DIY Puppy Silhouette Portrait

Hey guys! I'm back! Do you ever have one of those weeks months where you wish there were more hours in the day? That is my life right now. I'm not complaining, I love being busy but I could definitely use a break. 

On that note, I've been on a major hang-up-art-on-the-wall kick. Creating new pieces to hang as well as acquiring a few more. It's not like we've had bare walls for the past year, but I guess my Goodwill frame addiction started growing a little too big to not hang anything else on the walls. 

Today I want to share with you how to make your very own silhouette portrait! I made it of my sweet puppy Buster (uh, crazy dog lady alert!), but you could make it of your kids, cat, rabbit, anything. It's super easy!

What You'll Need:

1. Photo - Choose your favorite photo and print it out to the size you want (ignore my crappy printer ink... luckily the print out doesn't have to be perfect). I have always loved this photo of Buster I took with my iPhone. It seemed like the perfect fit for a little profile picture.

2. Canvas - I found this five pack of canvases at Michael's that are flat so you can put them in a frame. I didn't even know these existed until I found them! I love it because you can actually put your art in a frame to class it up a bit. Sometimes I like regular canvases, but sometimes I like it a little classier!

3. Paintbrushes.

4. Paint color - I chose Navy (my favorite color as of late).

5. Frame.

What to do:

1. Cut out your picture and trace around the cutout onto the canvas.

2. Get your paint ready and start coloring painting between the lines. Who said those kindergarten skills wouldn't pay off someday? I did about three coats of navy to get a nice even finish. Coat one...

3. Frame it up! You could even paint the background a bright contrasting color (like aqua or yellow) or do stripes too. 

My Buster silhouette ended up in an IKEA frame I've had for a while and now sits next to our mantel.

What do you think? What would you paint as a silhouette if you could? Come on, admit it... are you a crazy dog lady like me? :)

Fort Flagler Camping

Hello! How was your weekend? Ours we pretty good... we went camping! Zach's parents have a pretty sweet camper (with pop out) with a queen bed, kitchenette, bathroom, dining table (that folds down in to where we slept) and a full couch and two chairs for lounging. It's big and nice and warm and dry. It was supposed to be rainy all weekend but it turned out to be partly sunny! A little windy at times, but still dry, which was great. 

We were camping up at Fort Flagler, which was a really nice camp ground on the peninsula up North by Port Townsend. We roasted mallows, walked the puppies on the beach, played lots of cards. It was a pretty relaxing weekend! Here's some more of our weekend in instagrams (follow @mykane!)...

What did you guys do this weekend?

Duuuuuuude. Have a Happy Weekend.

Hey everybody! It's been a couple days hasn't it? A crazy busy couple of days, that's what it's been. Yes. It. Has. I'm so glad it's the weekend! How have you been? Good, yeah? 

The husband had his first big board exam yesterday (his second is June 18th) and he is so relieved it's over! Literally six months of studying has finally come to fruition! And you know what that means... it's time to party! So we're going camping this weekend (even though it's supposed to be rainy) and are looking forward to some much needed de-stressing. Bboy is looking forward to playing with his best bud Chloe and I'm looking forward to s'mores (and s'more cookies!), playing cards, bonfires, beach, and some reading (still need to finish book three of 50 Shades...).

I don't think it's any surprise that we've been watching a lot of Lost lately. We are hooked. Big time. Just thought I'd share this picture the husband sent me the other day. Haha! So funny.

Since this is a very random post, let's also catch up on some random Buster pics. But first, this week Buster has been such a pain! Ever since he was a young pup, he has always slept in his crate in the living room. This week, however, he does not want to go in to his crate when it's time for bed. And when we do finally get him in there (either lure him in with a treat, or force him in there) he whines and yelps and won't go to sleep. Even if he's just been asleep on the couch right before. The other night we even let him sleep in the bed with us for the first time ever (and never again!) just because it was the night before Zach's test and none of us were sleeping well anyways...

We think something in his crate might have spooked him? Or maybe it's the diet with have him on (he's 27 pounds and should be 20!). Or maybe he is just being a teenager and decided he doesn't like it anymore? We will probably never know for sure, but hopefully it is just a phase. Have your dogs ever gone though something like this? If so, please help!

Alright, now on to the cute Bboy pics. Did you know one of his favorite chores is doing the dishes?

This is what I come home to every day in our front window.

Just because he's so cute when he sleeps.

He loves when Gramma Vonnie comes to visit!

Isn't he the cutest? I think so. But I'm just a little biased. :)

Have a great weekend!

Framing A Scarf (the Hard Way)

Have you ever had one of those projects that just takes you forever? You either don't know how to approach it, or you're just not motivated enough to get in to it? For me, that project was framing this scarf.

I got it at Forever 21 of all places for less than $5 back in September(ish). I kind of fell in love with all the colors and the pattern. I immediately knew I wanted to frame it and put it on the wall somewhere. But.... how? That was the question. The scarf is too big for regular sized frames and although it looks square in shape, it isn't perfect because well, it's a scarf. 

Luckily, I ended up finding an (almost) perfect sized frame at Goodwill one day for about $15. It was actually two frames in one - a thin white frame around a canvas painting of a lovely (cough) flower design. I took a picture of the before when I first bought it, but for the life of me I can't find it (that's how long I've been putting this project off). I'm so glad I found this frame because to get a frame in a custom size like this at Michael's would be hundreds and hundreds of dollars! 

I figured I could take off the canvas, spray paint the frame a nice black and attach the scarf somehow. Somehow... The scarf ended up being a little to small to wrap around the inside canvas frame, so I was stumped for a long while on how to actually make it work. Seriously, this frame has been sitting in our office (and annoying my husband) for the better part of seven months. 

Then, it came to me. In a vision, if you will. Just attach the scarf to a big white sheet and use the extra sheet to attach the scarf to the frame with staples just like a canvas. Of course! Duh! My motivation was ignited once again. So I got to work and spray painted the frame a nice satin black.

I did about 2-3 thin coats and let it sit outside for a day or two. Then came the scarf situation. I had purchased a big white flat sheet at Wal-Mart for $5 for another couple projects I'm working on. I pinned the scarf flat to the sheet and left plenty of room on each side to wrap it around the wood frame and staple it to the back (like a canvas - yeah, I'm still laughing at myself for how long it took me to figure this out). 

Like I said, the scarf is not a perfect square shape so it made it a little difficult to pull tight and symmetrical. After I pinned, I hand stitched the scarf to the sheet making sure to pull it tight as I went along. 

Next up was stapling the scarf to the frame. It was a little tricky to line up since the scarf was just a bit smaller than the frame (meaning some of the white sheet would show through on the front). After I got it lined up as best I could I stapled in the middle of each side first. You know, Catholic style. Spectacles, testicles, wallet, and watch. That way I ensured it was pulled tight and flush across the frame. 

It's not perfect, but then again, it's a scarf.

Then came the really fun part. And by really fun, I mean not fun at all. I thought it would be easy as pie to put the frame back together. It was originally held together by extra long staples. Easy enough, right? Wrong. I spent a long time trying to hammer the staples back in - I used different nails, screws, etc. to get the black outer frame attached to the canvas frame and failed miserably. Husband to rescue!

We ended up using big flat nails to get the frames to stick. It's not really pretty, but that part won't be showing. 

I put it up on this big blank wall in our bedroom.

And it fills the spot quite nicely.

You can see the small sliver (about 1/2 and inch) of the white sheet on the left and right side, but it's not too bad. It covers the wall space well and brings a lot of color and pattern to the room. The small black frame works really well not to complete with all the pattern. I'm just so glad it's finally done! I love all the color it brings to the room!

S'mores Cookies: The Perfect Summer Cookie

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Ours was lazy, which was just what I needed to recover from a stressful last week. We watched a lot of Lost. A. Lot. Of. It. We're on season two now... it is so good! Have you seen it? Don't tell me anything! :)

I made these cookies this weekend for a little get together with friends and they were a hit! Pinterest came through again. It always does. It's not like I'm surprised. These cookies were really really really good. Like, win the lottery good. Like, give away your first born good. Well let's not go that far, but they are deeeee-licious. 

I got the original recipe from Kevin & Amanda and I only did two things differently: I used regular graham crackers instead of cinnamon and regular mini mallows instead of the mallow bites. Otherwise, this is some of the best cookie dough I've had. Seriously yummy. These might become our favorite "summer" cookie this year. They have the same flavor of s'mores with a lot less of the messiness! 

S'mores Cookies

// 350 degrees // 10-12 minutes // makes 2 dozen //

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cup flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 7 graham cracker sheets)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

1 cup mini mallows

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy

3. Mix in vanilla and egg

4. In a separate bowl, whisk graham crackers with flour, baking powder, and salt

5. Slowly add dry mixture to butter and sugar mixture

6. When the dough just comes together, add chocolate chips and mallows

7. Place in dough balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

8. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Enjoy!

Upholstery Resources

You're probably tired of hearing about upholstery right now. :) But one of my goals with this blog is to create a place that has lots and lots of resources, not only for myself but for you too. I guess I could have just made a separate pin board for Upholstery, but instead I'll just list the resources I used here.

Below are the blogs I referenced when going through the re-upholstery process. They helped me figure out where to start, what to consider, and gave me lots of good tips along the way. I hope these help you if you ever decide to tackle an upholstery project!

From All Things Thrifty

Top Ten Upholstery Tips

Reupholstering 101, How to Reupholster a Chair

How Much Fabric Do You Need For Reupholstering?

From Eeny Meeny & Moe

How to Reupholster a Wingback Chair: Part 1 (Picture Tutorial)

How to Reupholster a Wingback Chair: Part 2 (Picture Tutorial)

From Little Green Notebook

Reupholstering a Chair, Part 1: Stripping

How to Reupholster a Chair Part 2: Painting the Frame

How to Reupholster a Chair Part 3: Stapling

How to Reupholster a Chair Part 4: Double-Cord Welting

How to Reupholster a Chair Part 5: Sewing the Cushion

Upholstery Charts 

If you're scared of DIY upholstery...

From Sew, Mama, Sew!

How to Sew Piping

From Running with Scissors

Utah State Legislator Chairs {Part 1} 

Reupholster with me! (Supplies) 

State Legislator Chairs {Part 2} 

State Legislator Chairs {Part 3}

From Three Boys
Anthropologie Inspired Upholstered Chair (This one actually has the same fabric I used, just in different colors!)

I hope these help. They certainly helped me get my wing back lady looking spectacular! Also, if you have any upholstery questions, let me know - I'd love to help if I can. I'm certainly not an expert, but I love a good challenge!

Better After Feature!

Hey everybody. I'm back again today to share a little feature! Check out my Jade Dresser Before + After featured on the blog Better After today!

I love the concept of Lindsey's blog Better After - straight up before and afters. Lets face it, that's all we really want to see any ways right? I know I love to see the transformations and changes that can be made to crappy old pieces. 

Thanks for the feature, Lindsey! 

Oh, and have a happy weekend!