Singing about my Singer!

This little guy, whom shall be called Stanley henceforth, is the No. 1 reason why we had to move to a bigger place.

OK, I exaggerate only slightly.

But, Stanley here had been relegated to his cramped cardboard box since the day I got him, a Sunday in early May at my wedding shower. He was a present from my sister, and even after the wedding, I couldn't use him because we didn't have a place for him to live, permanently or even temporarily (our kitchen/dining table is bar height - couldn't reach the pedal). Anyway, we finally settled in enough for me to set it up Thursday night. And he's glorious!!!

Bargain, bargain, bargain!!!

Look at this gorgeous piece of potential!

I bought two of these accent chairs at my favorite flea market, The Shed, in Paducah. Cost? $8 for the pair. They are white upholstered and very dirty, but they don't smell bad. So my plan is to reupholster and refurbish the chairs, turning one into my desk chair and who knows what with the other.

Check back in with me as this becomes a long-term project. Cheer me on!

Craft time brought to you by the letter "H" for husband...

So the hubs thought he was getting all crafty and creative this weekend decorating his side of the spare bedroom. We both thought it was sharable.

Again, only slightly out of the box here.

One of the best tips I've read is the rule of posters and wall art. Don't be afraid to cut, chop or enlarge to make an aggregate singular piece of art. As per our rules of spare bedroom newlywed negotiation, we divided the room in half. Adam gets to decorate half, and I get to decorate half and we get to do as wish on our halves.

His taste in decorating included a punk poster of monkeys and a (in my mind, tacky) Jack Daniels poster. Anyway, we were conflicted in how to display both horizontally skewed posters above his desk when he came up with the idea to divide. Below is poster before and space after.






Trust me, it looks better in person. And now the hubs can say he's crafty, too. ;)

Croptacular

This is one of those think-outside-the-box type of posts. This isn't earth-shattering creativity here, though.

My grandma is a self-taught artist, starting in the 1960s painting oils on canvasses my grandfather built her by hand. She has hundreds of paintings downstairs in her basement, just waiting for someone to love on them and hang 'em up.

I pilfer the basement frequently, and long ago, came up with this white-on-black velour 15X16 painting. I had it hanging in my apartment during college, and my first home here in Paducah. Once we moved to the new place, it needed some severe TLC.

The velour paper has not held up very well, and some of the paint is woefully starting to flake off. First attempts at getting the painting custom-framed were thwarted when Michael's was ready to charge me $100, and that was bare bones and with 50 percent off (it would have looked amazing, but I wouldn't have been able to afford to eat dinner for weeks).

So, I compromised and bought a $30 frame (with coupons, of course). The only problem is the frame is 12X16.


I fretted for a while, debating the merits and faults of cropping my grandma's original art. Then I remembered where I found the painting in the first place: the basement. A straight-edge and an X-acto knife later, and I had a much improved piece of art.

Amateur Abstract

Since my last post, Razzle Dazzle Crafting and its creator have moved into a new home — a rented duplex. This gives my husband and I a much better quality of life, seeing as we don't have to literally step on each other when we're in the kitchen at the same time.

The new digs also gives me a better opportunity for art and crafty time. I'll be posting some of our projects, which aren't necessarily crafty, or razzle-dazzle, but maybe just original and creative.

Creating a piece of art for a large bare living room wall was my first big project. At Hobby Lobby, I took advantage of the store's 40 percent off coupon that comes in the paper every other week. I bought a 2 foot X 4 foot blank canvass (for about $12), $8 worth of acrylic paint, cheap brushes, and a glass of Paducah Blue, a local wine from Lone Oak's Purple Toad Winery (delish!).

Anyway, I'm not a painter, but I think it turned out OK. I had a lot of fun doing it, and that's what counts. Plus, the hubs thinks it's pretty cool.

Here is the bare corner before decorating. And here is the finished corner. I bought the smoked teal glassware also at Hobby Lobby and on sale...the two large pieces cost me maybe $6 together. The lamp we got as a wedding present, and liked it so much, we bought another one to match.