Jelly Life

I wish that I were interesting enough to blog every day, or that I had enough creativity, but the sad fact is that I'm not and I don't.

I rarely complain on my blog, but I have to say that I'm sort of frustrated by you blogosphere. I work so hard on our relationship. I try to make myself attractive for you, and have interesting conversations, but still after over a year of blogging only 32 followers? Yes, yes, I know....we've talked about this and the blog is for me and it shouldn't matter what other people think. But, damnit, it does matter.

I see all of the attention you give some of those other bloggers...you know who I mean...the ones with only a few months of blogging. You think I didn't notice the 200+ follows they have, didn't you? Well, I did and it breaks my heart. And don't even get me started on those blogs with all of the pretty pictures and 1,000+ followers. Doesn't my content mean anything to you?

(sigh) I just don't know what to do blogosphere. I mean really...it takes two to make a relationship work. Maybe we can just be friends.

Jelly

Parisian decor...how I love thee

There is little about french decor that I don't like, but I must admit that I'm partial to the sometimes ostentacious style of the Parisian apartment.

I love antique mirrors with gilded frames mixed with teal velvet drapes, chaise lounges and funky black accents. (My recent lamp re-do was completely inspired by such decor) Maybe your wondering what I see in my little pea brain when the cogs start turning and I begin working on a new project? Well, I just happen to have some beautiful photos of various Parisian inspired living spaces to share with you.

I shamelessly borrowed these from Habitually Chic. I had to stop at 9 photos, but I could've posted thousands. I take so much inspiration from her blog, so please stop by and have a look around.

Budget decor: Parisian inspired lamp

Yes, blogosphere, I have been neglectful and I'm sorry. The thing is, I've been working very hard helping Mr. Peanutbutter with the upcoming open-house for his gallery/venue space The Bleu Monkey. Lots to do before this weekend (let's just say it needs a woman's touch).

We're working within a very tight budget, and I've been decorating the place with transformed alley finds and thrift-store buys. Today I finished this great table lamp that I thought I'd share with you.

Mr. Peanutbutter had found this very cool, but rusty old lamp. I didn't get a photo before I painted it, but here it is after a couple coats of black satin spray paint.
I bought a very simple white lampshade at a local decorator discount store, which I taped off with painter's tape and then spray painted gold.
I spaced each stripe with another strip of tape to make my stripes even. The lampshade that I used was a little bigger at the bottom than it was at the top, so I had to add a little more space at the bottom of each stripe. After I was done, I 'eyeballed' the whole thing and moved the stripes a little to make it all straight and even.


Next, was the spray paint. I just used plain old gold metallic spray paint and it worked just fine.

Tada!

This project has been listed on these fabulous blogs:

The Shabby Chic Cottage
Between naps on the porch
Beyond the Picket Fence

A soft place to land

Today's Creative Blog
My Backyard Eden

Inspired

Back from the craft lab, and what fun I've been having! I was so inspired by Resweater that I went right to work on making some fun berets with felted sweaters from my craft stash. These were so easy to make and even Mr. Peanutbutter liked them (for girls). Shown is my blue beret, but I've made 3 others already!I got the pattern here, although I had to make some minor modifications for my size large cranium. Big brains like mine need room to breathe, yo. I did make it adjustable with the brown ribbon, so that little brained people can wear it, too.

So much to do.

I have so many crafty ideas floating around in my head, so many things to do and what do you think occupies my time? Yep....blogs.

Me: Hello everyone. My name is Jelly and I'm addicted to blogs.
Blogosphere: Hello Jelly.

The irony of it all is that the support group for blog addicts is MORE blogging. Ugh...I'm doomed.

However, if you're here then you know that blogging is one of better addictions to have because you meet really cool people and learn really cool things! In fact, I've been learning all sorts of stuff from two of my latest blog stalks. Please let me introduce you to Skip to my Lou and Resweater.Now I don't have children, but the crafts at Skip to my Lou will keep anyone of any age busy and smiling for hours. In fact, I was printing off all sorts of stuff at work last night for other co-workers who were busy looking over my shoulder at this blog instead of working. It must be really hard to find good workers these days. jeez.

OMG! She even has this great tutorial for making bath bombs.
This is so on my list for next year's handmade Christmas gifts.

Ok, so you know that besides everything french I love to recycle things into useful objects, art, whatever. Well, Resweater is the jackpot o' upcycled sweater projects. In fact, I'm so inspired by all of her stuff that I'm going down to the craft lab right this moment and cooking up some pure crystal craft.

Craft show madness

Dearest Blogosphere,

I'm soooo excited! I just opened my acceptance letter to a local indie craft show that I've been really really wanting to be a part of. So, it looks like I need to get very busy and start crafting! I hope that all of you who are or will be in the St. Louis area over March 13 & 14 will stop by! I'll be sure to post photos of pieces as they come off of the press....

xo,

Jelly

Indie Craft Revolution

What Not to Wear: Kitchen Style

When we bought our house, we fell in love with everything except the kitchen. It's small and somewhat outdated. And even though the house came with new appliances, they're white - and that's just not my style.

I wish we could win some HGTV 100,000 sweepstakes and Candice Olsen could come redo our kitchen......but, that's probably not going to happen. So, I'm taking baby steps in updating our kitchen, starting with those icky white appliances. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but I decided to paint the refrigerator and dishwasher. Surprisingly, it went pretty well and was relatively easy. (If you're considering doing this, I would highly recommend the Ace Hardware brand appliance paint over Rustoleum. It goes on a lot better and dries faster/more evenly.)

Here is the before:Here are the afters:

The refrigerator still needs one more coat, but you have to wait 5 days between coats. On the dishwasher, the panel is a hammered gold but it doesn't come out well in the photo. For the refrigerator I used 4 cans of black appliance paint, and 1/2 a can of plastic paint for the handles, etc. I used the same plastic paint on the dishwasher, and maybe 1/2 a can of appliance paint.

I also repainted the (white) ceiling fan. There's a really nice metallic finish on everything but the blades, but it doesn't come out well in the photo either.The next step is wall paint and laying floor tile. I'll be sure to post more photos!

P.S. This project was posted on DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land, The Shabby Chic Cottage, and Beyond the Picket Fence.