What I've Been Up To

So I have been absent from projects lately, which I am super sad about.  Where have I been?  Locked away in libraries and my studio/office/guest room studying Anatomy!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the most time consuming semester, because our Anatomy course is 8 weeks, but still covers a full semester's amount of material.  What does that equal?  Incredibly stressed out OT students.

I thought I'd share a glimpse into my studying just for fun....

Drawing/mapping out arterial systems on my giant mirrors (didn't know they'd be so useful...)

Going a little crazy because of it.

Oh and this was the night my sister in NYC was seeing Pitbull in concert with my favorite Zumba peeps, Beto, Tanya & Gina.... jealous.

Group study sessions in the library with lots of caffeine.  Here we were racing to keep the exact same level of liquid.  Just for fun.

But today I took my Anatomy finals (both of them).  Let's hope I get some time back...even though we're moving on to Neuro....

Home From Vacation

I only have time for a quick post because our anniversary dinner is waiting.  That's right- our 1 year marriage anniversary is today!!  6.5.10 - I married my best friend and have been living a fairytale with him.  I am still so in love with my Greer.  You can check out our DIY wedding details in previous posts like this one.  More under the "wedding" tag.

Today we returned from our honeymoonish vacation/1 year celebration.  We attended a friend's wedding in North Carolina, visited Savannah, Georgia, then spent a week with Greer's brother and sister-in-law and our neice in Florida.  Awesome week.  We followed it up by driving to Charleston, South Carolina and then finally returned home today.  What a wonderful week we've had!! Sunburn and all. 

This week- back to building and projects.  Updates soon :)

Lolly

It's Been Awhile [updates]

Ay, como tanto tiempo ha pasado!  It's been so long since I've posted.  The sad this is that secretly I have some posts ready but I either A) don't have the pictures or B) Need to finish the final steps on the project.  But I really need to update a little to keep this going!

Greer and I have been so busy that we're mostly in planning stages of various projects and finishing up a few.  The black Broyhill bench for my co-worker is nearly finished.  I just need to flip it over and paint the underside, followed by one last coat on the top.  I would have been done on the top but a little mishap in the Man Cave caused some white paint to rub off onto the black bench top. Nothing a 4th coat of black paint can't fix!  Such things happen when you have to share a small shop with different projects going on.  But that should be done this week and hopefully delivered.  I'll get that post up when it's officially done.  [update 5/2/11- it's done! "black Broyhill bench" links to post]

 I started spray painting the giant hanging cabinet when lo and behold I ran out of spray paint.  A quick trip to Wal Mart...did not solve that.  Swing over to Lowes.... also a failure.  Why?  Because the only place I could find Rustoleum's American Accents Heirloom White was 30 minutes away at the nearest Home Depot!  Is there some kind of agreement going on that only HD can have that??  Well, I stocked up and bought 5 cans just to be on the safe side.  With the crummy weather and the holiday weekend, I haven't had the opportunity to [have Greer] pull that big boy out of the shed again so I can finish it up.  That's the plan for after work today.

I DID, however, FINALLY finished the tile work on the bottom of the white shelf.  You can find it in the It's March? post when it was nearly completed.  I picked up the last pack of gray tiles at Michael's (they were on clearance.. good thing I didn't keep waiting to finish it!) and glued them on.  Greer had to shave one down because I couldn't squeeze it in the middle.  Now I just need to make drawers or doors for the empty boxed spaces and bam!  Done and ready to go to a new home somewhere.

Friday- worked on the shelf and doors for the DVD hutch base.  Those are almost finished and then you'll get the full post of what I did, how I did it, and what it looks like.  And just to give you an idea of how many DVDs we have... the entire hutch is filled and extras are stacked on top of the rows.  Rentals anyone?

Other projects in the works:

- Upstairs landing space "Rabbit Hole" re-do - (really it's just a "do" since it's been empty space)
       [view the "Rabbit Hole" mood board]
- Making the hammock space on the porch more cozy
       [view the front porch mood board]
- Spring gardens (the seeds are sprouting! I did something right!)
- Bedside tables
- Paint upstairs bathroom (I hate the color it is)
- Overhaul my studio into more of a guest-room with new paint

Phew! I'll keep you updated my 5 followers! ;) 

Amor a todos

A Proud Wife

Hi all!
I had to share what I woke up to this morning.  I started to walk completely past, then turned back to stare, then woke my Greer up with a thousand kisses.

He made me a stencil of the (modified) flag of Spain!!!!

He is so talented!  As soon as I find a home for it (probably kitchen, maaaaaybe studio), I will post a picture.  I just had to share. I love his work and creativity and patience for the kind of painstaking detail stenciling requires. 

And for anyone interested....he does custom orders ;)

The only modification he made was of the toreador (bull fighter) and toro (bull).  That makes it even more symbolic for me because bulls are a big symbol of southern Spain, including Salamanca (where I studied).  I don't know if he knew that ahead of time.  Maybe, because I but a (rather ugly) bull belly button ring when I was there.  Don't worry, I didn't wear it much and I have let that hole close up!  Still fun to have the bull though.

Back to the modification... the crest on the true Spanish flag would be way to intricate for him to stencil, at least in one night.  This is what it looks like:

I like mine better.

:)

It's March?

My goodness time is speeding by, which is good and bad.  Good because I cannot WAIT to start grad school (June 13!).  Bad because my projects have fallen by the wayside.  Between work and Zumba, I have almost no free time.  The free time I do have is usually spent laying on the couch napping.  I shouldn't complain, though.  I'm lucky to have a job, especially one that is flexible with my Zumba career.  And Zumba.. how many people can get paid for the hobby? Paid to exercise and dance?  Yes. I am lucky.

So... update on projects:

1. I did finish the dresser.  Just need to screw the handles back on (holding off on specialty knobs) and I'll throw a picture on here.  I think it came out pretty well, 3 coats of paint though!  I don't think I'll use glossy paint again.  I don't like the stickyness of it. 

colors are funky with my camera

2. I just need a few more tiles of the shelf I've been playing with and then that will be finished and posted here.  I still don't know where I'm going to put it.  I'd put it for sale, but the wood is kind of junky and it was just a fun project.

you guessed it...colors aren't right

3. My co-worker's custom bench is nearly done!  My dad and I worked on it for a long time yesterday and got the rest of the peices cut, sanded and assembled.  I only stripped 2 screws! Wahoo!  All that's left is sanding and painting.  I can't wait to give it to her- I think she'll love it.  I'll post that up here too when it's finished.

4. While I've been crazy busy, my dad has cut a lot of the pieces for Greer's and my hutch base.  A little back story: We have a DVD shelf that is just the old shelf my dad built for me in college to put on top of my flat desk.  It's come in handy, but we have used up all the shelf space and then some.  So I had the idea to make a base for it with some doors and turn it into a hutch.  More DVD storage and perhaps some record storage for Greer.  He doesn't want doors, but I'm afraid I will insist.  The top can stay sans-doors.

5. The dollhouse is nearing completion.  It has been the. biggest. pain. ever.  I do believe I now hate Greenleaf dollhouses.  They do not assemble easily.  It is not just shove the tab into the notch.  It does not just take wood glue.  It took multiple tries and an different solution to get the main walls and floor assembled.  I will go into more detail when I post it.  I don't think I will ever make another dollhouse. 

7.  The $5 end table I purchase from Seed for the Nations Thrift Store- I have done one thing.  Pulled of the old leather.  Eventually I'll get around to completely stripping the thing.  I'm kind of nervous about the intense chemicals I'll have to use.  Part of the hobby I guess!

6.  New project on the list!  My parents are re-doing their laundry room and they got rid of the big old hanging cabinet in there.  Where did it go? Me!  They know I love finding peices to re-do, and always need more storage.  So that giant is in our storage shed for me to play with when I wrap up the other projects. Which gives us plenty of time to decide where to put it.  Here it is...

7.  Downstairs storage bathroom- just an idea.  What was supposed to be a pantry was converted to a half bath when the house was built.  So we have 2.5 bathrooms and just Greer and I live there.  Right now that half bath is a scary thing to open, with Greer's laundry literally falling out the door and the vacuum balancing on top.  My goal to straighten this up?  Install some high shelves for storage and a TALL laundry bin for Greer.  Turn it into the pantry it should have been (and possibly usuable as a bathroom?).

I think that's it for now.  Share what's up in your world!

I Put The Hammer...

.......through the wall.

oops.

I was trying to hand this small shelf I picked up at Goodwill to add something 3-D to the bathroom wall. 

[ you can tell it is not in the bathroom ]



I got one nail in smooth as buttah!  But the next guy...nuh uh...

First, I realized I hit the stud.
I decided I could win.
Then I bent the nail, making the hole bigger.
Not winning.
I tried to use the claw end and pull the nail out...
And you can see those little bruises on the wall to the right of the hole.
More force... I thought...
And as I pushed the hammer to pull the nail out, the hammer head went through the wall.
And the nail stayed.
Blast.

My wonderful, patient, humorous husband was able to get the nail out with a smile and a "we'll fix it later."  Phew! 

I gave the shelf a new home in my office.



Permanent? Probably not.  It's rather dwarfed there... but I'm not messing with it until I have a better plan.....

Ten un buen dia!

A Soft Place to Land Silhouette Giveaway!

First:  If you have not already visited Kimba at A Soft Place to Land, you should most definitely check out her blog.  It is inspiring, fun, and has so many incredible DIY ideas.  It is the blog that got me hooked on thrifting and DIY crafts.

Today until Aug 9 she is facilitating a Silhouette Craft Cutter giveaway.  If you are interested in any type of craft that involves stencil, silhouette, paper, vinyl, glass etching, scrapbooking... the list goes on, you should participate in the contest!  I plan on asking for the Silhouette Craft Cutter for Christmas.  If you don't want to wait to win, you can purchase the craft cutter with their promo and save money while getting bonus items.  So head on over to A Soft Place to Land!

Zumba, Anyone?

Yes. I have joined the Zumba craze.  I took just one class and adored it!  I love to dance, I love latin music and moves, so what did I do?  Of course simply taking the class isn't enough....

I registered to become an instructor.

Based on one class.

Inspiring Ideas Keeping Me Afloat

My goodness I have completely disregarded A Clearing in the Woods for a little bit, along with any wedding or home projects!  Writing 4 papers in 2 weeks has not been fun, but it's complete and I have a short break before the next paper flood.  Work has slowed down also, which frees up more of my time during the day to skim through crafty home blogs and find some new inspiration and projects.  Shhh... I look very busy in my office at the moment...!

There are so many amazing projects I've found that I cannot wait to make my own attempts. I desperately want to move into Clearingwoods Cottage and start making a home, but until June I'll have to put my efforts into the wedding and keep notes here.

So....here's some more inspiring photos and bloggers that I think you might like...

Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch

**Warning: Extremely long post. Can you handle it? ;)** Will add more pictures soon...


I had planned to post my DIY wedding Save the Date but I forgot to take and send a picture to myself, so that will have to wait until another day (tomorrow?). Since I have no pictures or crafts to add, but didn't want to post without purpose, I thought I'd put in a plug for Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch. This place holds my heart and certainly could not be missed at A Clearing in the Woods. I'm sure it will come up again.

Starting in Rush Hour

As if I don't already have enough to do, with a 40hr/wk + travel technically part-time job, 2 university classes, and planning my June 5th wedding (a highly DIY affair at that), I thought I'd start up a blog (on my failing work computer which shows a blank screen as I type). I should be studying for my upcoming Abnormal Psych test, or working on the paper for Developmental Psych, or maybe finding some work to do but I keep perusing craft blogs and wedding blogs and wanted in on the fun. Who knows if anyone will read, but I'll give this a whirl, keeping up when I can. The way I see it, it can serve as my multi-purpose wedding, craft, life, projects blog so I can visually organize it all in one spot and keep track of everything.