I can craft that!

excuse my tardyness

2012-02-09T10:41:00.000-05:00

I am late posting this week. Things have been a bit crazy. My parents have left for their southerly sojourn to Florida for 3 months, I found out I am pregnant so there is a slew of appointments with different doctors, I started a new job as a Tax Associate, and baby girl has some sort of cold with constant runny noses. I also think she has some sort of food allergy because she constantly has a small rash around her mouth. So many things so little time.

How To: Stop the glitter!!!!

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

I have yet to meet a gal who says, 'You know I really HATE glittery thing. Just cant stand it.'. Why this topic of conversation would come up in the first place I am not sure, but it seems that every woman I know loves her some shiny and glittery stuff. Dont you? I dare you to try and hate glitter. See you cant. Except when It come to being all over your house, your children and your cat. Perhaps your husband gets funny looks at work, or has the nick name glitter man. Then we start to regret our love for sparkle sparkles. Fear not my friends I have a solution.

Clear Coat. Simple clear coat. just give it a quick spray and the glitter stays where it should and not on you.

This is where I should be entering all sorts of wonderful photos of glittery stuff I clear coated as a testament to my brilliance but alas my computer ate my photos. Honest it did. I had photos and now I cant find them for the life of me. So I guess you are just going to have to take my word.

happy crafting!

This years plans 2012

2012-01-25T09:00:00.003-05:00

So as you know I did not make a resolution this year but I do have aspirations for the year, things to do, get, craft etc. HOW am I going to get these things? Well I just have started with H&R Block Canada as a Tax Associate and found a great lady to take care of my daughter so that I can get 4 solid months of work. I am hoping that it works out that 1/2 my pay goes to daycare, then 1/2 of whats left goes to house expenses and the other half to purchasing things for the home and my business.

TO DO:
Finish our unfinished basement, you can see we have started with the foam at the end there.

Make a Collage wall over our couch.

TO GET:
Nikon D5100

OR Nikon D7000

I love them both

Get Pregnant! Yes we are trying.

Organize Manuals the Ask Anna way.

Silhouette Cameo

Things for around the house. I want to create a pom pom and lantern feature above the bed for baby girl.

and curtains for our livingroom. I have no pictures of this as I have not found the right curtains yet :(

TO CRAFT:
A balloon Party for Baby Girls 2nd birthday.

Plants - I want a moss terrarium that actually lives this year. I like this one from Blithe Gardens but I have a different jar which has thus far already killed some moss. I think a different moss and a different method will help out.

I also want to just add lost more plants around the house and try to keep them all alive!

Tea Towels. I want to start a line of tea towels for My Esty Shop that match my recipe cards as an addition item for sale. I was inspired by Censational Girls Post on Stamped Tea Towels. Just have to find good priced Blanks!

Hair Fascinators. Also to add to my shop. I used to make them in my jewellery shop (now closed) and they sold really well. I just need to get some more supplies and start offering them again.

$10 Gourmet house-warming/Hostess/random day Gift

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

OK so I was trying to get a $10 hostess gift but my gourmet tastes got in the way. Karen did a blog on cheap gifts over at the art of doing stuff that set the wheels turning. She did a great little thing with salt and pepper in jars. I am not much of a pre cracked pepper fan. to be honestly I am not a pepper fan at all. I just don't like it at all. But I needed a hostess/House warming gift on the cheap for a friend.

Next you have to realize I love salt. As much as I hate pepper I love salt even more. Did you know is the only flavour we are born craving. Too much can kill but the right application of salt at the right time can enhance flavour and make a meal so much more enjoyable. So when I saw these packages of different salts on at the grocery store I stuck idea gold.

If I had unlimited funding I would have bought one of every flavour. I was REALLY hoping to find black salt but the best they had was one that kinda looked like pepper. SO instead I settled on the above pink salt, a redder salt and white cypress flake. At $5 a piece this was getting to be a pricey gift, but I also wanted to keep half for myself to try, AND wanted to repackage them to be more prettier. So I got a couple sets of canister jars from the Dollarama

they were $1.25 for 2. I then printed some basic labels out with all the information on the salts on them and sized it down to fit on bottle. and filled!

And you know what the BEST part of this gift was? I only used half of the salts so now I have some left over for me! Darn. he he he.

Total? well really $10 by the time you split the salts roughly in half and only use3 containers but it cost me closer to $20 to make it. So either I could make another set for someone else...ok keep it for me!

I am Moving

2012-01-13T12:30:00.003-05:00

new website is icancraftthat.com
Everyone should be redirected but in case you are not be sure to stop over at the new address.

Erin

my giveaway over at Created by Laurie

2012-01-12T13:49:00.002-05:00

I am having a give away over at Created By Laurie
Be sure to check it out!

Florida House Tour. Something Schmancy.

2012-01-11T09:00:00.002-05:00

Right now I am in the midst of thinking about and planning new projects but have none of that to post to you. Why do I tell you this? Because I am an over sharer. So instead I am going to share some photos of my aunt and uncles over the top Florida home. they Purchased it fully decorated and furnished and though most in the family agree its a little much it is none the less very beautiful. It is a 3 bedroom 3.5 bathroom house in the area north of Bonita Springs and south of Fort Meyers area. Each bedroom has its on en suite bathroom.

This is the girl bedroom. Very light and feminine.

Unfortunately I took most of these photos before I knew how to use the camera really well. as such the colouring is off and all the photos of the boys room did not turn out well. just kinda this one which shows how the walls are in the background. they look like they have suffered smoke damage and years of grime. That's the look. Very dark, the opposite of the girls room.

This is the ceiling of the main entrance.

Guest Bathroom/Powder Room

Hand Laid floor in the Library. the previous home owners were wood works.

Master Bathroom (then bedroom) they have the most gorgeous Venetian Mirrors. REAL Venetian mirrors.

on the left is the bath tub, on the right through the archway is shower. it has glass walls to a walled in courtyard beyond and could fit a dozen people.

these are the fans in the living room. very unique

And finally the pool cage. this is outdoors, but inside a screened in Pool Cage area. There are several water falls and fountains.

and Gary the lizard. there are many of these little guys here in their cage.

Un Resolution

2012-01-04T09:00:00.003-05:00

I know this time of year everyone has resolutions and is going to inundate you with their goals for the year. I am not going to do that because resolutions never work for me. I would love to say I am going to loose 50 lb this year but the reality is its not going to happen for me... or is it. I am going to loose 50 lb this year! Nope, nothin. So instead of making great promises I may never live up to and then disappointing you all I am just going to share some pretty pictures with you from my pinterest account. Things I might try this year, but then I might not.

Collage Wall, I love this while hubby isn't so fond and loves a clean look

balloon banner, maybe for baby girls 2nd birthday?

lacy cake, just for fun I am going to try this out

sting and nail art, I am thinking smaller format and for my collage wall

dyed crepe paper, again maybe for baby girls birthday

Log End table, gotta find a log...

Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty: Cribs

2011-12-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been on a cleaning kick. Probably because all my Christmas shopping wrapping and decorating is done and I feel like I finally have time to getting down to the nitty gritty in cleaning. Today's special - which was a great show by the way. Is it still on any more? - is cleaning crusted milk of a crib. And the nastiest part of my dirty little unclean secret? I haven't scrubbed this crib down ever. Granted milk has only been an use for a year and I used to wipe it by weekly, but lately its been everywhere, esp crusting at the bottom. It slides down the rails (which get wiped weekly) and collects at the bottom.

So about 5 days ago I use some all natural type IQ Cleaner for General Purpose cleaning.

Normally this works pretty well on most of my general around the house cleaning but this stuff was tough and having none of that. I did manage to get a lot of it off with 20 minutes of hard scrubbing... on 1 side, but 5 days later it was in this state again:

Waa Wa

So out came an old toothbrush, a pail full of HOT water and dish soap. I used the big white towel under the crib to catch the inevitable dripping and the light duty scrubby sponge for the top bar, rungs etc. You know the large areas. You get it right? I also Had a secondary cloth I used to wipe up the water, clean it all off etc.

All done!

SALE ON NOW

2011-12-22T16:07:00.000-05:00

NEW! I have sets of recipe cards on sale to clear off on hand inventory PLUS as a thank you for becoming a fan use coupon code BLOGFAN and receive an additional 20% off your entire purchase. Following. its a good thing.

Erin

Recipes

2011-12-21T09:00:00.003-05:00

Best Apple Pie

This is my sure fire and simple recipe for 9" Pie Pastry top and bottom
2C All purpose Flour 1tsp salt
1C Pastry Flour 1C Shortening
1/2C cold water

Mix flour's, salt together and cut Shortening in using a pastry blender or your hands. Do a squeeze test. Sprinkle water over the flour mixture. Stir in 6 or 7 times, no more. Squeeze dough into 2 equal sized balls, flatten into hamburger size, put dough in a large plastic bag and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Once removed from fridge roll out dough to desired size. Fill, top and bake according to filling instructions.

Perfect Apple Pie Filling
6-8 tart apples - I like Macs Dash of Ground Nutmeg
3/4-1C sugar 1tbsp ground cinnamon
2tsp tapioca 2tbsp butter
1 pie pastry from above.

Peel, core and cut apples into thin wedges. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and tapioca. Line 9" pie pan with pastry and fill with apple mixture. Top with top pastry and make steam holes. Brush lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar if desired.
Bake at 400 degrees for 50min - 1 hr until golden brown

Spinach Dip with Pumpernickel
1 300g package of frozen chopped Spanish
2 500g sour cream
1 C May
1 Package Knore Vegetable soup mix.
1/4 C Dehydrated Vegetables - Found at the bulk store to add to soup mix.

Mix it all up and let it sit at least 2 hours before serving. To serve Hollow out a Pumpernickel and place dip within it.

Christmas Gingerbreads

2011-12-19T12:39:00.001-05:00

In my family our family celebration never actually happens on Christmas. It used to happen on boxing day mos of the tine but now people like to go on vacations for Christmas so we have been left to have out celebrations at other times. This year we had it this past Sunday, the 18th and it was hosted at my mothers house, which is somewhat misleading since whenever my mother hosts something I end up co-hosting it. Which I don't mind. My house couldn't hold my family so the least I could do is help her out. This year I brought A spinach dip and pumpernickel and a apple pie. I will do another post this week with the recipes but I have not photos.

So I had this idea this year that as a family we should do Gingerbread decorating. Houses,and Cookies. We wanted the family to all participate and if they didn't want their creations we would donate the rest to local women's shelters. My mother and I went to the bulk barn and purchased a variety of candy's as well as the gingerbread's. Yea we used pre-made gingerbread. With how delicious and affordable it is its just not worth the headache to make it yourself. Though Having said that I might try next year as I made a pie from scratch this year. I like scratch.

Anyway So here is our ginger bread spread

This lovely was my brother creation. One of 2 cookies he made.... she's special.

This is my Gingerbread house, I am taking it to my husbands Family Christmas dinner on Christmas day and we can smash it and eat it. YUM!

This is Ensign Ricky. For those who dont get the reference he is a star trek red shirt, who are doomed to die. You always know that when Spock, Kirk, McCoy and Ensign Ricky when on an away mission, Ricky aint comin back. I made Ricky here for my husband who is a huge star trek fan.

My aunt helped my daughter with this one.... its special.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Insperations

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

I was very much so in the christmas spirit a month ago, now it is waning as most everything we can do is done and though my inside is far from what I would call decorated its as good as it gets for our budget. SO to perk me up and get you in the mood if you are not there already I present my Pinterest Christmas Decor Board. And a few of my favourite things from that list

Source: houzz.com via Erin on Pinterest

Source: ablondesdiylife.blogspot.com via Erin on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Erin on Pinterest

How to Polish Chrome

2011-12-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

If like me you went for chrome, or polished stainless fixtures you are going to get a lot of fingerprints and spots. Cheap and easy way to fix it is with this stuff.

Thats right plain old fashioned baby oil. Personally I have a baby so I have oil that I never use because well no one uses baby oil that much any more. It works great a polishing chrome so pick some up.
Before my facet was spotty and shotty.

Add a little oil to a cloth and shine it up

Results were both stunning and surprising. Just make sure you dont use so much your facet is oily. a good rubbins with a clean cloth after is a good idea.

Don't mind my half painted wall. We are going to tile it once the windows done being re trimmed. Someday.

May your Christmas and facet me merry and bright!
Happy Cleaning

CRAFT SALE

2011-12-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

Attention Loved Ones and Haters Alike

I will be at the Alexander Place Christmas Show and Craft Sale Saturday December 3 from 10-2 at 329 Parkside Dr. Waterdown ON (Hamilton Area). I will have a selection of crafts including my recipie Cards, book hooks, magnets, coasters etc for sale as well as my Jewelry. All Jewelry is Sterling Silver and Swarovski Crystal and is on sale. Buy 1 item get 10% off buy 2 get 20% off etc up to 40% off for 4 or more items.
Please Stop by for this great deal.

From Crazy to Beautiful

2011-11-30T09:00:00.004-05:00

When I was at a Church Bazzar I saw these cast iron planter. Two of them in relatively good condition, little bit of rust inside but no rust outside, cracks, chips etc. the were $20 each. $20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so so so cheap. So I had to have them.... and call my father for a pick up in his Pick Up.

Now I know cast iron isnt great in the winter, Snow and ice build up inside them can cause them to rust so placing them out on the open patio wasnt going to happen. BUT I do have a small amount of space on my front porch, which is covered so I thought I would give it a whirl and share my process with you.

First thing is First, I needed Dirt. Because we have had no planters I needed to start fresh so I got a bag of the cheapest potting soil I could find. I am not sure if I really needed potting soil per say but I figured I could then use it in the spring again if I used real soil.

Next I needed a plastic pot to place inside my planter. Even though it is covered I prefer to have the dirt in a plastic pot that will stop the water just in case. I went to my local friendly garden nursery to purchase a plant. I didn't go to my local unfriendly nursery cause they are jerks. When I got to the friendly nursery looking for a cheap plastic pot the nice young woman there informed me they did not sell cheap plastic pots any more. This saddened me. My local hardware store also did not have these pots and now the garden centre didn't? But alas the young lass spoke again and told me of a magical place where I could find pots for free. This magical fairytale land contained pots of all sizes and kinds, and they were mine for the taking. This mystical place? the recycling bin in the parking lot. Now she was talking my language. FREE and I get to be earth friendly by reusing? I took the planter home and filled it with my dirt and place it within the planter.

Then I started shoving in the branches. Branches for me came from 2 places. 1 my parents back yard which is acres and archers of forest land. 2 the friendly garden centre.

First I started placing all the stuff I got for free from the back yard. I had some what we think is cedar, and some sort of pine. The cedar was very scraggly and thin and and little out of control crazy. The Pine was great but not plentiful enough.

In truth I was hoping to find enough supply and variety for free to fill the whole things but alas that was not to be. The selection was not so great and most growth was above our heads. I did get enough to make this happen:

Kinda like a crazy cousin version of the planters you see that are professionally done. I cant say I was pleased with it but I did know it needed more and I wasn't about to go traipsing through the bush again to get more of the same inferior stock. So that's when I hit up the local garden shop and bought some more supplies. Plus I wanted some more variety and something more feathery. I ended up with this:

What did this cost you ask? $20 for the urn and $25 for greenery and shiny balls from garden centre $3 for the dirt. Totalling just under $50 half of which I don't think really counts because I would have got the urn whether or not I used it for winter and it will be used time and time again. What is in it you ask? Why you are inquisitive but here you go:

incense cedar from garden centre

BC Pine from garden centre

backyard pine - looks a lot like the $8 BC pine if you ask me

IKEA fake Amaryllis from Ikea - free because I have had them for years

Silver Balls from Garden centre

Backyard Dogwood

backyard birch

How to Properly Trim a Tree

2011-11-23T09:00:00.057-05:00

Here is the proper way to trim a Christmas Tree. Failure to trim a tree in the exact manner will earn you 10 failure points in life.

Not really. But this is how I did my tree to get that layered and well made look.

First Start with a Tree

If you are looking for info on how to select the best tree from nature, bring it home and stet it up you are in the wrong place. A real tree in this house means my husband and his asthmatic lungs have to move out. So I started buy bringing out the tree from its big bag and stetting it up and connecting the lights.

If you are in the market for a new tree go with the best quality you can afford for better realism and lasting quality. My parents just bought a beautiful 9' Balsam Fir fakey from Lowes and she is a beauty. Realistic, full and well light. Mine is their old tree. Short Cheap and very fake. But free. So it fit with my budget and is better than my old tree which was really shot, cheap and fake.

Next Add Lights

If you have an old tree, a real tree, or for some unforeseen reason decided to buy an brand new tree and didn't get a pre light one you are now going to need to light it up. Use lots of lights going along the length of the branch ensuring light at the tips and recesses of the tree. For me I just connected the connectors and plugged her in. Technology is a thing of beauty. Well Technology and the person in china whos job it was to light my tree.

The Background Noise

Here is where you are going to add ribbon, garlands and the like if you have them. Ensure even spacing and place garlands within the tree not wrapping it like a present. I choose not to go with any this year as I am trying out an entirely different look on my tree using multi coloured vintage ornaments mixed with modern buys.

Balls

Now is time to add the ornaments, or in my case the balls as most of them seem to be. I started off by adding the new ornaments, all those that are new this year or more modern then the vintage collection.

I Find it is best to work in colours. Using all the silver then all the white etc. This helps to ensure an even distributing of colours and shapes through out the tree.

Next Bling

This is the part that is most special to you. The Ornaments that mean the most and that have places of honour. For me its the last two remaining ornaments of my Great Grandmothers.

These are the last of 7 or so that my mother started off with. The thing with vintage ornaments is that they tend to be VERY thin and as children and just time has descended upon them we have lost many.

Add a Tree Skirt and a Topper and you are done!

Now for your viewing pleasure here are some more photos from my tree.

these were actually place card holders for a table top but since I dont plan on having a dinner party at all let alone one for 4 people , I put them on the tree. Perhaps some year I will use them for their intended purpose or something close to it anyway.

band new, vintage looking ornaments

new to me vintage bells

my grandmothers birds and lanterns

Since you have come this far Here are some more pictures this time of my mothers christmas tree this year:

my favourite of my mothers ornaments. always on the lookout for glass birds.

AND my tree from years past

The Big Reveal!

2011-11-16T09:00:00.068-05:00

As Promised I am going to reveal just what I was making 2 weeks ago....

*insert drum roll*

Sequin Christmas Trees!

OK so Its probably not THAT big of a reveal but I am going to give you some tips on this craft. First off Dont do it. Just say no. Like to drugs in the 90's. Not so much now though. You don't hear a lot of 'Just say no to drugs' going around these days. So yea, don't do it. Boucliar Home has some lovely solid colour sequin cones this year, for less than $10. Go with that, because THIS craft will take you longer, cost more and hurt your fingers.

Still not deterred? Well if like me you decided to take this on before finding beautiful ones at boucliar, or if you simply must have stripped, certain coloured, multi coloured or some other excuse to make these here are some tips.

Tip 1) For the Stripped Cone you need to set some lines. My Stripped Cone needed guide lines all around it to ensure I was keeping my lines evenish. One little mistake at the bottom quickly adds up to wavy lines. unless you want wavy lines then just go for it all higgily squiggly and don't worry about it. Though even with that there is a chance you will end up with straight lines or something. that's just the way the world works it seems.

To make my guidelines I used a marker held flat on a surface and rotated the cone around. I used the marker straight on the table, stacked on some books, on top of a short glass, on top of a short glass on books, on top of a large glass... you get the picture, in order to get parallel lines all up the cone.

Tip 2) But LOTS of glitter, short pins and clear seed beads. You are going to take 1 pin put on a bead, put on a sequin and repeat. About 1300 times. Literally. The Stripped cone took aprox 1300 pins and the black and white one a little less.

Tip 3) Get a thimble. Pretty self explanatory but I didn't have one so my fingers hurt.

Tip 4) Don't do pink at the top of a randomly placed black and white cone. I was kinda going for a star look but to me it looks more like blood, or a volcano, which isn't to festive to me so I would stay away from this. Ill probably end up changing mine once I can feel my fingers properly again.

Tip 5) Set aside lots of time. I probably did an hour to two hours every day for a week on the striped one. The randomly placed smaller black and white was easier because I didnt have to care if they were in a line, or what colour I grabbed and could start and stop wherever. With Stripes there is a stop and a start place so you are constantly working around in a circle.

Tip 6) Seriously go out and buy something cheaper!

Having said that I still love my cones. They are cute and I can say I made them myself. But if I could turn back time. I would not do this. I probably spent $50 on supplies to make these two cones, though I have left over beads and a wack of sequins. My sequins came from the dollar store and had 8 different colours in one pack like 8 different pinks, 8 different purples, etc. So I had to buy 3-4 packages of each colour to have enough of each colour. Beads came from dollar store and pins came from the dollar store at first, but ended up being cheaper at Walmart. All this added up on the cheap side because my initial large cone came from Value Village in a bag of craft stuff for $2 that I bought in the summer. The cone alone would set back another $10-15.

Live and Learn

Shirt Photo Found!!

2011-11-10T20:42:00.001-05:00

Remember how I was telling you about Baby Girls Birthday and could not find a picture of the shirt anywhere? found one! on my phone. SO here is the finished product!

Bazaar Churches

2011-11-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

Anyone who knows me will know I am not a religious person. I feel uncomfortable in churchs and church bazaars Really I am just concentrating on not bursting into flames. However my mother (who is also not religious) love herself some Christmas bazaars. I am not sure why. They are either filled with lame handy crafts (no offence to knitters, I am a knitter but all acrylic all the time?? Can I get a natural fibre at least??) and cheap gear or used stuff. As such we end up going together many years. The one we go to is like a giant indoor garage sale. With the biggest line ups you have ever seen. But they have a good assortment of stuff in this Found Treasures aka garage sale room. This past weekend it went on in the large Catholic Church and for the first time ever we were there when it opened. Its amazing what you find yourself doing after having children that you didn't do before. Like get up. In the morning. Early.

Anyway so we were up and at em early on in the day and I found a few things. Cast Iron outdoor planter/urns thingies. They were $20 SWEET steal. Goona have me an outdoor planter this year! I got two very large glass apothecary jars for $7 a few more tiddley bits. Then we went into the Christmas room. This is the same basic thing as the Found Treasure only its all Christmas. In there the firs thing I saw, belined too and hoarded over like a prisoner at meal time, were these these beauties:

That which I have coveted and searched for. Vintage Christmas Tree Ornaments. (insert chorus of angles here). I didnt even buy all that they had. There was more than I could afford. I got all this lot for $25. A sweet sweet deal which I will supliment with other ornaments.

There were also a few smaller cherry and plum sized ones that I got but they are quite in tangles right now. I also picked up this sweet sleigh. It has a clear liner in it for a plant. which I am contemplating either putting a plant in or just stacking it with Christmas balls. Or pine cones. I cant decide.

I am on the hunt for more vintage stuff, or at least vintage looking stuff. I am inspired by the following.

These are the beauties I am really looking for but they are rare and expensive. Growing up my mother had 4 or 5 like it. Now there is 1. I am greatly worried by the prospect of my child breaking them. so I plan on doing them mixed in with modern clear pieces and protecting them a bit. Plus there is a penalty of death for touching the tree. Ill let you know when I got the tree all done!

Christmas Craft Sneak Peek

2011-11-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

Christmas is around the corner and I have been hard at work on crafts. Here is a sneak peak of some of my crafts. Any Idea's??

HELP! Font Identification

2011-10-27T16:02:00.001-04:00

does anyone know what font this might be?

I love and need to emulate it.

How to get Ball Point pen out

2011-10-26T14:04:00.004-04:00

Recently my daughter has decided to become an artist and takes pens (which she finds laying around) and is drawing on things. First it was just papers laying around, then yesterday she hit up the white laminate coffee tables, then this morning the kitchen wall. So onto the interweb I went search for how to remove these marks. There are a few sources with different information. Lots of people asking questions and others answering with what seems to be their best guess. So I thought I would share my experience and results.

Lets start with Ball Point pen on the wall since that's the first one I tackled. I decided to start with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I have used it in the past with varying results. It tends to take of the stain but leave behind its own mark. Someone told me that if you wash the wall with a cloth after using the eraser it will remove the marks. So here we go.

As you can see there is a dark spot residue left by the eraser YET again. Washing was no help. It looks fainter in photos than in real life. So I am not sure what's better here. A thin long pen mark, or a large long dark blotch... In the end for me its not a huge deal. I have paint touch-up to do on that wall anyway, and since it was recently painted it will match.

Next mark. The Coffee table. She really let loose here. marked up a good 1/4 of the table plus.

First I used the magic eraser. It did nothing. Didn't even fade it.

Next I tried to use my go to scrubber baking soda. I grabbed a damp cloth and scurbbed away at it. It defiantly faded it again, but by no means removed it.

Something else I read said using gel based hand sanitizer. Which seams a little nutso to me so I decided instead to use the main ingredient in hand sanitizer rubbing alcohol and give it a scrub with some cotton swabs. That is what a Q-Tips is in case you didn't know. It make a terrible sqeeking noise and too a lot of rubbing but it worked!!!

There are still some ever so faint marks if you look very closely but not too bad. I am glad there are just the enhanced ikea coffee tables and not some expensive tables, but I would hate to have a marked up table.

Next step? Hide all the pens and other writing devices and think about giving her paper and crayons in a controlled environment. Mostly just thinking about it. I mean she is only 15+ months old and still tries to eat everything Last thing I need is waxy poops!

Halloween Wreath

2011-10-19T09:00:00.002-04:00

I feel there pretty much is no season, reason, or holiday that can pass that you CANT make a wreath for. I was roaming my local dollar store in search of inspiration and came up with this:

get 4

Then i looked around and found these and some of his friends in different colours and sizes.

get a variety

Next I needed a wreath form. But they are so expensive and heavy duty and its just a couple feather boas so I thought whats cheap and tubular? Pipe insulation. SO off to the hardware store where I spent less than $2 on this:

Its pretty straight forward from here. I duct taped the insulation ends together (dont try to glue you will just melt it) wrapped it with the boas, stuck in some green feathers as pleased me and glued on the skulls. It resulted in this:

Exactly what I was looking for! unfortunately not very original. Turns out my Thrifty Craft Queen Karen at The Art of Doing Stuff already did one like it. I thought I remembered her using feathers of sorts last year on her wreath and looked it up AFTER I did mine.

I gotta say. Hers is much more..... more. More scary, more expensive looking, just more. I love it. That is why Karen is my Queen.

giving thanks, and cows

2011-10-18T14:26:00.001-04:00

My apologies to my readers. Somehow this post for last week didnt publish and I didnt realize it until just now. So my apologies to everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians, I hope your weekend was well. We spend the holiday monday at non other than the Rockton Worlds Fair, in Rockton Ontario.

Dont know where rockton is? I dont blame you. But its a family tradition. I even entered my daughter into the beautiful baby contest.

She looked beautiful, but we didn't win. I blame it on her hairlessness. All the winners had pigtails, but alas my family gives birth to bald babies who grow it slow. Either way it was a great day spent with the family looking at cows and horses and other farm life activities.

I love how beautiful Jersey Cows are.

checking out a miniature horse with uncle bran Brandon & aunt Laura

Llama - they are so pretty

oh no granny the horsey is too big!

some sheep

Showing a new friend the baby chicks

African tortuous of Sorts. I guess it really is world fair

I have always wondered why its called the Rockton WORLD fair when really its a local farm fair. Seems like false advertising to me. Apparently though it was because someone said it should be called a worlds fair because the world comes to it. Flimsy at best, yet fun every year.
The Craziest thing I saw at the fair was this:

Its a barbecue, and sure as could be smoke will come out of the barrel. I think its gimmicky, overs sized to the point of compensation and ridiculous, which is why everyone needs one.

Have you or your family attended any fall fairs this year? Find anything good you would like to share?

Giving Thanks

2011-10-05T22:46:00.001-04:00

This coming weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada so I thought I would give you some inspirational fall and thanksgiving decor ideas from my pinterest.

love this fresh green fall decor

please visit my pinterest Fall Decor Board for photo credits, info, and more inspiration

Falling in Love with my Wreath

2011-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

You know how I made that paper bag wreath and put our silhouettes on it in the summer? Then I decided that it was too Fallish and made a tissue paper wreath. Well now that its fall I made an entirely different wreath. Why you ask? Well when we were living in the apartment it was a OK to have an all paper wreath up on my front door. Not like it was going to get rained on. Now that I live in a house, not so much. I figured if it didn't get directly rained on it would still get soggy outside. So I took inspiration from itz fitz! Etsy shop and a grapevine wreath I had laying around ready to use and made this little ditty in a hour.

I used fabric glue, hot glue and felt I already had. I think its pretty... ok, for a first try at making these flowers, but itz does it way better. I was going to share a tutorial on how to make them but there are already a million of them out there so instead Ill share those with you. No sense in me clogging up the internet with ideas that are already out there.

At some point, probably in the spring now, I am going to be stripping my front door and painting it yellow so I wanted to choose colours that would accent that. Purple is the complementary colour to yellow and I plan on using alto of that in my flowers etc. I also decided that maybe some mustard would look good, and a neural like grey. Well I didnt have much grey so i used some oatmeal instead and added one grey flower. Bring it upstairs all said and done... and the grey is more like blue, and photographs like lilac... sigh. Such is crafting in the basement.

One thing I saw somewhere in cyberspace was that if you roll your flower from the outside in, instead of the inside out as most do, it opens the flower up more making it look fuller and a bit more realistic, like this one here:

Miss Priss has a tutrorial. As does June Pfaff Daley. I know there are lots more. Just Google, Rolled Felt Flower, or no sew felt rose and you can come up with lots of them.

A Piece of Lisa: Photoshop Tutorial: Learn Basic Photo Editing To E...

2011-09-25T22:08:00.000-04:00

A Piece of Lisa: Photoshop Tutorial: Learn Basic Photo Editing To E...: Hi everyone!
Here is a tutorial I've been working on for anyone that is new to photo editing. I wanted to show you two very easy ways to d...

New Look, Same old me!

2011-09-25T13:56:00.001-04:00

Just wanted everyone to know that though I have a new brighter look I am still me. Stay tuned for more great posts!

All White and thats All Right!

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

We recently moved into a new house and painted most of it white, or off white with white trim and white ceilings and thats all right! When it comes to picking colours for my own home I have a hard time. I believe that as an interior designer I have come to appreciate ALL types of interiros in the own way and as such have a hard time picking one that will stick for me as I appreciate them all. So instead of trying to pick one, I picked none.

Plus I agree with Karen at The Art of Doing Stuff, that "white is the botox of paint colours. We both look younger and fresher for it."

So I thought I would shower you with photos of my white on white.

Thanks for stopping by, more pictures of the house to follow... you know once we are done and all.

Baby Girls Birthday

2011-09-14T09:00:00.009-04:00

Almost 2 1/2 months ago was Canada day and Baby Girls Birthday. She turned 1 and momma went ALL out. I have been envisioning this party since I got pregnant. Before the doctor told us we were having a girl. But I already knew we were, Mothers intuition or what not. SO the lead up to this party was epic for me. Not quite crazy Party Mama's but a lot for a child who wont remember a thing about it.

I choose Cupcake theme. Why you ask? Well because I love cupcakes. I love making cupcakes, eating cupcakes, decorating cupcakes. I love the look of them. I just think they are the bees knees.

That's right I just said bees knees. I am bring it back, pass it on.

I started with making a birthday shirt. I went to Walmart and bought a basic white tee cut a cupcake and 1 out of felt and using fusible web stuck it down. Next I took white sequins and using a french knot sewed them down unto the frosting part as a sprinkle decoration.

This is the point where I let my readers down again. Because not only do I not have a photo of the shirt done, but I also dont have one of her in it where you can see the shirt. AND to make matters worse I washed it normally with the rest of her clothes after and the fusing has come loose AND I don't even know where it is right now to try and fake it for photos. Yea sometimes I fake it to make it. I get 10 fail points. Whenever I find it again I will share it. Promise.

UPDATE: found a photo of the shirt finished!

SO I give you photos from the party. You will notice that on top of the cupcake theme I also had a citrus colour pallet. Pink and orange being main, with yellow and white accents. I even decided on foods based on this colour.

I made the banner by hand cutting out each pennant and then each letter and gluing them together. Next I glued onto a grosgrain ribbon. Then I made the circle banners that I sell in my etsy shop.

Then there was the food. We had hot dogs and hamburgers as our main food but there was so much more. Above is the main spread of deserts. Yes I had all that for 30 people and probably half was eaten. There were wafer cookies, macadamia nut cookies, yourgert covered almonds, Turkish delight, cream fruit jellybeans in pink and orange, sugar sticks in pink and orange, and saltwater taffy. All but the cookies being purchased based on their colour alone. Then Fruit, Pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, and cantaloupe.

Not to be forgotten for my vegetarian friends and those on a diet we had cumber, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, and peppers with a sour cream dip.

Then the parade of cupcakes. I made approximately.... oh 70 cupcakes. I cant remember. I do know that I had 3-4 dozen leftover....

Oh and fruit punch, and pops (soda for my american friends).

Gotta Love cupcakes. There were 3 different shades, 2 pinks and an orange. In case you were wondering those cake stands I made with templates I purchased from Pepito's Room Etsy Shop. If you were not wondering then just look away.

This would be the only other visitor anywhere near her age. 11 month old baby boy of my friend.

Make A wish!

Yum Yum GOOOD cupcakes!

I had a great day. Lots of prep the day before and the morning of meant a fairly relaxed day believe it or not.

Anyone else gone all out for a party?

One Quick Thing

2011-08-28T15:41:00.001-04:00

OK OK so I SAID I was on a blog-cation but I just wanted to share this one quick thing with you before I go back to packing, painting, scraping, painting etc.

My husband, God bless him, has 2 chores in the house and only 2. 1) do the dishes and 2) clean the bathroom. Its alarming how infrequently they get done, especially the bathroom, but more so he never quite gets all of it done. He will get everything clean but the mirror, or not do the floor. Always forgets to change towels.... etc. So last night I made him a checklist of things to do that he can check off and return to me for inspection (yes we have gotten to that point). This would be helpful for children chores too in the future. I though I would share my Checklist with you. I had searched the interweb for a simple bathroom only weekly cleaning checklist but could not find anything, So i made this one.

Enjoy!

I kinda set it up in an order of what to do first. So remove the shower curtain then spray the tub (spray has to sit) then clean the toilet then.... etc.

Blog-cation

2011-08-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hello All I am going to be taking a Break from Blogging for the next Month ish as we are moving and though I have many many projects on the go I have nothing to show right now. So for you entertainment in the mean time be sure to check out these handy blogs I frequent and dont forget to check back with me in a month for more great projects!

The Art of Doing Stuff
Nesting Place
Centsational Girl
Isabella & Max Rooms
Thrifty Decor Chick
Honey + Fitz
Hello Naomi
Perfectly Imperfect
Design Mom
Maple & Magnolia

Enjoy!

A moment of Silence for birds we have lost.

2011-08-17T09:00:00.003-04:00

I would like to have a moment of silence to mark the passage of Owly the ceramic owl I purchased at VV Boutique and spray painted white.

OK moments over.

There was an accident you see, Owly was on baby girls book case looking grand an regal in his whiteness some books toppled and so did Owly, the result was something close to what happened to Humpty. All the kings horses and men could not fathom to do with the pieces of Owly and thus he needed to be replaced. Yes replaced. He had just died and already I was getting a replacement for him. I'm cruel like that.

So I went back to VV Boutique and found Owly 2.0. But he was destined for greater things. He will be bionic owly. I will make him stronger. faster, better. Well not really faster. He is a paper weight...

So I picked up some hydraulic Cement (Because it was the smallest quanitity of cement that they had not because of its hydraulic properties) some popcicle sticks, and disposible cups.

I put my owl in another cup bottoms up so I could fill em up with the cement. Pour/plop in your cement and let it set as per directions.

Next the Spray Paint. My love/hate affair with Krylon Fusion

This time it was LOVE as it came out with out the dreaded crackles, (though a few paint drips but that the operators fault not the product). Now I have a great owl and book end to put on the shelf.

Flower Photo's

2011-08-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

I thought this week I would share some my own Photography with you. Most of these were taken in the spring and early summer but I am particularly loving these.

The Best Pork Ribs

2011-08-03T09:00:00.032-04:00

Vegetarians look away, I am going to start with my first recipe listed on here and I have decided its going to be meat. Why meat? Because I love it. I especially love pork back ribs. I never cared for pork much and didn't like ribs at all until I became pregnant with baby girl. I town was to hold its first ever rib fest and I was so excited. Well didn't I end up having a baby the day it started and end up missing it all!!!!

Anyway so since then I have been craving ribs. I was at a friends house and they made ribs for all us, I asked how she made them (having not done so myself) tried it out and haven't looked back since.

You will need:
A rack of Pork Back Ribs
Inexpensive Chicken and Rib BBQ sauce (such as Kraft, or house brand)
Liquid Smoke
A Beer - any variety really. whatever you like, or more like whatever you dont like but seem to have on hand. don't use the good beer for cooking

The Good Stuff - BBQ Sauce that you love most for me that Bulls Eye Chicken and Rib

Oven (really key here that you have an oven)

Roasting pan with rack (preferably one that will fit a rack of ribs)
Lid or foil for pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and throw ribs in roasting pan on rack. Dont throw throw them, place them. Put that in the oven for 30 min to let the fat melt off a bit, next poor some beer into the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover it. The pan that is, cover the bottom of the pan, not the ribs.
Turn down oven to 200 and cover. Now let it sit for as long as possible. 3 hours minimum 4 is better. 1 hour before serving cover with inexpensive bbq sauce on both sides and let roast again uncovered for the final hour.

When ready cover with The Good Stuff and serve.

Your Welcome. Trust me after you try it you will be thanking me.

Fabulous Finds Friday - Perfectly Imperfect Blog

2011-07-29T08:34:00.000-04:00

My Fabulous Find for this Friday is a new blog to my repertoire Perfectly Imperfect

Click on over and take a look!

Poof Ball decorations

2011-07-27T15:10:00.000-04:00

I saw this Poof Ball made of coffee filters over at Parlour, and thought to myself, who not give it a try, its going to only cost the price of a ridiculously expensive Styrofoam ball a package of filters. Coffee filters were $3 for 300 but the Styrofoam ball was $7!!!!

Anyway you should pop over to see her large ball and tutorial. I am going to share with you how I made mine.

You will need a stack of coffee filters, a glue gun and lots of sticks, a Styrofoam ball. I used a 6" ball on my large white one and it took near 200 filters, the smaller pink one I used a 3" ball and hand dyed the filters first.

I like to use a marker, pencil or best of all a wooden dowel and wrap the filler around it centering it first.

Then glue it on.

You need to space them close together, once glue has set in one area I like to fluff it by hand and then try to get between them. basically if I pushed two filters apart and I could see foam I glued a few more.

And these are my final balls. I have an idea using pom poms, balls and lanterns for over baby girls bed but I have to get into the new house first. Ill show you them later on when its all up.

To dye the filters I used a Lasagna Pan with warm water and food colouring. I hand dyed each one dipping it in the coloured water leaving them for a few seconds to a minute. I then squeeze out most the water, shaped them into the quarters formed and then dried. Warm the oven to low, around 200 degrees. Keep your eye on it as it is paper and could burn but otherwise put them on foil in the oven and let them dry out. Once dry glue on!

Fabulous Finds Friday - Sharpie Paint Marker + Lamp

2011-07-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

This weeks Fabulous find comes to us from Better Homes and Gardens Simple Paint Updates via Ohdeedoh

Uses A lamp you already have (or one you pick up), a Sharpie Oil Based Marker, and your artistic flair. LOVE this!! I just purchased two lamps I am going to spray but if that does jazz it up enough I will pull out a marker or two...

Modeling Paste Chair

2011-07-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

OK so you know those two previous posts I did about Modeling Paste Art? They are Here and Here If you cant remember them. Well That was all leading up to this. The Chair Painting

Here it is Step by Step. You will need:

A Pallet Knife

Modeling Paste

Wooden Paint Panel (mine is 24" x 30" but you can start smaller)

Removable Spray adhesive

clear acetate the size of paint panel (for stencil)

craft Paint (I used white and black)

craft knife

Sharpie Marker

First decide on you silhouette and print it out as large as you desire for your final image. I used a silhouette of Maarten Baas' Smoke Dining Chair. This will require taping lots of standard paper together. Whilst this is printing paint your board its base colour. Actually do this a day before you start the stencil if you plan to make stencil and past right away. Which I would advise you do.

Next lay your acetate over the image and trace with a sharpie. I had to do this on the floor as its my largest works surface.... Also I blacked out the areas I need to cut.

Next cut out the stencil on a large craft cutting matt. Dont forget any areas that need to be untouched in the centre need bridges and should not be cut loose until on the board.

Centre to the board as you want it and mark corners with a sharpie. Next spray with adhesive and follow directions for temporary adhesion. Then Place on board lining corners up. Press down.

Next cut out bridges leaving floating pieces in place.

Now mix your white modeling paste with whatever colour you fancy. I mixed in black craft paint and got a dark charcoal. Very fitting for a smoke chair.

Now come the fun part. Cover the stencil with the paste

Use lots of texture but try to get a relatively even amount across the image. You don't really want to have2mm thick on one side and 5mm thick on the other. Unless you are doing mountains and you fade it up....

Next we need to take the craft knife and poke around a bit to find the cutouts. Once you find it cover up all your other little holes and remove insert part.

Pull off stencil.

Any small mistakes such as the following can easily be touched up using the tip of your pallet knife....

..or removed with tweezers.

TA DA!!!!!

In case you were wondering pretty much all of these supplies can be found at an artist supply store. Mine came from Currys

What is a Chandelier

2011-07-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

Currently I have been searching for a chandelier for my new home to go in the dining room. I have been particularly looking on Kijiji for something I can give new life, and on craigs list. This search as been frustrating as the goods stuff is always gone within a day and the other stuff... well its not even correct. When I search Chandelier I expect to find a picture of this:

Or even the more modern interpretation antler chandelier

NOT

Also this one is NOT a Tiffany lamp. Tiffany is a brand, it must be a Tiffany to be called that. It might be Tiffany Styled (which this isn't) or more accurately a stained glass pendant fixture

You see, a Chandalier is defined as : a decorative, sometimes ornate, light fixture suspended from a ceiling, having branched supports for a number of lights. That bold part is key Branched supports, or arms, and numerous lights. Yes you pendant might hold 3 bulbs but it doesn't have arms!! These last examples are pendant lights. Large pendants, but pendants none the less. Stop miss labeling people. Know what you have when you sell it!
Rant Concluded.

Fabulous Finds Friday - White Walls

2011-07-15T21:06:00.001-04:00

This weeks Fabulous Finds Friday is Nesters Pintrest board of white walled rooms.

White and Off Whites will be the colours in the new house.......

Tissue Paper wreath

2011-07-13T09:00:00.009-04:00

So I had tried to make some pom poms for my daughters room and they were a bit dismal. Then Karen at The Art of Doing Stuff show us them used on presents which looked more like flowers then pom poms and I liked that idea more. Then I thought, Hey, I could do that on a wreath for summer!!!!!! Then Karen beat me to it with herpom pom wreath.

I did make my own using just 3 flowers and some ribbon but Ill let Karen show you how to make them. In the mean time here is my tissue flower wreath. I used wide green ribbon and wrapped the foam form then glued on the flowers.

Fabulous Finds Friday er Saturday- Raceytay

2011-07-09T16:23:00.002-04:00

OK say so I am a day late and a dollar short but I still had a GREAT find. Raceytay is a Photographer from Ottawa and she is fabulous. I am in love with her. or maybe just her work. I cant tell anymore. I actually went ahead and bought some pieces. She has a BOGO Christmas in July Sale going on. I ended up getting some for our new home.

I initially saw: 'Wonderland' and fell in love with it and decided I had to have it huge for Baby girls bedroom

But THEN I saw the carousal ones, and they would fit with her room now better.... So I got in 5x5 size

What goes around comes around

Catch me if you can

"Who's going to ride your white horses'

I got this one: 'Beauty will save the world' in a large 12x12 format and am pulling one of the greys from the chickadee for the paint in bathroom where this will hang. Its kinda wintery but I am so in love with it.

I also fell in love with

Neutral Geometry -Union station Architecture

Guardians of the west -Union station Architecture

Alium Nine billion

Lavender fields forever

Happy Shopping!

Just when you thought you were safe in your house....

2011-07-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

HOUSEPLANT NINJA!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK so I cant take credit for the idea. I was prusing Etsy for ideas on what I could put in my plant using the copious amounts of polymer clay I have on hand. I came across Lilley and her Rainbow of 6 Ninja Companions which I thought would be great in a plant.

I made mine because I saw it and thought I Can Craft THAT! So I did:

I wanted him to be dark enough that it didn't jump out but light enough that you can still see him. I think he is so cute. I am happy with it.

Poppy Cake

2011-06-29T09:00:00.001-04:00

For mothers day I made my mom a really nice poppy cake which I made last weeks flower card to go with. Its a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and painted white fondant.

First make a cake. Ill be honest I dont make cake from scratch very often. Bulk Barn has an awesome white and chocolate cake mixes that taste just as good as anything i have ever made from scratch so I just don't bother. Here I used Chocolate and made 2 6" circle cakes then cut them into thirds and stacked with chocolate frosting between the layers.

Then I did a thick crumb coat in chocolate. Moms favorite is chocolate everything. However I wanted to put white fondant over this and chocolate will show though sooo.....

I then had to do a thin crumb coat in white frosting.

I had made this flower ahead of time using white fondant i tinted orange. It was very trial and error with fondant and gum paste tools. I want to start a course on how to do it better. I probably made a dozen petals and then chose from there which i liked best.

I then mixed some gel food colouring with some vodka to make my own edible water colours. I painted very basic flowers and stems that emulated poppies. Plopped the flower on top and used some green butter cream frosting to make grass boarder around the bottom. This was the result:

I gotta say for the first time using fondant in over 5 years I am pretty happy with it. I have a very difficult time trying to get the butter cream very square on the cake. I have since dome some research and it might be because I use Wilton Butter cream Icing Recipe which is butter less and the butter is what makes it very smooth. I might try a new cake with half and half next time.

New Bird Kits from KB Paper Creations Etsy Shop

2011-06-27T11:31:00.003-04:00

Just a quick Post to let everyone know I have some new bird kits available in my Etsy shop KB Paper Creations. All of my mobile designs can be found here but the new kits are:
Citrus

and Cool Purple.

Happy Shopping

Summer Flower Card

2011-06-22T09:00:00.003-04:00

Today I am going to teach you a craft. its a summer flower card. The idea came from Martha, and if you would like to see the original post it is here. Tissue paper card. Martha did it for mothers day... and so did I! but it can really be used for any occasion for a woman. probably not a man. I don't think they would appreciate it as much.
You will need:
1. either lots of colours of coordinating tissue OR a cheap set of watercolours and white tissue. Guess which way I went. Its the cheap way.
2. a 1" circle craft punch or scissors and patience.
3. craft glue
4. Marker or watercolours
5. blank card.

First you will need to mix together your water colours in pleasing coordinating tones and paint them onto a piece of white tissue paper. Please note this WILL bleed through to the table so protection under or a washcloth after will be needed. Now you need to let that dry for a bit. I stuck mine over the top of a clothes drying rack for 15 min.

In the mean time get started on the card. I have pre-mades but you can always take a piece of card stock, fold it in half and find an envelope. You are going to want to write or print your message on the inside. I choose to stick with water colours to stick with the feeling of the card and the colours.

Then paint/ draw the stems of the flowers on the front.

Hopefully your paper is dry now. if not go watch some tv and wait..... Ok now that its dry take your craft punch and punch out circles in a bunch in different shades. Your probably going to have the tissue tear and need some trimming but the ragged edges look good so don't worry too much. If you don't have a circle craft paper punch you can cut them out by hand. I would use a pill bottle or something as a template and trace it.

Once you have a stock pile of them you can glue!

We are going to scrunch up the circles. I did it by folding in half then half again then grabbing at the centre and spinning it a bit to make it more scrunchy. then open it up a bit. Then dip the centre in glue holding onto the flower with tweezers and place onto a stem on the card. You need 3-4 circles per flower.

Thats all there is too it. I seem to not have any finished shots though... cause I got problems like that.

Your Head on your door

2011-06-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

So I was looking for a door decoration idea and decided I wanted to do something using Mary Jane and Galoshes Butterfly Wreath. I have always wanted to make this wreath. I love hers just the way it is but I wanted to make mine a little different. So instead I decided to do a monogrammed silhouette wreath.

You will need a wreath just like in the aforementioned one. You should go look at it and do so. I will wait......

OK good to have you back. Now that you have a wreath that looks approximatively like this:

Next take some profile shots of the members of your family and black paper and cut out your silhouettes. I used the instructions from Martha Famed Silhouette Family Tree only scaling down the photos to an appropriate size. I also did a H for our last name and glued it in the centre.

The Results are mixed. I feel like the silhouettes are hard to see, the black does not show up enough so a lighter shade might be better.

Quick Tip For Finding Stains

2011-06-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

If you live in a multi unit building with shared laundry, or go to a laundry mat spraying stains before going to the laundry can backfire. Most stain sprays say leave on for no more than 15 min or so. I am never able to spay ahead of time because more often then I like, I end up in the laundry room with my laundry ready for a wash and no washers, and if I dont spray when I see it, I often loose track of the spot once down in the cramped laundry. Then the other day it stuck me. Clothes pins. I know. So simple any idiot could figure it out, but it took this idiot 3 years to get it. So if you are an idiot like this idiot this tip is for you.

Place a cloths pin next to a stain. Once in the laundry room they are much easier to see, treat and wash. Simple but effective.

Art with a Deeper Dimension

2011-05-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Remember that Modeled Painting I posted before that I had botched?? Well I redid it. Properly this time on a wood canvas. For a more in depth look at how its done stay tuned after the jump!

You will need the same things as in the previous posting minus the water colour plus acrylic craft paint and something in which to mix the paste and paint. (such as disposable cup or plate)

Start by mixing all your colours at once.
Put down a colour followed something else, layering over each other.

Adding more layers. You may need to let it dry slightly between layers depending on the desired effect.

In the end you will have a multi dimensional abstract piece of art. I gave mine a slight sanding after it was finished to smooth out the rough edges.

Do excuse my nasty collage left over lamps. I am currently in the market for some much nicer ones....

Sources: Acrylic Paint, Modeling Paste, Pallet Knife, Paint Panel

The Craziest Art You Could Make

2011-05-11T09:00:00.006-04:00

This is probably the craziest thing I have ever made. Except maybe for the hundreds for feet of paper chain I had made for my wedding. Remind me to tell you about it some time. Anyway so I made this circle art. Its 4 feet long by 2 feet high. This involves using lots of paper, glue and time. Lots and lots of time, and some times your friends time too. Instructions after the jump!

You will need Quilling Paper in a multitude of colours in 3/8" width. Your favourite liquid craft glue (I like a gel), a wooden skewer, a canvas of desired size, paint to cover said canvas. A large amount of white craft glue (mod podge).

Start by taking one piece of quilling paper and curling one end along a straight hard edge (I used the skewer). Similar to curling ribbon for a present. Then start to curl the ribbon tightly. keeps as most tentinos on it as you can with out breatking paper.

Glue every so often to ensures firm hold through out the coil.

contine to roll untill entire piece is done.

Then glue one your next piece and roll. And roll and roll..... do this many many times adding different colours. It takes quite a bit of that time I was talking about earlier.

However the result is pretty. I like to do colour waves - like here orange to yellow to green etc - or fades - light blue to dark blue say.

The next step I didn't take photos of because as discussed previously there is something wrong with me, but simply dip the wheel into white craft glue (podge) and let it set. This stiffens the back and makes it one solid piece that can be pilled up with the dozens of other ones you will need. Also it will prevent it from slipping apart which can be disastrous.

The Results?

FANTASTIC on of a kind art that you made!

It really is stunning and fills one with a sense of pride in an accomplishment. mine sits over my bed. See:

No I dont do pristine sheets. I like scrunchy and lived in.

Also this pieces will be an attraction for tiny fingers so watch out for that!

Dress it up for spring and summer

2011-05-04T09:00:00.002-04:00

I have started wearing hair pieces to jazz up my hair. You can make them using just about anything really but here I went super simple and used fake flowers. The key is to find something that looks half decent but not too high end, then glue it to a clip. My clips are silver plated toothed alligator clips.

Either cut or pull off flower head and trim to as flat as possible.

Take clip and scuff up with a small piece of sandpaper for better adhesion. Use E-600 to glue clip on flower.

Let dry overnight their wear to you delight.

This is another one I did with a flower from the dollar store. This flower does not pull off the stem. I found out the hard way as I pulled it off and it fell apart into several pieces. I had to go purchase a new one because it was too messed up to fix even for me.

Sources: E-600 & Yellow Flower Clips

Hanging Around

2011-04-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

Do you have a child who forgets to take their lunch? People who enter your house loudly while the baby sleeps? People who need to be kept out of places? Finicky pre-teens searching for self expression?? Well then a door hanger is what you need. This arouse from a need for me to indicate to visitors, the superintendent, door to door political solicitor etc from knocking loudly on the door while the wee babe sleeps. Also my husband perpetually forgets to take his lunch to work and thus gets nothing.

So I made this:

Please excuse the chipped door frame... we rent.
For this project you will need:

A wooden door hanger. Don't ask me where I got mine I have had them for years. Really over a decade people. No clue where I got them from. Spray adhesive, and decorative leftover scrapbook paper. Or new decorative scrapbook paper. Whatever you wish. I would think assembly instructions are pretty clear. spray the paper, smooth it over hanger let dry cut out. Here is a fun action shot of me cutting it out.

Sexy no? After it dries decorate with stickers. I did one side as a Shh baby is asleep the other is a reminder for my husband to take lunch.

your welcome.

Thanks A Lot Mom!

2011-04-20T14:37:00.003-04:00

Did you make the Heart Garland and have some left over hearts?? Are you looking for a craft that you can use them for? A craft for an important looming day? A craft for mothers day perhaps? A craft that say to your mom, 'Hey you, thanks a lot' or if you are more sentimental, 'Mother you are the guiding force of my life, with out you I would be lost, here is a reminder of my love for you. May your gaze upon it daily and think of me'.

Or perhaps you are looking for a craft to decorate your bedside table or workspace. Perhaps you have an obsession with heart shaped thing. Well then you have come to the right place. This is the Framed heart.

To Make it you will need:

Left over hearts from the fore mentioned Heart Garland (or make one just for this)
A frame you like, or an old frame you don't
decorative paper
spray paint (if you don't like your frame)
white glue
paper glue (I used zip dry)

1. Remove Glass from Frame.
2. If you don't like your frame, spray paint it a colour you do like. I chose white. If you have an empty frame you like and doesn't need painting then skip.

My frame came from Drummond House Rescue and Restore and what a ceramic thingy in a frame I just pained the whole thing since there was no glass.

3. Cut a piece of smooth cardboard, foam core, think wood or whatever you can glue your paper too and insert in the frame in place of the glass. It needs to be smooth so that when you glue down the decorative paper it is smooth finished.

4.Glue your decorative paper down with an appropriate paper that wont wrinkle glue. Let dry

5. Spread some glue on a scrap piece of paper using another scrap of paper.

6. Dip the back of the heart into the glue and glue to decorative paper.

DONE!

Eggstravagant Wreath

2011-04-13T09:00:00.038-04:00

You know those eggs we made last week for easter decoration. Well I hope you kept some around like I told you too for this week. Did you? Hold them up now class, Marry where are your eggs? You didn't do them? I am going to have to call your mother... For the rest of the class we are going to have fun today making Easter wreaths, which are also spring wreaths.

You will need the aforementioned eggs, Excelsior (whatever that is) a glue gun with glue sticks, and a wreath. I chose a grapevine wreath but whatever decorative one and size tickles your fancy. I also used some fakey flowers which are optional.

Again I dont believe my readers to be simpletons and as such have not given step by step directions on how to glue things. Just do so in a pleasing manner. I started with the Excelsior then added eggs, then flower more excelsior, more eggies, burnt my finger, more flowers. etc. This is a good time to remember and read up on glue gun safety least you burn yourself too. Remember gun safety is in your hands.

And here are the results.

And of course the sexy full length shot.

I used a piece of ribbon I had laying around looped it over the wreath and used a clear push pin to stick it to the back of my wooden apartment door. I just hope no young-so-and-so's dont mess with it. If they do there will be some stern fist wagging.

Sources: Wreath & Excelsior Eggs Flowers

Great Eggspectations

2011-04-06T09:00:00.003-04:00

So I decided that this year I was going to decorate for easter. Something I haven't done since my first year of university. But the big question was what eggs was I going to use? Real eggs blown out? well I have always wanted to do that but they are very fragile and I have an infant. Plus I wanted to potentially make a wreath for our door and in an apartment building real eggs defiantly wouldn't last. So what to do.... Paper Mache? I could blow out real eggs then paper mache over them to make them study. but I have never had paper mache turn out smooth. Plaster? that would be very difficult not to mention messy. So I decided on Foam and the adventure took off from there...

Supplies:
Foam Eggs,

White Latex spray paint

pin cushion

craft paint

brushes

First off don't bother going to the craft store and getting eggs. They have the holey bubbly textury foam eggs. What we want is they solid Styrofoam type that are like meat trays. Solid. These we find in dollar stores. Next you need to make an stand for painting as we need to spray paint them. The first one I made was a cardboard box with tooth picks sticking out of it.

It seemed to work well until I pulled them all off after painting and the paint stuck to the sick and I had a rather large hole in the bottom.

So I remade it using sewing pins and a box where I could close the lid, thus keeping it and not having a safety issue with the wee babe. this made just the tiniest of indentations and did not pull the paint off. SO i recommended doing that. make your self a pin cushion, place your eggs on them and spray with white latex flat finish paint. Once dry paint with craft paint in any way you desire. I decided to go with the natural brown and blues.

Make some extra. some will turn out funny some will get crushed by the baby.

Plus you are going to need some extra for next weeks craft. So make sure set some aside.

Sources: Eggs Spray & Craft Paint

Oops I did it again.

2011-03-31T17:41:00.000-04:00

Ok I am not going to break out in full Britney, at least not on camera. In my head for sure. I am a super star in my head. I got the sweetest moves too. In my head.

But I digress.. What really happened? What did I really do again that Martha warned me against? I received a glue gun burn. Martha Says always have a bowl of ice water on hand when glue gunning in the likelihood that you will burn your finger. And of course she is right. I mean shes Martha. However I am decidedly NOT Martha so I did not take this sage advice and today whilst making an easter wreath to show you in the coming weeks I burnt my finger but bad. Blister inducing burn. I am currently in a state of oowwy.

SO this post is to remind you all to practice safe gluing and listen to Martha.

DIY Modeled Painting How To

2011-03-30T09:00:00.003-04:00

Remember that post about the vinyl wall decal clock and I told you I would talk about the painting in the corner some time in the future? Well the future is now my friends. I am demoing on a smaller picture I am doing. To remind you this is the big one.

You will need
A Canvas or structure of sorts. I really recommend a wooden canvas. :

Modeling Paste - I used full bodied but would use light weight in the future, any brand:

A Palate Knife:

Water colours:

On the Large one I used a wooden Paint Panel and it worked out great. On this smaller one I used a stretched canvas and its not as great. it caves in a bit and causes some cracking due to the weight of the paste. Either way use your Pallet knife to scrape and design a structure. If you are using a large canvas I highly recommend you buy a larger palate knife, for something small a little one will do.

After it is dry over night use water colours in a random and pleasing manner to highlight the patterns.

I thought in the end I would like this look with the soft water colours. I have to say. I dont. This is a DIY fail for me. I will probably end up re-doing or tossing this some day. Lesson Learned. I prefer the first larger one much much more.On that I mixed latex paint in with the paste and spread it in layers. I highly recommend using several pallets of mixed paint and doing them at the same time. Waiting for it to dry means you have odd layers that don't look quite right for that blended look. For example do some white then grey then more white then blue then light grey then white etc. blending the colours into one another in different directions. In the end you can sand down high ridges if you want. If ever I do this again I will take a video or pictures or some such.

Snow Birds - House 1 Part 5 Guest Room 2

2011-03-25T09:00:00.016-04:00

Incase you missed it here is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Part 4

Again in this room we have no before, just afters. We got the furntiure from Savon again, and the paint from Benjamin Moore Colour Provance Creme 2021-60.

Snow Birds - House 1 Part 4 Guest Room 1

2011-03-24T09:00:00.004-04:00

Click here for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

The Larger of the 2 Guest Rooms. I dont have any before pictures of this one because they werent used much and there was nothing in them.

So hereis the after.The furniture was from Savon, the Paint is Benjamin Moore Camoflage 2143-40.

Snow Birds - House 1 Part 3 Master Suite

2011-03-23T09:00:00.006-04:00

Please check out Part 1 and Part 2 to see more of this house.

Today we are on the Master Bedroom. This Bedroom was more of the bland and basic when it was purchased.

We painted the room Benjamin Moore Soft Fern 2144-40. The Furniutre and bathroom lighting from Home Hardware, the bedding from Target.

Snow Birds - House 1 Part 2 Living & Dining Rooms

2011-03-22T09:00:00.006-04:00

This is the continuation of that same North Port House Previously Posted. If you missed it be sure to check out Part 1.

The Living Room & Dining room
As the following Pictures show we had mre of that odd vanilla clour and really under utalized the space and archetecutral featurs of the home.

So we did a bunch of painting, bought all new furniture and did some sprucing up. We brought the couches and chairs down from canada, from Home Hardware, and the TV unit down in Florida from Savon.

The Livingroom and kitchen were painted in Benjamine Moore AF-130 Truffle and the Back hall area and Dining Room is Cabot Trail CC-480. Dingin Room furniture from Savon.

Snow Birds - House 1 Part 1 Bathroom

2011-03-21T09:38:00.005-04:00

I thought I would give you a tour of 2 Florida homes but rather than show you all of each house in one post which would be so long that you would give up halfway through and leave I have decided I am going to do a post every day for the next week featuring a different room in the house. Later - perhaps next week or the week after) I am going to do the same for a much much larger and grander home in Florida.

This first home belongs to my parents in North Port Florida where I currently am sitting listening to crickets as the warm night breeze filters through the window. Jealous yet?

My parents purchased this home last year as a get away home mostly for the winter They followed suit after family and family friends who have all purchased homes in the depressed Florida Gulf housing market had jumped in. This home

is on the smaller side, 2,000 sq ft. with a large pool and Lanai and 3 good sized bedrooms (there are queens in the guest rooms and a king in the master). The home is 10 years old and was never painted. Walls, ceiling, and trim in ALL rooms was the same bland vanilla ice cream colour. Seriously go get some vanilla ice cream smear it on the wall and when it dries to that crusty-gooey-scrub-like-heck-to-get-it-off-the-bowl stage that will be the colour of this house. Ewwww.

Look even the outside was all vanilla esque.

Now it has a bit more definition with dark trim.

Now most people would start you out on your tour thought the front doors right into the livringroom. I however and going to start in the bathroom because I am odd. Always have been, always will be. I think it has had the most dramatic, yet simple changes done to it.

Some times when it comes to design I honestly dont know where to start. Should I start with the lovely bambooesque shelving over the toilet? Or Perhaps the millions of elderly grab bars. I was fairly certian you had all missed that because of the giant sheer elephant in the room. The curtains..... I mean beside the fact that I am against having a lot of fabrics int he washroom for sanitary reason I am also against whole circus fusion thing they have gone for. I mean circus in the bathroom is so 18 years ago. Anyway yest this overbearing monstrosity has been removed. home post haste after getting the keys which was thankfully easy since it was mostly all on tensions bars.

The lighting came from Home Hardware, the faucet came from Lowes, and the accessories, such as curtain and jars came from Target. Paint is Benjamin Moore Mountain Air CC-636. 2 grab bars were removed including the large ones by the tolet. the toilet is still on its pedestal however which means if you have short legs and have to go to the bathroom your feet dangle the whole time. The cabinets are hideous and completely flat with the countrer top.at some point in the future they may end up being painted or replaced but its just fine for now.

A lipstick job really. But a really nice lipstick it is!

Trees of Florida

2011-03-16T11:26:00.002-04:00

I have been in North Port Florida For a week now and have run out of crafty posts for you. I have many new exciting projects, ideas and photos in the works, but alas I am awaiting time, money, and being back home to accomplish that. As such instead I will entertain you with some photos I have taken of foliage around town.

This picture is one of my favourite. There is all these weeds and ferns growing on the side of this palm. Its rather fascinating.

Unfortunately most of the photos were loading sideways and I am unable to correct it at this time.

There is something wrong with me.

2011-03-09T12:37:00.005-05:00

There is something wrong with me. Well I am sure there are MANY things that are wrong with me, right now I am missing a fingernail. An actual finger nail, not like an acrylic. It got crushed and fell off. Thats wrong. But specifically blog related there is something wrong. I started this blog because I am constantly decorating and crafting thing and I thought I would share them. HOWEVER I constantly forget to take before photos. How am I supposed to show my amazing transformations if all you see is the after.

Case and point I picked up at VV Boutique (Value Village) for $7.99. It was dusty rose and glossy with no shade. I kept it on hand for some day when I can afford a shade. Shades are the bane of my existence. I get a lamp for $10 or less and then a great shade at a lighting store runs around $80. I am not spending 10x the value of the lamp on a shade. Luckily at another VVB I found this shade. Not exactly what I wanted, I wanted a drum shade with no tapering and a bit shorter, but heck this one was $3.

So I sprayed the lamp using Krylon Fusion Spray paint in Satin white. This is the same paint I used for my night tables, and the table in my daughters nursery. And once I again I have had some problems with wrinkling. Mostly this has occurred on the back so I am just going to leave it for now, but in the future i am going to have to sand down a bit and respray.

But from the front it looks great! Here is a lovely photograph of it with the lights on.

Wanna see another Lamp I sprayed??? Of course you do thats why you are here after all.

This was another VV find, a Brass one this time. I sprayed it with the same krylon fusion in satin white as a base coat (it will stick to brass) then I sprayed it with a custom spray. My local hardwares store (Weeks Home Hardware in Waterdown) does paint to aerosol conversion. You have to buy a quart of the paint and then pay to have it put in an aerosol, but in the end you have limitless range of colours. I picked this glossy teal to match the rest of the accents in the room. Then sprayed it over the white base. I didn't have any problems with crinkling this time, but I did have some of the paint scrape off when I was putting the light back together and wiring it. Remind me to show you have to rewire a light one of these days...

Next light project will be ceiling lights...

Kittybeans Jewelry Etsy Shop Closing

2011-03-03T00:03:00.002-05:00

Due to the tough competition in the Jewelry category on websites the world over I have decided to close the Kittybeans Jewelry Etsy Shop. Items currently listed are on 20% off when you enter coupon code: CLOSING upon checkout. Items will be on sale as long as the items posting lasts, once expired I will not be renewing them.

Of course I will still be around etsy in my paper shop www.kbpapercreations.etsy.com. I have my Kittybeans website at www.KittybeansJewlery.ca as well as the Facebook fan Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kittybeans-Jewelry/124151944263767

Clock Crazy

2011-03-02T09:38:00.003-05:00

In continuation of my previous weeks posting on time pieces I honor you with the other clock that everyone takes notice when they first come over. Everyone usually thinks its nifty and painted on which isn't a bad idea, but its actually is a vinyl wall decal and real clockworks.

I got it at Rona. The clockworks was separate and then they had all sorts of options for the clock face and a few for the hands. The vinyl is stuck on in the ordinary decal fashion and the clockworks are held up with a small nail/picture hanging hardware. We are in a rental so I thought it was a great idea that its removable. Down side I wont be able to take it with me. getting off the wall intact would be impossible. I am sure there are ones on Etsy too, and if not then there are LOTS of decal makers out there and one of them would probably be willing to make you a clock face. Next time I might just paint it on..... or not. would probably be very hard to get it right.... However I would get one custom made then I can correct the mistake in it. If you notice 4 is shown as IIII which is incorrect. it should be IV. This is not the first clock I have seen out there with incorrect roman numerals. Apparently people the world over are forgetting grade school basics... sad.

But my clock is happy. It sits happily in the corner next to the rather large "painting" I made (more on that in a future post).

Now to run, times a ticking.
I made a funny.

The Most Fabulous Clock

2011-02-25T14:38:00.001-05:00

You know whats hard to find? A good clock. Something that is unobtrusive, or interesting. Especially for the bedside. I mean an illuminated clock radio MIGHT be practical but who wants to just be practical. Why not also pretty? Also illumination is not all that its cracked up to be either. It shines in your eyes and if you are like me and like your bedroom to resemble the inside of a deep cave or mineshaft at night when you are sleeping then the clock lighting up your room and taunting you that it is 3:14 am and you still are not asleep is not so great.

So I have been looking for a new bedside clock. currently I have nothing so unless I take my phone into my room at night I have no idea what time it is when in there. I asked myself why cant they make PRETTY bedside clocks??

Now they do.

I saw this beauty on Etsy today and my jaw dropped. Seriously one of the most gorgeous clocks I have ever seen. Its by Off Cut Studio out of Toronto (yeah Canada). This beauty is Walnut, which is my favorite of all the woods. They have other woods but not a pretty as this in my opinion. Its got a really great 70's retro kinda vibe to it that is very in today. I heart it a lot.

Night Table converstion

2011-02-16T10:53:00.004-05:00

Night stand, bedside table, dooy whats it. No matter what you want to call it I was looking for new ones. Ideally I would like either mirrored or walnut chest of drawers for beside the bed but as my budget limits me instead I took some tables my aunt and uncle were getting rid of when they moved and spray painted them!

They started off as this

Then I sanded them down and using a tack cloth removed the dust

Then I spray them black. I used Krylon Fusion in Gloss Black. Great Stuff, I use it on a lot of my projects. Downside is that if you forget to respray within 24 hours - like I have done for a new project I am working on - you have to wait 7 days before you can re coat. And yes you REALLY DO need to wait the 7 days... found that out the hard way once....and ta da here they are

Ok so they are not a huge transformation. I put the original hardware back on but I am looking out for new ones that will fit in the same holes. And they are kinda dwarfed by our massive bed... AND the drawers stick.... but at least they are not 9" shorter than my bed like the old ones!
And yes I know the Kleenex is not a sex touch but when you have allergies like we do its necessary though I should keep my eye out for some spanky box covers or something - anyone seen some around? And new lights for sure, I loath these ones... And new nightstands...

Hearts and Love Garland

2011-02-10T22:14:00.002-05:00

So I saw a thing on Etsy and thought heck I can craft that! its a heart garland. I changed it up a bit and fiddled around until I figured out just how to do it. Now I am sharing that with you. Kind of last minute for a valentines thing but can be done in different coloured papers for every day decoration or a girls room.

You are going to need:
Coloured Card stock Paper (such as scrapbook paper) either 12x12 or 8.5x11
A paper cutter
craft adhesives - I like a gel adhesive
Binder Clips
Fishing Line
E6000 Adhesives

Cut 4 pieces of paper 1" wide trim 1 piece down 1" (for 8.5x11) or 2" (for 12x12). then trim one down to 3"

piece and punch a small hole in one end.

then take a ruler measure and mark 2cm and 4cm from the non hole end.

You will now have the following pieces:

Next fold all the longer pieces in half (leave 3" piece long) and sharpen fold with bone folder

Next glue all the pieces together at the bottom edge

Then clip with binder clip. Let dry for 10 minutes or so.

Using your bone folder curl thepaper inswards slightly.

Then take the inner most pieces and glue at the very bottom near the clip.

next glue the middle strips at the 2cm mark

Lastly glue the outter strips at the 4cm mark

Next reclip the strip up slightly to make a more pointed heart. if you like the rounded shape skip this step.

Once you have made a collection of hearts I used 9 across my wider door frame its time to start stringing. get a piece of fishing line 2 feet wider than your door. starting in the centre glue your center heart in the fishing line using the E6000 glue and a toothpick or skewer to apply it. Space the hearts approximately 1cm apart at the widest. Pull string taunt as hearts are being glued.

if you don't glue them you end up with this

Tie knot loops in the end to hang.

Card Crazy

2011-02-09T13:52:00.001-05:00

Lately I have been on a card kick. Making cards for family and friends, making cards for sale in my shop. Then on the front page of Etsy there was a great card that I needed to make for my mom for her birthday. Oh I am sorry she doesn't have birthdays anymore its the 4th anniversary of her 50th birthday. I wont go and sell this obviously as I am copying ideas but I thought I would share with you what I created.

The original card was created by Ashley Pahl and is lovely. If you are looking to buy a card you should check it out.

So then I decided I needed to make a card for her from my daughter - her first and only grandchild.

That pink smudge is my daughters thumbprint I really hope my mom likes the card. I am sure she will though. She is having a kick-ass 1960 madmen themed party Ill post some pictures of my costume afterwards!