Posts by Nat

BlogHer ’11: Get your blog on!

Posted by Nat on Aug 4, 2011 | 2 comments

Hello everyone,

If you’re reading this because you’re at BlogHer ’11 in San Diego, welcome!  If you’re reading this because you subscribe to my blog:  you are rad!

I wanted to put up a fresh post and make it easily accessible to learn a bit about me, because if you’re at BlogHer, then you’re probably clicking around during a session learning about all the amazing women in one place, under one roof.  So here are some tidbits about me, Crafting Crazy, and what I’m all about:

–  Crafting Crazy started as an outlet for me to get my craft on and not have it mingle with my family blog posts.  With a house to redecorate, three kids, and a serious urge to make stuff, I claimed my territory in cyberspace about a year ago and started documenting away.

–  In May of this year I resigned from my teaching career.  I was an elementary music teacher and while I loved the kids and my colleagues, it was not the life I wanted.  Perhaps it’s because I recently gave birth to baby #3, Miss Em, or perhaps her arrival was the final kick in the pants I needed to move on to something new.  Either way, I’m on a new course, and I have no idea where it leads.  No clue.  At all.  Whatsoever.

–  The one thing I do know is that I want Crafting Crazy, and blogging in general, to be an outlet for me, and perhaps part of a new career.  I have no idea WHAT career.  This is unlike me.  I’m a planner.  But I’m letting go and seeing what happens.  I did recently change my tag line from “I fully admit I have no idea what I’m doing” (still true), to “Life is crazy.  Craft it well.”  I want to find out what it takes to craft a life that is beautiful, full of the right balance of busy-ness and relax-ed-ness (I make up words sometimes), and fun.  I want to take advantage of this time with my kids and my husband to really feel like I’m in charge of my destiny and that I’m in the right place at the right time.

–  I have a long list of “to do’s” for my blog.  I need to re-do my blog roll.  I need to rethink my theme.  I need to make a signature.  I need to find out how to place ads without making my blog look horrible.  I need to convince my husband that I need a new camera so I can take prettier pictures.   I need to write a boat-load/butt-load/crap-load of posts, but hey- I just had a baby– cut me some slack.  Right now I’m at BlogHer to take in information.  The rest will come, I’m sure.

If you introduced yourself to me, thank you!  I hope I was equally friendly because I am super nervous and excited about this 2-day adventure.  I can’t wait to post about what I learned, and see what happens after this milestone for me.  I’ve been looking forward to it for months, and here it is!  If you’re visiting via BlogHer, please leave me a comment so I can go visit your blog, too!

Well hello there…

Posted by Nat on Jul 27, 2011 | Comments Off on Well hello there…

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks.  I’m having to reassess my ability to jump back into things in the blogging world.  In the meantime, please meet our newest addition, Emily Lou.  If you’d like to read more about her, click here.

I have lots of things in the works… in my head.  Some are already finished and I just need to write them up.  Others are projects that I’m longing to do, but just haven’t found the time yet.  I am also attending BlogHer next week, and that is going to take some prep work.  So, please pardon the sporadic posting, and hopefully BlogHer will give me the jumpstart I need to… do whatever it is I’m going to do with myself. 🙂

More to come!

Here she comes…

Posted by Nat on Jul 3, 2011 | 1 comment

Hi Friends,

Whether you’re reading this via your email, reader, Google Home Page, or if you actually landed here at Crafting Crazy, THANKS.  I am on such a sharp learning curve these days with blogging.  Add to that the fact that I am about to head to the hospital to go have baby #3 and things have been a bit crazy these days.  The last 2 weeks have included me getting chased by a bee (@ 39 weeks pregnant. Neat), the entire family except me having a stomach virus, and lots of other fun stuff.  Needless to say, when you’re 8 days past your due date, you’re ready to go.

I’ll be back soon and have lots of ideas on my list- can’t wait to get back in the swing of things!

Love,

Nat

More Mod Podge Projects

Posted by Nat on Jun 21, 2011 | 9 comments

This post is going to make me look like a Mod Podge addict, which I very well may be.  But in actuality, I did these projects randomly over the last six months, and I’m slopping them all together into one post because they all work in relatively the same way.  I love how a little bit of fun paper can add a pop of color and make things so much nicer to look at.

Project #1:  Bathroom stool

Anna uses this stool from Target to make it easier to sit on the potty (I just tried to find it on their website and the only color that shows is blue, and it’s out of stock- sorry!).  The only thing I didn’t like about it was that it was all-white, and it got dirty from her little feet so easily.  So, I just traced the top on some 12×12 scrapbook paper that I liked, and found a complimentary page in another pattern for the sides, and presto:  new look.

Project #2:  Ikea Stool

Similarly, we use this step stool from Ikea often and all over the house- in the kitchen, in the laundry room.  It actually now sits in the front hallway most often, but since I’ve Mod Podged it I don’t feel so bad because it’s kind of cute now.

Project #3:  Tubs in the Laundry Room

Lastly, you may have seen my post, Operation Organization, where I Mod Podged a bunch of tubs to help organize our hall closet.  We still plan on adding more tubs to that closet, but in the meantime, our laundry room was out of control.  I’m sorry to say I don’t have a “before” picture, but the two shelves over our washer & dryer were just covered with all of our dangerous chemicals, cleaners and such.  It’s the only place in the house I’m okay with having heavy chemicals because the kids can’t reach anything up there. So I headed to Ikea to get more of the big tubs and set this up.  It’s helped so much- we can grab what we want easily and it forces us to limit what goes up there.  There are a few things in the middle that are too big for the tubs, but that’s okay.   Still looks a LOT better.

The process for all of these was the same:  layer on Mod Podge.  Add paper.  Let dry.  Mod Podge the top.  Let dry.  Done!  I did use a brayer for both of the stools- I love the brayer!  If you have questions about any of these shoot me an email!  Also, I have noticed that the tubs in the laundry room are rippling a little bit- I imagine because it’s rather humid in our laundry room when the washer & dryer are going, but it’s not horrible.

I’m linking up to Today’s Creative Blog!

I’m so happy that Briana from Sweat Peas and Bumble Bees also asked me to link up to her party, What I Made Wednesday.  Thanks, Briana!

Lastly, I’m linking up to Fingerprints on the Fridge’s “Feature Yourself Friday”!

Coffee Table Upgrade with Mod Podge

Posted by Nat on Jun 18, 2011 | 12 comments

What else would I use to upgrade something?  I mean, really.

So we bought this table from West Elm right after we got married in 2005.  I cannot say that I recommend West Elm furniture for families with small children- it just didn’t hold up.  I loved the table when we first got it- it’s not too big, round (I love round tables for some reason), looked cool for a long time.  But our first condo faced west and the sun hit it during sunset, which took its toll.  Then Anna came, and she did a doozy on it.  I didn’t help either, what with my in-home-acetone-using-French-pedicures (ahem).  So, it was looking pretty sad.  We are now in abode #3, and it was really looking bad.  But we didn’t/don’t have the budget for new furniture right now.  We do, however, have a budget for craftiness and fabric- couldn’t possibly cost as much, right?!  Hmmm… not so sure, but I sure do like how this turned out.  Here’s the before:

I went to my local JoAnn Fabrics, spotted the fabric and loved it right away, so I bought 3 yards, and some black upholstery/pillow trim.  I stocked up on staples for my staple gun, made sure I had plenty of Mod Podge (fabric and hard coat) and a brayer (new fave tool!) and off I went.  In case you aren’t in the mood to scroll, here’s the finished product:

I apologize for the lack of photos- this was done months ago during my blogging break, but I will describe it as best I can.  I won’t say this is a tutorial, but if you ever ponder doing the same thing with one of your pieces of furniture, please shoot me questions and I’m happy to answer them.

First I poured a pretty hefty amount of Mod Podge (fabric) on the table and spread it out as evenly as I could over the top, but not the sides.  Then, I carefully laid the fabric on top, like so:

Then I used the brayer to roll the fabric out as flat as possible until I could see no air bubbles, no bumps, etc.  With the pattern in the fabric my eyes did cross a bit from time to time, and eventually I had to sit down and take a breather.

I waited a bit, and then I carefully trimmed off the excess fabric.  This is when the stapling began.  I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do this part- it was definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants project.  But I ended up being happy with the results.  Basically I pulled the fabric straight down and stapled until I absolutely had to pleat it because of the direction the fabric was pulling.  It seemed scientifically impossible to get it all to lay flat on the sides.  You’ll see in the collage below that there are just some pleats here and there- I stapled them as tight as I could- my fingers were nearly raw by the time I finished.

Finally, I added the trim with a hot glue gun.  I think in hindsight I should have stapled at least the beginning down with a staple or two, but it’s holding up great so far, so maybe it’s not completely necessary?

I wasn’t done yet, though.   I started the Mod Podge process with the hard coat formula using sponge applicators.  I have only been able to find MP hard coat in the smaller jar, and I started with two jars, but ended up buying two or three more.  I always did these coats after the kids went to bed so it could dry over-night.  I decided to go with the “built up finish” because I knew this table would be put under great duress by us and the kids, and the more layers, the better.  This equates to a minimum of 5 coats.  After 5 coats, I didn’t feel it was done yet.  There were lots of ripples in the MP, and I was curious to see if they would go away with a few more coats.  I think I probably did 10 coats or so- it was a lot.  It was also a bit tacky, as MP sometimes is, and I didn’t know what to do about that.  In the end I first sanded it a bit with a really fine-grain sand paper, then sprayed the top and sides with two coats of clear acrylic spray.  I’m actually not convinced I’m done with it, but it’s holding up great until I figure out what to do- maybe I’ll put some custom-cut glass on it someday when the kids are a bit older?  Or maybe by then we’ll be able to afford a new table… Hmmm…     Anyhoo, here are some more shots of the finished product: