Mirror and Canvas "Subway Art"

Next Project: Canvas craft. I've been experimenting with what some people call "Subway Art" and I ended up making this for myself...

So, my recent challenge has been to find somewhere to print this for cheap as a 20x20 so I can transfer it onto a canvas my friend Cassie gave me. Costco charges like $9 to print a 20"x 30" (which is the best deal I've found so far), but I'm a little worried about the ink smearing because I'm going to be modge-podge/gluing it and stuff. But it may end up being just fine. If I try and fail, I'm only out 9 bucks and about 5 hours of time (it took me a while to make it "perfect"). I'll let you know how it goes... 

Also, when we got married, my parents were getting rid of a dresser that came with a large mirror. Since we've always put the dresser in the closet, the mirror has sat against a wall in our house for the last year and a half... We've been wanting to re-frame it with something fancy like this: 

(image from google)

BUT... after much research and many many price quotes, we figured the cheapest frame that we actually liked would be around $300-$550....since I'd rather eat dinner every night then have an awesome framed mirror, we decided to just paint the frame that was on it already and just stick it on the wall. We were both sick of moving it from room to room and having it be in the way. 

Lucky for me, Ben decided that he'd do it all while I was at the YW broadcast with my cousins this past Saturday... (Watch Here) He taped the edges, put plastic over the glass, sanded the whole thing down, and spray painted it black. When I got home it was DONE! What a stud. He said he would have taken pictures of the process for me, but he couldn't find the camera... (that's because it was with me in Salt Lake) Ben is Wonderful!

Here's the finished product on the wall... :)

Now I have to find a place for all the pictures that used to be on that wall...
Also, I made this to go in that empty frame to the right of the mirror... Cute right?
It will match the ottoman!

Next Post: YW General Broadcast

DIY: Re-Covering an Ottoman (Pic.Overload)

My friend Whitney was getting rid of an ottoman and a chair she didn't need anymore so I told her that I'd take them both off her hands. As I was driving my "new" furniture back home, I realized how much I am like my mother... She would pick up a chair or dresser she saw on the side of the road if it looked in decent shape. I feel like I now know what my mom was thinking when she did this... Why let something go to waste or get sent to DI when you can get it for free!?!! I'm so glad Whitney thought of me when she was getting rid of her stuff before she moved to New York. :) I'm also glad my mom/sister taught me to say yes when people offer you free furniture (especially as a newlywed).

ANYWAY.. after having it sit in our family room for a week and contemplating how to put a cover over it, Ben suggested that we try to take it apart and make it a storage ottoman. So, here's a million pictures to try and show you how I did it...

It started off as a combination of the two of these things:

It was the size of the one on the left, but shiny and had dents in it like the one on the right. (What is the more technical term for dents... I can't remember what those are called?) It was basically put together with hot-glue and staples. So, Ben and I took it apart, and tried to figure out how to make it a storage-ottoman, instead of just an ottoman.

(BEFORE)

Ben took some wood pieces we already had, cut them down to size, and put them evenly around the edges. He then screwed them in (from the outside) and we had our edge for the lid to sit on.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to make a pillow-top for the top of it... I had some left-over stuffing from an old pillow that was hideous and furry, so it was just a matter of getting a casing of some sort made. Note to self/world: Staple-gunning fabric to wood is not the best idea.. Elastic is the way to go!

I bought only some of the fabric that I needed (because it was  more than I wanted to pay) and I ended up patching it to make it fit all the way around the 92-inch (around) cylinder. It worked out nicely... The fabric is so busy that you can't really tell where it's patched (and we just put that part towards the wall). SO... I put the fabric around the ottoman (inside out) and pinned it where it needed to be sewn together. Making it as tight as possible, but still being able to take it off was VERY hard! But it worked out and Ben was a GREAT helper with putting it on and off, on and off, and on and off again...

^^Here it is after the elastic has been done for the bottom, and I'm seeing how tight the top should be.

Finished the elastic part on both top and bottom... Ben was outside chiseling the top to make it fit with the added fabric that now lined the edges. (It was SO snug in there before that it wouldn't fit with the fabric on there.)

Ben cleaned the lid and drilled some holes to put handles on it (so we could get the lid out easily). The handles are just made of decorative rope type stuff that we found at the fabric store for cheap

I then got a button kit and made these three buttons to go on the cushion I was making... they are pretty cute.

We also bought some little legs for it so that it would slide on the ground more easily (and then the fabric doesn't get messed up when it slides).

Ben just drilled some holds and screwed them right in there...it was awesome! ^^Finished bottom^^

I cut the fabric for the pillow in a circle and sewed it shut (all but 6-8 inches of it) and turned it right-side out. Then, it was time to stuff! When I stuffed it, it ended up being MASSIVE (see below). 

So, I un-stuffed it and sewed it smaller... it was much better after that

I then put the buttons on, (making them all the same length was kinda hard) and I re-stuffed it. 

That was the last thing to do! It was awesome. After that, we loaded the inside up with blankets and pillows, then put the lid on... put the pillow on... and tuh-duh!!! All Done!

Finished Product! (You can't really see the feet at the bottom, but I promise they're there.)   :)

Well, I'm off to cut Ben's hair and watch MegaMind... More craft projects on the way... :) adios!

Oh Where, Oh Where, have the Chambers been?

My friend Camie has been doing a map for everyone in her family, so i thought it might be fun to see what mine looks like... We may have taken road trips that I don't know about when I was little, but this looks right according to my adult memory. :)

Here it is:

visited 14 states (28%)

Here's Ben's:

visited 1 states (7.69%)

visited 25 states (50%)
His is a bit more impressive, but I'm still very proud that NY even made my list.. :)

Ben's 26th Birthday!

This year was Ben's 26th birthday and I wanted to make it a fun one since #25 was pretty lame. So, I got ahold of some of our Married friends to see if I could pull a party together.  After most everyone said they could come, I started planning.... I my plans, I made this awesome invite. :) 

I took our address off for privacy reasons, but it would be in the blank space below the date...

I wanted to make sure we had good food, but I'm not the best at snack foods. I never know what to make and how much of it to make, so I just did dinner and dessert. Ben didn't really care what I made, so I was trying to think of something everyone would like... I ended up with Chips, Salsa, and Guacamole to snack on, and I made a MASSIVE amount of Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas, Black Beans, Cilantro Rice, Salad, and Lemonade. It was GREAT! 

 We all had so much fun eating, talking and playing games. We did a quiz about Ben and (of course) Chris H won. He and Ben have known each other since forever... Then we played Scategories and Rex and Molly won the other prize. :) It was so much fun to get together with our friends and just enjoy each other's company. I wish we could do it more often. 

For dessert, I made a bunt cake, sprinkled with powdered sugar on top... it was delicious! 

 We sang happy birthday to Ben and he blew out all the candles in one try... He even managed to blow all the powdered sugar onto my black shirt and into the air. I should have thought of that before I put the powdered sugar on. hmm, maybe next time.

      

Syd got a hilarious picture of Ben mid-blow... I don't have the pic, but it was funny enough to show everyone. Chris B helped us out with that... :)

The whole group! Cal, Robert & Jami Chambers, Sharla & Dan Chamberlain, Cassie & Christopher Heaton, Ben & Me, Chris & Sydney Barborka (missing Molly and Rex, who had to leave early). So Much Fun!


Thanks for coming everyone! Who has the next birthday?! We need another party!   :)

Christmas in Kanab / New Years in California

Well, after the wedding we drove down to Kanab for Christmas. This was my first christmas away from home and I was surprised that I didn't get homesick. I guess the thought that Riley and Halie weren't there either was a little comforting... It made me not feel bad for not being there. So... Christmas day, we woke up and it was the first time I didn't open presents first thing. Since we had church at 9, (or was it 11?), and we're all grown ups (except baby Cal), we decided to do breakfast, church, talk to Tom, then lunch, then gifts. :) It was really nice not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to open gifts with the excited "under 10" group, but it was really weird at the same time. I didn't feel like any of us were super excited to open gifts. I felt like although I was happy and excited to be getting new things that I didn't have to pay for,  I was more excited for people to open the gifts I got them... Does this mean I'm growing up??? yikes! who would have thought...? :)

Anyway, Ben's parents spoiled us and we got some great things. The best part about Christmas this year is that we didn't use the Credit Card AT ALL. It was such a great feeling to save money slowly throughout the year and be able to actually afford all the things we wanted to give/get. For those of you who don't know about Dave Ramsay, go buy THIS BOOK (or any other book he wrote) and your life will turn upside down (in a good way). We got this book for our wedding from Sister Benefeito (my old YW leader) and it's been so great to start our marriage off in a good place financially. Especially b/c finances can be so daunting at times.

SOoo... after the wonderful Christmas in Kanab, we drove to Sacramento. We had a good time there too. It was much more low-key than we're used to. Usually the house is so full of people and noise that we go a little crazy and want to go home (to UT). But this year it was so nice... We watched movies, ate LOTS of chex mix, talked with my parents, went to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery and took naps. :) The only rough thing about our whole vacation was having to sleep on a queen size bed when we're used to a king. 

Here are some pictures from the Fish Hatchery. It was Ben's first time and my first time with an actual pleasant experience. In the past I just remember stinky smells and no fish (other than the ones on the video).

We got to feed the fish (which was strangely entertaining) and walk around all the different sizes of fish. Sounds boring, now that I write it down, but it was a lot of fun!

We drove home to UT (why do I keep calling UT home?? this means I'm really growing up!) with John in the back seat of the car. This car was packed so full you wouldn't believe. John was such a trooper. Poor guy had ZERO leg room and was in the back seat with an Ice Chest and MANY MANY other things. I brought home lots of fabric and some inspiration for some quilts. Those are my current projects (now that's it's march and I'm finally writing about it). Next Post: Ben's Birthday.

Married Friends (the Heatons)

Ever since we got married I have felt like I don't have a lot of friends to hang out with.. Especially when we lived in Spanish Fork. Since we've moved to Orem, it's been a lot better. We have a lot more married friends that are close. It's really nice to be able to invite people over and not make them drive a half hour both ways. But even though we've made more and more married friends, some of our closest friends are still single and it's hard to hang out as a three-some. Especially when that one person is better friends with either Ben or me. Lucky for us, the last of Ben's really good friends finally decided to settle down. ;)

@ Our Wedding (Aug. 2010)

Anyway... Since Christopher came all the way to California for our sealing, when we heard that he and Cassie were going to become Mr. & Mrs. Heaton we were hoping that we would be able to go. We were so excited for them! Anyway... they decided to get married on December 22nd. It was pretty close to Christmas so we had to make sure our travel plans didn't conflict. It worked out very well and we were able to attend the sealing on Thursday and then drive to Kanab Friday morning for the reception on Friday night. It's been a mild winter, so we were hoping that it would stay clear until then. It was great weather for both days. VERY cold, but no snow. That was a first for all five winters I've spent in Utah. Well, Chris and Cassie chose the Draper temple to get sealed and it was a wonderful ceremony/wedding. Chris's mission president did the sealing and they were surrounded by friends and family. It was great to be a part of. Plus, we had never been to the Draper Temple and it was BEAUTIFUL. It was great to see our old bishopric and their wives. We also got to see all our married friends together to support our friends as they were sealed to each other for forever. :) These are the few pictures I have from the blessed event. You can hop on over to their blog for the good pictures. :) 

Coming out of the Temple... MARRIED!

Friends since Birth (literally) 

SO excited for these two! (@ the Kanab Reception)

- US -

the Beautiful Bride!

We love these two and are so excited to have more married friends to spend time with. I can't wait for them to move back to Provo/Orem so we can see them more often. 

Salt Lake is a little too far for my taste. 

p.s. getting pictures to go where you want them to in blogger is HARD. Getting it to look like this was an absolute miracle. :)  Up Next: New Years/Ben's Birthday