Projects...

Wow, haven't posted on here in light years, but here is a post explaining the most recent projects I have done lately. With the onset of a ferocious case of "nesting" I have not only gotten the majority of the house organized, but a few fun stress relieving projects in too!! Chester has been loving all the "awesome art" he has been able to help with lately :)



For the first project, I got the original idea from Pinterest.com. (if you are not on the site it is a GREAT place for inspiration and great ideas, not to mention just a great way to pass the time while your husband is on night shift lol).



I saw this pic, and really loved the quote and the wood look. Over the weekend we cleaned out our garage in preparation for a yard sale in a few weeks and I found this old wood frame that my Papa-in-Law had made us for another project.




(he has made it for this picture to bump it out from the wall about 2 inches, it is a simple wooden frame with a thin piece of wood nailed to the front of it. If you look at the finished project you will see what it looks like... could easily be made by framing out some 2x4s and finish nailing a thin piece of wood to the front, found at most craft/wood stores.)

Anyhoo, I found this piece of wood tucked in a corner of the garage and immediately remember this quote and thought it would look awesome on it!!

Day 1, I watered down some black acrylic paint (do NOT need much water)... wanting the black color instead of the mismatched wood that was there. (figured it would be easier as well instead of having to strip, re-stain, and seal the wood... yes, I was lazy!) hard to tell from the finished product in the picture but the wood grain shows through pretty strongly.




(Acrylic paint in craft section at Wal-Mart)

I then used Microsoft Publisher to design the lay out of the board. I wanted to switch it up a little from the original picture as far as the font and lay out. I then printed it out, matched up the paper, and taped it all together (being careful not to tape where any of the letters were).



I used the ol', scratch like heck on the back with pencil and then flip it over and trace over the letters, thus transferring the design trick. I am sure there could have been an easier way of doing it... but since I dont have a fancy printer, stencil maker, etc. it worked. And was fun to do with a movie playing on the tv :)







(tip: just make you you put plenty of "scratch" on the back so your design will transfer)

Next, I used the white paint and a small brush and started painting away. I cleaned the brush often to keep the brush at a point... makes the small lines easier to paint. (Some of my lines are actually slightly crooked, oh well)

I am still deciding if I will use a brown wash (way watered down brown/tan paint)to go over top to kind of "antique" it a little or just leave it with the bright white paint. We have a lot of tans and woods in our house, so I may be leaning towards that... but then again we have a lot of white trim. We shall see, I wanted to wait to get the opinion of the man of the house. :)

Hope this makes sense... any questions shoot them over to me!! Happy crafting!!

Oh and for these cute lil numbers over the window I used the tutorial here.... (and yes they are made out of TP rolls lol Gabe thought I was crazy as I have been saving the rolls for a while)




Tutorial:

http://fullofgreatideas.blogspot.com/2011/03/toilet-paper-art-on-my-0-budget.html

http://moderndaymoms.com/make-it-yourself-monday-tp-wall-art/

it is truly amazing the things these people make!!... I mean come on really???