Welcome: 31 Days of DIY for Busy Gals

You are a busy gal right?

You either work at home

blogging, caring for kids, cleaning and cooking

Or maybe you work outside the home

long hours

and then you come home and cook and clean

and maybe care for kiddos and puppy dogs.

I'm a work outside the home chick.

And not only that,

I don't even get to go home every night.

Case in point, 

October.

I will be staying somewhere

other than home

at least 12 if not 15 days this month.

Crazy isn't the half of it.

I often wish I could stay home.

No, not just sleep at home,

but really stay home.

During the day.

And do nothing but DIY all day long.

I don't have kids.

We just let out lovely puppy mutt go.

I could get a lot accomplished.

But since I don't, I figured I would blog

for 31 days

about all of the awesome things you 

CAN DO

no matter if you're home or not

if you have 31 minutes

or 3 hours and 10 minutes

or 3 days and an hour.

We can get it done.

This 31 days of DIY for busy gals

will have quickie projects

mid range projects 

and longer projects.

Every last one of them will lead to a more

homey home

than that awesome builder grade stack of bricks

many of us are fortunate to call home.

I'll break my list down by time required

and I'll come back to this post at least once a week

to provide a handy dandy list of posts so you don't have to hunt them down.

If you click on this image

in any of my posts,

it will bring you back to this post

for a handy dandy landing spot.

Because I'm a busy gal,

most of my 31 days posts will post at 9 pm.

My regular blog posts happen at 6 am.

I'm going to challenge myself to do 2 (TWO!!)

posts a day.  

My regularly scheduled stuff

and the 31 days stuff.

Wish me luck.

Ready for some DIY busy gals?

Let's make it happen.

Here's a list of what may be to come.

Because I like to know what I'm getting myself into

and maybe you do too.

In no particular order:
(As I update with links, I'll shuffle to order them)

Project 1: Rock + Bowl + Flame

Project 2:  The Grass is Still Greener
Project 3: A Rocky Collection 
Project 4: Marking Your Spot | In the Yard
Project 5: Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Eater
Project 6: Lucky Balls
Project 7: Initially Speaking
Project 8: Getting Framed

Project 9: Eyeball Wall Hanging 
(vintage throwback post from August 2010)

  Project 10: Wine Label Snobbishness
Project 11: A Spool{full} of Vintage Love
Project 12: Wrapped Yarn Fall Wreath

Project 13: Museum Worthy Gallery Walk

Project 14: Mini Terra Grande

Art is All Around You
Meaningful Packratting for the Wall

The Wild Indoors

Ombre, Ombre Ikea Hack

Podtastic Plants

Chalky Guest Book Wall

Growing on You

Naughty or Nice - Stocking Tags

A Notch Above Knobs

Please be Seated

That's a Planter?

Beyond the Books - Shelved Up

Lay Your Head on my Pillow

Custom Stamped Curtains

36, 24, 33 - Know Your Measurements

Mark the Date/Spot - Calendar Gallery Wall

Hemming & Hawing - No Sew Accent pieces

Faux Beadboard in 30 Minutes

Thrifty Genius - 30 minutes, $30

Indoor Garden Prep

I know.

There are more than 30 on this list.
And really, I will repost some vintage B3HD the Original too.

I gave myself some leeway.

The titles in bold are projects I can do on the road.

Just in case I need to be away from home a couple more days, 

I wanted to have some back up projects that I could do outside the house.

If you play along,

leave me a link in the comments

(on this post or the actual project post)

and I'll feature the awesome sauce you create.

Have fun with it!

Don't stress.

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

Week 40 Random Pinehurst

 Making homemade granola.

I love it so much.

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

It is a zoo in here. Or, maybe, a barn

For a while, I've seen the blinkie to Barn Light Electric on a few of the blogs I frequent.

I've usually been really good about keeping my itchy finger away from the mouse

so I have not been too distracted by their pretty pictures.

But then twitter was all abuzz with this giveaway.

I said to myself, 

"self, you have a blog"

And I might have responded to myself

"self, you also have a house with lots of ugly builder grade lighting."

And maybe (perhaps), I then said to myself
"self, you need to work that out."

Have you heard of Barn Light Electric before?  

Let me take you on a virtual shopping spree.

If I won $1000, I would consider splurging on two of these:

Polished Chrome - Extended Arm Chart Light

$480

They would go on either side of my bed in the bedroom.

Then I would wake up from that dream and do something far more practical like two of these:

Mission Bell Pendant

$230

Those would go on my back porch, under the deck.

And three of these

The Mig Retro Steel Industrial Pendant Light - Yellow
$149

Those would go over my kitchen island.

 What would you get with a $1000 gift card?

Barn Light Electric is hosting the most amazing giveaway of the year.

Amazing because if I won, you have no idea how quick that $1000 gift certificate would become something like a 50% off coupon.  Just saying.

The prizes include:

1st place - one $1000 grand prize gift certificate and the second place prize is one $500 gift certificate.  That should help finish up a project or two.

Here’s how you can enter too:

1.      Look around Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own.

2.      Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!

3.      Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article.

4.      Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to: contest@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends October 12^th, 2011.

5.      Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by visiting their website.

Week 39 Random Pinehurst

The deck was awesome

this summer.

 

 Now.
The deadheading
and composting
begins

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

My fave season: Autumn

I think it is time

to start breaking out

the fall decor.

 

 

 

Of course, my fave DIY supplies

(natural, free, things like garden rocks)

get repurposed.

These were our place settings last year.

Love those rocks.

Will need to make more since I sold the others ones

at our annual neighborhood yard sales.

I'll also have to pick up some of these

 

Happy season change!

Linking up to B&B's Fall Decor and Crafts

Nest of Posies Fall Festival

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating Fall Festival

 

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

Learn from Me | Freecycle Deck Chair Fail

Remember how I came back

and showed you how horribly wrong

my DIY wood shimmed sunburst mirror

turned out?

All ganky and like?

Well here's another of those million year projects

that just started out sounding so good

and went so horribly wrong.

Off of Freecycle, I picked up these three chairs.

Do NOT let the photoshop skills

and rad camera angles fool you.

They were TORE up,

stained,

scratched.

In need of some loving.

First, I thought I would use the stain from our fence

to redo the wood.

Then I realized that you might have to strip off the sealant to do that.

So plan B.

I decided to paint them.

And to that, I decided to take them apart.

Which meant I would have to put them back together.

You will notice,

there are lots of "extra" pieces

laying about in my garage.

I just couldn't even deal.

And I'm a girl that LOVES her a puzzle.

Impatience is my worst enemy.

The paint started chipping off 

because I wouldn't wait

weeks for it to dry. 

I'm okay with chippy.

he (who shall not be named)

is so not okay with chair parts all over the garage.

Matter of fact, he took one look at the covers

and started to chuck my chairs into the truck for a trip to the dump.

I have plans for those covers

A little dye.

A little drop cloth leftover action from the yard sale.

Another 18 months...

I call this miserable DIY fail.

They were supposed to be done for this summer

Preferably the Boeing Classic party.

Not. 

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

Curtain Indecision 2011

 You could tell me

that you prefer this set of Ikea KAJSA curtains

on the main floor gigantor windows

slung low and non-functional 

in front of the top |down blinds that almost ended my marriage.

Light, flowly, patterned, cheap ($29.99 for the pair).

or

you could tell me you prefer 

these horizontal close set striped ones.

That I would have to make.

Out of super heavy material.

That I didn't get enough

and can't get more of

because I'm not patient enough for my 5 followers

to scour their little town Joanne's to find me more

in their home decor fabrics

table of rejects.

 I should have known it was too heavy

And I was too cheap to get enough fabric to do it right.

I bought 3 yards

at $7 a yard.

Not bad, except that I don't have curtains out of them.

All to say it wouldn't matter what you told me

because I'm hard headed.

I went back to Ikea 

for the curtains I was looking for in the first place

and went something like this

 

Yes, eagle eyed observers.

I did indeed still use the first set of Ikea curtains.

LOVE where they ended up.

And how they ended up there.

But that's for another time.

The remaining indecision?

Should I stamp/stencil

these  bad boys up?

If yes, with what pattern?

I did cut off the tabs

and open up a slit of the hem on the top of the panel

to slide my rods through.

Tabs, so not my friends.

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

Week 38 Random Pinehurst

I could grow nothing but tomato plants.

Well.

And maybe some basil too.

  

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

Then and Now: Living Room Sofa Table

When we first moved in,

we had two of these

So when I first hit the blog DIY world

and saw all the painted furniture

I figured it would be no harm

in painting this ONE white.

Best. Decision. Ever.

If only I could get up the nerve

to paint my coffee table white.

I just love how the white makes all the other natural decor really pop.

And I love having a handy husband, who can build out cubbies

into functional, usable space.

Well, and he built our sound system.
No, not installed a sound system,
he BUILT it.  Yes. Built the speakers from components.
From scratch.

Told you he was handy.
*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

Life of the Dinner Party | Decorating w/Plants

 I have these really awesome orchid pots

which are not in any of these pictures.

But you see,

I wanted to do something different with them.

I wanted to plant plants in them.

Not flowers.

So I picked up a Dracena Marginata Cane plant

for 9.99 from Ikea.

It had 3 canes.

I had two orchid pots and a wicker pot.

I split them apart into individual cranes

and promised myself I would not cry if they died in the next 3 days

because I split them wrong.

Thing is.  

I never get this kind of thing wrong.

No research,

just do it because I think it

and touch it with my green thumb

(who knew??)

and voila

on the dining room table

none the less

You'll notice in this shot

that a certain gold mirror

is still present

 and still very gold.

Wonder what else you might catch a glimpse of...

 Don't worry.  Only the eagle eyed would catch it.

Finally finished the upholstering the seats for the dining room chairs

And, of course, had to add a little life to this side of the room too

Small doses.

What kind of plants do you like to decorate with?

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***

PB Knockoff fail | Eco Chandy Pt 2

So almost a year ago

I attempted to knock off the PB Edison chandy.

By attempted, I mean I am no electrician, 

so I didn't actually wire bulbs or intend to make it a "light" (per se)

I intended to make it a "statement piece" 

that I would hang from the ceiling

in a spot where a light should be

in my reading nook

Figured the sun (yeah, I know, I live in the PNW)

would beam down on it and make it some cool Dale Chihuly looking piece or something.

Then I woke up (11 months later, or so) from that pipe dream.

And I said to myself

"self, surely you're going to NOT let those billion dollar light bulbs go to waste."

Well yes, I just might.

So I also thought to myself.

Especially after my better half saw me do this

with these

and you remember the reaction to that right

(something about "cluster#*$8@* hanging from my ceiling"

artists.  we are so misunderstood)

In any event,

no, I was not going to let those billion dollar light bulbs go to waste

Though I had originally strung them up like this

I decided to chop off the string

(used that in another project that I'll debut, oh...2012)

Now, if you look close enough in that second picture.

You can see my eco chandy dilema.

How was I going to get these lightbulbs to open up

and be the vessels they were meant to be

especially if I was too chicken to hammer and bang and drill

too hard

for fear I'd break the billion dollar light bulbs.

Well duh, folks. 

I pried the hot glued washers off the ends of my plumber's pipe fittings

(the part painted black) 

and I was able to come out with this

Awesomesauce.

Only 98 more bulbs to go. Or 8

Since I had removed their strings,

I now needed some ingenious way to hang them from my ceiling

if my eco chandy vision was to become reality.

In comes handy dandy eco chandy fishing wire.

and hot glue. And some crafty knots.

Yes mom, I still bite my nails.

Then came the fun part.

Making a chandy out of all this.

We already established I am no electrician

(or carpenter for that matter)

So I decided to make an ECO (as in no energy, healthy for enviro) chandy.

So I used these

 which you will notice are NOT the hammer in anchor types,

they are the screw in drywall anchor types.

I used these because I would wrap my fishing line around the threads

(you can kind of see on the left in the photo above)

and then I would screw these into the ceiling.

Yes I am tall.

No I am not 12 feet tall.

Not even on my tip toes in high heels.

We all know my propensity to not measure or think through

the actual installment of any of my art

(remember that whole subway art hanging debacle?)

Well, I'd like to tell you that this experience went smoothly.

But I gave up on that charade long ago.

In the end

maybe it took me 4 hours,

maybe I was also watching Toddlers &Tiaras

I DID end up with this

And yes, he (who shall not be named)

walked in the door, looked up

which prompted my sidekick awesome puppy mutt to look up

and then together, they were in cahoots with that sly little

"uhm, okay" look going all night long.

Her puppy spot is right under this installment.

Then I lit some tealight candles in the handled jars at night

and I might have won them over.

And if not, maybe my consolation will be a place in the  

Crafting with the Stars Season 3.

 

A girl can dream.

Linking up to Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up

Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

Good Life Wednesday over at Beach Cottage 
Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest

*** 

Loving b3HD? 

Have a life and can't view the whole blog in one sitting? 

Then stalk us already! 

Scroll down, join the site and become a follower!

Or follow B3HD the Blog on Twitter

Or fan our B3HD Facebook page

Promise not to stalk you back. Unless you want us to. 

***