I say NO to DST! And on the subject of time...here is an art clock project for you!

We all had to set our clocks forward one hour.  Why?  I just don't see why we need to change the time twice a year.  It's called Daylight Savings Time, but the amount of daylight in a day has not really changed at all just by changing our clocks.  Many people say that it's done for farmers.  Is that so?  Why do ALL the people need to change their clocks for farmers?  Don't farmers work their own hours?  Can't they adjust their work time around daylight?  

I read that setting our clocks forward is good for outdoor businesses and sporting events.  That's fine with me.  Just don't fall back in the fall.  Just leave it.  There.  That's my 2 cents.  

Now on to a fun art project with a clock.  This clock that I used was in my closet and was already set on the correct time!  I didn't have to change a thing.

As for the project, I saw a clock somewhere on the internet that had rolled up magazines all around it.  I wanted to create one of my own, and so I did!  Here is the result:

I love it!  It's fun, wild and colorful.  I have it in my newly painted home office and it goes nicely with the aqua walls  This project was pretty quick and easy to do. In fact it would make a great arts and crafts project for kids.  

Here's how to do it.

You will need:

a clock

old magazines

tape

double sided tape

scissors

I used a clock I already had.  It's not a particularly cute clock, but I can see the number easily and I like that!  You could use any kind of wall clock.

Look through the magazines and choose colorful pictures.  The best ones have a lot of solid color on them.  It's better if the color goes all the way to the edge of the page, otherwise you will have a striped affect (which is fine too).   This one with the purple edge will look almost solid purple when it's rolled up.

And, so will this pink one.  I went through magazines and just tore out all the colors that I liked.

Next, start rolling from a corner.

As you roll keep on side tighter.

Keep rolling.

As you get to the end, fold under a little flap.

Tape the end to close it.  Don't worry if your pages are not rolled up all the same size.  It won't matter.  What WILL matter is that you have a small end and an open end.  This will make them fan out as you place them.

Place double sided tape all around the back of the clock where you will be placing the magazine pieces.

Make sure you have the entire area covered.

  

Start placing your magazine pieces, alternating colors.

After you place them all, press them down.

After you have them all placed on to the double stick tape, put on some regular tape on top to really hold the pieces down.

Turn it over and review your project.

Hang it on the wall, and enjoy!!

I really enjoyed this project and I'm in love with my new clock.   It's perfect in my new office!  

St. Patrick's Day T Shirt Applique instructions

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!  Show your GREEN with a simple shamrock applique on a regular T Shirt.  

Materials you will need:


a t shirt (I used black)
some green fabric
shamrock clip art printed out on paper 
scissors
green thread
green sequins
fray check


Step 1.  Print out some Shamrock shapes.  Download some shamrock shapes from the internet and print them in various sizes on regular paper.   (go to www.google.com, at the top of the page choose "images", next type in "shamrock clipart", enter.  You will have a variety of images to choose from.)

Step 2.  Cut the shamrocks out on paper to use as templates for tracing on to fabric.  I recommend that you pin the paper templates to your shirt while wearing it to see where the best placement will be. 

Step 3.  Choose your fabric. I looked at my stash of fabric and I chose this green satin/lining fabric.  It's shiny and festive and VERY green.  I used the paper template and traced the shapes on to the fabric with a black felt pen (magic marker- I used a medium point).

The tracing came through on the front as well, which is fine, because the tracing is not going to show, the trim will cover it up.

Step 4 Choose some trim.  I wanted my shamrock to be blinged out, so I looked in my stash of sequins and I found some green.    

Step 5  Cut out your fabric Shamrock.  Please notice that I did NOT trim to the very edge of the shamrock.  I intended to fold in under as I attached it so that it would not fray and also to give it a little bit of a puffy-ness.  This worked out great for me.  

Step 6 Fray check your fabric (if needed).  This green was sure to fray, so I applied Fray Check to the edges and let it dry before attaching it to my shirt.  You can see the dried fray check around the edges.  

Step 7 Sew on the Shamrock and sequins/trim.  Turn the edges of the shamrock under as you on the sequin/trim strip by hand, adjusting as you go.



Alternate idea: If you want to cut your shamrock to the edge, I recommend that you apply some iron on bonding to your applique and iron it on to the t shirt before applying your trim.  Either way would look great.  

Once it was done, I ironed it inside out to get out any wrinkles.

My t shirt is very stretchy, so it looks a little puckered when laying flat, but when I have it on, it looks smooth.  

Step 8 Enjoy your new shirt!


There you have it!  A very fun and festive and completely unique St. Patricks Day T Shirt, designed and created by YOU!  Please feel free to email me with any questions, I would be happy to help if I can.  steph@luluscottage.com

Best Friends and Business Partners

What a day!  I had a presentation scheduled for my business partner (and dear friend), Cheryl, but it was cancelled.  Or so we thought.  She called me to find out if I still had the day open because we had 13 people signed up for our presentation!  I said of course!   


I am the kind of person who likes to be prepared for things.  But, I can wing it when I need to.  As I was driving to the bay area, I was feeling pretty unsure about what I was going to do for this presentation. It was a long drive, so I called my dear friend Emily (also my business partner) and as we were talking about our business, I let her know about the presentation.  I said how much I wished I had ordered the latest company flip chart so I would have something to follow.  She said she had one and as her house was on the way (about half way), I stopped and picked it up.  Wasn't that nice of her?  

I was already running late, and even though stopping at Emily's only took a few minutes, I had no time to spare.

I have lived in the country long enough to consider myself a country girl, but I have always felt that the "city girl" is still in here too.  Except when it comes to TRAFFIC.  Ugh.  What a pain.  Up here in the mountains, "traffic" is getting behind someone driving too slow.  So, I found myself feeling stressed with all the city traffic and I decided to double check my directions with my hubby.  So I called him.  Now, I know that I could have entered the location in my Iphone and it would have directed me.  But, I didn't.  I surely didn't want to fiddle with my phone while driving!  So, I called him.  

As I got closer to my freeway change, I thought I should be in the right lane.  But, hubby assured me that I should go straight.  I started getting upset and saying that I thought I was now going the wrong way.  I said the name of the freeway and direction, he said YES.  So, I trusted him.


Wrong.  Shouldn't have done that.  The next thing I know, I am heading on to the Bay Bridge.  I couldn't see any way to turn around or get off.  I was so frustrated!  So, I got in the far right lane and quickly realized that I was in a bus only lane with NO way out!  I felt like such a country bumpkin at this point.  I even passed a police car and wondered if he was going to pull me over.  I would have just had a melt down if he had done this. 

Of course, hubby was getting a piece of my mind at this point.  It WAS all his fault after all.  So, I told him NO MORE directions.  I was able to exit on a island before getting all the way across the bay and after touring said island, I was able to get back on the bridge and on my way.  


Eventually I got to Cheryl's and we did our presentation.  It was a huge success, we had almost double the original amount of guests and they loved what we had to say and stayed after for over an hour to ask questions.  


Cheryl was so nice to me for coming out to do the speaking for her, she even gave me a present!  She knows that I love to sew and bought me this cute pin cushion.  How cute is this??!! 

And, she also gave me a box of my FAVORITE chocolates, IsaDelights in milk chocolate from our company Isagenix.  

We topped it all off with a nice meal.

I stopped back by Emily's on the way home to give her back her flip chart, which was a godsend!  And, we had a nice visit.   She even showed me some of her favorite blogs that she follows.  Which reminded me that I first met Emily from my own blog here at Lulu's Cottage.


It was a fun day and I was reminded how much fun it is to be in business for myself, but not BY myself.  I am so blessed to be in business with dear friends and we have a LOT of fun.  


The moral of this story is....don't ask my hubby for directions, unless you want to get lost!  

I want these curtains I found on Pinterest!

I've been hearing about Pinterest for a while.  But, what I kept hearing people say is how much time they were spending on Pinterest.  Well, I certainly don't need one more time stealer!  But, I finally took a look at it.  

First you have to request an invitation and they make you wait a few days before they will accept you.  I guess that is supposed to make it seem exclusive.  Smart marketing.  

Well, I love Pinerest!!  All these years, whenever I liked something on the internet, I saved a picture to my computer or tried to bookmark it.  But, when I want to find said photo, I can hardly ever figure out where I put it!  Now, with Pinterest, it's saved in one place.  It's an online bulletin board of all your favorite things.

And....you can look at other people's Pinterest boards and see what their favorite things are and save those on your own boards too (it's called "repinning").

I found this great picture on Pinterest by searching for home offices in aqua blue.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE these curtains.  I wish I could find them!  I'm on a mission!  I want something bold and fun, just like these.

How fun it is to look at all the wonderful pictures that people have "pinned".  I can see what a great tool it can be too.  I can ask my daughter to pin her favorite pictures as she starts to plan her baby nursery and I will know what she has in mind.  The uses are endless!

They even have an ap for Pinterest for the Iphone.  I got it on mine and I haven't used it yet.  Maybe today!

There has been some talk in the news about copy right infringement on these boards and I can see how that can be a problem.  I'm married to a professional photographer and I know that he would not want to have his work shared without permission.  But, how do you police something like that?  It's so big.  

For myself, I learned how to watermark my own pictures and that way people can see that I am ok with them sharing my pictures.  After all, if they see my watermark, it will take them here to Lulu's Cottage.  If everyone would watermark their images, it would be easier for us to know if they mind if we share.  The following photo has my watermark on it.  (it's really hubby's picture, he is welcome to sue me for copyright infringement if he wants to! )

One thing I like about Pinterest is that you can pin something from the internet and it will retain the original link that it came from.  So, that protects the image owner and sends them more traffic to their website.  The copyright problems come in where someone like me has saved an image to my computer and can't remember where it came from.  I'm trying to avoid doing that.  

If you would like to connect with me on Pinterest, I would love that!  I'm just getting started.  I have a new link to my account on the right side of my blog.  If you are not already on Pinterest, get your account and start pinning!  You will love it!!  It's a great idea.

My favorite beverage

I just spilled my FULL glass of my favorite beverage on my DESK.  

  

Yep.  Got it on my keyboard, a little on my phone.  It got on my "to do list" and just made a mess.  I jumped up and tried to rescue as much as I could.  

And, that's when I realized how glad I am that my favorite beverage is ......WATER!  

 

This situation could have been a sticky mess.  It could have been a smelly mess.  But, all I had to do was blot it up and dry everything off, then good as new.

I didn't always like water.  In fact, I can remember a time when I NEVER drank water.  When I was little I used to drink milk, kool aid, juice and soda (we called it soda pop).  Water, YUCK.  

When became a bonified grown up, I started reading about healthy eating choices and I kept coming across information that led me to believe that water was the best choice.  

I'm sure that I could find a bunch of studies and reports to share with you about why water is so good for you, but for me it's just common sense.  Water is natural, so it's natural for us to drink it.  If I drink lots of water, I'm not hungry all the time (a huge bonus!).  Water washes the outside of our bodies, I think it does the same thing to the inside.  In fact, it was when I discovered nutritional cleansing by Isagenix that I really started to enjoy (and crave) water.  (read my thoughts about cleansing here.)

Water is good.

It's free.  You don't have to "make it" or mix it.  You don't have to open a can or wonder if it's spoiled.  No calories. No sugar.  No salt.  Unless you buy the bottled water that has actually gone to the trouble to add those things to it.  Why would they do that?  Yuck. 

I like to filter my water.  Actually, I have two filters (is that overkill?).  My filtered waters tastes better than any other water I've had.  I like to pour out water in a water bottle and fill it with my own clean water.  

It makes me feel good to drink water.  I try to get in the recommended amount, which is half your body weight in ounces.  Or 8 glasses, that's good too.  

Yes.  I do drink other things. Yes, I do enjoy a glass of wine sometimes.  But, my go to drink, is water.  How about you?

All this talk of water has made me thirsty!

My husband is a sucker!

 Now, hold on.

I mean that in a nice way.  He is a sucker because he is always getting sucked in to my latest project.  I wanted to paint my home office.  I bought the paint and all the supplies.  After beginning, I just hated painting.  So, he relieved me of the whole thing.  What a doll! 

I moved my home office last spring when  my son moved back home so he could have his own room.  I made some space in my bonus room downstairs.  I like being downstairs because it's warmer and I can see out the front when someone comes up the driveway (which is very rare out here in the country!).  But, other than that, I missed my pretty little office.  

I have posted previously about taking the opportunity to repaint and redecorate my office.  I have always LOVED it before, but there were a few things that needed to change.  Here is the before (which I know I have shown several times):

When I painted this room, I had no idea what I was doing.  I painted everything (and I mean everything!) with lavender wall paint.  The trim, the drawers, the door...all of it.  After watching some design shows, I was embarrassed by my error, but it stayed like this for many years.  I have always wanted to paint the trim.  Now was the perfect time.  Hubby worked hard and he did an awesome job.

I am so excited about the wonderful change that the white trim makes.  And, yes, I changed the color.  It's a bright and cheerful blue/green/aqua.  I loved the purple, but I was ready for a change.  

I found a carpet that Lowes discounted because it had a spot on it.  Heck, I'm sure that it's going to get dirty anyway!  Besides, the spot came out with just a little vacuuming.

Hubby and my Son in Law moved my beautiful desk back in.  What a huge chore this was.  I can't even tell you how many twists and turns they had to get through.  My heroes!

I told my SIL to get used to this because they are moving in to a house of their own and the DIY will never end!

I used to call this the Angel room because of this switch plate.  But, she just doesn't fit in anymore. I'll have to find a new place for her.

These curtains were supposed to be a temporary solution.  I made them out of a really long piece of fabric that I bought to make a skirt.  It's sheer floral and I used wire ribbon to attach to the rod.  I never even sewed it, because I planned on making something out of the fabric.  It's all just folded with seam tape.  They are pretty, but I'm over them.  I am on the hunt for something new.  I priced curtains, and I am going to have to find something creative.  It's either going to be some pattern that I love (in sheets probably) or just plain white (which I always love).

My house is really old and all the original knobs around here look like this newer reproduction one that I bought.  But, it didn't end up fitting all the way.  Hubby says he can fix it (isn't he the best?).

I had to show you this, because it's the only time you will ever see my desk cleared off!   I wish I could center the desk in front of these cabinets, but there wouldn't be room to walk next to it. 

These shelves are a problem.  Hubby didn't paint the shelves, but that's not the problem.  They are just so deep that they are hard to work with.  It's easy to just fill them with stuff, just look at my original office picture.  I am determined to have an UNCLUTTERED office this time.  I thought about just decorating them, but nothing looks good so far.  I think I want hubby to build cabinet doors over them.  (he's THRILLED about that idea).  I wish that some of you gals who are so great at decorating would come over and help me figure out the best solution.  sigh.  

I probably should have waited to show you this office until it's done (I'm beginning to wonder if it ever will be).  But, I am so excited with the progress so far....I just had to share.

Now that my home office is looking fresh and sparkling.  The rest of my house is looking pretty sad.  This could be the start of a very contagious project.  I'm hoping it will spread from room to room.  Hubby may just run away from home.