Maybe do a giveaway. Look into Etsy further too. 

Basically learn how to do all the things that I wish I new right now. 

Well, we all see how well that has been going!! It's super hard to get on track. I love writing this blog. I like to create and share. I like to keep my friends and family in the loop (if they want to be). It really is just a matter of making it a priority.
I'm not exactly sure what this month will look like. This resolution isn't as straight forward as my last two- but I'm determined to succeed. 
So, I better get to work!