Genius!

I just discovered this, and I think it is brilliant.  I have wished for this so many times when I have painted murals.  It is the Slobproof Paint Pen...

 $19.99 for 2 pens.  I have yet to try it, but it looks super easy.  It is originally intended for doing touch ups around the house- and an easy way to keep a bit of paint on hand without having to lug big cans out of the basement. Anyone try it yet?
In my mind it saves the whole step of dipping the brush.  I am thinking is would be great for something like this...

Have you seen this amazing hand painted wall yet?
Holy sh*t!  I love!

On a separate note, thank you all for your concern for Joe.  He is almost 100% and doing great, acting like regular 4 year old.  
One of the silver linings to this entire adventure is that we discovered he has an arrhythmia during his ambulance ride that we would have otherwise never known about.  Both my sisters have Mitral Valve Prolapse, so he had some preliminary tests run and we are just awaiting results, and have been told not to worry.  It is just nice to catch something early in my opinion.  

He is currently sitting behind me and giving me a "beautiful" hairdo...

Speaking of which, I have been wanting a change.  Been thinking big hair lately. 
Not 80's big.  
More teased Brigette Bardot big.


This could be fun for a day, but I am thinking I'll start with just a little volume like below, more of an easy bedhead look, something to get me to take down the pony. Time is also an issue, so I know I couldn't be teasing it up and sitting in hot rollers often.
I am also digging the above color and thinking of losing a bit of the blonde.

If my roots only looked this good I would totally keep the blonde..


 
What's your thoughts on volume, teasing and big hair?
Any takers?

Scary Day

Originally, I was to be posting about an average day in my life.  Camila at Effortless Style has me participating in the  "In Her Shoes" feature today.  While writing that post I thought "Wow, my life is pretty much the same everyday", I even joked about "Groundhog Day".  Boy, do thoughts have a way of biting you in the ass.  I learned a huge lesson yesterday. Normal is perfectly fine. Boring is good, great actually.  Sorry, I am just really shook up and grateful and a jumble of emotions.

I am recovering from a very scary day yesterday.  My little one Joe took a header down a tall, steep flight of stairs while visiting with his 2 year old cousin.  They were hugging at the top of the stairs and lost their balance.  He took the brunt of the fall with his head, and actually helped break most of the fall for his cousin (he is a gentleman after all). They are both doing well, but was that horrifying.  He had to be 
back boarded and ambulanced to the hospital.  
I actually have a picture of this because he was freaking out about the apparatus they were putting on him and wanted to know what it was. The EMT suggested a photo to show him. 
 Don't really think that helped.


We spent the afternoon having him monitored.
 Thomas was so sweet and concerned for his little brother.  My heart melted as I watched him rubbing his arm while they watched cartoons...
I saw just how big a bond they have.

I have to thank the response team in Rowley, MA and everyone at Anna Jaques Hospital.  They were so fantastic, and helped take the drama down several notches.  

Joe is doing much better today, a little banged up but ready to play... which we will be doing from the couch.  He told me this morning he doesn't like going to the hospital. Me neither!


I on the other hand am still in brain disconnect, processing. 
(ex: I filled the coffee pot twice, flooded my counter, went to grab everything in the floods way and knocked my phone into a pot of water this morning)

My brain is spinning on being so thankful that everything is going to be OK.  A story about a little girl that vanished from the beach in Rockport came on while I was sitting with Joe in the hospital.  I have not been able to get her story out of my head.  I feel so badly for her family and what they are going through. It made this entire experience so much more insignificant and significant at the same time, and only emphasizes how lucky we were.  I have my son to hold ( a little closer now), he is going to be fine. 

Also, its those little boring moments, the re-runs of our lives, that we take for granted.
Wishing you a safe and happy weekend.  I am going to be spending it a little slower for once.

xo
Danika


What ever happened to...

I just accidentally had my phone camera sync with my Dropbox. (If you never heard of a Dropbox go here and get one. I can't imagine life without it now.) 
This was actually a happy accident because I wound up doing something I had been meaning to do for 2 years, download all my phone photos to my computer.  I was amazed I had over 3,000 photos on there!  I have only gotten through the past year, but I found some stuff I meant to share with you but never did. Ooops....

Like a revised tutorial on how to make the big "brass" KW urchin...
I had attempted this before and did so-so.  The real secret here is using the SOLID styrofoam balls and wood skewer sticks.  That foam doesn't break apart like the other "scratchier" kind.
Those sticks aren't going anywhere!
Just spray the whole shanoodle with gold spray paint and you have a big pretty for next to nothing.


I also came across randomness like this...

My poor children hate work because it is all Mom does.  
(Thomas is sitting on my lap right now waiting for me to finish this so we can play Hot Wheels.)  
To help distract them and buy me some time to work I let them play in my office.

Here they stole a scrap of a "Lola" O'verlay and made their own crayon holder with plastic cups. 
Gotta have them using ingenuity at a young age.

And I found this gem.   
Doesn't everybody sleep-eat? We have actually caught Joe in the fridge at 2 AM.
 No child was harmed or choked in the making of this video...




We are on school vacation week (again) so I will be playing with these munchkins for the rest of the day.
Hope you have a a good one!





I am did-done with something!

I finished my living room/ family room! It has only taken 2 years, 7 months.... 
I have to thank the ladies of Sadie & Stella for this feat.  They asked me to do a guest post for them about my favorite room, gave me a date and it was on.
So, I apologize for the dead air over here, but I have been a slave to work during the day and painting, sewing & gluing my heart out at night.  

I am so loving my space now!  
It is bright and happy and of course a bit over the top with color, but that is how I roll.  
Please click here to see the final reveal 
and say hello to the lovely Lindsays of S&S while you are there.

Slipcovers. Done.

After three nights of sewing myself into a sleep deprived state I have finished the white slipcovers.
2 sofas, 12 cushions.
Never Again, or at least not for 5 years.

But I am so happy its done.  Bright colors just look so much better against white...
 Here is the tired tan microsuede before shot.
The tan just looks dirty, and the room looks like its wearing a fun bright tunic with sweats....

Now its bright and relaxed and I just want to take a nap on them couches.  I am too tired to even freak out about kids and juice coming in here.
I also brightened up the pillows if you notice from the old shot. I tried my hand at Spoonflower and even designed my own fabric to go with my new magenta/blue scheme:
Its called Cloud Pagoda Navy/Magenta and you can get it here.

 All this didn't go off without a hitch either. 
 The first night I washed all my fabric in hot water to pre- shrink (actually old mismatched white Ikea drapes and some white panels I found at  a second hand shop).
Upon pulling them out of the dryer I discover this...
Holy F*C%!!!! Green crayon! 
Melted all over three panels!
(It turns out my son tossed one into the washing machine earlier that day. Thanks Joe.)

So I had to strategically cut panels around the mess to salvage what I could .
There are parts of my couch that are covered by cushions that look like this...


But whatever.  The next round went smooth and FAST- deceivingly fast. I whipped up the bodies of both couches in record time.  It built my confidence up, only to have it crushed the next night by cushions.

 Can I just say cushions (all 12 of you) suck.  The price of a slipcover is so worth it because I hate sewing cushions.  And I didn't even welt mine.  I also did velcro tabs instead of zippers because I am not good at zippers.  I spent hours making the little enclosures...
 and many more hours making the actual box cushions...

But its done.  AND NOW I NAP.

Be back with more brain cells soon.

On my mind...

 White.
Somewhat.

 Tailored.
Martha F*@k!n&.

Slipcovers.

Yes, I know I am crazy to want them with the goings on and grape jam/ booger fingers in my house.  

I'll just go to my happy place and pretend this is me with the well trained men in my life...
lalalalala.
 But screw it.  When there is a will there is a way.  And I am pretty non-anal about that stuff.

I am currently making some for my big pair of microsuede lovin' couches.
I have 2 chairs that I slipcovered 4 years ago and they are holding their own (thanks to Clorox) pretty damn nicely. See..... no boogs....
Please note the sewing hell of fabric on the dining room table
 (amongst more happy azaleas, love them and I am getting sad they are almost gone outside) 
and the soon to be slipcovered, tired looking microsuede arm to the right.

They will be fabulous damn it!  

I will be back soon folks.
I can't promise any good tutorials because I am a cheater when it comes to sewing.
I burn out quick and skip steps, so trust me you will be better off Googling a How To, (as would I).

But if anyone has any good cheater tips please tell.  I will be doing this in spurts at night after the kids are asleep and I have finished all my other work, so yes I will be tired and looking for shortcuts and all the help I can get.




Its the little things..


(like flowers from backyard) 
that make my day!

Hope you have a great weekend and the Easter Bunny is good to you.
Posting has been a bit light these days because I am working on some big old projects. 
I can't wait to share them with you soon!

XO

Danika




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