Pottery Painting is the New Bar Trivia

A while back, our bar trivia nights got cancelled because the bar couldn't support the fees anymore. We were heartbroken.. Lost.. What will we do on Tuesday nights?!

Then we found pottery. Our salvation!

We started going to Creatopia, a paint-your-own-pottery place in Downtown Plymouth, a few weeks ago. And we're in love. At first we thought the whole shebang was a little pricey -- $16 for a cup plus a $5 studio fee?! But then we realized that we easily spent the same amount at trivia every week, and that was on alcohol rather than, you know, something we'd have for keeps.

So far I've made a cup and a bowl. Apparently I'm going for a set of whimsy dishes? I love them. Scotty has been solely working on a Hulk head cookie jar, which is finally complete, hahaha. Whatta dude choice, am I right?

Hulk's hair lifts off, and when it's missing it looks like Hulk is balding... So Scotty painted the "bald" part green to really hit that look home. 

We're going again tonight {Thursday is ladies night, which means Michele and I get a discounted studio fee!} and I'm planning to take photos of the actual process. 

What do you think? Pottery seems like an even exchange for bar night, right? ;-)

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Endless Summer

Having had a not-so-summery-summer, Scotty and I wanted to cram a whole lot o' summer into our weekend before my school year starts. 

The perfect summer day: beautiful weather and every stereotypical "summer" activity. 

We grilled and had a picnic by the lakeside {where much to my dismay, a woman was feeding the geese and ducks by the hundreds}, played putt-putt {I got three holes in one!}, went swimming, and went on a midnight ice cream run. Perfect. 

What are your quintessential summer activities? :)

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Furniture Facelift: Ornate Table

I'm thinking of making this a series of sorts: Furniture Facelifts. Because truth be told, a large percentage of my "crafty DIYs" are really about how I saved some abandoned, ugly piece of furniture and gave it new life. 

Take this table. I found it in the upstairs storage area of my stepdad's business and begged him to let me have it. It was his grandmother's, so it took some convincing, but eventually he handed it over. I began the project in my pre-blogging days, so I don't have a before picture. Just imagine the table all wood instead of white {it has one coat of primer in the above photos}.

This table has great details. Which are beautiful, but also incredibly difficult to sand. So I discovered an amazing product -- liquid sandpaper! Or deglosser {a way less cool name}. You basically rub that all over and it removes the glossy layer on something, helping the paint/primer adhere better. So I did that.  

Then I used spray primer allllll over this baby. The spray primer was able to get into all the nooks and crannies in a way that a paint brush would not have really been able too. 

A couple coats of primer later, I added a few coats of white satin spray paint. I use Krylon brand from Michael's {equipped with a trigger attachment} because it's the best. But that's just personal preference. ;) Finally, I sprayed a couple coats of polyurethane all over for added durability. And that's it!

I love the crisp white, the contrast between the new paint and old style. Now I have a bright and fresh looking table. It always amazes me what a difference a simple coat of paint can make. ♥

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Little Piglet

Fall is approaching and all my favorite craft stores smell like Autumn. Mmm... I love it. But Fall means Christmas is coming in craft-world, which means I need to get my Etsy shop up to date!

I'm working on my little stuffed guys for now, and handing Christmas ornament patterns over to Momma to supervise.

What do we think of my little piggy? ♥

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Summer Lovin' @ Zoomance

Have you heard of the Zoomance? It's quickly becoming one of my favorite summer traditions.

Basically, the Detroit Zoo holds an adults-only night, on which only those 21 and up are allowed at the zoo {hello, no screaming kids or crying babies?!}. You get to see the animals at night and they serve booze.

Unfortunately, this is the only non-blurry photo I could salvage. Let's just say it was dark, the animals were far away, and I had had a few captain and coke's by the fountain at this point, okay? ;-)

SUCH a cute date night activity, folks. Gotta love it. ♥

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