Do-it-Yourself


Late last year, Gadora spied a funky upholstered chair (to be refashioned later) along the side of the street. Free for the taking! I veered the car towards it, pulled the brake, and hopped out. With eyes on the prize, I stumbled (quite literally!) upon a tired and misshapen wire basket. Hmmmmm, I’ll take that too. Remembering the vintage bottles the BFF had collecting dust in the garage, Gadora set out to make a hanging, musical lamp… (remember to click on the pics to see them bigger!)

Lamp ~ DONE

At left: the remaining bottles (I chose to feature similarly sized bottles with some detail). Right: the top of the wire basket—which when utilized as a hanging planter basket would actually be the bottom…

Bottles and the basket.

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Sandwiched between two sunny 50º days, it snowed and snowed in Austin yesterday and was a happy and unexpected surprise. Gadora met it with mixed emotions. Receiving both wildly good news and very sad news—both in the same day—I charged yesterday embracing endings, ready for new beginnings. Whew! Early on I finished a few watercolors and nestled in the living room for a brief respite. Dragging out a package of felting supplies and roving that a knitting-fiend, errr friend gave me over the weekend, Gadora wanted to take a stab at felting and see how quickly something good would come.

Meet Sr. Pajaro.

Without the first clue how to felt a creature, I read the rudimentary instructions and reviewed my earlier posting about collecting cat hair. (So?) At post’s end I linked to Brookelynn’s Craftzine how-to-felt post, which suggests viewing her how-to-felt video. I watched. And I made. First the legs: a simple left-over piece of copper wire was bent into legs…

Frog legs. No!

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Lacking the holiday and decorating-spirit Gadora may have been a Scrooge, but Valentine’s Day brings sweet things…namely pink-hued peanut M&Ms, Brach’s Conversation Hearts, and heart-shaped sugar cookies. And, I am certainly a fan! (Don’t even get me started on Easter’s Peeps! I almost cannot wait!) Scoring 15 quart-sized mayonnaise jars from a local Austinite, Gadora sets out to give them a new use. Sadly, North Austin does not currently recycle glass curbside. I KNOW, right?! May this suffice in giving these jars a longer shelf life!

Jars ~ BEFORE

A big fan of chalk-board paint, and determined to use it on every surface imaginable, Gadora first taped off each jar, making square or rectangular patterns…

Taped jars ~ square

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With October lurking around the corner, Gadora spied an opportunity to redress an already fabulous retro Kron® lamp with discarded X-rays: an MRI of one Camille so-and-so and someone else’s pet. Here, lamp before Gadora got a hold of it.

Lamp ~ BEFORE

Lamp ~ BEFORE

Mostly known for TV Lamps popular in the ’50s, this Kron ceramic base is in perfect condition. The gold leaf is intact, and if it’s the original wiring it works too. I’d seen a snappy pendant lamp using the same series of X-rays and asked if I might have a few sheets…

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Austin had a magnificent storm last night. We hunkered down (very close to the closet, just in case) and watched the news as the windows lit up outside. On today’s walk AJ and I spied a fallen tree. Gadora went back later for parts…

Twigs- Before

Twigs- Before

My BFF saw Gadora’s post on the jewelry displays. And thought she needed one.

painting twigs...

painting twigs...

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