I heart E-6000....

I have seen so many cute vintage cake plates lately, I love the idea of using them not only in the kitchen, but in unexpected places like to add some height for the top of a vanity, plant stand, etc.

I would usually like to scoop them up if I find them at a second hand store but really they are a rare find ( I am not the only one trying to hoard such cute treasures). I found the most perfect one in antique store, it was glass, tall, clean lines and......$80.00.

Since my cake plate budget doesn't go quite that high it was time to get crafty. This is why I heart E-6000. I have seen this done before, but its just so easy I decided to show how you can make your own cake plate (and this one only cost $3).

Materials:

Glass Plate, Candle Stick, E-6000 (or some other kind of epoxy)

Step 1: Glue the candle stick to the cake plate.

done.

Ta da!

I'm not going to stop....

So anyone who knows me personally knows that there is one thing that I will not shut up about: I want a pug. And when I do get this pug (I have already named him: Ted Koppel) I plan on taking him everywhere with me. And I do mean everywhere......luckily Sleepypod exists to help me fulfill my puppy dreams!

Sleepypod
Found at BLTD

Yay for my house

So, I've been working super hard at finally getting my house together. I feel like I have the living room and work room, dare I say it, done. Check out the photos below!

The infamous light box. I bought this at a selvage store in Chicago, it's from an old hospital. When they said that it 'worked' I simply assumed that I could plug it in and have a great piece for my wall. But of course 'working' turned out to be a phrase open for interpretation. So I did have to rewire this thing. The lights do work, they are just not on for this photo. I have old dental slides that I can put up, but I was thinking to print out photos on transparency film and light them up instead.

Best part about my house: these windows. Worst part about my house: these windows. While they are great for letting the daylight in, they also let the neighborhood and all who pass through my ally know what I am up to, especially when it gets dark. So most of the time these shades a pulled. The fish don't seem to mind.

I bought this cabinet just as a cabinet (I got a flea market vendor to 'throw it in' with my 'desk' purchase). I added legs and painted them black to match. I don't currently have anything totally unique to store inside the clear glass door (but I am on the look-out for some cute taxidermy animals - nature scene maybe?) so I filled it with pretty colored shopping bags and boxes. The 'R's I've been collecting and this is a nice way of having them all in one place. Oh, and that glass lamp still needs a shade.

This shot is not particularly interesting, especially since I skipped over my built-in shelving that holds my entire collection of Kid Robot Simpson's characters (saving for a later post). But I really like this bag I got at Scout. It is holding a million other bags that I take with me when I go shopping for groceries and the like.

I left my house looking for a desk. I came home with this. (which is why I call it my 'desk') I just couldn't leave it at the flea market what if it would have gone to a home that didn't give it any love! Well it's mine now and I give it warm and gentle Pledge rubs. I cut mat board to give the drawers real bottoms so I can actually use them for other things besides card files.

Finally, an organized work space. The drafting table is a lovely donation from my boyfriend's storage unit and the white cabinet is from Ikea. That top part pulls down to reveal my sewing machines. The painting is almost done. It's been almost done for a couple of months now....

My couch. It was green and I covered it with this white canvas. It was a $20 yard sale find. The side table was once all pine, I painted it white and covered the center with dark wood grain contact paper. You can see peaking out in the corner my donated (my handsome man didn't have the room for this in his place) DWR vertical book shelf. The pillows are mostly covered with 45rpm bandanna wrappings.

The truth comes out.....

By that I mean I have gotten myself in quite the home improvement dilemma. You see, the thing is that I like to think that I'm super handy. I watch This Old House, I read Ready Made, I own a drill - is there really more to it?

Yes, yes there is.

While I have been spending my evenings playing Bob Vila, my recent trip to the hardware store confirmed my worst suspicions:I am not as handy as I think I am.

My shopping list read something like this:
- chuck key twisty thingy for hand drill
- electrical clippers for wires, but not the cutty kind, the strippy kind
- little hats for sticking electric wires together
- anchors for walls that spring out on the other side of the wall
- 3 prong plug in I can cut open

Although I found everything on my list (through hand gestures and some more vague explanation the staff eventually understood what I was looking for) the whole experience left me, well, rather bummed. Shouldn't trips to the hardware store be empowering? I mean really, you go there to get parts to build or fix something. That is exciting! How independent one should feel strolling into the parking lot knowing that what ever problems await at home can be fixed with nuts, bolts, screws and twisty thingys!

But I felt nothing of the sort. Maybe when I start some of these projects my handiness insecurities will go away.

So yes, I am a very bad blogger being gone for over a week and such. But I hope this makes up for it:

DIY paper i-phone dock has such possibilites!! Now, granted I am one of the few who is i phone less - but as a crafty gal this might be reason enough to get one. how great would this be out of pretty patterned paper, much better than some of the neon colored bulky i phone docks currently out there on the market.