How to Create a Distressed Wall Treatment

Before we bought The Condo, my painting experience was limited to finger and tempera. I wisely decided that my first attempt at painting an actual wall should be in the laundry room because if I screwed the paint job up horribly, who would see it?

Turns out I did screw up the paint job horribly but was able to save it by creating a distressed wall treatment. Now I take everyone to see it.

Distressed Wall Treatment 

When bargain shopping, I love nothing more than The Thrill of the Hunt. I definitely found it at Habitat’s Restore . The Restore is a thrift store that sells donated new and used home improvement materials and the proceeds go to support Habitat for Humanity. I bought a new gallon of dark red paint for the walls and a 32 oz can of tan paint for the ceiling for under $8.00. Environmentally friendly because it keeps the stuff from going into a landfill and a steal because this paint usually goes for $24.00 at Sherman Williams.

The following weekend I cleared the laundry room of stuff, put down drop clothes and started painting the walls. The first coat of red paint was streaky but I figured that that the second coat would even things out. No such luck. After the second coat of paint dried, I still had blotchy walls. I used up all of my red paint and I couldn’t get more of that color because it was a mistint. Looks like I wasted a whole weekend painting. Gone. Kaput. Fineeto.

How to Make a Bottle Cap Tile Picture Frame

Every Friday Husband and I have a TGIF ritual. We drink a few dark craftbeers to celebrate that fact that we both made it through yet another often-crazy week. 

One Friday I came back from Trader Joe’s with a six-pack of Sea Dog Porter (because unlike college days, it’s all about the quality, not the quantity of the beer.) Husband jokingly accused me of buying Sea Dog because of its paw print bottle caps. He asked me if it was some sort of homage to Blitzkrieg.

Busted.

Then Husband says, "These bottle caps are cool though. I bet you could do something with these." So I did.

My apologies for the photo quality, I had to use my phone for this photo.

How to Make a Bottle Cap Tile Picture Frame

12 Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles

Have a few empty plastic bottles lying around and don't have a recycling bin? That's OK because there are many ways that you can creatively recycle a plastic soda bottle if you don't want to throw it into the recycling bin. Here are 12 of my favorite ideas from around the Web.

1. I'm a coffe junkie. If I ever find myself in a coffee-free situation, this Emergency coffee maker may just do the trick.

Haiku Friday: Celebrate May Day and Beltane!

Beltane marks spring
jesters dance round May Pole ribbons

flower baskets bloom

May Day makes me feel nostalgic. Not for the coffee filter flowers I made for May Day baskets when I was a child but for the May Pole dances and brightly colored clothes of Beltane. My inner child loves Beltane. Why? Because once upon a time I was a professional jester.

Need Proof?

I designed and drafted the pattern for my favorite jester costume, hat, and props. I appliqued blue ribbon in a Celtic knot pattern at the bottom of the top skirt. The top skirt are overlapping panels that fly straight out when I turn.