>A Chapter is Closed

>

Literally. 

A chapter of our lives has come to a close. After a nine month stretch, Austin and I are finally done listening to the Harry Potter series. 

We began our journey with Harry Potter way back in January on our 13 hour drive to Colorado. I think we had a total of five conversations in the 26 hours of driving there and back because we were so engrossed into listening to the story.

Jim Dale, the reader of the audio books makes them come to life in an entirely different way than reading them.

 Since then, Harry Potter and his friends have joined us in almost every road trip or plane ride. 

He got us through the long flights to and from Jamaica and Alaska. He joined us on most trips to St. Louis or Camdenton to visit the families. He was part of countless car rides and road trips.

Harry also joined us on many random occasions in our first year of marriage:

During games of Nertz, our favorite card game.

On trips to Andy’s frozen custard.

While cleaning the house. This made it so much more fun!

While painting our living room.

Sometimes at night before we fell asleep.

Cooking meals together…and sometimes while we ate the meal.

It’s sad to say goodbye to our friends at Hogwarts. I almost feel as though they were a big part of our first year of marriage. That’s so cheesy but slightly true.

My fellow Harry Potter readers can relate to the bitter sweet feeling when the last page is turned. J.K. Rowling is a literary genius in my humble opinion. We’ve truly been blessed by her talent.

>Too Funny Not to Share

>

>Messenger Bag

>

Since I hardly have ANY purses and bags in my life, (I can hear my husband’s groan of disapproval from the other room) I thought I would try a tutorial that I found on I Make Stuff‘s blog. Here’s what I came up with.

Here are some of the fun details:

I made a ruffle on one of the straps. On the other, I used one of my fun stitches on my sewing machine to give it a personal touch.

I also made some pockets on the inside of each bag. Good places to stash my wallet, pens, books, etc.

It was a pretty fun project! I’m going to make a tutorial soon so keep an eye out for that if you’re in to that sort of thing.

>$5.00 Goodwill Chair

>

 A friend from church gave me some paint samples so I swung by Goodwill with an eye out for a project. I saw this little guy for $5.00. 

Sold!

It was in pretty rough shape. Dirty and dusty. Yuck.

I started by taking the seat off the chair and then removing the upholstery from the cushion.

After scouting out potential fabrics, I picked my best option. You might recognize it. I’ve used it on my past two fabric/furniture projects. I promise I’ll move on from this design when it runs out. Anyway…

I reupholstered it by wrapping it tight around the front and using a staple gun to secure it.

I primed the frame of the chair with Kilz spray primer and let it dry. 

I then gave it two coats of the paint. I don’t know what the name is… sorry!

P. S. look in the background of this picture-hilarious.

I wanted to add a little personality to the little guy so I decided to try some stenciling. I taped the stencil to the chair, sponge painted it on…

Then peeled it off. 

Well, crud. 

That didn’t work so well.

No worries. I ended up getting an itty-bitty paint brush to touch up the edges. ALL of the edges. 

Ah, much better.

Without further ado, I give you… The $5.00 chair makeover!

Darling, isn’t it!?

I’m temporarily using it my craft room.

I may try to sell it but I almost like it too much to give it up. However, I also might have a bit of an overkill with that fabric around my house. I don’t know. Decisions, decisions. 

Until I decide what to do with it, I’ll just sit in it and look at my Martha Stewart craft book.

>Picture Frame Wall

>

My sister is crafty too! Look what she did with all these old frames that she collected from garage sales and Hobby Lobby sales…

BEFORE

 AFTER

 She hunted down a unique group of frames.

Primed them and spray painted them white.

Laid them out in the position they would hang on the wall.

She hired a weirdo handy-man to help in the hanging process. Oh wait, that’s her boyfriend…

I hear he has handy skills. I have yet to see them. Anybody can pose with a measuring tape, Peter.

Don’t they look fabulous!?!

So proud of my sis!

>Inspiration Board

>

I’m constantly clipping and tearing ideas and pictures out of magazines that I like. These clippings usually float around my kitchen, make their way into my craft room, and then disappear into the black hole of craft supplies. 

Not anymore!

I made myself an inspiration board. 

 It all began when I found 4 cork squares at Target for half price.

I picked some coordinating fabrics that I had on hand, measured them out, and stapled them on.

On the corners, it’s kind of like wrapping a present!

Here’s what one of the squares should look like from the back.

After I wrapped 3 of them up, I realized I wanted to frame them somehow. Looking around, I couldn’t believe what I found! I’ve held on to this frame for a while with the idea, “I might use it someday…” Well that big day came. I took it outside, spray painted it white and let it dry.

After drying, I arranged the cork boards and nailed them into the back of the frame with some itty-bitty nails. 

This beauty is now hanging right by my sewing table… just waiting to give me inspiration 🙂

 I’ve already put it to work!

 I did happen to have one cork square left over. Don’t worry, it is being put to good use as a recipe board in our spice cabinet.

It fit perfectly!

Love a great, cheap project!

>Sidewalk Chalk Guy

>

I just think these things are awesome.

Here are some drawings from Justin Beever.
This guy continues to amaze people with his sidewalk 3D chalk drawings.
Hard to believe that these are drawn on a FLAT sidewalk surface.

>I Just Can’t Help Myself

>When I see a fabulous new blog template, it’s all I can think about until I apply it to my own blog. 
Hang in there with me as Learn and Go takes on, yet another face lift.

>Dancing Dog- UNBELIEVABLE!

>

>Coffee Sleeves… Literally

>

Do you know about felting wool?

I didn’t until a few days ago. Now I can’t get enough of it. 

Basically, you wash a wool sweater/scarf/skirt/etc. in hot water, rinse it in cold water, dry it on high heat. Repeat if necessary. 

It shrinks up the wool to a felt-like material.

With this new idea, I swung by Goodwill to see if I could find any wool sweaters. It was actually harder than I thought. I guess it’s not quite sweater season yet. After searching the racks, I ended up finding two that might work. 

I washed and dried them. They for sure shrunk up! I began chopping up the usable pieces. Confession: I really enjoyed chopping up the sweater. I might be cutting up more clothes in the future.

To cut them into the correct size, I simply used a coffee cup as my template. It doesn’t have to be exact since the sleeve is supposed to be snug. 

 After cutting the strips, I sewed one seam down the back and got to decorating! This part was fun. Here are some of the finished products. 

Want to see more?

Want one for yourself or your coffee loving friend?

Visit my Etsy Shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PollyWogsPlace