Guitar Shelf Project!

Yay my guitar self is finished! I'm so excited with how nice it turned out :-)

Guitar Progress, Heat Guns, They're HOT!

Ssooooo, taking apart a guitar can be a bit of a challenge.  The heat gun worked great, once the glue gets a little hot its pretty easy to pull the pieces apart.  Just a warning though, there is fine line between heating up the glue enough to melt it and causing the paint to bubble up.  Since I will be repainting this guitar I'm not too concerented about the bubbles, but it is extra work because now I have to sand the bubbles smooth.  Also once you set the heat gun down don't bump it, it's still really hot and I have some burns to prove it.  

These are two pieces, I got them apart without damaging either of the pieces.

By the time I had worked all the way around the guitar the glue at the beginning was once again hard, so I went back around the entire edge and reheated the glues enough to pull it off but not so hot I would  burn myself.  

Next I sanded the bubbled paint smooth, and gave the entire body a light sanding to help the new paint stick, and remove any rough edges from the inside.

I forgot to take a picture of the body primeered oops :-(
Here is the body white with floral print

And here is here it is with the outside painted as well

The Guitar Upcycle Adventure

I have been a musician most my life, I started plying music when I was 10, one of my most loved instruments is the guitar.  I have some really cool guitar upcycles on the internet, but I all my guitars are for playing I could never dismantle them, so when I found this free guitar I jumped on the chance to try a guitar up cycle!  It is a pretty cute guitar, even if pink guitars aren't really my cup of tea.

The biggest challenge though? How do you take apart a guitar with destroying it?  One project need the  body with the top removed, another calls for the top and neck.  After doing some research I have found a heat gun is what is used to melt the glue and pull apart the pieces.  Well, I have a heat gun so lets give this project a try!

What a Week

It has been a crazy and exciting week in several ways.  First I started a new job, and while I am excited to be working again and really like the place, I have had to cut way back on my crafting and gym time. I am hoping that next week I will get into a rhythm and be able to keep up on my workouts a little better.  I have also stopped producing my craft items on a large scale, and since we will be moving in May I have actually lowered the prices on a lot of my times to get them moving faster.

Which brings me to my next exciting thing for the week, I sold a whole bunch of stuff this week! 5 signs and 5 stars all in one day!  It is such a great feeling when people like my crafts enough to not only purchase them but purchase multiple items.

And that leads directly into my next exciting thing, since so many items sold this week, I ran out of items and now have people placing orders.  I am excited and more then willing to make new things for people.

Tomorrow should be a fun crafting day :-)

Finished Coaster Project

I'm a day late, but this week has been a bit wacky! Here is the update on my coaster project :-)

This picture came out a bit dark, but I chose paper with the old big wheel bicycles on them.  I think it would have been really neat to do it in several different colors, but I only had it in the green/blue combination.

I cut the paper down into squares that fit the coasters, and used mod podge to adhear the paper.  The next day I sprayed them with high gloss finish and let them dry for another day.

They are now home on our coffee table and end tables :-)

February New Years Resolution Update

We are more then half way through February so I thought I would do an up date on my resolutions, some of the ones that are going well are...
1. Reach my goal weight (I know it's probably on every ones list): I have been going to the gym at least 5 times a week.  My diet hasn't been the best though so my weight has remained the same.  I can however do more push ups then before :-)
2. Enjoy the time I can spend with my husband: G was at school or in the field for most of the year so far, but we were able to have a really nice Valentine's Day and I am trying to tell him how much love and appreciate him on other days as well.

3. Build an audience for this blog: I have 4 new followers! Thank you guys soooo much for reading :-)
4. Keep my etsy shop going year around: I have updated my etsy shop with spring items! My Etsy Shop
6. Take a medical billing and coding certification program: I decided to go with Child Day Care instead of Billing and Coding.  Child Day Care is something I can do and still be at home with a child when the time comes.
7. Find temporary employment until May: Woo Hoo I did it! I start my new job Thursday :-)
11. Replace commercial cleaners and beauty products with home made or natural ones: I have been working on this one by one.  So far I have made laundry soap, fabric softener, dog shampoo, my shampoo, body wash, and all purpose cleaner.
12. Before buying new, try to up cycle: For the most part I have been doing great at this!  I can not believe how much nice stuff people just give away.  I have gotten clothing and household items from neighbors and little or cost, and those things did not end up in a landfill. The 13th was my birthday though and my parents sent me some money and I invested in some new workout clothes (I did look for some gently used before I bought new but no luck). It was a good birthday!

13. Become a better mountain biker: First off G is rebuilding his old mountain bike for me.  I more advanced bike with be a big step up for me.  And more importantly I have been going to spin class 2 times a week.
Now it's time to work on the rest of the revolutions!

February in our world :-)

Custom Coasters Upcycle

I have seen a lot of DYI tile coaster tutorials out there, here is one that I perticularyly like tile coaster tutorial I have been thinking about getting some tiles and giving this a try, then I came across theses...

                                           

Tile coasters, and I thought why not cut out some of the steps and just upcycle these into a coaster design I would like!  I'm off to pick out scrapbook paper!

Valentine's Day

It's no secret I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but G is a huge fan of all holidays especially those involving candy, which these days is all of them.  Plus it's that special day to tell that special someone how much you love them with a little more creativity then the rest of the year.  And he really deserves it weather I'm a fan of the holiday or not.

I'm not sure where my dislike of Valentine's Day began, perhaps it was because my birthday is the day before and back when I wanted to celebrate getting older felt like it took the attention away from my day, when I got older it was probably because I didn't have that special someone (anyone who has been there understands how annoying Valentine's Day is when you don't have someone to share it with).

Then I met G, it was month before Valentines Day and when that day came he took me to dinner and gave me flowers, it was perfect.  Then the whirlwind that is the Army happened, and between BCT, AIT, PCSing 2/3 of the way across the country and deploying to Afghanistan I was once again alone on Valentines Day a few years in a row.  My dislike returned, but G remembered even through all of that and sent me flowers for a Birthday/Valentine's Day. I sent him mushy cards and candy.

Now you may be thinking why on Earth am I not a fan of Valentines Day if I get flowers every year? Well I wouldn't be me if I didn't have some weird reason, and I have actually have two. 1 flowers make me sad, I am sentimental and would prefer to get something I can hang onto, I'm not saying this because I want jewelry, I would be plenty happy with a stuffed animal, but every year as the flowers start to die I get sad.  The second reason is the all the marketing out there makes women seem like all they want is candy and jewelry.  This just isn't me, I would much prefer a special day together, a day hike, road trip, or site seeing, but then the candy companies wouldn't make any money right.  Maybe they aren't the best of reasons, but that's just me.

Well that's the end of my ramble, I mentioned before that while I my not be a fan of this particular holiday, I still wanted to do something special for G.  A big thank you to the Dating Divas Website for their cute printable (I didn't end up printing the designs, due to my lack of computer skills) but the sayings were super cute!  The printable can be found on The Dating Divas website  along with tons of other cute Valentine's Day ideas.  Here are the ones I made for G.

Ta Da a Yoga Bag

After thinking about how to make a yoga mat bag, I thought why not make things easy on myself and and use the leg of the pants.  So I cut the pants in half... 

I then drew lines to make that leg square, I used another piece to draw a circle for the bottom, then 2 more pieces for the draw string and shoulder strap.  I used the length and diameter of a rolled up yoga mat to determine how long and wide the bag needed to be...

I squared everything up, drew lines to sew along, and trim, and then I got to sewing.  The pieces I made for the draw string and strap I turned inside out and ironed flat before attaching them to the bag.  The pieces went together quite well and I think this little bag came out pretty cool! Check it out 

 Have you ever made a yoga bag? If so I'd love to hear about it!

~Sara

Sweat Pants or Yoga Bag: New Project Monday!

I got this pair of sweatpants free, I was super excited not only did they have this cute design but they were the capri style with the elastic bottoms, all of which I love, but then I discovered they had a big hole in them (well now I know why they were free) so there went my awesome pair of sweatpants.  But since I hate wasting things I though there has to be something I can do with these.  After some thinking I thought why not try to make a yoga mat bag.  I go to the gym a lot and see a lot of people carrying around their yoga mats.  I haven't seen a Pinterest post on this and I don't have a pattern so this should be an interesting project :-) 

I've Already Let it Go

Well mostly anyway.

This weekend was supposed to be my birthday trip to New Orleans to see some Mardi Gras parades and all the craziness that goes with it. Those of you that know me are probably thinking "why on Earth would you want to do that, you don't drink, and you don't like crowds?"  It's quite simple really, I live in Louisiana! For a few more months anyway, and I really wanna go to the real Mardi Gras.

Well thank you once again Army from making G do something when I have big plans.  I wont lie I pretty much had a temper tantrum, but hey I have been working hard and I don't ask for much (at least I don't think so), so this was a pretty big blow.  Then the same day I found out our Easter trip to Nashville (which has already been rescheduled twice) will now be canceled as well, and the temper tantrum pretty much continued.

Well after sulking for a day and pouring my disappointment out into my workout at the gym, then cleaning/packing some of the office, I built a bridge and got over it.  I'm still bummed and gave a pretty big sigh when I packed my Nashville travel guide, but such is life as an Army wife.  I have no control over anything, and I should have learned by now not to make plans.  A Nashville vacation is definitely going on my bucket list even if I have to fly there from California!

Happy Sunday everyone I hope you all can find some joyful moments in the day!

~Sara

Ash Fur and Aspen

Happy Saturday Everyone, for those of you blessed with weekends I hope you are enjoying this morning, for those of you who work Saturdays I've been there (and in a few months will be going back there) I hope you have a wonderful and productive day, and for you parents out there well hopefully you got a good nights sleep.

I am currently at the end of my first week of vacation before starting my new job, my husband is in the field and my dog and cat are sleeping in.  I thought I would take the opportunity of this quiet moment to introduce my two fur babies Ash Fur and Aspen....

They are both 1 year old and 90% of the time drive me bonkers with their constant rough housing.  Ash Fur doesn't know he's a cat and Aspen doesn't know he's a dog, but they are best friends and while they make me crazy I love them to death.

Big & Rich T-shirt Upcycle

Once I had my sewing machine out  I couldn't resist doing one more t-shirt upcycle!

This is my Ft. Polk Big & Rich T-shirt, as much as I like Big & Rich it is an XL and destined to be a sleep shirt.  But since I was in my upcycle mode I decided to change that!

 This shirt is black so instead of using a pen I'm using this fabric chalk to trace the outline, these can be found at a fabric store. They last forever my mom gave me this one.

 I picked this white t-shirt for my outline I like the way it fits and its of similar thickness of fabric.

Here is my tutorial from yesterdays t-shirt upcycle (From too big to perfect)

Here is the my Big & Rich  t-shirt now :-) much better! 

 
I do have question for anyone out there that does t-shirt up cycles, how often do you come a cross a t-shirt (or tank top) that while it is cute, it is just horribly made?  While I was working on this shirt I found that the silk screen is really uneven, also the distance between the neck and shoulder seems were different.  I ended up taking more off one sleeve then the other to make up for it.  In the end everything worked out splendidly, but it sure throws a wrench into the works when you are working to get every thing even and it turns out it's the shirt itself throwing you off.

I would love hear your thoughts and comments.

~Sara

Up Down and All Around

Do you ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? I sure do!  Especially when I have ideas rolling around in my head I want to try.  But sometimes I am just too tired, sometimes I just don't have time in between work and the gym.  I was in a good rhythm this past fall with my crafting business.  Then Christmas was over and I got a night job and suddenly my world was turned upside down.  There was no longer a rhythm to my day just exhaustion.  I have since left that job and have a 2 weeks vacation before I start a different job.  I have found my rhythm again even if it is only for a short period of time.  The best part is I am excited about the projects I completed today, and that makes me want to work on more projects tomorrow!

Have you even been in crafting slump? If so what caused it and how did you get out of it?

From too Big to Perfect

Since I had the sewing machine out I wanted to try this next t-shirt up cycle. This time I want to take a shirt that is too big and make it fit correctly.  I got this pink shirt at the thrift store it is so soft and comfy but it was XXL, at first I thought I'd just wear it as is, but I looked pretty silly.  I have seen lots of t-shirt upcycles on Pinterst so I thought I'd give this a try.  I picked my favorite fitting shirt and traced it onto the pink one.

Here is the out line, the pink shirt was a few inches too big on either side.  The sleeves were too big as well and with my shirt laying on top of it it looked as though the top of shoulders needed to be trimmed.  I decided to play it safe and sew only the sides then try it on.  As it turned out it was better to trim from the bottom of the arm.  I actually made the mark as I was wearing it.  Then I took the shirt off and sewed the under sides of the arms.  Once all of the sewing was done I trimmed the excess material.

The shirt now fits great! And it's still super soft and comfy, now I can wear it and not look goofy!

 

As a side note, I have found that when doing these up cycles when you pic a shirt to use as a pattern, pic one that is made out of similar fabric.  The fabric of thick men's shirts stretch and fit a lot differently then thin and stretchy women's shirts.  

T-shirt Upcycle Take 2

This is my second attempt at a t-shirt up cycle, the last one I made I liked, but I like the fit of my favorite tank top more, so this time I used it for the pattern.  I started out with this grey t-shirt...

I laid my tank top on the t-shirt and traced around it the front...

 Here is the outline...

 I then cut the sleeves off, I will sew the sides before I cut along the sides...

 Then I turned the t-shirt over and traced the back...

 I then carefully cut out the back side only...

I sewed along the sides and trimmed excess material.  Hanging up my tank looks like this, it is cut like my favorite tank in a racer back style, but it doesn't have the tie in the back that my last tank top had.

This is the last tank, I really like it but the tie in back makes doing sit-ups or any exercise where you press your back against something uncomfortable for me, which prompted me to create this new design :-)  It is more work because it involves sewing where as the original design did not, but 2 lines of stitches isn't too bad.

There you have it my new t-shirt to tank top upcycle :-)

~Sara

This is Me

Most of my posts are about crafts so I thought I would take some time to introduce myself to my new readers :-)

My name is Sara and I will be 32 years old next week, yikes I'm not sure where has the time gone?  I live in Louisiana but I am from California. My husband and I have been together for 4 years and married since September.

I started this blog, a facebook page, and an ETSY shop last fall and really enjoy creating and sharing things with others.

I'm still new at blogging but I am trying to write more interesting posts, and more tutorials, and trying build my audience.

To those of you who are reading my blog THANK YOU!

~Sara

A Big Huge Thank You :-)

A big huge thank you!

Last month I won the ETSY galore giveaway hosted by Mostly Happenstance these are the awesome prizes

Candle

by Unwined Myrtle Beach

Picture Frame

by Godwin Gifts

Necklace

by Modest Elements

Scarf 

by Knots and Bows Boutique

Ring

by Mystique Mermaid

If you have time please check out these wonderful ETSY sites!

~Sara

T-Shirt Upcycle

I have this baggy t-shirt that I want to up cycle, it's in really good condition, not stained or beat up like the ones I've used before.  I want to make another tank top, but I'm  it 100% happy with the last one I made so this time I'm going to tweak this one a bit!  Stay tuned :-) 

Candles!

This weeks project took longer then expected, but even though it's Friday I am still very excited to share this project!  I had cut wine bottles last week, but was waiting for my wax and wicks to come in the mail.  This week they finally arrived and began my adventure in candle making.

 Step one melt the wax

 Step 2 pour into wine bottles.  I didn't have time to correct the wick position while waiting for the wax to harden so I used some tape to help me out.

                                      

Last night when I got home from work the candles looked awesome :-)

I kept the one bottle with the original label, kept its matcher blank, and made a label for the third...