Good-Bye Straps, Hello Savings

The other day I just happened to be in Old Navy. What? I can't resist their clearance section. My favorite part is the damaged section. Sometimes an item is stained, ripped or otherwise ruined. Other times the so-called "damage" is a broken strap or a small shirt tagged as a medium. I can live with "damage" like that!

My most recent find was a sundress with a broken strap that had been condemned as damaged. So sad, right?


You won't find it so sad when you see this:


It's non-damaged sisters had just arrived on the sales floor and were priced at $40. It's not an unreasonable price, but it's a bit much for little old jobless me. The $20 version was much more my speed. I could have easily reattached the broken strap - they were only tacked on - but I decided to remove both straps since that seemed faster and easier.


After just a few minutes with my seam ripper, I had myself a half-price strapless sundress. This probably won't surprise anyone, but I am LOVING the gray and wine floral-but-not-too-feminine print.


Do you guys love to shop in the reject section? I can't be the only one.

Fabric + Cause For An Intervention

I just bought a yard of this fabric. I can't tell you what it's for yet, but isn't it gorgeous?


I know, I need to stop it with the camera apps, but everything looks so much cooler when it's pretending to be a polaroid!.

Combat Hospital

Have you guys been watching Combat Hospital? It starts out with a trauma surgeon, on her way to Afghanistan, who thinks she might be pregnant. Who doesn't love a good pregnancy scare? Also, it's like Grey's Anatomy, but with men in uniform. It's my new summer show.


Also also, the head of the Trauma Unit is played by an actor whose face looks like Christopher Meloni and Robert De Niro smooshed their faces together and made a third face.


Sorry. I do this obnoxious thing where, every time I watch tv or a movie, I always lean over to the person next to me and say stuff like "Hey, that's the guy from that movie;" "She played so-and-so's mother on that tv show;" "He really looks like that guy. You know, the one from the commercial." I'm like a human IMDB and I can't turn it off. I don't know why anyone is still friends with me. Really, I don't. And apparently I'm so obnoxious I even do it while blogging. Sheesh.

Free Art Supplies In The Mail

You're probably tired of hearing about me making stuff out of trash, but guess what? I did it again. I guess it's just what happens when you're both bored and broke. Since you guys have to read what I post, or at least I don't know whether you're reading or not,* you're just going to have to deal with it.
*Google analytics, you say? I can't figure out how that works. That's voodoo magic.

Back to the content...

Tools:1- cutting mat
2- metal straight edge
3- paper trimmer
4- scissors
5- circle punch
6- corner rounder
7- pencil
8- x-acto knife
9- glue stick

Materials:

1- 2 cheapo frames from the dollar store
2- gray card stock
3- check envelope paper

Wait, what? Check envelope paper? Allow me to explain. Remember how when you mail someone a check - you know those paper things that aren't money, but you can still use to buy stuff - and you put it in a special envelope that obscures the account numbers. The next time you come across one, pay attention, the patterns can be pretty interesting.


See? I told you it's cool. I loved this DIY by Melancholy Smile, and as soon as I decided to take inspiration from it copy it I started collecting bank envelopes. Why buy patterned paper when you get it free in the mail? This would also be a great way to get some extra mileage out of newspapers, magazines and wrapping paper.

True to my nature I diagrammed everything in AutoCAD to commit to a layout before I put blade to paper.

nerd

The one with the circles was super simple to make: choose paper, cut circles with a circle punch. DONE.


Because I can't help but pick favorites, here's a few of the patterns I like the best.

don't tell the others, but you're my favorites

The one with the squares was a tad more complicated. First I cut out 2" squares with my paper trimmer...


... then I finished each square with my corner rounder...


... and then I cut each square diagonally in half. I'm not sure why I decided to cut them in half, it just felt like the fun thing to do. For that matter, I don't really know why I do half the things I do.


My next task was to prep my card stock. I cut it down to 8 x 10 (to fit the frames) then lightly penciled in a grid to help me place my paper shapes. Luckily for me, the pencil came right off with an eraser when I was finished with it. But I made sure to draw it nice an neat in case I ended up being stuck with it.


I chose to use a glue stick because I wanted a glue that wouldn't wrinkle the paper. If I didn't put the piece behind glass I would want a stronger hold, but since the glass is there I didn't worry about it.


Aren't they pretty all framed up?


I'm thinking I'll put them on the mantle, which used to look like this:


but is now starting to look like this:


That big empty frame is the start of yet another DIY project that I've had in the back of my mind for a while. I have big plans, people. I'm well aware my mantle looks sligtly ugly right now. Everything will reveal itself in due time.

Fedora

This hat is my best friend this summer. It keeps the sun off my face and hides my hair when the humidity takes over.

That is all.

Art You Can Vacuum - Part 3

Now it's time for Part 3, which is mostly many gratuitous photos of my latest art project.

I inserted the cylinders into my boards and secured them with some plain old Elmer's glue.


After the glue was dry I added a self-nailing picture hanger to each board, which cost me $3 for a pack of 4. I used picture hooks, which I already owned, on the wall to hang the boards.

Aren't they marvelous?

This is the gratuitous photos segment I warned you about.

I think the texture of the carpet adds an interesting element to wall art. Definitely not something you see everyday.

Here they are at night, illuminated by lamp light. Usually the hubby's reaction to my DIY endeavors is "Eh, it's nice" but this he really likes. He even said "It looks really cool, with the shadows and stuff." Coming from him, that's a HUGE compliment.

as usual, cat provided for scale

What do you think?

Everything Is Better In Miniature*

*That's NOT what she said.

Sometimes when I go shopping or run errands without the baby I just zone out for a bit, enjoying my solo time, and wander around looking at things I don't need. On one such occasion of wandering I spotted these mini-cans of spray paint at Michael's.


Is that brilliant or what? I often need only a little bit of paint for a craft project and the paint world has finally started to catch up with me. The color selection isn't amazing - around 9 shades, I think - but they have black and white, which are my normal go-to spray paint tones. Color me happy.

Also, I love that they're called Short Cuts. I love a good pun.