Update: apartment gardening

My little garden is doing so well. I've been quite impressed with how it's done, especially since it's just potted plants and not a proper garden. Let's see where things are out there.

Look at how well my little strawberries are doing. Go, strawberries, go!
My mini sunflowers are seizing the day, are they not?

Look how big that bell pepper has gotten. A month ago, there weren't even buds on the plant.
This is the latest harvest of jalapenos to be picked. Yes, harvest. They are so yummy.
These tomatoes are still growing away.

I had a grasshopper visit. I took a pic of him, and then shooed him away from my plants.

And I caught my first cicada. They don't make those out wet where I grew up. I was amazed at how nasty they are - and loud!

Abstract Fam Pic - 4.0

My latest birds portrait for the cutest family of 6 ever. I'm totally loving the chocolate brown color.

Abstract Fam Pic - Again

Again with the birds! Here's the newest version - 8 birds deep!

Revisit: Abstract Family Portrait

Remember these cuties? Well, they're back! Heather is now making a set for herself. They are gonna be blue and white (go Cougars!) and she's gonna put 3 birds on hers. Aww!
Well, as I mentioned in the previous post, we did an auction at church as a fundraiser. Well, I took my birds to show what I could do, and I sold 4 sets for $40 each. I know that's not a huge price, but when you look at the cost of materials and the fact that all the proceeds are going to support the youth, I was pretty proud that I sold any, let alone 4 of them. Good gracious, what fun! Here's set 1 of 4. I'll post pics of the others as they are completed.

Apartment Gardening

The hubs and I live in an apartment. This is great for a lot of things, but kind of hard in other ways. However, I'm finding ways around the hard parts and enjoying not having to worry about it if the dishwasher breaks or if the sink leaks.

Today is the first full day of spring (it officially turned spring yesterday at 7:21 pm, if you were wondering), so I had to celebrate. While getting a few things at Target, I ran past the gardening section. I mean, why not? So I don't have a yard? There are ways around that! I bought a few plants in small planters and I bought one big planter and went to work. A few weeks ago, I bought strawberries, green peppers, and tomatoes, and they've been plodding along in my apartment near the window. The time had come to move them outside, and this had me inspired. Why not plant more? I mean, it's cheap, easy to keep up, and so rewarding. Have you ever eaten something straight off the vine? Beyond amazingly delicious and so worth the wait. So here's what I added: green onions, white onions, chives, cilantro, parsley, red bell peppers, and just because, zinnias and a garden flower mix. I can't wait for my balcony to overflow with goodies for the eyes and for the tummy. Let me show you what it all looks like. However, you'll have to forgive the water spots on the ground. I may have tripped over the water pitcher and spilled a little. Go fig.Here's all the beauties, lined up in a cute row.
The large window planter has my pre-sprouted tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries. This is also where my green and white onions will live.
This planter set used to house parsley, oregano, and cilantro. There are a few dead ones on top from last year, but this is where my flower garden will grow. Besides, a few dead leaves that I didn't have the energy to remove won't hurt anything.This year's cilantro plant is in of these cute little pots until it gets going. Same with the zinnias and red peppers. I'll put them in a planter like the big yellow one when they get themselves all sprouted.
As is indicated by the markings on the porcelain pots, this is my chive and parsley collection. How cute are these? And they're the perfect size to be brought in when it's time to utilize them.

As a young girl, my dad was insistent that we have a garden every year. I thought this was weird. What kind of hard working attorney with 5 obnoxious kids has time for a garden? Well, the older I got, the more I came to appreciate this. We grew and sold raspberries by the crate, we canned our own tomatoes, salsa, fruit, beans, corn, etc. We grew our own potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, peas, pumpkins, cucumbers, and about a zillion other things. It was a bit of a time investment to plant all of that business and to keep it watered in the not-so-cooperative Idaho climate, but to be able to rely on ourselves was pretty awesome. And to eat something that was totally 100% because of your efforts was amazing. I'm excited to get to do that in my own little way this year. Go, balcony garden, go!

Teacup Candles: Revisit

Remember this project? Well, I just couldn't get enough. I've been searching for the perfect teacups ever since. And on Tuesday, when thrifting with Monica and Heather (co-captains of Bring Your Own Glue Gun night), I found these beautiful, delicate, midnight blue tea mugs. They're smaller than the other teacups I did. In fact, they're about the size of a shot glass. But look at the color! What a beautiful antique treasure I was able to find, and for 49 cents a cup, you bet they came home with me! Take a look!

(Badly Needed) Office Redo

Notice that I've used "badly needed" in a few posts now? Yeah, get used to that. Spring cleaning not only means dusting and organizing, but redecorating as well. Also, this post might be a slight homage to the Dollar Tree.

This is not a how to post. I know, weird for me. Sigh. Life moves on. Anyway...

I did not take a "before" picture because I was so embarrassed about the state of affairs in here. For months, this entire room had been... well... you know how you always have that one messy drawer, the one where all the junk you don't know where to put anywhere else goes? Yeah, this was the state of the whole room. And I'm not really good about motivating myself to clean, so there you go.
Well, I decided it was time for action after heading to the Dollar Tree. I have come to love and cherish the Dollar Tree. Seriously, there are some real steals and deals in there. One of the things they had was these fabulous folding organizer bins. The white cabinet is full of them. All of them came with dividers, but I left those out of 2 so I could put bigger stuff in there. So now rather than being the cabinet from hell, it's the cabinet where all of my stuff is neatly organized.
I then looked at the top of said white cabinet. Boring. It needed a facelift. So I used things I already had and dressed it up a bit. The hub's great aunt passed away last year, and she was a hoarder. On one trip to visit, my in laws brought some fabulous old books, which I used as a base for my lamp. I had a Willow Tree statue of a reading girl, so on she went. Then one of the teacup candles I made previously joined the mix. Then (and this is my favorite part), I added the suitcase. My friend Monica bought an old clarinet at a thrift store and is cleaning it in order to turn it into a lamp. I know, it's gonna be amazing. More on that later, I'm sure. Well, she didn't want the case. After cleaning the clarinet, it was too gross for her. Well, you bet your buttons I dibbesed that guy. And look how cute he is! Add a little greenery behind it so that there's not an awkward empty space, and there you go! Vintage tablescape for free!Then I moved on to the table. I used to teach junior high (at 26, saying something like that makes me sound a bit pretentious and like I'm trying to be more like 50 - tee hee!) and when we moved away, I took the long, skinny card table I put in my classroom with me to use as my craft table. Well, as you can see, it's visible now. I put everything away, cleaned it up, only left the essentials on the top, and wiped the whole thing down. Glamorous? No. Functional and actually usable now? Heck yes. You'll notice that I bought some hanging organizers and duct taped them to the sides. The duct tape is under the table so you can't see it, but then I can hang stuff from the side of the table that I need but that won't go anywhere else. Again, thank you Dollar Tree.
Well, at this point, the wall was bare. Not to fear, Dollar Tree to the rescue again! Did you know they sell vinyl at the Dollar Tree!?! It's in the home office section, and it is a bit limited, but come on. For a dollar? Yeah, that's happening. So I bought two kits, one with a cute phrase and one with butterflies. And there you go, a cute and super cheap wall decoration.What you're not seeing in the room is that in the corner where I was standing to take the pictures used to be a quilting frame and 5 huge boxes full of food storage. Not very visually appealing. Well, they've all found homes in the closet now. Thanks to the hubs for the help on that one - my flimsy arms were not about to take on the challenge of hoisting 75 lb boxes of freeze dried food storage to a height taller than myself. And there you go! The room is clean and organized and a major project has been completed with an entire room overhaul. And the total cost? Well... $10. Yeah. And for that $10, I bought 2 vinyl sets and 8 organizational stuff-holders (that's the official name of those things, by the way). And this, of course, warranted that I share. Now if only I could find the motivation to do this with the rest of my house... :)

(Badly Needed) Pillow Covers

This is one of my couches. When the hubs and I got married, my mom and dad gave us these babies so we could furnish our apartment. I remember having these couches before my 16 year old sister was alive. I wish I had a copy of the family pictures we all took on these couches wearing all denim - super sexy. Regardless, they are comfortable as all get-out, but they look a little... well... they could look better. I'm going to cover the couches eventually, but covering the pillows that are in the same pattern was what I had the energy for this week. Here's what I did:
Time Needed: 2 hours
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: 4 yards of fabric plus 1/2 yard of accent fabric (variable by pillow size), sewing machine and thread, scissors, ugly pillows
Directions: Measure your pillows. Mine were 17x17. Then measure out how much fabric you'll wanna use. I cut out swatches that were 38x19 because then I had a 2 inch allowance for my amazing skills and because that's one less seam I have to sew if the front and back are already attached. Anyway... Go back to your original color and cut out a rectangle that's about the width of your pillow and add about 5 inches or so onto the length. As you are sewing all your seams all the way around the pillow, you're gonna add this to the side hems. It'll hang in the front, and the accent fabric will draw it together. Before you sew, grab your extra fabric rectangle, flip it inside out, and sew some tubes. Flip 'em right side out, sew them shut, and stick them on your piece that you'll be gathering. Now enjoy all those hems - on the extra fabric rectangle, on the sides of pillow, and on. Now, don't sew these shut - instead, sew flaps so you can stick the pillow in and so that when you get bored with these covers, you can make new ones and switch out the pillows without destroying your work. And voila! My ugly couches at least have cute pillows until I can cover those suckers.

Abstract Family Portrait

Wanna check out the original? Head over here.

Time Needed: 2-3 hours
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: 2 colors of paint, 2 blank canvasses (your choice of size), paintbrushesDirections: Choose the color you want the background to be and paint away. The more coats you use, the longer it'll take to dry. You can go to some place like Home Depot and get a cool color sample so you don't have to buy a whole huge bucket and those are less than $3. Once your canvasses are dry, they'll look a little something like this:Then, and this is the hard part, draw a branch. Make it as scraggly as you want, but make sure that you put a lot of branches on. Follow your inner Bob Ross and find yourself a happy little branch. Look online at branches, look outside at branches, whatever. It's scarier to start than it actually is once you get started. This is obviously in the other color, by the way. Keep painting until your branch looks amazing. Finished branch by me and by my friend Monica (in which picture her hand makes its blog debut):
Then paint your birds. Not sure what kind of bird to do or how exactly one works? Grab that computer and look up bird silhouettes. From here, you can freehand one or print one and trace it. Whatever works for you. Put on one bird for every member of your family. Right now, it's just the hubs and myself, so we have only two birds. Monica, however, has four birds on her canvas because she has the cutest little boys running around her house.And there you go! Hang them on the wall, and feel awesome about the fact that you painted on canvas and that it looks incredible.

Grocery Bag Holder

Time Needed: 1/2 hour
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: canvas rectangle (about 18"x8", or whatever you desire), scissors, glue gun, elastic, safety pin, felt, ribbonDirections: Cut your canvas to the desired size. Run on over to your sewing machine and flip the fabric inside out. Sew a hem on the bottom big enough to thread the elastic through. Cut your elastic to somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the width of the fabric. Then use the safety pin to thread it through. Sew the ends into place so they don't go anywhere. Stitch the top and sides together and flip right side out. Then, because it'd be boring without it, add a ribbon to hang it on your fridge (or wherever) and add some cute little felt flowers. Attach with the glue gun or the sewing machine, whichever suits your fancy. Stuff with those grocery bags, and you are set to go. Make two and give one to your best friend and you can be matchie. Aww, cute!

GIANT embroidered wall sign

I've been working on this every day for a week and, I'm SO excited to unveil it to you!

Time Needed: 6 hours
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: giant frame, printer, pencil, fabric, quilting batting, embroidery hoop, needle, embroidery floss, pins, scissors, Elmer's glue, paintDirections: Go find yourself a big HUGE frame. The one I have is 24x36 (that's half as tall as I am)! If you want to do a crackle frame, paint the whole thing with Elmer's glue. Then, while it's still wet, paint it with the color you want to crackle. As the glue and paint dry, the bottom color will show through. Way cheaper than real crackle paint, trust me! OK back to the embroidery part. Once you've chosen a phrase you'd like to embroider, play computer for awhile. Play around with fonts until you find one you love and that's reasonable to embroider. Look online to find free download-able fonts, too. That's where I found mine. Then, blow it up as big as you need to get it to fit (I used 300 point font - yeah, that's huge) and print that sucker out. Lay it out on the cardboard backing that came with the frame to get the look you want. It'll look something like this:
Then, trace on the pattern onto your fabric with your pencil. Do this lightly, and it'll more or less rub off when you're done. That'll look something like this:Back the fabric with your quilting batting and pin it down. I don't ordinarily pin these things down, but this is a big BIG project that wouldn't stay together otherwise. So pin your heart out all over the edges and throughout the middle to keep things where they need to stay. Stick your embroidery hoop on, and get started with embroidering. If you don't know how, check out the tutorial I have here. It should look something like this:

Halfway through! Lookin good, huh?

Once you're done embroidering all the words, lay it out in the frame to double check the look. This'll also let you know if you need a little sparkle or design added in.
I ended up thickening some of the edges of my red words and adding a few vines into the edges because it needed something. From there, secure the sign to your cardboard backing, stick it in the frame, and hang it on the wall. And then enjoy how COOL you are because this is an AWESOME project!
PS: In case you're wondering why I chose the quote I did, well.. it's kind of corny. The hubs puts up really well with my crafting and creating and messmaking. So when choosing a fun, cute quote, I actually took one out of a techno song. My hubs loves techno, so it was kind of a fun tribute to him. Aw, cute! :)

Upcycled Teacup Candles

Time Needed: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: teacups, paraffin candle wax, candle wicks, double boiler or boil bags, candle scent (optional), candle wax dye (optional), water

Directions: In either a double boiler or boil bags, melt the wax completely over medium heat. This will take 10-15 minutes or so, even if the was is labeled as having a low melting point. It's still wax and still takes awhile to melt. I'd recommend the boil bags so you don't ruin or wax up your double boiler. While that's melting, put the wicks in the bottom of your clean teacups (make sure they're clean or you're gonna have gross candles). Once the wax is melted, add any wax scent or wax dye that you feel like you want to add, and stir with a wooden spoon (or, in my case, a random bamboo skewer) to ensure proper distribution. Carefully pour wax into the teacups, making sure the wicks are well above the top of the wax. To ensure they stay straight, you may want to tie the tops to some bamboo skewers and rest those on the lip of the cup. Once the wax has dried enough to put a solid film on the top of the candle, cover the wax with water while it hardens. The wax will dip in the middle as it hardens, and this keeps it from dipping quite as much. Once hardened, dump out the water, trim the wicks, and enjoy your beautiful new candles. The best part is that when they're all gone, you can just start over again. Oh, cute!

"I Love You" embroidered sign

You may be thinking to yourself: Self, this looks all red and covered in hearts and... um... it's October. Doesn't this girl realize it's more Halloween than Valentine's day? Well, dear reader, let me assure you that I get it. For those of you who don't know, my last name is Valentine, so I get to do this kind of craft whenever I feel like it. :)

Time Needed: 1 hour
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: picture frame, scissors, embroidery thread, needle, embroidery hoop, fabric (both colored and plain), Fray Check, quilt batting, pencil, computer and printer (optional)

Directions: Use your computer to print out the design you want to embroider. Then, trace it on to the fabric. (Or, just free-hand your drawing on the fabric.) Take your colored fabric and cut out a heart. Line the edges with Fray Check and let dry. Put the batting behind the fabric and put it in the embroidery hoop. Then, use the embroidery floss to trace the outline you drew on the fabric. This is done by poking the needle through the top of the fabric and then poking it back down a few millimeters forward and pulling the thread through. The next stitch will poke through a few millimeters ahead of the completed stitch and work backwards to where you've previously stitched from. This gives a clean, thin, even line. Continue until done. Lay the dried heart where desired and sew on using a fat stitch. Don't worry if the stitches are uneven - it makes it look really cute if they are a little off. Tie off the thread when done. Then, use the cardboard form in the frame to back the finished stitched product and put it in the frame. Or, use the glass as your form and let the fabric be on the outside.

Cute Kitchen Sign

Time Needed: 1 hour
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: picture frame, scissors, embroidery thread, needle, embroidery hoop, fabric, quilt batting, pencil, computer and printer (optional)
Directions: Use your computer to print out the design you want to embroider. Then, trace it on to the fabric. (Or, just free-hand your drawing on the fabric.) Put the batting behind the fabric and put it in the embroidery hoop. Then, use the embroidery floss to trace the outline you drew on the fabric. This is done by poking the needle through the top of the fabric and then poking it back down a few millimeters forward and pulling the thread through. The next stitch will poke through a few millimeters ahead of the completed stitch and work backwards to where you've previously stitched from. This gives a clean, thin, even line. Continue until done. Then, use the cardboard form in the frame to back the finished stitched product and put it in the frame. Hang and enjoy!
Hint: when cutting your fabric to size, leave at least an inch extra on all sides to be able to fold around the cardboard when you're done. If you cut it exactly to the size of the glass in the frame, you're gonna have a REALLY hard time putting it in the frame without jaggedy edges or blank spots showing up. This extra inch or so gives you room to pull the fabric tight around the cardboard. I usually tape mine firmly into place on the back to make sure they don't go anywhere.
(PS - Don't judge that the wall under the picture frames is wet. I just did dishes and decided to wash down the wall as well. Promise it's clean!)