Tattoo ReDo

This is a seriously great before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

Short story -

I drew the design and brought it to the artist my husband used.

The guy seemed friendly and it was a small thing so he said it wouldn't be an issue.

I specifically asked him not to use black - I wanted it pale and subtle.

He agreed.

I got the tattoo.

He used black..."to make it pop" and couldn't figure out why I was so upset.

I felt really disrespected, hurt, and haven't had a tattoo since.

I have always hated and tried to hide it.

Then, on a particularly nice day when I was walking somewhere new, I happened to notice a small tattoo studio Ink and Paint on Stone way. I emailed the owner and operator, Nina, and shared my story and inquiry on if she did cover-ups and asked her opinion on what might be done. She immediately put me at ease with her calm, professional, but caring demeanor. Her shop felt really comfortable - a mix of eclectic cartoon cells, dinosaurs, and current projects but everything still clean and organized. It felt like the shop of a working artist.

We came up with some ideas and since I really like camellias I did a few drawings and she did one and we tried but couldn't make it work. The star shape, single color, and tight proportions weren't working out.

I started to look for star-shaped flowers figuring that if we couldn't easily hide the lines it might be better to accentuate them instead.

Some possible options were: fuchsia, bittersweet nightshade, morning glories, and lilies.

Bittersweet nightshade was my favorite.

I like it because it grows in the East coast where I grew up and it grows on the West coast where I live now. I like it because it is a very pretty flower, but also one that isn't as showy - it isn't a lily shouting out front and center, but its flowers and berries are bright little stars against a green backdrop. I like it because although it is small and pretty, it is also strong. Bittersweet nightshade can make a person ill if they aren't careful. If you don't treat it with respect it'll get the better of you - that's a sentiment I much prefer (literally) over the one where a man made decisions for my body without my consent.

Nina was great, loved the images I sent her, and worked up a second drawing that aligned much better with the existing ink. The colors were also much more flexible - shades of purple and green that could blend into the stars as opposed to a flat red that would have been for the camellias.

It took about a month to find time in Nina's schedule - which was perfectly fine, I wasn't in a rush.

On my actual tattoo date we went through the placement, she double checked the colors, and it went fairly smoothly. Getting a tattoo on the space behind your ear is painful and LOUD and I didn't want to talk or move my jaw in any way for fear of warping the skin behind my ear. So I passed the time staring at Nina's dinosaurs and still-cells from different animations.

After the tattoo was complete she went through the normal post-tattoo review for care and gave me a sample of Aquaphor and a card with aftercare review. It has been healing lovely and during a bike ride with D we even stumbled across some bittersweet nightshade growing wild along the Burke Gilman bike trail.

What do you think?

Backyard Remodel - The Dog Garden

At SilverMoon the backyard isn't huge, but it is large enough for a patio, raised planting beds, a fire pit, fruit trees, a storage shed, and maybe even a small greenhouse one day. I can see it...in my mind, but to get there involves a lot of work.

The backyard started out as a mechanic's garage. Even after the structure was removed, the underlying cement slab was still there. We removed most of the slab - leaving a trapezoid shape for use as a patio and using the chunks of concrete as reinforcement along the fence. But it is still an old 1950's mechanic's lot. You can't dig the ground without unearthing windshield wipers, chains, hunks of twisted metal, and lots of glass.

I'd hate to see the soil toxicology report. The ground is good for grass and flowers but we won't be eating anything from this soil for the next 100 years. Raised beds will be required for anything edible.

To that end, we have (mostly) leveled the soil, removed as much of the surface debris as possible, and begun several projects around the yard. We have a half-circle raised bed for flowers at the fence and the fruit trees have been installed.

The most recent project has been the addition of a Dog Garden. We came to the realization that our dog needed a steady place to go and that with the constant changes going on in the back yard he didn't have a consistent "toilet" area.

Solution - build one!

 

It started with 4 layers of black landscape cloth to prevent weeds but also allow drainage. For the fence we reused a shipping pallet that had delivered the house siding a few months earlier.

Note on reusing shipping pallets: seriously consider time/effort over money here. To reuse the pallet we had to rip the old nails out of all of the wood, cut each plank to remove the previously nailed part / damaged edges, then measure what we had left and trim down again to the lengths we needed, then sand each piece, and then stain each piece. This was not a cake-walk. Reusing is cool, but in the end it may cost more than going to the lumber yard and the quality of pallet wood can be questionable.

I trimmed the area with flexible landscape edging and broke up the rectangle with an arc. The larger section was filled with pea gravel and the arc was covered in rubber mulch. I went with rubber mulch over traditional wood shavings because it is paw and finger friendly (no splinters!), recycled, can be rinsed off to keep it clean, and it doesn't hold water unlike wood mulch so it is less friendly to bacteria.

The fence is made of the recycled shipping pallet and black mesh netting. Since it is an area less likely to sprout seeds - I put my birdfeeder in the arc and we decorated the pea gravel area with a "marking" stone. The space also holds my hanging hummingbird feeder and it has a cement disk that will be the base of a tall planter I'm currently working on.

 

So far, and it has only been a week, the dog seems to love it. He has a space all his own to do his business and then, once he is done, he can come out and run around and play in the rest of the yard. It is nice for the humans too because 1- it is easy to clean, and 2- we can stop worrying about stepping on poo and start working on other backyard projects.

Next up - finishing the pea gravel border around the house and the fruit trees and running drip irrigation!

 

Fighting evil by moonlight - Bad-ass Motorcycle Makeup

I've been pimping my ride - sticker style!

First - I made a rough estimate of the area I wanted to sticker. Just visualizing the style. By the way - Sailormoon / Pinkie pie crossover is what I was going for.

See that grey "x"? Say goodbye to the grey!

Second - Wipe down and prep the area. I used painters tape and leftover Christmas wrapping paper to protect the rest of the bike. Spray a few layers of plasti-dip on the surface of the bike. Follow plasti-dip directions! It came from DipYourCar and those guys make instructional videos - watch them first!

Painters tape first, then wrapping paper and masking tape to prevent overspray

Third - Stickers! I roughed out the layout on my couch and made final adjustments on the bike itself.

Sources:

• My Sailormoon stickers came from Etsy - MikomiAccessories and BeagleCakesArt
• The MLP stickers and washi tape were found at Target
• Retro reflective tape - Streetglo

Right side

Left side - you can see the shine of the mod-podge, this is before applying the final coats of clear plasti-dip. After application that shine disappeared.

Fourth - After applying the stickers - I lightly brushed over the sticker area with mod-podge. A few of the stickers kept lifting because I'd had to move them once....maybe ten times to get the design right. A little patience and podge fixed it!

I was a little nervous since the podge was high gloss - but once it dried and I sprayed another coat of plasti-dip over it the shine faded and after 3 more layers of the plasti-dip...well, my bike is winning love by daylight!

How To Do This - Capsule Wardrobe with Coordinated Colors! Part 1

As many of you may already know - I have 6 drawers of clothes. That's it. No closet, no clothing storage, no boxes of different stuff - 6 drawers. I used to have a closet, and hangers, and a full dresser, and boxes of clothes for every season... but now I have 6 drawers. Odd thing is, I always have something to wear which wasn't always true before when I had full closets!

When we first decided to move into the tiny house and I knew I'd have to pare down I was really nervous. Running through my head were thoughts like:

• I already can't find clothes to wear!
• There is not enough storage for anything!
• I'm going to have to give up my favorite X!
• What about my fancy / expensive thing that I only wear once a year?
• Nothing I have matches!
• But I'll be able to fit into these jeans in 6 months so why get rid of them?

I approached purging with dread. Going through my dresses, jeans, and tops - I kept thinking I was losing something. It was slow, torturously slow, but by the time we moved in I had donated several boxes and bags of clothing. I had less, but I still had way more than 6 drawers worth of clothes.

I think I was searching online for storage methods when I came across "capsule wardrobe." A capsule wardrobe is a curated collection of essentials - core garments - that can be augmented with seasonal pieces.

Sounds good - but how do you go about making one?

Step one - Be Inspired!

I spent some time online looking at images that made me happy. Whenever I found something I liked I opened a paint doc and dropped a copy of it there. This isn't the original image-board I went to step 2 with - that board was much larger and full of lots more images, but this is a quick sample for you folks to get the general idea.

Make your own board with things that you really like - but the key here is visual things. Quotes or ideas don't work on this. Look for things that both mean something to you and have an image with colors you enjoy looking at.

Step two - Find Your Colors!

I talking Paint here because that was the easiest and more accessible for me. You could totally do this same project on Photoshop or any number of digital art programs.

Open your picture board in one tab. Open a blank paint window in another. Make it big. Make a black rectangle. Copy/paste until you have a large grid of black rectangles. Make as many as you want!

Now go to you picture board tab and, using the eyedropper tool, select colors that stand out to you and drop them into your blank rectangles. When you pull a color ask yourself: do I like this color? Is this the best color from this image?

My original color chart

Step three - Narrow it down!

Before moving on to the next step, ask yourself - how many clothes do you want to have? How much laundry do you want to be responsible for? How many colors might you really need in your wardrobe?

Some people may need to have 4 full seasonal wardrobe changes. Some might want 3, or 2, or maybe they just want one signature style. I chose 2 clothing switches - a fall/winter and spring/summer. That means I made one color palette for fall/winter and another for spring/summer.

I made a palette grid with 2 basics, three main colors, and 4 accent colors. I pulled the colors from the large grid of colors. It took a while of playing around with different options - I mean, how many shades of pink are there in my grid? How many shades of pink do I want to wear?

Take some time finding the right color combinations - you have your large palette which has already narrowed it down, you have a good start! Now, are there any colors that particularly stand out for you? Copy/paste them to the side of the grid and arrange until you are satisfied.

Step four - Build Your Wardrobe!

Shop your closet for things you already have. Keep in mind your two basics - work pants, work skirts. and other hard-use items often fall in those two workhorse colors. Everything should go with them.

Your three mains are colors that you wear often. Monday-Friday you can be found in combos of your main colors and your basics. They are comfortable colors that are probably already your favorites.

Your four accent colors (while still matching and coordinating well with everything else) are your chance to liven things up! These are items that really make you smile. You might not wear them every day, but you feel like a million dollars when you do.

Shop your existing closet to find the items that fall into your palettes. If you feel nervous about nixing the rest, toss them into a box and see if you need any of it for a month or two before checking if you can let it go yet.

Once you have a wardrobe where everything coordinates you'll spend less time building outfits, less time hunting for "that special shirt," and your confidence that no matter what is in your closet at the end of the week. you'll still look fabulous.

Another important benefit to note is that you will save money by not buying clothes that you don't have any matches for. Print out your color pallets (on the clearest printer you can find!) and stash a copy in your wallet. Before you part with your cold hard cash, take a look at your fabric. Does it match one of the colors in your pallet? If not, put it back on the hanger. Keep your money for something that will match more items in your closet.

---

Hopefully this has helped you to whittle down your closet into a organized system that works for you instead of you working for it. I ended up getting down to 6 drawers, but it took a few weeks to really get comfortable with the new system.

What has worked for you? Would you give a system like this a shot?

Finishing the Garage

The project for February was to finish the garage and I'm happy to say we are done!

It started with bare walls, similar to our living space. We added insulation, drywall, paint, lights, and lots of organization! Not to mention tons of cleaning and elbow grease.

You'll see more projects coming up in the near future. Our goal is one house project a month - we have gardening, more organization, interior projects, and lots more!

- Pics below -

No more bare walls

Working around the windows

Taping the seams

Painted, organized, and put back together

Shop side

Storage, art, and canning side. There are some left over bits on the floor - soon to disappear!

Work tables. There are some left over bits on the tables but it is soon to be organized!

Tiny House Organizing - Clothing Storage

More organizing at the Tiny House!

This week I went through my clothing storage. You may already know that we decided to capsule wardrobe our clothes. By going through our stuff and removing things we never wore, sticking to a color pallete, and pre-planning outfits, we have eliminated the need for a closet. I have 6 drawers, T has 3.

They started out nice, but over the time / washing / refolding / stuffing things where there was available space - it was getting hard for me to find the clothes I wanted to wear. That problem is now fixed and all it took was a little tape, a sharpie, and a pair of scissors.

How To -

Think: If you'd like to sort your drawers - first it is important to figure out what you have in there and what you want in there, and those may be two separate things.

Categorize: I thought about all my clothes and separated them into categories. The categories I ended up with were:

Skirts

Pants

Work shirts

T-Shirts

Tank Tops

Party Dresses

Work dresses

Athletics

Swimwear

Leggings

Sweaters

Jackets / Blazers

Special Occasion / Rare Use

Then I went through the drawers and made piles of clothes in each category. There was no need to dump things out, I left them folded but just grouped them into areas on my bed. For a while it was hard to separate Party Dresses from my Special Occasion clothes but then I realized Special Occasion would be better used as a category for things like Halloween costumes and my wedding dress - things I don't want to donate but that I really don't wear very often.

Group: After everything was sorted it became clear what groups of clothes would fit into a drawer. While it may make sense in my mind to put Work Shirts and Work Dresses in the same drawer since they are both work-related, there wasn't enough physical space to fit both of those groups into the same drawer. By grouping things according to how much physical space they took up I was able to find room for everything with out cramming and wedging things to fit.

Restore: Putting everything in it's place took a few tries. I had to sort which clothes I wanted to reach the easiest. I did that by deciding which category of clothes I wore the most - for me, that's work clothes, so I put them at the top. Then athletic / casual clothes came next. Last were party dresses, special occasion, and T-shirts.

Label: Once I'd swapped drawer locations a few times and made sure everything was in the right place I grabbed some masking tape and a sharpie and some scissors. Making the labels was pretty easy - just make sure your letters are facing the way you can read them :-) If you are not using wire racks but have wooden drawers - you may want to consider painters tape rather than masking tape so it doesn't hurt the finish. Another, and very fancy option, might be washi tape or printing out the drawer categories on return address label stickers. You could also use colored markers, colored tape, or even post-it notes.

Now, when T or I are doing the laundry it is easy to put stuff away - we know right where it goes. It is also easier to find specific items - if I need a sweater, I go to the sweater section etc. There is no more wasted time or stress over finding things to wear. Also, this has made sorting my outfits for the week so much faster!

Mustang - Starter Solenoid Replacement

My car ate someone!

Well, not really, but it certainly looks that way in the first photo.

 

The story: Musty has an appointment to get...well, less musty. We wake up early with lots to do -first thing being dropping the car off by 8am to the detailer's.

 

T starts the car and everything is perfect. I go to get my purse and T is in the car. Something happens and the ignition key gets pulled out or falls out from the ignition - BANG! The car makes a noise like a cannon going off - duck 'n' cover she's gonna blow!

 

Eventually, once my heart attack is over, T tries to restart the car. Heart attack morphs into heart break as we realize the car will not start. T feels horrible, I feel horrible, D feels horrible - and all of use are tired and cranky as it is so early on a Saturday morning.

 

Resigning ourselves to a very different day than the one we had planned - D changes into yard-work clothes and T calls the detailer, and I pop the hood.

D takes a roll under to see if anything fell or if there is anything obvious on the underside of the engine while I take a snapshot and poke around above the engine looking for things that would be an obvious break.

Unfortunately, we find no snapped cables or hoses. There is nothing clearly screaming at us to say, "hey, I broke just a minute ago!"

T goes to go get breakfast for everyone. Saint.

D and I go through the internet. Check the battery, check the connections, clean the connections, charge it - basically give the thing a backrub and a love letter, but the car will not start.

The battery is not the problem.

Next up, according to the internet, is the starter solenoid.

D and I walk over to the auto shop nearby (I love that there is a auto shop nearby) and pick up the part and I also find a new manual for the car. Yays! We also get drinks which helps to make everyone feel better.

Next, I get to play Dr. Who and fiddle with my Tardis using 3 sonic screwdrivers. Yes, I realize that's very dorky...but continuing on...

I disconnect the battery, grab a towel and a storage container lid and make myself a little operating tray. Perhaps its because I don't know the names of all the tools and I don't know where they all go or where they can all be found - but I'm much more organized than the others when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back together.

I like to take photos of things before I remove them - even better if I can take a picture of the tool that removes the thing AND the thing in it's original position before I remove it. That way, when I'm going backward trying to put things back together, I have a detailed map of the directions to follow.



2 Things I learned:

Did you know - battery cables come in two colors - a red and a black one? Since both of mine are red AND black, and I didn't know which side of the battery was which, and neither did D, we spent some time poking around the edges of the battery box looking for markings of any kind to show us which was the 'kill-me' wire and which one would 'let us live.' We wrapped the 'let us live' wire in tape for future car adventures.

You can make yourself feel better (ie, I have no idea if it actually helps) by capping the battery ends in a cut-up dried sponge? I grabbed a sponge and a drill and made a hole to fit over the battery nodes because I kept envisioning myself fried on the side of the car. Not sure if it would actually protect me - also, don't care 'cause it let me work on the car without freaking out. (no, that's not steel wool on the top)

So, eventually I replaced the solenoid. Yes!
Unfortunately, that wasn't the problem. Boo! :-(

Next, in the internet and the manual (engine tips chapter) is a faulty / damaged starter. The starter is a chunk of metal about the size of a 2 week old dachshund puppy but is weighs about as much as a 2 year old dachshund. Thanks to the internet, and gentleman Mustang-enthusiast, I've been gifted one.

Don't worry Musty- we'll fix you yet!

Before - old solenoid

After - new solenoid

 



Tiny House Update - First Fall At SilverMoon House

Welcome to Fall at SilverMoon House!

We've been comfy cozy in our 296 square foot abode and learning with our house all it's little quirks and personality. We love the way the doors creak like the Addams family on the storage cabinet, and the way it feels light and happy even on the darkest rainy grey days.

There have been some minor changes to the layout - moving the bed and the bookshelf around to provide more privacy and separation of the spaces and caulking the tub (who knew you had to caulk around the tub?) and sealing some gaps in the floorboards. The repairs and improvements have all been pretty minor though and easily done.

Remember the before?

Check out the now!

Hanging Pots and Pans

This is one of the little projects in the house. I wanted a place to put pots and pans but there was no available storage in the drawers and so...we looked up. There are holes in all the beams from old electrical wires and old plumbing that was removed during the construction. The majority of the new wiring is aligned in straight lines along the ceiling and bundled cables. We used the existing holes  used 3/4" PVC pipe (it's flexible!) through three of the beams. Once through the beams the PVC pipe held firm and straight even with my steel and cast iron!

The hooks came from Ikea and we just bent them 45 degrees so that the items hung would be in profile.

Yay storage!


Where are your clothes?

Part of living in a tiny house is realizing you might not have as much clothes storage as you had before. There are no closets in our space. Instead, we bought a set of cabinets from the Ikea kitchen in the shallow European depth but with the same drawer fronts and we use that as our clothes storage.

Having the cabinet fronts the same in the kitchen as in the bedroom area keeps the flow of the space and makes the whole area seem larger.

T gets the drawers in the middle and I get the wire baskets on both sides.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but proper folding and capsule wardrobe theory really help. I have a drawer for each category - dresses, pants, skirts, shirts, fancy / special occasion, and gym / construction clothes. It is actually more than I need - but to conserve space I always try to think before I buy. It is important both to your budget and to your space to consider why you are buying new clothes. Is it replacing something your already have? How long do you expect it to last? How often do you plan to wear it?

Once you have those questions answered you can really see if you need that new top or those new slacks. Also, because I take out the whole basket to fold and put away the clean clothes, I can rotate and "shop" through the clothes I already own.

Where do you sleep?

In a bed, silly!

We moved things around a bit to provide more privacy and separation between the living room and the sleeping area. Now the rolling bookshelf hides the bed from plain sight during the day and at night it still opens up providing plenty of room.

There are little cubbies and drawers for socks and sundries on the "sleeping" side and those translate to flat surfaces for hanging art on the "living" side. We even put in some wire shelves so I can pick out my outfits for the week and not have to search for things at 6am. Yay! Snooze button!

Because the bedroom is cordoned off from the rest of the space, I use the walls there to hang a bunch of the art T and I have collected and made through the years. i love waking up in the morning to the bright and shiny image by Mikeatron of Deadpool killing rainbow-blooded unicorns with sparkle-glitter automatic weapons and a sword. Makes me laugh every day! We also have a print of Judith and Holofernes by Klimt, a Mastodon misprint, some wedding pictures, and some paintings made by yours truly. 

Is that a new couch?

Why yes, yes it is. Bonus, it's a HUGE sleeper-sofa, so come stay over! :-)


It is another Ikea find...can't fight the modular, but it really works in the space and when it is all made up it makes a queen size bed and is wonderfully comfy. We've had a few guests stay with us overnight and they really enjoyed having so much room.

The part that sticks out into the room is also a large storage drawer perfect for stashing our motorcycle jackets and guest supplies like extra blankets and pillows.

The last item I'd like to find would be a movable ottoman with storage that also has locking wheels so I can actually rest my feet on it. The requirements are pretty exact - no higher that 18", firm yet comfy top, soft rounded rectangle, storage and locking wheels - so we may have to build it over the winter.

I'm kind of looking forward to it though. It gives us reason to focus on the next project - the shared work space over in the garage.

So, I hope you have enjoyed this Fall tiny-house tour! We feel pretty good about the work done so far getting it livable and welcoming. Of course there's more to do, curtains, upgrading the dog bed, utilizing every inch of space under the kitchen cabinets, but we really like hoe far we've come from bare walls and ratty (literally) wiring.

Have a great fall everyone and 

Happy Halloween from ghost-Fams!

The Long Awaited HOUSE TOUR!!!

*happy sigh*
It has been a long, long time and there are still a few little things to wrap up - but I've come to the conclusion that there will always be a few little things to wrap up. So this is where we live. Welcome to the Silver Moon House!

This is the main entrance / mud room / pantry / and storage area. Everything in a tiny home has to do double, and sometimes triple, duty.

You can spot:

 - My apron
 - A picture from my grandpa
 - Cutting boards (one in the shape of a frog!)
 - A tea cozy
 - Magnets
 - Dog treats
 - A microwave
 - Cereal
 - Tang!

Here is a little bit further into the house. We have a 3/4ths fridge that I got for free from the Kaplan Institute that closed in the U District. When we hauled it out it was gross. The freezer was totally filled with ice and abandoned frozen lunches. There were stains and sticky fluids and all sorts of ickyness. Ewwww. 

It took about a week to clean it out, let it thaw, dry it out, bleach it, wait a couple days, bleach it again, wash it, and then detail clean it with cotton swabs and more bleach. 

I can proudly say it is all nice and fresh in there now! :-)

A 3/4ths fridge is perfect for Hubbs and I. I've noticed that being able to actually see where the food is means that less of it goes bad. Yay! Much less forgotten food!

Making tea first thing in the morning!

Open shelves above the cabinets. 

Happy Plants! 

 

This is the clothes hanger we got for the items that need to line dry. It is strong enough to hold tons of clothes but then collapses down to this teeny tiny towel bar. We mounted it on the back of the door to the shared work-space. 

Above the drying rack is my purse storage. Have I mentioned I have a growing fondness for purses? Unfortunately / fortunately for me - a tiny space requires limiting the amount of earthly possessions so I shrunk it down to two everyday purses and one overnight bag. 

Roll-out cabinet kitchen storage

We left this cabinet open so the pup would have his very own space. 

There are two small shelves above him for storage of cookie sheets (top shelf) and dog supplies, treats, and extra toys (middle shelf). 

The poster was a gift from Hubb's mum. 

In the back corner you can see the stacked metal stools. We searched all over for stackable counter-height stools! Guess where we found 'em. Guess!

Fred Meyer for $20. 

Ridiculous. 

Bed room area

Floating handmade computer desk

Living room overview. (You can spot my bow!)

This is the reading nook / music wall / clothing storage / rolling library area. 

Hubbs looks so happy hanging out in the hammock and reading the Stranger! 

We had thought about getting an actual "chair" but the hammock has been so much better - I can clean under it easily, we can move it where ever since there are plenty of other hanging spots throughout the house, and a person can easily sleep there - so couch surfing hooray!

 

        Entry way storage                           Specially built shoe storage

Well, that's about it! I hope you enjoyed the tour. Now, its time to go out and play. 

Thanks for visiting!

Secret bonus pic - this is why it is the "Silver Moon" house!