The Interior DIYer
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DIY Friday – you’re the Obi Wan for me

It’s no secret my husband is a Star Wars fan. As is evident by our apartment. So a couple of months ago I saw a really cute meme on Instagram [I’ve tried to back track and find it, but I can’t UGH] stating you’re the Obi Wan for me and BOOM. I knew my Valentine’s Day card for husband was sorted. It was perfect. 

I sat down the other day and planned it out. I used an A4 piece of 220gsm card, folded it in half and painted some abstract water colour on the front [I practiced on some scrap paper first until I was happy with the right amount of random]. While that was drying, I stamped out the key phrase using our Dymo Omega label writer. There is nothing that thing can’t improve. Including Valentine’s Day cards. Of course if you don’t have a label writer, you could write directly on the card. 

I finished it by drawing a little heart on the outside and wrote ‘always and forever’ on the inside; part of our geeky Napoleon Dynamite inspired wedding vows. I’m obv. going to write more than that on the inside, I just wanted to mimic the sentimental message that usually comes on the inside of store bought cards. 
A really simple card idea I thought I’d share for anyone who may be stuck for a card next week. Pretty simple and dare I say fool-proof. Not that I think any of you are fools. xx A

Also featured – Bill Murray print – living room artwork [warning: shoddy early blogging photography etc.]
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New living room artwork – waxing moon

For husband’s birthday 2 years ago I drew the moon on our chalkboard wall to complete his space and Star Wars themed birthday. I painted over that moon 2 months later when I painted over the chalkboard wall. At the time I swore to husband I’d paint him another more permanent moon, as he loved the chalked one. 

And then 2 years happened. Because I’m a disaster and terrible wife. 

I was going through some old blog posts this week and was reminded I still had yet to fulfill my moon painting promise. I figured there was no better time than the present. I had an old canvas that I painted a black-on-black tree about a hundred years ago when I was an emotional teen [which you can see here], and it had been passed from room to room these past years waiting to be painted something proper. Well, half proper. It’s still mostly black. 

It had been something like 7 years since I had last painted, so I have to say it was so relaxing setting aside some time to painting again. 
I used a small plate to trace 3/4 of a circle onto the plain black canvas [sans emo tree], and then I attempted to mimic this waxing gibbous photo of the moon as best as I could. It took me about 2 hours from start to finish. 

I wrote a little here a couple of months ago about my alter-ego career. If I were to start over again and choose a different field of work, I would have loved to have gotten a B.Sc. in Physics with Astronomy. Yes, it seems somewhat random, but I’ve always been fascinated with all things space. Case in point – when I was little, to get myself to go to sleep I’d try and think of how far away the edge of space was and what it looked like. I also used to try and think of a colour no one had ever seen before and as you can imagine, that was an utter failure. But it did nicely segue to some pretty interesting dreams and an overactive imagination. 

Which is why, if you look really hard, there’s a lot of space-themed pieces and books dotted around our apartment. Husband actually hasn’t seen the new painting yet, so hopefully when he comes home tonight he, a) actually notices it so my ego doesn’t take a hit, and b) likes it. 

And above, you can see how well the sockets and heater switches under the stool nicely compliment the waxing moon. I find they really add a certain je ne sais quoi to the space, no?

Happy Friday, friends. Hope you have a good one xx

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The year ahead

My first blog post of 2015 is about what I hope for the year ahead. I know. GROUNDBREAKING STUFF.

I’ve noticed people are choosing a power word to define their upcoming year this year. Creativity. Growth. Opportunity. Success. Those are all lovely words. I’m however going to choose a number of words this year. My words this year are going to be GETTING MY SHIT TOGETHER [thanks for that one, Julie!].

This year I’m going to get my shit together and make things happen. I have a little notebook in my desk FULL of projects. Projects and ideas I’d like to work on with companies, other bloggers [here in Ireland and abroad], and people I look up to. Some of the ideas in my notebook have been there for over 2 years. Not a single one has been acted on.

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like asking people things because I don’t want to disrupt their schedule / cause them to dedicate time to me / have to change their plans / cause them to feel obliged etc. I get a whole spectrum of uncomfortable. It’s just easier for me, and let’s face it other people, if I just don’t ask them.

However, only over the past couple of weeks I’ve started to pick up some of Cowardly Lion’s courage. Just a little bit. I’m going to start to do things for me this year. I’m going to start crossing things off my notebook, and I’m going to be cringing behind my computer screen every single moment along the way.