Major Crafting Update

I have a lot to share today... I have had quite the busy week, completely full of  painting, building, and crafting! So even though the ultimate goal of posting is to share a tutorial for my Super Mario plants made from perler beads, I have a few other things that I just can't resist sharing pictures of. Stay tuned, though, because that tutorial will be coming soon!

Almost all of these projects are bits and pieces of the MAJOR REMODEL that is going on at the house right now. When I say MAJOR REMODEL, I mean that walls are coming down, rooms are being added, ceilings are moving, and everything is being repainted and redecorated. It is so major, that every time I talk about it I think it deserves to be in all caps. Most of the house is still torn apart and not ready to be photographed, but that won't stop me from sharing a few bits and pieces of the finished project! First off...

Isn't it amazing what a fresh coat of paint and some decals can do for a room? Laundry day doesn't seem as daunting with a bright and happy laundry room like this one! Painting the cabinets is what made the biggest difference in here, and we painted all of the doors to match. I think my favorite part is the blue handles on the cabinet doors, though.


Since this MAJOR REMODEL involves redecorating the entire house, that means that we also need some new art. So I went to work with a stack of canvases and a very large map, and came out with:

I love it! It looks great on the newly painted yellow wall and it really brightens up the room! This painting is big, all of the canvases combined add up to about 6' x 3', but it was totally worth the time and effort. Check it out over on my paintings page, along with photos of some of my other pieces!


So then, after days of painting, I decided I needed to get to work on a project that was a little bit more 'involved'. I invited a friend over to help me out, and we pulled out all of the power tools and a pile of wood and molding and we built an awesome mantel for the fireplace.

The mantel turned out so much better than I had imagined! It wasn't too difficult to construct, and a great chance to get some more experience with all of the exciting power tools. The mandolin hanging on the fireplace just adds to how great it is! Oh, and did I mention that we recently whitewashed the bricks in the fireplace? Because we did, and it made things so much better. That will all be a part of the post that I'll make when the MAJOR REMODEL is finished.


Finally, when I had finished all of the big projects, I needed some sort of a craft that was fun and easy and could be done while sitting around and watching TV. It was a good thing that I had just picked up a huge bucket of perler beads at Micheal's! Two friends and I created a whole menagerie of beaded critters, including the Potted Plant Creatures that I will write a tutorial for ASAP. But until then...

We used a few different techniques and all of our animals came out looking awesome! I'll talk about all of that in the tutorial, though.

And with that, I believe that this crafting update has come to a close. Stay tuned for the tutorial on how to make some of these perler bead critters!