waste management

Why, oh why don’t cars come with a built in trash can?   I don’t need anything fancy like the car from “Back to the Future 3” that runs on trash.  I just want someplace to collect it all in a neat and tidy fashion, you know?   My fancy SUV is loaded, I mean LOADED with all kinds of crazy things like air conditioned seats.  Really.   Keyless ignition, hands free parallel parking which I’m waaaay to scared to try….but a space to throw my trash?  Nah.   Just toss it all on the floor.

 

I saw this idea in the vast and never ending land of Pinterest and thought it was worth a shot to corral trash in my car.  It’s a plastic cereal container (that I previously used to hold my home made laundry detergent when I went through that little phase).  yah…I don’t miss that phase at all…..

I rolled up some extra plastic bags to keep in the bottom of the container.  Now this thing rolls around on the floor , but all least it’s contained I guess.   I was excited to show my mom this little contraption when she took a ride in my car.   “How’s that working for you?”  she asked.   “uh…not that great, I guess” I had to admit.  But at least I had a good reason to pull out my fancy little vinyl cutting machine to make a label, using the positive AND the negative cut out so that both sides are labeled.  

What do you do about trash in the car?  Any waste management tips for on the go?

Mixed media bird canvas

My mom and I rub off on each other in different ways, but especially in the creative projects that we try.  She is really into mixed media right now, and I decided to give it a try too.  Basically, I layered on different things a little at a time over the space of a week or two.   Perfect for a busy mom.

I started out with a blank canvas from Hobby Lobby.
I glued some old sheet music paper to it.   I have a ton from when I played the flute. 
Then I smudged some brown paint all over and drew the tree branch.
Another day, I lightly painted some blue streaks up near the “sky” and some green streaks near the “ground”.
The birds are made from fabric scraps;  I ironed wonder-under to the fabric before I cut the shapes out, then ironed the birds right onto the canvas.  Hot glued some buttons on for eyes.

Then Grace peeled the birds off my canvas when I wasn’t looking.   
She left all the pieces in a pile under a table.  When I found the pile of birdie pieces, I started to wail and moan…. “Why, why, why?”  Brian came running in from the other room to check on me and comfort me in my distress.   “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”  I signed to him, embarrassed that my wailing was so loud that my DEAF husband could hear me from across the house and came running.   “It’s just that my project is ruined and I should have stayed in bed today!”   (Some days I’m more dramatic that others…..)

Well, turns out I was able to iron those birdies back on in about two minutes and hot glue the buttons back on in about 20 seconds.  Back on track.

 
The next day I used a celery heart to make some “flowers” in the corners.  I saw it on Pinterest, and this was the perfect opportunity to try it out! 

(Source of celery picture)

I chose the quote “Life does not have to be perfect to be beautiful”, considering the imperfect route this canvas took while being created.  The words were printed it out on vinyl with my Silhouette machine.  I let Grace help me place the letters…. hoping that involving her NOW would deter her from peeling them off LATER. 

I love how it turned out (even though I wish the entire quote was printed in blue).   BUT it doesn’t have to be perfect.   There is beauty in imperfection.

“make it better than it was”

 

“Leave things better than when you found it” is a good way to approach life.

Well, once upon a time I found one of the bedroom doors all beat up.  The story goes that the girls locked themselves inside and were taunting Joshua.  He found a curtain rod (that had been pulled off the wall at some point) and started beating the door. 

I left the door that way for a long time in protest of the kids messing up everything in the house.  But eventually it bugged me enough to sand it down and repaint the freakin door.   It was a thankless task…totally uninspiring…. until I realized I could not only fix the door, but make it awesome.

 

My silhouette machine cut out some funky pink flowers.

This is not the last door that I will make AWESOME!

Bathroom flowers

 

This is the biggest project I’ve cut out with my Silhouette machine to date.  Big brown twiggy thing and 3 colors of vinyl to make the flowers.   Kaylee helped me, since it’s almost like putting up stickers that I sized and cut out at home. 

 

This was my sad bathroom a few years back.

I added some wooden molding to fake out a frame around the two pictures.  Wire basket with T.P. helped fill in the empty space a little bit.

I like this latest version for now!