high five for friday

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Lindsey T

It’s Friday, thank goodness, and the sun is shining! I had a great week. I’m in week four of doing Cross Fit and yesterday was the hardest workout yet. So I’m moving slowly this morning but am just about to rally to go for a quick jog. Linking up today again. What was good with your week? Have a great weekend!

1. I have the best sister and Mom. One of them was supposed to simply send me a copy of the latest Boston Magazine. I love the cover and wanted to read the entire thing. I just love that magazine, always have. Instead, I received this massive box filled with magazines, Boston Strong t-shirts, k-cups for Al, loads of clothing for me, and Alex & Ani bracelet and other things. They both had sent some things in the box and it makes me grin ear to ear when it arrives. I’m not nearly as good at sending packages and treats but I’m trying to get better!

2. View from the amazing hike Al & I took on Sunday. It was 6.5 miles and it was pure relaxation, beauty and great company.

3. We found a “beach” in Colorado. We bought a season pass. I’ll be there every weekend, guaranteed. Now we want a boat. Who are we?!

4. Finally bought some new running shorts this week. I went for happy colors instead of my usual navy and black! It’s the little things, because I am SO excited for new running shorts.

5. Check out that temp! Maybe we’re in the clear from the snow? #doubtful

diy custom name art with photographs

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Lindsey T

Name art are all the rage right now and really I don’t mind it. I think they’re cute, artistic, abstract and can be really cool depending on the chosen art. You know what I’m talking about, right? The artwork you can buy that spells out a name in photographs of found letters in everyday life.

Well my sister and her husband wanted to use exactly that as their guest book at their wedding. I know, I’m still talking about their wedding nearly eight months later. But I love them and I loved their wedding and I loved being able to help plan it. They put me on the job and I’d have to say that I think their name came out pretty good.

I want to share with you guys how easy it is to create this on your own instead of paying top dollar to buy it. For months and months before hand I was sure to bring my camera with me on outings just in case I ran into “letters.” You find them in strange places! Once I had all the photos I created a word document. Yes, no special software or program, a simple word document. I edited each photograph first using iPhoto on my Mac, but another option is the free photo editing site PicMonkey. Once I cropped and edited the colors to make sure all the blacks, whites and grays were alike I think simply opened my word doc, set the page to the size we wanted the final print to be and dragged in each letter.

I put each letter into the doc and then sized each one to be the exact same and lined them up in order. Using the options in Word I created a border around all the letters. Then using a text box I added their names and wedding date. If you place the text box over the border lines it’ll cover the line and make it disappear. Adjust the text box to whatever size you want.

Done! It was complete, very simple. We had it printed at Staples on one of their fancy printers in the size of our choice. I think it cost us around $15. So between that and the frame it was a whole lot cheaper than custom ordering the same thing.

We framed it up and they used it as their guest book at the wedding and had everyone sign it and write notes around it. This is totally where my mom would be all like “Wait, Lindsey you spelled it wrong.” And I would flip a lid and she’d be all, “Just kidding!” Yeah, she still does that and it still gets me every time.

I’m bummed that I don’t have a photo of the final result, with all the notes around it, but it looked really cool and it was a great alternative to a guest book. Something you can actually hang and read every time you walk by it hanging in your house.

Did you guys do anything other than a traditional guest book at your own wedding?

P.S. I didn’t do a great job of showing how I made this because I did it so long ago and didn’t take screenshots. However, if it’s something you’re interested in please feel free to reach out to me and I’m happy to work with you to help create a similar project!

high five for friday!

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Lindsey T

What’s good with you guys this week? Linking up again today. I’m looking forward to the beautiful weather this weekend, getting outside, doing some hiking and working on some projects. Here are a few things from my week. Have a great weekend!

1. Look at these beauties Al found out back of our apartment. Free! They’re in perfect condition and I can’t wait to see how they turn out after some new fabric and a clean coat of paint.

2. We had crazy rain this week. I feel like I’ve been posting about weather a lot, but it’s been so crazy! First time we’ve had thunder and lightning since we’ve been here and pouring rain. We even had hail this week too!

3. Mmmm yes, my weekly magazine delivery. Can’t wait to dive into those this weekend.

4. Starting to plan our Disney trip. Haven’t been since I was five. I think I’m more excited than my 7-year-old niece.

5. Got me a pair of Sperry’s that I’m psyched about. Hopefully it’s another option that won’t hurt my foot!

space saving makeup organization

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Lindsey T

We have this built in cabinet thing in our bathroom. I’ve never seen anything like it and wouldn’t even know what to call it. But it’s fabulous with lots of storage so I’m not complaining. We each have a shelf and then there are two shared shelves with cotton balls, q-tips, etc. It’s incredibly challenging to photograph because of the angle so I couldn’t capture the whole cabinet!

My shelf houses mostly my makeup but there was no organization to it. The simplest thing I could think of was adding magnets to the makeup and sticking them on the walls of the cabinet. So I did. I grabbed a roll of magnets at the craft store for a couple of bucks and cut them to size to fit each pieces of makeup.

I had a pack of three small containers from the dollar store that organized other items such as hair ties, bobby pins and other miscellaneous things. The makeup brushes are in a tiny glass jar that I had. It was the perfect size for the brushes.

I gained so much more space and organization just by adding magnets to the pieces I could. So simple, inexpensive and beneficial!

spring cleaning!

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Lindsey T

I know that we’re a ways into spring now but it’s taken me longer than normal to get into my spring cleaning routine. Problem is there’s so many awesome, fun, adventurous thing to do here in CO that I just want to be out doing them. I know, I know, tough problem to have!

So while it may be taking me a little longer to get through everything, I’m still slowly working my way through. I’ve already washed all the warm blankets – the throws and the comforter. I’ve already washed all the winter gear – the hats, gloves, scarves. Though, of course as soon as I washed them all and packed them all up we had like 4 snow storms in April!

We’ve purged a lot, which I like to do seasonally. We have such a small amount of belongings now since we moved across country, so I’ve actually left a box in the back of the car and as it fills up I donate it. I just don’t have as much stuff to donate anymore because we have so little. This way I at least have a box full when I donate.

I still have a list to get through though. Things like:

Wash all the winter jackets
Put away the winter clothes, unpack the spring/summer clothes
Wipe down any salt/dirt from winter boots and pack away
Wash all the baseboards
Wash the windows and windowsills

I’m sure I’ll think of more things to do as well. But for now that’s what I’m focused on getting done in the next few weeks. It always feels so great to have a fresh clean house, doesn’t it?

Have you guys been up to any spring cleaning lately? What’s on your list that I missed here?

no-sew diy shower curtain drapes

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Lindsey T

I’d like to think that I would have a long post about these DIY curtains. But, in reality, they were so simple you could probably make them with your eyes closed. Okay, well don’t try that because there is an iron involved.

Now, I completely understand that animal print is not everyone’s cup of tea. But I always have, and continue to, love a little pop of it here and there. When I found these two shower curtains for a steal at TJ Maxx, one for $7 and one for $10, I knew they would be prefect for our large living room windows. And if you’re wondering why the exact same shower curtains were different prices, I have no idea. But I will tell you that I obviously argued with them and the $7 one was actually $12 to start. When they were running the sku’s they realized it should be on clearance. So that was a lovely surprise. Anyway, back to the curtains.

They were too short for the windows but I had some leftover white fabric so I knew exactly how I would lengthen them. I started by folding each shower curtain in half perfectly. I did this on the floor because I needed a space large enough. Once I folded them in half I then cut perfectly on the fold line. I eventually had four pieces.

hem tape

I measured the width of each piece and measured what the added length would be that I needed. With those measurements I cut out four additional pieces of fabric from the white scraps that I had. Using heat bond iron on tape I then ironed the white pieces to the main pieces. Since each panel had a cut side, where I cut the full curtain in half, I didn’t want it to fray. So using another strip of heat bond tape I made a fold on the edge to create a hem.

That was it! It was really easy and I actually loved making drapes out of shower curtains. It’s a heavier duty fabric so it was easier to work with and falls nicely. It also already had the holes to hang it so I didn’t need to make any or get those ring clips.

We hung them from our DIY curtain rods and I love the way they look. Nothing is complete yet, is anything ever complete?! We still have to paint the rods and add finials. Once it warms up more we can get outside and spray those. What color would you guys paint the rods? I can’t decide and it’s driving me nuts.

Since I already had the white fabric the final cost of each was $4.25, plus some tax. Not bad for four drapes! We love the way they pulled the room together, especially since it’s such an open space. Okay so in the end I guess I did have a lot to say. Either way, they were so easy and inexpensive to make, so the next time you’re on the hunt for drapes, don’t skip the shower curtains, you never know what you might find!

countryliving.com feature!

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Lindsey T

So a few weeks ago this awesome thing happened. It was 8:30 at night on a Tuesday, I was winding down, checked my email on my phone real quick. Erupted in screams.

An editor from Country Living Magazine had reached out to me. At first, well, after I got really excited I investigated to make sure it wasn’t spam. You get so much spam as a blogger. It wasn’t. It was legit. They wanted to feature my cane chair makeover in a Bloggers’ Best Furniture Makeovers story that would be running on their website.

And then it happened and it went live and here it is!

Take a look over there at the feature, and check out some of the other projects too. I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be a part of this. And, I can’t wait to share the new chairs we just scored that are about to get a makeover just as good as this one!

screenshot created from countryliving.com

diy (free!) storage boxes

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Lindsey T

A while back we had some boxes lying around waiting to be recycled. They were all different sizes, large ones, narrow ones and even a few beer boxes. I decided to give a few of them a makeover and create some free storage boxes. This project was entirely free for me as I already had some paint and fabric scraps. However, if you don’t have those items it’ll only cost a few dollars and you could always get away without adding the fabric.

I started by mixing a blackish grey and white paint together that we had. It produced a light grey/bluish color. I painted two coats on all sides of the boxes. They dry pretty quickly but I let them really dry and set for about 8 hours.

I then cut off the flaps on the top of the box. Now, this is the part I kind of made up as I went. I used some scrap fabric I had to create what looks like a liner in the box. However, I only wrapped it around the top part, I didn’t actually line the whole box. I measured and cut the correct amount of fabric, leaving excess to fold into the box. Using my iron I ironed a half-inch seam so that the fabric wouldn’t be uneven and fray

Then, using my hot glue gun, I glued the fabric onto the box. I glued one edge then tightly wrapped the rest around the perimeter. Then I folded the extra into the box and glued it there. Does that make sense?! I forgot to take pictures of the process, probably because I’m the messiest painter ever and there was paint and hot glue strings everywhere. It was really easy, just make it up as you go, no one will know.

In the end I had some nice, sturdy, free storage boxes. I even left the bottle dividers in one of the beer boxes and used it to separate and organize office supplies. In that one I used some other scrap fabric (the black and white) and glued it to the inside since it was smaller and you could actually see the inside.

Free. I love me some good free projects. Some of the sizes fit perfectly in our linen closet, others work well on the book cases. How about you guys? Any free projects you’ve been making using what you have around the house?

high five for friday

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Lindsey T

Hope you all had a great week. I had some exciting news come my way this week, see number 5 below! We’re looking forward to the weekend, it’s finally warming up around here and we’re looking at 70′s for the weekend. Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth this week again. Enjoy your weekend!

1. Celebrating Boston. #itsgreattobefrombeantown

2. Normal evening. Eggs for dinner, beer, headphones and sunglasses in the house. What? It’s sunny in CO!

3. April 22nd and a huge snow storm.

4. Our wine rack (was a gift at our wedding from my bridesmaids!) finally made it back to CO with us.

5. Big news! My cane chair project was featured on Country Living as one of the best blogger furniture transformations. Wahoo!

Happy weekend!

diy lacquer box

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Lindsey T

Wow it’s been one heck of a week. Between traveling, the events in Boston, work life and regular life I was beat last week. Back at it though! I had found this box way back when at a thrift store for a few bucks.

Originally I had plans for it to live on the desk in our apartment, but then I decided since I live in a grey box at work it would be nice to add a little color. So, I ditched the black plastic office supply holder thing and I use this now instead.

I started with two colors of high gloss Martha Stewart acrylic paint. I also picked up a bottle of the high gloss clear to give it a final coat. I removed the hardware and painted the entire box the teal color. It took three coats to get it fully and evenly covered.

Then using my blue painters tape I taped off where I wanted the white lines to be. The trick to preventing the white paint from bleeding is to tape off the lines, and then paint over the edges with the main color. In my case that was the teal color. I let that dry fully and then with a fine tipped brush I painted on the white. I don’t remember exactly but it took me somewhere around 4-5 coats of the white to fully cover the teal.

I let dry fully in between every coat of paint. Because of that this project actually took a good part of two days. But it was so easy to do and simple to paint a coat and do something else. Some of the coats of paint dried for 20 minutes, some dried for 2 hours. I would just add another coat when I thought of it.

After the entire thing was dry, I carefully peeled back the tape. There were definitely a few spots I needed to touch up. I did so with a very fine tip brush so I could be very precise. After that I added three coasts of the high gloss clear paint.

And that was it! It now houses my post it notes, pens, etc. and keeps my desk area clutter free.

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