Scribbles and Scrambles ~ My Dollar Cabinet Makeover

 I've had this broken three drawer cabinet around for about two years now. It was a solid built ugly little thing that cost a whole buck. So I grabbed it and then let it sit in one of our ugly rooms. We have three of those ugly rooms, little works in progress that have become catch alls for crapola. I decided I needed to do something with this cabinet, though, now that we have a few toys and games and kid odds and ends around, drawers and storage are great. And a bamboo television tray is not the most attractive side table. 

So I pulled out the broken drawer to use as a shelf for books and magazines and painted it up. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Full Holiday Weekend

I haven't had such a fun weekend in a long time. I'm tired, and a little shell-shocked by temperature extremes, but, hey, that's not uncommon around these parts. 

Wednesday night Rob put in a new floor in the mud room/aka puppy room. They have a room. :  ) With a nice big back door entrance and lots of easily swept and/wiped up flooring. 

The girls have been alone in their room a few hours at a time with just a couple barricades and plenty of room to roam. So far they are respecting "the crib." This move opened up more room in the living room where the kennel has been resting since May. So we rearranged the living room furniture a little bit and I finished up a functional project I've been working on. 

Thursday was a wonderfully laid back day. We had a simple brunch with & and her little ones and a couple of friends. Thanksgiving was the 5 month anniversary of the little ones moving in with & and it was a cherry on the top of the sundae. The kids have bloomed under her mothering and we all love them. They spent the day and we pulled out all the Christmas items and we decorated and loaded up the Christmas tree. I tipped it over and broke two ornaments. But a good time was had by all. And my house feels festive. & and I cooked all the goodies we were going to be eating later that night. 

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my folks house. Another lovely get together. And of course the food was pretty amazing. & and I made several vegan options (our main dish was mushroom seitan loaf that was perfect but which I will add maybe a bit more garlic to next time I make it.)  and my new sister-in-law and brother made a delish pumpkin cheesecake.  Super delish. 

Friday night found me at &'s helping them decorate their place. The kids had so much fun. The 5 and 3 year olds especially got into decorating little Christmas trees for their rooms. So cute. Pure excitement. 

Saturday night we headed over again to decorate gingerbread houses with Toad Boy and the Mrs. One more Christmas thing on Sunday night at church rounded out the whole kid centric weekend. But. In exchange for all the work, I got lots of hugs and kisses, and a raging cold. Ha. Ha. I'm good with that. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ I'm Sure You Want to See This...

 Yeah, or not. These were part of my in-my-pajamas until 4:00 P.M. Saturday frenzy of cooking, cleaning, purging. I needed to update my chalk art signs for the season. Yeah. Here's a peek into my crazy. The whole house around these signs is a huge mess because I'm pre-organizing so I can clean properly. Recycle bins here, bags for charity there, puppy chewings everywhere. But I took out time to play with chalk. When it's put back together, my house is going to look great... for 5 minutes. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Dusty Filter

 Instagram is great. Where you snap pics and then change them up and make them all arty with filter fun. 

However, I did this series the old fashioned way. Sunny afternoon. Curious pups and a dusty black Nissan with a lovely reflective surface. And a Smart Phone. Just a peek into the fun I have during frequent bathroom breaks. (Theirs, not mine. Just in case you were confused. ) 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ My Next Repurposed Project

 I shared that I was on a crafting mission and have repurposed some items that have been waiting for a new life.  I had one more. 

I didn't take a picture of the item in it's circa 1989 glory but wait for the description. 

Ready? Remember the sunflower craze? And the checkerboards with the decorative accents painted around the border? This tree board used to be a sunflower bouquet topped checkerboard. I painted the whole thing over and tried to come up with a creative idea to utilize the shape. A tree. Bingo. And a tree with birds even more BINGO! 

This was actually pretty easy to do. And it's going to look terrific on my wall. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Some Success with Crafting and Repurposing

The weekend included some crafting time. With Michelle and Ada here with Ada under-the-weather (uhhh, not so much, but she did have stitches so she was restrained or running free with puppies restrained...so not so much down time as we expected...but I digress) Michelle and I planned some crafting. 

She is redoing her downstair living area after a forced remodel due to lots of rain and a sump pump issue. UGH. But that's her post. She made some pretty cool things. 

My focus was making gifts, using up some items I purchased to repurpose or repaint, and finishing up a couple of things that had been bugging me. 

My first project was to repaint my folks farmhouse window yard decor.  This time I did something a little different, very colorful and super cool. (I think) I have some varnish to add and Rob needs to silicone the glass into place so pictures later. 

Secondly, I wanted to make a couple gifts. I found out that & says "I love you to the moon and back and a million times around" to her kids. And I found out the girls need a few more pieces of decor in their room. Blue and silver and yellow and blue were the color needs. So. I made a box to hold jewelry and hair pretties that says "She leaves a little sparkle everywhere she goes." And two little metal wall pockets that say "I love you to the Blue Moon and back and a million times around" She'll stuff them with silver star garland. 

And then I had a brain storm. My brother's wedding is coming up real soon. He and my future sister-in-law have a special connection to the whole blue moon thing. The wedding will be casual and quirky. So I couldn't resist the sign and the box with their initials and a big blue moon theme. 

For me? I'm not done yet. I have a few more projects, but the one I finished is perfect in my book. And repurposing. Yay. 

I have a spot on my picture wall that is too high for pictures and I wanted the perfect square item to put in it. I found a cabinet door at a thrift store and intended to paint it. I also had some words...live, laugh, love that were boring, blah, brown metal. 

I painted the board, put some paint on the edge of the words and wired it all together when it was dry. 

I love it. So me. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ You Know It...

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Painting Party Tutorial ~ Day 2

We were at Step 4: The stems and leaves. Finish your leaves, leaving half of each leaf blank. 

Step 5: Yellow centers, aka blobs. Use the same technique you did for the small flowers. Mix up the bump outs on the yellow blob to make the flower more interesting. And black rings. Ditto. Don't fill in the black ring because the blue will be going there. 

Step 6: Outline the flowers, leaves and buds with a thin brush dipped in black paint.  (Or use a Sharpie)

Step 7: Blue. Fill each black ring with a blue blob. And then pick which leaves or portion of leaf you want to paint blue and fill it in, or highlight it over the green that is already in place. 

Step 8: Add yellow highlights to the leaves and buds. 

Uniquely same art. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Painting Party Tutorial ~ Part 1

& found a poster and liked it's looks. I liked that it looked easy to duplicate.

Blank Canvas. Ha. Ha. We used 8 x 10s and 11 x 14's.
Step 1) Dry brush/stipple yellow (or color of choice) onto the canvas. Or paint the whole background whatever color you want, or plaid, or stripes....go crazy. I didn't do this step with my example, I did it after I got done with the painting and decided the pre would be better and cut down on any smearing.

Step 2: Decide how many big and medium flowers and how many buds you want on your picture. I went with  3 buds,  2 small and 1 large flower. Simply paint an amoeba like blob with 4 rounded bump outs. 

Continue with the small flowers. The buds can be made by placing your brush perpendicular to the canvas and spinning in a tight circle.  

Step 3: Stems. With a tiny tipped brush or green sharpie, draw stems. Start at the base of each flower and bud and pull the stems off the canvas, intersecting where you want. Draw them as thin or thick as you want.  

Step 4: Begin adding leaves. Add them close enough to the flowers that they look natural, and connected to a stem...if you need to add a stem, do so. Add leaves onto white spaces. Fill in half of each leaf with solid green. Leave the other half blank. Leaves can be shaped like and eye or squished oval or rain or tear drop. 

More, tomorrow.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ In The Eye of the Beholder

The painting example....

& and her friends had a fun night at a painting class a few weeks ago. The class is designed for friends to chillax and toss back a few glasses of wine (hmmm, seems like an interesting possible bad idea, but whateves) while a professional teaches the group, one step at a time, to paint. 

The four participants had both similar and radically different results and it was pretty cool to see the inner artist come out of each of their paintings. So, somehow, & volunteered me to teach a homemade version of this class at a friend's birthday party. Apparently, & likes how I paint flowers. No pressure. 

So we went to Hobby Lobby and took some pictures of flowers and pictures of pictures of flowers. And then she picked the one she liked the most. Fortunately, it was one I thought I could "teach". I changed/modified it on one of the canvases we bought. AND, as instructed, (did I mention I didn't go to the class with her and that I'm not exactly trained in the arts?) took stages pictures and wrote out the instructions. (I'll actually do a tutorial soon.) 

The party grew. From possibly 6 people I did know to 11, half of which I didn't. The first question after people started nibbling on the vodka soaked Swedish Fish (apparently, vodka soaked gummy bears are all the rage, but gummy bears are not vegan. However, Swedish Fish are...I tried one. Since I don't care for the lovely after burn of alcohol and hate Swedish Fish, one was enough....more than enough!) ...I digress...was "So are you an artist?" Gulp. Fortunately, my gig was volunteer and they were just covering materials. 

So, stay tuned. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Rosy Nosed ~ A Modern Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a middle-aged woman named Rosy Nosed.

As a young maiden Rosy Nosed understood that she had been born into a land of plenty, with resources and raw materials all around her, some at her very fingertips.

Rosy Nosed felt an insatiable curiosity about life and had deep down in her soul the desire to change the world. Even the very good land of plenty needed some tweaking.

Armed with her curiosity, her desire to be a world changer, and an ever growing list of lessons learned and skills accomplished, she set out on a journey to find her story.

Early on in life, Rosy Nosed met a very wise guide who offered to come along. She accepted His terms, with a few unique edits, and would consult Him now and again. However, she would use earplugs if she wanted to veer a direction He wasn't keen on.

And this went on, this journey of discovery. It took Rosy Nosed through education, periods of creativity, passionate pursuits, and into sacrifice as she married her handsome prince and brought children into the world. These paths took Rosy Nosed through some very dark, haunted forests, as well. Her wise guide proved to be Her Savior many times during those dismal, dank, days. Those struggles in the gloom, where she battled inky black shadows, things that bumped and gnashed, groping fingers of trees... yes... those struggles brought Rosy Nosed to a few new understandings, and introduced her to a bravery she never knew she owned.

With a renewed awareness of her need to listen to her Guide and let Him show her the paths to step on, and that her bravery was a gift, she picked up the pace and became very aware that this journey didn't lead to her life, but that it was her life. And when she looked behind she could see places she'd been, and could see evidence that by trodding and trying and struggling and moving forward, that she had made a difference in the land. Not the whole land, not every citizen. But where she had been, she had left a mark.

The middle-aged Rosy Nosed smiles at these thoughts. She knows her journey has really just begun, today is, after all the present...the future is not promised and the past is used up, but the present is now and is indeed, a gift. Today, she decides that where she will walk will become a better place because she will pass through. With a hum and a smile, she moves forward, to change the world.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Craziness

My weekend was jam-packed. 

I babysat a three-year- old who put me through an action packed hour plus time warp like only a creative three-year-old-can. Let's just say I have never been chased by a curler wielding child. It was apparently a "gun" and I was running because he kept chanting, "Run, Aunt Kelly! Run!" while shooting me. Running just seemed like the smart thing to do. 

Vegan cheese loaf and other goodies followed at a Christmas Vegan social. 


Classy music on Saturday night. 

Followed by a crazy-fun play on Sunday afternoon. 

Oy. Good times. 

Hope you all had a great weekend. Not even going to think about the number of shopping days and/or crafting days before Christmas. Just sayin.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Project .... finally done

So I started a project two weekends ago. Or was it three? And I've had craft paraphernalia hanging out in all the nooks and crannies of my life for that long. The fact that most of my projects were big made for all the more fun and games, and the patient sighs from the husband. 

I got several pieces of furniture from a friend's mom a few years ago. Neat pieces, with potential and made like they used to make them back in the day. Quality and all that. But they were ugly. No way around it. One piece has actually lived in the shed for a long time. I just found it again. Yay. Hoarding has never paid off so well.

A friend introduced me to MacKenzie - Childs and mentioned that one of my ugly pieces definitely had potential for a makeover. And then there is the whole Pinterest suggestion of decoupaging fabric to wood pieces. 

So I bought clearance knobs at Hobby Lobby, crazy paint colors that incorporate my kitchen personality, and fabric.

I cut out the fabric and left a little extra. Once the glue/decoupage dried I used an exacto knife to slice off the excess. I put on two coats of decoupage and let it dry very well and covered it with a matte paint-on varnish. When and if I change my mind down the road I think I can just rip it right off, but it will stay put til I decide to go there.

The paint and knobs finished the pieces off. The wall cabinet is a flaky mess but I love the tri-color chipped feel. So I brushed the chips off and covered the whole thing in the matte varnish. I still have the looks without the flaking lead (probably) paint chips in the house. 

I mentioned craft supplies hanging everywhere...well...the project was finished about three hours before my family came over for dinner. Win. Win. Win. 

The chalkboard is a cruddy, falling apart table that should have been thrown away. My husband totally shook his head in wonder at my idea. I could almost see the thought bubble. "Why?! WHY?!?" forming over his head. I sanded the table top down, put on two coats of painted-on chalkboard paint. Let it cure, painted big poppies on it, then seasoned the board with chalk and while doing so discovered I loved the chalk dimension on the poppies. Rob sawed the legs off and we hung it. The printing is atrocious and I forgot to redo it before the party. But, hey. It is what it is.