parade float

I've had a lot of requests from family and friends to post pictures of the float we've been working on for the past six months.

Almost every Wednesday since January I have spent the afternoon in a warehouse building replicas of homes from the avenues, painting, glittering, laying sod, cutting fringe... many seemingly insignificant details that we would laugh about as we worked on it because the life span of a float during a parade is about 40 seconds from 40 feet away. 

The amount of detail that went into this thing was mind blowing.

 

Aside from the hours of planning and gathering the required materials needed, a retired architect built the 4 churches spending more than 400 hours on them.  25  homes were constructed and given out to our neighbors to decorate and personalize. 800 + paper flowers were made to go around the edges.  A professional artist donated his time for the murals painted on the base. And that's just naming a few projects I could think of quickly.  Our roughest guess is that well over 1,000 hours were put into this thing.

There was a steady stream of people stopping by to help or just say hello and check the progress.  And the master mind behind the whole project, Susan, made sure that every detail was considered and carried out flawlessly.  She was a joy to work and laugh with each week.  She came in under budget and right on schedule and even had time to plan a preview party and a lunch after the parade to make sure everyone knew how much she appreciated them.  Talk about the perfect leader.

The banner running around the base of the float is made up of images from the Utah Historical Society showing generations of the people from the five faiths represented on our float.  Why just these five?  Because there is a choir in our area made up of people from each congregation that my stake is a part of so it seemed fitting to focus on them.

A little detail shot of one of the houses I worked on.  Yes, that's my Vesper in the window.

I had fun with this project, but this is happily the end to my career in float building.  Two is more than enough for me!

fluttery paper butterlies

I know I've seen butterfly mobiles somewhere before so I can't take creativity credit for my whim yesterday to slice up an old book and make some butterflies.
{tho I may be the only grown woman unabashedly making one for myself, instead of some deserving young girl}

Want to make one too?  It's easy and fast.  {about an hour if you're fast with scissors}

 What you'll need:

• an old book - I chose mine for the linen quality paper and yellowed pages over a crispy new type.  It felt more romantic and fluttery.

• scissors, fishing line and glue of your choice - {I prefer hot glue, no question it'll stick and the smell is oh so crafty}

• a round object to hang the strands of butterflies from - I was impatient and didn't want to run to the store so I looped some light weight wire twice and twisted it around itself to create an interesting texture. 

then...

• cut a bunch of butterflies of varying shapes and styles from the pages of the book

• tie strands of fishing line to the round object and hang the whole mess from something high enough to work easily around it {5 strands for me, and I hung it from the light in my room}

• place butterflies one by one on the strands of fishing line paying attention to the balance so it hangs straight from the base. I cut squares from the pages to use to secure the glue.  As the glue was setting I bent the butterfly at the seam to give the effect of fluttering wings

• trim off excess line and clean off hot glue spidery webs from everything

• Ta da! A butterfly mobile.

 I went to the library last night after I finished my mobile.  Must have been all those fluttering words hanging around getting me in the mood.  When faced with all those shelved universes to peek into I can't get too involved in trying to take only the perfect ones home with me.  So instead I pick books mostly for the cover.  I get sucked in with a witty title, pretty typeface or a great image.  I'll skim the first page to see if the author can catch me in the first few lines and from there I'll take the stack of contenders home to weed out the worthwhile from the fluff.

It is national poetry month, so go enjoy some poems.  I grabbed Say Uncle, Kay Ryan because of the poem below.

Happy Friday!

Glass Tile Mobile

I had a bunch of leftover glass tiles from a project so I thought I'd string them up and see what they looked like as a wind chime.  I finished it up and was ready to hang it out on the porch when I dropped it and half of the tiles fell off and shattered on the ground.  Lesson learned: a glass tile wind chime is a bad idea.  But it looks pretty hanging in my kitchen nook where it can catch the morning light.

Happy Weekend

This week has been all about finishing projects.  One of those projects was breathing some life into those  lamps I brought home from work recently I mentioned in an earlier post.  I can't turn my nose up at broken shipment items when I know there is potential lurking about, even if they aren't quite my style.

Total price for a new shade, a harp to place it on, and a can of happy yellow spray paint - $16
{The one like it here on the floor retails at over $150.} 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

friendly cards

Making cards for friends n family is always fun to do. I can rarely just sit down and come up with one unless I have someone in mind.
I painted this little card for my Aunt Vicky for her birthday but she hasn't seen it until just now.  It promptly got buried on my desk only to find it way too late to send.  {Is it ever too late to send birthday wishes?}

for my mom

for my nice niece.

project: re-upholstering

I bought this chair last fall for $3 and liked the bent wood style {even if it is just an old office chair}

I know I come across as the cheapest person when it comes to my DIY projects.  I do value a well made piece of furniture and definitely have expensive taste, but can also find so much pleasure in tearing something apart and putting it back together again.  The original plan was to spray paint this one too, but I like the beat up wood too much to cover it up just yet.

project: borrow ditch desk

If you remember a few posts back {like it was so long ago} I showed you this project midway through as I was playing with color possibilities.

I brought the table home, took it apart, marveled over all the really great patina on the hinges and wished they could be brought back to working order because I loved the idea of a drop leaf table.  Unfortunately I couldn't pull it off without dumping a bunch of money into the project and I didn't want to spend much on a table I borrowed from the gutter.
{I did salvage all the parts for another project someday if you have any ideas for me.}

Keeping in mind the bare minimum budget, I picked one of my old dining chairs and spray painted it green, then used an oversize memo sample for the cushion.  

{I received not so subtle hints from The Cat that she didn't approve of all the stapling.}

I don't think I'm set on the white.  I feel like it just a temporary thing.  I don't know where it will go from here, but there is something brewing.  

For now I'm excited for all the fun projects I want to tackle now that I have a desk instead of having to haul in my drafting table and set up camp any time I want to do something needing a work surface.

{oil painting discovered in my talented Grandma's attic.}

d.i.y. fresh wreath

Remember when I said a wreath made out of succulents was high on my wish list but I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep a living wreath alive? Well, I cut a couple of these pretty little things from the front garden and realized I might be onto something when they still looked as fresh as the day I cut them two months later.

The problem was we don't have all that many of them and while I've seen them growing abundantly out hiking, just never directly off the trail head or anywhere convenient.  I was set to hike with a bag and scissors until I spotted them growing on an empty lot just a few blocks from my house.

I doubted anyone would care, but I still decided to go back under the cover of darkness.  Besides, it adds the sneaky adventure element to the project.

wiring them to the wreath form was fun, if not a bit painful.  I don't know how I managed to wedge bits of these plants under my fingernails, but I am typing with 8 fingers instead of 10.

overall I'm pretty happy with the finished product.  It is especially lovely and fresh right now because the fabulous late summer rainstorm I'm completely enjoying has left fresh droplets all over it.