She’s Crafty

And she’s just your type.

I’ve written before about my general dislike of any arts and crafts-esque project. The idea of scrapbooking gives me the willies, glitter is very strictly banned from our household and the idea of stepping inside Michael’s is enough to give me hives. Even as a child I shuddered anytime a teacher pulled out popsicle sticks, fuzzy puff balls and some Elmers. Oh sure, we bought a glue gun and constructed some of our own wedding décor, but that was really more of a necessary cost-cutting measure than it was a “fun project.” It’s just not my thing. I don’t enjoy homespun things – I just don’t. And I certainly don’t like crafting them myself.

But lately … I don’t know … something has possessed me. Perhaps I’m ill. A strange virus infestation maybe? Well, whatever it is, it’s compelled me to tackle a few home improvement projects that some would classify (myself included) as “crafts.” *Shudder*

It all started because GAR went to Austin a few months ago and brought me back an “Austin City Limits” t-shirt that is completely awesome but is, also, completely suffocatingly (yes spell check, I know it’s not a word, lighten up) tight on me. He tried to see if he could exchange it for a larger size to no avail. But I had an idea to frame it for our music themed home office, along with another concert t-shirt that’s too big on me (if only they could be combined into one perfect t-shirt!), and a simple Google search gave me several options for how best to do this. No biggie, right? I mean, framing something isn’t really a craft project. But ... I didn’t love the color of the frames I had so I decided to spray paint them ... which is really just "painting" ... which is totally NOT crafting. Nonetheless, the whole thing did feel a little like arts and crafts hour in Kingergarten. But I am pleased with the results, so that's fine ... just fine. (Although I do have a major problem actually hanging the items I frame - hence the leaning on the floor shot. Get used to this ... you might see a few similar type shots moving forward as well.)

But, okay, while I was Googling this little t-shirt framing project I might have also seen an idea for how to turn old t-shirts into pillows (no sewing required! Which is good, because home ec was a bad, bad time for me in 7th grade) and thought “Oh, I have another really cool concert t-shirt that I’ll never wear again and wouldn’t this be a nice thing to help cushion my office chair?” (I’m still working on this one though – photos to come.) And then, well, it just kind of spiraled out of control from there.

I was unhappy with the wall full of framed postcards I had in my bedroom. The idea had seemed good in my imagination but it never really looked as good in person as I would have hoped. So I Googled ideas for other ways to display my retro travel postcards in one frame and came up with an idea for a craft project that would look way more kick ass than my current display. And so I did it. All it took was an empty frame, some string and tape. Easy! (Plus I invested in a very manly staple gun - score! - to hold the strings in place. And some day I'll even hang this bad boy too.)

I also revised my fireplace mantle artwork using framed fabric, which meant I had to go a place even MORE evil than Michaels – Joann’s. (Though I can deny ever doing this one since I took it down for the holiday season and put up garland instead.) And then I created two additional pieces of artwork for our office. I took some of our many, many concert tickets and created this (yes, I do know how to use a hammer and nail - get off my back).

And then I Instagramed (yes spell check. I know, I know) photos from these concerts (and a few more we've attended) and created a modern montage of them in Photoshop (before everyone started hating Instagram and saying they're selling our souls, etc., etc.) All I need now is to frame it (and, yes, hang it. Picky, picky)!

Pretty much I’ll never need any more décor for my office again. Or anywhere for that matter because I also created this for our bedroom.

It’s “artwork” created out of a bunch of little paint swatches I had collected at my "favorite" (okay, maybe not "favorite" but most frequently visited) store – Home Depot. But I totally love how it looks like legit art. And the best part? This one is supposed to sit on my dresser and lean against the wall - ha ha! I did that on purpose!

Yeah, okay. I may have a crafting problem. Granted it’s mostly just framing stuff with a little bit of design work thrown in. It’s not like I’ve taken up knitting or anything. But it’s definitely out of my realm of comfort. For the love of Pete I even joined Pintrest – PINTREST! I have clearly been possessed. But I’ll be damned if ever put anything I created up on that site. I am too selfish for Pintrest. Because, while I’m more than willing to look at your ideas and maybe snag a few of them for my own projects, I sure as heck don’t want anyone stealing my ideas. They’re mine. MINE I tells ya. Mwahhahhahhah (evil laugh) … even if I did share them here with you today (because I’m nothing if not a complete and total braggart).

To ease my mental state of affairs I took a breath, stepped away from the bedazzler, and decided to do a cosmetic enhancement that was just a little less "girly" (and I didn't even get hands-on with this one, I made GAR do it while I instructed him on how to do it correctly - natch) – hiding our television and electronic wires behind our new entertainment stand. This was no easy task given that our new stand has a completely open back to it. But I was just crafty enough (errrr ... I meant, intelligent enough) to figure out a way around that (basically it involved massive amount of electrical tape to hold everything into place. Viola!

This is the "BEFORE" shot (messy!):

And here is the "AFTER" (with GAR watching some crazy show about auctions - yawn). As you can see, we did a decent job of hiding the cords behind the shelves and then stuffing all plugs into that basket, which holds a power strip:

                                          

Okay, it’s all good. That last one was toooootttallllyy a macho, not too girly girl, type project. Perhaps I wasn’t a victim of body snatching. I am still “me” after all. Now I just need to find onnnneeee more frame for this uber cute Nirvana painting that GAR got me for Christmas. I'm sure I can find just a little more room on my wall for it ...