A will and a sewing machine

If there is any one thing that I can say about Lori, well, there isn't. You cannot summarize Lori into one word. Instead, I have started a list of reasons why Lori is awesome.

1. She is funny as hell, even if she doesn't think so.
2. She understands written sarcasm better than anyone I know.
3. She understands my written sarcasm better than anyone I know.
4. She is the only person I know that would text me from a bathroom stall while violently ill and will me her sewing machine.
5. She is the only person I know that can cause me to almost wreck my car by reading said text.

It doesn't get any better than that folks. That is a true friend and I must say, I am happy to call her such. Also, she uses the term fickle, fickle, wh*re when referring to the month of January. You can't go wrong with a friend like her. I think that I am going to pack up my "I want to be a vampire" box of glitter and send it to her so that she may coat herself from head to toe in awesome. Take that Cullens.

Jules

Winter Office Garden--Victory is mine!

Its January, which frankly, has sucked ass for me.  That said, spring is just a dream on the breeze.  The cold, ice laden breeze.  To combat this cruel joke of nature's I treated myself to an amaryllis for my birthday (the day after Christmas, mark that down).  I took it into the office, since my 3 year old likes to take every plant I have at home for trips in his dump truck, and went about growing it.  Following the directions of take bulb, put in dirt, water, I managed to get it going right away.  So now, a month later, i have flowers.  Big, beautiful, crimson flowers.  Clearly failing botany in college was no impediment to my plant savvy. 

Feel free to admire my pulley system for keeping the stalks upright.  Any crafter worth her yarn carries some embroidery thread around.  take a close look at the unblossomed bud.  Yes, you are seeing 4, FOUR, buds there!  its a double double blossom!  I'll take some pics of that for follow up when they bloom out. 

Take that January, you fickle, fickle wh*re.

Love, Lori

Plain Jane to Elderly Amos

While I have been slacking on postings I have been busy at home. Well, sort of. It has been a hell of a week. It started off with my father having a heart attack which resulted in two stents. Good times there. However, he's doing fine and back to his regularly scheduled shenanigans. Prior to all of this excitement I had been working on a few projects.

I have been staining trim throughout the house that was dull and hideous, repainting some cabinets, and this plain Jane bookshelf that has been annoying me for at least 6 months. I realize the photo's are not of top quality but give a girl a break. I took them with my iPhone as I have a teenager that has taken off with my camera (which I am sure I will never see again), but you can get the gist. 

I can't remember where I picked this little shelving unit up but I obviously felt that it needed some love. I have been trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with it for a while. The struggle in my decision was the hideous back panel of 1984 wood paneling. Who decided that was a good choice? I could have taken it off and kept an open back or thrown a flat piece of wood on the back but that was more trouble than my "I want it done today" attitude wanted to deal with. I went with my DIY failsafe and opted to paint the ugly little thing. 

Cute enough I suppose, but I opted to go a step further and make this little gem look like it walked out of my Grandmothers back room of "half of these things are older than Jesus". So, off I go with a dab of black here and there, another coat of white paint, some fantastic sanding skills, and poof! The Elderly Amos shelf was born. 

Granted, I probably did this all wrong. Sanded in the wrong spots, blah, blah, blah. But I love it. It no longer looks as though it belongs in a house full of 1980's "country" color themed goods. No longer will little figurines  of cows, little boys and girls on haystacks with apples, and roosters, be suitable for this shelf. Instead I shall fill it full of my grandmother's old cookbooks and tuck it in a corner in my kitchen. Elderly Amos will look wonderful full of my Ancient Annie cookbooks. I am going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for this one day project. I am quite proud of the outcome. 

Jules

I Hope its Not My Sewing Arm...

Good (Monday) morning!  Its snowing here (again) and I am hard at work at the library.  Just taking a minute to check in and report on my weekend.  I made it to the craft store, where I have fallen in love with some lemon and orange printed fabric.  I have a million plans for it and am already having visions of sending my husband back to the store (he works close to it, its a half hour from home). 

At somepoint this weekend, I managed to strain my shoulder.  What started out as an annoying ache has now ballooned into throbbing pain where I can't lift anything.  I sincerely hope this isnt going to screw up my crafting plans.  Its seriously impeding my son lifting, but he weighs 50 pounds, fabric is pretty light.  That said, it hurts to move the mouse on my computer....ah, well, lets carry on...
After a weekend of hemorrhaging money, things are starting to level out.  I say this and wait for something new to come crashing down.  My car has been repaired.  I bought a new microwave after my husband managed to break ours cooking some pizza.  all that's left is the upcoming tooth we get to buy my husband.  He has to have an implant, to replace the ones he lost in high school playing baseball.  So what do you do when it seems like you are paying money out every time you turn around?  You get to crafting, and hope someone notices your stuff on etsy!  This week I am dedicating myself to revamping my etsy store.  New pictures, new items.  Maybe get Jules to rewrite my descriptions, with all her wordy talents.  so stay tuned, I hope to have something entertaining to share with you.  I hope every one's Monday is off to a good start.  Stay warm!

Lori

I like potato salad! then you're not in the f*cking club

I've been listening to Mitch Hedberg and quoting him as often as possible of late.  Give him a listen if you havent.  And if you have, go give him another.

Its Friday.  Thank God, I might go beat a random student if I had to deal with much more.  This whole month is shapping up kind of crappy in my neck of the woods. Im ready to call it a January.

That said, we're only 2/3 in, so time to pull up my big girl pants and get on with it!  Cleaning is the main thing on my mind of late, which is really code for *move the furniture around*.  When I tell my husband I'm going to do a big clean, he knows not to try to walk around in the dark for a while.  I love this kind of cleaning as A. you always feel like you've accomplished something. B. you can pitch so much stuff that people didnt even realize was laying around. C.  your room looks new and shiny.  So tonight, I start in the living room. 

I just found a wonderful tutorial at suttongrace.com

http://suttongrace.blogspot.com/2009/06/repurposed-entertainment-center.html

i want to make this for my son, who wants to help Mommy cook all the time!  Its just beautiful and I'm sure i can turn one of those old entertainment centers up on freecycle.  progress reports to come, go give that blog a look, I really liked it.

enough for my musings. Hope you all have a good (light on the snow) weekend!

Lori

Car headaches

Hi, I'm Lori and I hate cars.  I didn't use to even consider cars, other than "my car needs gas" or "my car is filthy".  That was before the great "PT Cruiser Debacle of 2011".  Yes, readers, we are a whole 19 days into a new year and already, I have a named debacle.  The beginning of this sordid affair, starts in 2007.  Newly pregnant, with a husband that drives a lot for his job, we had to have a new (used)car.  After moving 4 times in 3 years, money was a little tight, to say the least.  We ended up with a  2004 PT Cruiser.  The payment was low, the husband liked it well enough.  Being still a little bit young, we made the cardinal mistake of taking too long a term to pay of this stupid car.  We now owe so much more money than its worth (see husband and his LOT of driving=beaucoup mileage) and its breaking down, its not going to last long at all.  So we need a new car.  But don't want to roll over such a huge balance.  Did I mention its at least a grand to fix?  yeah.....So I'm in a quandary.  Do I pay loads of money (I don't have, btw) to fix a car likely to break down again or do I beg some car dealer to take advantage of me again and roll over a giant balance and end up in this same position 4 years from now?  Its giving me headaches and stress and frustration.  I want to do what's right for us, but God help me if I can figure out what that is.

So end rant!  Has anyone else dug themselves out of this kind of (gaping, depressing, seemingly endless) sort of hole?

Lori

pass me that glue gun

I've been tooling around with all my random pieces of "stuff" and here are a couple of barettes that I'm more than passingly fond of...

I loved these little pretties and finally got around to using them!  they're listed at my etsy shop, feel free to drop over and take a gander....

WaxPhilosophical.etsy.com

thanks!
Lori

while I'm at it....

I posted a couple pics of my first sewing project last week.  Here's a pic of that being used as intended!!!

not a terrible fit, not bad for my first try, if I do say so.  *pats own back*

No Eye Contact Monday

Morning, I shan't sport with anyone by calling it good.  I'm having a particularly rough Monday, but like all days, it will pass.  in the mean time, I'm working away at the library, but my mind is on my etsy store.  January is always a time for self improvement (intended anyway, lol), which makes me think about all the changes I would like to make.  My store is something I love, but haven't done a lot with.  I have a twitter associated with it (@WaxPhilosohica), a FB page, I have the means to promote it.  But I find myself letting it slide. 
So....this is the year of my etsy domination!  I will NOT let things go!  I will renew listings promptly!  list more items!  My question to any readers that happen by is this:  Where do you find your motivation?  when something becomes tedious, what do you do to keep going?  I understand that etsy is going to have a feature for a shop makeover in the coming months, much like their Christmas boot camp.  I'll follow along with it, and post my progress here.  But please, email us your ideas for motivation. 

Happy Monday!
(there!  bad attitude overcome!)
Lori

Morning musings

This is my first official post so hopefully it's mildly amusing. I have to start off by saying that Lori has been far too generous in her comments about me. She is wildly funny, crafty, smart, and by far the most amazing person that I know. The concept of this blog was her idea and I'm happy to be part of it. I hope you all enjoy it as well.

Now, on to my morning musings. 

Over the past few weeks I have noticed a trend in a new "fitness" craze called Zumba. In my attempt to find out a little more about this "aerobic" craze I came across this little gem. Once you get past the 2 minutes of babble, the fun really starts. I recommend you pause and start off around 2:50. 

About midway we get the benefit of a shirt lift and an ab roll. I have to say, I nearly peed myself watching this. 

Not to slam aerobic fitness such as this (yes), but I am not sure I could get through a class like this without a depends and a bottle of whiskey. I'm quite confident I would be escorted out whilst the tears of amusement were still streaming down my cheeks. 

Upon further investigation I discovered the Zumba clothing line. Once again, I am filled with joy and amusement. As you can see from the video above, there isn't a lot of exertion involved with these "routines". In order to make it look as though you are really shakin' it, Zumba has created these lovely pants. 

Please take notice of the straps of which you can apparently add to for added effects of movement. In one video I happened across the instructor had more straps than she did pant.

 Zumba also has a plethora of accessories to choose from as well, such as this lovely piece of jewelry that anyone *fitness conscious hobos* would love to wear.

I believe the description states, Who says name plates are no longer in style? Our signature necklace doesn't have your name, but does show your passion! Really? If I see someone wearing this I'm beating them with a strap off their pants.  

Now that I am more amused than ever, I am off to find a man that can lift his shirt with as much ease as the gentleman above so I can motorboat his abs. 

Jules

my first sewing project. wildly complicated and clearly difficult.

tweaks and adjustments

Good afternoon!  While I while away the hours at work, Jules has been hard at it, updating out design.  She's a master at it now, her services are available at unreasonable rates.  So now that we are all gussied up, its time to get to it!  Last night was the ground breaking on my sewing machine!  How does someone who calls herself a crafter get to be 31 and never have touched a sewing machine, you ask?  well, long story short, a childhood friend maimed her finger in one as a young child, and all I could see was that finger when I thought about using one!  But desire overcame fear and last night I banged out a reusable coffee cup sleeve.  Is there anything more fun than a rotary cutter?  I feel like its been missing my whole life.  But the sleeve, I was so proud of myself!  are the seams straight?  not really.  is it well put together?  not especially.  But its my first thing!  I overcame my fear!  this means I will be producing terrible things for your amusement/enjoyment!  got tips for me?  send em!  I'm posting pics of my masterpiece (lol).  Hopefully more to come soon!

Lori

And so it begins....

Hello!  and Welcome!  This is Lori and I'm happy you found us!  Since this is my innagural post, I'll introduce myself.  Im a mom of a three year old wonder.  Im a library tech, which works out well for me since I LOVE to read.  I am a crafter.  I approach everything as if I know how to do it, to mixed results.  I want to learn EVERYTHING!!!  I see something on Etsy and can't help myself.  I am at the craft store/harware store/thrift store before I know it.  I am a multi tasker.  and I love blogs, especially those that give tutorials and tips. 

Jules is the best friend I have never met.  We met online, through a group that doesnt bear mentioning.  She's one of the funniest people I ever "met" and the smartest.  When she gets going on a topic, prepare to be educated.  and for your sides to hurt, you won't stop laughing. 

So thanks for stopping by!  check back with us, we'll post as often as we're able.  Please email us with any questions, thoughts, etc! 

thx-
Lori