Retouching Frogs

I found these guys in my front yard when I first moved in. They were scrap metal worthy but I wasn't going to give them up that easily. The first thing I did was look around the house to see what we already had. We had gem stones for a different project perfect for the eyes, pink paint perfect for those cute little tongues, and plenty of masking tape. I bought a primer based spray paint for about 5 bucks and me and my little man got to it.

We covered all spots we didn't want spray painted green with masking tape. We spray painted one side at a time and after one of the frogs fell...I realized using a stone to anchor the lily pad feet would have avoided that issue.

Next time!! 

The pink paint was from a spray can, to make sure that the whole mouth wasn't plastered with paint I used a cup cutting it to fit around the tongue, then went at it. Any pink paint that went off the tongue I brushed up with a grey/off white paint that I also used to give a more textured feel to the instruments. 

Old eyes out. 

New eyes in.

And this is the final result! I plan on re-purposing them in the front garden area once it's done.

BEFORE

AFTER

Old Curtains Become New Again

When we bought the house I was overwhelmed by how many windows we had!!! In our one bedroom apartment we had lived in for three years, we had one window in the bedroom I had children's curtains for, and a sliding glass door in the living room, which I had never bought curtains for... It was time to make some smart investments in the curtain department!!!

My son has the master bedroom at our house with two large windows. We had the curtain set from our apartment which was a nice light blocking fabric, very popular in sunny places like Florida. I loved it, but we only had two long panels, enough for one window. The store I originally bought it from didn't carry the item anymore. It had been three years, their inventory had changed.

It was time to do some cutting and sewing. My son and furchildren helped. First I made sure the length would work if I cut the curtains in half. It did, but I had to lower the curtain rods. Cue me getting on a ladder. Then we got to the fun part!

My oldest furchild Inuka helped hold the fabric down when I was pinning the hem. Pro-tip: If you dont have a large table, or measuring board you can use a tile surface to help you measure the length and line up the hems.

I bought this great sewing machine off Craigslist. It worked so fast I ended up doing the hem by hand. lol It's currently for sale on Craigslist again if you're in the area. ;)

A few needle pokes later and we have the final product. The curtains made such a huge difference!!! My little boys bedroom finally feels complete. Here's the before and after.

BEFORE

AFTER