M-I-C-K-E-Y C-A-N-D-Y!!

A friend of mine is a HUGE fan of Mickey Mouse, and for her birthday, I wanted to make her something special. She works in a heavily-trafficked office, and I thought a Mickey Mouse themed candy jar would be a perfect addition to her space!

First, I gathered a terra cotta flower pot and drip tray, a glass fish bowl, two large white buttons, two styrofoam balls, yellow/black/red acrylic craft paints, and a black drawer pull.

I painted the drip tray all over, and the inside of the pot (just for a clean professional look in case anyone ever inspects my work!).

I poked the styrofoam balls with kabob sticks so I could get them covered in black paint really well. This took a few coats.

I used a special drill bit to drill a hole through the terra cotta drip tray for the knob. I used a washer under the lid to ensure the screw attached to the knob wouldn't eventually work its way through the hole. Then, I used some E6000 heavy duty craft glue to attach the styrofoam balls to the outside of the lid.

In retrospect, I wish I would have primed the terra cotta pieces before craft painting them. Since I didn't, they required more coats of craft paint to adequately cover the pieces, and it was tedious and maddening!

Next, I painted black, yellow, and red bands of color on the pot, and glued the large buttons to the red band with my craft glue. Then, I adhered the fish bowl to the overturned pot.

I suspect that if she keeps her Mickey jar full of good candy, she'll have folks "seeing her real soon!"

Let there be HEAT! ...and a place to put my DRINK!

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite before and afters!

We have those old cast iron radiators in our house to keep us warm in cooler months. They're big, and clunky, and take up precious floor space in homes with a smaller square footage like ours.

The radiator in our living room is under the big picture window flanked by the TV and our comfy chair and ottoman. I have a small plant stand that I was using for a little side table to place a drink, but after living with this arrangement for many years, I decided I wanted to have something nicer, and perhaps a little bigger, that I could place a lamp on too.

I scoured the internet for solutions on how to accomplish this, and decided on a radiator cover. I wanted mine to have metal punched screening to allow for heat to transfer out, and to give the impression it was built in, complete with fancy moldings, and in the same paint color and finish as the trim and fireplace in my living room.

I knew if I simply used nails, they'd eventually work themselves out of place with the heating and cooling of the radiator, so I used a Kreg Pocket Hole jig and wood glue to assemble my pieces. Using the jig ensured my cover would be sturdy and screw holes would be hidden. 

I had never used a Kreg Pocket Hole jig before and found it a lot of fun to use!

I used wood glue and my pneumatic brad nailer to assemble wood molding to the openings and around the edge of the shelf. Next, I primed it with two coats of primer and two coats of high gloss finish paint.

I picked up my metal screens at Lowes, and spray painted them with primer and then white gloss spray paint.

I wasn't satisfied with how the finished spray painted screens turned out—it was apparent to me that the white of the painted wooden frame was dingier looking than the white out of the spray can (...sigh... You wouldn't think WHITE could come in so many different shades!). Truthfully, I am probably the only person on the planet that would have known this, but since I have to live with them, I want them to be perfect, so I decided to paint them with the same high gloss finish paint I did the radiator cover frame in, using a small sponge roller to get nice even coverage. Finally, I had the look I was going for!

Lastly, I used my pneumatic stapler to tack the screens to the inside of the frame about every 4–6", and voila! A lovely radiator cover!

This has become a favorite sunning place for my two cats, and I accomplished having a place to set drinks, a lamp, and even remotes for the TV.

On a side note, my cats can get a little rambunctious and can be quick to wrestle spontaneously, including on top of this radiator cover! I was concerned about the welfare of the lamp—it's an antique and a super find, and I would be highly upset if it fell and broke.

To help keep this from happening, I screwed a small coffee cup holder-type of hook into the back of the radiator cover frame, and tied a knot in my lamp's electrical wire around it. Now if the lamp falls, it will only tip over to the left or to the right and only damage the easily replaceable shade. So far, so good—I'm happy to report that the lamp has been in its place for almost two years now, and hasn't budged!

Old Chairs, New Look!

My mother in-law has had a lovely little 4-chair, glass tabletop dinette set in her eat-in kitchen for at least 15 years now.

The chairs have really been starting to show their age lately. The cushioned seats are covered in a well-worn cream-colored duck cloth, which have been stained by spills here and there over the years, and some of the seat covers have rips or have come loose from their frames.

Enter a pneumatic stapler, power drill, and some blue chenille upholstery, and voila!! An updated look!

I ripped off the old seat fabric, and used my pneumatic stapler to attach the new fabric to the cushioned plywood seat bottom. I used my drill to replace or tighten screws that held the seat bottoms to the chair frames.

Let's eat!!

OMG... HAS IT REALLY BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE I WAS LAST HERE?

So much has happened in five years, and amazingly enough, so much hasn't happened in five years!

Take for instance the bowling ball project... never finished it. It pathetically adorns my garden, albeit with adhered ceramic and glass pieces periodically falling off of it.

And the kitchen project... another relatively stagnant project. But there's hope for this one... I'll tell you more about that soon.

Part of the problem with this blog, and lack of projects, and lack of finishing projects is this—I haven't been sleeping well for a couple of years now (oh... and I broke my arm). Consequently, I have been extremely tired and fatigued, and have lost interest in doing the things I enjoy. All I've wanted to do is sleep, and then sleep some more. I had at least one nap a day, sometimes more.

Finally, I got tired of being tired all of the time, and decided to go see a sleep specialist. I had a sleep study done to see what kinds of issues I'm having while I try to sleep. As an adult, I have always been a snorer, although I know my snoring has gotten progressively worse with age. I suspected that my snoring might be interfering with my getting quality rest, but I didn't realize it was as bad as it was.

The sleep specialist's report indicated that I was experiencing a 'sleep disturbance' (aka being wakened) on average 30 times an hour—THIRTY TIMES AN HOUR!!?! That's every other minute! It was no wonder I was always so tired.

This, and other revelations in my sleep report, qualified me for a CPAP machine. Ugh... a CPAP machine. How was I going to be able to sleep comfortably with this THING attached to my head all night?! Very well, apparently.

I've been using it for about two months now, and I can tell you that now I only experience about three 'sleep disturbances' in a hour. And I'm sleeping more hours during the night. I feel so much better and well rested! I finally have the energy and the enthusiasm to do the things I enjoy most like sewing, painting, crafting, building, and DIYing! ...AND, I'm not taking as many naps anymore!

Now mind you, I haven't been completely idle these last five years... I have continued to create things and take pictures of my projects, but only now am I getting around to posting them, as well as getting around to finishing old projects and starting new ones!

Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy seeing my projects!