[Do I just need to try harder to scrape it all off or will it be okay to just sand it down good and prime it?]

So, as I said, I'm redoing/painting our bathroom. It's small and rather hideous, especially now that I'm smack in the middle of getting down all the old paint and paper. And there are several layers of paint and paper. These photos don't really show a lot of detail, especially in the weird colors and textures that are present. The real color right now is somewhere between the window picture and all the others.  Uhh...by the way, the toilet is in the little area behind the shower, near the window and next to the bathroom paper. Since I didn't even get a shot of that area at all. -sigh-
First, some bad photos to help demonstrate what I'm working with and then on to a few questions...



A shot of the shower rods in the mirror and the weird wood stuff beside the sink/mirror:

Bathroom window:

My main questions are in bold, for those of you who feel like skipping. 
The color scheme I'm planning to use is basically lots of white, with aqua/turquoise and yellow, and accents of orange. Essentially the colors of old maps and rubber ducks because my "theme" is a mix of travel and ducks. (Think ducks with luggage labels mod podged on, and train cases storing bath stuff. I had a duck bathroom before but I wanna branch out. Heh.) I completely forgot to take a pic of the shower curtain but it's white with ducks and little dusty blue accents and trim. I got some pretty glass tile coasters from the dollar store that I plan to attach to the wall somehow beneath the mirror and above the sink, if possible. They're blue and clear. The walls will be white, probably with either aqua or orange trim. The toilet is a pretty retro yellow color and very rounded.

So. First of all, apparently this bathroom has been through a bunch of incarnations. A weird medium blue, a pink shell wallpaper, plain white, off white, and once the whole thing was apparently a weird dusty rose/mauve color, possible when the shell wallpaper was there. Before I started ripping everything apart two walls were a weird mauve color and the others were a dull off white, with no reason for the difference and so barely noticeable that my bf didn't realize it was pink till I started exposing the white beneath it. Most has come off easily but pretty much all that you see that's still not white is refusing to come up even using a razor blade. Do I just need to try harder to scrape it all off or will it be okay to just sand it down good and prime it? It's kind of a different texture than the exposed wall. It's also not all the same color, with a lot of off white, then white, then mauve, then blue lines running through it. Would one coat of primer cover over all the colors so they wouldn't show through white paint?

Secondly, I really rather like the wood grain that I discovered beneath all the layers of crap on the cabinets. The problem is I've so far had to remove the paint using an exacto knife because my paint scrapers are too thick to fit beneath the paint and paper. Would it look stupid to just have those two cabinets that I've already begun have a stained wood grain and then paint the others? Or do I need to finish what I started...?   I'm thinking a nice warm but light orangey stain, or perhaps just white washed. (Unless they make an aqua stain. Heh.) Which do y'all think? I'll probably do the same for the window.

The sink base, to me, is an eye sore and I hate it. Opinion poll: Should I paint the sink base or make a funky skirt for it?

The weird recessed area next to the sink is basically just plywood. I think it may once have held a water heater of some kind in that space and then they boarded it up. What I want to do with that is cover it with a collage of old maps. Do you think the collage of maps will be too "busy" for such a small space? Since there will be cases and ducks and such.

Also, I'll hopefully be exchanging that wooden cabinet with something else, and some shelving or tiered table will be going beside it more than likely. I had stacked crates there before cleaning out the room.

Also, any advice on the prep stages of painting will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for everything!

http://www.hancockfabrics.com/stjude/

For every yard of fabric that you buy from Hancock's St. Jude's line they'll donate 30 cents to the hospital. The patterns are based on the kids' artwork and their dreams. They have pins for $5 where 85% of the proceeds go to St Jude's or you can donate a dollar and they'll put up a donor paper with your name at your local Hancock's store. And you can also donate quilts through them until the 1st of July - the quilts will either go to the kids and their families or be used in fundraising. Last year more than 3400 quilts were given and over a million dollars was raised for St Jude's.

"This was a cake made for my husband Corran, since we're both fans of the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. Below is a step-by-step account of how the cake was made. Please understand that I'm pretty familiar with sugarcraft; this is not a cake for beginners. If you don't know how to handle sugarpaste or are unfamiliar with how to paint with gel colours, don't attempt to make this cake."

http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/cakes/discworld/discworld.html


As a Pratchett fan, and also as a fan of cake, I thought this was pretty nifty.

I posted this in misc before I remembered there was a book section so maybe someone on this board can help me.

I'm trying to find a copy of a book that my grandmother had when I was small. It's a doll making book, I think - I know that it had lots of dolls in it. I'm 99% sure it's a Better Homes and Gardens book but it isn't Easy Bazaar Crafts or Cherished Dolls to Make For Fun because I have both of those. I'd know it only by the front cover or projects inside unfortunately, and have no clue what the title might be which means I can't find it just look it up on half.com or anywhere like that. It had pictures of dolls on the front similar to the Cherished Dolls book and possibly even some of the same patterns. I don't think it was just sewing crafts but several kinds, possibly a dollhouse and some baby toys. It may have had a pig pillow pattern, something which she made for me, but it's really hard to remember because I was so young. It may have been published in the late 70's but I'm pretty sure it was early 80's because that's when the other two were printed.

I have really fond memories of looking through these books of my late grandmother's and I'd like to have all three that I remember and not just the two. My mom doesn't remember it or know if my grandmother's copy is still around. We may have a copy of it somewhere lurking but it's nowhere in the house and I have no clue where to start looking in storage, especially since we have so much craft/sewing stuff of my grandmother's still left there from when she died.

Perhaps someone else remembers this book?
Does anyone know where I can find a list of BH&G books possibly with front covers?

Thank you for any advice or help!

I scored this really cool recipe organizer at Goodwill today for a dollar. The inside's like a photo album but sized for small index/recipe cards and it has tabbed pages that divide everything into categories like "breads & pastas", "desserts", "salads &salad dressings", and the like. 

It's in great shape but it's very plain.

So, what can I do to it to spiff it up and make it cooler? I was thinking I'd like to put a vintage image of a housewife on it but I'm not sure how to go about it. If I stenciled one, or stenciled something else, what kind of paint would I need to use? Just a sharpie maybe?

I thought of sewing stuff to it but I dunno how I'd do that with the hard cover underneath the vinyl. And I don't know what kind of glue would stick.

Any advice, and ideas for what to put, would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: That's what I get for not previewing. I forgot to mention that it's red, it has "recipes" written on the side and it does have a few small black marks on the cover, almost like something with writing once got stuck to it so I'll probably need to either cover those up or incorporate them somehow.

Okay, there are these things, I have no idea how to even begin describing them really and I definitely don't know what they're called. They're hardish plastic, they're thin and flat, and they're used to hold together boxes and things like that as if they were heavy duty string. They're an alternative for tape. I've also seen them used to hold a bunch of wires together and stuff like that. They're attached to themselves once they're wrapped around an object and you have cut them to get them off of it. Does anyone have ANY CLUE what I'm talking about? 

If so, can you think of a use for them? I've gotten a ton of them on packages lately and I don't know what to do with them but I don't want to throw them away. The cats seem to enjoy playing with them and chewing on them but I'd like an alternative.    So...if you're not completely confused as to what the heck I'm even going on about I'd love any ideas.

My boyfriend loves video games and one of his absolute favorite characters is Link from the Zelda games. I love making things. Soooo... I made him a stenciled t-shirt with Link on it as an anniversary/Christmas present.

Images are being resized somewhat so if you want to see it a little less pixel-ly and warped, go here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/wooleyduck/crafty/linkshirt1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/wooleyduck/crafty/linkshirt2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/wooleyduck/crafty/linkshirt3.jpg










I am so proud of myself because it turned out WAY better than I thought it would, especially after several mishaps.

My sister's in town and she helped me cut Link out (I was getting a cramp in my neck from looking down at it) and also helped me make sure the picture was centered. The paint matches the navy-ish blue on the shirt sleeves and that's totally my sister's doing because she can mix colors far better than I can.

I tried using hairspray to keep the stencil down but it was actually some kind of "hold spritz" or something (I don't know even know why it's in my bathroom closet) and it didn't work at all. Luckily, I happened to have some spray adhesive and that worked great.

A little bit of paint ran on the bottom of his tunic but I was able to cover it up with some detail work using a small brush.

I made the stencil from a picture I found through google, I think. Printed it onto cardstock, cut it, and painted with a sponge brush. It's kind of been heat set with a hair dryer because I was trying to make it dry faster, and I'm planning on probably ironing to set it again.

The boyfriend loves it.  He just stared and laughed over and over and keeps asking me how I did it. He's talking about wearing it to MagFest and how his gamer friends will say "Dude, that's a cool shirt, where'd you get it?" He'll reply "Oh, my girlfriend made it." Hehe.


And due to popular demand, the stencil: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/wooleyduck/crafty/linkstencil.jpg

I'm not sure if I made any last minute adjustments to it before I printed it so you may want to make double check and make sure it will work before you use it.

Hi! I've been lurking for a while and finally joined. I had been reading a lot of the felt monster threads and since I had just bought felt to make flower pins out of I thought I'd make a stuffed animal. I followed Nina's tutorial, except I had to do it all by hand because I don't have a sewing machine. And I had no embroidery thread so I had to just kind of double the thread to make the eyes. If that makes sense.
I really can't sew. I haven't in ohhh...maybe 8 or 10 years? And before that I had very little experience. But I want to learn how so I thought this would make a good small project to do first.

Let me know what you think!
Ferdinand the cat:

And to demonstrate size...my cat's the size of my mouse:

Showing off his stylish pocket:

And this is what his back looks like:


Since I'm planning on learning to sew, I'm thinking I may use him as a pin cushion... Maybe keep small thread in his pocket.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: I'm sorry about the blurry photos but my good digital camera's dead and the only one I have right now is the one that came with my printer. But hopefully you can see enough detail.