Latte au Lint

Still gathering supplies to make my daughters necklace and severely doubting my jewelry abilities my day was brought down a notch by winning a "Please Play Again" courtesy of Tim Horton's roll up the rim .  Although I did thoroughly enjoy my coffee! Looking at laundry sitting waiting to be put away I thought it would be nice to have a container to put the dryer lint in not having a place for a garbage can in the room and frankly too lazy to carry dryer lint to the kitchen green bin.  The laundry room also serves as a mudroom and a passage way to the backyard so people are in and out of there constantly.  Knowing my Timmies cup would end up in the green bin anyway I thought of a way to reuse it at least one last time before it goes to the composter.  Glue Stick, scissors and some left over giftwrap a quick sleeve was made  Not overly exciting perhaps but it solved a problem, doesn't offend the eye and it cost me nothing.

Some Many ideas so little time....

I took a new approach to my challenge...create what I need first, what I already have to work with two and lastly some fun things I just think it would be cool to make and have.  With list in hand there was only one thing missing...time! Weather also plays a roll because a few of the things I would like to undertake I need to be outside in warm sunny weather.  With relocating to Arizona not really an option  I decided that if I make/create 52 things within 52 weeks I have still satified my challenge.
Out shopping today for a prom dress for Katee and she pointed out a necklace that was fun and different.  After a closer look I decided that on sale for $21.99 wasn't a great deal and it looked like it would be fairly easy to hack.  Now for any experienced jewellery making person it would indeed be easy however my jewellery skills are limited to making gimp bracelets at church camp so many many years ago.  This should be interesting!
Goal for this project is to use whatever I can find around the house.  On to the scavenger hunt!

A Blog by an any Other Name....

As I progress through week 2 I realize a couple things...I gave this blog the wrong name.  I want to make things for my home, my family, my friends, and my clients.  I want to reuse things that are still useful and are not ready for what I think we are too quick to dispose of. There are things we encounter over our lives that for whatever reason stay with us.  I remember reading a book I believe was by Lawrence Sauders where the wealth of an inventor or company was based on making an item an everyday thing and make it disposible so that people would always need to buy it.  Disposable pens, disposable razors are the first to come to mind.  Ingenious! My first response...but there are items that we use that can be reshaped and incorporated into other things. There is craftmanship that seems to be unappreciated to the today mass markets.  Dove tail joints are now passed by for soft close drawers (which are very nice dont get me wrong) How often does someone ever comment "Nice drywall work" or want a Victorian style home with open concept lol.  I also don't believe all the things I am on my way to making as crafts but that will have to be seen.

Tween Bling Table Lamp

While I figure out my next project~I am rather proud of this one....With probably less than a month till Christmas I decided to paint a couple bedrooms and a hallway or two.  New Year #2 resolution is never untake painting projects with less than 60 till Christmas!
One of those bedrooms was my youngest daughters.  Going from robin egg blue with a huge Disney Princess mural to a soothing light purple and white.  We picked up a metal shelf from the local re-Use store, painted it white and it was perfect above her white day bed.Perfect all for - it needed a lamp!

The size was perfect but lacked bling.  Remembering stickers I had found at Walmart for a previous project, the result was...BLING for a tween!

Two of 52 Well Maybe just 1½

Two of 52 Well Maybe just 1½

 Being in the business that I am I easily accumulate leftover material.  Actually it accumulates too easily!  Out shopping I spied a cute little plant left over from Valentines Day clearing for a mere  $2. Such a cute little plant deserved a nice pot to spend it's remaining days in.  Although I love plants ~indoor plants seem to have numbered days in the house.  So the weekend started out with...

First the metal flowers and bee had to go.  With pry bar in hand I quickly discovered that someone got a little over enthusiastic with their solder! The blue flower went the way of most of my house plants~the pink flower and bee have been tucked away for some unknown future use.  I knew that normal tile adhesive would not adhere well to the metal so I had a quick look round to see what else I had on hand.  I ended up using LePage's No More Nails to adhere the tile to the bucket.  Feeling kinda lazy and it being February in Canada I didn't feel like dragging the tile saw out to cut tile so I dug through the scraps to see what would fit thinking the gaps would be filled with grout anyway.  With tile adhered I decided I liked the look without grout.  I wish I had cut the tile to overlap at the corners ~This might have to be a do over.

Week One...51 to Go!

Week One...51 to Go!

Inspired by a post on one of my favorite sites www.curbly.com I started my first of 52. It was easy and cost was minimal...$4.26 for the frames from Dollarama.  The colour choices I realize are not to everyone's taste however I made them to co-ordinate with my son's bedroom that was painted just before Christmas. For this I used C-I-L and Behr paint chips.  Using my guillotine I cut the chips into 1/8 strips length wise or there abouts. With a glue stick in hand I glued them down in random directly on the paper that came with the fame.  A little trimming and I stood back with a grin! Abstract art for a teen's room....perfect!
Paint chips have been in my life for a long time and I see them being part of the 52 week challenge more than once. I even have them guessing at Home Depot what I was doing with all the paint chips~can't wait to show them! Thinking that some of the ideas I have come across using paint chips can be used as seasonal/promotional material in the paint department....omg my next blog! projects from each department of Homie D....but for now focusing on week 2!

And So it Begins

Inspired by stumbling across a new web site, a house and garage filled with inspiration materials (awaiting inspiration) I start this goal~ 52 crafts in 52 weeks.  Hoping most will be original but there are so many people out there with amazing talent it is going to be difficult to not to try at least some of the ideas I have come across.  I feel like "Julia Julia" of the crafting world.  I hearby give this blog the name TAT.  My nickname as a child and I as I am very sure every new thing I try will have more than its share of Trials And Tribulations!
As I said I want to try to be original as I can however when I do use some one elses ideas credit will be given
I start this for myself and look forward to looking back in a year and seeing where this has taken me. 
Apart from 52 in 52 my goal is to 3R as much as possible....let the fun begin!

PS As I tell my husband what I have embarked upon not 5 minutes pass and he tells me "Julia Julia" is on TV and laughs...This is meant to be!