Still Alive

I've been absent from my blog for 8 days

Shame on me!

What a bad blogger I am

BUT I have excuses...

Doesn't everyone love to hear excuses?

No?

Ah, well, that's all I got...excuses

Excuse #1

I spent the entire 4th of July weekend doing this:

Yeppers, that's me trying to stand on a raft!

Ok, so I didn't do exactly that all weekend, but I did spend every day in a pool of some sort.

It was hot, the pool was cool, and I loved every minute of it!

Excuse #2

I went back to work. 

BOO!

My lazy summer days where I have unlimited time to do whatever I want to do, are over.

This makes me sad, but thus is live, let's move on.

Excuse #3

I decided to put TURQUOISE peek-a-boo highlights in my hair

AHHHH!!!

Crazy I know, but it's just hair, it grows

When my hair is down, they aren't really visible, but the hair is up, or moves, KA-BLAM!

I'm going to dye it again to make the color darker and not quite as mermaid-ish

Maybe I'll show you again when I re-dye it (do you even care?)

Anywho...here it is

(sorry for the crappy photos and my naked face)

Excuse #4

I had a concert to attend

A monumental concert!

I am a die hard 311 fan, like to the core

First CD I ever owned was 311

I've seen them (now officially) TEN times!

I sing every song, I jump in the air, I totally rock out

I L.O.V.E. concerts

There is so much energy at a 311 concert!

So there you have it, my week in a nut shell

I have a new tutorial for you on monday, so be on the lookout.

Hope you all had a fantastic week!

P.S. I'm one follower away from 50 and that makes me smile :) Thanks to everyone who has made my blog start a terrific one!

Much Love~

Meredith

Ikea Mirror Redo

I have these 4 Ikea mirrors I bought 6 or 7 years ago.

They were unfinished wood when I bought them

I painted them a flat black

They hung on my walls in my various rented apartments for years

Now they've been packed in a box in my basement for the last 4 years or so.

I decided they needed a new life

Here's what I started with

Not the most attractive mirrors right?

I covered them in scrapbook paper. 

Take your paper, turn it upside down and cut out the middle square. I didn't worry about it being centered because my paper was bigger than the mirror.

Then modge podge to the front.

I didn't worry about covering the sides or the inside of the square by the mirror because I thought the black looked good enough

Then just trim off the outside with the exacto knife and you're done!

I hung 2 of them in my family room and 2 by my front door

It feels so good to breathe new life into all the random things I have been holding on to!

Much Love~

Meredith

Bird's Nest Necklaces

I've seen tons of people either making or selling those uber cute birds nest necklaces lately.

They really are super cute!

So while I watched TV thursday evening I made a couple, like 5 of them!

The blue one is my fav!

Go get some wire and make some!

Much Love~

Meredith

Log Wall Art

I made this framed wall art a while back {before my blogging days} and I thought I would share it with you. 

It's made from some logs we had from trees cut down in our yard.

Oh, and I built the frame too.

Other than the cost of the trim for the frame, I had all supplies on hand.

Another cheap project in the books!

Much Love~

Meredith

Sweater Pillow

Last week I made my 20 Minute Pillow Shams and I mentioned making another pillow out of a sweater.

I have this sweater that shrunk slightly and doesn't fit me as well anymore, but I've been saving it.

Sorry my pictures aren't that great, I did this at night :(

I started by cutting the bottom off , then cutting the largest rectangle I could from one side of the body

Fold right sides together and sew along the short side. 

Then I had to do a little tricky math to find out what size circle to cut for the ends. I actually had to google how to compute how to get the diameter of a circle from the circumference. Let's face it people, who really remembers those formulas from school? Not this chick! Anywho, once I had that I had to draw a circle. It probably would have been easier if I had a protractor or whatever those things are called, but I don't. I just tied a piece of yarn to a pencil and measured out what I needed. It worked pretty well if I do say so myself.

So then I used the bottom piece of my sweater I cut off originally and cut 2 circles out of it.

Then just sew them on the ends! Leave a hole in one so you can turn it right side out and stuff, then close up your hole and it's done! Took probably 30 minutes total. I do love me a quick project!

It's kindof a small pillow, but I had a very small sweater to begin with. Oh well, it's perfect size to slip under my neck for a cat nap!

Much Love~

Meredith

Plastic Plate Upcycle

I have this stack of cheap plastic plates I bought several years ago for my RV.

I tried to sell them in a garage sale last year,but in the end they were still on my table.

So I've been holding on to them knowing I could do something crafty with them.

Then the other morning it hit me and I knew what to do.

So here's what I started with:

I took some cream colored scrap book paper, cut it into strips and covered each plate.

I wanted each plate to mimic a specific flower on the curtains in my kitchen.

I just started cutting out shapes to make flowers and modge podged them on the plates.

Then gave the whole plate a good coat of modge podge

When it dried, I flipped the plate over and cut the edges off with an exacto knife.

I am so in LOVE with how they look!

Whatcha think?

I can't stop staring at them...literally!

Hope you enjoy!

Much Love~

Meredith

Planting Flowers is Hard Work

This is the first house I've owned.

The first house I've had to maintain a yard.

The first time I've cared about my "curb appeal".

And the first time I've planted flowers.

As I've mentioned before, our house was built in the 70's, and the landscaping reflects that.

This is our lovely bushes when we first moved in

 Beautiful, right?

No?

Yeah that's what I thought.

So Mr. Perfect cut them all out.

Once all those bushes came out we found massive rocks, in size and quantity, under them.

So we built a flower bed with the rocks.

FREE landscaping!

Now the really great part...

Our city has the most UH-MAZING city services

We have huge recycling bins, they pick up all our yard waste, I love it.

I recently found out they use the yard waste and turn it into compost.

They also use the logs and turn them into mulch.

Great right?

The best part...

As a resident, we can go fill truckloads of compost and mulch, for FREE!!

Pretty sweet deal if you ask me! That stuff is not cheap!

1 truck bed filled with compost and mulch + $50 in flowers = One super cheap, beautiful new flower bed!

YAY!

This fall we will lay grass seed on the exposed dirt and next year it will be even better!

I'm pretty happy with it :)

Much Love~

Meredith