Getting crafty

I've had a lot of time on my hands these days.  We just had a 5 day weekend, due to MLK and a snowstorm, and while I did the dishes about a bazillion times, did all of my laundry, cooked dinners, cleaned the floors twice and cleaned out the guest bedroom...I still felt a little lazy.  Interspersed in all that domesticated mess was a heap of Tina sitting on the couch, snarfing down snacks watching Alias and reading.  Lazy bum!

Yesterday, in the throws of a full blown Alias-pig-out sesh, I decided I need to get off my rear and do something productive and fun.  Something that didn't include regular chores (let's face it, most of them were already done...twice) and something that would turn my brain into the Master's degree intellect it should be instead of TV-watching-mush.  Enter this...

I found this bulletin board at the Goodwill on one of my Saturday-shopping-with-mom-trips for $10.  We had a 20% off coupon from donating, so that brought this baby down to a nice affordable $8.  I've been wanting to create a REAL pin board (sorry Pinterest!) for the office to hold inspiration stuff for my book...novel...next best seller....you get the point.  The one I had hanging in there was really small and sorta boring.  I wanted something cute, with color, that I would enjoy looking up at and seeing all my motivational nonsense when I have writers block (which is 99% of the time, honestly!)

One "roadblock" to this project was that I didn't want to spend a dime on any other part of it.  We are trying a spending freeze of sorts, Dave Ramsey Financial Peace and all, to save money and look out for our future and what not, so the $8 that I forked over already had to be enough.  I really wanted to cover the cork part in some sweet fabric but nothing I have was cute enough.  So, I just decided to paint it.  I mean, I'm going to be pinning crap up there anyways, right??  Right?   So if the paint looked bad, I'd just pin the heck out of it until I couldn't be bothered by it.

I have TONS of paint.  Like...10 cans of spray paint and 15 little test pots from different house projects like this and this and this.   I figured I could create something cute with what we have.  So I did.

I went down into what is now my "work shop" area (I've got power tools, don't make me use them!  No, really, make me use them!) and found what I wanted and got to work.  I decided on spray painting the outer edges a limey green, and sponge rolling the cork board a happy blue.  Then, I found this adorable coral and gold washi tape that I could use for a border.  The colors are darling together, and I am really happy with the end result!

Hard at work.

I let it dry for a few hours before doing anything after painting.  It has to cure up and all that good stuff.

Then, I added the washi tape and oh goodness, it's too cute!

That pic is really shiny, but aren't the colors just adorbs?

After spending 4+ hours cleaning out our guest bedroom/office, I hung it up.  I even started putting some of the things I've drawn for my book on it (I like maps, ok?   I draw a lot of maps!) plus a few inspirational items.  Don't tell me you hate it.  Because it's too cute to hate!

The room itself needs a little TLC.  I probably need a new desk (hello?  I'm going to BUILD one!) and some major upgrades in decor, but at least the mess is gone.  Look!

This is the disaster I was dealing with!   Major emergency!

But now, it's livable, even nice to be in.  Minus the kitty litter...because that stinks.  And Frodo...he wasn't much help during clean up hour(s)...

Punk.  Anyways.  I am happy with the end results for now.

Nice, clean, organized bookshelves..

Vacuumed floor...

Clean desk and drawers are organized...

Some HP action (this needs to be put away on the HP shelf downstairs) and office supplies...

...and my lovely new pin board to host all sorts of motivational inspirational nonsense for my Next Big Thing Novel.  You saw it here first, friends;)

I'm glad I have something to show for my nice, long weekend.  Now to sort through the THOUSANDS of pictures, both hard copies and picture CDs that I came across while cleaning the room.  Don't you hate when one organizational project tumbles you into another one?  This one is going to take forever.  I need about 20 photo albums and an online picture hosting site that is FREE, with no limit.  Oy!!

Cheers!