It's my birthday, I can craft if I want to.

Yup, it really is my birthday.  Since everyone I love is either sleeping, working, or 200+ miles away, I've pretty much had the day to myself.  Boring, you say?  Not at all.  You see, I'm what you call an introvert.  While enjoying the company of others, my favorite way to spend my down time is either by myself (or Aaron) with a good book or DIY project.

So, what have I chosen to do with all this time to myself (besides eat half a bag of my favorite chips - salt and vinegar.  Don't judge me, it's my birthday)?  Well, there have been a couple of projects that I've wanted to try, so I did both of them.  I'll save the other one for a later date, but here's today's:

Bleach Pattern T-shirts

I've had this old t-shirt that actually already has a couple small bleach spots - not too bad, but enough to keep me from wearing it.  So I figured, hey, why not bleach it some more?  There are a couple of ways you can do this.  I chose to use a stencil I already had to form the pattern on the shirt, and just dabbed on the bleach with a sponge brush.  You can also use (and I really want to try this) a bleach pen, so you can literally draw your own designs on to your shirt...I KNOW you just got excited about that.

Materials:

1. Bleach.  Any old brand will do.
2. T-shirt.  Any old t-shirt will do.  Please excuse the cat hair on mine - she really is a menace sometimes.
3. Stencil.  Any old stencil will do.
4. Cardboard, newspaper, or cutting board. Any old...eh, whatever. I opted for the less conventional cutting board to slip underneath the shirt to keep the bleach from bleeding through to the back.

• Place your stencil where you'd like the design to be on your t-shirt.  My stencil was moving around a bit, so I taped it down.  
• Mix your water and bleach solution.  I used about 4 tablespoons of bleach and 1.5 cups of water.

• Using the sponge brush, conservatively dab the bleach solution on to your t-shirt.  I say CONSERVATIVELY because the bleach will bleed, and you want a DESIGN, not a giant bleach blob...unless, of course, you ARE going for a giant bleach blob.  Then, by all means, blob away.

• See? You can see the color change right away!  Spiffy.

• Dangerously nearing "blob" status...but, not too bad!

• I got the bleaching fever...probably also known as bleach fumes...so I decided to do one more design...

• I was even MORE conservative with the bleach this time around, and, thus, you can see more of the pattern.

 At this point, I decided to call it quits.  The shirt didn't turn out too badly - I still the think the bleach pen idea is a waaaaay better option, but this wasn't bad for improvisation.

In other news, my magnificent hubby, who finally awoke from his deep, day-time slumber, went to go get me dinner (so I could sit on our patio reading while a thunderstorm rolled in - fave!), flowers, THE BEST ROOT BEER EVER (don't judge me, it's my birthday), and Peanut M&Ms (don't judge me, it's my birthday).  Overall, a successful birthDAY.  Looking forward to my birthday WEEK....!

Chalkboard Paint.

Oh geez.  The possibilities!  I'm not going to lie, after I bought a bottle of chalkboard paint, I walked around my apartment, bottle in hand, scheming which items I could legitimately turn into chalkboards.  I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, wishing against things like security deposits, just so I'd be able to paint half of the mirror with chalkboard paint (because that could be totally useful and cool...right?).

Luckily I came to my senses before something serious happened.....like before I started painting my face or my cat or something else catastrophic.  In any case, I settled for painting a mug that I picked up at Goodwill for $.50.   That way, if I decided it didn't work out well, it was only a $.50 mug that got ruined and not.....my bathroom mirror or my face.


Materials you're going to need:

Paint palette, paintbrush, cheap mug, Martha Stewart Crafts Chalkboard paint in black.

Materials with a cat option added.

1. Chalkboard Paint.  There are a couple of options that you've got here.  At Michael's, there were two main types of chalkboard paint:  spray paint or conventional paint, both in black or green.  I chose Martha Stewart conventional chalkboard paint simply because it was specifically a multi-surface paint.  I plan on doing some experimenting with the other varieties, which, of course, I will post about.
2. Mug.  Cheap mug from Goodwill.  
3. Soft paint brush.  Make sure this brush is SOFT.  I didn't really think about this as I was doing this project (big surprise there), but a stiffer bristled brush will not evenly coat the paint.  Go for a water color brush, or perhaps a sponge brush.
4. Painter's tape.  I thought regular masking tape would work just as well.  False.  Painters tape will leave a cleaner edge.  The masking tape was kind of a mess...you'll see.

 







Okay, got all that?  Here's what you do:

• Starting with a clean, dry mug, tape off the areas of the mug you don't want paint on.  You can paint part of the mug or the whole thing.  I opted for a stripe around the middle.  If you choose to paint the entire mug, make sure you leave room at the top to put your mouth on - I really don't think this paint is food safe.  And, for heaven's sake, do a better job than me when you're taping up your mug.  This looks like I did it blind folded. 
• Once you've got your mug taped, start painting!  Apply the paint in thin, even coats, allowing it to dry after each coat.  

• After your last coat of paint, carefully peel off the painter's tape.  If you look closely at the mug, you can see ridges in the paint because I didn't use a soft paintbrush.  Also, the edges aren't exactly uniform and even.  Stop being a perfectionist, you say?  Well, setting perfectionism aside, if your edges aren't clean, it's more likely the paint will chip.  Aaaand, ridges in the chalkboard part make the mug harder to write on.  Just sayin'. 

• Before you write on the mug, you're supposed to "season" it with chalk?  I'm not really sure what that does, exactly, but that's what the directions on the paint bottle said to do, so that's what I did.

• Yay!  A chalkboard mug!  

Considerations and Disclaimers:

Okay, so, look.  This paint?  It's cool, but it's probably not food safe, dishwasher safe, etc, etc.  Don't let your child, dog, cat, lizard, whatever - don't let them lick this mug or anything.  Apparently there is a water-based, nontoxic variety of chalkboard paint that is probably food safe (and is also microwave and dishwasher safe), I was just too lazy and impatient to order it online.  I fully plan on using this mug like normal, but I'm stupid like that sometimes.  Click here for more info about the nontoxic variety of paint, as well as where I got this sweet project idea. 


Excited as I am about this stuff?  Click here for other projects that you could do with chalkboard paint (and I probably will, eventually).  If nothing else, I have an old frame that I plan on repurposing into a chalkboard that I'll post about.  But the link provides some very cool, very brave ideas for turning stuff into chalkboards.


Did this inspire you to chalkboard it up?  Do you have something you'd like to turn into a chalkboard?  Let me know what you did (or are planning to do)!


Happy painting!

Unforseen Circumstances.

To all three of my faithful readers out there, I'm so sorry about the lack of project postings this week.  I've been stranded in my hometown because my car broke down (typical).  It's been a long, LONG week, fully worthy of consideration for day-time soap opera material.  BUT.  I'm a firm believer in mostly positive thinking, and finding the humor in any given situation.  Why cry when you can laugh?  AMIRIGHT?

So, in a week full of "do withouts," here's what I've learned:

1. I love my husband very much, and miss even his most annoying antics more than I ever thought I would.
2. My family is generous, supportive, sympathetic, and they LOVE me.  Even though this visit was unplanned and has been inconvenient, it's also been really great getting to hang out with them.  I've gone to church with them, had a wonderful Fourth of July get-together with their pastor and his awesome family, floated down a river on obnoxiously colored inflatables with my mom, gone shopping, cooked, and have done menial housechores (including landscaping on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR - but that only lasted about 20 minutes before we dropped the shovels and broke out the swimsuits and the inflatables).  All of these things, down to the menial housechores, have been a great way to spend time with the people I care about deeply - time that we don't often get to share with each other.
3. Sometimes trusting that things are going to work out is really hard to do, and sometimes things just straight up don't work.  Again, instead of crying about it (well, maybe I cried just a little), I've learned to take in a deep breath through the nose, exhale sharply, shake it off, and go, "Okay, that sucks.  But how do we move forward from here?" 
4. I have a lot of junk - some of which I miss right now, some of which I don't.  But, I'm thankful, after having limited resources this week, for what I've got.  Cliche?  You bet your sweet bippy it is - but it's sincere.

Okay, that was all the emotional stuff.  Here's the funny stuff I learned this week:

1. My suspicions have been confirmed:  my cat Cuddles is actually an assassin.
2. I'm about 85% sure I have a disorder called "misophonia."  So does Kelly Ripa.  Google it.
3. "Teste Toss" is NOT a widely-approved name for the yard game "ladder ball."
4. I can't sit quietly for more than 10 minutes.  This is an interesting development.  In fact, since I started composing this post, I've broken into song at least four times - "Step by Step" by New Kids On the Block, "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, and "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.  That's right.  Aladdin.  
5. Extreme heat makes me want to be outside MORE.  What?!

And the week's not even over yet!  I have an interview tomorrow, so that should make for some good stories too...hopefully like "I-totally-rocked-that-interview" stories and not "I-am-a-complete-and-utter-fool" stories.

So, as long as the risk that I took with my car plays out to my advantage, I should be home by Saturday, and I'll be back to my normal craftiness. 

Maybe I'll even have a job.

Get excited, AKF.