When I Get Bored...I Make Things

I was at dinner with a friend recently, and I was talking about my cute new box purse. My friend says "Oh, the one with the chain". I replied, "No, this is another one". My friend then asks, "I don't remember seeing that one, is it on your blog?" I realized at that moment people assume that I blog whatever I'm working on, and in most cases that is true. However, there are lots of projects I don't blog about. Sometimes they're small and insignificant, and sometimes there's not enough to be interesting or make a good blog. There are also lots of times that the project takes so long that by the time I finish, I'm just glad to be done and don't feel like blogging about it. I definitely have a folder of unposted projects. So, I figured it was time to talk about some of the things I've done, but haven't posted. 

First that box purse I was talking about. Usually I have tons of things going on. This particular Saturday...nothing. It was also cold outside, and leaving the house was not happening. So, in my sense of boredom I decided to make some stuff. I had bought this box awhile ago from Michaels with the thoughts of painting it.

I removed the hardware, primed, and painted the whole thing white. 

I pondered a few ideas about what I wanted to paint, but decided to just go with simple black and white stripes. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. In the inside, I added black felt to create some padding.

I added the hardware back and gave it a layer of clear coat. 

I actually enjoyed painting this. I was going to add a big sparkly embellishment, but began to dig the sleekness and neutral feeling of it. I will probably paint another one at some time. That one will be a lot more interesting, I promise.  

On that same day I also made myself some earrings. In my perusing of the internet, I've seen wire bent into words and shapes. I decided to make some of my own. So, I got out some wire and started bending.

Now I've never done or even tried this before, so It was going to be trial and error. I used my jewelry pliers and worked each letter until I got what I wanted. In no time I ended up with my first word.

Then for the second one I went through the same process. This one was a little harder than the first because the letters did not combine so easily. I ended up having to start over from scratch, but it was a good learning lesson

Here is the finished product.

I turned these into a pair of stud earrings. I wish I would have thought of it before I started. I realized I didn't leave myself any leftover wire on the ends for the findings. So I had to add extra after the fact. Not the ideal solution, but it's good to know for next time. 

While we're on the topic of jewelry let's talk about my ear cuff. For New Years Eve I decided to not buy a new outfit this year, however I still needed some sort of flare. I've been seeing ear cuffs around, and decided I wanted to try my hand at making one. Well, for this project let's change make to embellish. I attempted one from scratch, but found the base to be the hardest part to make. I also considered just purchasing, but didn't find any that were as fantastic as I needed them to be. I ended up buying 2 separate pieces from Claires', and then embellishing them with additional beads, jewels, and chain. 

It turned out super cute, and was a total hit. I also like that I can wear the 2 pieces on their own for a different, more subdued look.  

The next few projects are kind of old. I updated my desk drawers and the dividers. Originally I was going to leave this red, but in my efforts to make the office amazing I painted it white and sprayed the handles gold.

I updated the inside linings with gray and white striped scrapbook paper. It gives a little visual interest, but not too busy. 

Now for my favorite part, the drawer dividers. In case you don't know I love to divide a drawer. The extra organizational push just gives me total euphoric feelings. The drawers already had dividers, but they were made of cardboard and wrapped in bright red adhesive vinyl. I decided it was time for an upgrade. I purchased 1x3" craft wood from Lowes, and used my Miter Saw to cut them to size. 

I added dividers to 4 of the 6 drawers. The other 2 have bigger items in them.

Can you say LOVE!!!!

Next up I made trays for my accessories island. I needed something to hold some of my smaller things. To make the trays I used 1/4" foam board and craft wood.

To cover the inside I added pieces of cardboard wrapped in fabric. I know the fabric doesn't go with the room at all. I just thought it was fun. 

For the knobs, I ended up making some. I really wanted to buy them but I realized a lot of the fancy knobs have really long posts, thus they would have protruded too far into the drawer itself. I ended up finding a decorative piece at Michaels, and painted it pink to match my fancy ottoman.

I made 2 trays. The one on the left is filled with my wallets and small purses. The one on the right is for my sunglasses.

. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you've probably already seen my most recent project. A friend of mine had a daughter last year, and a couple of weeks ago was her 1st birthday. I promised I would come out of hiatus, and make a children's gifts. I bought a rocking chair from Michaels, and painted it. 

I have painted rocking chairs before, and a lot of them end up being pink or purple. I wanted to do something a little different for this one. I chose a pale yellow, and then personalized it. 

So that's it. There is always something going on around here. Some projects you see, and some you don't. There's probably more that I could show you, but we'll have to save that for another day, another post. Hope you enjoyed the round up. Until then...It's on to the next project. 

Which is currently covering my floor... 

I just cleaned too....

 Ah well...

This is my life, and I accept it!