Any tips, please?

So I need your help. I went to a garage sale yesterday and picked up 4 wooden counter stools like the one above. I was soooooo excited. I have been looking for stools for our counter forever, and these were only 4 for $20. Amazing!

They are in great shape, scuffed and worn, but nice and sturdy. I had these lovely plans for some black paint and chair pads. I imagined us sitting at the counter with our coffee and Sunday paper on our delightfully re-done stools while the Doodle ran around the house finding rug pads to chew on.

Until, I cleaned them up, put them at the counter and realized:

They are too short, by about 5 or 6 inches. Yep, this is what happens when you are not even 5 feet tall and you try to estimate heights. Clearly, I need bar stool height.

So my question is, what do I do? Do I try to jack them up with some lifts? (Safety is my issue) And a thick chair pad? Or do I put them on Craig's List and get rid of them and start my search over again? Please help, I have no clue what to do...

Also, my 6 Tasks in 6 Days are not going so well. We attempted to hang my garage sale shelves, but all we ended up with was a fight and some holes in the wall. The hubs is ordinarily one of the single most kind, mild mannered, generous, sweet men on the face of the planet. Until.We.Hang.Stuff.On.The.Wall. Honestly, trying to hang a sign, picture frame, shelves, curtain rods, you name it, it brings out The Hulk in the hubs. And it's not like it is after a long, grueling attempt either. We're talking from Handsome and Sweet to Hulk in about 23 seconds. Don't ask me what it is, because I couldn't tell you, but I think 52% of the worst fights we have had were as a result of trying to hang something. We're having a hard time sliding the bracket onto the screw, and both our patience levels were shot, so we called it quits yesterday. I gave the hubs football tickets for his birthday, and drove he and my brother-in-law to the game so they could drink as much as they wanted. He will be nursing a hangover today, so no shelves up today for sure. We'll try again, but I am not confident it will happen in the next few days. Sigh. (and for those wondering why I don't just do it myself, it's because I am so darn short! we need a taller ladder)

Don't forget about my stools, please help me decide what to do. Any tips would certainly be appreciated!

Have a fabulous day!
Cheers,
Erin

Elmo is my Homeboy

We went to Sesame Street Live today and it was AWESOME! You would think I was talking about a Tom Petty concert, and not Sesame Street, but seeing the Doodle's excitement made it AWESOME! You can't see the excitement here, but that's because he is inhaling some string cheese (forbidden, bottom of my bag "smuggled" cheese). They actually had a cute line in there for the parents. Elmo says to one of the other characters "What you talkin' bout Telly?" I thought it was hilarious. And no, I was not drinking. Just that dorky.

Sorry the photos are blurry but at some point some of the kiddo's juice (the smuggled, forbidden juice) spilled on the camera lens (?) and I didn't realize until I got home. We had a really good time, and I highly recommend it.

I made him that shirt right before the show, long story, and I wasn't super crazy about it, but I wanted him to have an Elmo shirt darn it.

Here was my fun process of making iron-on shirts. I mean, really, these are so freaking easy, I have made them dozens of times, but I felt like a second grader trying to make these. It was humbling. And there were curse words. A lot. Have I mentioned that I have a college degree. Embarrassing that this was so difficult for me.

This is what happens when you don't carefully read the directions before buying the t-shirt transfers. The transfers were made for cotton/polyester blend, not 100% cotton like this onesie. I don't know the science behind it or any of that nonsense, I just know it looked like crappola.

So I got these dark t-shirt transfers instead and they worked great, but I was impatient and just cut out a whole circle instead of carefully cutting around the words. I tried peeling the design off after the show, but only half came off, so it becomes a painting shirt now.

These are the rest done properly.

Only one thing crossed off my list, but at least it' s crossed off. Just 5 more to go! I am hoping I'll be more productive this weekend. How are your projects coming?

Have a fabulous weekend!
Cheers,
Erin

10 Tasks in 10 Days-Sorta

I am a bit late in linking up to The Shabby Chic Cottage for her 10 Tasks in 10 Days Challenge, but I am linking up. I am gonna do 6 Tasks in 6 Days since I just caught on to this. Haha, the irony that I am half-doing this challenge, it is so fitting.

So the idea is to finally finish those half-done projects you got distracted from. I had a million and one excuses why these aren't done, but mostly it comes down to laziness or being distracted by some other shiny, new project.

Without further ado, here is my list:

1. Hang my garage sale shelves, finally. I bought three fab shelves at a garage sale for $4 total. They were painted primary colors for a kid's room, so I spraypainted them black and then promptly left them to hang out in the garage for 2 months. Yeesh. Those babies are going up!

2. Make my Doodle an Elmo shirt and flag for his big Sesame Street Live show. I am so pumped!

3. Finish decorating my craft pumpkins. I have some monogramming and blinging to do.

4. Finish at least 2 more burlap diaper boxes.

5. Paint the rest of my little letters to go with our Big C, and hang them up.

6. Finish making the blackout shades for our bedroom. I made 2 and haven't finished the rest. Silly, silly lady.

Yep, laziness and distraction, these are my decorating/crafting ADD weaknesses for sure. Wish me luck, I am gonna need it.

How many projects do you have half done?

Cheers,
Erin

Burlap Covered Boxes

I hate having teensy weensy toys all over the house. I hate having to store them in clear plastic containers or laundry baskets (which is what I have been doing). Instead I have a buttload of diaper boxes (pun intended!), and I knew I could put them to good use.

My father-in-law built us a pair of sturdy, beautiful bookcases. The Huggies boxes fit perfectly on the shelves, they are just very ugly.

So, I grabbed a couple yards of plain burlap and a pretty muted green burlap at Joanne's and covered them. I still need to get some trim for the edges, but you get the idea. I wanted to personalize them, and I loooove the numbers craze, so I added some special dates to our boxes.

I know you can see the Huggies logo in the background, but I swear, it is only because of the flash! With normal light, you have to get reaaallly close and squint to see them. Nonetheless, I would do 2 layers of burlap on the side that will face out on future boxes.

Here is how to do the letters. Find a font you like, and set the page layout to landscape. I used a 180 point font size for it to be big enough. Print it out, and make a stencil by cutting the letters out. I used cardstock for a sturdier stencil and put cardboard under my cardstock while I was razor cutting.

This is what the stencil looks like:

Just tape it to the box, and fill in with a Sharpie.
Take the stencil off and fill in any gaps, and voila!, you have some custom made burlap covered boxes. For less than a dollar each.
Sorry for the blurry picture, but I wanted to show it to you with no flash. I can't wait to add my trim, I am thinking braided jute, just got to get to the craft store first :)

For another cutie patootie covered diaper box project, go visit Beth at The Stories of A to Z.
http://bethcrabtreehunter.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-diaper-box-to-cute-basket.html

I am linking up to Kimba's A Soft Place to Land for DIY Day. Have fun checking the projects out, I love looking at all the ideas! There are so many talented and creative people out there!

http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-day-and-giveaway.html