8.29.2012

Update! I have officially and 100% moved out of my house. I can't believe I lived there so long and accumulated so much junk over the years. I moved probably 85% of it to my apartment and already I'm starting to comb through and get rid of things. I've made a ton of trips to Goodwill and Value Village to drop stuff off which leads to purchasing things and the cycle just never ends.

I'm trying to be more conscious about what I bring into this new space and make sure that it's utilitarian and will last.

For instance, I bought this table:

I got it for $15 and the chair for $4 because it's a good size, it's made of wood, it has four legs and it was cheap! The top is solid wood which is more than I can say for the other tables I was looking at from Target, Ikea, etc. which were $60 at least and particle board covered in vinyl.


I've been *ahem* obtaining lavender from around town and stuffing vases/chairs with it to freshen up the apartment which has an odd odor I can't stand.



I reused a bathroom rack to put canned items and bulk foods on. 
It fits perfectly in the corner by my fridge and that was better than throwing it away.


All of the racks seen in my cupboard are from the Dollar Store! Incredible! They are cheap, yes, but it lets me store things like this instead of stacked which makes them harder to access. 
It also helps because my dish drying rack is incredibly tiny and it's nice to put plates back in the cupboard.


More of my new apartment to come. I keep stuffing it with things and then trying to re-organize them to make them disappear from sight but that has slowed down as I have filled underneath my bed and all of my totes and whatnot in the living room. I'm going to end up like Carrie on Sex and the City and have sweaters in my stove. Well maybe not, but I will have Halloween decorations in the cabinet above my fridge.

8.21.2012

Just a quick update before I run away again.

I finally got internet in my apartment (which took a grand total of 27 minutes to call and find out I just had to physically move my modem to my apartment...) which hopefully will mean more blogging, yay!

Thanks to everyone who apparently reads this, I see my "views" count tick upwards but I never hear from anyone so I just continue writing and hope that someday someone will comment or mention liking something.

It's been two weeks since I got the keys to my very own apartment and these 14 days have been filled with ups and downs. I can definitely say moving is harder than I imagined and definitely more stressful than I would like to admit. I would label myself as an independent young woman and it was horribly difficult to ask for help from people but I did and I was glad that I finally caved and stared bribing people to help me. With the help of my friends about 98% of my stuff is here and the rest is probably going to be donated to Goodwill or thrown away. I think that moving has been great for me, a hoarder, to go through all of my things and decide whether or not it was worth moving my collection of soggy sidewalk chalk or not. I did keep two giant t.v.s, a lot of cookery that I probably will never use and some other knick-knacks but I figure someday they will come in handy. I'm also working very hard to figure out storage in this new abode; my old house had basically unlimited storage between closets, cubbies and a giant shed so having one closet (UGH) and a deck makes things difficult.

I will have more photos to post as I continue to organize and decorate. I moved my sewing machine, I just need something to put it on to get started on some of my drape projects and fix my bathroom curtain. In the meantime I'm scouring Goodwill and Value Village to find a dining room table and chairs and a couch. Now, when I find that couch let's hope it shrinks or can fold or deflate to fit into the back of my car otherwise I'm in real trouble.

8.14.2012

Moving is almost complete. Today I did this:

8.09.2012

I got my keys! The fun has begun.

I picked them up earlier this week and started the moving process. Since I work full-time (yay!) I don't have a lot of time during the week to move things. Therefore this weekend is going to be moving pandemonium.

The apartment is not all I want it to be, in my haste to look at this unit I neglected to notice that unlike the downstairs unit it only has one closet instead of two. I'm pissed, I have waaaay too much stuff to fit into one closet. Now I have to get uber creative in order to maximize what little storage I do have and perhaps create some more areas. I have thought about purchasing some wire or plastic shelving to put into the corner of the living/dining area but it would just be so ugly and out in the open. I'm hoping that by utilizing bins and shelves in the one closet I can avoid exposing all my junk.

Being an adult is hard, and being an adult with two places of residence and roommates and bills and Netflix is even harder. I'm trying not to stress out about getting everything moved since I have until August 30th to be completely out of my house. That day will creep up on me, that I am sure of.

For now I am budgeting (more on that in a minute) and trying to figure out how to move everything in my car without going insane.

8.05.2012

Tutorial on sea canvases!

I have finished my canvases and now I have a very simple tutorial on how to do them:


Supplies needed:
- Brushes
- Canvases, I got mine in packs of two on sale at a craft store
- Paint (I used latex exterior paint) either in one color or multiple 
depending on what you'd like the finished product to look like
- Pencils & erasers
- Bucket with water for brush washing
- Rag/paper towel to clean up drips
- Cardboard/drop cloth to work on

Directions
  • Figure out what you want to silhouette, I chose to do the background in color but you could do it the opposite way
  • Find images online to use for the figures
  • Either a.) freehand the outline LIGHTLY in pencil from the image or b.) print the image, cut it out and trace it LIGHTLY onto the canvas
  • At this stage it should look something like this:
This is Ed, the lobster.
  • Now just paint around the outline, carefully
  • Apply coats as needed, I used exterior latex paint so it only took two coats, less intense paint might need more.
  • Work quickly and smoothly to ensure nice crispy lines - clean off brush frequently 
  • Be sure to let coats dry before applying more
Tad-ah! My finished products:

 Ed!
 Tabitha, the octopus
 Lilly, who is hard to see but is a beautiful jellyfish.
Finally, Earl, the seapony. 

The only thing I would have done differently is using a dark drawing pencil which made keeping track of the lines easy but I couldn't erase the whole outline from Earl or Lilly which is not super noticeable but it annoys me.

Good luck! Send me your results!
DIY Part Two

Today was a beautiful hot day here which is extremely rare. I spent most of the day outside under my porch painting and crafting. Here are some pictures of what I did and I will update with more once everything dries/I finish everything up.

Here are some embroidery hoops I bought that I put pictures from books in. 
I buy  random books with nice scenery at thrift stores for cheap and 
then do things like this with them.



The final shots of my stained crates. 
They await to be assembled and placed in my new apartment.



My workspace of sorts. 
That giant piece of cardboard is so handy.


The hoops that need something in them still.


Hard to see but that's the outline of a lobster I painted. 



More photos to come of all the cool paintings I did yesterday!