What I've been up to...

Work/school > blogging.

Which is why there has been a lack of posts.  But what I lack in posts I make up in pictures.  I have been really loving the crafts I've been making lately! So here's a look into my busy crafting world:


DIY dresser:  I bought this incredibly awesome vintage looking dresser (which is really a buffet, but I'm using it as a dresser)  earlier this year...around the end of the school year last year.  I meant to up-cycle it this summer, but summer snuck by rather quickly and I didn't even look at it. Thankfully we have had a wonderful extended summer.  (October, and still sunny and warm- which is unheard of in the Pacific NW!!! ) And I've been able to finally do this damn dresser.

Before- (sorry for the sucky iphone picture.)

As you can see- not the cutest of browns.

During: 2 coats of paint w/o the distressing

After: The final product!!

                                           

                            a view from the top

It might be my favorite up-cycle ever.  It turned out better than I could have imagined! Plus distressing was really fun! At first I was really nervous- but I read a really helpful tutorial found here which details distressing furniture   Then I just went away with the sander, the more I sanded, the more I loved it! Also I kept the original hardware which really makes the off white color really stand out. (it was also laziness- I couldn't find the putty when I was sanding/ painting, so I couldn't drill new holes)

Now I need to find really cute baskets to fill the empty spaces! AND I have the dresser doors to do something else crafty with.

Here are some other random projects I've been working on:

Art for my kitchen. I'm obsessed with dandelions....

 

 Paint chip art (ignore the goodwill sticker on the glass)  I need to do something with this so that the paint chips lay flat. Also if you were wondering, yes I did paint the frame as well. In that cutie cute Martha Stuart paint pictured above.  The paint is called Cloud.  BEST PAINT COLOR EVER! I use it on everything. Go get some, seriously you wont regret it. (and no I'm not getting paid to endorse it, I just love it that much!)

 Painted Mason Jars with $ Tree flowers.  The second one in is spray painted on the outside, then I distressed it.  The others are painted on the inside.

  Remote holder:  I found this awesome recipe holder at goodwill and I knew it would be perfect for my remotes!  I spray painted it brown, stenciled it, then added scrap book paper to the inside, and gave it a final layer of clear gloss.  Here is the final product.

 a look at the inside. 

Gallery Wall: 

I've been meaning to hang all of these pictures up forever but I hadn't found the motivation until last weekend.  All of the frames were thrifted and I painted them all. Oops most of them are thrifted.  The only two that aren't are the biggest ones.  The frame with the big flower and the frame in the top right corner with Mount Hood. 

 I bought more frames this weekend- and am planning to add to the wall.  there are still some empty spaces- plus I want to add more pictures with friends.

Finally I'm done...well there would be more but I can't find the other memory card with the rest of my pictures. oh well I feel like this should tide you over until next time!

<3 Lauren

Terrariums

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile...we went on vacation (which was awesome) and school started (which was crazy stressful) so I've been pretty busy!

I've seen a lot of terrariums on Pinterest though I didn't really fall in love with the look of them until I saw them on tv.  (the show being Baby Daddy if you were wondering {which I thought would be stupid but really I kind of love it!})

 







See how cute they are!!  Well once I saw those I knew I had to make some for myself. 
Unfortunately for me- mine did not come out as cute. But cute enough......

Pros: this craft was cheap. and I mean cheap, like $12 cheap- for both terrariums. I looked at a couple of tutorials before I made mine.  What they didn't mention was that this craft isn't as easy as it looks.  I mean on the craft scale this doesn't rank too highly, but I thought this would be easy peasy.  First my layering skills are better when it comes to clothing.

The rocks and the dirt were a pain in the ass- the pictures don't show it so much- but there isn't a defined line of rocks/dirt.  Also my plants were a lot bigger than the opening of my jars (or are they vases?) so there were a few fatalities as I tried to squeeze the succulent plants in!

I like them well enough. I'll see how long they last.  Considering I don't have a green thumb, or the full sun exposure that they need to survive, and they provide a great living space for spiders....

 

<3 Lauren

 

Also if I could redo them I would choose larger glass containers, and add more layers. Like this:

I especially love the last one! And maybe try to find the same glass containers that were in Chelsea Staub Kane's set apartment.

Dip Dye

Earlier this summer I got a wild hair and decided we needed to give our cabinets a new coat of paint.  They were redish/brown and frankly I was sick of them.  Our kitchen is straight out of the 70's complete with mustard yellow countertops.  What goes with mustard color countertops!? Not much unfortunately.  But we finally settled on light gray- which looks fine...But now that the cabinets are done our kitchen is feeling a little too blah. Not nearly enough color!! So without telling my boyfriend I decided I would give our kitchen a little pop of color.  For those of you who know Cameron, you know he is not a fan of bright colors. Which is why I didn't tell him that I did this:

(Oh god. Please ignore the messiness!)

I saw some tutorials on Pinterest on dip dying and I thought it would be an easy way to incorprate yellow into our boring kitchen!  It was such an easy craft, and cheap too.  All I needed was the rit dye since I already had the curtains on hand. The dye went too far up for my liking which was completely my fault since I was talking to my mom on the phone while I was dipping, which probably wasn't the best idea, but cest le vie.

- Lauren

First

So here it is: my first (and probably last) attempt at blogging. I decided that with my obsession in Pinterest and crafting, why not write about it!?! And BONUS this will give me a chance to use my fancy schmancy camera that I got for Christmas on a regular basis! Hooray!


Pinterest has made me fall in love with furniture upcycling. So when I spoted this old, beat up sewing table -I immediately saw the cuteness potential- and I had to have it! My boyfriend said that I shouldn't waste my 16$ on it- but when have I ever listened to him?


So here it is before (after I sanded the hell out of it)
:

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                       

and after! Isn't it adorbs?? I am so in love with it. Now I need to learn how to sew.

Pinspiration for the drawers:

 

                                                                                                                                           - Lauren