Lulu Bliss

I have never been so SORE!!!

Oh my goodness, I never thought tearing up 70 year old linoleum would be such back breaking work!  I am wiped out and sore all over.  We have been working on the kitchen floor for the past 3 days about 4-5 hours each day and we aren't even close to done. 

Here is me just getting started:

The iron on the tin foil is supposed to heat up and loosen the adhesive, then you scape it up.  Sounds so easy, but NOOOO, this stuff is evil and doesn't want to come up. 

This is after one day of work on the floor (I didn't show what Matthew has done, he started working on the other side of the kitchen):

Not such a huge dent in the 300 square feet of tile we have to rip up!  BTW, I bought the cheapy $5 knee pads, seen in the above image, thinking that they would be fine.  Don't do it, if you want to save your knee's!  Today, I broke down and bought the $20 one's and I feel like my knee's are on pillows:

I heart these fancy pants gel lined knee pads!  If you know me, you would have never thought I would get excited about great knee pads.  I guess this is a sign that my life is really changing. I am entering my new domestic DIY part of my life and I do enjoy it, even if it is hard work and a huge learning curve.  Here are my other two lifesavers:

A new sharper scraper and the pink canvas/leather gloves (a girl has got to save her hands from blisters). 

The progress is slow and I won't bore you with the pictures of daily progress, but it will be a while before we will have it all ripped up.  We just picked up our brand new linoleum tiles yesterday!  They are going to look great but right now they are just waiting, ready for us to lay them down, but it will be a couple of weeks.

I will keep you posted. 

How to Make Your Own Embroidery Pattern Video...

is up on Craft! Thursday after work Natalie filmed me showing how to create your own embroidery pattern from a photo. This is the first time I have ever been filmed for anything, so please excuse the goofy, nervous rambling.

Yes, this is the same embroidery of Mikey that I started almost one year ago. What can I say, I have crafting ADD.

Let me know what you think. Also, please feel free to share any tips you may have for creating your own embroidery patterns.

Bell Jar Pretty Things

Here are some pictures of what I purchased at my friend Sasha's store Bell Jar:

I got a beautiful hand painted silhouette (in yellow frame), an art deco bottle, four reproduction art deco cards and 2 reproduction 1920's notebooks.

Here is a close up of the painting.  I just love this, it will be going in my crafting studio.

I couldn't pass up this bottle either.  I haven't decided if this will go in the bathroom or in my studio. 

It was so hard to decide on what to buy.  I wanted sssooooo many things, but also had a budget to stick to. 

For more images of the opening, the store and my pillows in the store check out Natalie's Flickr set. 

Come on out Saturday Evening...

My good friend Sasha is opening a fabulous store named Bell Jar, in the Mission, on Saturday!  We are all very excited and can't wait to see the final result of all of her hard work.  I have had a sneak peak at the store before it was finished and was blown away, so I am sure the finished product is absolutely amazing!  Here is the info on the opening:

She was also featured in yesterday's SF's Daily Candy and was kind enough to mention the handmade pillows I have made for here store!  Here is a quick sneak peak of one of the pillows in progress:

I hope to see you there!

Thrifting finds...

I have been so busy with work and home stuff that I haven't had a lot of time for much else.  I am looking forward to my big life change of leaving my corporate job and focusing my time on fixing up the house and planning our wedding (after the wedding I will focus on my own crafty business).  The countdown is on, only two more full weeks of this work left!  I did manage to squeeze in some thrifting in the last couple of weeks and here are some of my more interesting finds:

I saw a needlepoint bag like this on Tricia Royal's blog, bits and bobbins, a long time ago and fell in love with it.  Then I found my own for only $2.99!

I love vintage sheets and bedding... the bright colors and fun patterns make me smile.  I don't know what I am going to do with my growing collection, but I am adding a fitted sheet and pillow case that I recently picked up.

OOOHH!  My favorite find in the past couple of weeks is this "Brown Terra" patterned Pyrex casserole.  I am very happy to add this to my vintage Pyrex collection.