I'm gonna wash that dog right outta my car!

So last week I paid the hard earned monies to have a person come and clean my car. Before I had a big ol' dog if someone told me they did this I would have thought this was a colossal waste of money, and also though they were lazy. I mean it's a car, not a palace, how long could it take to pick up a few old french fries from under the seat, wipe out the cup holders and vacuum up some dirt. Big whoop!

Then I got a dog. A fluffy, furry, 70lb ball of shedding and often stinky damp fur.

Do not let the pretty face fool you. Holly here is no pretty little lady. No. She swims in the river, or is content to roll in any puddle that is slightly damp, in other words... mud. When we take her to have her cleaned (or tackle it ourselves) her first instinct is to run directly to the nearest pile of dirt and roll in it. For real. Little boys dream...  that's for sure.

So after one long winter hauling around my girl holly in the back of the SUV that thing was starting to smell like a kennel. A kennel full of damp muddy dogs. So I threw my hands in the air and said "that's it! I'm calling someone! This car is disgusting!" - A few hours later, I got back an SUV with nearly zero dog fur in it.... and it smelled like strawberry Pez... bonus! I am never letting that dog in here again!!

Poor Holly... she would be so sad. So, plan B - get a cargo cover to keep the hair manageable and the stink washable!
But some of these things go for over $50. It's a freaking blanket secured to the car!!

HOLY CRAP. It's a blanket secured to the car!!!

SO I went and got a blanket for $5 that is ugly as ugly can be... because I really wasn't sure it would work... and draped it across the back of the seat and over the flooring of the cargo. Taking note of the spots where I could secure the blanket, and marking it in the spots I planned to add a scrap piece of ribbon.

 

Then I sewed the ribbons scraps on... I mean no one is going to see the underside of this thing... and it's for the dog to rub it's dirty feet on. Let's keep things real here, old shoelaces would be acceptable here.

I also marked on either side of the headrests because I figured I could either attach a long piece of ribbon, or a Velcro loop, or elastic to loop over the top of it and keep the back of the blanket fully covering the upholstery in the back...  Because... miss manners also drools all over the side of the seat. Yuck.

In the end, after about an hour or marking tie placement, running around finding scraps of ribbon, and sewing the ribbon and elastic in place I had this:

Gotta love that vote of confidence right? This is why I do this people... this is why I blog...  you guys might actually care! ha! Stinker...

Anyhow you can see that there are about 6 ties on there, and you can't see- but two elastic loops at the top to hold the blanket up around the headrests. The only thing left to do was tie in the back of the SUV and see what the critics thought.

Seems to do the trick... in fact....

This could keep my back seat cleaner too... heh heh... bugger. Note how UNIMPRESSED the dog is?  When he got in she knew her chances of a car ride were over. Or, she is also wondering what is up with the... cow? camouflage? whatever that is print going on back there. Maybe she felt all ninja... like we can't see her back there now. *snicker*.

But I digress - $5 cargo cover! Yay!

What started it all...

I'm sure that somehow the tripping over wrapping paper tubes was what spurred on the whole red room to craft room redo.

So I am just giving you a glimpse into the red room... a sliver of progress... something to prove there IS actually things being done.

This is the closet (which is slowly becoming decrapified).

Now look a little bit closer...

There is all that offending wrapping paper! I finally came up with a system that will work for me. I need to SEE what I have, so poking it under the bed is no option or  I just assume I have none, and keep buying more. So I quickly rigged up a way to hang the rolls neatly and it didn't involve a drill, or dowels. No sir...  meet my seriously unfancy wrapping paper hangers:

That's it! I just screwed the cup hooks into a piece of trim that holds up that top shelf, one on each side trying to keep each set relatively parallel. Then I cut the twine to string across. I left extra twine so I could tie it into loops at either end and that way I could easily remove the twine and take out which ever wrapping paper tube I needed.
Easy peasy folks. Being cheap can sometimes result in the easiest solution... for once!

Here's a sneak peak of what is to come:

That is my $5 sewing table. I am just thinking over some finishing touches and hopefully it will be ready to show you in a couple days!

An idea...

I was in the middle of fighting with a canvas last night and it hit me... not the canvas, but an idea.

These things happen when whatever I have planned for a project does not turn out as I had expected... at all. So I don't have a "ta-da" for you today. But I do have an idea of a ta-da for tomorrow.

A friend of mine had asked me to come up with some kind of wall hanging for her daughters room. So I went back and forth on a few things... but I finally think I may have come up with an idea! Last night I abandoned the canvas and trying to make it into a hair band / jewellery holder (sort of) and thought about maybe a series of canvases (or possibly frames... hmm) that I could make into something special - and useful. Her daughter is coming into that transitional age so it still has to be fun... here are some inspiration pictures of what is to come.



Family Fun




Anthropologie

 





La Petite Playhouse




Under the Table and Dreaming - Via: One Pretty Thing