Washi Tape Keyboard

If I had a top ten list of favorite projects I have made, this might be number one.

I found this idea from Her New Leaf on Pinterest.  Her keyboard was just so darn cute but I actually had never heard of wash tape.  {Yes, the truth is out - I live under a rock.  I'm always the last to hear about the latest trends.}  So after reading up on wash tape, I decided that I must do this.

I spent an evening searching Etsy for washi tape.  Wow - the colors and prints are endless!  After much debate, I finally decided on these from PrettyTape and chickydoodle.

After procuring the tape, the only other supplies I needed were a scissor and my keyboard.  I randomly selected a tape, cut it to size, and affixed to a key.  Easy Peasy.  And by random, I mean I put a piece of tape on a flat marble, put the marbles in a jar, and drew one out for each key.

The orange tape was a little smaller so I only used it on the function keys.  It was a perfect fit there.  A few of the keys are hard to read but I know the keyboard layout well so it's no biggie.  Otherwise, I can just look a little closer to find what I need.

And while I was at it, I added some tape to my monitor as well.

I love my new keyboard.  It makes me smile.

I am sharing this little project at these parties.

Whoppers Brownies

Happy Father's Day!


When I was at the store buying Whoppers {the ones in the milk carton-like box} for this recipe from My Baking Addiction, I had a flashback to my childhood.  My dad would buy these and then "hide" them in the tall cabinet in the kitchen.  Did he really think that would keep us from helping ourselves?  {But just in case, please don't tell him we did that.}


Back in the day when we had dairy cows, my dad would join us in the kitchen while we ate breakfast and got ready for school.  He would have a glass of Pepsi and a handful of cookies.  {homemade usually, of course.}  Then he would milk the cows and do the other morning chores before coming back to the house for a real breakfast.  I think he would approve of these brownies and maybe even have them for breakfast.  {Too bad I had eaten them all before he was here fixing things visiting last weekend.  He did like the strawberry pie I made.}

I did not make the ganache and they were super yummy anyways.

Lynn's recipe review [keep or toss]: Keep.


I love you Dad.

Painted Tiered Planter

The farmer's market in my town opened yesterday for the season.  Yeah!  I bought some super delicious strawberries.  They were so good, I returned to the market later to buy some more.  It has been strawberrypalooza at my house this weekend.  Besides just eating them by the handful {only a slight exaggeration} I made balsamic strawberry pops and strawberry pie. {This recipe is top secret so no link.  Just kidding, I did a quick search and couldn't find one exactly like the recipe I used from the church cookbook.}  This morning I made a strawberry and nut breakfast wrap and for lunch strawberry balsamic bacon pizza.  {This pizza was so good.  I highly recommend.}  I love strawberries!  {especially locally grown strawberries}


But enough about strawberries.  I want to share with you this project I did over Memorial Day weekend.  Ever since I bought four new cans of exterior paint for this wooden floor mat project, I've been looking for something else to paint.  Then I stumbled upon these polka-dotted tiered planters by Positively Splendid and I knew what I had to do.

I choose to make a two-tiered planter because I thought that would fit my patio best and to keep the cost down.  So I gathered up my supplies and set out to create my new planter:

2 clay pots from Lowe's - 8.25" and 14"

1 clay saucer from Lowe's - I think this one is 16" 12"

paint

paint brushes

Martha Stewart circle foam pouncer {not pictured}

painter's tape

Thompson's water seal spray {not pictured}

While I love the polka dots on the inspiration piece, I thought that might be a little much for me.  So I chose to just dot the smaller top pot.  I used a circle foam pouncer to randomly paint the polka dots.

For the larger bottom pot I chose to do stripes.  I call them rugby stripes.  {They remind me of a rugby shirt but maybe that's just me.}  Of course, as I was taping off the stripes I was questioning my decision to do this.  It wasn't as easy as I thought and definitely more time consuming than anticipated.  But the end result looks good.  {Just don't look too close because there are a few little flaws.}

To make my planter even more colorful, I picked my two favorite colors and painted the saucer.

A coat of Thompson's water seal spray was the final touch on the pots.  Except for the flowers of course!

I placed four bricks {which I got from my dad} in the larger pot and set the smaller pot on them to create the tiered effect.  I filled the pots with potting soil and planted my flowers.

1 geranium

3 petunia

3 dusty miller

Ta Da!  I put my planter on a wheeled plant stand so I can just roll it all into my garage for winter storage.  {Those clay pots are heavy.}

Now it's time to sit back and enjoy my flowers.  {When it's not so hot of course.}

I am sharing at these fun parties.

T-Shirt Shrug

{Pinterest Challenge}
Have you ever made a project that just didn't come out as great as you thought it would?  That is how I feel about this project.  When I saw this t-shirt shrug by Cut Out + Keep on Pinterest, I was really excited and was waiting for the right time to make one.


My brother is getting married this weekend.  I found a great maxi sundress at Marshall's {for a great price - $29.99!} to wear to the wedding.  But I'm always cold and it will be an outdoor evening ceremony so I needed some type of cover-up.  This was the perfect time to make the t-shirt shrug!  I crossed my fingers as I searched my old t-shirts and luckily found a blue one that would match the dress.  I even documented the quick and easy steps for you to follow along.  {The directions by Cut Out + Keep are awesome so this is just a little supplement for you.}


1. Grab a shirt.  {This is an old shirt from Northern Reflections.  Does anyone remember that store?  I loved that store.}

2.  Cut down the front of the shirt.  {I measured the center from side seam to side seam and drew a straight line to cut.}

3.  Cut off the neck band.

4.  Turn shirt inside out and fold 1 inch along the cut edge to form the casing.   Pin.  I cut a v into the front to help with this step.  {I just wasn't feeling it before I did this.}  I would also recommend doing this step with an iron handy to press the fold.  {I did not do this but wish I had.}  I think it would be especially helpful on the neck curve.

5.  Sew.  I had two puckers around the neck that I had to rip out.  That is why I made the suggestion to iron as you do step 4.  I ironed when I was fixing my problems and it seemed to help a lot.  {Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step.}


6.  Using a safety pin, pull the ribbon throughout the casing.  {I had to do this step three times because sometimes I'm an idiot.  The ribbon frayed the first time and the pin came off as I was pulling it through at about the 3/4 point.  Then when I was putting it on, I wasn't paying attention and I pulled the ribbon too much on one side.}  I used a 5/8 satin ribbon.  I don't know how much I used because I just pulled it straight off the spool and cut it off when I had it pulled through to a nice length.

7.  Pull tight and tie.  And you have made a t-shirt shrug.

So, you are probably wondering what I don't like about the shrug.  Overall I like it and it looks really cute with jeans and a tank.  But I had high hopes to wear it with my sundress to the wedding and it just doesn't work with the dress.  I think the biggest problem with it is that the t-shirt is too heavy and structured and too long.  {The shoulders are funny and it is too long in the back which also makes the sides have kind of a funny bunch to them.}  I was thinking of something more light and short.  I didn't buy anything to make this shrug so I'm not feeling too bad about it not being as great as I thought it would be.

P.S.  I tried and tried {and tried} to get a picture of the shrug being worn but I just couldn't get one to turn out.


I am sharing at these great parties.

Wooden Floor Mat

{Pinterest Challenge}


Have you seen this project from Lowe's Creative Ideas.  I think it's a popular pin on Pinterest which is where I first saw it {and subsequently pinned it.}  {I wish I could figure out how to put a picture of it here.}


The fun colors first captured my attention but it was also a unique idea.  I thought it would be a nice cheery addition to my front patio.  So it immediately went to the top of my project list.  And I completed it just in time for summer.

I love it!

Because making it involved power tools, I had to enlist the help of my dad so I owe him a big thank you.  {He gets roped into a lot of my projects but I think he secretly enjoys it.}  This also means I have to do some planning as far as when to make the project since we live a couple of hours apart.  Easter was going to be the perfect weekend to start this project so on Good Friday, I made a trip to Lowe's to get my supplies.

I started in the paint department and after consulting with the very helpful Maurice, I picked out the following paint colors from Valspar {semi gloss}:


Montpelier Peach
Fresh Basin
Iris Reverie
Jekyll Crane Cottage Green


I really loved the colors on the inspiration piece but I didn't want to buy that many cans of paint.  {Maurice told me that the exterior paint did not come in sample sizes so I would have to buy a quart of each.}  I decided to make my mat with five colors.  I had a can of yellow - Fresh Pineapple - exterior {satin} Glidden paint from this project {I just painted the chair and footrest, it was handmade by a friend of my aunt.}:

Then the very helpful Marvin helped me get the rest of my supplies.  He even cut the boards in half for me so they would fit in my car.  Next stop - my dad's workshop.

My dad cut the boards to size and drilled the holes while I manned the sander and my nephew {he was spending the weekend so we forced him to help} handled the air hose and cleared the dust while the holes were drilled.  {He enjoyed the air hose a little too much!  We couldn't get him to turn it off.}  After laying out the pieces, we decided to make a design change.  I didn't like the exposed rods on the ends.  We had extra boards {I may or may not have purchased too many boards.} so we decided to add a 2 1/4" piece in each of those open spots.

My dad cut the rods to size and sent me on my way to finish the project.  My next step was to paint all the pieces.  Boring!  The two coats of paint I added meant that the rods were now a little too short.  But my dad had considered that and had a solution.  So back to Iowa to finish the project.  The solution - sink the nuts into the ends.  {I'm not sure if that is the right term but what he did was make the holes a little bit bigger so the nuts sat into the piece a little.}

After admiring our work, my dad suggested putting some sort of sealer on it so I'm not quite done yet.  I just have to figure out what that sealer should be.

I am sharing this project at my favorite link parties.

Birthday Bash at eLRBe - 41% off!

Happy Birthday to me!

Get 41% off your entire purchase excluding shipping at my Etsy shop eLRBe when you use coupon code IAM41TODAY.  Today only!

eLRBe, Etsy shop sale 25% off

I'm celebrating my birthday month with a sale at my Etsy shop - eLRBe.


Use coupon code BDAYSALE25 and get 25% off your entire purchase excluding shipping.