All those containers from the thrift store are being put to good use on my balcony. As flower pots. I planted directly in them (no holes were drilled for drainage so I can re-purpose them later).
The flowers seem to be fine and actually thriving. I’m surprised really. I thought they’d be dead by now.
I needed another container, so back to the thrift store I went. And found this.
It’s quite red. As in Xmas red. But it has potential.
So I busted out the yellow spray paint.
The first coat looks not so good.
It’s getting better…
This was the second coat. It’s starting to look a tiny bit better
And after several more coats (and drying overnight)…
Several coats later and after drying overnight it looks great.
Such an improvement! I will say that it’s not perfect. But, I like the burst of color. It adds a nice pop to our balcony.
Next up, what I did with all this stuff (although I’m pretty sure you can guess).
Sometimes with the thrift store it’s hit or miss. This time it was a hit. Here’s what I got.
Cork board for $2.60.
Ceramic bowl for $2.60.
Ceramic mixing bowl with handle for $2.60.
Two metal containers. The smaller one was $2.60, the larger one was $4.60.
All together for a grand total of $15.00
$15.00 for two colorful ceramic bowls, two metal containers and a cork board. I have plans for these. Stay tuned for an update post later this week.
This year has brought a couple changes to my life. After 9 years together, Mr. EG and I were married in May.
Yes, I wore a red dress.
Another change? Well, after 7 years of being car-less, we’ve bought a 2007 Prius.
Mr. EG and our “new” car. (Or, “Why are you making me be in this photo?”)
I was told by a co-worker that I had to take one of these photos. Apparently it’s a “thing” to have a photo where the owner is jumping (from happiness?) with their Prius.
This change has probably been the bigger of the two. I mean, we can actually buy more food than we can carry on the bus or in a backpack (or in a bag over my shoulder while riding my bike). I can actually be home for dinner with Mr. EG (3pm to midnight is a weird shift to work). We can take mini road trips along the coast! Or go camping in one of the many parks out here! The only drawback (besides now having a car payment each month) is that I haven’t ridden my bike since buying the car. And I think that’s why my knees are now sore. So bike riding will be thought of as cross training for this race that we signed up for in September. Should be fun. And we now have a way to get there.
I had an extra wine cork or two floating around and saw a tutorial somewhere around in the blogverse about making them into stamps. It’s pretty easy to do and doesn’t take too long to make. A marker, x-acto knife, wine/beer cork, and cutting surface are the only supplies you’ll need to make the stamps. (Of course, some sort of pigment and surface to stamp on are also needed!)
Draw your design. Simple designs are easiest. I made a star and a heart.
Cut away the extra material. Either inside or outside the lines. (Yes, do be careful with the sharp knife, and keep your fingers away from the edge that you’re cutting. It’s easy for the knife to slip and cut your fingers instead of cork).
cork cut from the outside of the heart
I tried to make sure that enough cork was cut away for good definition.
side view...
Stamp away! I tried some calligraphy ink, which worked ok if I used a paintbrush to apply it to the stamp. Acrylic paint was faster and provided more intensity. I just used what I had lying around (as I’m trying to use up some of the stuff I’ve had for a long time). Have fun trying out whatever you have on hand.
heart stamp with ink (applied to stamp with paintbrush)
heart stamp with acrylic paint
star stamp with acrylic paint
As you can see, the star stamp was made by removing the cork from inside the lines, which was a bit trickier. This left the outside as the original circle shape. Of the two, this one is my favorite. 
The place that I currently works allows us to listen to personal music players whenever we want. When my ear buds died I found a pair of bright pink replacement ones. I decided that since they were already an attention grabbing color I’d make them stand out even more.
ear bud cozy
This ear bud cord cozy was quite simple to make. Some fun fur along with a strand of #10 crochet thread single crocheted around the cord. At the Y junction split into two and continue crocheting however far up you want.
Split into seperate strands at the Y junction.
A simple weave in of the ends and you’re done. Simple, easy, and gets lots of comments. Most people think it’s cool (at least that’s what they say to my face). I originally made it with the thought to use up the fun fur in my stash (it’s not that much stash but it’s hard coming up with projects to use it in so it’s been hanging out in there a long time).
It’s actually proven to be kinda useful as it cuts down on eliminates the weird cord rubbing against clothing sound these things tend to produce. Also it’s softly fuzzy against my skin (I can’t be the only one who runs the cord down the shirt to the ipod in the pocket, those cords can be really long, and it just needs to be out of the way).
Anyway, like I said, it’s simple, easy use of the horrible horrible fun fur.
I returned home from work about 30 minutes ago to see a package on my coffee table. A birthday gift from my mom. This:
A Gift! Two Gifts!
So what are they? The gifts are a kit from photojojo.com (really cool stuff, check them out!) and are a pinhole camera kit and sunprint kit (aka cyanotype for the photographic name). I haven’t done either of these processes since May of 2003. I’m so excited to get these and can’t wait until I have the time and energy to try these out. I’m actually sitting here rubbing my hands together with glee with a big smile on my face.
Sadly, It might be a few weeks until I can give them proper use. It’s 4:30 am here in Santa Cruz as I write this and I haven’t gone to bed yet. I’m currently working at a retail/service related company and we’re super swamped with xmas business. Until after the holidays I’ll be working, working, working (getting those overtime hours in hence the late night). So for now it’s work, sleep, eat, run 3x week, repeat. Work will slow down soon enough.
Anyhow… Mom, I love the gift, thanks!
Off to bed.
PS. Birthday yes? My thirtieth! I think I’m one of the few women who are actually glad to be getting out of their twenties.
Me on my 30th Bday. Taken by Mr. EG.
I love Meg at A Practical Wedding. She’s smart, funny, and gives great advice. Like this:
You can’t succeed without being willing to fail with full force. You can’t figure out how far you can go, until you push yourself so far that you risk completely falling on your face. And seriously? This never stops sucking, don’t kid yourself.
I love this quote so much that it’s now on my desk.
My desk.On the dry erase board in sparpie.
Thanks Meg for letting us know how it’s done.
Now go buy her new book. I pre-ordered two and can’t wait to get my copy. It’s the only wedding book I plan on buying.
A Practical Wedding: Creative Solutions for a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration
PS. Do you know that sharpie can be removed with nail polish remover? We figured this out when I was a kid. One of my grandmothers’ would write our names on the product box in sharpie so she could remember who she bought the gift for. When that needed to be removed so I could return some unwanted gifts it was nail polish remover to the rescue!I’ve been wanting to use up my art supplies. Some of them I’ve had for close to 10 years. My acrylic paint has been hanging out in my art bin for around 9. Way, way too long. So what to do? Make a paper chain of course!
Super simple and something that I haven’t done in ages (I think everyone makes these in elementary school, which was most likely the last time I made one). Not only does it liven up my bland staircase, it did use up a fair amount of paint. Just the results I was looking for.
Use novelty yarn for a bike seat cover.
This comfy looking seat cover uses the pompom yarn (aka marshmallow yarn) with at least one other thicker worsted weight yarn (I think). And below, a great use for fun fur and other random yarn. Couldn’t really tell about construction on the seat, but the yarn on the handle bars looks like it was just randomly knotted, braided and wrapped around. Also some more yarn just randomly wrapped around the frame. With flowers.
How to use fun fur on a bike.
Seen downtown in Santa Cruz, CA. Oh, yes… Didn’t I say anything? I no longer live on the east coast.
