a little weekend diy

i'm no master upholsterer (i don't actually know if that's even a word, but it sounds good enough for me), but recovering a cushion on a wooden chair is easy enough, and that's just what i did. my "studio" room, which i hate calling it because i think it makes me sound so pretentious, isn't the prettiest place in my house. aside from the mess on my desk, it's a combination of a sewing room, a guest bedroom, flojo's bedroom, and a jewelry room; so it's kind of hard to decorate. one big problem was the eyesore of a chair i had at my desk; the cushion was a disgusting orangey-red burlap type mess straight from the 70's, complete with a hole at one corner, pilling, and snags. why did i even own the monster? because it was free. i've been wanting to recover the cushion forever, and yesterday morning, i finally did it!

i'm actually kind of embarrassed to show you the before picture because the thing was just so hideous! notice i didn't show much of the fabric, and the hole at the corner is on the other side. i still think it's enough for you to fully grasp the distaste i had for it! luckily, i have several bolts of designer upholstery fabric in a corner just begging to be used, which, coincidentally, was my favorite price, free. i tend to put off sewing projects for a long time, as evidenced by the massive fabric collection i've accumulated.

and now for the after picture... the chair is still no great beauty, and i do see a coat of paint in its future, but i don't hate it anymore, and i'm not greeted by a big hole every time i go to sit at my desk. the fabric i used has a sort of velveteen feel, and is muted green and sort of a greenish slate blue (i'm terrible at describing colors). it was super easy, and the only supplies i needed were: fabric, hammer, screwdriver, and upholstery tacks (or staples).

so that's how i spent my saturday morning! next i hope to find a larger old chair with a wooden body and an upholstered seat, or upholstered seat and back that i can recover and put in my living room. i once saw an antique rocking chair at an auction with heavy, carved arms and legs with an upholstered seat and back, and i fell in love. i told chris to bid on it for me (because i'm painfully shy), but he didn't and the chair went for $2. can you believe it?!? he said that he thought i was kidding and that's why he didn't bid. hopefully i can find another one with that kind of price tag!

do you do any diy projects in your home? have you reupholstered anything before? speaking of upholstery, one day i'd like to make an upholstered headboard! have any of you done that before?

"to err is human, to forgive, canine."

that quote is from an unknown source, but don't you agree? i also like the quote, "the more people i meet, the more i like my dog." also, true. anyway, get ready for some wordiness...

lately, i've been feeling like a lard ass. sorry, underage readers. i've been in a funk, and i hope i'm not a debbie downer; the last thing i want is to be one of those people who posts nothing but complaints, because that's really not who i am, but lately i've been unhappy with myself. i got in such a good exercise routine during the spring, and i actually enjoyed exercising. i got to the weight i feel most comfortable with, and i almost had a little confidence. then woopie died. my exercise buddy, confidant and protector was gone, and since that day - may 4th - i haven't had any motivation to take a walk, a jog, or jump on the trampoline. trust me, i've tried, because i don't like being borderline lazy, but i go outside and start to take a walk and i get lonely. then the loneliness turns to sadness. then i just want to come back inside and cry. if woopie had never been my exercise buddy, it wouldn't matter now because i'd be used to exercising by myself, but after having that big pile of blonde fur keep me company every day for every walk i ever wanted to take, it makes it too depressing now to do it alone.

and, woop would also lay beside the trampoline in the backyard when i'd do my 30 minute jumping exercise. i'd tell him about my day, sing to him, or practice my german and french so my brain stays fresh and young. he didn't mind what we talked about just as long as we talked. i've also gone outside to jump on the trampoline since he's been gone, but the most i do is get on it, and then i just sit there because it's too lonely. two days after woop died, i went to lay out on the trampoline to cry and watch the birds, and out of nowhere, this woman came walking through my yard asking where a certain person lived on my street. i told her, and as soon as i turned away, i balled my eyes out. if my woopie were with me, he would have let me know that woman was around before she even got out of her car. so the trampoline really makes me sad.

anyway, the point is (i promise i'm almost finished rambling), i need to kickstart a healthier lifestyle, like i had when woop was around. i'm not sharing my weight because i don't want to gets comments and emails saying, "i would kill to be that weight," "that's so tiny," etc., but i will tell you that the eight pounds i've gained aren't welcomed. i've got a small frame, so even two pounds can mean the difference between jeans fitting comfortably and a button barely buttoning. what do you do when you feel this way? how do you get the motivation to change your habits? most importantly, how do you deal with the loneliness?

in other news, i've decided exactly what my next tattoo will be. who knows when i'll get it, but i've been playing with a certain idea for a while, and it finally came to me on my drive home from work. i'm not giving all the details as i'd rather show you (one day) when it's complete, but i realized that i needed to work in something mark bittner said that i absolutely love: "it's a heavenly thing to be allowed to touch a bird."

the end.

wishlist wednesday!

it probably goes without saying that i'm a treehugger. i love the earth, i love the trees, i love recycling. when i lived in pennsylvania, each township gave its residents multiple bins in which recyclable items would be placed (glass, aluminum, etc.), and i thought the idea was genius. unfortunately for me and my treehugging ways, the area i live in is far from green, that's why maybe sometimes i go overboard in trying to minimize my carbon footprint. today's wish list is made up of things that have been made from recycled materials, my favorite kind!

sources: drcraze, hoakonhelga, mousetrapvintage, galerieurbana

i feel like i've been so busy lately that i haven't had time to properly blog, let alone think of post subjects. i'm putting the finishing touches on the dinosaur toes items that will find a new home in a boutique across the country, finishing off a friend's website, and trying to get more organized and time-efficient with making things for the shop. don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining because i know i have it good, but lately i just feel as though i've been stretched kind of thin; so many things to get done for so many people, and only being one person in this business to do those things. anyway, just sort of getting things off my chest i guess. how have you been?

she makes me want to spend time with my sketchbook

today, i wanted to share with you an artist (and her husband) that i've been meaning to feature for quite some time. allyson is one million kinds of awesome, as is her talented artist husband jeremy, and she's the kind of person you could sit and talk to all day without ever running out of things to say. aside from art on paper, she sews and brings her characters to life, and most impressive, makes her own paints and pigments from organic materials that she and jeremy have grown. renaissance woman, no?

*images from allyson's flickr photostream.

i'm lucky enough to have a copy of the second piece, in all its metallic gold glory, hanging by my front door just waiting to greet guests. i also have this one! you can find allyson's art in her etsy shop, and you can also read her blog to see what she and jeremy are growing and currently working on.

she collects seashells down by the seashore.

i really planned to post this yesterday, but after working my butt off on things for the shop, things for another shop, and a friend's website, plus spending time with my husband of 10 years (that's really odd to say), i just didn't have enough time! i wanted to show you a little sampling of the pretty ocean treasures i collected while stranded on an island...

like i said, this is strictly a sampling as it would have taken me all day to photograph all the shells and coral! the large conch shells (some of them are the size of my head) take up half of my deck, while the smaller shells and coral take up the other half! side note: i did not kill the sand dollars; they washed up in the massive waves of a hurricane 900 miles off the coast and were dead when i found them. didn't want you to think i was a murderous collector.

so since our anniversary fell on a thursday, chris and i decided to celebrate this weekend. we didn't do anything really extravagant, but we did go to dinner at a restaurant nicer and more pricey than we'd go to any other time, and i did a little tap dance (okay, two) in the parking lot for him to top off our night. i don't know where it came from as i'm not a dancer, but it seemed appropriate. we also did a little metalworking in the shop together which i always enjoy. all in all, a pretty quiet weekend.

how was your weekend? what did you do?