NY or bust...

Hello again! Sorry it's been awhile. Everything's slowly pulling together. Two weeks from now I'll be in NY! I'm sooo excited, but I'm also very VERY nervous. Not much left to pack except for my clothes, toiletries, and the last of my sewing supplies. I'm loading everything up in a 8x6(?) covered trailer. OMG it's gonna be soooo packed, and i'll be sure to take a pic of what it looks like if we get everything loaded lol. I personally don't think we'll be able to fit everything, but my dad says we can... so we'll see. NY or bust :) If we get everything in there, then i'll tell you what I'm taking :) Keep in mind if I wasn't planning on being in NY for so long, a lot of this stuff I would leave behind.

If you're going to NY, take a bike!
1. It'll get you to and from places around your area sooner
2. It's safer to be on a bike then walking, especially if your by yourself.
3. Make sure your bike has finders so that mud or water won't splatter on you :) This is what mine looks like... and wear a helmet, it really can save your life.

Now that I just have packing left to do, i'm focusing on the road trip itself. Now when I say road trip, I automatically think FUN! Not necessarily with this drive. We have 1,827 miles to drive, a 30 hours drive ugh... I couldn't imagine making this trip by myself. Fortunately my dad, mom, and brother are offering to set aside they're time to help me out. Downside, we're all drivers. That means we'll all be giving each other "advice" on how to drive... lol i'm sure you can imagine how that'll work. Dad and mom will use the excuse that they've driven longer then us, I'll say i've lived in the DFW area, and my brother will tell us that he drives for a living (which is true). We laugh about this now, but you know it'll go down differently when frustration arrises lol.

My advice to you:
1. take a book
2. take an electronic device that allows you to read, watch movies, or listen to music.
3. take a pillow

This is not going to be a Brady Bunch road trip, while singing "on the road again..." Can't wait to post pics for ya'll and of course this'll be a good time to hang together cause who knows when the next time will be.

On another note, here are some things I've been doing...

Last night I finally finished a dresser I've been trying to get done... and we all know how those home projects come along... very slowly :) Anyhow, I really wanted this to be shabby chic. So if you've been wanting to do the same thing I'll tell you how to get the look. First you must know this was a mess up... and in my eyes sometimes that's way better then what we originally wanted. The way the drawers are is actually what I intended it to look like, so this is what happened...

First, make sure you strip everything. I only striped the drawers cause I was to impatient to wait, so I put a deglosser on the dresser. Then I painted everything turquoise. Next, I put the crackle paint (the same kind that I used on my picture frames) on the drawers. Then I put porcelain crackle paint on the dresser. My mom and I were in search of crackle paint, but could only find porcelain crackle paint. *A side note- if you decided to use the porcelain crackle paint, understand that it won't look like the drawers. It'll still have the crackle look, but they are very very tiny. Example, it's like the cracks you see on pottery.

After we applied crackle, we then applied white over it. When I was painting the white, it wasn't giving me the same affect as the drawers and we could not for the life of us figure out what was wrong?! So we tossed ideas. We thought maybe it was the fact that I didn't strip the dresser, maybe it was the type of white paint we used, or maybe it was the crackle??? We were so baffled. Anyhow, the drawers were giving me the affect I wanted but the dresser weren't, so that's when I decided to just start over and strip the dresser.

*If you've never stripped furniture please keep in mind, the more you apply the more paint you'll be able to scrape off, and if it gets on you it burns.

So as my mom and I are pouring and painting this gunk on the dresser, we start scrapping away the paint. Well as I'm scrapping the paint I realize I really like this look I'm getting... so thats what I stuck with :) If you decided to do this make sure you have steel wool, so that you can scrape off the remaining stripper.

Another project I accomplished...

Recently a dear friend of mine, who is more like a second mom, asked me to make aprons out of her dad's button up shirts. My mom liked it so much she wanted me to do the same for her, so here's the know how...

1. Pick out a button up shirt (long or short sleeve, doesn't matter)

2. Get an apron you have and place it on top of the shirt. Mark where the apron will be.

3. Add an outer line, so that you know where to cut. I gave it half an inch for seam allowance

4. Once you've decided where to cut and how much seam allowance to have, start cutting. The pic bellow is the side of the shirt

5. Now that you've cut it out, make sure to close your seams. I close the sides first. If your not a seamstress, sorry for being so vague.  

6. Finished! Something else that adds character, make a pocket out of the cuff or sleeve :)

I also have some ties I'm making for a friend, but I won't show those until the wedding :) 

NY OR BUST!