A Welcoming Workspace

This project comes from a wooden desk that was left behind from previous tenants.  I believe the source was another IKEA put together yourself furniture.  When I moved in, I figured I could use this desk as I left behind my last desk a few years back when I graduated from college.  This desk was probably one of my biggest neglects.  You couldn't see the ground underneath the desk as I stored boxes full of seasonal decorations, cords and cables, odds and ends.  The top of the desk became a place where I'd put my laptop to charge and "important" papers that I figured I should keep.

Unfortunately I didn't capture a before shot with all the junk surrounding the desk, so use your imagination when looking at this pic:

I've been obsessed with the color palette of grey and yellow, and thought grey would be perfect for this desk.  Plus, I scored a brass lamp with a funky shape at goodwill a few months ago that I spray painted yellow and added a grey lampshade that I thought would complete a grey desk perfectly.

Materials - Paint in a color of your choice, paint roller/paint brush, sandpaper, primer

Step One:
Sand the desk and clean thoroughly!  I always use traditional soap and water to clean pieces.  It's always shocking to me how dirty things like this get.  After using the soft side of a sponge to soap up, I dried with a paper towel, and that thing was black.  How gross.


Step Two:
Prime!  I'm all one for shortcuts because I get so impatient (I hate waiting for paint to dry!) but this is one that you can't skip.

Step Three:
Paint!  I was able to use only one coat, plus a second in some spots for touch up areas.

Step Four:
I wanted some new knobs, preferably yellow ones that went with the lamp.  I got these beauties for $8 each at Anthropologie.  They have got the best selection of knobs.  Unfortunately not the best price, particularly for the reinventing goal of this blog, but I had gotten a coupon in the mail for 15% off your total purchase for your birthday month, so I decided to treat myself (treat yo self from Parks and Rec anyone?? You tube it, and then treat yo self!).

I also got this awesome book called The New York Times 36 Hours:  150 Weekends in the USA & Canada.  After perusing through a few cities, it is a very precise scheduled weekend that highlights more local and off the beaten path activities so I'm really excited to try some of these out.  I'll keep ya updated after trying one out.

Finished Product:
Painting furniture is easy and really adds an instant upgrade.  The only thing it takes is patience, which unfortunately I have a short supply of... but I am really excited about this desk!  Even typing up this post I'm sitting at my new desk, which rarely got used previously.  Hopefully the non-clutter looks stays!

    

Bottle Cap Coasters

I've been saving my bottle caps for awhile with the intention of doing a bottle cap project.  Initially, I was thinking a bottle cap table, but, alas, now that I'm old enough to not be in the glory of college days, I had a gut instinct to take a different route. 

Sadly, I've never owned coasters of my own before.  I'm a total coaster moocher.  I figured coasters would be super easy to make, and a nice way to display some beer bottle caps.

Materials:
Bottle Caps, Hot Glue Gun, Coasters, Scissors/Box Cutter, Cork

Step One:
Save your bottle caps!  Or if you're really excited for this project you could go out and buy a case of beer, and then you get the value of drinking a case of beer and making a set of coasters for the price of one!  The coasters that I made consist of 7 bottle caps per coaster (I know, a shame that I couldn't convert a 6-pack into one).

Step Two:
Arrange bottle caps on cork and hot glue into place.  

Step Three:

Cut out the cork around the bottle caps.  I used a combination of scissors and a box cutter.  The cork is used to keep the bottom of the caps from scratching your table (kind of worse than glass rings you'd get without coasters..).  You could also use felt or foam or a similar material.  I chose cork because I kind of like that classic coaster feel.



Step Four:
Repeat til you get the desired number of coasters.  I chose to do this set as each coaster with a single beer type, but I'll probably experiment with mixing and matching.  I personally think these are great gifts.  Someone loves Victory beers?  Make them a set of Victory coasters.  Plus, you get to drink a lot of beer while looking thoughtful and considerate.  Win-win.

An Olympic Skeeball Halloween

After moving to Baltimore, I formed a Skeeball team with a group of friends after seeing a flyer in a bar.  Yes, Skeeball, that arcade game found at Chuckie Cheese where you roll wooden balls up a ramp to get into tiered point rings.  It gets pretty competitive, and I am proud to say that Team Skeepin It Real is the undefeated Fells Point Champion.  My team became good friends with another team, 3 Skeets to the Wind shout out! and it just so happened that we would be playing each other in Skeeball on Halloween night.

We wanted to have some kind of competitive themed costumes, and ended up with Summer Olympics versus Winter Olympics (props to Kelly!).  Each person dressed up as a different Olympic event in either summer sports or winter sports.  It was awesome because it was relatively easy to pull together and you could put as much or as little creativity into it. 

As an obviously expert crafter (uh huh..), I volunteered to put a few props together:  Olympic Torch, Olympic Rings Mask, and Gold Medals.  And they were all so easy to make and really pulled our two Skeeball teams into a cohesive unit - USA!  Plus, it's always so fun to go as a group costume.  This would also be a great themed party during the Olympic Season.

Olympic Torch:  
 Materials:  Brown Construction Paper, Hot Glue Gun, Tissue Paper
Shape the construction paper into a cone, and glue.  Insert in tissue paper to look like fire and fluff.

Olympic Ring Mask:
Materials:  Pipe Cleaners, Hot Glue Gun

Step One:
Cut the pipe cleaners in half.  Then, shape all pieces into linking circles, using a google image as a guide to the Olympic Rings layout, and wrap the ends so the shape will stay.  

  

Step Two:
Hot glue the circles into the Olympic Rings set up.  This was the most painful step as I burned my fingers a million times!  If you do ever get hot glue on your skin DO NOT try to get it off immediately.  Let it dry and then you can peel it off painlessly.  

Step Three:
Hot glue a pipe cleaner to the side, and you have an Olympic Masquerade!

Gold Medals:
Materials:  Ribbon, Construction Paper, Aluminum Foil, Hot Glue Gun, Gold Spray Paint (optional if you're not and winner and "going for the gold")

 Step One:
Cut construction paper into circles.  I folded each paper twice, so you get four circles per sheet.

Step Two:
Cover the circles with aluminum foil.  I added just a touch of hot glue to make sure it stayed.   

Step Three:
Spray paint both sides of the aluminum foil gold.  Let dry for about an hour total. 


Step Four:
Cut ribbons in a color of your choice.  Hot glue the ribbon to the medal, put around neck, and now you're a gold medalist!

The Finished Product:
Although it may be a bit difficult to see the props in the below pictures, it was so fun to make these and see them bring displayed at this Halloween's Skeeball Olympics!  Happy Halloween!

 

Café Corner

I got a Keurig single-serving coffee machine my senior year of college.  This always reminds me of the quote from Fight Club:  "Everywhere I travel, tiny life. Single-serving sugar, single-serving cream, single pat of butter. The microwave Cordon Bleu hobby kit. Shampoo-conditioner combos, sample-packaged mouthwash, tiny bars of soap. The people I meet on each flight? They're single-serving friends."

Even though my coffee is a single-serving friend, it's a warm and delicious one that brings me lots of happiness.  My kitchen is actually ridiculously spacious for living in the city, but somehow I've acquired a vast collection of kitchen goods that I don't really use, but the motivated cook that I know is hidden deep down is reluctant to get rid of any of it.


Anyways, this comes from another donated item of the boyfriend.  He had this black TV Dinner Stand in pretty good condition.  I picked up some silver spray paint from ACE.  This Krylon brand is the best spray paint I've ever used!  I've spray painted a lot of furniture before, and it's a long and tedious process for large pieces, and my fingers literally feel like they're going to fall off at the end of the project.  This can is somehow enhanced for maximum finger spray comfort.  Genius.

So, all you do is spray paint, let dry, add a few accessories and you're good to go!  I added the tea cups and saucers courtesy of Sid (so now I can drink all the tea and cappucinnos in them that I want muaha!), and had this vase and candle already.  I added a bag of aromatic coffee beans to the vase, inserted the candle, and voila, your very own café corner!

Pretty Pumpkinhead

Halloween might just be my favorite holiday.  Fall is definitely the best season, with those perfect weather days, crisp colorful leaves, pumpkin pie, apple cider, pumpkin and oktoberfest beers....yum.

This post is a quick take on my ritual pumpkin carving.  This year I wanted to do something a little different with my pumpkin.

I am ashamed to admit I got a medium-sized pumpkin from Safeway this year for $4.99.  I am all about the fresh pick-your-own pumpkin from a family run farm after a scenic tractor ride.  But my fall social weekend calendar filled up quicker than usual this year and I couldn't make the journey.  Also, I've become way lazier since living in the city.  Anytime I actually have to get in my car and drive is a huge feat.  Instead of lazy, I'm going to classify that as "going green."  The benefit is that this pumpkin was a lot cheaper than a normal pick-your-own, in which I like to get the fattest pumpkin I can find and that adds up when it's priced by the pound.

Materials:
-Pumpkin
-Potted flowers (I used $3.99 Mums from Safeway)
-Knife

Step One:
Cut the top of the pumpkin as normal.  Also, tip for anyone that is carving a pumpkin:  Cut the hole from the bottom.  Then it's way easier to put a tea light on the ground and pumpkin over it.  Plus the pumpkin will last longer.  Scoop out the guts, and make sure to save the seeds to bake for later!  

Sidenote:  My quick and easy pumpkin seed recipe for lazy people: 
-Clean seeds by putting in a colander and rinsing with water
-Heat oven to 350 degrees
-Mix pumpkins seeds in bowl with melted garlic butter
-Spread seeds on a baking sheet, sprinkle with garlic salt and pop in the oven for 40-45 minutes

Step Two:
Take the potted plant you have out of the plastic, and smush into the pumpkin vase you've now created.  Clean off the pumpkin, and you have a lovely pumpkinhead vase.  You can see that my flowers are a bit too big/the pumpkin too small, but I still like the look!  Happy Halloween!

What a fine looking Otto-MAN!

For a man that cooks and eats at home a mere few times a month, my boyfriend Sid has got all kinds of assorted kitchen gear.  The man has got a COMPLETE set of teacups and saucers and he's not even British.  It's mind blowing to me.  I've also known him for almost 3 years and not once have I been offered a spot of tea...  But anyways, in the eclectic clutter of his belongings, I have found some fantastic crafting gems.  Sid is a wonderful sport and happily donates his fixer-upper items for my craft projects (thanks babe!).

Sid and Me in Florence Italy!

One of the best crafting pieces I acquired from Sid was this depressing looking tiny table.  

How sad does that look?  One friend actually commented after a quick glance "oh that's a nice marble tabletop."  If you can't tell from the picture, that "marble" is really stripped away paint.  Originally this table was covered completely in tape.  Because tape totally hides everything.  But for fellow crafters, this table has got so much potential!

The table is really not that sturdy, so even after trying to tighten things up, the construction is weak, and my initial plan of making a bench wasn't going to pan out as there is most definitely a weight limit on that thing.  So instead I settled on an ottoman.

 Step One:
Sand all over and thoroughly clean.  I had some difficulty as my cat Ivy discovered a fondness for playing with sandpaper.

Step Two:
Paint!  I used this light-navyish blue color, brand MyColor, which I bought at Lowes because the bottle looked so cool.  I'm a sucker for those marketing gimmicks.  But, I liked the paint and it covered the wood easily.  I used two coats.

Before Paint

After Paint

 Step Three:

Get your foam cushion and fabric.  I went to DJ Liquidators, who will cut customized foam pieces for you for a  super cheap price.  Or, you can use whatever you have lying around the house.  I spent $6 on this foam piece!  And this fabric that I got is so awesome.  There's an adorable shop called Baltimore Threadquarters in Canton Baltimore that is small but it's got a lot of flavor.  They just got this fabric in when I went to the store, so it was totally meant to be because 1 - elephants are my favorite animals, and 2 - this color scheme is awesome.

Step Four:
Measure/cut your fabric as needed to fit over the cushion and reach the belly of the ottoman.  Turn over so the cushion is on the fabric, and the table is on the cushion.  Staple the fabric, using a staple gun, to the underside of the ottoman.  You'll have to be careful to fold/smooth out around the corners.  Make sure you pull tight enough on the fabric so you don't have wrinkles.  

Step Five:
You're done!  Add some pillows, use as an ottoman, bench, cat bed, whatever you like.  I'm in love with this piece and get so many compliments on it.  Plus, it's a super easy project for us lazy folks.   NOW that' a fine looking Otto-MAN!

 

Beeromantic Candles

I moved to Baltimore in a company relocation in July 2012.  Shortly after, Baltimore had it's annual Beer Week, a week full of delicious local and hard to find beers. At one bar I went with my friend Drew to an "Autumn Beer Event" due to my preference for pumpkin and Oktoberfest beers.  I would be happy drinking these year round, they are literally like fall in a bottle.  At the event, Drew introduced me to Southern Tier Pumking.  THE BEST PUMPKIN BEER EVER.  If you haven't had it yet, you must try it.  Even if you're not a beer drinker.  It is sweet and delicious but not overwhelming.  And, the best part?  It's almost 9% alcohol.  Any beer store that stocks it will almost certainly sell out before September though.  This year, I was sure to stock up as soon as the store got some in inventory.  Although it is pricey, I paid $184 (including tax) for two cases.  But it's worth it, and I plan to distribute some for Halloween and Thanksgiving events among friends and family.

Drew's birthday is conveniently timed at the end of August, shortly after buying and taste-tasting my Pumking case.  I've been in a crafting craze lately, and really wanted to make him a gift associated with this tasty treat.  I've been seeing a pinterest DIY post circling around lately about cutting beer bottle glasses.  After some research, I found several posts that showed how to cut beer bottles.  Below I'll go over my best results method.  I have always loved the scent of anything pumpkin:  pumpkin pie, pumpkin spiced lattes, baked pumpkin seeds with salt and garlic YUM.  So what could be a better gift than a Pumking Candle?

The best part about this DIY is you have to drink the beer in order to do it!  The ingredients you need are:  beer bottle(s), string, acetone nail polish remover, pitcher of ice water, oven mitt, lighter, sandpaper, wax, candle wick, and candle scents.

Step One: 
Cut three equal pieces of string and braid.  Soak this into the acetone nail polish remover.  Tie the braided string around the bottle.

Step Two:
As a risk adverse person, I put on the oven mitt for an extra precaution but you daredevils out there may do this free-handed.  Holding the bottom of the bottle with your oven-mitted hand, light the braided string with the lighter.

Step Three:
Rotate the bottle like a rotisserie chicken until the flame dies down.  You will get a pretty controlled flame, but you are dealing with fire so take extra precautions and do this craft in a safe environment.  I personally did this at my bathroom sink, with a sink full of water just in case.  Once the flame dies down, plunge the bottle bottom up into the pitcher full of ice water.  Make sure you don't skimp as I did at first, and use a lot of ice in that pitcher or the bottle won't break.  Also, sidenote - I got this pitcher at a movie theater.  They sell pitchers of mixed drinks themed around popular movies.  Delicious and creative!

Step Four:
The bottle is going to separate wherever you tied your braided string.  Some breaks will be cleaner than others - out of the three I tried I could only use two, and only one was satisfactory to give to Drew as a gift.  One the top of the bottle pops off, use sandpaper to sand the edges thoroughly.  The break in the bottle is sharp, but probably not enough to cut you.  Still, sanding the edges down makes the bottle a little more useable.


Step Five:
Now that the bottle is ready,  it's time to make the candle.  I bought creme wax from Michaels but use whatever your candle preference is.  Place enough water the cover the bottom of a pot.  Put the pot on top of a pan, and light the stove to a low heat.  Slowly heat the wax stirring occasionally.  It will take about 30 - 60 minutes to fully melt and heat to a high enough temperature. Once the wax is heated, add whatever scent you want.  I used pumpkin spice, and it smelled almost good enough to eat!

Step Six:

Pour the wax into the Beer Bottle.  Cut and add the wick.  Being thrifty and unprepared, I used a pen + cap to hold the wick while the wax cooled.  I let the wax harden at room temperature overnight, and then stuck in the refrigerator for another few hours.  Lastly, cut the wick to size, remove excess wax with a sponge, light and enjoy the Pumking!