Pixeltrashamania: April 2009

April 30, 2009

Project Procrastinator Party

I saw on Reinvented that Melissa at the Inspired Room is having a Procrastinator Party. I have the perfect project. I shouldn't be honest about it because it is embarrassing....but I have a project that I started, not one, but TWO years ago and just stopped.

There are a lot of reasons why I stopped. "It's too hot." "It's too cold." "I don't like the color I chose." "The primer isn't covering well enough." Oh... I could go on and on.

So, let's skip ahead. We have an awesome area which we refer to as the "poolhouse". Now it isn't anything like those gorgeous poolhouses in Coastal Living magazines. As a matter of fact, it is little more than a large closet turned into two changing rooms with some shelves in between. Very functional, but not pretty.

I'm not sure what the people were thinking who built this, but they didn't finish anything inside. And I don't want to be bothered with adding drywall and such to it. Nor do I want to spend much money making it over. Well, let me show you what it looks like. It is storing a lot of our winter pool stuff, so you will see lots of STUFF in there. Just ignore the stuff and look at the changing room & shelves. The other changing room looks almost the same but on the opposite side of the shelves. So, the shelves are already primed. This is what I did 2 years ago. The other changing room is also primed, but I'm not showing that just yet.

Note that ugly (oops... I mean that mirror that isn't quite my style?) You will see it again.
Oh, and that Aloha sign is from G's 1st birthday party Luau. I painted it. :-) It might be time for that to go away though.

Each changing room has a nice, functional bench and a gross concrete floor.

These are the mirrors that were left in the poolhouse by the previous owners.
If they were real guilded gold they might be nice, but they are nothing more than
moulded plastic. So, I'm going to attempt something that I've seen Kimm at Reinvented do oh-so-many times. I'm going to spray paint them! I have to buy some paint, but I want to see how the rest of the room turns out before I paint them. I'll let you know later.

Okay, so here's my plan.... I'm going to do a girls' changing room and a boys' changing room.
There are folding ugly brown plastic doors on the rooms now, so I'm going to remove those and chuck them. I'm going to put up curtains, paint and go from there. It will probably take me a while to get it all done, but my ideas are many! Tune in tomorrow for the progress (if any!)

Baby Teeth

V. lost his second baby tooth today. He is sleeping or I'd take a picture. It fell out right into his mouth. We were both trying to pull it before bed, but it wouldn't come out. He was trying to go to sleep and he came running out of his room all kinds of excited! The tooth had fallen out right in his mouth. The toothfairy brought him $2. My baby! Whaaaa!

April 28, 2009

And the Award Goes To....

I got an award today and this award has my boys ROTFLTAO (what little A's that they have)....

My award is not only prestigious, but also too heavy for my shelf. It may have to go onto the mantle. Many thanks go to the bestower of this award.... Steph at A Pocket Full of Buttons.

Who also has received this award and accepts it quite eloquently. She agrees that this is one heavy award. You must check out her adorable blog. She also has a great Etsy boutique where she makes and sells adorable little girly clothes! It is called Sew Fierce. How cute is that? {Very Christian Siriano, don't you think?} Oh, and she's from my Sweet Home San Diego!

Okay, so here is my lovely award... you will see why my little boys love it so....

Zombie Chicken Award reads:

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…

I award the Zombie Chicken too......
1) Janine- That's Soap Cute!
2) Stacey- The Blessed Nest
3) Sandra- In This Small House
4) Ashley Nichole - Domestic Divas Fancy
5) And my fav daily read.... Conversations with a Cupcake

Now go my five pretties, live the life of the Zombie Chicken and bestow the award to others.

April 27, 2009

How to Make Pizza on the Grill (or Grilled Pizza)

Want to know how to make pizza on the grill? Go to my Foodie blog, Food Art Party!
It is easy... I promise!!!

Kindergarten and Reading

I don't post a whole lot of mushy stuff, but my baby boy (6) makes me so proud that I had to share. He's in Kindergarten and he reads like a 3rd grader. I think they have to be at level 6 by the end of K and he was at level 24 before he ever got there. Now he is testing at level 38 but that is as high as they go.

I just love to hear his little tiny voice on this video and I know that I'll look back at it and be happy that I recorded it. Especially when his voice deepens. Isn't he sweet? And did you know all of that information about baked beans?

Oh and so that I don't get in trouble, I should let you know that my 8-year-old is also an excellent reader. As in high-school level... I just haven't videotaped his reading Harry Potter or the Guardians of GaHoole. LOL!

April 25, 2009

Want to Learn to Make a Perfect Chocolate Butterfly?

Go to my Food Art blog! The directions are there.

Tami

April 21, 2009

How to Make an Awesome Headband

If you can't see the pictures very well, click on them and they will open to a larger photo.

What you will need:

- A headband that fits your head well. (Measure it before you go shopping. See step 1)
-If you don't have one, use my measurements below.
-Fabric (this is a fat quarter that I got at Walmart. You don't need that much just be sure that you have enough to fit your headband twice plus 1/2 an inch on every edge for seam allowance)
-Non-Roll Elastic (also from WalMart. This comes in white also, but white tends to get dirty)
-Scissors and something to measure & mark with
-about 15 inches x 4 inches of Fusible Fleece (also Walmart)

This is the elastic that I bought.

Step 1

Measure your headband. This may be hard to do because most headbands are connected on the ends of the fabric with elastic. Just fold your headband and measure the top part. Then measure the two ends and add those numbers together. You can see that the top part of mine is 11 inches and the ends are 2 inches each. So, my fabric has to be 13 inches long plus the seam allowance of 1/2 an inch on each side. So 14 inches.

Step 2

Measure the width of your headband at the thickest part. Cut your fabric that many inches plus 1/2 inch for seam allowance on each edge. So, I had to cut my fabric 3 inches. Before cutting, put two layers of fabric together as seen in the next picture. This just makes it quicker.

Step 3

Lay your headband on the material and cut it into the correct shape. My headband is tapered toward the ends. A good thing to do here is take your elastic out of the paper and put the end of the elastic on the end of your material and you can taper it so that it is the width of the elastic plus your seam allowances. Even if you have a headband to trace, you should do this because your elastic MAY be thicker than the one in the original headband. (Sorry I don't have a picture of this)

See how my headband tapers on the ends? (below)

Step 4

Now take your fusible fleece and measure trace your headband on it using anything that will write on it. This is all going to be covered, so it doesn't matter if your markings show. I used a dressmaker's pencil, but you can use a permanent marker as long as you don't touch it to your original headband!

Oh... I used a different headband here so that it shows up better on the white. It is one that I made from my original so it is the same size.

The line is light, but you can sort of see how it shows below. Now cut the shape out.

Step 5

Place your fusible fleece rough side to the back side of one of the fabric pieces. It doesn't matter which one. It should look like this.

Step 6

Flip the fabric and the fleece over and iron according to your fleece's instructions.

Step 7 (optional)

Iron the edges of your fabric up over the fleece. This just makes it easier to pin. Your edges may go up over further. I actually cut this fabric with a quarter-inch seam allowance. Do as I say... not as I do! LOL!

It should look like this...

Step 8

Start sewing!

Start with all of the ends of the fabric. Sew the ends up over the fleece like this.

Step 9

Sew the ends of the OTHER piece of fabric.

Step 10

On the fleece side of the headband, pin your edges up over the fleece. Do not pin the ends.

Step 11

Take the "non-fleece" piece of fabric and fold the edge under to match the fleece side that you just pinned. Take one pin out at a time and re-pin both pieces of fabric together like this.

Now it should really start looking like the finished product. Top and bottom pieces of fabric are pinned together and ready to be sewn.

Step 12

Start sewing appoximately 1/2-inch away from the end of one side of the headband. You are going to want to sew the elastic into the end of the headband, so don't sew clear to the ends. See the next picture if you don't understand what I mean. Also, Steps 13 & 14 show you what you are going to have to do with the elastic. That should clear things up. Sew pretty close to the edge. See the 3rd picture below. And sew both long sides.

See how my thread is sticking up in the back there? That is where I started sewing. Not at the end.

See how close you need to be to the edge?

Step 13

Measure the elastic by comparing it to the original headband. Make sure you measure and cut 1/2 an inch longer than the elastic that is showing because you are going to sew the ends in between the two layers of fabric (See the second picture.) Also, notice in the first picture how I've Photoshopped some fushia lines across the headband? Those show how long you need to cut your elastic compared to the headband ends.

My ends weren't sewn shut so that I can insert the elastic ends into the ends of the headband.

Step 14

Insert the elastic into the ends and pin them shut.

Step 15

Start on one of the long edges and sew as shown below. I use a zigzag stitch for this part because it will be stronger and hold the elastic nicely. This part will be under your hair, so if it doesn't line up perfectly, no worries! It won't be seen anyway!

When you get to a corner, stop sewing, put your needle down into the fabric, lift your presser foot and pivot the fabric and continue sewing around the corner.

Step 16

Wear it!!! Yeah... you did it! Now go make more... you have LOTS of fabric leftover!

Also, don't forget to send me pictures or direct me to your blog where you've posted about the headband you've made using this tutorial. I'd love to see what you've created. This is really my first tutorial, so if you make it and you find something wrong or that isn't clear, let me know and I'll change it.

While you are wearing your adorable new headband, be sure to bake up some cupcakes.... After they are baked, go get my free printable cupcake wrappers so you can make your cupcakes look like this.... AWE!

If you would like to try to make headbands for softball and need some fun fabric, try these! They are trim, so they are already stretchy and sequined.