Where o where does time go?

I have not written on here for the past year lately for a couple of reasons. #1) I started a new job at the end of January of 2012 and am lazy when I get home, NOT a good reason. #2) The real reason, I forgot my password to login...silly I know. Anyhow I have this all figured out now!!! I am hoping to get back on track and onto some new projects and finish up some current ones; that way I will have something to blog about other than being dumb and forgetting my password...

Some current projects include: wood art piece for the wall (as seen on pinterest), organizing the bedroom and of course the studio, since I cannot seem to keep either of those spaces tidy much less organized for longer than 48 hours. Next are ROMAN BLINDS for my lovely neighbor @ShanntyTown, you can follow her on twitter and instagram where you can see the first round of BLINDS! I will be making her another set (by Valentine's day) identical to these for her yoga room and other versions of, for the remainder of her humble home!!! Not so busy, so you know I picked up a side job today, pimping out my graphics skills freelancing for a design company on a TBD project!

http://www.housetweaking.com/2011/01/12/up/

Other endeavors I have on the go include, Annual Charity Fashion Show with Heels and HeART where proceeds will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada and through participating for Team in Training. Training and running in my 4th marathon. On top of that I want to challenge myself to a set of 6 pack abs...so I will continue my bootcamp sessions with Lemieux Training once he returns after February 10th, while starting up the 300 ultimate ab challenge (everyday for 30 days) I will post a pic of me before and after, how ever long it takes to get there! I have heard that you need to adapt your diet if you want to see results, I don't have a horrible diet, but we will save that for the AB-by blog posts I will be putting up.

It has been snowing in and around Montreal too, go figure, so I have also been trying to take advantage of the slopes and going snowboarding any free night I can manage when the temperature has been above -10! My goal so far has been to make it to the bottom without falling, so far so good, next up get some speed, after that maybe I will venture through the trees! Thankfully I bought a wonderful new helmet this year! 

http://www.skibromont.com/

In addition, I nearly forgot to mention, I am meeting a language exchange partner tomorrow! We will be trading his fabulous Spanish for my (let's go with) intermediate French speaking skills! 1 hour a week, as long as our schedules can match! By the time I run the marathon I will be a 6 pack owning, Spanish speaking, fundraising, blind sewing, snowboarding, running mess! It will be TOTALLY worth it!!

I was just complaining that my life was a little dull not more than 2 hours ago...not that all this stuff is in any way comparable to the exciting lives I was comparing myself too, but at least I won't be too bored to think and dwell on it! Time to get started! Hahaha...funny it's 11:50pm I'm going to curl up with Fifty Shade Darker my book and fall asleep! Tomorrow we I start the ab challenge! Anyone with me?

Projects

Today I am making a list of all the home projects I want to get done...most are for decorative purposes, others are just to turn what we have into nicer versions of themselves...so here is the list of what is to come:

1)  Dog beds, right now we have a piece of foam wrapped in an old comforter for the dogs to sleep on...so yes we would like nicer versions of these, since that is the reason we bought the foam in the first place. I think I will make a pattern for those today.

2) Bedroom wall art. I already have an idea for what will go on the wall over the bed, I just need to make it happen. This will (hopefully) be another easy peezy DIY!

3) Covering my drawers. Right now I have one of those plastic drawers that you can get from Canadian Tire in our room, that is where I keep my pants and such, but let me honest plastic drawers aren't exactly chic like my newly painted bedroom. So stay tuned to see how I manage to turn these into something glamorous!

4) Kitchen wall art. Inspired by Swakes (she commented on a few of my posts) this will no doubt take a little longer, but I think you will all love the DIY approach to this one. 

5) Since we rent, we can't exactly change the fact that our doors are wood. I will devise a creative way to make this happen in the studio, since I think the closet doors are a bit too much on the space.

6) Photo display. The boyfriend is really into taking photos and such, and we happen to have this left piece of board (I think it was from the last tenants bed frame). There were 3, one has been transformed into my studio desk, that I painted white. Another is the office desk, but still needs a coat of paint, likely the same colour as the bricks in this room. The third will be our photo display! I need a bit of money before I make this one happen the way I want...hence why it is at the end of the list!

I am sure I will be coming up with many more projects, DIYs, and other ideas! This is just the list so far! What should I start with?

Just add paint and fabric!

Revamping furniture has become a big thing around our place, seeing as how our budget is ultra tight...


This was the chair I had been using for the past 3 years as a stool to paint walls when my arm length just wouldn't suffice. It's covered in paint drips and the seat is just old and yucky looking, but now that we have agreed to NOT change apartments for a while, I figured I'd give this old chair a new look. I won't be painting anytime soon; all my rooms have received their fresh coats/looks!

Check it out: OLD CHAIR

 Removed the seat, and gave it a fresh coat of white paint...leftover from the walls. 

Used a staple gun and some fabric I had laying around to recover the seat.

And here it is! New looking chair that matches both the kitchen and the studio, so I won't feel as broke when I have guests for dinner. Now my chair looks like it belongs!

P.S: Yes it is an old tee shirt that I am using to keep the paint from dripping on the floor...at least I hope it's an old tee shirt...maybe don't tell the boyfriend!

Easy Motivational Art

DIY easy peezy lemon squeezy...

First step is to choose your motivational word art!

I chose:

LIVE what you LOVE

It really fits the vibe in our place, the boy and I are all about working doing what you love, we figure money will follow...

I used illustrator to make the layout and choose colours:

I then printed my images and cut them to size:

Put them in frames and voilà!

Now to go out and buy the little hooks to hang them on the wall. These are for the bathroom, I figured the best place for motivation; we end up in there every morning!

And voilà, hanging on our yellow wall!

Scarves, scarves and scarves...

If you own a zillion and one scarves like me, organizing them, and knowing what you have can be difficult. Here is a quick idea that my boyfriend came up with. Also, it adds colour to our bedroom...which I really appreciate. There are a ton of scarves on mine, but you could organize yours however you like! It's simple really!

This was made using a left over bar from an armoir that we had and some embroidery thread that I happen to have laying around. I decided the length I needed and looped it a few times for strength, tied each end in a knot, and threaded it through the bar. The loops of the thread are attached to 2 screws in the wall add a bunch of  scarves and voila! If you organized it better, you could have it flow by colour, or length. I prefer the over abundance look and have just thrown them on there! Just a quick solution to the endless searching through my closet every day, hoping to find the one I want to wear!

Jewelry wall art

Jewelry, what a silly word, but I'm crazy about the stuff! So when I came home one day and the boyfriend had all mine on display I was crazy about that and even more crazy about him! Check out below the creative way the boy cleaned up my piles of jewelry:

It's actually an old vintage screen from a window. He found it in our last apartments storage unit, and cleaned it for me. he added a few nail along the center piece to hang my necklaces, and attached a cord to the back so it could hang like art on the wall. I love it, and it's really a great way to keep all my earrings and necklaces organized and easy to find! It would be an easy DIY as you could build the frame, or use the frame from a canvas, and then attach the screen with a staple gun. (Mesh screen is available at local hardware stores.) 

Just add paint...

I really love the way a little paint can transform something you thought was garbage into a new piece you will actually use. Check out our little table that we saved from the trash.

BEFORE:

It took a bit of sanding to remove all the paint that was stripping away and you can see the way the weather has warped the top. We don't mind, the table is just to have an added end table in our living room, so our table fogger isn't hanging out on the ground!

AFTER:

And yes this is the same yellow paint that I have now used in my studio, kitchen and bathroom. I am getting my $8 worth from this second hand paint!