Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Office Desk Awesomeness

Chicago Bears Desk

As you all should know by now I am a HUGE Chicago Bears Fan!
My office/craft room is dedicated to Da Bears so what better thing to have in my office than a Chicago Bears Desk!?!? I have been working on this desk for months and months! I know it shouldn't have taken me as long as it has but I've been working on it here and there and not constantly. 

I started with a table that was meant to be a dining room table. I primed it and used a foam roller because every blog or pinterest thing I read said use a foam roller. I don't recommend a foam roller though. It caused the paint to be textured and I don't like that. I have used a foam roller on several projects and honestly hate it, so from now on regular rollers for me! Leaves a MUCH smoother finish, for my desk though it's not necessary to have a smooth finish because I'm going to add a glass top to it!

Anyways, after priming my table I painted the top green, like grass green and the table legs and sides I painted white. I then measured the table (5ftx3ft) to decide how I wanted to divide up the table into "yard lines" I knew I needed two endzones and 9 different "yard lines." My endzones are 5in and the rest of the yard lines are also 5in apart. I then took a ruler and a paint pen and drew the "yard lines" and with a stencil I added the 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50. At this point I stopped working on my table for awhile (months) because I needed (wanted) an easy way to add "Bears" "Chicago" and a bear head to the table. Lucky for me a friend just recently bought a vinyl printer! Like seriously lucky me! Because of this printer my job just got 100% easier! I had originally planned on tracing the letters onto the table and hand painting the lettering and bear head, which would have taken forever and would not have been even close to what it turned out to look like. So my friend let me use their printer and we printed out "Bears" "Chicago" and two versions of the bear head. I used the Chicago Bears original font (just like their field) because I wanted it authentic. Although unlike their field I put a bear head in the center of the field instead of the Bears C.



I put down the stencil and then painted it all one coat of green, I did this in case of any bleeding of the paint. 



After the green dried I did two coats of primer so the orange would be easier to paint. After the primer dried I did 4 coats of orange. Four seems excessive but I wanted to make sure it was perfect. 

Now I've read to pull off stencils before paint is done drying so I did that. DO NOT BELIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ! because once again I was led astray (first time was foam rollers, ugh) the paint came with it, so I had to do some touch-ups. 


It still looks good but I wish I had let the paint dry, lesson was learned though and I waited when it came time to do the bear head. Since the bear head needed to be both orange and blue I had to add stencil on top of my other stencil. Once the orange dried on the bear head I put down the new stencil and did one coat orange, in case of bleeding. I then did 3 coats of the blue. I waited until the paint was all dry and then took an exacto knife to the stencil. This part was tedious, some paint came up with the stencil so I had to go slow and had to be super careful. It looks good though so it was worth the patience. I then decided to add a white outline around the "Bears" and "Chicago" since that is how the field is in real-life. I just used a paint pen again, I then took green paint and touched up any spots that needed it. I personally think it looks pretty awesome now and I'm very excited to start using my craft room more!! 

All in all this project probably only took me like a days time, the table cost me $85 and maybe $30 worth of supplies and most of that was paint. Below are pictures of the whole process! I'm looking forward to more projects like this for my office/craft room!!



Monday, February 17, 2014

Cooper Turns 5!

So I've been quiet for awhile, mainly because I've been super busy and also because well it's winter and I can't do any DIY House Projects because it is too dang cold out. But recently, February 14th to be exact, Cooper turned 5! Now I know, what's the big deal about a dog turning 5!?! Well he's my kid, he is so very important to me, he's my protector, my cuddle buddy, my shoulder to cry on, my best friend, and my son. He means the world to me, so I wanted to celebrate his birthday! Now I've only had Cooper for about 2 years now. I got him October 27th, 2011, I actually rescued him and in all honesty I think he rescued me. I had a dog before him a Great Dane Black Lab mix and he had some health issues and passed away, it was heart-breaking and I didn't get over it for awhile. At the time I found Cooper I was living in a house that I rented with some friends so I had a weight restriction on a dog 20lbs or less (Cooper is 30lbs btw) so I knew I had to get me a smaller breed, that's when I discovered American Eskimos. Cooper is the standard size of them, I had wanted a mini one but when I went to go pick one out at the rescue Cooper caught my attention. He was jumping around, playful, so excited; I knew he was the one! From the minute I took him home he has just known I was his and he was mine; he always wants to cuddle with me and HAS to be next to me when I fall asleep. We've had some ups and downs, it took awhile for us to really figure each other out, there are times when I'm in a bad mood and unfortunately he does something and gets yelled at but he is pretty quick to forgive me and there are times where he gets angry and aggressive but I'm pretty quick to forgive him. He takes the over-protectiveness to an extreme, he does not like strangers, does not like guys especially when they are wearing hats or sunglasses, and he does not like it when people come into his house. He will warm up to people eventually but he is a very good judge of character. When I'm sad because of life or whatever is going on and crying he will come right up to me and try to get my attention, he even sits on my phone as to try to stop me from reading texts that make me cry. I'm very lucky to call him my pup. He does so many things to make me smile. I could not be happier that we picked each other that day. Here is a look back over the past few years with Cooper.
The first day I got him, he was so happy to be home with me!

He always has a place in my heart.

Always smiling!


The way he looks at me, I know he loves me


He likes to sit on cats!

And of course he is a Chicago Bears fan!

Such a sleepy puppy sometimes

But always willing to cuddle
Christmas of '11 together!

That face he makes.

So dang photogenic!





Happy after the groomers!

Even loves spending time with his little sis (Shes not so little anymore)

And he knows how to ROCK a Sweater!!

Cooper is 5 today!!

Cuddles for the birthday boy!


My two loves waking me up in the morning


So to celebrate his birthday I did two things for him: 1. I made him a dog friendly birthday cake (which I will explain to you how to make) and 2. I gave him a whole trash bag full of water bottles. (One of Cooper's quirks is that he HATES dog toys of any kind, he is however in LOVE with water bottles, he could play with them for hours, which he did.)


Cooper and all his water bottles! He went crazy for them!

Such a happy birthday boy!

Son & Mom!

Even Bri got in on the birthday fun!

Always trying to give me lovings!



DOG-FRIENDLY BIRTHDAY CAKE RECIPE
1 Egg
1 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Corn Oil
1 Cup Shredded Carrot
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

First mix the flour and the baking soda together in a small bowl and then add the other ingredients one by one, doesn't really matter what order (I saved the egg for last though,) make sure you mix them thoroughly though! Once you're done mixing pour the mixture into a greased pan! I used a 5x8in pan (one you'd use for a loaf of bread) and it maybe filled 1/3 of it. I recommend doubling this recipe if you plan on making this cake for more than one dog. Anyways, make sure the oven is set for 350 degrees and once it is preheated put the pan in the oven for 15-20mins. I checked on it after 15mins and it was just barely not done. Once it is golden brown and thoroughly cooked take it out of the oven. I didn't frost my cake but I'm sure there are some dog safe frosting recipes out there. My dog LOVED his cake. I ended up cutting it in half and stacking the pieces so it was taller rather than wider. Hope your dog loves the cake as much as mine did, btw the cake is human friendly too and I must say its pretty good, especially if you like peanut butter.





Happy Birthday Cooper!!