-
Hearts and Records: A SockHop Dance
A while back I volunteered to organize a dance at Bug’s school. Why I’m on the PTA in the first place is a good question but you know the answer to that. It’s because I’m a fool! I never meant to be politically involved in school matters, I just wanted to help out with graphics and stuff. What can I say? I love a good makeover and Bug’s school was badly needing in the graphics department. Next thing I knew, I had a title and I have to show up to meetings every month.
It’s okay though. It’s actually pretty fun. I mean, how could I possibly turn down planning a 50’s-themed sock hop? What a dream job!
First thing I did was break out the mettaprints. It’s good to work for a cardboard company because I can design anything I want for half the price. I wanted to make hearts and records out of cardboard and then hang them like dangly decorations. This would have taken forever if I did it by hand so having mettaprints do all the cardboad cutting saved me a TON of time. I could have had them print the records and hearts too but that took away from the homemade feeling and would have substantially cost more.
So I painted them myself with help from another PTA mom. (Thanks Maria!!) We had a ton of fun.
I think the fact that I never got to go to school dances when I was a kid probably influenced my level of involvement on this. I had big prom-sized dreams.
I know, it’s just an elementary school dance but those dreams paid off! How cool do these dangling decorations look all hung up in the multipurpose room at school? It’s like the movie, Carrie. But without pigs blood. Yes, painting all those hearts and records took two days and many messes and I had to tie them all together with little bits of red yarn while I watched Bug play soccer (I’m sure the other parents thought I was nuts.) but it was worth it!
When I looked out over the kids dancing to Chuck Berry, it felt like I was back in time.
Everyone had a lot of fun.
Even Elvis showed up!! It was really hard to talk one of the dads into dressing up but Maria’s husband saved the day at the eleventh hour and he was soooooo good! Our Elvis could dance!
Then everybody rushed him for photos. Even the principal!
So that’s how I contribute to the PTA. I might not be solving any big core curriculum problems or balancing budgets but I am making things more photogenic!
-
Giant Picture Frame Headboard
I wasn’t going to blog this because who’s going to go out and buy a three-and-a-half by five-foot picture frame and then spray paint it pink so they can make it into a cool headboard? That’s more of a I-just-found-this-is-the-alley-behind-my-house kinda DIY thing. But who knows, it got so much love on Instagram, I decided to take photos of it and post them here. Because why not?! Surely someone is googling “How to make a cheap headboard.” I know, I have. I have no idea how much frames like this cost though (somebody is probably cursing me for ruining a perfectly good frame with spray paint) but if you have one, it’s pretty easy and looks kinda cool.
I have no advice on where to buy a frame cheap. My friend Deb’s husband found this by their trash and they immediately thought of me. I’m not sure what that says about me and my standards regarding things in the trash but I’ll go with it. I love spray painting things and using them as something else. At first I was just going to use it as a background in a Valentine’s photoshoot but then I needed a place to stash it in my tiny one-bedroom apartment and behind the bed seemed like the best place.
And guess what?! It kinda looks like a headboard! It’s not functional as one. We still hit our head on the wall when we want to sit up in bed but it looks cool. And most importantly it shows off our new flea market rainbow blanket nicely. Another find I picked up because I thought it would look cool in a photo shoot. Basically my house is a living prop house.
If you want steps on how to do this, here is what you do:
1. get a big ol’ frame
2. remove the artwork from inside it (or not)
3. lay it out somewhere that you can spray paint (preferably outside in a well-ventilated area with a giant piece of cardboard behind it to catch all the overspray)
4. spray the heck out of it using the usual spray painting methods
5. let it dry
6. heft it up stairs and shove it behind your mattress.
Vwah Lah! Done.
