To Grandma with Love

I think between the rain and allergies, my sinuses have decided to just burst into a migraine. But migraine aside... I have a sweet Mother's Day story to get you into the spirit! A few weeks ago, one of my younger cousins had her prom and in preparation for the big day a few of us were going over jewelery options. Her dress being green, my grandma offered one of her necklaces to wear. And so it was that we found out about her favorite necklace....

pay no attention to the DMV mail in the background LOL

She learned she never wears the necklace anymore, her fingers cannot handle the hook clasp, but that she used to wear it all of the time. So whilst driving one cousin back to her house my other cousin (I have a LOT of them, get used to seeing "cousin" lol) has the grand idea of fixing up the necklace with a magnetic clasp for Mother's Day. I added that I was pretty sure I had some stones to replace the ones missing in the necklace.

A conspiracy was born.

the oh-so-elaborate tools...

I had EXACTLY the right amount, how telling is that??

Now it just needs a magnetic clasp

Really hope she loves it :)

So what are YOU doing for your mommy-figure in your life?? 

(i still have to figure out something for my mom so ideas are welcome! ha!)

Lampshape Makeover

This lamp has sentimental value to my hubby (his dad made it in high school in his shop class) but as you can see the lamp shade is not doing so hot anymore. The frame is perfectly fine though, so why toss it? Time for a makeover!

So i grabbed:

mod podge
the old books i found at the toss bin
scissors
foam brush

remove the accordion paper stuff on top

leaving the frame and shell

gather pages...

collage glue the pages to the shell

let dry and then do a final coat of glue.
Marvel and receive compliments.

Linking to: 

Shoe Redo #3: fail :(

the originals

the painting, two coats then a clear coat with significant dry times

hand painted the soles since they originally were all tan anyway

fun little detail super glued on

CUTENESS!!

ready for a walk....

and.....not so much. so i did something wrong...must investigate....

Shoe Redo #2

I've never seen this done so let's see what happens! Take some Shoes...

Use a water resistant or water proof collage glue...

and cover the shoes with glue and bits of paper from an
old book of your choice. Let set for 24 hours.

Once shoe is covered, do two more layers of glue, letting them dry
24 hours each time (i know, it's a long time to wait but it's paper and
i figured you couldn't be too water proof here.) THEN stuff shoe with
newspaper, and spray with a clear coat. Why not :)

Once they've dried overnight from that, rock 'em!

Get some compliments....

Feel generally accomplished...

...and maybe even brag a little :)

First Shoe Redo

personally, i LOVED the grosgrain shoe redo and shoe sugar month stuff. if you haven't seen it yet you really ought to because I am severely jealous of her shoe creativity. with spring like...here... pretty much... I am excited to wear something other than boots. A vast majority of the shoes i have are multiple years of age and yet still completely wearable. seeing grosgrain's shoes made me realize i had options other than shop for new shoes. don't get me wrong, i like shoes shopping but lately...i dunno...not lovin any of the shoes out there...at least not the ones in my price range. so i'm giving this shoe make over thing a go, hopefully not too many shoes are sacrificed needlessly in the process. At least if they are I won't feel too bad, they gave me some good years already!

since i have been under the weather (a LOT) my stamina is minimal at best. So i started small. I had these brown mocasins (which you will not see an original picture of, here's why:) which i decided to dye green on a whim. Not entirely on a whim, really, originally i was thinking orange but then when i was dying a dress RIT's kelly green i thought, "Green is so much more spring" and tossed them in. TA DA!

(yeah not amazing, you don't have to clap if you don't want, the shows not over yet) ok, the next thing i did was pick out two flowers i had left over from the wedding centerpieces.

I detached them from their stems and placed glue on the back of them and some on the shoe in the area i wanted to stick them. (that's amazing goop, the water proof craft kind. i've never used it, we'll see how it goes)

I used clothes pins to hold the flowers to the shoe.

Aaaaaand a good sized fairytales book to really get some coverage...

24 hours later, I gave them a try. I have to say, they're pretty cute :)

screw you flu

gone for three weeks.
come home.
get a cold from my hubby.
recover.
get the flu.
wow, really?! i haven't even gotten caught up yet! and it's really hanging in there, although I am mighty glad the achyness went away because that just blew. however, i wish my throat was happier, play rehearsals have started.

I did dye a dress green though. That's about as crafty as I've managed to get. ugh! so lame! but in the mean time, i found this and though i'd share because i really enjoyed it THAT much:  

HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)

enjoy!