Epic Mario Table, Completed at Last!

FINALLY!!! This project has haunted me, because I just couldn't get motivated to finish it. I even dragged its components through several moves! The table was found outside a dumpster, back when I lived on Belmont & walked to Movie Madness one night. My brother, Ethan & I took turns lugging it back up the hill to 60th because I saw its hidden potential.

Before:


It actually looked worse, because the shards of varnish were peeling off unevenly. This is about halfway through the sanding process.

And after!:


After sanding off the 70s varnish, I hand-blended a few colors of acrylic paint to get just the right shade of blue, then sealed it with a couple coats of Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating.

The Mario part was made from bits & pieces of this awesome chart from Sprite Stitch, & unfortunately, I stumbled upon this cleverly badass method, AFTER ironing of the sections individually. D'oh! There are some visible spaces between some of the sections, but I'm not sure I'd be into investing that much moolah on zillions of Perler pegboards to avoid that flaw.

Oh well, if it were perfect, I'd be afraid to use it, right?! I kind of improvised the top section because I was running low on certain colors of Perler beads at that point, & came up with the Nintendo emblem on my own, since the original was too large. The ironed Perler pieces were glued on with Beacon's Mosaic Glue (& weighted down for 24-36 hours, a few at a time), that I found at JOANN's. It says it's suitable for ceramic, glass & plastic, so we'll see how it holds up. So far, so good!

Here's the top tier:


And here's the bottom level:


I LOVE IT!

I've also been working on this owl cowl, which is so cute! The two-handed fair isle method isn't too hard, once you practice a bit. Much quicker than one-handed, in my opinion. I'm using smaller needles than the pattern recommends, because many people on Ravelry thought it came out too big.


Even more craftiness! My sister came over a while back & we were carving stamps & making Halloween cards. I really like this one that I made for a friend's b-day.


Ooh, for my meditation class, we get to do an assignment where we tune out technology for 3 consecutive days! I'm super excited, because I'm way too dependent upon the internetz for entertainment & need to get back into reading. How can I live without watching Hoarders, Hell's Kitchen, & Fringe?! We're allowed to use computers for work or school, but nothing else; no personal e-mails. And phones are to be used as land-lines---no texting, only talking to people when you're actually at home. No radio, no podcasts, no MP3 players, no DVDs, no nothin'!

I can't wait to challenge myself this way & hope it inspires permanent change within me. My professor warned us that we may experience severe discomfort at first, but to be mindful of how we feel. Not to trivialize actual addiction, but there are definitely some similarities between our excessive use of gadgets & other addictions. They can often distract us from the present moment & cloud our awareness & emotions! I'm telling myself that this Friday, Saturday & Sunday will be best, since I can get a lot of homework done & I'll actually be home most of the time. Plus Ethan will be home too, so I won't feel as lonely & depressed, ha ha. :)