3 posts tagged “diy”

okay.  so i was talking to my friend on the phone about her new floor lamp friday.  i was going to go to crap-mart to check out the same model as hers because it was cheap.  we've been needing at least one new floor lamp FOR FOREVER.  gah.  they are always so expensive new and usually arrive a the thrift store broken.  so cheap floor lamp?  i'll bite.

however, i didn't make it to crap-mart this weekend.  i went to the dog park early saturday and stepped in a hole and twisted the fuck out of my ankle and knees.  afterward i didn't feel like going to crap-mart.

today b.f. and i made a thrift store run, though.  lo and behold!  i found this:

a cheap floor lamp, no shade.  which sucked, because if you've ever had the pleasure of finding a new shade for a lamp you know they can be as pricey as a new lamp.  and a pain in the ass to find, really.  i got excited about the pricetag, though, and sprinted to the front of the store and endured the disapproving glare of an old woman sitting beside the carts to get a cart to throw this sucker into and whisk it away.

after FOUR miserable, horrible failed attempts over the past year or so, i finally FINALLY finally made tempeh from SCRATCH!
::rips off shirt/runs around block::
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR!!!!!! 

here it is after 32 hours of incubating in my gas oven over the pilot light:

and here it is, in all its' GLORY:

so i sew quite a bit.  one of the handiest dandiest little tools for those who sew are *pins*.  oh, how i love you, you silvery handy little things!  sharp and pointy and sometimes spiteful when your fingers tangle with the wrong end but boy oh boy they come in handy.  the stabs to fingertips is unfun but here is the really unfun aspect of these devils:  keeping them all in one place. 
i have a couple pincushions.  they're cute.  one is shaped like a tomato, one is shaped like a tongue (don't ask) and the other is shaped like a silver footstool.  i also used to have one shaped like a miniature rocking chair but i got rid of that one straightaway.  yeesh.  despite having all these pincushions and i still can't keep track of my pins.  i will be in the middle of a sewing project and reach for pins and lo and behold the cushions are empty.  or the pins have turned mysteriously rusty.  i really hate that.  i also hate getting a box of pins and having to stick each one individually into the cushion.  i have a LIFE to get back to, thank you.  i don't want to spend my time sticking pins in pincushions!  then add to that the cats who love to knock them off into the floor in a blatant attempt to assassinate abby, my youngest dog.  abby is a not very bright dog who loves to chew on stuff she finds in the floor.  the cats know this so they knock the tomato pincushion from my machine and snicker whenever i come home from work and abby has yet again had a go at it.  so far abby hasn't swallowed any pins (thank god!) but it's just not a good idea to have something about that is potential ammunition for the average hit man kitty.  long story short, i really hate the very concept of pincushions but i can't live without pins. 

i am aware that there are fancy magnetic pin holders out there in fabric/sewing stores.  however, what is the name of this blog?  hecho de la BASURA?  ah yes!!!  garbage to the rescue!!:

i found these pins (luckily enough!) at the thrift store for 49 cents.  lovely!  cheap!  however, so many freaking pins to stick into my fucking stupid pincushions.  i think NOT.
so this morning i pondered making my own magnetic holder thing.  the only problem was that i had no magnets.  but wait!  i did!

a couple weeks ago i found a small bag of old magnestix at the thrift store for 99 cents (maybe less--can't remember).  they were in with the toys.  they are little sticks with powerful little magnets in each end.  they were entertaining for a while but they eventually were relegated to the front of the refrigerator where they were a GIANT pain in the ass.  holy cow.  i regretted the hell out of buying them.  they, however, were perfectly suited for firmly holding straight pins in place!  the only problem was that they were so tiny themselves.
i washed out a cat food can.  the magnestix were perfectly sized to fit in the can!  so i lined them up put them in the can (WITHOUT the silver ball bearings--just the "stix") and added the pins:  perfect!  now to make it cute:

i put some stick-on felt on the bottom and used mod podge to decorate the can with origami paper (also from the thrift store!).  cute!  but the best part?