May Madness

Things are getting a little crazy in the Presley house now that summer has pretty much arrived and I was hoping to be picking up the pace with some of my bigger projects and blogging more, but my toddler is preventing that by siphoning all my energy and draining my patience.

Anyways, let me jump off my crazy mom-of-a-toddler train. I have been trying to work on some projects this month and try out some new stuff I found on Pinterest. But I only really got two things done. But I did get some new ideas for projects I want to work on (see more on that at the very bottom of this post!)

 French braid up the back with a sock bun topknot

This is actually pretty easy if you know how to french braid. I like it better than regular french braids because my arms don't get as tired when I am braiding with my head upside down. I think this may be a go-to this summer for my 2nd-day unwashed hair. The sock bun was super easy too. There are a million tutorials online for this. 

Leopard Dresser

I am in the process of transitioning baby A's room from cutesy baby room to a room more fit for the chic, diva almost-preschooler that she is. I finished this painting part, now I am just waiting on the awesome drawer pulls. I am working on a post about the room re-do, which should be up soon!

.............................................................................

I haven't done much else in the project department, but I have decided that I might change around the log side table I did a few weeks back. We had originally decided to leave it natural and plain, just coating it with a protective water proof sealant, but we don't really like the raw nature as much as we thought. I saw this stump stool idea on pinterest and I would really like to make that (or a set, I have more logs!) I also saw this idea too which would give it a colorful update, but still keep it natural without feeling like we have a tree in our room. I have also considered making both of these since we have several log pieces I could work with.

via Pinterest

via Martha Stewart

So I decided to take a poll! 

Stool or Side Table?
	Stump stool all the way!
	Stick with the side table!
	Make both of them!
pollcode.com free polls

Spring Projects

I have been terribly busy with spring softball (dear husband plays Monday thru Thursday) and bad attempts at potty training.  But I am back, and I have been doing a little bit of crafting and such.

Here are some projects/ideas I have been working on or done since I've been on hiatus.

Hot Dog!

I made Addilyn octopus hot dogs..which turned out to be an epic failure. There must be some trick that I am missing, because the octopi did not have cute little legs that stuck out, they either broke off or stuck straight down. I won't even put a picture of what mine looked like, in order to hide some of my shame at failing at a seemingly simple task.

Glitter Key
I made a sparkle key! Which turned out infinitely better than the octopus challenge, so I will show you a picture of that! It was a key that had  Pepé Le Pew, one of my favorite cartoon characters as a child and he probably sparked my Francophilia, but he was scratched and chipped so I just painted over him with purple nail polish, sprinkled some multi-glitter while the polish was wet and sprayed it with some acrylic sealant I had from another project. I love this key and I am thinking about doing all my keys like this so that my key chain looks like a giant glitter bomb.

 

Glitter Key!

Painting Spring!
I have been inspired by all the adorable spring Lilly prints I see popping up on facebook and pinterest and I decided to pull out paint brush and do some spring canvases just for fun. I did 5 mini canvases inspired by flowers and largely inspired by Lilly and then on a 16 x 20 I did a sweet chevron pattern in colors that match the nautical theme that is my master bedroom. The chevron has a big blank box in the center because I have not decided the best way to add beach sand to the monogram letters that will be painted in the center. I am going to do some test runs on some small canvases before I try and sand texture my chevron print canvas.

It's shiny because the paint is a little wet and the center white box is uneven, but it dried with a nice matte finish and I evened out the center box lines.

Log Side Table!

I have completed the log side table! Dustin wanted to keep it natural so I just softened up some the rough spots and coated it a clear, waterproof protective varnish. It looks awesome, (actually it just looks like a clean, shiny part of a tree trunk) and Dustin loves it, but I think it needs some legs, so I am gonna figure something out, and maybe add some thin, random paint stripes in the style of antler art to make it mesh a little better with our nautically natural room.

Boho maxi-dress DIY

I saw this awesome maxi dress on pinterest and it linked to this adorable blog, "Sweet Verbena"

I was reading through her tutorial and it seemed pretty easy and I decided to try it. I had a 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby so 2 yards of brown jersey knit came up to only 7ish dollars; at least if it failed, it wasn't like I was out a lot of money.

So I followed her instructions (except the dyeing). If you can sew in a semi straight line you can sew this dress. It is flowy so mistakes are easily hidden. And you don't even have to finish the raw edge it you don't want to because the jersey knit rolls on the unfinished edges. I personally like the raw edges, it adds to the laid back feel of the dress.

A great beginner project. And don't let anyone tell you knits are hard to work with, use a  zig zag stitch it and it is a breeze.

The fabric is about 30 inches wide so it is super flowy and gathered on my small frame, but the good news is that this dress can grow with you, if you gain or lose or find your self in need of maternity wear. In fact I wish I had a dress like this when I was pregnant!

I am going to dress it up a bit with some jewelry and accessories and cute wedges and wear it to work this Friday, and I plan on dressing it down and taking it to the beach too!

Pin It