Family Rules Sign

I fell in love with the following signs at a local boutique shop in town.

I went into the store and found that they were created by a woman named Kristi in Leesburg, VA. She has the most adorable typography signs, and Etsy shop. Her business is called Barn Owl Primitives.

BarnOwlPrimitives

Her Family Rules Sign was my inspiration for my latest project.

My total investment was $10, and 3 hours.

Supplies included:

the other half of the plywood piece

 (that I used for THIS project)

Primer

Red and Green Craft Paint

Glaze

Foam Brushes

Letter Stickers

I started with primed plywood

Together as a family, we came up with "OUR LIST" of twelve Family rules

It was a beautiful day out, so I decided to do this project outside on the deck.

I measured the wood, and divided by the 12 rules so that I would have even spacing between line.

Then, I cut out sticker letters for each phrase and laid everything out on the wood.

Next, I peeled and stuck each letter onto the board.

( If I make another one of these, I may just use carbon paper and transfer the text onto the wood..This was a very time consuming part of this project.)

***Make yourself a note***

If there is a breeze while you are trying to place hundreds of cut out letters onto a wooden board, it's smart to use a magazine to hold down the "loose letters" so that they don't end up all over the yard or between the deck slats...not that I would know this from experience or anything..grrrrrrr.

I painted over the entire board with green craft paint using a 2" foam brush, and made uneven strokes.

When this was dry, I went over the green with red craft paint, leaving some of the green to show through, giving it an aged look.

When the paint was dry, I carefully peeled each letter away, while watching "Annie" on tv, since the 80 degree day turned into a humid 94 pretty quickly, and I moved the project indoors!

The words are very bright white at this point, and since I was going for an aged look, I covered the entire sign with the left over glaze from my American Flag project and then wiped off the excess glaze.

I placed a picture hanging hook on the back, and put a nail in the wall...and viola,

Here's the finished project!!!

Linking up to:

Wooden American Flag

4th of July is my favorite Holiday.

The colors, 

The weather, 

The Patriotism, 

The parties, 

parades, fireworks, and the American Flag!

Here's my attempt at a rustic handmade American Flag!

Supplies

Piece of plywood Square, bought at Home Depot for $5

White Primer

Red and Blue Craft paint

Painters Blue Tape

Star Stickers

Paint Brush

Glaze (Clear, tinted as you like)

I started with the square sheet of plywood and cut it in half.

then I primed it white.

It's been soo hot here, it was completely dry in less then an hour.

I then added my stripes and stars section by

 using painters tape.

This is just decorative, yes, 

I know that there are actually 13 stripes on the flag!!

(It was just easier using the entire width of tape vs.cutting it)

I painted my red stripes with craft paint, with three coats using a sponge brush. Easy peasy!

While the red was drying, I panic-ed since I wanted to complete this flag the same day, and I couldn't fin d the star stickers in my scrapbook supply stash. 

Sooo, instead of running to Michaels, I Googled star images, and printed them on mailing labels.

I patiently, grrr, cut out a batch of star stickers, and randomly placed them on the white square in the upper corner of my flag.

I painted the entire left corner over the star stickers with blue craft paint, and let dry.

Then I peeled the stickers off and it worked!!! I was so pleased that my homemade stickers did the trick!

The flag looked pretty, but I wanted it to look vintage and worn, and not off the shelf new.

So, I experienced my first time using glaze.

From reading blogs, I assumed that glaze was automatically a dark stainish color, but to my surprise, the glaze that I purchased needed to be mixed with a color.

So, again, I became resourceful, and mixed the glaze with orange, baby blue, and yellow craft paint to come up with a brownish/goldish glaze.

I painted the glaze on the flag, 

then wiped off with a paper towel.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome, 

a cute flag for a $5 investment!!

Linking up to

A Bowl Full of Lemons

File Find-Design Help Needed

My husband called me at work moments ago, about a "find" that he knew that I just "had to have!"

He was visiting our local Goodwill when he stumbled across this "letter/file thing with lots of drawers"

That was his exact terminology for the item.

So, he sent me a picture.
(where would be be without cell phones, the ability to text/send/receive/messages and photos at any given time?), and I said....I love it!

Then I said, How much is it?

$10 bucks, and it's in excellent shape!

Great, get it, but the question now is...

What am I gonna do with it??

Any ideas??

I will definately paint it...but what color?

Maybe use some card stock on a drawer or two? Or fabric?

I love the pulls,or do I?
Should I keep them, or change them out?

And, in the end, what use will this have?
Should I use it to organize pictures by month?
Or store the Masterpieces of a 7 year old ART-TEES- T?
Or store paid bills?

Wanna see it??

Here ya go...

Measurements are approx.11"W x 23-1/4"H x 16"D

Please share your ideas with me....oh, and any examples that you may find..

Thanks

Litttle Bit of Easter

With all of the rain, and dreary-ness, and cold weather, it hasn't been very Spring like to me.

And, even though I knew which day Easter would fall on, a whole year in advance, (You know it's one of those holidays that changes dates every year), I still procrastinated decorating this year.

Two weeks ago, I found this idea

 on the House of Hepworth's blog and loved the idea.

Then I saw this post at Decor Chick recently,

 that just happened to reference HoH's post.

I knew that I could find the cheese domes at Goodwill, and I already had the prefect candle stick holder...

so I took the plunge!

Here is the Before picture. (Both items were Goodwill treasures, total cost $5)

I spray painted them with VALSPAR paint, and used gorilla glue to attach the wood base to the candlestick.

I love the Aqua blue color right now, so I just knew it had to be the right choice!

Here is the final project, along with my Easter/Spring decor.

Not too bad for putting this together last night?!!

Greenhouse was purchased at Big Lots about 8 years ago for $5. The Glass jars inside are antiques. One is an old ink well for a student desk, one a blue vase,and one is from a pharmacy.

The bunny was a Gabriel Brothers find for $2.99 and the litte green bird was from Michaels for $1.99

E and I made the garland by simply putting plastic eggs on ribbon!

Happy Easter!!

Hand Tree Art

I love when E makes artwork for me! He makes me something EVERYDAY! He makes me things like colored pages from a coloring book, pictures of cars, skateboards, Spongebob & Patrick, Ships, Treehouses,dogs,cats, frogs, birds, leaves, rocks, stars, planets, people, places, things, and even the kitchen sink! (I kid you not!) And, this is just what he creates for me on paper at home!

He also makes models out of boxes that are supposed to be in the recycling bin, clay, play doh, rocks, legos, pillows from my sofas, wire hangers, string, food, etc.

And now, we are blessed with one major piece of artwork a week that is sent home from school, not to mention the hundreds of random papers that come via. backpack express into my kitchen for display.

So, who am I to tell him to stop creating Art? I would never! But, it has come to the point that I am starting to not think that every piece of artwork is "display worthy."

Don't judge me, you know what I mean!! Seriously, how many sheets of paper with a star can I put on the fridge?

Anyway, thanks to some amazing blogs that I am addicted to have discovered, I have found great art projects, that E can make, with my help or on his own, that are actually DISPLAY worthy for long term decorations!

Check out At Second Street for a tutorial on this Hand Tree.

This "hand tree" is made from fabric scraps that I went to Jo-Anns and bought so that they would match my dining room,  a canvas, burlap, and Mod Podge. I drew leaf shapes on the fabric, and E and I cut out hundreds it felt like thousands of fabric leaves. I covered the canvas with burlap, stapled it to the back, then arranged the first couple of leaves on the burlap, and mod podged them to the canvas. E put the rest of the leaves on, with my direction, of course. Then we traced his hand and arm and arranged it on the leaves as the branches and trunk of our tree. Then we covered the entire burlap with Mod podge, and let it dry over night.

The next morning, I wasn't happy about the edges of the burlap, as it barely covered the canvas, and  it was fraying. So, I asked my super cute husband if he could make a simple frame with scrap wood around the canvas. And he did...2 weeks later. Then, super cute husband asked if I wanted the wood painted or stained. I requested stain, but he heard, "go to Home Depot and buy paint and paint it brown," because painting is easier then staining... But, I didn't complain! Actually, I was so appreciative of him for helping with the project, and surprising me by painting the frame himself.

The best thing is that this piece of Art work, is a one of a kind piece, that was created by our family of 3!
What do you think?

I love how the fabric of the hand matches my Pier 1 curtains!!