Resurgence

It's been a while...since my last attempt at a post I had gone through a period of some intense self-questioning. Thankfully, I have since arisen from the ashes of gloom with lessons learnt and eager to unleash my creative prowess!

What's to come....

***Room revamp. Going for that forest by the ocean kinda feels

 A little bit of this....

 With hopefully a color close to this...sooooo many paint options. Can't. Pick. One.

 Gorgeous bed sheets!

Loving the simple and light pairing :D

....Before and after shots to come...

** Furniture making

I REALLY want to DIY a patio bench...maybe I'll take a Wood Shop class?

Finally create a super cool planter with some awesome herbs :3

*Some water painting?? need to get my desk situated...
I miss my water colors.

~Continua <3

Chalk it UP!

Whilst researching Pinterest for pallet projects I stumbled across a post on DIY chalkboards. With my walls of my previous dwellings being a bit bare I decided some chalkboard wall art would be suitable. So off to home depot I went. 

 First the sanding and priming

 Next, comes the chalkboard paint (2 layers)

Then comes the art!!

Had my neighbor's girls help me with the deer. Looks Fabulous, right!

I've moved since. Kept one as wall art. Gave the second to a friend and used the third one as a kitchen announcement board :)

Happy Easter!

DIY Hacksssss

Need a reusable calendar??

Go to the nearest Goodwill or Dollar store and purchase a picture frame. Add some twine and white board marker...Vuola! You've got a calendar forever!!!

Next on the list...

My owl lantern!

I found this awesome lantern at the Goodwill for a dollar!!!....A DOLLAR! I added some twine tied to a push pin and popped it up on the ceiling. Can either use a real candle inside (burns brighter) or use a tea light candle :) Puuuuuurrrrrty awesome if I can say so myself. 

The Art of Baking

#BingeBakingwhatsup

So, art isn't ALWAYS just pen and paper. Sometimes it encompasses food. Since I've made my move back to Northern California I've stepped into a baking frenzy. Within the span of a month I've made the following:

Banana oatmeal cookies

oatmeal cookies (almost every day)

fig muffins

oatmeal muffins

potato & cheese popovers

Peppermint brownies (which you can see below)

What has caused this baking frenzy I've still no clue...but i've had some really tasty experiments to share with others. :) 

This particular experiment came from the mind of an 8 yr old. So I usually send whatever I've baked over to my neighbor and her two daughters. So they're aware of my baking badassery (yeah that's a word!) and today it was one of the girls birthday and she asked if they could bake some peppermint cookies. Being her birthday I was like "hells yeah girlfriend!" (but in more pg lingo) haha As you see these aren't quite cookies, but they came out pretty awesome nonetheless. 

For a run down...

we crushed the peppermint candies into bits and pieces

Threw them in the brownie mix

Baked those babies

Made some vanilla whip cream 

took out the brownies and topped it all off with the cream and peppermint bits

YEAH!!

So we baked some awesome peppermint brownies, played some board games, and ate a LOT of sugar.  By the girls' reactions, they had a great time. So this was a success. 

Molto Amore

Happy Father's Day!

In my family, I'm known for hand-made cards. I'm the DIY genius of the family I suppose. So when my mom asked if I was going to make my dad a Father's Day card..I said Yes! and immediately scanned the world wide web for ideas. Here's what I ended up with...

 This is how my drawing board begins...with a lot of stuff all over the table haha

I decided upon a fishing vest jacket

made some faux pockets with lures

Here's everything ready to be put together 

 Ta-da!

My dad loved his card and the shorts I got him! He said I should work for Hallmark. I don't think Hallmark will hire a simpleton like me...but thanks dad :)

Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers out there! <3 <3 <3

Old School Does New School

I've been wanting an Atari wallet ever since I found out that such a contraption is possible. So I set forth to look for our atari game collection for games we had duplicates of or could spare.

So I found these:

and magic ensued...

 Took the guts out...

 Filed & painted...

 Both...

 This piece was originally from the black Atari cartridge. I painted it white and used it as an insert for the Donkey Kong wallet.

 Added hinges, taken off of $1 boxes from Jo-Anns 

To both cartridges... 

And VUOLA! 

Fully Functional and for the most part, done. The white/DK cartridge just needs a bill holder. 

For the dismantling and assembly of these wallets I used: 

-wire cutters

-small metal file 

-Elmers Super Glue

-small hinges (jewelry box hinges)
-drill

-small screw drivers

-hammer

**BEFORE YOU PRY OPEN CARTRIDGE, make sure to take out the screws hidden in the front (behind images) of games. It will make the games a bit easier to open and you won't mess it up. 

I started to use a small saw to take off the plastic guts...then gave the wire cutters a try and it made the cuts a lot cleaner. I pinched parts of the plastic I wanted to remove and lightly hammered the plastic pieces. They came off nicely. Filed down all the bumps and cuts I missed and started assembling pieces. I spray painted the insides of both cartridges..just so the insides look cleaner. I think they came out pretty good. 

Excited to whip these babies out on my next purchase! :D

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

I'm usually not one to care for February 14th, but my group of kids this year have warmed my heart. Though most of the sweet gifts are actually sweets. Lots and LOTS of sweets. They've also showered me with wonderful drawings and hugs. A very warming gesture. 

So instead of me posting my own work, I'll be posting all the wonderful art pieces done by my very own little monkeys. Enjoy!

 "Colorfully Abstract"

Jason-1st grade 

"Heartfelt"

Lesly 1st grade

"A Flower a Day"

Yuli 2nd grade


"Queen for a Day"

Melany, grade 1


"Self-Titled" 

Zayden, grade 2

"The Proposal"

"The Bling Ring"

grade 1

"The Pretentious Tutor"

Hey, don't be fooled by the rock that I got! ;P

Oh, the wonderful gifts of a young child. I'm sure some of these were just items they found and/or received and didn't want...so they "gifted" them to me. haha But whatever, I love them kiddos. Maybe I can snag a few pics of the Valentine Owls we were making today. They're a HOOT! 

 Hear dem owls!

The Mother load!!!

 The kids bombarded me with candy as soon as I stepped out. My dress pockets literally looked like a chipmunk when it stuffs its cheeks full of acorns.

Thank you kiddos!!

Te Amo!!