Pinny's (AKA cute little half-aprons)

I'll confess - I'm not usually a pinny kind of a girl. I'm not particularly domestic. I don't bake or cook well. And, I don't usually do cute and sweet.

But, when my good friend Debbie over at Granny McNab's introduced me to this sweet little pinny pattern from her Mum,  I couldn't resist. Pinny's may not be put to good use in my kitchen, but I have a couple of friends who would love them.

So, I headed over to Fabricville with Mrs. Lee's pattern in hand and had a great time picking out fabrics.

 

For my friend, Rebecca, a funky combination of a bright green Nordic-inspired print with a yellow polka dot trim.

For my friend, Dawn, a pretty combination of small print roses with a fun turquoise polka dot trim.

Now part of me is tempted to couple a fun zebra print fabric with a hot pink trim for a wild pinny of my own! We'll see.....

Glitter Art

If you're drawn to all that glitters, I recommend taking a trip to Las Vegas!

My husband, some good friends and I were there for a few days in March and it was fantastic! And now, one quick trip to Vegas and I'm all about the glitz and glitter!

When we got home, I decided I wanted some sparkle in my house. The results came in the form of these two art pieces.

The first piece was made with almost 800 individually glittered 1" x 1" squares. Crazy, I know...but, I'm happy with the results.

And, the second piece is my glitter bulls eye!

I think it brings just enough sparkle to my dull we-are-selling-our-house-and-this-is-what-the-stager-told-us-to-paint beige walls!

Sneak Peek

This is my proof of concept board for my new dining table design. Stay tuned.

Faux Capiz Shell Chandelier

I don't know if it's my personality or something that's hard-wired into my brain - but, why don't I ever go for the quick and easy projects? Produce 1 or 2 little round wax paper circles? Nah, I'll make hundreds and hundreds of them. Then I'll sew them together in rows and rows and rows....and then wonder why it's taking so long!



But, look at the result! It looks pretty close to the real deal.

As I mentioned, I had my camera stolen. On it were a stack of how-to photos for a couple of projects, including this one. So, knowing that I'd spotted this project online at some point I did a Google search and found this tutorial by Freshly Picked .



I made my chandelier basically the same way. A couple of differences include using a great little wire fruit bowl for the base and securing the basket using the existing threaded screw system that held up the original glass fixture.

Who knew that ironed wax paper could look this good?!

Thanks to my friend, Sylvia, for letting me borrow her hole punch for so long!

Lost camera

In the blogosphere, if you make something and have no way to take a picture of it, did you really make it?

My camera has been stolen. I'm heartbroken. Not because of losing the camera itself, but because of the 540 photos on the memory card that are now lost to me - only half of which I uploaded! That's a hard lesson to learn!

So, I'm heading out to get a new camera. I have lighting, pillow covers, new shelving and a toy design to share. Oh, and a sneak peek at my newest project!

Stay tuned!

I have a winning rack...ahem, bike rack

The Halifax Regional Municipality recently held a bike rack design competition. Design a rack for placement at the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal. Fun, right? And, with the added bonus of winning a new bike (I love new bikes).

The marketer in me couldn't pass up submitting a marketing statement/bike rack design-hybrid for the city.

Here is the transit logo -


Here is the design I submitted -


With bike (config 1) -


With bike (config 2) -


The results are in. I've been named "second" winner. I'm not quite sure what that means yet -other than not looking awesome on my new bike (I'm not saying I begrudge the 16 year-old first place winner her bike. I'm just sayin').

My design has been submitted to Metro Transit with the recommendation they be placed at various bus terminals around the city. That would be cool. (Yeah, but, can I ride cool around town...?)

Thanks to HRM for picking my design and loading me up with great alternative prizes!

And, Aelyn Murphy, your winning design is awesome! I'm just teasing. Enjoy your new bike!

Public announcement - http://www.halifax.ca/mediaroom/pressrelease/pr2011/110421BikeRackDesignWinnersAnnounced.html

Super Storage

Space is in short supply in my tiny house. And, anyone with kids knows that small spaces become even smaller when little ones leave their mark.

So, the decision to move our daughter into our tiniest of three bedrooms (8 x 9 - yes, that's tiny!) was made to make way for a new den/playroom upstairs. In order to move her twin bed into the new space we had to sacrifice the closest by ripping it out (pictures to come).



Eden's new storage plan starts with two cubby units (purple, of course!). The plan is to build a third unit that will fit in the corner and stand tall enough to house hanging items. The door will be a half-door that will swing out above the smaller right-hand cubby unit.

Now, I like my furniture to pull double duty - and, this piece is no different. So, I'm sewing up upholstered cushions that will lay on top of each unit. The longer of the two units also has a little desk that sits on a rail-type system. This way Eden can use the space as a little reading nook.


I'm excited to see what the green fabric will look like with the unit. I think it will be fun and bright. It should go nicely with Eden's new duvet cover.

The room is coming together!!