[Inspiration] Short and Stubby

You know when your art supplies just whittle away under the pressures of your ever flowing creativity?  

Slowly that favorite marine blue berol prismacolor pencil begins to loose it's girlish figure

 and shrink into the useless stub.  

But you don't throw it out.  Just like you don't throw out magazines, or ribbon, or fabric scraps. 

Because eventually (and by eventually I mean never) you think you'll use it.

Recently I found an image that inspired me to take back my craft scraps and to give validation to my hoarding problem of used up art supplies.

Behold,

Simply Presh.

from Twopeasinabucket.com

And the photo I found just happened to be the best letter of the alphabet to re-purpose all those cute little pencil stubs.

Want to make one?  Me too.

I showed Andy this project and he said, "Cool. . .but where are you going to get all the colored pencils you need?"

With a brief spurt of hope I dashed to our art supplies rubbermaid tower only to find that there was not even one lonely lost crayola colored pencil.  I would have even settled for rose art.

Needless to say, I am still blogging about how I would create this project when that future day of pencil acquisition comes.  Is this totally lame?  Eh.

First pick a letter and find your favorite font (I like serif fonts-you know, the ones with little feeties).

Second, print it out and trace it to your background.  (Try covering cardboard in pretty wrapping paper, or choose something with texture like burlap.)

Third, dig out all those little pencil stubs and start sizing it up!  You can always sharpen to adjust sizes.  Unless of course you only have random hotel pens and sharpies.

Fourth, Glue them down.

Finally, Mount in shadow box frame.  (Check Goodwill for some frames.)

Tada!  No more tears over your favorite supplies that reach their last leg.

Now off to find some of those coveted colored pencils!

Urban Garden Party: Lanterns

Again, I've been wooed by the Target bulls-eye. What turned into finding a baby shower present and picking up toilet paper only led me to casually walk the aisles for clearance treasures.

Yesterday I found little lanterns and suddenly flashes of miniature Martha Stewart garden parties on my porch started reeling through my head like a silent movie.  That's right, garden parties aren't for gardens anymore.  They can be right in a suburban 3rd floor apartment just minutes from a metropolis.

And so shall it be.

Sunday craft time.

The lanterns cost about a buck each.  I used left over candles from my wedding (why did I buy so many??). And I had my kind, patient husband help me hang them from the porch ceiling.

As he's screwing in the hooks I kept thanking him in between saying, "Are you sure we can put holes in the ceiling?"  Don't get me wrong, I wanted them there, I just also wanted to shirk responsibility in the case of a tenant no-no.

I tied the lanterns to string. . .maybe I'll get out some pretty ribbon later. . .

and hung them from the hooks.

Third floor garden party.

You're invited. . .

Just bring the dessert :)

Andy Standy's

My husband is an artist. Have I mentioned this?  His creativity often spills onto household objects (I have to hide things I don't want superglued with string).  I love his usage of colors and textures and his ability to dream as he works boring mediums into forms of brilliant expression.

Here are his latest creative children birthed from cardboard and spray glue. . .we call them Andy Standy's.

Step back Hallmark.

Doesn't it just make you so excited for the Hlushak Family Business?

Happy Friday, friends!

A-DOOR-able

I know what you'll be doing next weekend. . .hitting up all those neighborhood garage sales looking for the golden (wooden) ticket.

About 2 years ago Andy and I were taking a walk in my Old Colorado City neighborhood and happened upon a miniature yard sale.  The mom, with her wispy red hair coming loose from her bobby pins, darted around her display of coats and furniture pieces.  She was selling things from her home to gather enough gas money to send her son off to college.

There, propped in the center of the lawn, perched against a table, was an old door, weathered with peeling steely hospital green paint.  I was in love.  "How much for the door?"

"Oh, I don't know, 5 bucks?"

"You sure?"  (I mean, when you see a prize, you're willing to pay.)

"Yeah, sure; do you want this typewriter too?"

"Hmm, I'll take the door."

"Well, I throw in the typewriter too."

She must have had some ill relationship with this 1950's looking typewriter.  Perhaps she wrote a love letter to a man who never wrote back.  Maybe she painstakingly typed page after page of her mystery novel only to be rejected by several publishers.  Or maybe it was junk she couldn't get the trashman to take, so I was the lucky recipient.  Anyway, this is about the door, not an old sad typewriter.

While I continued to fall in love, Andy ran back to get my car to stuff the new door inside.

And inside it remained.  Well, outside too, for the past two years.  My prize ignored until one day Andy looked out on our modest apartment porch and said, "How 'bout we paint that door?"  Adventure on.

We darted to Home Depot and scanned paint swatches.  We landed on a fresh and steely purple, with a hue of gray.  (I was never a purple girl-always pink, and then I ordered purple flowers for my wedding-sold.)  We also picked up some sanding sponges and paint brushes (the economy kind-maybe not the best choice for more than one project.)

Andy and I had multiple visions of purpose for this door, but one thing we knew, it was going up on the wall.   Maybe put fun coat hooks on it or picture frames?

Step One

Have your husband prop up the door so you can take a "before picture"

Step 2

Sand down all the chipping pieces. 

Step 3

Gather the shavings and wipe down with a rage to get the historical dirt off.

Step 4

Time to paint!  Another point for arid Colorado-the paint drys so fast!  We just bought a $4 paint sample and it covered the entire front of the door.

Step 5

Hardware time.  Andy put three hooks on the back to hang on the wall.  

And Viola!

You too can create this for about ten bucks. . .

that is, if you can find a lady trying to earn some gas money for a college road trip.  Fingers crossed.

Next I painted some old frames I got at good will-the original project was to hang them from the stage at our  wedding reception-obviously I have a great track record of buying things and not executing projects. 

But the frames still aren't up.  Too much follow through right now. . .I need to relapse on at least part of this project or I just wouldn't feel like myself!

Best wishes to you on all your future garage sale endeavors.  And always carry a five dollar bill around-you never know when you're prize will be sitting on the front lawn of someone's yard.

Somebunny Loves You

I have a best friend.  We live about 1,500 miles apart.  No big deal.

About 12 years ago I saw a girl wrapped in Christmas lights and an 80's green poufy dress.  I was visiting a church youth group for the first time.  We became best friends instantly over night on one of those youth group ski trips.  We were everything that is stereotypical in an official BFF relationship.  We wore matching scarves, we shared clothes, we went on road trips together, we went to Main Street Bagels in Ocala, Fl on "Two for One Bagel Tuesday" and both got two bagels.  We worked at the YMCA as camp counselors together, we went to college together (Go Noles), we even both ended out in Colorado at Eagle Lake Camp three years in a row.  I say we qualify.

The infamous 20 minute bean skit.  ELC 2003

Then one day I ended up in Colorado and Nicki stayed in Florida.  It was ok, because eventually one of us would cave and move out to Colorado.  But I remember that very dark Valentine's Day.  I got the phone call I dreaded.  The one that makes your stomach do an entire Cirque Du Soleil show in a mere 2.6 minutes. 

"Lauren!!  Guess what!"

"What, Nicki?!" (Oh please don't be dating, please don't be dating!)

"Kyle and I are dating!!!" (insert little elated giggles and squeals)

"Oh, coooooool." (drag out cool beacause Cirque Du Soleil has started)

I called that day "Black Friday" and wore black to work, even though our uniform protocol insisted on navy blue.  It was the day my best friend died.

It was written in the robes. . .three years prior to first date.

So much drama right here.

The day Nicki left me in Colorado.

Fast forward-Nicki and I get to spend one more summer together in Branson, Missouri (sans Kyle), and then they get hitched and you know the song, "then comes baby in a baby carriage."

Missouri +Nicki + food - Kyle= Great Summer

For the record, I am delighted that my BFF married Kyle-he's funny, and godly and Nicki really loves him.  They also have managed to produce THE most adorable offspring in the entire universe.  

Enter Emaline.  

The most squirmmy giggly precious little bundle of joy.  She is the answer to many prayers.  She is a gift and I can hardly stand that I've only held her once.

Almost a year ago, E was still cookin'!

The fam.  SO precious.

But today I want to tell baby E (and her mommy and daddy) that Somebunny loves them.  Because I do. 

I am a beginner sewer, and for some reason bunnies are my craft of choice.  There have been several prototypes (the first bunny turned into my pin cushion-yeah, if you're picturing it right now it's a little creepy, I'll admit) but this one was made especially for little squirmy Emaline.

"e" for Emaline

"Emaline, I'm coming home to be your bunny!"

Babies, bunnies, best friends.

Still waiting for Nicki to move out west. . .

until then, more bunnies.

PinteREST: We're not all Martha Stewarts

I'm not sure if it was the vicodin, the howling wind, the sticky sheets, or the bobby pin stuck somewhere in my hair, but I could not sleep last night.  That means my husband could not sleep either.  I enjoy striking up conversations when I can't sleep, and they happen to be right in the middle of my stream of consciousness, not stemming from some malicious plan to ruin or confuse my husband, but just because I have to start somewhere.

"I just don't have a nitch.  I mean, everyone's into this Pinterest thing, and all it does is show me the things I can never replicate if I tried. . .plus, I don't really want to replicate, I want my ideas to be new."

Andy rolls over, and exhales, "Lauren, remember what Picaso said:  Good artist copy, great artist steal."  He rolls over again.

"Andy.  You are being insensitive."

Andy rolls towards me, and doesn't sigh, because he loves me.  "I'm sorry, I think your ideas are awesome, and you are very creative.  Maybe you should start a sketch journal and start cutting out things you find inspiring."

Tears.  "That's what Pinterest is!!!"

I'm a little emotional these days.  But I do often struggle with not having a compelling talent like Bob Ross, or my friends who bake, cook, blog, photograph, rearrange furniture, scrapbook things, dance, make terrariums, find cute shoes that don't hurt their feet; I mean the skills are limitless!

Maybe you're like me.  You long to be crafty.  Your mother-in-law is lending you a sewing machine.  You own various adhesives.  You have a new lime green Kitchen-Aid mixer.  You have the beginnings of an herb garden on your porch (i.e. pots).  There's extreme potential, but the results are, well, lack luster.

Unlike all my facebook friends, Pinterest has not been my undoing. . .I have not wasted 3 hours "pinning" peoples fancy-pants pictures of things I can't create on a virtual board that, for the most part, mock me when I bring out my 50% off JoAnn glue gun.

I think the purpose of Pinterest is to share ideas, express yourself, get creative juices flowing, and hopefully connect you to Etsy.com sites when your replication of that lace cowl neck scarf fails.  But part of me feels like my ideas are being stolen before they are even born.

And then today, like clouds parting on a summer day, I saw a tweet, which linked me to Pinterest (aye), which gave a me a website.  And I clicked on it.  And I loved it.

Here I see the pain of Pinterest playing out in the lives of innocent crafters everywhere.  It made me feel a little less inept, a little less pressure to have the skills necessary to reproduce a pin.

I have chosen two classics, from two categories:  baking and crafting.

After you've spent your daily allotted time on Pinterest, I highly encourage you to visit Craft Fail. 

Ok, ok, I sound bitter.  I appologize.  I actually think it's wonderful that we can find a place of shared inspiration and that I can get ideas for my wedding that already happened.  I do love what people create and I'm thankful for such a Creative God that instills a sense of beauty in us all.  Maybe I'm just a little jealous of all these exceptional ideas.

At any rate, friends, keep creating, keep dreaming, keep pinning, and if you need a little craft-pick-me-up, you know where to go.

Jersey Cowl Neck Scarf

Craft Time!

Yes!  You can make this super simple jersey cowl neck scarf (it's so easy, it's almost embarrassing to post).  

Step 1:  Go to Target with $6 in hand.  If you bring more than that you may be tempted to buy more.  Purchase the $5 Jersey Scarf in the color of your choice.  

Step 2:  Fold scarf in half and pin the two edges together.

Step 3:  Sew along the two edges.  Craft terms are hard for me.

(Step 3 finished.)

Step 4:  Remove the tag.  It's the simple things.

Step 5:  Attach Ruffled Flower (craft coming soon) and package in box for the joy of a loved one (loved ones, this may be coming to a Christmas Tree near you).