September 24, 2011

Welcome Fall!


I know, I'm a day late. But seriously- fall has taken her own sweet time getting here, so I thought I'd return the favor! I'm looking forward to crisp mornings, the smell of fallen leaves and a brief period of bright colors. This is my favorite time of year, and if I could stop the seasons in their tracks, it would be during the fall. However, living where I do, there isn't as much color and glory, but I'll pretend. Oh to live in the North!

Bring on the chill!

September 22, 2011

Chowder Up Close: Part 3

Welcome back for another installment of Chowder Up Close!! Chowder has random hair that sprouts at odd angles, and makes his little ears so adorable!! Squee!





The Daily Wyatt

September 21, 2011

Chowder part 2

Chowder loves to sniff. We'll be out for a walk and he'll sniff so hard to find the bunny that he doesn't even notice it sitting a few feet away from him. He loves explaining the world to himself through his little nose, he provides endless amusement to those around him with his constant questing!!


I love his wee little nose (and the rest of him!).





and then, she {snapped}
 
NapTime MomTog

September 19, 2011

Chowder Up Close: Part 1

I think we all know I'm obsessed with my pets.

Copper doesn't like the camera. Lyric likes to stick his tongue out at me, and Pepsi only sometimes deigns to pose for the paparazzi.

I thought that Chowder, as happy go lucky as he is, would be more than willing to pose whenever I wanted. Just turn him loose in the yard, throw a few toys, and snap away!

I was wrong.

Chowder would ham it up, tear it up, then clam up the instant I lifted the camera! So I'll show you some of my favorite parts of Chowder, up close and personal, one shot at a time.


Chowder's eyes are warm, adoring, and they reflect back the world in a pup-colored light. When you are a Chowder, the entire world is your buddy.

Happy puppy:)

SOOC: I tweaked it by cropping and running PW 'Bring on the Eyes!' at 75% and Boost at 80%.









Sweet Shot Day

kimklassencafe
Touch Up Tuesday's at the Paper Mama

September 17, 2011

I miss...

Take a second to look at this photo.


These are the colors I'm longing to see right about now. Oh to live in the North again- the crisp air, the earthy scent, the vivid colors.

I miss fall.

September 10, 2011

Whoooo is there?

I mentioned earlier in the week that I have had some other decorating adventures. Well here they are!!

I've been drooling over art from various Etsy sellers for months {here
here and here, to name a few}, but couldn't justify the extra cost since this revamp was *supposed* to be a cheap thing!

Then, out of the blue, it hit me.

Owls.

Seriously, who wouldn't want an awesome owl on their wall?? So I googled "owl silhouette, found one I liked that wasn't copyrighted {don't steal the art of others for this people- be cool}. I used an online tool called Rasterbator to blow the image up to the size I wanted (about 2'x3' in this case), printed it out and got started!

I ended up using 1/2" ply that I already had in the garage. I initially wanted to use 1/4" ply, but all that I have of that I got secondhand and its badly bowed, so I went with something a little sturdier.

After taping together the pages (it printed out on 9 letter size pages) and cutting out my design, and put it on the board and traced the outline.

If you look at the shot below, I ended up adding another branch with leaves on the other side of the owl- I thought it would look more balanced, and I like how that worked for me.


I tried to minimize the wood waste, so I put the silhouette as close to the edges as possible. I still have another 3'x3' piece of 1/2" ply left from this, and who knows what I'll end up making with that!






Then it was down to the part where I nearly sever digits cutting stage. For this sort of project, the jig saw is really your best friend.

Get to know her and love her and learn to keep her steady, otherwise the wood you are cutting will jiggle its way free and snap. Not that I had that happen. Ever.

And here I am, cutting skillfully. It is REALLY important to make sure the wood is well braced and that you depress the trigger all the way. I ended up losing some leaves because I let up on the trigger a bit, the wood wasn't braced well and the wood just started jumping too much. It worked out in the end, but annoyed me at the time.

On a project like this, the leaves and branch were a bit difficult for me to work with. If there is a smaller jig saw out there and you plan to make a ton of these, it would be good to buy the smaller size for getting into the nooks and crannies. However, our regular old jig did a good job- it just took more time cutting out the detail bits.

I can haz rawr?
On a side note, I liked using the blades labeled 'X-tra clean for wood'- the clean ones do well, but these minimized the sanding that had to be done when I finished cutting.

After all the cutting was done, I cleaned up the edges with a power sander and a hand sander. I also made sure both sides were smooth, but spent more time sanding the side I had designated as the front. 

When sanding make sure you don't put too much pressure on any of the little bits- you don't want to snap off that painstakingly cut leaf {or whatever bitsy thing you cut out} before you've had a chance to enjoy your work!


And here is your finished pro... DOH! Ok, so you've cut out the piece, but you still need to make it purdy (unless you are going for the raw wood look, but even then you still should stain it or something, IMHO) and hangable. This is the only part of the project that actually cost me money. I stopped at Michael's and got some Martha Stewart Multi-Surface Pearl Acrylic Craft Paint {aptly named 'Mother of Pearl'} to finish this with. To minimize coats of paint, I gave the entire project a coat of primer, then gave it two coats of the craft paint.

To hang it, I put eyeholes in two pieces of scrap wood and glued them to the back using wood glue. I also gave them a quick coat of the craft paint just so if you see the owl from the side, they don't stick out. Then I strung some wire between them, put a photo hanger in the wall and we were good to go! If you end up making a smaller piece (like the moon) this approach may not be the one for you. Just mess around with the tidbits you have available or take it to the hardware store with you and see what you can find!

A few days later I randomly decided I wanted a moon to go with my lonely owl, and in less than 3 hours (with paint dry time) it was ready to go!


Total cost? Two buckaroos!! Whoooo can beat that?

On a side note, since my favorite holiday is coming up {hint- it starts with a Hallow and ends with a ween}, I like that the owl adds a slightly spooky element to the room. If painted in a black or orange, it would be very Halloween-y indeed!

Sorry, I can't avoid being cheesy;)





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The DIY Show Off

September 6, 2011

Things are a changin'

Many things in my life are changing. Important things. Serious things. Mind-boggling things.

Like the decor of my bedroom.

What? So I may be exaggerating. But I am REALLY excited about how things are looking now! It started with the chair, which was supposed to become part of my reading nook {digression- isn't nook an adorable word?}.



I obsessed thoroughly perused fabric options for making a slipcover or reupholstering it, and found several I liked but... the entire cost for that huge chair would have been over $250 for fabric alone... plus my time... and time for me to make mistakes and have to redo stuff...

It ended up not being worth it to me. I felt a bit tool-ish for giving up, but a little bit of quick craigslisting {yes, its a word} gave me a better solution! My big chair was gone for as much cash as I had in it, and I had a more compact and classier chair in its place!


But that isn't all! Did you notice the white thing next to the chair? I made that! Guess what is inside?


I started with the ideas from Ana White's Faux Apothecary Chest . I didn't need anything so large as her plans, and I didn't need shelves. I took her basic plans and adjusted the size down to what I needed (though the two basket shelves are the same sizes as hers), and then put a divider in so the feline princess would have a separate eating area {dare I say nook?}. There is also a hole on the side for easy kitty access.

After some hinge issues (put the entry hole on the far side from where you want to put your doors- it will save you a lot of trouble), we were ready to go!

I made this piece from mostly scrap wood from other projects, so I opted to paint most of it with some white paint we had lying around. The top was all of one type of wood, so I figured that staining it would add a nice contrast. Oh yeah, and I had the stain lying around from a previous project as well.

Total cost for this project:

New wood- $20
Knobs- $9
Hinges- $5
Baskets- $15

Total = $49 out of pocket

We went from having this-

Storage on a dog crate (now in baskets) and a dome litterbox that I did not want to document photographically!
To this!


There has been even more decorating adventuring, but I'll save that for later this week:)


September 5, 2011

That kind of day...

For Pepsi, this exemplifies what she did all day.


Momma didn't get so lucky.

She's working hard for the money.

Outside it was sunny.

And Chowder was quite funny.

And... well, you get the idea.

I hope your Labor Day was quite chummy!

{Sorry, I had to get one more in}.
Sweet Shot Day Touch Up Tuesday's at the Paper Mama
I boosted the color (80%) and colorized (35%). Both are PW actions.

September 3, 2011

Best of August

I love this shot of the old Warden's House on Alcatraz Island. It was just so desolate and sad, but the flowers clinging to the rocks and the birds nesting wherever they could showed that new life will appear in even the most barren landscape!



Click It Up A Notch

September 1, 2011

August 2011 Photo Hunt Challenge: Join in!

If you stopped by around the first of the month, you might remember that I'm guest hosting over at Monthly Photo Hunt Challenges. Well, I learned how to use a Linky Tool and have a basic one up, so please go over and share your favorite images for the month!

I ended up picking most of my shots from my most recent vacation. I had a lot of fun messing around in PS, and I would love any feedback on composition or editing that might help me improve. Thanks for stopping by!

1 ) Simple Elegance



2 ) Fluff


3 ) Wisdom


4 ) Ink


5 ) Devotion




6 ) Engaging


7 ) Drastic Change


8 ) Serenity


9 ) Ending


10 ) Childhood Memory

11 ) Overload

12 ) Fantastical


13 ) Into the Sky


14 ) Smash


15 ) Lucky


The Daily Wyatt

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