on small projects here and there!

This is going to be super long or very detailed, but I figured since I have a few things that I've been working on and I should at least post pictures of so you get an idea of what I've been working on!

I haven't been able to work on anything particularly huge since I've been house sitting for my brother for the last week, but I was able to get a few things done!

I picked up this pretty white frame at Hobby Lobby, aka "Heaven", a week or so ago. I painted it, but I'm not sure what I should put it in! If you have any ideas message me on facebook or on twitter (@theSQUEAKYduck) and let me know what you think I should do! It's relatively small. The picture frame itself will hold an 8 x 10 picture. :)

This is something that I saw on Pinterest. That's not a huge surprise considering I see most of my projects there! I got this huge (read: half as big as I am) picture frame at a garage sale for on $3.00! That's right... THREE DOLLARS. I took the liberty to just use some extra spray paint I had laying around to paint it green, add some twine that I also already had, and buy a package of cheap cloths pins from the dollar store and paint them blue! Now I have enough room to clip twelve 4 x 6 pictures in this massive frame! Not only can it hold tons of pictures, but it'll be easy to change them out! 

I'm sorry if the bookshelves look kind of proportional! during all of the disassembling, I lost eight of the little shelves holders so both are missing a shelf each! So please try to look past that :)

Okay... so this is exactly what it looks like. Just some refurbished old bookshelves! The small one I bought a few weeks ago at Good Will for $15.00! I painted it the same green as the trim. And the large bookshelf is one that I've had for many many years! It's painted the same blue as the fourth wall in my room. One thing to remind everyone of when they do this... since this is a prefinished faux wood make sure you use a primer before applying the colored paint! Right now the paint will simply scrape off if I mess with it too much... but since I'm too lazy and these are staying in my bedroom I guess I'll have to deal with it! 

I used wallpaper that I bought online that was on sale for the backing! Very easy to apply (I used adhesive spray!) and just made sure the pattern matched up as I went down the backing! 

I'm sorry that I'm not coming out with anything terribly exciting! I promise I'm working on a large project now that involves another filing cabinet or two! But I don't think it'll be done for a few weeks! 

I hope this has satiated everyone's appetite for a blog post... for now. 

on up-cycling a file cabinet!

So I saw the original post on Pinterest and decided that with the whole room redo I NEEDED to do this project! It would be the perfect storage piece considering it's got a lot of space and the drawers are very deep. I'll probably use it for crafts, which shouldn't be surprising since I don't have much space to keep all my goodies, and if not that then for all of my seasonal clothing or clothes that don't get much use.

So I managed to inherit a filing cabinet, but unlike the original post, mine only had four drawers.

The first thing I had to do was take out the hardware on the front. Austin came over and used a socket wrench to unscrew the handles and the face plates just popped out pretty easy. The only difficult piece was the slider. It's installed pretty complicated in the drawer itself so we just left it... we didn't want to break anything! I spray painted all the hardware green.

And then there's spray painting the whole kitten caboodle, including the sliders. I've come to learn through this project that I'm garbage at using spray paint. My apologies for the sort of spolotchie look my cabinet has. Also, sorry about the night-time grainy photos. Also, I used two whole cans of spray paint from Home Depot... make sure you buy enough! 

I let it all dry over night! And in the morning I started covering the drawers with fabric. I started with measuring the drawers and cutting out the fabric. I gave each piece an extra two or three inches on each side so that when I covered the drawers I would have enough to hang over the edges and glue down! Then after I pulled the top and bottoms tight enough I cut a hole where the slider is so I could pop it out. Then, I glued both sides and pulled it tight to it was flush against the metal, and then painted on a layer of modge podge! All I used was tacky glue and modge podge and everything worked out perfectly for me (aside from the slider complication) and I was pleased at how relatively easy it all was!

When I was finished I popped everything back into and place and admired the handy work!

I spent about ~$9.00 on the spray paint and $6.29 per yard (I had two) on the fabric! And since the file cabinet was a freebie I only spent around $22.00 on the whole project. I definitely think my money was well spent!

on making illuminated art.

I am by no means the cleanest and most perfect crafter. I have the tendency to do something wrong. And this project was by no means an exception to that rule.

I saw this project on Pinterest AND craftgawker and felt like it was something completely doable. So I went out and bought the supplies and printed the outline for the letters. Both of this things can be found at the website!

The first thing I did was trace my letters onto the canvas. On the website it says to use scotch tape to help secure it to the canvas. Since I couldn't find any tape I held it in place and did the hard way... obviously because I am a badass.

Also, I followed the tips the author of the website gave. Painting the outline of the letters made it a lot easier to paint and then paint the rest of the letters. I gave it two coats of paint (I used acrylic) and left it out over night to dry.

Obviously it's a little bit crooked butttttt since it's going in my room it doesn't matter to me.

So after I let it dry over night I finally managed to find some tape and tape the letters down to help puncture the holes that the lights would go in. For this... I used an awl. Of course I didn't know what one was, but Austin showed me and let me borrow his.

After that I just pushed the lights through! I couldn't find a string of 35, so I bought 50. Since I had so many left over I just pushed them around the frame of the canvas.

And ta-da. Of course two of the lights in the E popped out of the canvas when I went to take a picture. That's why it looks a little wonky. But it definitely turned out better than I expected it to!

on attempting to refurbish furniture

If you're friends with me on facebook you can't miss that I've started a renovation project for my room at my moms house. This includes replacing the carpet with hardwood floors, painting EVERYTHING, and refurbishing all of the furniture that is going into the room itself. That includes the bed, both dressers and some knick knacks that will be taking up more space!

My first project was something I found at Goodwill and I picked up for only $20.00. It was really cool and I saw an opportunity to do something fun with! Don't mind me in the background... It's the only picture I snapped before I started messing with it!

The first thing I did was sand it down a little and that included the edges. I didn't want to take all the black paint off since the plan was to distress the wood once I painted it! 

Next I painted it the same green that I was planning on painting the trim in my room. That was easy enough. 

I don't have any picture of the wood after I distressed it, but all I did was sand over the green paint varying in pressure in random places so that the black shows through. After that, I decided I wanted to frost the glass. As to what I frosted over, I decided I wanted to have words on the mirror. Once I decided what I wanted it to say I printed our the letters in a large, bold font that was easy to read, cut out the letters and used a spray adhesive to keep the letters on the glass.

And, of course, when I was taking the mirror out it snagged on one of the hooks that holds it in place and snapped a corner off. 

But no worries. Since it's going in my room, the idea of it bring broken in the corner didn't phase me. I just glued it back together and let it set. After it had set, I used a glass frosting spray I bought from Hobby Lobby and followed the directions!

I put it all back together and was pretty pleased with it. It's definitely not perfect, but I learned a lot about the products I've used and the materials I worked with. All in all... I would consider it a successful $20 project. 

on it being a while.

I know, I know. It's been a full... five months since my last blog post. It wouldn't have taken so long to update if I hadn't been working on trying to move everything over to an actual domain. But that's still in the works.  I definitely plan on updating very soon, and definitely more often.

The styles of posts may vary considering I plan on blogging about a lot of the crafts that I've been making. But don't worry everyone, you'll be seeing a lot more of me. ;)

on being a teenager.

Now, I know that there is no magnificent transformation that will happen at midnight or anything, but I'm sure there will be a lot of differences from have a tiny little '1' in front of my age and a big ol' '2' in front of my age now. I'm an honest person, and for some people this will be horrifyingly so.

In hindsight, the last seven years of my life were life changing.

Let's start with age 13. For those of you who have been in my life since this point in time or before, you're probably aware of the biggest life change my first year as an official teenager began. In March of 2005, approximately three months after the big birthday I lost my father to his lifelong ailments that were ever present throughout my life. Despite his illnesses he was my best friend. He was a wonderfully childish stay at home dad who, even at my earliest memories, was there to wait on me hand and foot. He spoiled the hell out of me and loved me to pieces and I know that even though he isn't here in person, he still loves me more than anyone on this earth (besides my mom!). But despite my knowing how sick he truly was and knowing that he wouldn't be in my life for as long as other kids, it still hit me incredibly hard.
There is a huge blank space in my memory spanning months where I don't remember much about my life or my friends, I honestly couldn't tell you who my classmates were, who I had for teachers or what my grades were like. At this point, though, there is one thing I do remember clearly. I had found someone who, despite my incapability of having any feelings other than anger and grief, took me in and let me cry everyday. Looking back now, I should have known it wasn't a good idea but it was one of my many life lessons that I can look back on now and say that I learned something so important about myself... I learned about my capability to love. This relationship lasted about two years and had an incredibly messy breakup. I don't talk to him, and for good measure. This is one of the only things that I remember about being 14. There's something to be said about young love. Many think it doesn't exist, but to me in that relationship I was in "love". It may not seem that way to me now, or fit the definition of love by normal standards, but to me love at that time was just having someone there to comfort me when I was sad; to make me forget how I was feeling, even if it was hurting me emotionally, and even at one time physically.
I spent the better part of the end of 7th grade and all of 8th grade anywhere but class. I was at school and I passed my classes, but I sought the company and conversation of the school counselors. I can honestly say that they saved my life when I was 14 after a horrifying lesson learned about myself and how close I came to ending my own. They were honestly my saving grace, as was most of the staff at my junior high, and that includes my current boyfriend's own mother, Melisa.

Fastforward to 15 and I was smack dab in the middle of my freshman year of high school. I was transitioning out of the hardest part of my adolescence by this point and was reevaluating many things in my life, including who I was and who I was associating myself with. I was a greenhand in our high school's FFA chapter and only beginning to understand all the opportunities that would lay before me in the next three years. In February of 2007 I met Austin. This meeting changed me, and my feelings. It opened my eyes to the current relationship I was in and, essentially, ended it. It took me sometime, but I eventually finished things with the boy who was there for me when I needed him most at the point in my life. I feel horrible sometimes, almost as if I swept him under the rug once something better came along... the day I left him I cried myself to sleep, feeling like all of the ugly names he called me. I recovered though, feeling as if I had finally rid myself of the one thing holding me back; the one thing that kept me connected to the darkest time in my life.
And then there's a list of things that happened... becoming an officer in FFA, officially becoming Austin's girlfriend, going to my first FFA State Convention and making the happiest memories in life after 2 years of nothing but sad ones. I'm all smiles right now thinking about this.

Then there was 16, with my first animal for FFA during my sophomore year and my drivers license. All of the awkwardness that came with having a new boyfriend; the first kiss, the first 'I love you', the first time meeting his family. Writing this comparison of the first years being a teenager almost don't add up to me... I feel as if I'm writing about two completely different people. And I honestly believe I am.

And 17 was nothing by accomplishments either; getting my first job at Rainforest Cafe, being a junior in high school, going to state in Chapter Conducting, Mr. Oliver leaving Morton Ranch, and Austin Graduating high school (along with Garrett, Patti, Andrew, Brandon and Meigan [even though we didn't know each other yet]) and him getting accepted to Texas A&M.

And boy, did that summer before Austin went to college fly by... and it was the scariest feeling when he went off to school. I am honestly willing to bet that I didn't have any idea how insecure I was until he went to school. I'm not one to lie about myself, and I can honestly say that Austin is a saint for what he had to put up with when he first went to school. I was jealous of every person I didn't know, made him feel guilty for spending time with girls (Meigan was one of them, to be honest), and was just a huge pain in the ass. It took a serious sit down and talking to to change my ways, otherwise we wouldn't be together.

Hello 18, I do say that quite a lot happened when you showed up. And by that I mean hello senior year, tattoos, waiting tables, graduation, and getting accepted to and attending Texas A&M! Senior year flew by once I had all of my insecurities ironed out. I mean, being Vice President and then President of our FFA chapter was practically a full time job and then actually working full time hours waiting tables didn't give me much room to breathe... let alone having three animals in the course of the school year and for a little while, all at once. My reserve champion titles came out on top though, as one of my accomplishments, along with the scholarships (Elks Lodge, State FFA, L.D. Robinson, Troy Oliver, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo) and the Award of Excellence given out by the Superintendent of Katy ISD. I feel like I'm bragging, but if I can say that I earned these things then shouldn't I? I felt so blessed and felt as if all of the hard work I had put in in the last four years was actually worth something. The best feeling, though, was that of how proud my dad would have been of me. Graduation flew by and so did the summer before I went off to school.

I remember the day I moved into my dorm... it was four flights of hell in a handbasket. Four flights of carrying boxes and boxes of my clothes and shoes into the smallest room on the planet. I had a great first roommate and consider myself incredibly lucky to have someone who could put up with all of the sundays (and occasional satudays) that required me to be up at the crack of dawn for my fish year doing Bonfire. And boy, does Bonfire define the first semester of my college experience. The hard work, dedication, and determination required to continue to put the time and effort into something so much more than yourself. Not to mention the awesome friends and memories.

Then, as quickly as 18 came, so did 19. Honestly, this year was the year I learned the most about myself since I was in that dark place in my life. I got to move into a place I can fully call my home with some of the best people in my life. But just as life is, when there are good things, there are bad.. and boy was there some bad. It may be resolved now, but it's still in the front of my mind. All while I was ninteen, I was a baby green, then actually a green and then dead... all in one Bonfire season. I could be like everyone and say it was all sunshine and butterflies, but it wasn't. I learned a lot about myself and others, as well as how I feel as if I should treat others and how I conversely should be treated. You can take a look back at how I feel about this year in my last blog post though!

All in all, I'm very proud of who I have become in the last seven years and look forward to the next ten years that are supposed to be the funnest years of my adult life before I round the corner into my thirties. Now that is a weird thought.

on life lessons learned in 2011

This past semester has been my busiest yet, up at school and I've learned a lot about myself, my capabilities and about others.

1. It's much easier to spread yourself too thin than to do less than you're capable of accomplish. From starting a small business to working what seemed to be a full time job, and adding school into the mix I figured this one out way too easily. I had to give up a lot of the recreational things that I love to do, such as baking, blogging and reading (to some it may seem like I didn't give this up, but I assure you I read much less than I normally do!) and even sacrificed a lot of the time that I should have used to do better in school (I will admit this easily!). I even gave up coming home often, which made me incredibly homesick. I am so grateful to have the opportunities that I do have, and that I am possibly opening the door to an incredibly bright future on top of having many wonderful memories from the obligations I had this semester! My only advice, honestly, is that when you feel like too much is being asked of you, that you take a step back (sometimes it's a huge step back) and you need to assess the importance of everything you have taken on in your life at that time and possibly make the decision to end an obligation or step out of an opportunity.

2. Living somewhere that is not your parents house requires a lot more time and effort than I imagined. That's not saying that I didn't expect to clean ever, but it's more than I expected! I do love my apartment though! My roommates and I have made sure that it is thoroughly decorated and that we attempt to keep it tidy... though it can be a challenge when you make crafts approximately 100% of the time you are actually at home!

3. Friendships can be tested no matter how long you have been friends and no matter what distance you are from them. It pains me to say that the relationship I do have with friends has changed more this year than any year. May it be as a bridesmaid or maid of honor at your upcoming wedding, or having to fair the long distance between here and El Paso, or even the end of a long friendship, it has been a challenge accepting some of the changes. I am grateful for all those who love me and care for me, and I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life that have continued to make my world such a wonderful place and I look forward to even more positive changes and memories made.

4. Love continues to fare the test of time. And for that, I am truly grateful. Things have changed tremendously over the last four and a half years and we have grown into something more than I ever imagined. I love laughing about our past and looking forward to whatever the future may hold. I hold each day we spend together and every memory dear to my heart.