The Dunny Shelves

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES

1. I did a botched up job of spray painting, my first mistake being that I didn't tape off the places I didn't want painted very well, and second I did not strip or sand the wood before spray painting. What happened because of this is that the spray paint pooled in certain places because of whatever kind of finish was on the wood. I re-sprayed about 4 times and finally came to the conclusion that it would never cover evenly.

2. HOWEVER bad my spray painting went, my next intuition was correct. I took acrylic paint and covered the places the spray paint had trouble covering. When I went to an hardware store they said that is fine since they are both water-based paints.

3. After touching up with the white acrylic paint I mixed my own purple acrylic paint since I knew the purple spray paint was not the answer. It requires a steady hand and patience to paint a piece like this because the detail I wanted to remain white. I messed up a lot, but went back with a tiny brush to cover the purple with white again. This can potentially be an endless process, but at some point you need to just decide it's good enough.

NOTE: if you want detail, but it is not built into your piece, you could consider painting the detail in. I suggest a darker color on a lighter color simply because you hopefully would only have to do one coat.

So for future reference: SPRAY PAINTING DOES NOT COVER ALL THINGS. You may need to prime or sand a piece a lot before painting. For detailed pieces, in the end, it may be easier to just do it by hand.

My Make-do Christmas Tree

Stephen and I do not have room for a Christmas tree in our house. Okay, well maybe a small charlie brown one, but when you are trying to save money as newly weds a tree is not the top of the list of things to buy. (especially when I'll want lights and accessories too)

However, I wanted some kind of Christmas decor. So I decided to make my own. I had a lot of ideas, like hanging ornaments I'd made from the wall at varying heights to make the triangle shape, or taping lots of things to the wall, but all my ideas had a damage problem- they would potentially damage our rented space with either lots of holes or a loss of paint. That's when I realized I have a roll of canvas and paint. I had thought of painting one of my already made canvases but none of them were big enough and in the future I'd be tempted to paint over it.

How I did it: So far....

1. I cut a large chunk of canvas, about 3x4 feet- give or take some inches. Then I labored to sew the edges under. If trying this at home, I suggest not sewing with a machine, or not using primed canvas. I had so much trouble and it was so heavy and not malleable. It even threw my sewing machine out of tension because it's weight pulled to much to one side or another, and it left wrinkles in the canvas from handling it too much.

ANYWAY- You can always use regular fabric or paper.

2. I sewed a deep seam at the top so that I could stick and old curtain rod through it.

3. I made a hanging element with ribbon. To get the ribbon through the curtain rod, I tied a safety pin to thread dropped it through, attached the safety pin to the ribbon then pulled it back through. HOWEVER if you use a dowel rod for this you can always just tie ribbon to the ends.

4. I hand sewed the shape of the tree with friendship bracelet thread (string? yarn?).

NOTE: Don't do What I did, PAINT FIRST before adding decorations to the tree.

5. I stupidly sewed the turning points of the plaid ribbon. I had the idea that it would look nice if it could move around. In the end I used hot glue to glue them in place after painting around/under them. (I also originally was not sure if I would paint it so I just wanted to decorate right away)

6. PAINT: I painted the tree with acrylic paints using only blue, yellow and white. I added different amounts together to make different shades of green- more blue for darker, more yellow for brighter, and more white to tone it down or make paler.

For the trunk I just made one shade of brown.

TO MAKE THE HEARTS: for some people this is a no brainer, for others maybe you just don't think this way, but paint a CLEAN border of the heart first and then fill it in. Often you have to go back over the edges to get rid of white spots from where the paint didn't fill in all the divets in the canvas. I painted mostly large hearts first, changing shades all the while, and then when I had mostly covered the shape I went back in with a smaller brush and made smaller hearts in any larger white gaps. IT may be easier to think of hearts as triangles in how you fit them together.

7. The star is hand stitched with felt. It took a long time. I stitched as I watched television, but if you want something easier, just use glue....I mean no one can really see the detail anyway.

I plan to add more, but I am waiting for a bit more inspiration. I have a lot of bows I have made from felt, but I'm not sure it's quite right. I'll experiment and get back to it. Hope you enjoyed this!

DIY Christmas Cards from Old cards

Now this is a tutorial but because everyone will have different supplies this tutorial should be more of a concept.

I was making my own Christmas cards on blank cards that I got from Michaels in the shape of tags when I realized I never should have bought them because the design was so simple! I must have been feeling lazy as I shopped and not wanted to make the envelopes.... Anyway, I was looking through my old card stash when I had the idea to make my own Christmas cards from them.

First, take whatever cards you have that perhaps tickle your fancy and maybe you can imagine what kind of christmas/holiday decor you would like to add to them. I decided to take the boats for this example.

Make a cut down somewhere near the center that leaves, hopefully, two usable sides. What I mean is, If there is something you want in your card make sure not to cut it in half.

Measure the same distance in on each side of the creased side of your card. I measured 1" in on each side and then 1.5" down on each side. Then cut from one mark to the other. IF you aren't comfortable with your cutting skills use a ruler and draw a line from one point to the other.
If you have a hole-punch USE IT. I don't so I used a blade to cut a diamond shape hole.

Next take scrap paper and draw some doodles. It can be animals, elves, santa hats, ornaments, holly, etc. GET CREATIVE!

Color your characters or decorations simply and with a limited amount of colors. This should help to tie your card together and give it a little Wa. (Harmony, for those not familiar with the Japanese word). Then glue your decor to the card. I used a mixture of Elmers glue and hot glue when I used felt.

Fold a piece of 6"-8" ribbon in half and feed the folded end through the hole. Then feed the two end pieces through the loop and pull tight.

If inside you happen to have some pesky writing then take another piece of paper and cover it! I only had white to I took my golden stamp pad and added a little pizazz. Then because I have stamps from Michaels (only one dollar for the whole alphabet!) .......

I added my seasons greetings. This can also be done on the outside of the card.

Remember to trim off any excess paper that hangs off the sides.

And Voila! Finished product. If you would like more examples, feel free to visit my Etsy shop and look under the section Stationary. I won't be offended if you look and don't buy. ^_^

DIY: Sweater into a Cardigan

First, to make the Cardigan you will need:

-An old sweater

-Scissors

-Ribbon or strips of cloth

-Pins

-Buttons

-Sewing machine and thread

Note: Please excuse my poor indoor photography, the lighting in my apartment is atrocious.

Fold the sweater in half if you are not confident in cutting a straight line down the middle.

Cut strips of wide ribbon the length down the front of the once sweater. Fold it in half and slip it over the raw edge of the sweater. Also fold in the raw edges of the ribbon at the top and bottom to be hidden when you sew. I forgot on the bottom as you can see on the above picture, so if you do too, just fold it under and do a quick stitch across the bottom.

I used 1.5 inch width ribbon and only covered the very edge since the sweater was already fitted, this allows for a little wiggle room. However it does make your sewing a little more difficult.

IF your sweater was already too small, add larger sections of cloth instead of the ribbon.

Sew along the edge, hopefully where both sides of ribbon and the sweater all line up.

I made a little mistake and my ribbon was not all lined up so to fix it I simply added a lot more lines of sewing which made for a fun texture and detail.
I picked various buttons, but of course you can pick matching or not. I used a ruler to make approximately the same spacing. I used safety pins the mark the bottom of each button so I would know where to start for making button-holes on my sewing machine. If you don't have a button-hole setting on your sewing machine, I am sorry, you will have to look up how to do it by hand. It isn't so hard, it just takes a lot of time.

Trim up the edges and fold under any extra ribbon if you didn't when you sewed it on, then add the buttons. I overlapped the two ribbon sections and used a yellow marker to mark through the button hole where the button should be sewn. I also added some buttons along the shoulder seam for fun.

Finito!

My New Beach Life

It's amazing how God works.

Stephen and I were sitting around Blacksburg at our parents house anxious to get out and so we got our own place. We started working part time jobs and then Stephen gets a call about an aquarium job in Virginia Beach two months after he applied for it. Well he got it. So I get to be a housewife and by housewife I mean a painter who cleans up her own mess sometimes.

Although I have spouts of loneliness, which is normal with a change of local, I am really enjoying it here. I feel like I know my way around my section of town well enough (thank you block system!) and because Stephen is usually at work I actually have been painting....a lot.

When I came home from Korea all anyone wanted to know was what do I want to do now? And the fact of the matter was/is all I want to do is art. I don't want to "work" in the normal sense, at least not full time. I realized in this move, God is allowing me at least a year to do just what I want, be a good wife (cook, clean, etc.) and be a better artist. My only qualm was that I wouldn't be able to find any work and that we'd be short on money. But my sweet Lord listens to my worries, and for some reason he decided this is a time for spoiling me. Not only do I get to be a full time artist with multiple people commissioning me (^_^) BUT he also reserved a one day a week art teacher position at an elementary school getting paid as a long-term sub!! (that means more money than a normal sub) It is the perrrfect possible work situation that I could ask for.

I mean I am so lucky, I can actually live as a starving artist without starving! I don't mean to brag, I just want to express my thankfulness.

Being married, I do think about that question of kids. Annoyingly enough any friend I haven't talked to in a while seems to start the conversation with "So are you pregnant yet?" The answer is NO. I have nothing against children and I know I want some of my own, perhaps even in the nearish future, but I also very much understand how much a child changes your life. When you are a mother you can't be selfish and say,

'Sorry I can't feed you I am in the middle of a key part of this painting.'

Or

'Oh sorry, I am going to buy oil paints today instead of baby food.'

Or

'Yeah, you can sleep in the living room, I need the second bedroom as my studio.'

So until the Lord assures me that it is time for a child, I will enjoy the selfish time he has provided me with to explore the talent he has given me and the joy it gives me. I will not be ashamed of the miniscule money that I am making or that I don't have a full-time 'job.'

I am blessed and I am thankful.

DIY: Simple Stunning Pin

OR

YOU CAN MAKE THIS ^^^

Here is what you need, hot glue gun (with glue), piece of leather or felt, pin, buttons, feathers, OH and scissors, a marker and something circular to trace.

Start by tracing a circle, or drawing one on the leather/felt.

Cut out your circle.

Fold circle in half and make small cut through the center.

Make sure the hole goes all the way through, you may have to poke back through it carefully with your scissors.

Insert feathers into the hole to the point that you want.

Turn over to apply the hot glue.

Glue underneath the feathers to secure them to the backside- also make sure if you marked on your material to make that side the backside.

After gluing your feathers should lay flat like seen above. Cut off any excess feather that may pop out around the edges from the back.

Arrange buttons how you would like them and glue them to each other and then to the leather/felt.

Next add the pin to the back; if you would like to make it look even cleaner, cut a piece of felt that is the same size (or leather) and glue it to the back to cover the feather edges and then glue on the pin.

If you like the Pins but don't want to make one, support me at my Etsy shop Fanciful Whims .

Marketing/Life these days

I am a horrible marketer.

I do not know how to sell myself or my product other than in an art fair scenario.

I have attempted the Etsy thing and I have realized I am going to have to connect all my different facets of internet to be more successful. Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and my Blog need to get together and be friends. I realize this will take much more effort from me and a bit more work to keep it all up, but perhaps, just perhaps I can start to sell myself enough to quit my day job......

Oh did I mention what my day job now is? Yes I am working at an after-school daycare, a job I did not need an undergraduate degree to get. I am not complaining or anything, but it does seem that more and more of my very educated wonderful friends are working one to three part time jobs to cover bills/live. I mean at least they have jobs, but it seems silly we wasted all that time in college to work entry level jobs.

Anyway the job is challenging, I love kids, but I sometimes wish I didn't know what they were saying- like it was in Korea. Kids are MEAN. I forgot about that. I also forgot how ridiculous their fights are, I mean, I knew in Korea they fought over stupid things, but here I understand just how stupid.

When is it that we learn to use a little logic? When do we learn to stop hitting or calling each other mean names? Or do we not learn? Some people just hit in a different way, or behind the back so as not to get in trouble. Are we taught to be good in school or just to hide the evil in our hearts?

Woah it just got spiritual. I guess working with kids you can easily see the absence of peace, or the presence of a darkness very easily. I know children are children and are still learning and very much a reflection of the environment they are raised in; in need of grace, but somewhere along the line we are faced with the question of will you serve Him or not. Will you reject your selfish human nature and cling to something outside you, or continue in 'your' path.

Things I will Miss

1. I will miss walking to work and feeling like I am in a movie. I pass by trash, old women on scooters who deliver stuff all over town, then a tae-kwon-do school where I hear energetic music and kids laughing and chanting, next I cross the street and the soundtrack changes to the Piano music from the piano hagwon, and depending on the season I walk up the hill under yellowing Ginkgo trees, flowering cherry trees, or overhanging red roses. (Oh and did I mention that the sidewalk is rubberized? Blacksburg can't even rubberize their track...)

2. I will miss not paying taxes on everything since

it is built into the price (as it should be).

3. I will miss not paying tips at restaurants.

4. I will miss scottering and parking right in front of whatever location we are going to.

5. I will miss the ability to walk outside in a park a

nd drink wine or beer. People in America don't realize the liberties they are lacking until they visit other countries. Now I am not saying I will miss public drunkenness, but I like picnics with wine.

6. I will miss not getting too stuck in traffic because we can drive on the sidewalk.

7. I may occasionally miss the dying horns from cabs and buses that fade out because they are used to much. I see it as a sign of justice.

8. I will miss how fast things are done in Korea. You go to the bank for a bank card and they hand it over to you within 5 minutes. You go to the International offices and have someone who speaks english helping you within 15 minutes, usually faster and you can extend your visa or get other documentation done in one sitti

ng. I think of the DMV and I shudder.

9. I will miss my students. Well most of them. Although they can be a pain, I know I have a wonderful bunch of kids. It has been so fun to see their English improve and be able to read or answer questions or communicate in ways they couldn't before. I know I am not the best English teacher, but there is evidence that God has made me at least a little successful.

10. I will miss my co-teachers, who although I never get to spend enough time with, have been wonderful.

11. I will miss random festivals that we can bus to, or stop at in town.

12. I will miss weekend trips all over Korea and all the craziness that happens on them.

13. I will miss being an hour from the beach and running into people randomly in subways on the way.

14. I will miss coffee shop talks.

15. I will miss having the choice of 5 different cute coffee shops at almost any location.

16. I will miss the grocery store being literally a minute walk from my house.

17. I will miss people at locations I frequent knowing my name and what I like to order.

18. I will miss the Sangnam Market where they know me and I buy dresses all the time for near nothing (quality dresses at that).

19. I will miss Korean fashion and how they dress up every tiny store.

20. I will miss meeting any non-korean and having a kindredness simply because we are not from Korea. A foreign country is an excellent place to meet people. We all bond so fast because we can.

21. I will miss the freedom of knowing if I wanted I could set up my own little vending table with goods outside.

22. I will miss having super low living expenses. I may even miss our tiny studio apartment.

23. I will miss Yongji-lake nights, Korean culture nights filled with beef and singing-rooms, and Sunday movie nights.

24. I will miss my church. Smyrna has become our little family. It felt that way from the beginning which is why we started going there. We had our wedding there and have made so many good memories with our friends from Smyrna.

25. Stephen and I have been blessed with an amazing friends group. It's a set of about 10-15 that we do most things with and it has been AWESOME! We have had so much fun traveling around Korea with them and taking day trips or exploring festivals.....God willing we will meet up again even though we all live in different corners.

Stephen and I have been so blessed in Korea. We have learned so much and feel like we have grown a lot too. We are recognizing so many blessings in our lives and now it is almost time to leave. Stephen is on his second to last day of teaching. I have 4 more weeks. We have had an amazing adventure here and now we are excited about what is prepared for us to come.....

Reading List

Since I have been in Korea I have found I have been reading a bit more.

I started out with the books I brought, "True Spirituality" by Schaeffer (I admit I did not make it all the way through) and some re-reading of "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton.

Then I made my way to online books!

I read "Sense and Sensibility" which I picked due to the fact that I did not remember what happened in the movie.... well there is a reason I didn't remember what happened, I already don't remember what happened in the book. I read it not 6 months ago.

Then came borrowed books! Yay!!

First was "Tai Pan" by James Clavell- It is not for the most feint of heart, but it is excellently written and a very interesting historical fiction.

Failures:

I attempted a book called "Tipperary" and failed, it was too slow and I kept falling asleep as it kept going back and forth to explain historical aspects of a man's life story. bleh. I found the book "Natural Birth Control" more exciting.

I also failed in re-reading "Alice in Wonderland"....you'd think I'd make it through a 120 page story, but you'd be wrong, I only made it to page 68.

To redeem myself I did read "Blink," and left that in Guam with a 19 year old boy who is getting married to his 18 year old girlfriend this month. (That's a whole other story)

I am shamed to say that after "Blink" I bought "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" to have something to read on the beach. It did the job.

We found a thrift store in Guam and snagged some books. I got "The Wedding Dress" and "The Unit" by Ninni Holmqvist (strongly recommend).

"The Wedding Dress" is an easy read about women post-civil war time and felt like something my mom would have read me when I was home-schooled; it is now in the possession of one of my former students- she finished it while corralling high school boys in her homeroom.

"The Unit" made me think a LOT, it's basically a story about a not so future time and what the value of a person is. I lent this to a friend and she finished it within the week.

THEN came "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss (More strongly recommend), then it's sequel "Wise Man's Fear"- These books are excellent, the main character is.....well he is a read-headed wonder. Unfortunately the Author may take another 4-10 years before releasing the final book. He took 10 years on the first one and the second was only recently released.

Simultaneously, while reading the King Killer Chronicles (above) I read "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God" (interesting) and finally "Bluebeard" by Kurt Vonnegut (strongly recommend). I am not sure if I liked it better than "Player Piano" but it was very interesting and funny.

That's 12 full books, (13 if you count my "Discovery" Bible study) in 8 months.

And I used to hate to read.

Ten Things I Hate About Korea

1. General rudeness: People not moving to one side when on the sidewalk and they see you/ bumping into me all the time.



2. Gawking children: I cried this week in church and tried to get away to a bathroom. Kids kept knocking on the door and then when they realized I was a foreigner they called in more children. When I left to get away from them they followed and kept looking at me from around the corner.



3. Students not taking their jackets off when they are hot: I do not care if their jacket is the symbol of their status; if you are hot you take off your out layers, you DO NOT ask for the air conditioner to be turned on or open the window to the freezing outdoors letting out all the expensive heat out.



4. Korean Myths: Fan death is a particular favorite of mine, but I am more closely bothered by the belief that if they don't open up the windows in the winter they will get sick from the 'dirty' inside air. Now I understand the inside air is not the best, but neither is the polluted outside air and when given the choice I prefer not to freeze. And they wonder why everyone stays sick all winter.



5. Sales people: In America, as well as many other countries, we have this thing called 'personal space'. Well the Korean belief is that you need help all the time. So whenever you enter a small store you have a window of about a minute before an employ invades your space to speak Korean you don't know and hold up items showing you different aspects. Stephen often does a voice over as they show us an item,"This is a purple bag, as you can see there are pockets, the zipper unzips and this is the shoulder strap which is useful to carry the bag." I wish someone would tell them the best way to sell me something is not to come near me.

6. Drivers: Taxi drivers, bus drivers, scooter drivers, and the occasional regular idiot. There are no stop signs or traffic cops and therefore everyone is agresseive. Buses want to kill you, taxis honk at you whenever you are walking and drive in multiple lanes at a time, and scooters do all kinds of scary weaving in and out of traffic. And they all run red lights. I consider buses the most terrifying when I am crossing a street.

7. Buses: Aside from the fact that Buses try to kill me when I am walking, I also hate using them because I never know the name of the stop I am going to. Therefore I depend on maps (which are normally around) to figure out what bus goes where. Unfortunately around 4 times I have gotten on the wrong bus. VERY frustrating to say the least.

8. Crazy people on the subway: Why is it every time I get on the subway there is someone mumbling/yelling/selling things/handing out papers of something to recite? This week it was a man who seemed drunk yelling at everyone. I felt very uncomfortable and I believe the rest of the car felt the same from the looks on their faces.

9. Not having time for dinner: I have two days a week now where I have 5 classes in a row. 3-8 and only have around 7 minutes between each one. That isn't even enough time to eat ramen... I also hate eating ramen for dinner.

10. Students in classes they shouldn't be in: Hagwons (the private after school academies) don't say no. So when a student's mother asks for them to be in a class at 5 but they are 3 levels below the lowest level class at 5, they put them in the lowest level anyway. I was just at the point where all my classes were relatively at the right level....I should have known it was too good to last, my kids are all over the place now.



I think I could write a 'Ten things I hate about bad Korean students' but that might be too mean.



I hope you enjoyed my Korea venting. And no worries, soon I will do an uplifting "10 things I love about Korea."