It's a long road and familiarity breeds contempt...

A whole year? How does that happen? I never meant to take a year off from blogging. It was really something I enjoyed. I just got busy at work and life happened. That's how these things go, I suppose. Well, I'm back for the new year. No promises, but I plan to make an effort to be present consistently. Most of these days are filled with Thomas the Train and developing Fall 2013 t-shirt lines. I'm struggling with finding my own voice in my personal life so I'm hoping that I can keep creating a space all my own here and reclaim some part of myself I don't feel in control of. Personally, I found it very easy to lose my sense of self once becoming a mom. You naturally want to give all of yourself to your children and finding that balance between nurturing and crazy train isn't something I find comes naturally. There's a lot of guilt that surrounds working and also taking time for yourself. What amount of time is right to keep your sanity and also give your children what they need? Seriously, any advice on balance would be appreciated.  That being said, here are a couple of songs that I've dove into like a cold pool recently. They refresh and make me feel something, which after 10 hour days of giving myself completely over to the needs of clients, is amazing. Some days you just don't have anything left to give.

Apparently this is a Miranda Lambert song. I dunno, I listened to the original and it's not my thing. I think this version has just enough twang and soul to make it relevant to me.


  Next up is a Leonard Cohen- Feist cover from the indie movie Take This Waltz. First off, anyone who has been married more than 5 years should watch this movie. It's so true to life. It gets in your head and sits heavily, streaking neon with it's depiction of the loneliness that familiarity inevitably brings. It also closes with a good morality lesson. Gotta love that. The song is out of this world good. Really. Play it over and over good. I wish they had released it as part of the soundtrack, but instead I'll have to be content with this:


  This one was wordy. Hopefully you stuck through it with me.

Here's to a Happy New Year! May 2013 bring you balance, peace, and a healthy appreciation for what's right in front of your face.

open to change

Work has been insane recently. There has been trend shopping, garment imports that won't quit, industry expos (Surf)...

I'm trying to keep it together, but I'm starting to run a little low. Regrettably, there isn't anything exciting on the horizon. I think I need a new project that falls on the side of fun and not work. Any ideas?

Coworkers= awesomesauce!














Love this backpack:

Old screens used as wall art:

Gratuitous Little A shot:

a little bit of play

Work feels like it has been non-stop lately. I'll post properly this weekend with pictures of all the going ons. First, though... a little bit of play thrown in. Goodness knows I love me some giraffes. Especially warm fuzzy inducing babies!

These were taken at the Brevard Zoo.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and yours, from our growing family.

JOY

We did Santa pics this weekend and all the elves fell in love.

excuse the mess

So this week I've already been rear-ended by someone without insurance and run my car out of gas. It's only Wednesday. Add all that to the fact that beebay is teething and I'm ready to break. A pooping otter is all I have left in me for the week. I will see you on the next one.

Snapshot in time

Just a little photography for your Monday.

Laundry is a necessary evil

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of laundry. Well, let me clarify, I'm not a big fan of folding laundry. Laundry itself isn't so bad. There's something satisfying about dumping all the dirty clothes in, getting to choose lotions and potions from the supply of nearly free couponed accouterments I have acquired, and pulling out spanking clean yummy smelling garments at the end. With all the money you put into clothes, it's frustrating when your whites start to fade or you have color bleed. Who separates colors anymore anyways? When I received a sample of Carbona Color Run Remover in the mail with the request that I try it and give my opinion I was stoked. I love freebies and I'm opinionated. Score.






I wrangled up a little 'test' group to give it a go. I selected a baby sleeper with a bleed stain on it, a few of my husband's work shirts (if it whitened these I would know we were in business), a white dress shirt of mine, and bedding that was starting to look dingy. Don't mind the adorable model. He wanted to help.


Anyways, In the wash they went. Highest water setting and as hot as possible.


The final results were impressive on the white tees and bedding. Sadly, it didn't get the stain on the sleeper out. In it's defense, I inherited it and I'm not 100% sure that it is a color bleed stain. All in all I would give this product a B+ for the job it did cleaning up a few dingy items.








I wrote this review while participating in a test campaign by Carbona and received a product sample to test. All opinions are my own and I have not been compensated for them.


Laundry image credit

Manufactured Musings

I was a busy lady over the break. Here's another DIY project I finished, but this time it was for the house. I hated the old style kitchen knobs we had. They were original and straight out of the 70s. I didn't want to completely trash them though. Instead I figured I'd try a face lift before spending the money on something new.

They had years of nasty green hand goo on them. Pretty gross. I started by removing them and soaking them on high in a crockpot with soapy water. To my surprise they came out nice and clean and... gold. I could have sworn they were silver given their original dingy grey/ green color.
After I got over the shock of how gross they had been and they were completely dry I placed a piece of painters tape on the front of each knob. I mixed up a batch of Activa PermaStone. I bought this box years ago at Michael's so I'm not sure if it's still available, but you can get it online here. I just used a regular watercolor paintbrush to apply.

After each had dried for 24 hours I removed the tape to see what i was left with. The end result showed the internal metal scroll with white permastone filling in the gaps (sorry no picture). They still looked dated to me so I wasn't happy with the results. I figured I'd completely fill the front in with more permastone and paint them once they had been sanded flush for a result something like this:
Once they had dried another 24 hours I took the sander to them. To my surprise I loved the end result with no painting involved. The white middle and now distressed metal look completely modern and expensive. They are definitely unique. I thought about finishing them off with acrylic, but I didn't want to lose the matte finish of the stone. I figure I'll see how they hold up and if they need a coat later I can always take them back down.

There was a lot of down time waiting for the permastone to set and sanding took a little while, but overall it was a pretty easy project that I think add tons to the look of the kitchen. Here is the final result in place:

Here's a cleaner looking split finish version I found selling for $7.38/ knob!

Close up of my version for comparison:




Love! The next step is doing something about the ugly cabinet doors, but they will have to do for now.

Recent DIY

Here's a project I threw together on maternity leave. I hand studded a blank pair of faux leather shoes using $4.99 brand new Goodwill kicks, a leather punch, tailors chalk, and 200 silver conical metal studs from StudsandSpikes.com. Total cost came in under $10. I eyeballed the spacing using a pair of scissors to measure out the distance between each stud. Love them! They are already my favorite pair of shoes.

I'd love to see what DIY projects other people are working on. Email me at gauntdesigns@gmail.com if you have a project you'd like me to share on GauntDesigns.