So you had a bad day

All in all, I'd have to say that today just sucked it. Here's a little snippet of a song I made up while moping around this evening -- "I hate today, I'll probably hate tomorrow." Such pity!!

So, in an effort to help lift my spirits a bit, I thought I would share some of my recent "wow, that's totally amazing" inspirations. Hope you enjoy ...



This is just complete genius. A plant stand made from old magazines?? Come on, supercoolness!! You better believe once I pull my head out my heiny, I'll be making one of these. Here's the link for the how-to.





This makes me giddy with delight. A calendar made from bubble wrap!?!?! What is more satisfying than popping bubble wrap? Answer: not much. What a great christmas present -- hint, hint. Find it here if you want to buy it for me, or for yourself.






I can never be sad when I look at something like this ... except perhaps that I'm not actually looking at this masterpiece in real time. If you have never been exposed to Dale Chihuly, then consider yourself schooled! This man is beyond bad@$$. He has been blowing glass since the '60's. You might recognize him if you saw him, he's the artist that sports an eye patch. His work is un-freaking-believable. Jeff and I got to take in a bit of his work when we honeymooned in San Fran -- he had a show at the de Young Museum. What a *treat*! Check out more of his creations here. Oooooh and check out his exhibition schedule to see if he'll be in a town near you!

Here's to hoping tomorrow will be a better one ...

Redesigning an old suitcase into a new side table

So I have this suitcase that I bought at a thrift store back in college. Oh my, my, my ... that was a while ago. I had big plans for turning it into a small side table or coffee table. Instead, it quietly held rolls of unused fabrics that were also waiting to be used in some crafty scheme. Can we say Velveteen Rabbit??

Tonight my friends, I finally got around to doing something with it. Here are the initial goods -- suitcase and folding tray table.



Now, I have to add that my dear husband walked the store with me for a loooong time searching for what could be used as legs ... and all because I couldn't wait until the morning to run to Lowe's or Home Depot or some such store that would actually carry furniture legs. Does anyone else get creatively driven after hours?? I'm thinking of opening up a late night crafting/hardware supply store. Holy moly, I've digressed!

I started by taking off the top piece of the folding table. I was using a manual screwdriver - what was I thinking?



Once the top was off, I had the sense to get the drill and screwed in the pieces to the bottom of the suitcase. This allowed me to decide how low or high I wanted the table to sit.



And just a few seconds later ... POOF, my old raggedy suitcase is now a REAL suitcase that can cry real tears and hop along with all the other suitcases. Hooray for the new suitcase table!!



It didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned, but I dig it. It totally inspired me to try my hand at this again. Perhaps I'll actually make that trip to Lowe's/Home Depot during regular daylight hours and invest in some hot legs for my next table.



Happy creating my dears ...

Hanging pictures without making swiss cheese

When hanging pictures at my house, my tendency is to always miss the mark by just a smidge ... ending in my wall looking like swiss cheese before I'm satisfied with the placement. A single nail hook is difficult enough, but you can fagetaboutit when it comes to the tandum hooks.

I recently thought of a way to cheat those sneaky double hooks. Just tie a string between the two hooks -- taut enough to make sure the hooks are facing each other.



Then just hang your picture from the string. You're on your own with the one remaining nail to struggle with.



Here's what the final grouping looked like (sorry about the shoddy flash/glare, still working on figuring out the new camera). Pretty evenly spaced for a swiss cheese girl, right??

Dumpster diving -- The ULTIMATE way to be green

Several days ago, I eyed a small step stool my neighbor had placed by the curb. I was in a hurry to leave for work, so I just left it. It was trash day after all, and I figured we would never cross paths again. But, when I came home from work that evening, guess what the trashman had not picked up?? The step stool. So, I begged my hubby to grab it while I brought the trash can back from the curb. Thanks honey for aiding in my dumpster-diving-deeds.



I brought the stool into the house, gave it a good scrub down, and hammered the sides back together. It was still a bit wobbly, but sturdy enough to hold a plant or some such thing.

I was walking around the house trying to find its forever home, when I stepped into the downstairs bathroom. We had been using a freestanding toilet paper holder because it's kind of a small space and we needed to use some free space under the sink. I moved Mr. T out of the way, and found that my new little step stool was a perfect fit. What do you think??