My first table!

I've finally finished the first table I've ever made. I'm totally happy with it. I have no experience doing this, but I still wanted to try. I got a scrap cupboard door from ikea. It was only $1.99. It's not made of wood though. It's compacted shaved wood. Which to be honest sucks. But it works for me. I also found some free banister posts. The were super tall, but again, totally free.

I started by sanding the cupboard down. I'm doing the same idea as the three shelves I did in an earlier posts. So it didn't need to be sanded down much or perfectly by any means. Once I sanded it down a bit I spray painted the base a light gray color. Again, it doesn't have to be perfect, I wanted a some what withered look, so this worked good.


Once the spray paint dried I rubbed the edges with a tea candle. Then I grabbed my lovely paint and did two coats. I let the second one dry really well. While that was drying I spray painted the table legs gray.


Once the table top was dry I took a 220 grit sandpaper and began to expose the gray base. Where the wax was, the paint will come off a lot easier. I used the sandpaper on the whole table, just to give it a worn out look.



Now that I've finished all that, I attached the table top to the legs!

Yay, my table is done!

Now, for someone like me attaching the top to the legs was difficult. I would recommend getting some help with the final part. I'm pretty sure mine might not be the most sturdy table ever. I think I'm going to get some help to re do the leg portion.

I'm still in love with my table though, looks great in my hallway with some pretty flowers!

DIY scarf

Here's how I made a super easy scarf, so versatile, so great.

Things you'll need:
Large t-shirt
Scissors
Pearl necklace if you want to add to it!


I got a an extra large shirt from value village for a whopping .99¢. The longer the shirt the thicker the scarf will be. I found a nice girly pink color I liked, so the length wasn't as long as I hoped. But I still love it!

Once I had the shirt I cut the middle portion out. I cut the bottom seam out, and I cut out from underneath the arm seams. The line doesn't have to be perfect, you won't see it anyway.
Once you have your center cut out, loop it around a door nob and stretch it out as much as you can. You can loop it under your feet as well and pull up!

Now you have your scarf! Play with it, you can make so many different looks! I usually loop it in half and fan it out so it's actually a thicker scarf. Here are a few examples of how you can dress it. You can even add pearls in it to make it a little more fancy.

frugal me

For under $10.00 I made my hall way a little more girly. I bought a pint of paint for $5.99 at Canadian Tire, along with 2 pipe clamps that combined were under $2.00. Here's how I did it!




I had some extra shelves from a wooden ikea dvd shelf. So I grabbed 3 and sanded them down. I used a 120 grit sanding block and sanded away the top layer of the self. I'm pretty sure a 60 grit would have been way better, but I had 120 at home and wanted to do this as cheap as I could.


These shelves aren't the best, they are filled with shaved wood. I didn't want to sand down to deep because I feel like it will fall apart. They do the trick though. So when I had the top layer sanded down I spray painted with them with krylon smoke gray for the base


Once that dried, I took a tea candle and rubbed the edges of the shelf. I also added some wax in the middle of the shelf. Once I finished that I used my cabana coral paint to do the top coat. I applied two coats of the coral color. I'm no pro by any means at painting and what not. So I'm sure something I did is not the "right" way. But it works for me!

I used a really fine bristle paint brush for the top coat. I wanted it to be a kind of rougher looking and a few streaks showing up.


I let those coats dry really, really well. Now here is where the wax helps. Using a 220 grit or so sand paper, lightly file down the edges and a bit in the middle. Frugal me, I didn't want to buy more sandpaper so I used a new 220/240 grit nail file I had in one of my work kits. And it totally worked for me! Lightly sanding the edges down exposed the gray spray paint base to give it a bit of a withered look. I love mine!

Before you start putting our hooks and what not on the front make sure you nail in the picture hangers on the back first. I did not do that on one of them. It wasn't fun. I used a vase and mason jar I had on my balcony already and hung them with pipe claps. Getting the screw through the pipe clamp was fun. In the end I used scissors to stretch one of the existing notches. If I had a place to hammer properly, I probably would have smacked a nail right through it to stretch it. So the scissors were the next best thing.

On the last one I put hooks on it so I can hang my keys, purse, and jacket! For the longest time I had a golden wire rack holding my keys and what not. This is much better, much more room! The mason jar I have can only fit 2 pairs of sunglasses. I'm addicted to rounded black ray bans anyway. So for me that's more than enough room!





Finished product!

Although, I do think I'm going to spray paint the blue vase a solid white, because I seem to be addicted now to painting all glass objects white!

Any input? Should I keep it blue, or go with the white?

Find of the week/blogs of the week

I found this little jewel, hidden in the back of a bunch of glass ware on a shelf at value village recently. I thought for sure it would be at least $9.99. It's beautiful!
Oh no, $1.99. The amazing prices makes this find of the week.

....i'm so in love.


Great blogs and DIY websites:

If you haven't heard of P.S - I made this, you're crazy. I've become super addicted to this site. The easiest DIY projects ever. Simple and down to the point instructions backed up by great photos.
You're welcome.

I've been slowly spray painting everything I own. It's because a bit of an addiction. I've taken a liking to spray painting bottles white. It gives them a great porcelain look. Never used spray paint? Check out this super easy tutorial from Ruffled here.
Here are

Simply amazing DIY ideas from Pinterest thanks to totalartsoul. I'm so in love with this page. I actually want every single thing on the page. Amaze.

Pages beyond pages of the cutest and easiest for that matter, DIY projects. Craftgawker, you're my hero. It's fairly easy to get caught up on this one. Check it here.

just because i can

I love her, I really do. Anna Wintour circa 2007 when she appeared in Vogue Paris.

probably shouldn't do this

Have you found that perfect song or recording on youtube and you just had to have it on your ipod? Can't find the song on itunes, or just want it for free? I have been addicted to this converting website forever now. The only unfortunate thing is over the years, more and more advertising pop up windows are added. But whatever, it's so easy!

1. Go to the website here.

2. SCROLL DOWN. the top is more advertising. Don't click any of the extension offers!

3. Copy and paste the entire youtube link in the box near the bottom and hit convert(I always use the regualr quality option, works just fine for me).

4. A few giant pop windows will come up. Close them, they are lame.

5. Skip past the giant lobster ad at the top right of the screen.

6. Click the button that says "click here to downloaded your converted file".

7. Click "download your mp3" or wait 20 seconds.

8. Your download screen will come up. I always click open with itunes. Then click ok. Another advertising web page pop up will open as well. Close that shit.

9. Itunes will open, and your song will play! wohoo!

I have found 1 in 10ish won't work. The website will just say can't find page. Just carry on, no amount of refreshing or re doing it will work. Trust me. I spent way to much time trying.

Welcome to your newest addiction!

homemade sidewalk chalk!

*photo from ohmyhandmade.com

I came across this amazing tutorial on how to make your own sidewalk chalk! I know you can buy it super cheap right now anyway, but making it would be that much funner!

Thanks to ohmyhandmade.com you can have some fun and make sidewalk chalk!

nerd out

I love my camera.

I have been nerding out quite a bit online looking at camera tutorial websites. I found a few sites a while ago that I keep going back to. I figured I would share.

To start. A basic how to hold your camera. This could be one of biggest pet peeves and it's a sure give away on inexperience. Check out Light Stalking for a quick "how to hold your camera".

Please, don't be like this guy.



Secondly, I call this one my bible. It's great. An A-Z reference guide on photo terms. I used the shit out of this site a few years ago, and still love it today. Thank you Steves-digicams for producing my bible.

I love this one. The top 10 reasons your photos suck list. Simple, and to the point. Check it out here. And the top 10 list for better candid shots here.

I'm going to leave you off with Eolo Perfido. The opening series on his site is incredible. The make ups are brilliant. I love the style. I get to shoot for a few of the make up schools in Toronto. I love when I get to shoot for the special effects make up classes. You get to be so creative, and really get to play with lighting. Plus, nothing makes me happier than a creepy clown design. Simply brilliant. See the clowns here.




*stephen harper photo obviously not taken by me.

put the lime in the coconut

I'm doing some computer work this morning and I decided to make a playlist via 8track player.
You can only skip past two songs, so chose wisely.

Check out my playlist here.

Zooey Deschanel, my fashion icon.

I'm absolutely in love with her. She is without a doubt my style icon. She puts a modern twist on the classic Audrey Hepburn.


Zooey teamed up with the incredibly talented M. Ward to create the dynamic indie folk band She & Him. Check out Ions spread with the two here. There music is amazing, it always put me in a good mood. I have a few links with my favorite songs on youtube for you.
Why do you let me stay here
In the sun
Sweet darlin' (not the music video, just audio)


{500} days of summer is definitely in my top 3 movies. The other two being Jurassic Park and Fargo, obviously. If you haven't seen {500} days of summer I suggest you at least watch the trailer here. It will leave you wanting more for sure.


(obviously, none of these photos were taken by me)

Electricity is really just organized lightning.

It's currently just before noon on a rainy morning here in Toronto. I spent an hour in my bed watching the cn tower be struck by lightening time after time. I've been living in the same spot for just over 5 years now, and I've never been lucky enough to see the tower be hit this many times in one sitting! It's also very weird having a thunder and lightening storm in the morning, I usually see them at night! We've have had an amazing few days for weather. Apparently it got over 40 degrees one day too! Now we all know with that weather, comes rain..and lots of it. The other night we had a wicked thunder and lightening storm. I got a few shots from my balcony that night.
Enjoy!



We were sitting on the balcony and I had the camera propped up with my shutter cord handy, the entire sky lit up and I managed to snap the camera before it ended. It was so bright we couldn't even see a bolt. This is the photo I got from it. If only my DSLR had video, the thunder that followed that was incredible!