brain blobs and verbal vomit

Just a Monday gripe as I am thinking about a court date coming near...

This really has just taken too damn long.  I don't understand why the reasoning is with this.  It is all because of the courts and how backed up they are.  In the end they look at the best interest of the child for everything...but how can this really be so when it takes so long?  So long with no rules and trying to work out visits and financials on your own and just having to take whatever the other is willing to give.  No wonder so many people end up so bitter and angry.

Let me tell you two significant things that can happen while you are waiting on your divorce because it takes SO LONG because the system is screwed up...

An entire five lane bridge can be imploded, rebuilt, and reopened (Blanchette Bridge) AND my teeth can get straightened.  

If you didn't click on the link above, there are pictures of when they destroyed the bridge. Pretty amazing. I am really glad they are finished with that.  In the winter months the noise at night of them working on it just echoed through the trees and buildings and kept me up at night.

Seriously, I have been doing those invisiligns all year and it is amazing.  If you are an adult and don't have straight teeth and have orthodontic allowance on your plan, look into it.  Remember my post from July, I gave a little advice.  Don't put yourself in last place.  I know it is easy to spend money on other things, but I am telling you that had I felt like I mattered at that time I would have gotten these invisiligns sooner.  I had a gap where I had an extra tooth that was pulled when I was younger and the traditional braces didn't work out. I was always self conscious of that space in my teeth and wish that my extra tooth had never been pulled.  As I felt like we didn't have the money to spend on me, I never looked into it at all...SO I HAD NO CLUE ON THE EXCELLENT DENTAL PLAN THAT I HAD THAT I WONT HAVE ONCE I AM DIVORCED. It took the realization that I probably wouldn't have insurance once my divorce was final to make appointments and look into things while I could. My plan made the invisiligns nearly half price and my dentist works out a monthly payment plan. It is only about $125 a month for mine.  Really that could be the cost of your cable/internet for a month.  Okay, so I don't even have that to spend at this time (thank goodness for mom and dad taking on that payment for me because really, who knows if I will have dental insurance or even a plan that would cover anything). So by the time my divorce is final, I will have perfect teeth.  Pretty amazing.

End of gripe.

A craft! A craft!
It has been so long since I have posted a craft!

I work at a home decor store and you cannot imagine how excited I am when the Halloween merchandise comes in!  We have this fun Halloween decoration that is made of resin and to look like a set of Halloween themed books. We had something similar last year and I was sad that I missed out and was tempted to buy them this year until I realized that I could totally make that.

Seriously, books can be purchased for next to nothing at resale shops...so why not paint real books myself?

I was able to do this craft for super cheap (like under $10 only because I could not find my Mod Podge and then I bought a sheet of Halloween paper).  I had Everything else!  Paints, Sharpies, gold pens - Even a stack of books in the basement that I had forgotten about that I had planned on getting rid of!

I am almost embarrassed to post this picture of the books.  Yeah, they are all diet/weight loss books.  I did not buy any of them.  They were just given to me over the years.  It is funny, it didn't seem rude to be given all of these books until they were in a stack - but Anyhow, time to turn these stupid old books into something awesome!

before removing paper cover

after removing paper cover

Things you will need:

• Old books
• Acrylic Paints and brushes
• Gold/Silver/Black Sharpies or paint pens
• scrapbook paper
• stickers/embelishments
• Mod Podge

First I searched the internets to see if I could find any inspiration or other tutorials and the only one I could find was this one...so a few more ideas for you guys.

Let's get started.  My books had shiny paper covers and underneath them was the perfect surface for painting!  (if yours has covers, don't pitch them just yet! Those covers are nice for laying out to catch the paint drips!) I made all of my books different colors and had fun blending the colors.   One book (Brews), I used the Mod Podge to attach Halloween scrap book paper to the front of the book.  It was really easy to line it up along the taped edge and just cut off the excess after the first coat of Mod Podge dried. .  You could use the Mod Podge to stick just about anything onto your book (ribbons, decals, stickers, gems, glitter).


I painted all of the page edges either gold or silver since most of my books were crisp white and I didn't want that!  Doing this made them all stick together which worked out perfectly!

Now the fun part - DECORATING THE BOOKS!

Book Titles - I have 7 books and I came up with
Conjuring  ~ Hexes for Exes~ Curses ~ Voodoo ~ Book of Spells ~ Potions ~ Brews

Here is where you can get super creative.  You could print out fancy labels and glue them on or use sticker letters if you want them perfect...but I thought the handwritten imperfections added to the spookiness - well, that is what I am going to keep telling myself anyway!  I just Googled some fonts for inspiration and even drew on some of them.

I decorated the spine, front of the book, and the backs of some of the books.  I wasn't sure how I would end up displaying them yet and wanted to make sure they would look good all around.  After you are finished decorating the books, cover with several coats of Mod Podge.  This will give a nice clear coat to the books and make the finish durable. I went over the edges of the pages as well to really help everything stick together.


I had more fun making these than I probably should have.  Now will be the agony of waiting to decorate for Halloween - but really, it is September...Halloween is just next month, do I have to wait?

UPDATE, I FORGOT A FUN BOOK!