Cash Wallet + GIVEAWAY!!!

   So, remember how I overshared about how I loathe sewing, in my Change Table to Sewing Table post?!? Well I might have had a slight change of heart in the past month. Quick side story. After I graciously made my incredibly ungrateful sewing machine, it's very own, beautiful new desk to sit on, it decided to die on me, as I was sewing up some curtains for the boys' new room (How rude! Am I right?!) And remember how I mentioned my crazy 'nesting list' of things to get done before baby #3 arrives? Well I wasn't very happy about the situation. It was definitely a weird internal struggle. Do I completely swear off sewing, and cross off the sewing projects on my list? Or do I change my attitude about this? Well people, I decided to take the higher road, and started my search for a new sewing machine. Insert my wonderful Mother here. 

  My Mom is an INCREDIBLE sewer! She makes the most gorgeous and creative quilts. Her and I have had countless discussions about how it's funny that she loves to sew and I hate it. She finds it relaxing and well...I find it eternally irritating...even though I know it's a necessary skill to possess. Well she was actually here for a visit, while my sewing machine died, and she couldn't even fix it. We contemplated taking it in to get it fixed, but it wasn't worth the repair cost, since it wasn't a super high quality one, in the first place. She kept encouraging me to look at some Janomies. She has an awesome Janome and I do have to say, whenever I've used her machine, the number of swear bombs in my head were drastically different, than when I sewed with my low end Brother model. Well long story short...bless her heart, she gifted me with an early birthday present of a basic Janome model. And holy cow, people! It is the BEST! I have to admit, I still have my moments as I sew, BUT way, WAY less often, while I'm using my new machine. It seriously sews like BUT-AH! So, once again, my Momma saved the day with yet again, another sewing dilemma. So, thank you, thank you, thank you, again Mom! It feels great to be back in this crazy nesting business! 

Which brings me to my next project post! ... Cash System Wallet!

   I guess, this technically wasn't on my nesting list, it has kind of been on my 'list' for a while now. Back in collage, I use to follow a Cash System for budgeting. And I LOVED it! The only thing, was back then, I had just regular envelopes that I used, that were just labeled with a ballpoint pen. Since having kids, this hasn't been an option. Just the mere thought of dealing with loose change in 4 separate envelopes, while keeping a couple of grumpy kids in line, at the end of a shopping trip, while checking out, was enough to make me dismiss the thought. The past year, the desire to start it back up again, kept coming to me. I thought to myself, 'there must be some way to make it easier, like some kind of wallet I could make, to keep all the cash/coins organized and easily accessible'. My next move. Pinterest. Who knew there were so many tutorials already on there for this exact purpose!!! There are so many talented, people out there, I tell you! I sifted through some, and found a tutorial that worked for me. The one I decided to follow is from Lark and Lola! (SUPER fun blog, that you need to check out as soon as possible! So many cute things on there!) 

  I followed her directions fairly closely...especially with the zipper portion. Look. I know I just said "zipper"...well typed it. But do not give up! I have NEVER sewn a zipper before this project and it was SO easy! Listen people. If I can do it, so can you! She explains each step and has great pictures along the way. 

  The only things I changed really, were that I used duck canvas fabrics, instead of laminated ones, since duck canvas is durable enough on it's own, and I didn't have to worry about laminating any fabrics or tracking down any pre-laminated versions. And then, I made my own little labels, and used my Silhouette machine to cut out the word labels with iron-on heat transfer, instead of using an embroidery machine (I definitely don't have one of those). I think the labels turned out great and will do the trick. If you've never used iron-on heat transfer with your Silhouette before. It was super easy. Here is the little tutorial I found for it, on Silhouette.com: Heat Transfer Application.

OK, ok. I know what you're thinking by now. Why in the world does the title of this post say, "GIVEAWAY"?! Well if you scroll through, you'll see I made 3 of these bad boys. 

And I decided to give one away to one of my lucky followers! 

RULES are super simple! All you need to do are the following:

- 'like' and 'follow' My Eclectic Eye's Facebook page: here

- AND - make sure to 'comment' on the Cash Wallet System Giveaway post: here.

For a BONUS entry: share the Cash Wallet System Giveaway post on your timeline (and make sure it's public, so I can see that you've shared it and count your bonus entry!)

The winner will be chosen via random draw and announced a week from today: Wednesday, February 15th, 2017. 

Here are some pictures of the process and end results of this fun project! I'm always here and happy to answer any questions you all have. Just pop a comment below. And happy sewing!

Refinished Piano

   So, in the sport of trying to keep the tradition going with this pregnancy, to keep my 'nesting list' as random as possible, naturally, I decided to add, "-to refinish a piano", to it, this past fall. Haha! Some random things that were included on my second born's list, were, "-to learn how to puree and preserve fresh pumpkin" and "-can 2 bushels of apples into apple sauce" (can you take a guess what month he was born in ;-) ). All of these crazy ideas, along with the normal, "-redecorate the nursery"; "-pack my birth bag"; "-wash all newborn to 3 month clothes and put them in dresser". Basically, what I'm saying, is that I'm a mad woman and drive myself crazy (and probably along with my husband, at times as well. Lol!) I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that my birth bag just barely got packed, and I'm now less than 4 weeks away from meeting this little man of ours. The piano was done before Christmas. Haha!  #PrioritiesPeople.

   BUT let's get real for a minute...I need to be a little more fair to myself. We had some awesome friends of ours, move across the country, before Thanksgiving, and before they did, they graciously gave us their old piano, since they didn't want to move it all the way to Montana. I was so SO grateful! I've been on the look out for an older piano, to make a part of our home, in hopes of picking up where I left off years ago, and be able to get the boys in piano lessons as well, in coming years. I knew it was going to eventually happen someday, and was even saving chalk paint /stain combo ideas in my Pinterest account, for when I found the perfect one. So, once our lovely friends gifted it to us, I already had a vision for it, in our dining room. AND since, I was only going to get bigger and less equipped to bend over/sit on the floor as this baby grew, I knew I needed to hurry and get it done! I gave myself a goal to get it all finished up before Christmas. And I did it! We've been blessed with incredible warm weather this winter, so I was able to work on it a lot, in the garage/in the driveway, during the toddler's nap time. My oldest little man, loves to help me with stuff like this, so it really was a fun project to accomplish, and gave us some one-on-one time. Once it was all ready to be painted, my amazing husband and some of his man pals, graciously moved it into our dining room for me. That's where I finished up painting and staining it, since it started to get a little too cold outside for that, at that point. So, thank you handsome husband, and friends (some which helped move the piano twice! First from our friend's house to ours, then to the garage to the dining room!...I have the best husband and we have some of the best pals around, to put up with all my crazy DIY shenanagans!) Haha!

  SO, without further ado, here are some tips that I was able to capture of the process: 

    I wanted the piano to somewhat match our dining room table and chairs. So I knew I wanted to stain the top, the same color we used on our table top, and chairs. So, that required me to take off the top of the piano and sand it down, so I wouldn't have to use as much gel stain. 

    Then there was the stool. I wanted just the top of it stained, to match our dining room chairs.  To get an idea of our dining room set, you can see part of it, in the first pictures of my DIY Mirror Makeover!

  Here is where I need to give another HUGE shout out to my husband! For some reason, the original varnish on the stool seemed to be indestructible! So, we used the highest grit of sandpaper we could find, and my husband sanded away the top, with our belt sander (one of the best investments we've ever made, FYI!), while I hand sanded the beveled edge, along the sides. I'm not 100% on the actual model number we have, but it's similar to the one found here: Ridgid Belt Sander. We seriously use it for almost every wood project. And it's so easy to use, I'm not afraid to whip it out on my own, when I'm working on my own DIY projects. 

   Once everything was all sanded, blown off and the piano was brought inside, the first step was to tape off all the keys. This was probably my least favorite step. It was pretty tedious, but I wanted to do my best job, to make sure as much of them were covered, as possible. 

   Then it was Gel Stainin' time! I love, love LOVE this stuff! I'm a huge fan of General Finishes, but especially their Gel Stain. It doesn't require sanding to use, which is nice. If possible, I sand down the surfaces, if our trusty belt sander can be used, since it takes almost a quarter of the amount of stain, to achieve your desired color and tone, when used on raw wood, but we've used it over top of other stains, just fine as well. Of course, I used my go-to GF Gel Stain shade of Java! So classic.

 Like previously mentioned, I proceeded to stain just the very top of the piano, and then just the top of the bench. Knowing I would want to use at least 2 coats for those pieces, and knowing it also takes more time to dry and cure than the Chalk Paint, I decided to start on those first. Once they were dried with the color I wanted, I ended up using a couple coats of General Finishes Gel Top Coat, in Satin, over the dried stain. I made sure to use at least 3 coats, like suggested in the directions, since the bench seat and top, will have things on them, like heinies and decor ;-) 

 Then I started on body of the piano and bench. I used Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint, in Old White. I only had to do two coats, since I knew I was going to distress it a bit, to match our antiqued table. I lightly sanded between the 2 coats, once the first coat was nice and dry. After the second coat, I distressed the entire painted pieces, using a mid-grit sand paper, and buffed Annie Sloan's Clear Chalk Paint Wax into all the chalk painted areas. 

  Lastly, was painting the music stand with Annie Sloan's Provence Chalk Paint. I wanted to add a little pop of color, all while trying to tie in another piece of our dining room, our large mirror, that I refinished this past summer. You can find the tutorial for that, here. I, of course distressed that, after only one coat, and then buffed Annie Sloan's White Chalk Paint Wax, to lighten the color up just a tad. 

  My last finishing touch, after cleaning up my mess, was to pick out new knobs. I wanted something that would be small enough, but that would also tie in some of the other elements to the piano. With it being mostly white, I was OK looking for some with a little bling as well ;-) 

 I ended up falling in love with these ones from Hobby Lobby: Antique Bronze Oval Knob. They happened to be 50% off when I bought them a couple months ago, and they look to be 50% off again! Such a great deal! (Have I ever mentioned how much I love Hobby Lobby?!...I'm mean but lets be honest, who doesn't?)

And there you have it! I love everything about this, and had so much fun with it, and am still having fun with it...my boys have been enjoying playing on it everyday, since. 

#GoalAccomplished!

Change Table to Sewing Table

    With getting baby boy's nursery ready, we ended up settling for a different change table set up. My first thought was, "I can totally repurpose this bad boy!".  But, then after thinking about my ginormous projects list, due to the unavoidable nesting urge, I figured it might be a good idea to try and give it away for free, to someone else who might use it, as it is. After a week of having it posted, with no interest, I figured it was totally free game. So, the next morning, I woke up with a ton of crazy pregnant energy and grabbed my measuring tape, drill, and set up the chop saw in the garage. Before I knew it, I had the entire structure converted to accommodate my sudden urge to have a sewing table, for my craft room. 

(Listen...everyone who knows me, can stop laughing now.)

 Here's the thing. I totally realize, I'm not a huge fan of sewing, since I usually turn into someone I can hardly recognize with loads of swear bombs exploding in my frazzled brain. BUT, there is always room for improvement and I'm willing to work on this life long struggle. Practice makes perfect, right?! And admitting that I have a problem, is definitely the first step. So, I figured this was a brilliant plan! Haha.

 I obviously love to decorate our home, love pretty fabric, and I LOVE the satisfied feeling at the END (ok, maybe add a day or two after that, for recovery time) of a finished sewing project. It's just the stressful journey from the cut fabric, to that last stitch, that usually discourages me. You might all think I'm ridiculous, but I had to take a good, hard look at how to harness this sewing beast within me, and try and come up with a plan. 

 I find that it's hard to muster up the motivation to get it done, when my sewing machine is always sitting in it's case. So I figured, if it was always out, ready to go, that I would be more willing to just 'get 'er done!' by reducing the available excuses. Ha!

(But enough of the crazy rambling...and on to the tutorial...)

   I knew that I wanted to use scrap pieces of wood we had left over from other projects, and stain them for the tops. So, I needed to make sure that the bars, coming across, were all flat and even, so I would have something to secure the stained wood to. I had to flip over the top two, since they both originally had a rounded top to them. All I had to do, was to remove the dowels at the top, rotate them under, and place a new screw on the bottom, to secure them in their new spot, along the side of the table.  I also made sure to remove the particle board shelving that was on each level of the table.

   I then grabbed my chair from my craft room to measure the width of the opening for my legs, so they could comfortably sit under there, while having to use the foot of my sewing machine. After marking, removing, and cutting the boards to the right length, I only ended up needing to use two extra pieces of a 2x3 for the brace for the bottom two shelves. Bam!

   Then it was time for the fun part! Measuring the scraps of wood, and staining (for some reason, staining is always a relaxing process for me...unlike sewing). I used General Finishes Gel Stain, in Java, and also used the Gel Top Coat, after only one coat of gel stain was dried. I'm a little obsessed with their Java Gel Stain. A little goes a long way and I love the rich, deep color. As that was all drying, I started to chalk paint the frame of it. I used Annie Sloan's, Henrietta. After two coats of the Henrietta, I lightly distressed it with a fine sand paper, and smoothed out the surfaces with a 400 grit paper (I made sure to do this outside since it can get pretty dusty). After blowing/wiping off all the excess paint dust, I sealed it with Annie Sloan's White Chalk Paint Wax. It lightened it up, just enough for me to achieve the color I was aiming for. And then of course, after that, I buffed the wax into the dried chalk paint, to a shiny finish with a cotton, lint free rag. I've used both buffing brushes and lint free rags, and personally prefer the rag method. I feel like I have more control over the buffing that way. Also, I use a lint free rag to apply the wax in the first place, so I feel like it's just easier since I have my stash of rags already there. Why create one more thing for me to clean afterwards?! And I love that I can just throw away the rags after, and be done with them. I hate cleaning brushes almost as much as sewing. Haha!

  After the top coat on the boards were all dry, my husband helped me attach the wood with our trusty brad gun. I highly recommend having someone to help keep everything lined up correctly when you do this. If that's not possible, I suggest having some awesome clamps ready to help secure the opposite sides while you brad away. The reason why I didn't screw them in, is because the original frame of the change table was made with a pressed wood. It wasn't solid wood, like a lot of my other pieces I've redone. I was afraid of the frame splitting with having to put so many in each board to keep them secure...AND...I didn't want any bit of screw sticking up on the top, knowing I would have fabric on the table, as I was sewing. The brads worked beautifully! And just like that...voila it was done ;-) 

  I absolutely love how this turned out, and love even more that it's from a piece (a very sad and ready to be retired piece) of furniture that we used with our first two children. Every time I see it and sit down to sew, it puts a smile on my face to think of my sweet little babes that once used it. And the fact that I'm smiling as I sew is a pure miracle, I tell you! Hahaha!

(For those interested in the verdict of the master plan to get my sewing act together: Stay tuned for a future post where I talk a little more about some of my smaller SUCCESSFUL sewing projects. Hallelujah! Seriously...the struggle is real, people.)