21486

Hello.

Thank you for the kind comments about the blog. I love that we can talk about decorating and organizing!

I know I have been MIA lately - I have no great reason except I just have a bunch going on. Like everyone else.

So, I thought I would share a fun little project we finished recently. Recently meaning more than a few months ago. But definitely 2015.

I have had this piece for years. Let me give you a little bit of back story:

I found this window frame a million years ago at a garage sale. It did not have a price on it, so when I asked the woman at the sale, she asked her husband who said, "That old thing? It's free" Yes please and thank you! Isn't it great how one man's junk is another frugal person's treasure?

Granted, it was pretty grimy when I found it, but I just scrubbed it down and sealed it with a water-based clear coat.

And then I filled it with "live life joyfully" - a piece of artwork that a talented friend made for me.

This came from the big house and we've had it up at the small house for the last three years. 

But I was ready for a little change-out. Does that ever happen to you? 

You can see the frame didn't even have glass. But I had a piece from a large picture frame that I gave to a friend. 

Usually I would never hang onto something like that, but I've had this idea for a while.

Hero got a tiny glass cutting tool from his favorite store - Harbor Freight - for a few bucks and we were in business.

We just took the artwork out and measured the glass with it. Easy.

It's kind of important that you get it right the first time, since it's, you know, glass.

I stepped on one end to hold it down, the way all professionals would do. And Hero cut. The funny thing about cutting glass, it doesn't even look like anything happened. It's looks like just a scratch. But then you tap it, and your piece falls off. Carefully on the cardboard of course.

Then comes the fun part. I found a font that I thought would look just perfect called Sea Side - isn't that the best name for it?

Just printed that off in a giant font size.

Pulled out my acrylic craft paints and got to work. I just plopped the glass over the printed out message. No need to trace or anything.

Painting on the glass makes is pretty easy - You just follow exactly what is there.

Unfortunately, soon after I started, I realized it was not what I wanted at all. 

So I grabbed a straight edge razor and scraped it off in about 2 seconds.

Back to the font drawing board. Cannot remember what this one is called, but after working with the other one, I knew that simple was going to be the way to go.

Sometimes it's good to mess things up so you don't have to wonder later if something else would have been better. You already know.

See how it has a drop shadow? I just painted the number in white and then shifted the paper underneath down and to the left a smidge and it created a "shadow". I painted that in black and was on my way.

Notice how the paper is crooked under the glass? Not sure how that worked out, but the final product is straight.

One thing I don't love is that I took the computer's word on the spacing between each number. If I were thinking this through a little better, I would have gotten that "1" and "4" a little more evenly spaced. Don't be like me. Get that right before being done with it. Just eyeball it - trust yourself.

I love how light and airy it looks up there. It reminds me of a transom window that would be over a front door with the address printed it on it. (I think it was actually a basement window - not nearly as romantic.)

And what does 21486 even mean?

It's our wedding date.

February 14, 1986.

pillowcases

It's funny how you can put together a room with all kinds of charm and character, to make it feel all you and your family and fall in love with what you've created. You love it and love looking at it and love being in that room. You never want to change anything.

Except, maybe someday you do. If you are anything like me, that happens on a regular basis. I usually still like what I've got going on - it just might be time to perk things up a bit.

Or sometimes, it is time to do an overhaul. I've been there, too.

It's been three (!) years since we ditched the big house and embraced the downsize. So, I was really ready to make a few little, inexpensive changes 

So, pillows are the way to go this time.

We have lots and lots of neutrals going on in our house, and I just love it. But I am a little tiny bit ready to bring in a smidge of color. Pillow cases are a great way to be a little adventurous without any huge commitment.

I found this awesome tutorial - Just what I was looking for. I've made pillow cases before, but I was ready to take it to the next level.

This tri-color cuff pillow case is just enough to be all like, "Yeah, I'm special, but not too showy". Not all pillow cases can get away with that kind of attitude.

Seriously, just follow the instructions on this one. I am the worst with figuring out these kind of projects with turns and strange "burrito methods" (go check the tutorial to see what I'm talking about on that one). But I followed the instructions step by step and it totally worked. Yay!

Oh my goodness. Piece of cake. And so good at looking special, without trying too hard. "No big deal. We're just pillow cases. Oh yeah, and we are tri-colored."

(But even in black and white, looking quite spiffy. I love the simple pattern)

Close-up. Looks so complicated, but it is so not. The tutorial tells you everything you need, including measurements for different size pillows.

Once I get another set done for our bed, I'll show you the whole look. 

I am really super happy about how these turned out. This is another kind of thing that really lends itself to variety (like these signs). Just by using different colors and or patterns, you can create a whole different vibe.

But the vibe will always be, "I'm special."

That's a good vibe.

signs

It's time for another project post. Alex and I totally nailed this one (unlike this project).

I have been in love with these types of signs forever:

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There are so many great elements to get behind - The black and white contrast, the letters (I love letters and all kinds of fonts), the patina of a well-worn, cherished antique and the simpleness of such a statement. 

I just love it, love it, love it.

As charming as I think they are, lots of other people think the same thing. So, they can be pricey and hard to come by. But Alex and I finally decided to do something about getting one of these in our homes.

Of course, now we had to decide what they heck to put on the sign. This can put a lot of pressure on a girl.

Then I found this photo:

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And I knew what I wanted my sign to say.

Did you know this is called a ghost sign? Old hand-painted advertising signs (painted by "wall dogs") on buildings are just so cool - What a great preservation of a different time. This building is in Topeka Kansas, but you can find them all over the country.

I just love the name of this store - SAGE GROCERY CO No 2. It's cool to think there was a No 1. I bet they were both super charming. I bet the grocer knew all his customers by name. What a neat thought.

Alex loved the simpleness of SUPERMARKET, so she went with that classic.

We found our boards at Lowe's and had them cut to the size we wanted. Did you know they will do that for you? No charge - such a great service.

We started by painting the boards with a sample of a really terrific blue. We didn't want blue signs, but we wanted the effect of lots of layers painted over time. And since I knew we were going to be distressing these, this color would peek through without being too crazy different.

Not there is anything wrong with crazy different.

I love crazy different sometimes. Just not this time.

Once the blue was dry, we used a crackle medium before we painted the white. This stuff does some unpredictable things, but that is exactly what we wanted. 

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We wanted our new signs to look old, like they have some history, memories and been loved. Crackle helps give that look in a non-contrived way.

Can you see the blue under that white?

I love the way it makes the paint look older. 

Although it still looks pretty new. We will take care of that soon.

Alex is a master at multitasking. Sweet baby Daxx needed some loving so he kept her company while she painted. She will have that memory every time she looks at her sign. How fun that a new sign to look like an old sign already has some good vibes and memories attached to it. 

Good thing everything we used is water based and nontoxic.

Alex chose a much more modern font for her sign - it feels more like the 60s than some of the examples we looked at. That's one of the great things about a project like this - You can totally make it your own! Change the wording, change the color, change the font and you have a whole different result.

Oh, I used a color called "soft black", which is a brownish black color and Alex used "zinc", which is zinc color ;)

By the way, in case you are thinking, "Man, those girls are champs at drawing letters by hand on those boards. I could never do that", you should know that there is a super easy way to transfer letters onto wood, which we totally did. We just printed the letters from the computer (after we chose the font and size), laid the paper on the board and traced the letters with a firm hand. The indent that remains is what we colored in. 

Piece of cake - Anyone can do it.

Here you can see mine with the freshly painted letters. Looks good, but not old enough.

The next steps can be hard for those who might be worried that they will ruin their sign. You can go overboard with this, but it's hard to. We just went slow, a little at a time, stepped back and looked at it to see where else we needed a little more character.

So we took some sandpaper to the surface. And then we painted with a white dry brush (a regular paint brush with most of the paint wiped off so it feels almost dry - it gives a very light, airy look to the finish) over the letters and the color of the letters dry brushed over the sign. The trick is to not do it perfectly - just here and there, with less pressure in some areas, more pressure in others.

You can see on the "2" how the white dry brush picked up the texture of the paint strokes and really just helped it to overall look like it's been around for a while.

I also took a saw to my sign.

Really.

A sign that has been around for a while is going to be beat up, so I beat it up.

After I cut and scratched it up, I wiped a dark paint all around to fill in the spots so they weren't all fresh looking. 

This is the only photo I have of Alex's finished sign - She has not put it up yet. But it is so cool looking!

See what I mean about a different color and font and you have a whole different look? Love it!

And here is mine up and bringing all kinds of charmness to our kitchen.

This was a great project and we are both super happy with the results. 

What would you put on a sign? 

Would you go modern or more vintage? 

Where would you put it?

Stars

Hi!

I thought I would share with you this super quick little project I did around the holidays - I know - A little late. 

Okay, a lot late. Really, Christmas decorations in March?

 But it was super cute, and I think maybe this could jump start some clever ideas of your own.

I am not doing a photo tutorial here - anyone can figure this one out.

I used a star paper punch (these stars are about 1 inch) on vellum paper, which you can totally get both at Hobby Lobby or Michael's or wherever. 

All these stars came off one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

Once they were punched out, I used clear thread to string them up. I just used a little tiny piece of tape to hold them in place. Super easy.

And taped them to the ceiling around the light. 

One thing to be careful about - those stings may want to tangle with each other. You just have to keep an eye on them.

I chose to use vellum so they would be a little lighter and airier, but you could totally do something bold, or with a pattern.

And speaking of being creative, how about hearts? Or butterflies? Or shamrocks! (Dang - just a day late for that holiday, too.)

There are fun punches in all kinds of shapes - swirls, bunnies, flowers, star bursts, pumpkins, trees - even circles could be cute in some great colors. You could make these for just about any event.

Birthday party? Multi-color and multi-pattern circles. Or flowers. Or swirls.

Fourth of July? Stars and or star bursts in red, white and blue.

Thanksgiving? Warm autumn color pumpkins. Or circles.

Hot date at home? Hearts, of course. Any color works for that.

And who says they have to hang straight down? You could for sure make a bunting like this:

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How cute is that?

Bring on the creativity! This is a super easy but effective project that doesn't take a ton of time, and anyone can do it. It would be great for a family activity, too, if you want a bunch of it.

And did I mention how neat it was when the heat came on? Just a little flutter going on.

Here's how they looked at night. So fun!

If you make your own, send me a photo - I would love to see what you come up with!

plate windows

Hi!

Cannot even believe it is almost Halloween. This will be the first year in 25 years that we don't have a trick-or-treater. (Liam isn't going out this year.) 

So strange.

We do have a Halloween party to go to this weekend at church. Not sure if I am going to pull out a costume or not. I am excited about getting candy though.

Speaking of dressing up,  I worked on a little project recently sprucing up one of our previous fun projects:

These awesome window plate racks:

I love these. Hero rigged them up to safely hold platters out of the way (out of the cupboard) and to give this blank wall some character. 

Win - win.

A few months ago, I found these yard sticks in the attic at my mom's house. I love the printing on them. I wanted to use them in a somewhat functional way, but it took a little thinking to figure out what the heck to do with them. After walking around the house with them and asking for suggestions, I was ready to get to work.

She had three good ones and one broken one.

And Hero had one hanging out in the garage.

I just cut an end off each one to make them fit. I measured the length right on there. How handy!

(Note - Hero got a few things out for me, but I actually did all the work on this project. Yes, I used the table saw.)

I did save those little ends - They are so dang cute.

Once they were cut, I just glued and clamped them right to the braces that were already there. 

I love the chunkier look and bringing in the warm wood tones.

And the character. I love it!

This was so easy, I didn't even take the plates down.

Demonstrating the proper way to level. Lean way back and eyeball it.

Not my feet.

And not sure why Hero was in on this project. Maybe taking the clamps off. He does nice things like that.

So cool, I love the contrast.

This one has measurement marks on it. I like thinking that this was really useful to someone.

I love re-purposing things.

Before:

And After:

Gives it a whole new feel, doesn't it? 

Any projects going on over at your place?