Mandy Jean Chic: 7/3/11

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

June Roll Call

Dedicated to the fallen brothers and sisters in June of 2011.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of god" Matthew 5:9

	Trooper Ellen E. Engelhardt Massachusetts State Police, MA EOW: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 Cause of Death: Vehicular assault
	Master Patrolman Jefferson Taylor Riverside Police Division, MO EOW: Friday, June 3, 2011 Cause of Death: Weather/Natural disaster
	Deputy Sheriff Kurt Wyman Oneida County Sheriff's Office, NY EOW: Tuesday, June 7, 2011 Cause of Death: Gunfire
	Deputy Sheriff Keith Bellar Dickson County Sheriff's Office, TN EOW: Tuesday, June 7, 2011 Cause of Death: Gunfire
	Investigator Warren "Sneak" B. Lewis, III Nash County Sheriff's Office, NC EOW: Thursday, June 9, 2011 Cause of Death: Gunfire
	Police Officer Charles "Chuck" Armour Detroit Police Department, MI EOW: Saturday, June 11, 2011 Cause of Death: Vehicular assault
	Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Alexander Chemung County Sheriff's Department, NY EOW: Sunday, June 12, 2011 Cause of Death: Automobile accident
	Police Officer Kevin Sandoval South Pasadena Police Department, CA EOW: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Cause of Death: Fall
	Trooper Adam M. Bowen Virginia State Police, VA EOW: Friday, June 24, 2011 Cause of Death: Automobile accident
	Sergeant Darrell Cervandez Curley Navajo Division of Public Safety, TR EOW: Sunday, June 26, 2011 Cause of Death: Gunfire
	Police Officer Russell Anthony George Ball Police Department, LA EOW: Sunday, June 26, 2011 Cause of Death: Automobile accident
	Deputy Sheriff Charles Allen VanMeter Brazoria County Sheriff's Office, TX EOW: Sunday, June 26, 2011 Cause of Death: Automobile accident
	Deputy Sheriff Kyle Pagerly Berks County Sheriff's Department, PA EOW: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I have been busy for the last week reorganizing my craft room to make it more efficient. By efficient I mean... FINDING WHAT I HAVE! My hubby has been a saint with helping me and putting up with my stress over the last few days. He has not complained once that everything from my craft room is sitting in our dining room. Well he did say we should be on Hoarders but I ignored the comment. I almost made a comment about his garage but after being married for almost 5 years I have learned to pick my battles.

Below are some sneak peaks for upcoming posts :)

My Mason Jar Re-Use

Super Cute Shells! Wait until you see them!!

Hmmm.....

My Fav Paint Color! Its a soft white.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Hubby's Weekend Project

Almost a year ago I told the wife that I wanted to look for a stool for my garage I found one I liked. Chrome with a blue seat very similar to the one on the right. But the price was just crazy for a shop stool. So I just used an old table chair that was laying around that I never got around to fixing. It was ugly but it worked for the garage.

Then a few days ago the Mrs. was at a local thrift store and asked via text if I wanted a stool for the garage, and sent me the picture below. It was dirty, the upholstery was torn, two of the feet were broken, and the upholstery was actually made of the same plastic stuff that beach balls and inflatable kiddy pools are made of.

So she paid the $7 (That is way better than $100.), and I had a new garage stool. As soon as she arrived home with it I knew it would have to have some repairs before it could be used even in my garage. After all there is no way I would allow this battered, torn up, and rat infested shell of a stool to sit in the same garage as my battered, torn up, and rat infested shell of a truck.

The first step was to clean it up and strip the original fabric (or in this case the beach ball plastic stuff) as you can see in this picture the foam is so broken down that it is almost not there. The thick black ring is used for structure and I decided to keep it mostly due to the vinyl that I picked had no stretch at all therefore it would have been very hard to get a good tight fit without the whole thing wrinkling.

You can really see the difference from the
new padding (green) and the old (yellow).

Then I took the existing plywood from seat and made an outline on the new padding foam and cut it to size. Taking the same plywood I traced it onto the new heavy-duty blue vinyl adding ½ inch to allow for stitching. I did the same for the black structure support and added a full inch ½ inch for the top and ½ inch to staple it to the bottom plywood.

I stitched it all together inside out similar to a pillow. I was sure to cut all the extra as close to the stitch as possible so not to cause any bulges or unwanted wrinkles once it was turned right side out. The foam padding was placed inside followed by the first plywood seat support then the black plastic structures support then followed by the last piece of bottom plywood. With the help of the Mrs. the bottom vinyl was stretched and stapled in place.

It was then reattached to the cleaned and reworked base and there it is a $100 shop stool for $11.

LINKED WITH:
Mad in Crafts
Hope Studios
Christina's Adventures
Suzy Artsy Craftsy Sitcom
Nifty Thrifty Things
The Girl Creative
Mad In Crafts
Craft-O-Maniac
House of Grace
C.R.A.F.T
Making the World Cuter
Primitive & Proper
Sassy Sites
Restore Interiors
Sew Much Ado
Thirty Seven Three
Miss Mustard Seed
Chic on a Shoestring
craft eNVy
A Vision to Remember
Funky Junk Interiors
Young and Crafty
Sew Can Do
Bella Before and After
Sugar Bee Crafts
Ginger Snap Crafts
DIY By Design
Crystal and Co
Sew Much Ado
Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy
Carolyns Homework
A Diamond in the Stuff
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
T-Shirt Diaries
Night Owl Crafting
Shabby Creek Cottage
No Minimalist Here
French Country Cottage
DIY Show Off Blog

Monday, July 4, 2011

A Fun Saturday Night in the A 37's 42 House

Saturday night I could not sleep. I am in the middle of re-organizing my craft space to make it more efficient (i.e. trying to remember what I have) and I had a gazillion thoughts running through my head. I also had to much Mt. Dew :) After laying awake for awhile I decided to work on some organizing. Organizing always calms me down and helps me focus.

I have TONS of stickers I have collected over the years from my different sources. I shop everywhere for craft supplies. My favs are yard sales, Etsy, Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree and Michaels. After looked at this bin full of stickers I decided I had the perfect solution to keep them tidy and organized. About 4 years ago I bought these bins on sale at a office supplies store. At the time I wasn't sure what to do with them and they have been used for MANY different things. Currently they were holding my husbands seed packets. After putting his seed packets in a different container I jazzed these clear boxes up a bit.

I found this contact paper at Dollar Tree and bought all the rolls I could get. I have used it for many projects. Pictures will follow. I carefully cut out each section and easy peasy.... slapped it on. done :) 15 minute organizing project.

The more I craft the more I get into stenciling and such. I have accumulated a few stencils but found them difficult to store without bending. I always have extra binders laying around so I decided to create a stencils binder. To start off I used a binder, label maker, sections, page protectors, and contact paper I already had. I love re-using and re-cycling.

As with the box I carefully cut out my contact paper and spent a majority of my time pushing out pesky air bubbles. I think it came out super cute! I love this pattern!