The Unintended Disco

I wanted to make an inexpensive pendant for the treehouse to give it a little extra special umph.  While I liked the look of these projects, I wanted them to be slightly tweaked….

via Zipper 8 Lighting

 

Same principle here, but too feminine for my Things.

So I thought smaller, tighter circles might give it more of a fishscale over floral vibe…so I punched out LOTS of little circles…this was just the beginning.

Gluing.  Small circles.   For FIVE AND A HALF HOURS.  Taking into account the breaks taken to feed people and other tasks…it took me WAY longer than I thought it would.  Just as well I love these little people.

Speaking of, Thing One helped me with the design.  He requested a stripe scenario with the silver at “the equator” of our globe, so I like to think I took direction well.

I might have opted for a solid, or an ombre effect, but this is their lamp and I want them to have input and ownership over their space, so stripe it is!  I started to worry that using card stock would block too much light, but I wanted the stiffness of the heavier paper and decided to risk it.

Well, once I hung it…it looks kinda like a disco ball!  Oops…or not!?  Hey-o!  Things like to disco!

It is not really bright enough for general lighting, but it is really great mood lighting/nightlight which might work out perfectly here.  There are other lanterns and such in here….

Of course, right when I finished, SFAS aired and I saw Orb-lando’s DIY wire pendant and well, that would look so much better in here.  THANKS Orlando.  I was happily discoed for a few hours.  We’ll see what the Things say on the matter.

BTW, I am really digging season 2…loving her vintage choices, and well, everything else. I’m so pleased to see a show like hers doing well.  Long may it last.

Where was I?  Yes.  We have a lamp that looks like a disco ball!

Next on the horizon?  Well, things are heating up around here….barn door installation, The Flea next weekend,  and THE SALE…and all the prep leading up to said event.  I’ve got to start shooting items for your previewing pleasure!

Hype That Was Hella Hairy

Yes, I obviously fell prey to Missonigeddon yesterday and I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it.

People were dragging 2 and sometimes 3 carts around while on the phone to a cohort at another store discussing which items they need MORE of to make a set of 12.  I saw Kathy as I just wandered around the store wide eyed..she seemed to share my sense of shock about the whole thing!

I got there about 8:20 and I didn’t see a single person in the store that didn’t have hoards of Missoni in their cart.  No one was buying toothpaste that morning (except me), and there were several items I never saw.  Either my store didn’t stock it, or it was already sold out.

I got a couple of votive holders, which are gorgeous when lit.

 

And apparently, the hottest item in my cart was a pair of these, since several people ogled them and asked if I was sure I was going to get them.

The dressing room was kinda hilarious..everyone was coming out into the aisles modeling their wares for each other since every rejected item had a line of people waiting for a turn to try it on…

The staff was truly shell shocked.  They just kept saying over and over, “I had NO IDEA it was going to be like this…”

Yes, my friend, I’m sure when you walked into work this morning, you had no idea that as you frantically unpacked boxes, there would be a platinum haired, diamond encrusted vulture standing on top of you waiting to snatch it from your trembling hands.

They clearly hadn’t been mentally or physically prepared for Missonigeddon.

Don’t even get me started on the prices this stuff is selling for on ebay.  Capitalism can be very ugly at times.

D*S Round-Up

Hey guys…guess what?  I am shocked and very excited to report that our exterior makeover made the Design Sponge Before and After Best Of: Outdoor Spaces round-up! Check it out here.

Minor detail, they called me Karen, but I can understand why…3 of the projects in the round up are hers…and I am a TAODS fan, so I’m flattered they could even consider confusing us.  Poor Karen.

Anyway, that’s made my day, so, thanks Kate/Grace and I”ll see you at the Nashville D*S book tour stop!

Care Package

My harvesting and canning fervor yielded a decent little care package for my Mom.

She has yet to be converted to the joys of a butter bell, so I filled one up with herb butter so they can give it a test drive.

 

There’s also some sage and almond pesto, spicy blueberry mint chutney, mint and rosemary jelly and the basil balsamic vinaigrette.

The CC had business in the city where she lives and offered to transport our care package with the butter still cold.  He rocks like that.

Switcheroo

I’ve been mixing some things up around here and forgetting to share.  Remember how I knew there was too much tulip going on in the living room?  I think I might have solved that little problem.

That’s right, he SWIVELS his layers….shall we call him the Swinger?

I also found a place for the Sexophone…..

Oh, and remember my pair of vintage chairs that I love love love so much? Turns out they are a bit dangerous in the house.

Yup.  Those front support bars blend in with the dark floors and had become a huge maiming hazard.  I can’t have pretty chairs that hurt my people, so they moved out and we have enjoyed them on the deck where we can see those bars better.

In their place is a pair of swiveling rattan chairs that had been in Thing Two’s bedroom.  Not as pretty as the others, but far friendlier on the toes and way more practical for the upcoming fire season.  Now we can swivel towards the flames, or the couch…flames, couch…

So, I think that’s it for now.  I’ve updated the tour with the latest changes.

Crafty Time

I’ve always been attracted to geometric string art, and when this photo started making the rounds, I filed it away for a rainy day.

Photo via sub-culture via Apartment Therapy

I absolutely loved it just as it was….until I read the comments…where the consensus was,  it isn’t really a cardioid,  it’s just a big butt.  Well, after that, it’s all I could see, so I began searching for other circular designs.  It’s a dreary weekend and we are stuck inside…let’s do it!

I wanted it to have a feel like these images, where the pins are part of the design.  On a side note, I think I will adapt a combination of these 2 styles for the tree house numbers this fall.

via Ruthi Auda

via ohsobeautifulpaper

I also wanted it to feel a little less rustic and a little more glam, so we found a scrap piece of Abstrakt/Perfekt cover panel left over from the kitchen renovation for some high gloss action, and I used galvanized roofing nails since they had a big, fat, shiny head.

Armed with the letter turner’s skein, I started off trying to make up my own patterns to avoid buttage……

 

But you know what?  I kept coming back to the butt.

There are so many cool designs out there, but there was something I didn’t like about all of them.  Too busy, too much like a spirograph drawing, too hippie, too much like a wreath, etc…I had to somehow, come to terms with the fact that I like big butts.

So I decided that would make a cardioid butt, and I will OWN it.

The instructions are found here at String Art Fun, and it took me a few tries before I got it right, but eventually, I finished it and the CC and I couldn’t stop giggling like kids.

Yup, even at the diagonal, it’s STILL a butt.  We liked it though, so we kept the design (for now) and finished the edges of the panel with some iron on veneer we had, and hung it up…snickering.

 

So we decided to ask the Things what they thought of it.  “It’s a turnip!  An onion!  A heart? A fan!!”  They didn’t see the butt!  But we just kept laughing harder and harder that they didn’t see it…so of course we had to ruin it for them.

Now, when they look at it, they give themselves a little pat where the sun don’t shine as they walk on by.  Go on, call social services on me.  We are clearly a bunch of immature morons.

But we are a childish house divided!  The CC and Thing One like the red, and Thing Two and I like the silver….the nice thing is that it can change when we get sick of it.  For now, I’ll let them have their way……