Recreational vinyling

It's a thing; I checked.

I've run across about a billion vinyl deals and sales and whatnot over the past month or so, seems like. So, given my inability to pass up a good deal, I now have quite a bit more vinyl than I used to and in a TON more colors. Over the last week or so I've used up some of my new stock on little projects that just kind of make me smile.

My little painted on birds that I did here were as easy to remove as I'd hoped. No problem at all.

 

His and hers phones. My husband's is some Star Wars thing- I want to say it's the New Jedi Order symbol. (Half sad, half impressed that I know that.) Mine is a pink unicorn because I let Mim pick. 

These are for 2 of my lovely sis-in-laws that both have birthdays in September, as kind of a bonus gift with what they're really getting. The owl is already in place on Alicia's computer (and was about 10 seconds after I told her what it was)- she sort of LOVES owls. 

I've done a few other little Silhoutte doodles, but they're gifts and so must remain secret. 

I think this is the most satisfying kind of little craft to do. I really do smile every time I see my phone or KitchenAid and my husband was so proud of his phone decal he posted it on Reddit and doing them all together took maybe 15 minutes.

Non-permanently painting a KitchenAid

So, I think everyone has seen the custom cut vinyl for KitchenAids. I've seen some crazy intricate ones. Just google "custom kitchenaid vinyl" if you haven't. Wow.

So even though I have a Silhouette and could easily make one for my own, I still haven't, because...reasons. Or not really any reason at all. As it would happen, though, I had some friends come over last night to work on a craft project and we ended up cutting vinyl for their KitchenAids (which was not the project we got together to work on, of course).

I had the vinyl negative left of one of the decals that I held on to because I thought it would make a good stencil for... something. And then it hit me. Why not use it to stencil my KitchenAid? I want to do light blue or yellow vinyl, which I don't have yet, so in the meantime...

I used acrylic paints and tested a little patch first. I just dabbed some on with my finger, let it dry, then made sure it scratched off as easily as I thought it would.

Then...

So that'll hold until I get vinyl in the color I want. There are some parts where it seeped under the stencil, but I'll just wait until it dries and then scratch it off. So easy. I wish I was a talented painter- I'd do an all-over floral design. Sigh. I suppose it wouldn't be worth it, since this probably won't take thorough wipe downs very well.
 

Dresser --> Entertainment Center

 I have such a distinct memory of taking "before" pictures, but I might be going crazy because I couldn't find them anywhere. Oh, maybe they're still on the broken camera! (lightbulb!) So, in lieu of a real before picture of just the dresser, here's an after picture of after I cleaned the garage that happens to have the dresser in it! Ta-da! I got the dresser for either $60 or $80 on KSL (a local classifieds) last summer, when I was giant pregnant.

Here's why I was looking for one to turn into an entertainment center:

 We couldn't fit all our stuff into our itty-bitty Target buy from when we were first married. Here's what it looks like now:

{Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics again. Also, I love "How to Train Your Dragon."}

 Here it is all opened up:

 DVDs fit perfectly into the drawers, they're just the right height. The bottom middle drawer has all our exercise gear like weights, yoga mat and resistance bands.

I made the labels with my Silhouette; the font is Lobster. 

I took out the top two drawers and lined the cavity with 1/8" mdf. I put a thin molding around the open areas to make them look more built in and to hide the seams from the mdf. I know we don't need need 2 missing drawers worth of space for just an xbox and a DVD player, but I'm planning ahead for speakers, a receiver, a BluRay player, and whatever else they come out with. I'm going to move the DVD player up to the top level once I find a basket that fit that spot. Then I'll use the basket for extra storage until we need the open space again.

 

 

I love it. You maybe also noticed the tv upgrade. Woot!

Ta-Da!

So, my big project?



GESTATING!


This is only my second pregnancy, but looks like I'm not going to be much luckier with this one than I was with the first- I get hit HARD with morning sickness.

So that's why nothing much has been happening here.  I haven't been down to my sewing machine in the basement for about 2 months now.  I have done a few things with my brand new lovely Silhouette, but nothing too big.

Hello, new followers!  I was so surprised the other day when I saw that I had made some new friends.  I thought pretty much everybody would have abandoned me by now. 

So for Valentine's I did one of the most awesome/worst things ever for decorating.  My husband even commented on how much he liked it, and he never notices anything home decor related (which I'm totally cool with, by the way).

Yeah, I decorated with candy.  You can already see how it's not awesome- that hurricane on the far left had been full of peanut butter M&M's.  Like the day before.  And in this picture they're almost gone.  Nice.

I did stuff with my Silhouette, too.  My favorite was this:

Just vinyl and paper.  Heck yes.

And because the awesomeness of this picture makes me laugh and because I actually do have big project plans coming up in the spring, when I might actually feel better.

These are my Paint skillz.  We'll also be putting in a lawn (thank heavens, I can't wait to let my little bug play outside).  As you can see, I have big yard plans that I'll probably be posting pretty often about on here.  TONS of diy opportunities, that's for sure.  If you have any tips for balancing a big yard with a little house that's situated in one corner of that big yard, feel free to let me know.  Because really.

Also, please note the tree that I erased by using blue and white squiggly lines.  It's my husband's favorite part.


Well, until next time.  Maybe by then I'll have done something.  Maybe.