Framed Fabric Art (or is it?!?!)

They say that necessity is the mother of invention- I tend to disagree. I'm of the camp that believes it is laziness that is the true mother of invention. Case in point: I have this swath of wall behind my front door- just a random piece of wall that doesn't really have a purpose, isn't all that great to look at, and doesn't do much good for anybody other than holding up the roof. (On second thought, I guess that is kind of important, huh?)

The infamous "random swath"

When we first moved in, I originally put up these weekly write-n-wipe foam core boards from Staples where I could keep up with the family's activities, thinking 'Oh yeah, right by the front door- I'll use these ALL the time!' WRONG! wrongwrongwrongwrongWRONGwrongwrong! Couldn't have been more WRONG! I used them for about a week, and then the information I wrote on them stayed up for the next two years- literally! (Apparently, my husband had a birthday every Thursday for two years straight- whoohoo!! Can you imagine the presents?!?)

Damage caused from removal

Anyway, I left those puppies up and they would probably still be up today if I hadn't decided to repaint. (More on that in a different post, but suffice it to say I picked an original color that was just too dark and after two years of living in a cave I needed some light, man!) So, when it came time to do the foyer, I did what any self-respecting wife and home remodeler would do- I ripped 'em off the wall without any concern for how it might damage the drywall. (yeah... not the smartest move I've ever made) Needless to say, I caused a bit of damage. {I know my mom is totally rolling her eyes right now}

Now for those of you who know me, and those of you who took the time to read my 'about me', you'll know that I love starting projects (but rarely relish finishing them). I'm an 85% girl (get it 85% done and it's good enough for me!) That 85% mentality totally kicked in right there. My mom or husband, surveying the damage, would have immediately gone and gotten the spackle and patched the damage (as would most of you dear readers). Me? Nah! Just paint over those puppies! Nobody's gonna see that- it's behind the door!! Only... once it was painted- you could totally see it. So for the first time in...well, forever... I had to admit that I was wrong.

Logic at this point would dictate- 'go get the freakin' spackle!' But again- why would I do anything logical? {Have your eyes rolled out of your head yet, ma?} I started trying to figure out how to cover up the damage without having to pull out spackle because I just hate spackle. (And the drying. and the waiting. and the sanding. you get the picture) I also knew that I needed some kind of bulletin board near the front door because we were moving our calender (which housed our small bulletin board) and we would no longer have a place for notes, mementos, etc.

It was at this point my Muse decided to show up and I thought 'Wouldn't it be cool if... I could make some kind of really awesome bulletin board- cut to size- to fit in this space? That would be so neat'! The swath of wall is really narrow so I knew nothing store bought would work plus we recently got new couches and I wanted to tie that fabric in, so whatever it was... I was gonna have to make. It was time to get my craft on!

I stopped in at my local Michael's and bought one of those long panoramic poster frames (with a 40% off coupon I spent a lot LESS which saved me MORE money!)  I promptly brought it home and applied several coats of black spray paint (I used all different sheens- whatever was on hand- because only the top coat really mattered to me) and then finished it off with an oil rubbed bronze (but it's really black) Satin spray-paint from Krylon. GORGEOUS!

Next, I popped over to JoAnn's Fabrics and was lucky enough to find an awesome fabric with 'my colors' (which was clearanced out- again, LESS money spent = MORE money in my pocket- so yay!). I also bought myself a roll of fairly thick cork. Once that was done, it was just a matter of putting the whole thing together.

Cork- glued to frame backing

I removed the glass and gave it to the hubs (maybe he could use it for something?). Used the backing from the frame to trace a template onto the cork- cut the cork- and then glued it on with super glue (holding it down with heavy cookbooks til it dried!) I used super glue because I wanted something that would work fast- I'm not known for my patience.

Don't you love the cute orange cube thumbtacks!

After the cork was done, I took the fabric and cut out the piece I would need. I used craft glue for this one (re-employed my cookbooks) and borrowed my sons' help stretching the fabric so it would be nice and taut. Once it was good and dry, I fit all the pieces back into the frame. At that point, I ran into a problem because the cork and fabric together were thicker than the original glass, so the hooks wouldn't hold the back in. No worries! I grabbed my trusty construction stapler and went to town! 20 or so 1/4" staples in strategic spots around the perimeter and that thing isn't going anywhere!

The Finished Product!

Lastly, I had the hubby hang it for me (because measuring and leveling aren't my strong suits) and.... voila! A convenient and useful bulletin board masquerading as a gorgeous piece of framed fabric art. So simple, so cheap (!), and covers ugly walls beautifully!

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. It's been a loooong time since I've done anything crafty and my skills were rather rusty, so I'm glad it turned out so well. Now my appetite has been whetted to do so many other craft projects around the house- be sure to keep your eyes peeled for those posts soon! Tell me dear readers, what crafty thing have you done lately?

Linking up with these great parties:

• Between Naps on the Porch (Metamorphosis Monday) 

Go check out these blogs. Do it now. Do it!

Cuts Both Ways...

Have you ever had one of those soul-piercing moments as a parent where you are presented with an image so terrifying that you are stuck- mouth agape- frozen in shock and awe, as your mind scrambles to make sense of what it just witnessed? This was exactly my predicament last Thursday night as my irrepressible three-year-old daughter tripped into our living room to tattle on her older brother (or some such tripe and I knew immediately that something 'just wasn't right'. As she turned to leave, I noticed that some of her hair seemed to be falling out- it was dangling off of her shoulder and was just barely clinging to the rest of the hairs on her head.

My baby with her long, beautiful hair! Look, Ma! NO BANGS!

I literally froze thinking 'Dear Jesus!', because my mom has been battling cancer for the better part of the last 2 years- so I know all about hair loss. My mind was struggling to process the question (no matter how morbid): 'Could she have gotten cancer and be losing her hair all in the past 2 hours?!?'  Once the folly of that line of thinking was discarded, I immediately began running through ideas of radiation poisoning: 'Dear God, what in our house is causing my baby to lose her hair?' And then... THEN... she turned to face me. And I realized she had.... BANGS!! My daughter hasn't had bangs in over a year- I have PROOF! And they weren't just any bangs- they were right at her scalp!! As I looked closer, I realized not only did she have bangs, she was missing over half her hair. No joke! That insane child had been in her room, with a pair of SAFETY SCISSORS, just hacking off her hair! It was truly one of those parenting moments where your heart takes a picture and you don't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream.

All the hair she cut off- literally! Looks like a bad wig, huh?

As I got upset (inevitably!), her brother (alerted to my frenzy by all the yelling) brought me a small box from her room where she was apparently keeping all the evidence of her crime. It was at that point that I learned the magnitude of the situation. I don't know if she was trying to thwart Mommy CSI or what, but it didn't work! By the time I brushed all the loose hair out of her head, she looked like a street urchin from 1800's London! 'Please sir, may I have some more?'

I knew I had no choice but to take her the next day for a haircut to try and fix what she messed up. Her brother had to go along too, because she wasn't content just to slice and dice herself, she gave him a chop job too! I knew we were going to have to give her a massively short haircut- and this child has had long hair for as long as she can remember- so I didn't know how I was going to pull it off. I stayed up late researching hairstyles for little girls with fine hair who have to have ridiculously short haircuts- hoping to find something that she wouldn't totally balk at.

Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow

Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow

It was at this point that divine Mommy inspiration hit- I decided to channel her inner Princess! Our family all LOVES to watch Once Upon a Time and Ms. Priss is a big fan of Snow. When Snow is portrayed as Mary Margaret, she has this adorable pixie cut that I thought would be great with Tara's hair type and face shape. I downloaded every picture I could find- didn't breathe a word of my plan to anyone- and traipsed off to Fantastic Sam's the next day.

We got lucky enough to get a phenomenal stylist, Tracy, who worked really well with Tara and made her very comfortable about the cut. As we were going through, we found areas where Ms. Priss sheared the hair literally down to the very scalp- crazy kid! After we were done, Tara was still quite apprehensive until I showed her the pictures of Snow and told her that we cut her hair so she looked just like 'Snow White'. After that, it was like there was never a problem! Grab a toy- good to go!

AFTER! Suits her so well! Cute, fresh, and spunky- just like my own little princess!

I have to say, I was worried that even I wasn't going to like it- but I LOVE IT!! Her daddy, who was going to be my hardest sell, actually likes it! It suits her spunky personality- and she even told me she doesn't want to grow it back it out! Every time I brush her hair, she asks if I'm making her look like 'Snow White'. I can't help but smile and feel relief that I don't have to wait for years to look back on this and laugh... I can do that now- all thanks to a princess.

Countdown to Kalahari!

I find it laughable, really, to be writing this post when the event we are 'counting down' towards is an event we have actually already been home from, for the better part of two weeks.

Seriously.

Yes folks, the ever inimitable 'Queen of Procrastination' strikes again. To be completely honest, I wasn't even going to write this post this late in the game but my ever encouraging mama told me it was a must because it was such a killer idea. (For the record, killer idea is my phrase- not hers).

Before we go any further, I have to give you a brief background breakdown here or none of this will make sense. (Heck, it might not even with the explanation- so...good luck with that). Anyway, most of you who know me know that I homeschool all four of my lovely, wonderful carpet lizards-I mean yard apes! Shoot! Stupid computer! I mean KIDS! My four wonderful, lovely KIDS! And because I'm trapped inside each day (oh God help me!) with four rambunctious young 'uns (somebody PLEASE!) who eat paint and sniff glue (and who KNOWS what they do in the bathroom?!?), I am always on the lookout for unique and exciting trips/vacations that we can take to go somewhere or see something new but still have it in the realm of educational (you know, so it 'counts').

We were lucky enough to have a friend (who also homeschools) recommend an annual convention- the Unschoolers' Waterpark Gathering- and we decided 'what the hey- let's do it'. And so, we did it! (My next post will be on the actual convention itself, so more deets will follow) Now, the coolest thing about this convention (other than spending a week with thousands of people who do exactly what you do every day) is that it's held at the  Kalahari Resorts and Convention Center, which just so happens to have the worlds largest indoor waterpark! YEAH! How could a kid (and a parent!) NOT get excited?! My kids were so psyched when Tim and I told them about it, that they immediately wanted to start counting down. Drew made a hand-drawn countdown calender, but Tara soon decimated that with her 'pitchers' so I knew I needed to come up with something inventive and 'Sissy-proof'. That's when this baby was born...

So, without further ado- I present to you the most awesomest of awesome event countdown calenders ever created (at least to my way of thinking)! drumroll please......

TA-DA!

Pretty cool, huh? I wanted to have something that was interactive for the kids, but easy to re-create (as we'll most likely be doing this trip again in the future). Each day, a kid (we rotated turns-had to keep it fair) took down a balloon and popped it- signifying another day gone and one more day closer to our trip.

I also needed to make sure that it was easy and relatively inexpensive to pull together- since it is a 'consumable' product. Here are the steps I took:

1. I downloaded a free African font (here)
2. Printed the title and numbers up on my computer
3. Laminated them with my trusty desktop laminator (as my kids are rough on EVERYTHING)
4. Lowe's was a quick stop for some black jute rope
5. The clothespins were found on my craft shelf
6. And the balloons were just easy-a black marker was the last thing I needed to create a jungle inspired countdown calender that had my kids excited every time they walked into the living room! (On a side note, Oriental Trading sells premade versions of these balloons here, but I'm just too dang cheap thrifty)

Pretty neat, huh? I've already thought of a million and one ways to use this idea- use natural jute or sisal, beachy colored balloons with sand dollars, and suddenly you have a Beach Trip countdown! If you're a mountain person, used darker balloons (browns, rusts, and greens) with tree branch silhouettes drawn on them and hang them from sticks found in your yard. You could even use red and green and make a Christmas advent calender (oooh! I love that one! I may have to steal it from myself) The ideas are endless- let your imagination run wild!!

So tell me dear readers, what do you think- could you do it? Is it worth a try? And if so, how would you use it and make it your own?

As a final aside, for all you readers up in arms thinking I harbor some crazy Silence of the Lamb feelings about my kids- you couldn't be more wrong. I like to pick and joke, but truth be told, I actually enjoy the time I spend with them each day and wouldn't trade it for anything. Although I'm still concerned about the amount of time each spends in the bathroom (I DON'T want to know!) overall, I happen to think my kids rule. 'Nuff said.