Planning for the future

Warning - lots of rambling and bad iphone photos ahead!

Lately I feel like I do way more planning than doing.  

- Planning for decorating/furniture/art projects/building projects/gardening for the new house without getting to implement a lot of it. This, of course, includes many hours of online window shopping and journeying through shops.

- Dreaming about getting a new car since we pretty much have one vehicle (a classic truck is not good for a daily driver) and sometime in the next couple years I'll need 4 doors. I think we've decided on a Versa Note. I love little hatchbacks, what can I say?
- Coming up with new template and logo ideas for the etsy shop.
- Thinking about when we might want to try for kids and ALL OF THE THINGS that come with that. I'm actually thinking about getting this really cute dress from modcloth because I know I could wear it well into the pregnancy. I'M NOT TRYING TO GET PREGNANT. Who plans ahead like this? On the flip side, the last two dresses I bought would probably not fit if I even gained 5 points...

I couldn't get a rug or any accessories for the living room until the couch we ordered arrived. Now I can't because the color of the couch they delivered is SO far off it's not even close (we ordered dark gray, got light beige, lighter than our carpet). We ordered a dark gray to match the cat's fur better... this one isn't quite right for that.



But RC Willey was great about it. We just took in a cushion to prove it was wrong, they ordered us a new one, and we use the wrong one until it's ready. It wasn't even their fault, they put in the order right... it was just made wrong somehow.



I assembled this sweet shelf the other night while the husband slept. Not much on the shelf in this photo as I snapped it just after midnight when I finished it, but It's a bit better now. Some photo frames, flowers, and it's a good place to store our fermenting crock! I think I'll look for some baskets for the bottom shelf. It is also more gray than this picture shows, I love the color!

I have not found one single dining table I like. Add that my husband wants some huge ornate monstrosity (we do NOT live in a castle, honey!). So we are borrowing my parents' old table they no longer need. It's not bad. If I was willing to paint it and recolor the chair seats I would probably love it, but that project would be at least a year out with all the other ones I've got going.



My art room is up and running well! I have a great HUGE storage unit I got at the Youth Ranch (thrift store) months back for $40 that I need to paint and get in there. Until that happens I've got all sorts of furniture cast offs lining the walls and painted fun colors.

Organization: I've got a gold tray for my yarns, purple storage for embroidery thread, a yellow rack and a blue/gray shelf for paints, fabric paints, and paint pens. The white/blue plastic drawer holds felt. Frames, canvases, pads of paper, and things waiting to be hung are in three piles leaning on the walls. The yellow rolling cart (formerly the home of so much booze) is a good wrangler for my fabric bins. The woodgrain box holds clothes that need repaired.
Drawers in the desk hold cutting tool, taping & pasting tools, and other various sewing things. The rainbow drawers hold my drawing pencils & pens, prismacolor pencils, prismacolor markers, and various bits of sketches and random things. Books, scrapbooking supplies, and photos are held on the big black entertainment unit.



See?! So much random furniture. I'll have to keep the pink and silver shelf though. So sweet! I also need to make a few more pinatas to keep my tiny orange one company. It looks so lonely, and I have so much crepe paper left over from the wedding.



And I love my little window bench! I just have a blanket on it until I find time to make a cushion. But I do love that peach blanket. I got it at a yard sale for less than $5, and I always love a deal! And it matches my hair!



See ya next time!

Simple Tips: Packing Light

I used to always be the girl that took waaaay too much luggage on a trip. A weekend trip for me required a large duffel bag and a separate small bag full of hair and makeup stuff. But a few years ago I got tired of lugging (hah!) all the extra stuff around and never using it all. Lately I've managed to get all of my stuff in one backpack. Here are a couple of tips that really help me when I start packing.

Inertia was no help with packing light.

1. Plan your outfits
Decide on a few complete outfits ahead of time. What kind of weather will there be? Try to plan out the whole outfit, accessories and all, so you aren't bringing anything unnecessary. I know it can be hard to know what you'll be in the mood to wear a few days before hand, but if you style an outfit you love and feel good in, you'll want to wear it!

A part of this is having an idea of what you'll be doing. On vacation you don't necessarily need 3 changes of clothing for one day unless there are special circumstances. For example, if you're going to have a more 'formal' evening, just bring one formal outfit. If you're going to the beach one day, bring a swimming outfit to change into, but only plan one other outfit for that day.

Below are the three outfits I planned out for this weekend. A loose dress that would be comfortable in the car, a fun shirt and grey jeans, and a casual dress and boots.



2. Reuse items across outfits
Whenever possible, utilize a piece of clothing more than once. Especially with space hogs like pants, sweaters, and shoes! Just remember - you don't want to skimp on non-reusables like underwear or socks! (seriously, this summer I went on a trip and a friend to buy more underwear because she didn't bring enough)

Below you can see how I reused one pair of shoes with two outfits. I also didn't end up taking the grey sweater and instead wore the yellow one with the teal dress. I also reused some sunnies across two outfits, but they're so small that who notices when packing?

3. Only bring what you need for hair and makeup
I love makeup. I used to 'need' to bring half of my eyeshadows just in case. Now I plan that out with each outfit so I'm not bringing extra. Plus, if your luggage gets lost, you don't want to lose even more expensive makeup! The same goes with hair stuff. For example, if I plan out my hairstyles I may not need wax, straightening goo, or mousse. I also no longer bring my own blow dryer because I know almost any hotel has one.

Hopefully that helps some other clothing & beauty lovers with

Was there a Tornado in here?

Nope! I am just really bad at keeping my art room tidy. I work on multiple projects at once in this small space and like to keep my stuff out while I'm working. I rotate through projects, some last a long time, and often I start a new one on top of an old mess.

It is a bit embarrassing putting pictures of this disorganized crime scene of a craft room up, but hopefully it will help motivate me to finish cleaning! The rest of my house is usually very clean, minus the dirty clothes that can pile up around the laundry basket and the area around the back door where the dog runs in all dirty.

Its hard for me to clean this space, I go in there and instead of tidying up, I make stuff instead... a LOT of stuff. Each time I start a project it can be a struggle to find the space to work - even when it's sparkling clean! Looking at pictures of pristine organized craft spaces online can get me down sometimes. Then I remind myself that I can create in my small, cluttered room with mismatched furniture and cheap plastic containers full of materials. I do not need that beautiful picture perfect place with coordinated storage solutions. But I can still want it. Someday.

This weekend I set out to make a sizable dent in this disaster area. I got a good deal of stuff put away and reorganized, but I'm still working on a big portion of the room. It's going to take some time before I'm satisfied and maybe some thrift store furniture shopping. The felt and fabric areas are still crap heaps, the drawers of my desk are shoved full of paint bottles that need organizing and maybe thinning out, and the closet is... crowded.

I'd say this is a bit of an improvement. You can't see the floor in these pictures, but it is doing a lot better now. It still needs a heavy duty vacuuming. I've got my embroidery threads almost all put back and my wire supplies on a cute gold tray now. The books and magazines are no longer on my round work table taking up space!

I also decided to hang up a few of the projects I've got in progress on the walls. Before the only thing I had up was the picture of Jenny Lewis. This way, they won't get lost in a new mess and it will remind me of what I need to work on! Above you can see some pants and a tutu I'm working on as well as a half-finished embroidery.

- Originally I had planned to do additional papercuttings similar to the one above (I have two other canvases that size I got for this purpose), so I consider it in-progress.
- The 'pow' gun could be done... I really want to add a puff of smoke from above the hammer but I'm lazy...

- The Audrey embroidery above is definitely not finished, but I'm excited for the day I manage to finish it....
- The cardboard drawing is gesso and charcoal. I made this years ago in a class.
- The woodcutting was made by Hailey and given to me for my birthday. We both have a deep love for David Bowie and she put a quote from my favorite Bowie song on it, 'In the Heat of the Morning.'

Where do you create? Does it have to be clean and pristine or is a little mess fine? 

Let's Talk About Baggage.

My purse is usually full of receipts, a number of pairs of sunglasses, addresses from mailing things for work, pens & more pens, 'lost' lipsticks, and lady things. Because of this blackhole-like way I treat my bags, I've been gravitating to smaller ones lately. Currently I'm using a little satchel that doesn't even leave room for more than one pair of sunnies. Cameron is a bit disappointed that he can't just throw everything in it, though. Here's a few shots and a breakdown of my current essentials (and less-than-essentials)

1. Pretty purse - Target

2. A pretty beat up comb (I have a habit of setting them too close to my hot straightener)

3. Burt's Bees lip balm (aaaaaaaaall day)

4. An assortment of pens

5. Pretty wallet - Target

6. Various lipsticks (Revlon Siren, Revlon Peach Me, and I don't know what brand the green one is but it's Sandpiper)

7. Coins

8. Earrings I took off one day and forgot where in the purse...

9. Pretty hair clip I made of buttons and felt

10. Keys for everything everywhere. And a fun bike chain key chain!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Busy Buzzy Bee

Today has been so busy! Tomorrow we're having a birthday party at our house, but we just barely moved in so its still a huge mess.

I spent today trying to somewhat organize my art room and the garage and doing laundry, but most of the day was spent working on what will [hopefully!] be a pretty spectacular cake. The birthday boy wanted a pregnant clown cake. Its pretty rough right now without any frosting, but I'll post pictures as soon as I finish!

My art room is coming together, but only because I can shove things in boxes and into the closet. I need storage like a reality TV star needs to create a scandal to get attention. I did find an unexpected way to hang up my sunglasses [visible in the background above], which I'll share with you once I make it much better looking.

The garage is another story... boxes, junk, and spray paint everywhere! And also a couch, chair, and end table all set up nicely [I need to sell me some furniture].