Spray Paint Fiasco

I saw this super cute idea on a link party for spray painting a t-shirt and just knew I could do it! To find out how Sarah did it and was successful go check out The Winthrop Chronicles. So I just grabbed one of the plain white v-necks I have and decided to give it a shot. Its worth a try right? Let me start off by saying I decided to do this project last night at 9 and it was windy as all get out outside. So by the end of it I was covered in spray paint and spent more time cleaning it off myself then I did actually doing this.

So this is what I started out with: two t-shirts, a newspaper, painters tape, and a cardboard box. I decided to only do one shirt last night in case things didn't turn out well. Then I could try again today and fix whatever I did wrong.

Sorry the picture is so blurry, I didn't realize it was until today. This is my shirt all taped up and with the cardboard inside it. I put my lines 1 1/4 inches apart. I just guessed for the most part on the lines and eye balled it. The main thing I tried to do when taping the lines was not let the shirt fold over any and have creases under the tape. I didn't go all the way to the top of the shirt so I used the newspaper to cover up what I didn't want spray painted.

This is what it looks like last night before I pulled the tape off. Let me just say that first I ran out of the black spray paint I was using and I had only done half of the shirt. This was not okay so as I rummaged through my paint supply I found a can of black spray paint that had primer with it, I'm not sure if that matters or not but I used it anyway. I didn't want to just stop this project half way so I used it.

This is what it looked like when it was dry and I pulled the tape off. Its not that bad but its not that good either. I think it will work better with another color, black is just so harsh against white it shows every single imperfection. So I will try again this afternoon and hope that it turns out better. I think it would also work better if I spray painted it straight across the shirt from left to right and not up and down. Last night I just tried to get it covered so it was a mixture of both.

Here is a close up of the lines, some of them aren't to bad. I will defintely be trying something different with the next shirt and hopefully that one turns out much better. Now this one might be turned into a tank top or something, there will be more to come on this shirt.

Do you have any suggestions/tips for how to spray paint this?

I'm linking up to

Ocean Air

I love vacations, they are so much fun and I always look forward to getting to spend time with my family. We are loud and crazy Oklahoman's with accents but we have a ball together and I wouldn't trade them for anything. This past week we were in Cozumel together and spent a lot of time laying by the pool, swimming in the ocean, and shopping. We were so happy when we got there that we met some other Oklahoman's and we got to all watch the Thunder games together while we were there. Those were some fun nights in the hotel lobby.

We spent the first day of the trip just laying by the pool and relaxing which we all needed, on Tuesday we made plans for the week and decided to head to the plaza before the Thunder game and do some shopping. Which I would just like to say we do very well, we all came back with lots of goodies! Then we headed to Margaritaville to watch the game with the rest of the Okie's we met.

This is all of us (except my mom, she took the picture) headed to the plaza to do some shopping.

Here Jarr and I are sporting some nice hats.

This is us at Margaritaville, they gave us little captain hats.

On Wednesday four of us went scuba diving, which was a blast. I love scuba diving, its such a great adventure. I don't have any picture from that yet but we took an underwater camera so we have some. The rest of the group went to Dolphine Adventure and got to swim with dolphins! My little sister Corey said this was a blast, she really wanted to see dolphins while we were on the trip. We went back into the plaza again to do some more shopping. We also ate at a little mexican resturant that had some incredible seafood. I was very happy about this.

This was at the Mexican resturant, they always want to put hats on you.

We thought this building was so neat, there were men on the street who had similar paintings you could buy.

Thursday we did a lot of lounging around and enjoyed our last full day together, we ate at the fancy resturant on the resort and got all dressed up then we took family pictures on the beach which turned out amazing.

This is before the dinner, I love taking pictures with him. :)

This is my grandma with all of her grandkids. I know how blessed I am to have these 7 people in my life. My grandma is such an amazing woman and my cousins are more like sisters and brother to me then cousins. We had a blast together this week and I know its a trip we will always remember.

Friday we came home, my two sisters had different flights then us so they left early and we didn't leave until 1. Then when we got to Houston our flight was delayed and we ended up having a 5 hour layover. We finally got home around 2 Saturday morning. It was a long day of traveling but well worth it. I had such a great time with my wonderful family and I can't wait for more vacations with them.

How was your week?

I'm linking up at

Bookcase Makeover

Now for what you've all been waiting for!!! I know I'm the worst, I've made you wait since last Tuesday to see my reveal and it better be fabulous and worth it. Well I defintely think it is and I'm so happy with the outcome of my bookcase makeover. It started off as a white bookcase I found  in Jarr's garage about a year ago, I spray painted it yellow last year very badly. I used it in my bedroom just to put all my school things in but decided it needed a makeover. So here is the process.

We started with this yellow bookcase, you can't tell from my picture but it looks bad. I spray painted it and it was super runny. So first I sanded it down and got everything at the same texture and smoothness. Then I primed it a little with some white spray paint, I just went over it once to dull down the yellow.

Then I spray painted it red. I absolutely love this color, it is bright and wild but I love it. Its Krylon barn red. I used almost two cans of this because I wanted to make sure it was really covered and everything was the same shade. I did probably 5-7 light coats of red, when I say light I mean I barely covered it. It took a while but was definitely worth it. I didn't have any runs.

Then came the hard part, deciding what to do to make it special. To see my inspiration check out my Bookcase Pinspiration. With all of these ideas out in blog land it makes it hard to decide what to do. I decided to try something I've been wanting to do but was unsure about trying. I just went for it. Some people are saying that chevron is on its way out but I don't think so. I love the look of it on this bookcase. I think it adds exactly what it needed. I followed April's tutorial on A Kitchen Table for Two. Go and check out her super easy tutorial!

This is what it looked like with all the tape on top, then I used a craft knife to cut out my design. Before I go any farther I need to give all the credit for this to Jarr. He did all of this and I just watched, I know I couldn't of done this without his help and I'm so glad I have such a great boyfriend who is so willing to help me. So after I got the design I wanted with the tape we pushed down the tape really well and then went outside in the dark, yes it was like midnight when we did this, and spray painted the bookcase. I just used flat white spray paint from Krylon.

This is what it looked like when it was all spray painted. Before it all dried we started pealing the tape off so it wouldn't peal and paint off. I think this worked out the best way.

This is what the top looked like before I sanded everything down. I think it looks great. It turned out so good, the lines were almost perfect! I was really happy with the outcome at this point but I wanted to distress it some and make it look antiqued so it would match all of my Coke stuff for my kitchen. So I used a sanding block and I distressed the edges and the top some then I used some Minwax stain I had to make it look older.

This is what the top looks like with the stain on it. I think this looks amazing! I love the dark spots that there are and I think this definitely fits in with the aged Coke stuff I have. 

I love the way the stain looks on the bottom shelves also, I adds so much character to the shelf. It already has lots of little holes and scratches in it just from before and the stain made all of those stand out. I love it! My plan was to spray a couple of clear coats of seal on top of it but then I couldn't find it so I just put a layer of Modpodge on top and I think that will work just as well because I'm going to let it set a couple of days before I do anything to it.

What do you think? Do you like the chevron?

I'm linking up at

The Little Things

As I spend my Sunday packing up my bags and getting ready to head to my momma's house so I can get on a plane in the morning I am thinking about how blessed I am. Most of you don't know much about me so I'm going to tell you a few things. I was raised by a single mother with my two sisters. My mom is hands down the most incredible person I know, she has literally put her life on hold for me. I can honestly say I don't know what I would do without her. She is the best mom in the world and I wouldn't change the fact that she's the only parent I have. She has taught me how to use power tools, how to grout and tile a kitchen, how to paint walls, how to change a tire, and how to love and be loyal to people.

This is me and my momma at Christmas. Please excuse the fact that I was sick the whole time.

I mentioned that I have two sisters. They are crazy, we all are crazy but I love them. I don't know what I would do without them. My partners in crime, my biggest supporters, my secret keepers, they are so much more then just my sisters. Mallory is my older sister and just graduated from college, now she is applying for optometry school. She has worked so hard our whole lives and I know her dreams will come true, she got engaged to her high school sweetheart at Easter and they are getting married next summer. Corey is my little sister, I don't even know how to begin. She is 17 and a handful, she is my best friend and we have been through a lot together. She is so incredible and it amazes me how insightful she is. I'm so proud of the women they are and will become.

This picture perfectly describes us, Mallory has the curly hair and Corey is the little blonde. Our relationship is always like this, a lot of goofing around and constant laughing.

Now my family is very different from other families, since my mom is a single parent and my mom and aunts are very close we were all raised as brothers and sisters. I only have two full blood sisters but I really have a lot more then that. My cousins are my siblings and I know I can count on them just like my sisters and treat them just like I treat Mal and Corey. My aunts are my second mom's, they went to all of my events in high school and never missed any of the important things in my life. My family is much more then just people I see at reuions, they are people I see on a regular basis and talk to frequently. I am so excited to spend this week with them on vacation. I know we are going to have a great time together!

This is most of us at my cousin's sweet 16 in Feburary.

Who is your family?