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Ask and you shall receive.

A few weeks ago, I bought myself my very first laptop.  Its not any laptop, its actually a netbook, meaning it is teeny tiny.  I can actually fit it in my purse!  So the night I bought it, I looked for a case, but wasn’t happy with any of my options.  That’s when I decided I needed to challenge my friend, Deanna, over at Recycled Lovelies to make one for me!

My specifications:

  • Padded
  • Made from scrap fabric (recycled!!!)
  • Pocket for charger
  • Shoulder strap

Not only did she meet my expectations but she EXCEEDED them!  The yellow vintage fabric from the 60s is so my style, you would think Deanna was my bestest friend.  I meeeaaaaan, seriously.  Um, D, can you make me a cute little dress from that fabric?  And a skirt from the striped fabric?  Because that would be absolutely dreamy.

But I digress.  The point is, I LOVE IT!  I love that its unique.  I love that its recycled.  I love that its handmade by a friend.  Every time I look at it, I will remember Deanna and her hard work.  So, thank you D!

I also asked her to make me a very simple drawstring pouch (also from recycled fabric) to put my fancy camera in to protect it, since I usually just throw it in my purse, where it is constantly battling with the elements (random pieces of gum, dust, dirt, etc).  So here it is (and I also love it!):

Its like Christmas in the Davis household this weekend!!!  And now I’m going to get ready for a short road trip, so I can have a sleepover at my friend, Noelle’s, house.  This is long overdue and I can’t wait!  The picture below is the only pic we have together, but I plan on fixing that situation.  Pronto.  Happy weekend, everyone!

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11

The Nerd learns to sew.

The Mom-in-Law is a very patient woman.  And by patient I mean she puts up with the way that I learn, which is by watching, not reading.  She’s good at that kinda stuff because she was a teacher most of her life.  I love that she can read her “students” and know what learning style works best for them.  For me, you have to show me how to do something before I can fully grasp the concept.  Diagrams and written instructions are the devil for me.

See that vintage pattern above?  Its from, like, the 50s or 60s.  And it was ONLY $1 at that time!!!  Patterns are freakin’ ridiculous now!

Ok, so learning to sew and then eventually learning how to refashion used clothing are two huge goals I set for myself for 2010.  We decided to use a vintage pattern and some spare fabric that the MIL had on hand.  That fabric…well…its what she used to make the Dad-in-Law’s shower curtain.  Its like I’m wearing camo in his bathroom!

Look at that concentration!

The seam ripper and I…we became fast friends.

And here I am in the unfinished skirt!  I’m still working on the waistband and the hem, but it turned out pretty well!  I wasn’t sure if I would like the pattern, but with a tucked in black tank and a cardi, it will be perfect for the fall!

Next, I would like to make one of these dresses for attending summer weddings (click for a better view):

Which do you like best?  I think I will do whichever dress I choose in navy, because I’m in love with that color right now, and its very flattering without having to resort to basic black.  Thoughts?  Comments?  Suggestions?

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The J. Crew Challenge GIVEAWAY!!!

**UPDATE: Comments for this post have been closed.**

Fact: The nerd can’t sew.

Fact: The nerd begs friends to do the sewing for her.

Fact: My blog pal Deanna over at Recycled Lovelies is one of those friends.

It all started with a picture.  See, Deanna is amazing because she takes thrifted clothes straight to her sewing machine and makes them modern again.  She is quite often inspired by the J. Crew catalog.  So I took a little internet vacay to the J. Crew catalog and found this:

And that’s when I decided to challenge Deanna to make this shirt!  (Read her original response here.)

Well, friends, my homegirl not only took up this challenge by making herself this fantastic version of that shirt:

…but she made one for me as well!

BUT WAIT!  THERE’S MORE!

Deanna sweetened the deal by offering to make a special shirt just for one of you lucky nerd readers!!!

Isn’t that freakin’ awesome-and-a-half!?!?!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this page (facebook and twitter don’t count) by 12 noon (central time) this Sunday, March 28th.

Bonus: Leave a comment on Deanna’s blog for a second entry!

The winner (chosen by random.org) will get a shirt in their own size and colors.  Personalization at its best!

Please include the following in your comment:  First name, email address, blog address (if you have one), colors you would like your shirt and flower to be.

Example:Evan, anerdlikeme (at) gmail (dot) com, anerdlikeme.com, Ivory shirt with lavender flowers

On your mark….get set….GO!!!!!

Happy voting nerds!

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6

Office Space

The Hubs and I have lived in our home for almost 3 years now.  And none of our rooms our finished.  Its not that we don’t care about our house, its just that we would rather take a trip to Italy than buy a new leather sofa.  See?  Priorities.  (BTW: That trip was a-to-the-mazing!)

But now I’m proud to say that we now have a finished – and furnished – home office!!!

This is what the office used to look like:

It had blue denim-like wallpaper.

Our desk was a long folding table.

The trim was dark blue.

And there were little trains and cars painted on all the doors.

So I got to sanding.  (Is that a bald spot???)

And The Hubs got to painting.

And this is what it looks like now!

We got a new desk and chair!  We were originally going to use an antique desk from my grandparent’s, but it wasn’t quite stable enough for a computer.

Recognize that framed cork board?  Find out how to make one here.

This chest of drawers matches the antique desk we wanted to use.  I absolutely love it!  We didn’t paint it or anything, it just looks perfect all on its own.

And my most FAVORITE part?????

My new reading area!!!

Now I have a place to read my books in peace, without having to fight with the couch cushions and The Hubs’ long, bony legs.

(No offense, The Hubs…you know I love your bony-ness.)

Finally, to complete my reading area, I created a lamp table out of old fat books that have been handed down to me.  This is my favorite part.  For reals.

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The bluebirds are nesting…

One week ago, my wonderful grandfather, who we like to call “Bigdad,” turned 80 years old.  My poor Mimi (the grandma) said she doesn’t know what to do with someone who’s 80 years old!  I told her she should trade him in for two 40-year-olds, but she quickly replied with, “I wouldn’t know what to do with them, either!”  Ha!

In honor of my Bigdad’s momentous 80th birthday, I decided to paint him a picture.  I haven’t painted in years.  He’s a bird lover, like me, so this is what I came up with:

He called me the day he got it to tell me that he not only loved the bluebird I painted for him, but just so happened to be watching two bluebirds build a nest while he was talking to me.  Pretty cool, huh?

I love you, Bigdad!!!!  Here’s to many many more birthdays with you!  Love, Ev

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10

the nerd gets crafty…

The Hubs was blown away by my craftiness the other day.  As you may already know, I have Mondays off, so I enjoyed that special day this week to prepare some “wall jewelry” for our freshly-painted-and-soon-to-be-redecorated-home-office.  Weather permitting, we will be driving up to my grandparent’s in Montgomery to get our ‘new’ antique office furniture this Sunday.  I can’t wait!

Anyhoo, I have some habits that The Hubs despises.  First, I write little notes and lists to myself and leave them all over our desk.  Since our new desk will be half the size of our current one, this will not do.  Second, I put things in boxes and pack them away, saying, “I’ll do something with that soon.”  I never do….

…until now!

Ladies (and gentleman), I took one measly little unused picture frame that has been taking up space in our closet for years, and turned it into 3 important objects for our office!  How freakin’ awesome is that?  Not to mention good for the environment.  Just sayin.’

Object #1: Corkboard (to take care of the notes all over the desk)

To make the corkboard, I used the frame, a piece of foam poster board (to keep from sticking pins straight into the wall), and a thin sheet of cork from the craft store.  All I did was attach the cork to the foam with hot glue, cut it to the exact size that would fit into the frame, and insert it into the frame.  The foam was so thick that the back of the frame wouldn’t go back on, leaving me no way to hang it on the wall…so I improvised….

…with a paper clip.  A-to-the-MAZING!

Object #2: Memory Collage (to take care of the Italy memorabilia that I crammed in the closet)

After making the corkboard, I had the back of the frame left and a whole lotta maps, tickets, and pictures from our trip to Italy stuffed in a box in the closet.  As I sat on the office floor, staring at this perfectly good frame back, I had a epiphany: cover this with Italy memories and hang it on the wall!  Duh!  I meeeeean, it already has wall hanging thingamabobs, so why the heck not?!?!?!

For the background, I attached our map of Rome that helped us get from place to place for 3 days.  This map is fan-freakin-tastic.  It has all of our writing on it, like circles of certain sites to see, lines on which roads to take, bus routes, metro routes, etc.  Then I placed various tickets and whatnot on top of the map.  Top left is a train ticket from Florence to Venice.  Top right is a ticket into the Vatican Museums.  Bottom right is our Roma Pass, which gets you on the metro and the buses.  And bottom left is a ferry ticket to get from our hotel in Venice to the Venice airport….which is a whole other blog entry…fun times.  Fun.  Times.

Finally, in the center of all of this Italy goodness is a collage I made on Picnik of our fave pics from the bunch.  There are 36 pics in all.  You have to get really close to see them all, but I plan to put this in my new reading area in the new office, so the memories will be right next to me when I relax every night with a glass of red and a great book.  The Hubs loved this.  LOVED it.  I’m glad.  I did it for him.

Object #3: Book Table Top

I don’t have a picture of this yet, but as soon as our office is put together, you will see what I’m about to explain.  I love to read.  LOVE to read.  It can sometimes be difficult to get my read on when The Hubs is lounging on the couch.  So I will be setting up a nice little reading area in the corner of our new office.  Check it!  The area will consist of a recliner, a lamp, and a stack of large books acting as a table.  That is what I will be putting the glass piece from the frame on top of, to protect the books.  I cherish the books I will be using for this table.  The stack includes my grandmother Algie’s old dictionary that she passed down to me (that happens to be the size of a small child), my new and antique bird identification books (also huge), the world’s largest bible, and some more dictionaries.  Oh, I can’t wait!!!!!!

So, have you gotten your craft on lately?

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