It might seem a little strange that even though I don’t have a working kitchen (or even really the hope of having a working kitchen anytime soon) I just had to do something about my spice rack situation. And technically it’s less of a “rack” and more of  a “bunch of stuff in a box or maybe on a pantry shelf” which looked kind of like this.

I actually really liked the glass bottles with corks when I got them years ago, but the corks make horrible lids, and the labels I hand wrote for most of them were either crappy or gone. The rest of the spices were in mismatched jars or containers, and the whole thing was basically one big mess. I’m the kind of person who likes to have things I use often out in the open, and this just wasn’t going to do.

Luckily I stumbled on some inexpensive clamp-top glass jars at Crate & Barrel (12 for $15) and instead of putting it off any longer I bought some jars, made some labels, and ended up with this…

A slight improvement, right?

For the labels, I started with a little inspiration from this pin on Pinterest. I wanted the labels to be useful and a little funny. The garlic label, if you can’t read it, says:

GARLIC

Use with wild abandon in sauces,

meats, marinades, or mixed with

butter for bread or pasta.

A LOT OF FLAVOR

Treats infection, keeps vampires

and kissers at bay.

You can see I included culinary uses as well as “traditional medicine” uses. You know, just in case the zombie apocalypse happens and I can’t get my hands on any Tums.

I did my research and laid the labels out in InDesign…

I wanted to print them on brown Kraft paper, and I found a roll (in the style of wrapping paper) that had some interesting texture, however it was a little too curly to run through the printer. I cut it down to 8.5×11 size, and about five minutes after I stuck it under a heavy book to flatten I ran out of patience, then remembered this long forgotten “tool” I owned. In the laundry room.

Yeah. That’s right. I haven’t ironed a shirt in over a year, but I’ll be dammed if I didn’t bust the clothes iron out to flatten my kraft paper for spice jar labels. Probably I need to reexamine my priorities… uh, later.

The iron-on-low trick did work to get the paper flat enough to run through my printer, and after some trimming I had these:

The real question I had when planning this out was how on earth to stick the paper to the jars. I actually looked for “sticker paper” which is what they use for beer labels and such, but I couldn’t find it at my local craft store. What I did find was this thing…

A sticker maker! (And somewhere deep deep inside, my five year old sticker-collecting self gives a squeal of joy.)

This one was $12 at Michael’s and I used a coupon which brought it down to something like $8. They have different sizes but this one will make stickers up to 1.5″ wide which was perfect. Just put the paper in the top and pull the “sticker” on the bring it through.

A little rubbing…

And a DIY spice jar label is born!

The printing did bleed a little bit in some places, but overall I’m really happy with the way they turned out. (Also you can see my “cropping” skills suck, which is probably why people shouldn’t use paper cutters after midnight, but I think it adds to their rustic charm. Or something.)

Now I just have to fill all the jars up. And then find myself a kitchen to cook something in.

Just in case you love this idea but don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own labels, you can view and download a PDF of the labels I made here or if you have Adobe InDesign you can download the .indd file here. There are 20 on the sheet, it’s very possibe you’ll find a misspelling, and seriously don’t take medical advice from a spice jar label made by some girl on the internet.

UPDATE: If any of you download that PDF, the “Coriander” label is definitely placeholder text. I’ll upload a new PDF Wednesday evening.

(Also, don’t forget to enter the Wagner Paint Sprayer giveaway that ends Friday 9/23/11.)

A couple of weeks ago when I started drawing little planets on torn out book pages, I had no idea what I was going to actually do with them. I considered building dozens of little frames (using a method similar to this) but hanging them individually seemed like a lot of unnecessary nail holes in the walls.

Originally I was going to stretch some chicken wire in a picture frame and pin them to it, but then I took some inspiration from this frame on Pinterest. I love the rustic feel of it, but I’ve gone a little crazy with the old wood lately and I had a perfectly good frame laying around…

And since I was already high from the spray paint fumes from this project I decided a coat of satin black couldn’t hurt.

Then I marked my intervals for four wires. The wire was a little shiny, so I dulled it down with a little Oil Rubbed Bronze spraypaint. Originally I thought attaching the wires using the pneumatic stapler would be easiest, but I couldn’t hold the tension on the wire and staple at the same time.

So, Plan B was to use these little eye-hooks. I screwed them into the sides of the frame and wrapped the wire around them.

(If you can’t tell by the wildly varying light in these pictures, this project took place over several mornings and evenings.)

For the planets themselves, they needed a little more substance than just torn-out book pages, so I cut down some matboard to use as a frame. The final dimensions are 5×5 with a 3.5×3.5 opening.

And a few tiny clothespins latter…

Clearly I need a few more little planets to finish this out.

The pictures aren’t actually attached to the mats right now, and I think I’ll be adding another solid piece of matboard to the back to write the stories on.

I might spray my pins with a silver or light gray for the final piece.

I love this idea for framing or hanging things, and I think it would work great as an inspiration board or a place to hang pictures.

Obviously it’s super easy to change the pictures out, or change the number of pictures on each line. And the best part is, since I reused an old picture frame the entire project cost under $10.

Hey, look at this… I made something that doesn’t involve my drill or a bigass saw. Shocking, right? I don’t know what’s come over me.

Actually I do know what has come over me. Back when I started this big house adventure, I made a conscious effort to put all other creative efforts on the back burner. Not easy for someone who likes to have 15 23 47 a lot of projects going on at any given moment in time. I mean, there were more pressing matters, like needing walls and a roof… so if at some point in the last year I decided to stop building a house and spend time drawing tiny planets onto torn out pages of Huckleberry Finn, probably I would have ended up in a padded room somewhere with CRAZY tattooed on my forehead.

But now that the house does, in fact, have walls and a roof, I’ve given myself permission to let loose with a couple of just-for-fun projects.

Like this…

"I'll take you with me," I said, but forgot to mention I have no idea where I'm going.

If you’re wondering what in the heck would compel someone to a.) tear the pages out of Huckleberry Fin, or b.) Make up one sentence stories and then turn them into itty-bitty planets… I have no idea, but I think I’m going to blame it on Pintrest.

I was inspired by these pictures of silhouettes printed on book pages (a really easy project that doesn’t involve a sharpie marker) and Brian Andreas’ Storypeople art.

Those empty spaces give me the impression that people are watching me.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with these, other than just enjoy making them. I’ll probably cut them down into 3×3 squares and frame them individually.

Walking in between raindrops is easier with an umbrella, but not nearly so much fun.

Originally I thought I would write the stories around the planets, but it ended up looking very cluttered with the words on top of words. I considered drawing the planets on plain white paper, but I really like the fact that it looks like a drawing on a book page.

"It's a small world," she said, while standing on the moon playing with the stars.

I may find a way to put my stories on the frame, or the back of the picture,  or I may leave it off entirely.

It's not what you think... unless you believe in purple elephants and cats with wings and all of the fantastical things.

Sharpie markers and I actually go way back. In college when my roommates and I would finish a new bottle of liquor I would memorialize it in sharpie. And then I did it with beer bottles. And now someone is going to suggest a 12 step program for me, but don’t worry, ever since moving out of the garage I mostly drink non-alcoholic beer. (Seriously, everything I love about beer without the extra calories and dehydration.)

"Just a hop, skip, and a jump," they told me, but never said which part to skip.

They say admitting it is the first step. What can I say? I like sniffing Sharpies and drinking O’Douls. Seriously, it’s like a non-stop party around here.

Creating this rustic wood wall art was a simple project when it came to building the panels and thinking up designs, but when it came to pulling the trigger and actually arting them up I spent a few days doing the deer-in-the-headlight routine. Side note: I’m not sure what compelled me to type the phrase “arting them up” but I’m going to use it for everything now. “Why do you have paint on your face?” “I’m arting it up.” I think I may have had a linguistical stroke of genius here.

Continuing on the theme of my genius– particularly as it relates to managing my project ADD– I was smart enough to leave the wood panels on the floor directly between the kitchen and the computer, and since I only pick up unfinished projects under penalty of death, I couldn’t exactly ignore them while they were in art-limbo if I was stubbing my toe on them every day. See how that works?

Of the designs mentioned here, I actually was going to go with one of the bridge images, and to get started I worked on a little pencil sketch…

Which I was actually really enjoying, but I decided the bridge was going to be too detailed for the character of the rustic wood. I may do a larger pencil sketch of the bridge and frame it someday, but for the wood panels I reverted back to the idea of using some sort of text. I tried a couple of variations of using some of my favorite music lyrics.

What I really loved about this was that as I was arranging the quotes, each panel started to tell its own story…

However this wasn’t getting me a “less busy” design, so I might need to save it for some canvases. (Do you see how I collect projects like old ladies collect cats? I can’t help myself. Also, there’s nothing wrong with collecting cats, mine is super helpful.)

I was almost ready to give up, then I was searching for one of my favorite summer pictures to use as the image for Friday’s DIY wrap-up…

And the little *idea* lightbulb flashed on over my head. This could be the perfect silhouette for my wood panels. I used a couple of comps from iStock to help me get the size and shape of the dandelion and seeds right.

There was a lot of measuring and pre-drawing before I even started with the wood. Then I did light pencil sketches on the panels and traced over them with a Woodcrafters Marker (which is basically wood stain in marker form.) I actually did a few tests on the back of one of the panels so I knew how much pressure to use with the marker.

I also considered using watered down acrylic paint, but in the end the marker had the look I wanted so I didn’t see any reason to make my life more difficult with things like cleaning up paint and brushes.

I had just a few “bleeding” issues in between boards, but for the most part it was pretty easy to get the dandelion onto the wood. It took about an hour. Of course it isn’t perfect, but I’m not a master artisan either. I’m just a girl with some old wood and a glorified sharpie.

And there she is… all arted up and ready for hanging.

Incidentally, I have no idea where I’m going to put it at the moment so “Part 4″ will be hanging the final pieces. I was thinking possibly over the bed, but I’m not sure I love it on the gray wall.

No matter where it ends up, I’m happy just to be able to cross it off the unfinished list. In the end it was incredibly easy to create (once I knew what I wanted to to look like) and only cost $3 for the Woodcrafters marker.

What do you think, is this a project you would do? Would you have gone a different direction with the art?

(I’ve been spreading the word about this rustic wood art through link parties at The DIY Showoff, Funky Junk Interiors, and…

See this? This is me making a concerted effort to actually finish one of the projects I started in the last couple of weeks. Stranger things have happened.

I’m actually also anxious to see this rustic wall art hanging on a wall somewhere (see how I built the panels here) which means I have to do something with it besides let it lean up against the office wall. So I laid it on the office floor instead!

This was a good idea because 1.) if I stub my toe on it everyday it will remind me to get it done, and 2.) it allowed me to get a good “top down” shot I could use to photoshop some potential design ideas onto the panels.

For example, orchids:

I didn’t exactly love them so I tried a couple of other things. Since I’m looking for something black and white without too much depth, I thought a bridge might work nicely. This one was photoshopped from a picture…

And this one from a line drawing:

I also played around with a skyline (Chicago, since it’s my favorite big city), also in picture format:

And then as a silhouette:

The colors/contrast of the mockups aren’t necessarily correct since I was just trying to get everything to a place where I could see what it might look like.

What do you think? (I have a favorite, but I could be persuaded to change my mind.)

Since I was playing with saws and nailers all weekend building mirror frames, I thought it was a good time to get a jump start on yet another project I’ve been thinking about for a while. By “for a while” I mean “every time I walked past this wood pile for the last year”.

So instead of rolling your eyes and thinking, “not another project” (not that I know anyone who would do that)  you should probably congratulate me on my restraint in waiting this long to start it.

That wood pile is basically wood purgatory– the place old lumber goes to be weathered in the elements before making its way to the burn pile, or, if it’s lucky, to find new life as a fancy piece of wall art.

There were three old sections of door frame from when the Memorial House was gutted that had been hiding out in the pile for a while, and I thought they would suit my purpose just fine.

As long as my purpose was to get a sunburn while spending a few hours pulling the mother lode of rusted metal off of them.

I’m not even sure how someone managed to remove those door frames from the house without taking all the walls down with them. There was a nail every two inches. However, when the deed was finally done I cut the boards into 20″ pieces and then brushed all the loose dirt off of them.

I also cut down some smaller scrap to use to attach my planks together.

The planks were laid out four to a section to make three 20×20 panels. I used 1″ staples to hold everything together.

Back:

Front:

And if you’re wondering what in the hell this is that I just built?

This, my friends, is a blank canvas. (Just FYI the picture above is a blank canvas before everything was nailed together, but just go with it, okay. I ran out of time to take more “after” pictures.)

Anyway, the big question now is, what do I do with my old gnarly beat-up wood canvas? I have some ideas…

This map from Pottery Barn is pretty sweet, although I’m pretty sure it only works for something shaped like Manhattan, and since I made the unfortunate mistake of driving a car through New York City once, it’s not exactly a calming sight for me.

I’m also considering something with big letters like this sign from V and Co…

Signs are nice… they make statements, give directions, point the way. But I was thinking I might be able to put some of those undergrad art credits to a little better use. I just want to use grays for the painting and I’m thinking of possibly using this picture I shot last year as inspiration:

Or possibly using one large image like this:

Any suggestions on black and white art that would look awesome on my new old wood panels?

Approximately seven weeks ago, one of my closest friends (who lives a state away) brought this little bundle of CUTE into the world:

When she was planning for this little bear’s arrival, I volunteered to come help her paint the nursery, build some shelves, put the crib together, or anything else she needed. Because that’s what I do these days… I use tools. But back when she knew me I lived in an apartment, and so my creative outlets were limited to fewer amps than my table saw. I ended up painting a lot of things, and building some really crappy furniture using only a Black & Decker drill. So instead of asking for a custom bassinet, she told me what my honorary nephew really needed was a painting for his bedroom.

Not painting his bedroom, but a painting. To hang on the wall. And I blinked at her fifteen times because it’s been years since I picked up a paintbrush with the intention of doing anything other than cutting in around a window.

But, really… was I going to say no to this face?

I decided to do a 3 canvas piece that could be hung separately, or together. And I had a vague idea of what I wanted it to be. Something a little surreal: a little boy playing in the sunset, using his imagination, chasing his dreams. No pressure.

And let me just say, I don’t consider myself any kind of artist. I’m not afraid to jump right in a create something– whether it’s with wood or paint or any other kind of medium– but as with many house-projects I really don’t know what I’m doing.

Bob Ross doesn’t make messes like this.

I know the general materials involved in oil paining, and I must have some latent instinct for composition and color but even in my creative heyday it was more dumb luck than technique that made things turn out in some acceptable way.

And let me tell you something about that kind of unintentional skill- it’s use it or loose it. And I haven’t been using it for the better part of five years. So I’ve spent whatever spare time I could grab in the last few months (read: between 2-3 AM) working through this, and painting over it, and sometimes making faces at it.

Sometimes I went a little crazy with it…

Sometimes I toned down the color…

Sometimes I switched up the pattern…

Once (or twice) I smeared the whole thing out…

And then started over with The Crazy…

I was about to give up on it, and buy my nephew something big and expensive to make up for the fact that I could no longer produce “hangable” art. In the 11th hour I started painting over it again, this time moving from the dark side of the canvas to the light side (opposite of what I’d been doing the other 3,451 times), and all the sudden it came together.

Kind of.

I’m not sure that I’m falling-over-in-love with this painting. But it’s kind of growing on me. I almost like each piece separately more than I like them together.

Or maybe not.

I think we can safely say that I won’t be quitting my day job to take up painting canvases full-time in the near future.

Luckily, this little guy is not a critic.

(Nor he he seem to mind me shoving a camera in his face, as long as he could keep that hand in his mouth.)

I think he likes me, despite my lack of artistic-painting prowess.

Or maybe that’s gas. It’s hard to tell when they’re that little.

Either way, I’m thrilled to be crazy “Auntie Kit”, and you know I’ll be driving as many hours as it takes to help him build his first soap-box race car.

Now, back to tiling the basement floor, which I know for sure I haven’t forgotten how to do…

I woke up around 8 AM Saturday with a full plate of “things that needed to get done” and the idea that I should take a picture every hour to make some of my mundane Satruday tasks more interesting. So, welcome to a day in the life of me.

9:00 AM – Indulging in a few chapters of Pride & Prejudice

10:00 AM – Screw Dyson. When I sweep my floors, I use a shop-vac.

11:00 AM – “The crazy cleaning woman is leaving, finally! Time to relax.”

12:00 PM – Checking out the new floors going into my badass-hatchet-weilding-mother’s condo.

1:00 PM – ROOF! (MysteryMan is doing awesome, with little to no help from me.)

2:00 PM – Back Home Bloggin’.

3:00 PM – Note to Self: Voluntarily doing laundry is worth it when it results in clean sheets.

4:00 PM – You can’t go wrong with buttered noodles.

5:00 PM – MysteryMan watches football, while I try to mute him.

6:00 PM – Camera battery dies.

…

…

9:00 PM – (God bless the iPhone.) Back at the Memorial House.

10:00 PM – Hanging out with people we love, occasionally in chairs…

11:00 PM – … occasionally on tailgates.

12:00 AM – Goodbye Saturday.

And that’s what it’s like to be me. (Minus the powertools.)

Today I ate half of a bagel that landed cream cheese side down in construction-site dirt. I still had 3 more hours of walking up and down a 30-foot hill in my future and hadn’t eaten breakfast… and yes, I did debate for about 20 seconds about whether or not I would rather have that everpresent gritty i-just-ate-dirt feeling in my mouth for the rest of the day, or pass out in front of MysteryMan’s guys while on top of a 24-foot high wall.

I picked option one. This concludes the “things I hope never to do again in my life” portion of this post.

I got beautiful weather for my second-to-last day on this job, and was enjoying it.

In case you didn’t know… that is a big ass wall that we are building. Currently 2 stories tall, and almost finished.

Looking for something slightly nauseating? Try sitting on top of the wall and looking straight down. I only have a paralyzing fear of heights in my dreams (isn’t that odd?), in real life, when I’m not climbing a tree or scaffolding or some such thing with sufficient hand-holds, mostly it just makes every muscle in my body tense up by a couple of degrees.

I’m sure glad a strong wind didn’t come by right then though.

So, this is the last Big Ass Wall post… mostly because you’ve seen it. Yep, it’s a wall. Tomorrow we’re moving on to much more challenging things…are you ready for the big post?

I spent the better part of my waking hours today breathing the soup fresh-air of Summer and slogging around through this…

… in a cracked work boot that allowed mud and small bits of grit to seep up around my toes.

Which didn’t even faze me, because first, we are making some serious progress on that big-ass wall.

And more importantly…

I’m going to be spending the next 72 hours in Vegas, laying next to a pool and sipping Margaritas. (And attending a totally fabulous wedding.)

So, bring it on, gods of rain and muck and port-a-pots and broken equipment. You can’t bring me down today.