metal stamping

,so yesterday with my visit to home depot, i finally got the rest of the stuff i needed for attempting my hand at metal stamping. i saw the idea here awhile ago and finally got around to doing it. thats what my purchase at harbor freight was 2 weeks ago - i bought a metal stamping kit. it includes the alphabet / numbers and an "&". well, today i tried it. and i will tell you everything that worked and didn't work, and the things i did differently than sugardoodle (reference the link earlier in the paragraph).

first, i gathered everything i was told to get: washers (i got 3/8ths inch & 1/2 inch), stamping set (i got this set from harbor freight), and hammer. instead of a sharpie though, i bought a sample paint can of behr primer + paint, tinted black (and some of those really cheap sponge brushes).

it will paint on metal and it was less than $4. plus, the nice old man at home depot was bored and very eager to help me, so i said "sure, why not".

i also was looking at the washers thinking they were quite dingy, so luckily, while i was at home depot, i also bought a foam sanding block, 150 grit. the sander i got works on all surfaces, including metal. i'm not sure if all regular sand paper will work on metal.

so, i got to work. at first i tried stamping in my living room on carpet, on a wood board. #1 - that was really loud. it gave me a headache. and #2 - it really didn't work. the tutorial says to hammer on your garage floor, but i dont have one of those, and today is absolutely FREEZING and damp outside, so i will have to try hammering on my cement porch on another day. i found that hammering on the linoleum in my bathroom worked just fine. i'm sure it would work better on cement, but have i already mentioned it was freezing outside? i put a paper towel down under my washers to protect the linoleum.

anyways, step one - find a washer! i tried with both the 3/8th & the 1/2, and for now the size of the 1/2 is easiest to practice on.

at this point i would like to say that its really really hard to take decent pictures of anything metal with a point and shoot camera. most of these pix are without a flash, because even from far away, the flash will totally wash out anything visible in the picture, but on the flip side, my camera doesn't focus on things very well if theres no flash. i dont know why. so if the pictures are dark and/or blurry, thats why.

figure out what you want to say....and then its time to stamp!

its hard to get into the swing of stamping. i think part of it was i was stamping on linoleum. per sugardoodle, it should only take 1-2 hits with a hammer to imprint your letter. it took about 10 good wacks for me. plus, the more times you actually hit the stamp with the hammer, the better chance it will go flying out of my fingers, resulting in my growing discard pile:

but eventually, something readable will start to emerge...

cool, right?

next step. in her tutorial, sugardoodle painted in the letters with sharpies. i wanted to try something different, so i used the previously talked about behr paint. i'm showing you the difference between paint & no paint, so i only did half of the washer to show the difference.

its really just simple - paint over your letters.

i tried a bunch of different things, but the following worked best for me...i basically poked at the paint, instead of like wiping it on (try to get it in the letters), then i let it sit for a couple of minutes. then wipe it off. any paint that accidentally dries onto the washer will be removed in the next step. repeat until you are satisfied with the color. after painting, wait about 5-10 minutes, so any paint in the letters isn't accidentally removed by sanding.

can you see the difference between the "hello" (with paint) and the "world" (without paint)?

(and ignore the scratches around the bottom word - those can be lessened by sanding)

once your whole washer is painted and all the extra paint is wiped off, its time to sand. how much or little sanding depends on how shiny you want it. i think next time i'm going to buy more sanding blocks to experiment with how shiny i can get my washer. but for this project, i used my 150 grit block sander, and this is how it turned out:

shiny and pretty, right??

i'm sure theres more you can do to polish it up, but thats where i stopped.

afterwards, do whatever you want with it...all the tutorials i have seen make the washers into necklaces. since i really dont really wear them, i am waiting for inspiration as to why i really want to do metal stamping. silly, i know.

BUT, to take advantage of this totally neat process, i was able to redo my blog header (i'm sure you noticed that!)

SWEET!

"if evil has no social stigma, if it is simply understood, prepare for more." ~ dave smith

busy. well, busier than i have been.

got a couple of things done today. finally. i made an appointment to get my brakes done on wednesday (kept putting it off for some reason...bad alicia), post office (happy birthday margaret!), blood tests, home depot, michaels, and joanns. i wanted to take advantage of my 40% joanns coupon so i got a grommet-er. i dont know if thats a real word. is a puncher thing that puts grommets in things. i'll post a picture when i finally use it. i'm excited for it...random things might end up grommetted now. :D

i even went outside my comfort zone and went to a new teriyaki place for dinner. it was takeout, but still...its a big step for me to go to a new place. especially by myself. silly i know, but still...

i have decided i'm dangerous when i'm tired and unmotivated. i'm not feeling good enough to actually sew anything, so instead i shop for new fabrics and things to use for when i finally do feel motivated. i want to try my hand at using sashiko thread (its a japanese embroidery thread), but i had to buy some first. tried etsy: nothing. ebay: ehhh....didn't really like what i saw. so instead i went to purl. and i got suckered in. they have BEAUTIFUL fabrics. and UNIQUE things. besides the thread, i finally got to buy some japanese fabric. i love the patterns on japanese fabric. i mostly bought sale stuff (only way i can afford $27/yard fabrics)...but i did splurge on some linen (haven't ever used it before). so, i'm excited. i'll post pictures when i get it. i'm hoping to feel good enough to finally start using some of my fabrics soon!

tomorrow i need to clean out and clean up the refrigerator. (i live on the wild side, i know.) thats my only rule before i go grocery shopping. something spilled and its just gross. plus i haven't cleaned it since i moved in 18 months ago. yikes.

but its finally my friday night and i think i'm going to break out monk season 7 and watch a little before i go to bed. thrills and chills, a mile a minute.


its really hard to take non-blurry pix when holding a squirmy guinea pig. say hello to erma!

"no longer are you a vaguely wormy caterpillar." ~ j.m. 1094

another monday, another 10.5 hours of OT

just kidding, i didn't actually do 10.5 hours of overtime. what i did do was accept 4 hours of overtime, but because sometimes a union is a beautiful thing, i get paid not only for the 4 extra hours of work, but also for accepting the call at home, AND i get paid for adjusting my shift from 8am to 2am (yes, 2am, such a dreadful hour to start your day), and all of that equals getting paid 10.5 extra hours for 4 extra hours of work.

what i dont get paid for is the sand currently residing in my eyelids and the slush currently occupying my brain pan.

but i have bigger and better things to tell you about so i wont dwell on the tiredness bit....

i went shopping yesterday at a local fabric store, pacific fabrics. WOOHOO. first time i've been there. i'm sad i didn't hear about it before! they have a lot of specialty fabrics i've been admiring online (like moda bake shop & michael miller - who does a dick & jane line....does anyone have anything cool i can make out of that?), locally packaged patterns (i bought my first ever pattern - i'm a little scared!), and a full line of craft supplies as well, so i may never have to make 2 trips to joanns/michaels. downside (after the high prices) is the fact that it is in the middle of a failing stripmall in the middle of east bremerton, which is turning into the ghetto. the only thing left in the mall after kmart goes out of business (its currently at 25% off) is rite aid. and taco bell. there were some shady characters hanging around when i left, and i was afraid i'd have to fight over my new fabric stash, but they all left me alone. whew. :) anyways - let me show you what i got!!

these are fat quarters. i love fat quarters. small amounts of fabric that i find completely inspiring.

yes, that is pretzel fabric you see. and cupcakes and bananas. mmm...cupcakes.

for the next picture, i need your honest opinion. do you think the fabrics match? i bought them to go together, and i think they match in a kitchy sort of way. they are made by 2 different manufacturers, so thats going against me, and the guy who cut my fabric said they didn't match. i chose to ignore popular opinion and pair them together anyway. what do you think?

so hmm....thoughts?

the next thing is totally fun....i'm so excited to use them...

pink purse handles!! how cute are they? i have about 20 different purse and bag patterns that i want to start making so i can decide if i like the pattern and want to make more of them, and these will come in handy. fun, right?

but now, back to reality. the following is probably TMI, but its something new i started. i have SO MUCH underwear and socks that i started keeping them separate in my laundry, to see how long i could go without having to wash them. ironically, i forgot to write down when i started this, but since i know i have over 60 pairs of socks, and only had about 5 pairs left when i finally washed everything, i know its been about 1 1/2 to 2 months.

this is a picture of them clean by the way. i would never show a picture of 2 months of dirty socks and undies. how unsightly. but now comes the job of sorting all of them. blah. thank heavens i like patterns, cause sorting 60 pairs of white socks would not appeal to me at all.

oh, and yay...a sneak peak...

margarets present! (and can you see atticus in the background?)

so this is 90% done....its currently in the dryer (hand washing did not get rid of the unsightly pencil marks), and i have something i might add to it, but otherwise, done! now, getting to the post office before it closes will be my next challenge!

okay, i should probably dash. atticus is eager to go walk in the rain again. i haven't told him yet its an early bedtime for us....i have a feeling he'd roll his eyes and say "not again!".

"she looked like a cross-dressing logger." ~ J.H. D203

loot

so, big confession here. i consented the other week to having one of those dreadful home parties. marka is a consultant for a popular candle company, and while i love candles and i especially love THEIR candles, i swore to her i would never host a party.

well, i lied.

i had what amounted to a book show, where people dont actually come to my place, they just look in a catalogue and give me their hard earned money so i can benefit from it. i'll show you the reason i relented in just a little bit. long story short, i made out like a bandit. apparently hosting one of those shows gets you a lot of free stuff.

anyways, all my loot came today. well, all the loot in general came today.

after organizing all of this loot...

i was left with my loot:

yes....that is all mine.

but i was super duper excited, because of the following....

haha...no...thats just a blank wall in my bedroom. but look at what i did with my blank wall...

STARS!!! to match my amish stars!! how cool are they!?!

just wait...

PRETTY!!! yay for stars!!

in other news, my across the hall neighbors have moved out. i get a reprieve from their door slamming until the next resident moves in. * crosses fingers for a long reprieve *

finally figured out what i want to do for margaret. i just hope it turns out! but i cleaned all day so the fed-ex guy wouldn't see my messy apartment (silly, i know) when he delivered the aforementioned loot, so i'm a bit tired and haven't drug out the sewing machine yet.

oh, and i also finally finished the 5th season of the office. yay for the hilarious comedies!! and yay for weekends that let me accomplish so much!

"lonely people mixing with one another, breeding, creating an even lonelier generation? you're not allowing natural selection to do its work. you're like the guy who invented the seatbelt." ~ dwight schrute, the office

another anniversary

(my current view)

in the hubub of these past couple days etc, i totally forgot about another important anniversary. yesterday i (should have) celebrated the 4 year anniversary at my current place of employment. jeez.... and of course i didn't think about it til today, so instead of yesterday my coworkers and i celebrated my annivesary today with chinese. mmm....fried rice. ironically we ordered from the same chinese place that gave another coworker food poisoning last week. but hey, i live on the edge.

my coworkers also had a brilliant idea today... for a little history, i've been plagued with the worst headache of my life the past 2 days. while its not a migraine, i think i'd rather take one of my migraines over this headache....yesterday it was so bad that i couldn't even lay down because the skin at the back of my head hurt too. it was bad. medicine didn't help. sleep didn't help. i went to bed last night worried i had an aneurysm and maybe i should stay up and clean because i wouldn't want anyone to see the current state of my apartment. yes, it was that bad. well, this morning i was chatting with my coworkers and trying to arrange my head just right so it wouldn't fall off my neck, when i mentioned i hadn't had coke or coffee for the past week because of this cold. i didn't see the importance of my statement until marka brilliantly tells me i'm probably suffering from caffeine withdrawal. wow. lightbulb. i immediately had a cup of coffee.

then when i got home i forced myself to drink some coke. (yes, forced...) my headache has amazingly abated. brilliant. and i know you're going to say "why dont you just stay off caffeine, after all, you've gone this long", but i know myself. when i'm feeling 100% again, i'm going to want coffee in the morning. i'm going to want something other than sprite and ginger ale for dinner. i'm going to crave chocolate. and then i'll be back to caffeine addicted again. so yeah. * voice of addiction coming through * but amazingly enough, i'm okay with it. that horrible headache has finally faded to something a lot more manageable.

to celebrate my anniversary and my exceptionally large paycheck (8 days in a row of overtime will help that), i bought myself something at harborfreight.com. i know you're all checking it out now and saying..."hmmm....thats weird. what tools is alicia buying herself?". well, i'm not telling you. its a cool idea i've seen a couple places, and if it doesnt' work out then i dont have to admit failure. well, i'll admit it eventually, but i'd rather try it out first.

i also had another lightbulb moment today. so, the short story is that i have graves disease, which causes hyperthyroidism. when left unchecked (like i did), your body essentially becomes permanently revved up...metabolism, heartrate, thoughts, etc. i had become so used to feeling like that, that when i finally went to the doctor to get it in check, and my really high thyroid levels started lowering, i felt slow. i had a radioactive thyroid uptake treatment in december, which essentially killed off my thyroid, and also the high levels of hormones it was producing. my body is slowly moving towards being hypothyroid. which is the opposite of what i felt. so, just imagine the normal person's energy level being 50. my energy level for years was 100 or more. putting me at a normal level made me feel like i was running at lets say a 30 (even if it was 50/a normal level for anyone else). now that i'm getting to be hypothyroid, i'm running at 40, which really makes me feel like i'm running at 10. does that make sense? my doctor of course is overjoyed because for the first time in the 3 years i've been seeing a doc about this, my levels are normal without the use of meds. of course, now they're falling. and continuing to fall. when they get too low, i'll have to go on meds to bring my levels back to normal. but anyways, this short story is becoming long. so, my lightbulb moment was related to this - perhaps because my thyroid levels are falling is a good contributor to having no energy or motivation. add a simple virus on top and i'm wiped. add no caffeine and i'm surprised i've made it out of bed the past couple days. so simple, but i didn't think of it. weird. and crazy. and hopefully having coffee in the morning will be a temporary fix for awhile. (to answer your unasked question, i'm going back for more blood tests in a week or 2 and every 3 weeks after that til my doc says i need to be on meds. i have a feeling it'll be within a month, just with how i'm feeling etc. )

anyways, whew. long dissertation. still tired, but somehow i feel happier just knowing more of the possibilies why i'm feeling like this. plus, tomorrow is friday. i think i'm dragging my sewing machine out this weekend. dont tell atticus.

"now you're back and you'll do just fine. so dont resign, cause after rainy days the sun will shine." ~ millencolin

wednesday

i feel like a broken record here, but sometimes life mimics a broken record. still feeling sick (not as bad though - yay for mucinex!), and its just wednesday and i'm on my 3rd day of overtime in a row. *big sigh* i'm trying to think of the money. and i'm easing my guilt of not being home by telling atticus i'll buy him more toys. otherwise haven't felt like doing much this week - not even checking emails and reading blogs. yikes. personal slump.

anyways, i'm trying to get back into the creative swing of things and i'm looking for some input for margaret's birthday. long story short, i'm going to be using this totally awesome method (or at least trying to do it) to make something for margaret. it'll turn into either a bag or a picture to hang on the wall eventually (shh....)....but i dont know what to make the picture of. it has to be something simple but something margaretish. any suggestions?

in other news, atticus loves my macaroni. yes, plain macaroni (cooked in chicken broth - i think thats the clincher). we've shared most of a box of cooked macaroni these past couple days....makes me laugh.

yay for beautiful roses, brightening up my apartment!!

"promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think." ~ christopher robin to pooh

anniversary

today is the first anniversary of....

BALD DAY!!

did you guess it?

yes, one year ago today, i was getting my locks shaved.

i went from this (taken the day before bald day)...

(look at those curls! *sigh*)

to this....

its been a long road back to hair....

month 1....

month 4...

(such a horrible picture - i dub it "mugshot 2009". but it still makes me laugh so i kept it. it was taken after a sleep study, in which ironically, i got very little sleep, hence the hair and the attitude).

and today....

please excuse the picture. i dont really have anything recent that shows how much hair i have so i just took the picture now. i am sick and i haven't taken a shower. oi.

but there you go. happy anniversary hair!! i can now put you behind my ears and wear almost pig-tails. i dont think i would ever willingly shave my head again, but i'm glad i did it. and i'm even more glad my hair is coming back.

in other news, my doctor called in sick for my doctors appointment. irony at its greatest. i opted out of rescheduling. after arguing with group health nurses to get my appointment yesterday i am in no mood to go through that again. plus, i probably just have a cold that packed a bigger wallop than normal. today i actually was able to cross off 3 things on my "to do" list (which is so long its ugly), so thats good. PLUS, i found a couple cans of soup in the cupboard that aren't expired! woohoo!! chicken noodle supper, here i come!

"sometimes it seems you just dont understand, the way i think & who i am. when i'm told, i'm told what i'm supposed to be, you think you know whats best for me. i want to see you standing next to me, seems you got nothing much to say. and when you're dying lying next to me, i'll turn my head and walk away." ~ unwritten law