Charging Station

April 21st, 2013 | Posted by Michelle in Cleaning and Organizing - (Comments Off on Charging Station)

Starting Charging Station

I’ve got far too many electronic gizmos and gadgets, and while they either are very functional or bring me oodles of pleasure, they all have to be charged! I’ve been in the market for a charging station of some sort for quite a while, but I coulndn’t ever find one that I really liked or would work how I envisioned it in my head.

This is what I wanted in a charging station:

  • -Plenty of room for my stuff
  • -Clean and organized
  • -Not take up too much room OR also have extra storage
  • -Very well ventilated things wont overheat
  • -Classy looking/fits in with the decor
  • -Not have the chords hanging in plain site or on the floor like a monster

I could not find anything to fit my needs. They all had some sort of deal breaker that made me believe that it wouldn’t work for me the way I wanted it to. So what do I do? Make my own of course.

I started with this bench from IKEA, it came from their bathroom department and at about $40 it’s not a bad price since the rest of my materials I already had. Though I’m pretty sure that I got it on sale.

Surge Protector

Next I had to figure out how to configure all of my stuff that I needed to plug in. I’ve since gotten a new surge protector since this one seemed to have been around when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Here’s what I’ve got plugged in: iPad, phone (blackberry), drill, quick battery charger, camera battery.

The great thing about using a bench is that I have plenty of room to stack everything on top and the slats allow for great ventilation.

I can’t have my stuff overheating or catching on fire, I would not be too happy.

Velcro and Rubber Bands

I wanted the chords to stay in their one specific spot so the ends wouldn’t go flopping around everywhere or I would have to search around for the chord, so I needed to attach them to the bench but also make sure that I could remove them if needed for travel. To attach/organize my chords I used Velcro (both sticky back and non sticky) and rubber bands to tame the wild beasts that chords can become.

Velcro Attached Chords

I lined up the chords to roughly the spot I wanted them, and then put a piece of sticky Velcro on the bench. To hold down the chord I used non-sticky back Velcro. Awesome. I can move the chords if needed for travel or some other such nonsense.

Organized Chords With Velcro

With everything attached with Velcro, there was no way to lose any of my chords!

Charging Station Chords

I tamed the chords as good as possible with rubber bands, but it still is a bit of a mess.

Finished Charging Station

For now my charging station is finished. I want to eventually figure out a way to hide the chords and surge protector, but it doesn’t look too bad. I’m thinking maybe doing a false box on the front around the chords, like have it only have 3 sides, keeping the top/bottom/back open for ventilation but just covering it from the front/sides so I can’t see anything.

I’ll keep you posted.

Blue Coin Stack Baby Quilt

September 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Michelle in Quilts | Sewing - (Comments Off on Blue Coin Stack Baby Quilt)

Blue Coin Stack Quilt

My best friend has been wanting to be a mother for the past few years, and it has finally happened for her. I was so excited for her and the new addition to the family. She’s almost my sister, I’ve known her for 25-ish years, so this was super exciting for myself also. I finally get to be that crazy aunt figure in someones life.

Blue Coin Stack Fabrics

I wanted her son to have a family heirloom of his very own, for it to bring comfort when I cannot be there to hold him. I made her a quilt for her birthday a few years ago, and I wanted there to be a tie between these two quilts. If you look closely at the fabric then you can tell its the same patterns but in blue instead of pink. It’s a little floral for a boy, but that’s alright. I’m sure in a few years he’ll get a super hero quilt too.

I also really love how I did the quilting. I had never done this type of pattern before, and while it’s simple it really gives it a great texture.

Blue Coin Stack Binding and Backing

The backing is also the same color as my friend’s quilt, so I like having that symmetry also. It was really beautiful, and the bonus was that they both loved it and have used it since that little man was born.

I didn’t get an overall picture of the quilt before I had to mail it down to her, so I’m hoping I will get the chance to get more pictures of it when I see them at Christmas.

Phone Case Decorating Semi-Fail

August 19th, 2012 | Posted by Michelle in Crafts - (Comments Off on Phone Case Decorating Semi-Fail)

I love my BlackBerry. It has been able to keep me organized and together with all of the little alarms and alerts I put in. I am so disorganized but at least this has helped me a little bit.

The one thing that sucks about this version (Torch) is that it’s got a slider so finding a case for it is hard. The top piece always breaks off first and then you’re just stuck with a crappy case that falls off. I really like this case I found on Amazon, and it really holds on to the phone. Or at least it did until I dropped it and a few of the little tabs snapped, now its just turning into another one of those crappy cases that falls off.

So since I need a new case anyways I decided to decorate it. I’ve been a little obsessed with nail polish lately so I decided I would use that. What in the world was I thinking!?

Sparkly Blue Polish

I’ve been a little obsessed with this color lately. I love teal/blue and for some reason now that I’ve almost hit 30 I am in the “I LOVE SPARKLES!!!” mind. I think I really have mentally gone wackers.

Top Case Beginning Of Bling

At first it seemed to be going great. It looked neat having that sparkle on the top piece but it wasn’t as vibrant as I wanted it to be. I was a little concerned that it would take the whole bottle of polish to give it a nice solid teal sparkle look. So on the bottom I decided to use a solid and cover it with the sparkles to see what happens.

Solid Teal Polish

Here’s the thing I didn’t think about though. My case has this nice and slightly grippy coating on it, so if I had it in my lap when driving it wouldn’t go sliding everywhere (which is awesome when you use speakerphone). My husband also loved this case and ordered the exact one for himself. Another reason to want a glittery and girly case is so that you don’t have the momentary “Oh crap, his phone or mine?”. I do still love the blue color though.

Beginning Blue BB Case

I put a ball of tape on the bottom as a sort of handle to hold the case while I painted it, this was the only part of the whole process that actually worked perfectly.

Tape To Hold While Painting

You know that coating that I love? Evidently it doesn’t like nail polish!

Phone Case Fail

It started doing this weird crumpled look all over the case, which is so not cute! I then took the case to the bathroom and removed all the polish with remover and started over.

Finished Case

You can see the areas under the sparkles where it’s black, that’s whats under the blue coating. Luckily the sparkles didn’t cause as much of the weird crumpling, so I just coated it in 3 coats of that. I now can really tell my case apart from the husband’s, but I still need a new case. Unfortunatly the case doesn’t come in the color I want (only red, purple, blue and black) so I’ll just have to suck it up and order one of the other colors.

Not a total fail, but did not turn out the way that I wanted it to!

Commodore Christmas Ornaments

August 18th, 2012 | Posted by Michelle in Crafts - (Comments Off on Commodore Christmas Ornaments)

Finished Commodore Logo

I don’t know about you but I think summer is the best time to start getting your handmade Christmas gifts underway. I generally make all my presents if I can, here’s a past example of something for the Husband.

The things I do for my man. Sometimes I just get these crazy ideas and decide to try and make something but I really have no idea what I’m doing.

The last few years, hallmark has made game themed ornaments that Husband loves. They are modeled after the stand up arcade machines, and they released two classic games: Galaga and Pac-Man. He had no idea they were coming out so he was greatly surprised at Christmas when I would give them to him.

This year he remembered about the ornaments and was so super excited about what would be released in the future when I had to break the news to him.

They weren’t doing them anymore.

He was really quite upset and didn’t understand why they weren’t doing them anymore. I felt so bad for him that I wanted to figure out a way to make him something.
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Funny Old Project

June 15th, 2012 | Posted by Michelle in Sewing | Stuffies - (Comments Off on Funny Old Project)

It can be hilarious when you start looking through old pictures on your computer and come across projects you had forgotten about.

Horned Dice

Kind of like this one. It was a fuzzy horned dice that I had made for an old boss.

Why in the world would I make it for a boss? Well, we were good friends, and at the time he was also driving a huge old car that had a red velvet interior. It reminded me of something that a pimp cowboy would drive. So I decided he needed fuzzy dice hanging from his mirror and a pair of horns attached to his grill. He was all for it but the wife said no. Instead I decided to combine the two and make him Fuzzy Horned Dice! I’m not sure why I made it hot pink, but it was probably just for the hilarity of the situation.

The wife loved it.