Did you miss me?
I missed you.
Can I get a rousing round of applause for that darling digital book that Marnie designed and shared with us yesterday? (I'm more of a whistler and catcaller, but let's try to keep this dignified, folks, this isn't a Rock and Roll show).
I am in a slow burning panic about all the stuff I have to say and I only have TWO MORE DAYS to say it!
What was the last thing I said?
Something about kids' rooms, right?
How about we start off on the right foot (just a quick aside, when they say "start off on the right foot, do they mean the correct foot? or not the left foot?) with this lovely little collection that Angie sent me?
I long for a precious little sweet smelling girl who doesn't make up words to my favourite songs while in the car and sing over me.
Who doesn't wait almost a month to tell me that they only have two pairs of underwear that fit them and they've just been wearing them for a few days in a row to make them last.
Who doesn't smell like feet, shoot me with nerf bullets and dress the dog in their dad's clothes (okay, that last one was me, but in my defense, it was hilarious.)
Angie used a vinyl letter "K" thicker on some patterned paper for that little monogram (see how awesome simple is? I love simple.)
She picked up the ladybug print on Etsy and the vintage shelf at local consignment store.
Thanks Angie!
Here's a little something I made the other day.
First, some background (because, clearly, I don't have the ability to not be longwinded and carry on about how many 50 centses I spend at the thrift store), I bought a tiered metal serving thingie (50 cents) a couple of months ago with the thought that I would paint it and use it in my scrapbook room for something.
It looked a bit like this:
I took it all apart, scrubbed it down and promptly misplaced the middle part that holds it all together.
I figured the missing pieces would turn up eventually, in the safe spot that I obviously had lovingly placed them. So I went ahead and painted them while I was waiting...
I started with red:
I love red.
It's my favourite.
But this wasn't working for me.
So being a creature of habit, I tried my old stand-by and with a couple of little chipboard elephants and heart turned it into a little piece of wall art for my (other) niece's room:
(if you come back tomorrow, I'll show you what I did with the larger bottom piece! Oh and if you were wondering, I found the middle pieces, in the kitchen cutlery drawer, but they missed the boat on this project, so too bad for them.)
Now to carry on with simple but I think effective projects, let's switch gears and talk digital.
I am here to tell you, that while fancy complete Photoshop is swell and may have a lot of bells and whistles, it is not necessary for making home decor.
No. It's true.
I have Photoshop Elements 5.0 (2006 I think, Costco, I want to say around $70? I can't imagine myself shelling out much more than that.)
I made this piece with the thought that I would send it to my niece for her bedroom.
Then I found out she hates pink.
I never liked her much anyway.
(I kid, I KID! I love that girl and I,too, am not overly fond of pink.)
So I opened it up, and with 2 clicks of a button, changed it to purple.
(digital paper by Crystal Wilkerson)
And Bob's your uncle (remember, he's my dad).
Can I have a golf clap for old, cheap PSE please?
(I'm sensing a trend, maybe this post is going to be all about applause? Let's see what happens, shall we?)
Music really speaks to me (and not usually in a "I hear voices" way) and I find myself drawn to lyrics when I make stuff.
You are my sunshine was the youngest boy's and my song. I loved it when he was little. Until the day came where he would scream if I sang any other song (I tried to slip the Itsy, Bitsy Spider in there one time and I thought the kid's head was going to explode).
Now I love it again (he's almost 11 and I only sing it to him very occasionally).
(digital elements by Crystal Wilkerson)
I made these for my husband's office (but then I kept them.)
Both are SNL quotes.
If you haven't seen the Will Ferrell/Christopher Walken Cowbell skit, you must
GO. GOOGLE. NOW.
I'll wait.
These are printed on photo paper and then adhered (using the ATG gun, I love that thing, I'd marry it if it vacuumed and could change a tire) it to a small piece of MDF that my current human husband cut for me.
After I glued it I realized that either my cutting was crooked (unlikely) or the husband's cutting was crooked (more likely). So I grabbed my sanding block and sanded all the edges - the beauty of using photo paper on stuff like this is that when you sand it, the colour comes off and leaves a nice faded white edge that looks like you meant to do that in the first place.
See how I work?
(Just another aside, I actually got an cowbell in my stocking for Christmas. That crafty Mr. Claus must really want me to cheer the husband on during his triathlons this summer. I am a lucky girl. Especially since my kids learned "Don't Fear the Reaper" and Lucas now has the opportunity to play MORE COWBELL for reals.)
Okay.
I can see why you might not think this of me, but I am not really all that super in to puns.
I know.
Hard to believe.
That said, if a pun just falls magically out of the sky and into ones lap, what's a girl to do?
(digital paper and elements, Libby Pritchett)
And I do love the Beatles.
And cartoon owls.
(I have to confess real owls, like most birds, freak me out a bit. What with the hooing and turning their necks all around. Somethings not right there. If you like birds, I apologize, I was traumatized by a chicken while a was a child. But that's a story for another day.)
So my older boy is almost a teenager.
And is sadly outgrowing the Star Wars/Lego theme we did in his room last time I hosted here.
On our agenda for tomorrow is cleaning out his room and putting up some new decor.
He's super stoked about the cleaning part, I'm sure.
I made him a couple of pieces digitally for his room. I love that I buy frames once and we can change the art out as he changes.
I initially had this one framed, but then the other day I picked up all of these
from VV Boutique and thought it would look kind of cool like this:
(notice, clock is sans paint, I'm not sure about that yet...perhaps a nice coat of black?)
And I made him this:
Here's a better idea of what it looks like, man, it's hard to get a good picture of a frame with glass. Glass is one of my nemesises (nemesi?) in that respect.
(The tape image is actually from a free font called CKAS, fun, huh?)
And here's an 8x10 download for you, if you so desire:
(PS is it ironic (and/or bad parenting) that I made this for my kid's room but he's not allowed to listen to the actual song because there are bad words in it?)
Okay, I need to stop before I wear us both out.
I'm starting to make spelling mistakes.
And type two spaces after my periods. (old habits and all.)
So, clap me out folks (but not too heartily, let's avoid the encore.)
(Tomorrow: bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms and more!)