Not much in the way of blogging profundity today, I've been too busy soaking in the last of summer with old friends and catching up with some projects to worry with being profound. (Unless you count being profoundly blessed by good friends, good ways to spend a day and the four pretty great men in my home :-)
I finally finished the last of the cleaning projects that started earlier this summer, by attacking the granddaddy of all our closets, the coat/craft/storage/stuff-it=all-in-there-quick-before-company-comes closet.
I had 4 ginormous boxes of fabric in there, which I brought out, one by one, and organized by color on a shelf, while I got myself all up to date on the News From Lake Wobegon. Good times. It's SO nice to be able to see all that's been buried in there. I might even be inspired to cut some of it! Perhaps even *gasp* SEW with some of it!
I'd like to show you, but the shelf is kind of ugly and in a dark room, so you're just going to have to trust me when I say that chunking the boxes and bringing the stuff out in the open was a VERY good thing.
After what I've come to call "Fabric Fest 2007", and once I reconciled myself to the fact that I would have to buy a replacement for our lost X-acto knife, I set to work on a project that I've had in mind for a while now.
As you might know, we have a lot of little collections and have yet to find the perfect home for them. We got close when we bought some large glass-topped, hinged display cases on sale at Hobby Lobby. They were just about perfect accept for two things - 1) They are really expensive and 2) large panes of glass + small men = disaster. Both of ours were broken in the last month, no stitches were involved, but I'm not taking anymore chances.
I've been on the lookout for inexpensive, yet sturdy alternatives, and have come up lacking everytime.
So finally, I decided to use cheap acrylic frames to make our own version.
First, you use your X-acto to cut off the back of the cardboard insert, then reinforce the inside and outside of the corners with tape.
Then cut strips of fun scrapbook paper as long, and twice as wide, as each side of your box.. Fold in half, lengthwise, spray on some adhesive, and cover all four sides.
Now you can line the inside with paper, or fabric covered cork that has been cut to fit your box. Put your collections in, replace the acrylic top, and you've got a great, kid proof display box.
To prevent the flattened pennies from sliding around in their new home, we stuck them on with a little of that tacky stuff that teachers use for putting up posters.
Oh, and now for something completely random: a funny thing happened today. When we got out of the pool, we shivered. SHIVERED! To our wet bodies, the air actually felt COLD! My kids were laying (lying?) prone on the concrete, with towels over themselves, trying to warm up.
Shivering, in August, in Texas. Surely this is a sign of the end of days! :-)
