I just couldn't write another WM post with 'random' in the title so I switched it up a bit. Even though it's really more of the same thing.
I feel like I've been hit with an avalanche of projects ever since I pulled that one out from the bottom of the pile. Kind of like that orange that looks so perfect you have to have it. Then all the rest come tumbling down after it. Now that school is out, and since I'm the teacher that's important, I have the freedom to flit from one project to the other without the pressure of finishing and cleaning up so we have the space to do school. That's also my number one problem right now. Too much free time with no schedule. My house looks like a crafter's disaster. Here's a sampling of what I've been working on the past two weeks...
Switched out my dining room light fixture from this
to this. Ah, much better. I'm still not sure it'll stay white and I don't know what to do with the dingy, bland cord, but it's an overall improvement. I'll also mention that projects like this and this can sometimes be good for your marriage. ;)
Took a couple of thrift store lamps, spray painted them white, added semi-homemade shades and called it a day.
Made a hanging planter out of an old colander I got at the ReStore for a dollar and planted some Purslane in it. Speaking of edible weeds, have you ever tried Purslane? It's a little bit tangy and spicy and my husband loves it so much that he grabs a sprig and eats it every time he walks past it. I'll post a little toot on how I did it later. Until then, here's the finished product hanging on the porch.
And, to be fair, I thought I'd include a hair-brained idea I had and followed through with and promptly deemed a failure. I bet you're just dying to hear about this one.
Here we have a shirt that I bought at Goodwill for $cheap.99. I love it. Or should I say, I loved it. It's Ann Taylor Loft and it's light and soft and I love the colors in it. (You'd probably agree with me if I hadn't taken a picture of it like it's a slipcover for my couch.) Then I wore it a few times and spilled stuff on it. Because ladies, that's what I do. I'm not a careful eater and I'm not gentle on clothes. I don't usually follow the standard rules of laundry either, so I ruin a lot of stuff accidentally. That's also why I try not to borrow things. But that's another story for another time.
Some of the stains I wouldn't really even consider stains. They're more like mystery spots. Sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't. (Maybe what I need is an exorcist) My point is that it wasn't bad enough to just throw the shirt in the giveaway pile, but it was getting a little too dingy for me to feel comfortable wearing. I once dyed a white skirt of my daughter's blue because I couldn't get a stain out but didn't want to part with it. It worked beautifully so I decided to try a similar measure on the shirt. I didn't want to go with blue, which is the color dye I already had on hand, and I didn't want to wait because I'm not good at that. I was in the kitchen when I noticed my coffee pot sitting there, with about 3 cups of coffee in it from that morning. The next thing I knew, I was stuffing the shirt into a big metal bowl and pouring the coffee over it. This is what I ended up with. And I liked it.
Then I went and washed it. That's what you do after you dye something, right? Well, apparently my laundry detergent can't remove mystery stains, but it has no problem removing coffee stains. The shirt came out the same dingy white it was before except for one small area. Actually two areas. The coffee and subsequent washing somehow made sweat stains that were practically invisible before this experiment bright yellow. So now I have a dingy white shirt with bright yellow stains in the arm pits. Nice.
Maybe I'll try again and let the coffee sit longer or maybe there's something that I can use to 'set' the stain before I wash it. Anyway, I'm not quite ready to let the shirt go. I'll keep you updated. I know this is riveting subject matter and I don't want to leave you hanging. Like the shirt. You know, hanging. Thanks, I'll be here all week.
And here's a peek into what I'm working on for next week. It involves using my newly acquired WM skills to make some money. Hopefully.
