Morimoto

Morimoto is our new Japanese marimo moss ball.  Isn't he cute?  He is very velvety.  

Erica first spotted these little guys at Pet Smart by the Beta fish.  Marimo moss is slow growing and requires very little care - just indirect light and fresh tap water every 1-2 weeks.  It does need to be rolled every now and then to ensure it stays green on all sides.  That's it!

You can find marimo aquariums for sale on Etsy.  Erica was tempted to buy one, but since we knew we could find marimo locally, we made our own:

Glass vase -$0

Aquarium rock - $2.50

Black beach rock (from our trip to Iceland) - $0

Marimo moss ball from PetSmart - $8.99

Tap water - $0

Total - $11.49

 Arrange the "ingredients" to your liking and add fresh tap water.  

A piece of sea fan or fancier aquarium rocks might be nice additions down the road.

Morimoto lives in the wine room.  He produces little air bubbles and is said to bring love, good luck, and happiness.

A Cover Up

The concrete on our front patio and steps needs to be replaced.  Here is a peek at our deteriorating front steps:

We've attempted to patch it with concrete caulk, but it isn't holding up very well.  So, Erica decided some carefully placed pots would help provide cover as well as prevent visitors and the mailman from walking on the area.  The best part, all supplies were on hand, so this little project didn't cost a thing.  

The inspiration for the pots came from the Grandin Road Zoey Planter and this blog post on DIY Geometric Flower Pots.

First, a couple coats of white paint, followed by taping off the designs with painters tape.  Then, two coats of black spray paint that were dried completely before the tape was carefully peeled off.

And finally, they were put into place on the steps.  The little flower is a Teddy Bear Sunflower that we started from seed.  Will probably pick up a little mum for the second pot.

We're not sure when we will tackle the concrete re-do.  It's on the to-do list for now...

Placemat Pillows

I have been looking for new pillow covers for a few months now.  I couldn't find anything I liked for a reasonable price.  Why are pillows so expensive?  

Thanks to a nice leisurely trip to Target this past weekend, where I had time to really scout out the deals, we now have new pillows for cheap.  What do you think?

First, start out with a pretty placemat that has a lined back.  This one has lots of embroidery on it and was $4.49.  I bought 2 of them.  

I also bought 4 bright placemats on clearance for $1.96 each for out on the patio.  Here you can see how I took apart the seam.  I used my sewing scissors.  I could have sworn I had a seam ripper, but I guess not.  

I re-used the forms for the living room pillows, but used plastic shopping bags and shredder paper to stuff the patio pillows (don't worry, they won't be outside all of the time, but waterproofing spray is not a bad idea).

Finally I hand sewed them closed.

Cost Breakdown:

6 placemats - $16.00

Old pillow forms - $0

Plastic bags & Shredder Paper -$0

Sewing stuff - $0

Grand total for 6 pillows: $16.00

Not too shabby.

Updated Kitchen Light

Our kitchen light fixture.  It came with the house and was ready for a long overdue update.  It just looked dingy.

It looked dingy because it was!  Look at all of the filth, grease, and bugs.  This required some major elbow grease.

All cleaned up and the brass is ready for Hammered Nickel Spray Paint.  The glass shade looks almost iridescent now that it is clean and we like it much better.

The Finished Product.  All for the price of a can of spray paint.

Wine Cork Letter

The Wine Cork Letter craft is all over Pinterest and the Internet right now.  I just happened to have a stash of wine corks and some spare time, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

What you will need:
Microsoft Word or other word processing program
printer + paper
scissors
glue stick/glue
wine corks (I needed 57)
glue gun + glue sticks
cardboard

1.  Print out 2 letter templates using Word (I picked M, of course).  I used Cambria font at an 800 pt size.  Set the paper margins to zero and select the outline feature in the font toolbar.  The final dimensions of the M were 8.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches tall.

2.  Cut out your letters.

3.  Use one letter as a template to arrange your corks.  I chose to use the side of the cork that had been stained with wine.  Set aside.

I have seen this done with the unstained ends up and I have seen painted corks used as well.

4.  Glue your second letter face down onto a cardboard box and cut around the paper letter with a heavy duty scissors.  This way, when you flip it the right way after cutting, you won't have any pencil marks on your cardboard template.  The edges of the cardboard letter will show around the corks once they are all glued on.

You could also trace the letter face down onto the cardboard and skip the glue.  That seemed like too much work to me.

5.  Using hot glue, secure the corks onto the cardboard template in the same way you had laid them out in step 3.

And, voila:

It stands very well on its own and will live on the built ins in the dining room. 

Most of the other tutorials used wooden letters (instead of cardboard) which can be found at any craft store.  This might be a better option if you are going to hang your letter.

I think it turned out great, and it didn't cost a thing (not counting the cost of the wine, of course).

Soda Tab Bracelet

I made a soda tab bracelet last night.  I picked a shiny bronze ribbon to get a two-toned metal look.  But, I am looking forward to doing another one in a bright color.  I got this idea here where you can also see more pictures.

What you need:  1.5 yards 5/8" ribbon, 20 soda tabs, 2 bobby pins (optional)

1. Fold the ribbon in half, stringing the first soda tab toward the fold and leaving a loop on the end.  

2. Overlap the next soda tab and weave the ribbon through.  The top ribbon strand goes through the top of the tab and the bottom strand through the bottom.  

Tips:

- Make sure the soda tabs are facing the same direction, i.e. the bottom of the tab that was connected to the can is always on the bottom or the top.

- Use the bobby pins or tape the ends of the ribbon to help it through the tabs.

- Take care to straighten the ribbon out after every pass through the tab.  Otherwise, the ribbon tends to get lumpy and sloppy looking.

 You could spray paint the tabs or use the green tabs from Heineken cans (this recommendation came from Chris).  I think this would also be a cool belt - that would be a lot of tabs to collect.

Cost:

Soda Tabs: $0 (by product of our excessive soda consumption lately)

Ribbon: $.50  (3 yd spool was $1 at Michaels, but I should have enough for 1 more bracelet)

Total: $.50

Craft Time! aka "Some Sort of Productivity for a Lazy Day"

We have been in Las Vegas this past week, spending time with Chris's family there.  We got home last night and had pretty ambitious plans agreed upon for today.  The plans included painting one of the downstairs bedrooms and moving furniture.  Those dreams were dashed by oversleeping and generally feeling under the weather.  Chris had a touch of the flu earlier in the week, Erica has had a sore throat for days, and we both have been sniffling maniacs.

It has been a pretty darn lazy day instead.  In order for the day to not turn into a complete waste, Erica decided to try her hand at making these handmade ornaments.  You have seen them here on the blog last month as a crafty to-do.

Download instructions and print the templates here.

Cut 'em out.

Put 'em together.  

Putting the pieces together is a bit hard to get your head wrapped around at first.  Once you get the hang of it, it goes quickly (The cutting is the most time consuming part).

Not sure what my intentions are for this project yet.  I think multiple balls would be cool sitting in a bowl.  Not sure how many more I will be making, I told myself the tree would be coming down tonight.  

More Spray Paint!

This is our second spray paint project. The first was our dining room chandelier transformation.

The recessed lighting surrounds in our kitchen were gold. You can see them in all of their circa early 90's awesomeness below just before the transformation began:

Satin Nickel spray paint to the rescue! Pam had actually given us this left over can from one of her home projects. Thanks Pam!

And the finished product - 2 even coats of spray later. It is amazing how something so small makes such a big difference. We likey.

The Big Chandelier Unveil

We bought new candle sleeves without fake wax drips at Home Depot and sprayed them. We decided to go with white, round bulbs after Erica spied this article on-line. The bulbs make the whole thing more modern.

All lit up. Can you say ooooh, aaaah?

Total Cost: $26
2 Cans Spray Paint - $12
Candle Sleeves - $6
Light Bulbs - $8

The second can of spray paint is barely used. Must think of another project and put it to good use.

Chandelier Make Over

Remember this beauty? It was just hanging in the dining room waiting for us when we moved in. Chris despised it and wanted it gone, but Erica saw potential. The same fixture is at Home Depot for $99. Whaa? It is a heap of cheap plastic. Wouldn't pay $10.

The transformation involved some fun $6 spray paint and removing ALL of the lovely plastic crystals. To finish the prep, we removed the candle sleeves and taped over the bulb connections.

Here it is now, hanging in our garage. Erica was so excited, she drug Chris out to the garage first thing Sunday morning to give it a once over after it had dried all night. Chris says it looks better in person, which it does - it is an exact shiny, hammered match to the spray paint cover above, which unfortunately is not captured in these pictures.

We need to buy another can of paint to touch up the cord and ceiling plate and we might spray the white, cheap, wax-dripped candle sleeves the same color.

Look for an After picture soon. We can hardly stand the suspense ourselves!