A few weeks ago, Dr. Rebecca Reddy asked me if I would help her decorate the exam rooms at Redbud Pediatrics for some Open House eve...
Yeah, it sounds obvious, but body image issues affect men as well as women. I would know: I spent most of my life being really overweight, feeling bad about my fat. But losing a lot of weight didn't really make me feel all that better about myself — I just got a different set of body image problems. It's definitely time we started talking about this.
Sold by Create your own from scratch Style: Hanging Name Plate Show them who's boss with a hanging metal sign. From doors to walls, it's perfect for any place that has space. Available in two sizes Interchangeable color plastic insert is easy to slide in and out Printed in full digital color Available 3 sophisticated finishes; silver, black or rose goldCare Instructions: Use a non-abrasive cleaner. Thinners or harsh chemicals may cause damage to the product.
Palettes from the director's visually-stimulating films.
Ready to see my mystery office desktop? The one John and I have been working so hard on for the past few weeks? And learn how we did it? I mean, I know *I'm* excited. Here, I'll ease you in slowly. It all started....[dramatic pause]...WITH THESE: DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN!! And it became...[more dramatic pausing]...THIS: Ta-DA! Ok, that's not the best shot. Here, try this one: Oooh. Aaaah. Now, on to the photo-intensive tutorial/progress shots! If you want to try this yourself, or just see how insane *we* are, keep scrolling. First, if you want your top to have any shine to it, you're going to need to polish up some of the pennies you're using. Here's a quick way to do that: Fill your bowl about a quarter of the way with pennies, pour in a little Tarn-X, and then swish and shake the bowl around over the sink (in case of splashes) to evenly expose the coins to the liquid. This only takes a matter of seconds. When they seem evenly shined up, dump the lot into a colander in the sink and rinse well. From there, dump the batch onto an old towel to dry them: I polished roughly half of the pennies I planned to use, so there would still be plenty of color variation. Still, it would also look amazing to have the entire surface polished, so the choice is up to you. Next you're going to need a surface to adhere the pennies to. John built this desktop out of plywood, and then painted it flat black: This fits in a cubby between two bookshelves, so only the front edge is rounded prettily. (Routers: very useful.) Oh, and those pennies aren't glued down; we were just testing out the pattern. To begin, start with the oh-so-important front edge: John clamped a long metal ruler down to use as a straight edge, which I used as a guide to glue on the rounded pennies. And how do you round those pennies, you ask? Well, we used these: That's an old titanium ring of John's with a bit of electrical tape wrapped inside. After a bit of trial and error, John found that clamping a penny inside the ring with pliers made just the right curve to fit the desk edge: However, be warned, ye of lesser hand strength: this is HARD. I tried with all my might and couldn't get the penny to budge, much less bend. Even John wore a heavy work glove to protect his palm while working. NOTE: If you don't want to (or can't) bend pennies for the edge, you still fill the flat top of your surface with pennies. So don't get hung up on the bending thing: it adds a nice touch, but is not really necessary. Once the first line of bent pennies are glued down (ah, Gorilla glue, my old friend...) it's a simple, if time-consuming, matter to fill the rest of the desktop: This wouldn't have taken me quite so long if I weren't arranging the pennies in a non-random random arrangement. That is to say, it *looks* random, but only by design. I mixed the various colors and designs just so, to get it all consistent. I kept a small bowl of "special" pennies on hand to mix in at regular intervals. These included wheat pennies, prettily corroded pennies, and the various new back designs from 2009 and '10. I even have a few Canadian pennies in there, plus one from the Bahamas (which has the prettiest penny design, really) almost smack in the middle. To keep the coins from shifting, you really do need to glue each and every one down. However, it doesn't take much glue to do it: I was about to apologize for the blur when I realized John took this shot. (John! Get in here and apologize!) Almost done! The pennies hanging off the edge were for John to trim off with a Dremel later. At this point John took over with the Dremel and heavy-duty snips. He trimmed the edges and cut penny slivers to fill in the small spaces. As you can see, for the corners he had to cut the pennies on the seam *and* bend them to fit the curve. Not easy. This all took him about two nights. (By the time the desktop was completely covered with pennies, we'd been working on it for about 6 nights.) Next comes the scariest part of all: covering your top in bartop epoxy. We set our desk on sawhorses in a small room with the floor covered in heavy plastic sheeting. Because the epoxy takes a few days to cure, you need an area with minimal dust, bugs, and pet hair blowing around (close your room's air vent, if you can). The plastic covering the floor is also *extremely* important. You'll see why in a sec. Here goes nothin'... You may notice our epoxy is tinted a golden orange. This is not intentional: it's just old. Heh. However, since the stuff is so expensive (well over $100), we decided to use it anyway. Waste not, save money, right? Besides, the tint just makes the pennies slightly more golden, which actually looks rather nice: Once all the epoxy is poured on, it's time to start tipping the desk slightly to get the epoxy to spread out to all the edges. See why that plastic is important? You really, REALLY don't want this stuff on your carpet. "Somebody blows their nose and you want a sample?" Ahem. Once all the edges are coated, you can use a small spoon or spatula to scoop some of the epoxy off the plastic on the floor and back onto the top: The epoxy self-levels, but we had to go over that curved edge several times to make sure it filled in all the gaps. (Even so, our front edge is not perfectly smooth; it has ripples over all the coins. I think it feels kinda cool, though.) But wait, we're not done yet! Next, get out your BLOW TORCH: And you thought I was kidding. The torch is to get rid of bubbles in your epoxy. And believe me, there are going to be lots and lots of bubbles. Keeping the flame about 6 inches away from the surface, pass it over the surface and watch those bubbles magically lift up and away, leaving behind a nice, glass-smooth skin. And NOW...we wait. For about two days. (I think it's dry to the touch after one, though.) And then... Voila! An über cool penny desk! Here's a close-up: It looks amaaazing, if I do say so myself. I'm letting it cure an extra few days before putting anything heavy on it, though - like a vintage typewriter, perhaps? We'll see. Also, once the desk was installed I realized I need something equally amazing to go on the wall *over* it. (Currently that's the only blank wall left in my entire office.) Which means: yup, another project! John and I are already eight hours into it, and I'm typing this completely covered in sawdust. So. Fun. But, that's for another day. In the meantime, I hope to pick up more with posts; I know they've been a bit sparse lately. John helped me catch up on e-mail, so now I have tons of goodies to share. You guys send in the best stuff - keep it up! In fact, I think I'll feature some of your crafty triumphs next, so stay tuned for that! ***** Want more DIY goodies? Come see ALL of my craft projects on one page, right here!
I've been seeing Christmas trees made out of gloves, but have yet to see a single "How to Make a Glove Christmas Tree" guides. I decided to make one myself.
Delicious links & What I’m Craving is back! In this moment, I’m really craving Asian food. Thai, sushi, and Vietnamese are all cuisines which still aren’t super-popular in Ita…
It's only been two years, but Redbud Pediatrics has already expanded their clinic space! So, I was thrilled when Dr. Rebecca Reddy aske...
Tham & Videgard Arkitekter give this once high-class turn of the century apartment a modern renovation that reflects the changing of the seasons. i think as a whole it would be a bit overwhelming for me but on a smaller scale i would really love it, the green floor climbing into the natural stained floor (above) and the pink room are my favorites. photos via here.
Last week I spontaneously decided to makeover our entryway. Since quitting my job to stay home with Bennett and work on Mindfully Gray full-time – I spend most of my time day dreaming about project I want to tackle around the house. Surprising, right? This entryway project was literally one I dreamt about. It is...Continue Reading
This week,I shared a fall inspired charcuterie board and in my mission to make entertaining easy at home but up your game to look like restaurant quality, dried citrus is such an easy way to make your food and cocktails look beautiful at home and once dried can be kept for a couple months. How […]
We are all math people! In this post is a free How to be a Math Person poster to help instill a growth mindset in your math classroom. Also includes a “How to be a Maths Person” version for international teachers.
Pretty peony-filled celebration at Northbrook Park wedding in Surrey. The bride wore a bespoke Phillipa Leply wedding dress - Pastel Wedding Ideas
My birthday is December 30th. Then I married a man whose birthday is on New Year's Eve. Fast forward to 2009, I had a January baby. Now this little guy is expected at the beginning of December. This all means that our life is pretty much crazy from Halloween until mid January. At the same time, birthdays are a big deal to me. I know what it is like to have your birthday get lost in the shuffle of holidays and winter break so it is really important to me that my kids' birthdays are amazing. I also realize that I can't go all out every year because it is a lot of work so I decided that I would do an over the top home party every other year and on the off years our kids can have a party at a place that does it all for us. This is a good plan except that this coming January, just 5 weeks after our little man is due to arrive, I will be throwing an over the top party. Yes, I am crazy! In order to make this all possible, I started working on the party this summer. Jake decided on a Superman party so I've spent the past few months pinning away and planning. Now it's time to start working on the details. Obviously there are some things I won't be able to do in advance, but as much as I can, I plan to. That is where today's post comes in. Having never used Mod Podge before I used this great video tutorial by Being Geek Chic. To make these letters you will need a comic book you don't mind cutting up, paper mache letters (I found mine at Hobby Lobby), scissors, a pencil, a paintbrush, matte Mod Podge for paper (the one with the light blue label), and Golden's medium gel gloss (optional). I made the J and the S before I started this blog so these pics will focus on the M which I decided to add later. I only used Mod Podge on those, but then I bought the gel gloss for a project for the baby's nursery and found it less ripply, so I decided to use it for the M. It's pretty pricey though so I wouldn't buy it just for this. (I used a 40% off coupon to make it more affordable.) Start out by picking the images you want to have on the front of your letters. For the letter J, I decided to use one large image that would cover the whole front. For the M and S I picked more of a collage style. Once you have picked your image you will need to trace your letter onto the image and then cut it out with your scissors. *Elizabeth recommends attaching the full page to your letter and then using an exacto knife to trim it, but when I did that I ended up with a bunch of ragged edges so I pulled it off and redid it by tracing the letter on the comic page and cutting it out with scissors. Paint a thin layer of gel gloss (or mod podge) directly onto the letter. Then carefully lay your cut out comic piece on top smoothing it out as well as you can. Repeat this process until you have covered all sides of the letter. The inner parts of the letter are a little tricky (I used my paintbrush handle to help press them down). Then let it dry for 2 hours. After 2 hours have passed you will paint another layer, of Mod Podge this time, over the top as a sort of varnish. If you wanted it to have a glossy finish you can use the gel gloss for the top as well but I wanted matte so I used the Mod Podge. That's it. You are done. If I'm totally honest, I ended up with a few ripples and it drove me crazy but Jake thinks they are the coolest thing ever so I am embracing their imperfection. I'm linking up at Flashback Friday, Manic Monday, Marvelous Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Inspiration Monday, Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, More the Merrier Monday, Mad Skills Party, Whimsy Wednesdays, Lovely Ladies Link Up, Made By Me, Wake Up Wednesdays, Project Stash, Pin it Thursday, Less Laundry, More Linking, Real Family Fun, and Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Show Stopper Saturday, Bakerette, and StrutYour Stuff Saturday.
