Birdcage Decorations

When I had my own place *sigh...* I was just starting to work on decorating the bathroom. I had almost completely finished decorating my bedroom and kitchen, so I moved on to something else. I have this lovely shower curtain (that ironically my mom found at the ARC store) that looks like a pastel waterfall.

I was going to do a nature/garden design. I want to hang bird cut outs and cages around the bathroom and put flowers around or in the cages. Luckily I just happened to find some bird and birdcage cut outs at Michaels.

I painted them in light pastel colors to go with the ribbon colors. I painted both sides, so that when I hang it from the ceiling I can look at both sides.

I painted the cage cut outs in silver glitter. Once I had painted them it looked just bland, so I decided that I would paint the bird inside the cage a pastel color too.

These will have to hang near the mirror, I think, but relatively low to really be visible.

Now if I just had a bathroom of my own to decorate!

Blankets Warm Your Heart

My co-worker is having a little boy in August of this year. Several of us from work are throwing a baby shower for her on May 27th (this coming Sunday). I have been collecting clothes from the ARC stores, so much so that I have two large bags full to the top with clothes. I have outfits for several different periods of time, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 12 months, 18th month and even one for 24 months. I have another bag full of blankets, baby medicine, diaper rash cream, and several other things. There is yet another box full of books, ranging from super easy to more detail and classic.

Once I found out she was pregnant and what she was having I started a baby blanket. She told me the colors of they want are blue, green, and light brown. I found the perfect yarn for just those colors.

I started it about a month and a half ago. Very easy pattern too.

You cast on 3 stitches and then every time after that you increase by one stitch, which you do as a yarn over as the second stitch. You keep increasing until you feel its wide enough. I used 10 1/2 inch needles with this project because the Homespun yarn is rather chunky and it would show the pattern better with bigger needles. I used stick needles until it got too wide and then I switched to circular needles. I continued to increase the stitches for several more inches.

Once you feel that the blanket is wide enough you can start decreasing. You decrease by stitching the first two stitches together, then do the yard over like when you were increasing, and then stitch two more stitches together. Took me about a month of actually working on the blanket to finish it. Its square, but it can be used to wrap the baby up diagonal. It does fold up nicely though.

The nice by-product of using the ombre Homespun yarn is that it creates stripes. Its just a random extra bonus.

Turned out pretty nice though. I do good work. Don't you think? =)

Helping Paws...

My cats are overly curious and this can lead to them being very annoying. Like when I make the bed Stue will slip in under the sheets and create a giant lump in my bed. Better yet is when Grace takes the time to bite my ankles while I'm trying to get dressed, especially when I'm trying to get my pants on.

The time I love best of all if when I'm trying to put away my clean clothes. I had them sorted out on my bed and was in the proses of putting away my socks when Stue leaps onto the bed and does this....

Sleeps right on my clean clothes. He also happens to start cleaning himself... which is just awesome. The joy of having cats is some times lost.

However, there are times that having cats can seriously warm your heart....

Wreath summer 2012

In a few entries I have posted pictures of changes I make to the wreath in my room. I first got it last summer, then changed it for fall and then Christmas, and just updated it for the summer. (I was being rather lazy and skipped doing it for spring.)

Since my mother wanted to do the room in a blue and white cottage look I have been trying to keep it that way ever since I moved into the room. Hence why I have done the summer version to match the room.

 The white roses are rather full, but I thought it felt very summery. The blue hydrangeas seem to fit well with the roses. They make them pop more.

 

Pj pants can be more.

Since my love for the ARC stores (or thrift stores) has been made pretty clear at this point it shouldn't be a surprised that I found something there that I liked. I ran across a pair of pj pants that I really liked, but sadly they didn't fit like I thought. The pattern and colors were what I really liked and so I wanted to keep those pants. I cut them along the seams and across just below the crotch.

I rolled the seams over and sewed them to keep the edges from fraying. I then sewed those edges together and made it into a bag. The material is a little thin, but that's not really my concern. I don't plan on using it for anything that would rip it or poke through it.

It was an easy project and a good use of the pants. The remaining material will get used for other projects. It was entirely worth the $3.99 I paid for them.

Don't ever think that just because something doesn't fit it should be 'dead' to you. Try being creative and think with an open mind.