Procrastination

Hello long lost friends! Sorry I have been so slack about keeping yall updated on projects! But, in all honesty, I've been slack on DOING projects. My room is still basically all white. My armoire has now made it in the room so all that is left to do is hang pictures! The chicken wire wall is still half finished but its coming along, slowly. And classes have officially started! Next week my first projects are due which means this will begin the long weekends spent in the studio! I can't wait to show yall my projects from school but as it is with all school work, I have already started to procrastinate a little... Tonight I really just didn't feel like doing architecture reading and its too dark to take pictures or go to the botanical gardens and I don't have a buddy to go weld in sculpture studio with either. So, maybe it wasn't procrastination. Anyway, after doing some busy work for my architecture class I needed a creative outlet and I noticed that my bathroom was really white. As usual, I decided to paint a canvas to hang to add a pop to the walls. 

 Not exactly the best looking sign I have ever made, but basically this is the mantra I live my life by :)




Annnnd this canvas I made when I first moved in when I was avoiding unpacking. It has the "You Are My Sunshine" lyrics written in the blue strip along the mountains. 

I just really enjoy being crafty. I know I'm an art major but sometimes I feel like arts and crafts can be more fun and relaxing than fine art. I LOVE BOTH please don't get me wrong but this is the type of stuff I do when I want to rest my brain; nice, easy, blocks of color. 


Hopefully I can post tomorrow night with my finished bedroom and the finished chicken wire wall! My mom and little sister are coming to visit saturday morning and I would LOOOVE to have it all done! 

Ya know. Just a quick afternoon project :)

Sadly, my apartment is STILL not completely put together. I still have about 8 boxes lining the walls of my room, my walls are all bare, and my new awesome desk is covered in junk... Great way to break in a new apartment. 


I think I just like doing things for other people instead of finishing my own projects. I went over and spent probably 3 hours or a little more doing this mural for a FABULOUS friend. She has been asking for a piece of art from me longer than anyone and I've been totally slack and until the other day have never given her a piece of my work!! I hope she likes this and LeAnn if you read this, I promise I'll still get you that tin you've been asking for :) 


I'm horrible at remembering to take before pictures. The room is a pale green and I came in to add the tree as a fun little accent piece.

My fabulous photographer, LeAnn, captured me in action. This was also my first ever live audience! LeAnn and her two roommates decided to join me. We all decided it was just really relaxing to paint while listening to Michael Buble  :)

TA DAHH!!

LeAnn, I hope you love your tree and I'm sorry it has taken me so long to finally do something for you! It was so great to just chill with you and your girls while doing what I love most! 


Ok, my goal is to get my room completed by next Saturday. Reed has the day off tomorrow, hopefully I can bribe him and a few other strong boys to carry my hippo of an armoire up two flights of stairs! Wish me luck!!

Work in progress

Finally, my internet has somewhat of a constant connection. I have so much to catch you all up on!! I feel like I have been going non-stop for almost the entire month of August. I just want to give a quick glance in to what my life has been like this month. The first weekend in August my best friend, Kailey, was getting married so I had a joyous weekend full of wedding festivities followed by tons and tons of family time. Reeds mom came in town to visit family and I was hanging out and visiting the Walpole/Lathrop family everyday for the entire first and second week of August. Then I moved up to Clemson on the 16th unpacked (from the car not the boxes yet) did a few projects and left on the 18th to visit Ross and Leslie (Reeds brother and sister-in-law)for the weekend. After a fabulous time with them we headed back to clemson to continue unpacking my apartment. Now classes are starting tomorrow and I am still not completely set up in my room. However, I have a lot of works in progress that I thought I could share and even get y'alls opinions on. 


First project: Corner Desk
I found and awesome website: Ana White Home Maker

This sight has some pretty awesome plans for all sorts of projects. The project I was looking for was a simple corner desk big enough to use as an art table too. The plans on here are so detailed that it made it simple enough that I could modify the project to fit exactly what I needed. These are just some photos of the process Reed and I went through to get me this great looking desk.  (this was a half day project, but we also took a few breaks so we didn't rush anything) 

^My empty corner

^Reed is such a fabulous helper. Actually, I am more of the helper. I promise I helped. I sanded, measured and painted while Reed did all the cutting, glueing and nailing. 

^Fence posts used as the legs 

^Reed did a fabulous job cutting the exact shape I needed for a desk and even added trim to give it a more finished look!

^Installing the desk in my room! It was pretty late when we got to this point. I think this was about 11 or 12 at night. This project was done the first full day we were back in Clemson so we were exhausted! 

^MY DESK!! So, yes this is finished but it is still a work in progress. I haven't set it up fully and I have bed-risers making my file cabinet tall enough... But look at how fabulously big it is! That drawing pad is 18"x 24" and it has plenty of space!! 


Second Project: Chicken wire wall 
This project I got my inspiration from Under the Sycamore.

I love the idea of hanging chicken wire on the wall to allow the decorations on the wall to constantly change with out much hassle. I couldn't decide which wall to use in my bedroom, plus I also thought it was worthy of the living room, so thats where it ended up. Mine did not turn out as good as the one above from Under the Sycamore but I thought I would show you the beginnings of how it looks. 

Sooo, it turned out to be a little harder than I thought. I also think I should have gone with the more expensive wire because this was very loose and hard to keep tight against the wall. 

 And this is where I need your help. I haven't decided what to hang on it yet. I'm thinking about either having paper flowers like in the picture from Under the Sycamore, or getting either belts or old fabric to weave across (diagonal?). I really am stumped when it comes to finishing this project and it looks pretty messy and strange the way it is so I REALLY want to finish it ASAP! 

And my last project for this week: painting the armoire! 

This piece of furniture weighs about as much as a baby hippo. Reed and Kevin (Reeds roommate) have been trying to convince me it is not needed in my bedroom which is in an apartment on the second floor. However, I know differently and I hope that I can bribe them with a home cooked meal. This beast of an armoire was used as my art cabinet back at home in Columbia and I thought it needed a bit of a face lift before being put in my apartment here in Clemson. These are really rough before and after pictures but they should do for now. 

 See why I say it is the size of a small hippo. The armoire was dropped off at Reeds house so I could paint it before getting it in my apartment. 

I chose to paint it with the dry brush effect to make it look more  antique than a flat solid color. I also haven't finished the paint job. The four squares at the bottom are not painted yet and I am going to add some cute contact paper for the inside cubbies instead of painting them. I am also unsure about the handles. I think I like them because they are so unique but I am also thinking about maybe getting something a little more colorful since my entire bedroom seems to be white at this point. 


So, this was a long post. I told you I had a lot to catch you up on! As of right now I have a million more ideas for my bedroom but have only started the ones I've shown you. Hopefully within the next two weeks (before I start work at Razzberry Fizz) I will have my entire room finished and will be able to show off all of my final products!! 

a "quickie" post

Ok, I'm still in the process of moving. It has been a week and I am still living out of suitcases and piles of clothing on the floor. And a lovely surprise at this new apartment is that the internet is extremely moody. So, I haven't been able to update you guys as much as I was hoping too. Butttt, maybe this will keep you guys checking in. Suspense is a good thing, right??


All of that a side, this post is gonna be short and to the point because I don't know how long my internet connection will last!!


A few weeks ago I was able to finish two signs for my Aunt and Uncles new beach house in Cherry Grove, SC. They renamed the beach house from "Penny Pincher" to "Absolute Paradise", which is very fitting because the house looks like absolute paradise and I hope I get a chance to visit very soon!! Anyway, along with a new name they needed new signs to advertise their rental. I was given the dimensions, name of the house and was told to go from there! This is what I think of when the word paradise is mentioned and luckily it fit perfectly in line with what my Aunt and Uncle wanted!! 

(The two signs are identical so I didn't feel the need to post them both.)

Hopefully the moving process will end soon and maybe by some miracle my internet will decide what it wants to do. I hope you guys keep checking in because I promise I have LOTS of fun new projects I want to share!!