I’ve already gushed about my relationship with my dad earlier this week. It’s a pretty common occurrence for him to receive a call from me that starts with the phrase, “Hey dad, um, random question for you…” He’s handy and knows a lot about materials and gives me equal doses of reality and encouragement. This time in particular, I wanted to ask if he thought we could weld a bunch of metal washers together to make some art.

He said that I should first try something called J-B Weld.

It’s a super strong bonding agent that’s more like a putty than a glue. You combine both parts together right before you use it. It’s said to be the closest thing to actual welding, which is why I wanted to give it a shot with the metal washers.

I went to Orchard Supply to pick up some washers during their “We Pay the Sales Tax” sale. I just got a ton in all different sizes. I’m not sure that I really paid attention to the weight like I should have, I was too distracted by all the different sizes and how they complimented each other. I lugged — literally — my loot to the car and came back home and just went with it.

At first I liked the idea of a symmetrical pattern. Then I realized that it didn’t take up enough space on the wall that I wanted to fill. Plus, I was looking for something a little more unique.

So then I just played around and put washers here and there.

Once I had a piece that I liked, I got the J.B. Weld and went at it, putting dabs of the goo on with a tiny scrap of dowel or something that my dad gave me. A popsicle stick or a skewer would do the job, too.

Here’s where I get real with you all: I almost gave up at this point. I had glued my washer design, let it dry for over the 15 hours it recommended. I picked it up, gave it a little shake while saying “it holds really well” before it broke into three pieces. It took several more tries until I figured that it had to be structurally sound in order to adhere properly. Duh.

Once my piece was all set, Matt suggested that I keep adding onto it to make it really big. This meant another trip to OSH and more work. I hate that. I decided that instead of adding onto the existing piece, I would make another one in a similar style to help keep the weight down. So there was more arranging, welding and trial and error.

Once finished with both pieces, I sprayed them with a metallic silver to give them a clean look. To give it a touch of reflective sparkle, I taped on 1-inch round mirrors behind some of the washers. Then it was just figuring out a good placement on the wall and hanging them on a few nails.

Here’s the end result!

I like how it’s almost in the shape of a tree, but is still open to interpretation. It’s something that you can’t buy in stores and probably only cost about $30 in materials. (Most of that was from washers and the mirrors were about $2 at Michaels; the J.B. Weld and spray paint were $free.) Plus, it’s pretty dang unique. Try finding something like that in a store!

Have you used washers or some other hardware to make something interesting?

And you know what?  You have already seen Jessica over here — during my birthday giveaway week last year.  She made that fun gumball necklace which so many of you wanted to win!  Here is another necklace that she made.

Jessica blogs about her family and all of the crafty things that they do at Happy Together.  She makes some fabulous clothes, both for adults and children.  Her daughter is the cutest model ever… and I can’t wait to see baby #2 (she is due later this year).  Here is one of her fabulous Anthropologie refashions:

I love this Sailor dress that she made for her daughter.  She usually posts a tutorial of what she made so that you can do it at home.  I have made some of her fabric flowers, but I really want to do one of the Anthro shirts.  I need to just go for it!

And I just love what Jess does with her hair.  It always looks fabulous! At one point she actually posted a tutorial of how she does her hair for her photos… the secret is a bump it!!  And yes, I totally got one after reading about her using one!

One of the first things I found on her site was her bachelorette gift set.  It is fun and encourages intimacy between newlyweds.  I have given it (with a few modifications) for a few of my friends at their bachelorette parties.

She started up an etsy shop a few years back, and sells fabulous patterns like the one below.

I highly recommend following Jessica and seeing whatever crafty inspiration she comes up with next.  Whether you sew, crochet, or simply hot glue, she has the craft for you.  Let me know what you think of Jess over at Happy Together, and tell her we told you to say hi!

[all images from Jessica @ Happy Together]

I am now going to show you some of my unfinished projects, in hopes that it encourages me to finish more of them…

Project #1: Journals ( for blogging inspiration, one was supposed to be for Emily, I think I started these last June)

Project #2:  Wedding Initials [The plan is to decopauge the wedding colors onto the letters, with the wedding dates.  One of these is an N for our house... um yeah that's a wee bit late]

While we are at it, I found more Ns that are supposed to be decorated and put around our house.

Project #3:  This is a beanie that I was crocheting for myself from this pattern.  It was too small.  What I really need to do is unravel it all and start over.  I’m not looking forward that that.  Oh yeah, and I started this back in August, or something like that.

Project #4:  I do not even want to know when I started this project.  It is a beanie for charity with some leftover yarn from my mother-in-law.  This would maybe take me an hour to finish…

Project #5:  This fabric signifies a gift for a teacher friend, and a gift for another friend.  I bought the school fabric over 6 months ago.  The goal is to make some potholders & other kitcheny things.  I”m not sure what i want to do with the HSM fabric.  But I made the potholders yesterday — it’s a start!  I’m not even going to post pictures of other fabric that I have purchased to make things for people.  heh

Project #6:  I got these towels from the Dollar Store around Christmas time to make tea towel aprons.  It probably takes me 30 minutes (usually less) to make one.  I really should just knock these out…

Project #7:  This is probably the worst.  I bought this ornament kit back in 2007.  I finished the first ornament at some point last year.  This felt work is very time consuming.  Rather easy, but time consuming.  Oh wait, it’s not even finished yet, Santa is supposed to be holding a string of lights.  Maybe I will finish this by the time I retire (there are 5 other ornaments).

Project #8:  This is actually a success story!  Matt requested some sleep masks. I made him one before Christmas, but it did not fit right.  Yesterday, I got to work and made him some that actually fit.  You can see the progression in the picture.  Obviously, he did not want to sleep in my red satin “diva sleeping” mask, the soccer one was too small (and apparently not masculine enough), the first plaid one was too small as well, but the last two are just right!  I left the elastic in the “bad plaid” one, so that it could be a backup for the backup.  These little things may look easy, but it took some effort!

And while I was on such a roll, I finally cranked out the iPod case he had been asking for (cotton plaid fabric with a green fleece lining and a brown ribbon to hold it closed).

These last pictures are the scariest — it’s my craft room.  I know, I am incredibly lucky to have my own room for crafting.  I just need to keep it nice and clean.  That’s the hard part.  I think my lack of completion comes from distraction.  That also keeps one from cleaning, because you get distracted by the next thing that you want to do.  But do you all see my incredibly cute pink cupcake pincushion? It was like the best Christmas gift ever!  And it’s in the top picture.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have some cleaning to do.  And if you have any words of inspiration for getting things done, please leave them in the comments!

Being more “crafty” with Photoshop rather than fancy papers, I whipped up a little something to put in a frame by my nightstand. While it would take a while to teach someone a complicated new program, I figured I could break it down for someone to replicate in a program they might be more familiar with. If that doesn’t work, consider taking the similar elements and using cute scrapbook or wrapping paper.

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Start with a white background. Create a new layer and add a pattern, like this modern damask-like print. The original print was square, so I duplicated the layer (holding ctrl and alt while dragging in Photoshop) and matched up the lines to create a pattern on the whole background. Merge those layers into one to make it more manageable. Play with the opacity so that it’s light, but still visible, so that your text will stand out more. Mine’s at 60 percent, but could even go up to 75 percent, depending on your printer.

2. Create a new text layer. I chose a serif font with a little style (Budmo Jiggler) in a light gray, again to make the top text pop.

3. Choose your words and create new text layers (font is Cutie Pop) for each so you can can easily move them around. I chose some of my favorite colors (celedon, robin’s egg blue and baby pink) to make it playful but also to keep with the feminine vibe. In order to make them pop and look 3-D, add a drop shadow. Mine is almost black at 80 percent opacity.

4. Every printer is different, so be sure to print a test or two on plain paper to make sure it’s just right. I had to do this a couple times to get the background pattern to show up! Print on glossy paper and put it in a frame.

Now I fall asleep and wake up with my goals in mind. Instead of a nagging, guilt-filled reminder, it’s a motivating piece of art! Well, I use “art” loosely, but I enjoy it nonetheless and hope you might as well. Another cool idea I found was in these art decals from Bed, Bath and Beyond:

How are your New Year’s resolutions/goals working out thus far?

I took an earring post and put on a dab of glue.  Then set it on the sequin (which was upside down).  Then let it dry overnight.  Easy peasy.

Plus, you get to do a fun photoshoot like you are back in 1999 (and 14) as well.  Can you rock these earrings like this?