Becoming Me: Buttons and Bows

Okay, this is not going to impress anyone...but if you understood my relationship with art/crafts/design then you could appreciate it. Growing up our relatives bought us tons of craft kits--Knit a Dress for Barbie, Make a Rug, Homemade Candles, Crosstitch for Kids, Potholders, Pinch Pots, Hand Molds, Scrapbooking kits and of course, enough puffy paint to last an eternity of sleepovers. If you go to my parents house I'm sure you can dig up all of my half done projects. Dad--Do you remember me waking you up at 3 a.m. to help me untangle the mess I made with my crosstitch? I was in tears and you got up and helped me, but I finally gave up the next day and put it in a box (I'm sure it is somewhere in the garage). The problem is my lack of patience. I would get antsy and try to take short cuts. So Jennifer always had really nice stuff on display in her room and I'd have half done things or stuff that went way over the top. I'd tend to go overboard with any sort of color. I get it look pretty good and think "okay, just one more thing" Most years my Easter Eggs were an ugly grey because I'd quickly put each egg in every color, get a sort of tie-dye effect and instead of stopping I'd keep going until inevitably I ended up with grey eggs.

Just like cooking, I'm entranced by people who are talented at art/crafts/design. For years, my favorite show was Trading Spaces. Yet I lack the vision. I don't know if that is something you can learn or if it is innate. I'm always going to people's houses thinking "wow, I would never think to do that!" Now that we own a house I can decorate it whichever way I want. I'm hoping that I've gotten over my "more color/puffy paint the better" design style and can have enough patience to complete projects.

Don't laugh at my first project. It was so simple and nothing that came out of my own head. I saw something like it in Molly's room. It is just a ribbon tacked onto the wall to hold Penny's hair bows. I bought buttons and fun ribbon that matches the primary colors in her nursery. And...gasp...I bought a glue gun! This is as crafty as I've ever gotten in my adult life. So here's my Buttons and Bows project above the changing table.

(The picture isn't that great...it's cute in real life)

So then I was on a roll. In our living room we have this great window frame that I have with pictures of our trip to Italy. (ala Frank from Trading Spaces...doesn't it look like his shabby chic projects?) I got the window frame for $6 at an antique store in Wisconsin.
To stay with the travel theme, I've added some dishtowels. Chris's sister, Laura, gave us these fun dishtowels for Christmas that have different areas of the country where Chris and I have lived. I wanted to display them instead of wipe up spaghetti sauce from the counter with them. So here's what I did (they are on the wall across from the Italy frame)

Isn't that fun? I wrapped them around wood frames so they have that canvas look. If you can't tell, my style tends to lean kitschy.

So this morning I was very proud of my little projects...An hour after I completed them I asked Chris what he was looking up on the computer. He said "oh, I decided not to sell the couch in the basement. I'm figuring out how I can reupholster part of it and keep it for that room down there" (pffft...show off!)