"Life is Better in Flip Flops" Decor Sign

Ah... flip flops. One of the things I look forward to the most out here in Canada when the warm weather comes! Back when I lived in California I could pretty much wear them all year long! But... here in Canada, .. ya, not so much. So I really wear the heck out of my flip flops during the few short warm months we have! 

To further express my love for flip flops I made a cute little sign to decorate my living room. Yes, I painted another piece of scrap wood! If you didn't see the first one I made a couple weeks ago, you can see it here. 

This time I took photos while I crafted this one. So I thought I'd do another tutorial cause, well, let's be honest, tutorials are so much more exciting when there are photos to go along with the instructions.

I first sanded all the edges, corners, and the top surface real smooth. With a sponge brush, I painted the top and sides with a layer of watered down brown acrylic craft paint and a drop of black craft paint mixed with that to make a darker shade of brown. Then I wanted to give it some sort of aged or sanded sketchy look, so I watered down (not too much) some white craft paint and did two to three coats of that. I like how the dark shows through the white a little bit. Looks kind of beachy like... which is perfect for this quote! 

Okay, now some photos! 

I free handed the words on my last wooden sign, but this time I created a Word document, making sure to size everything to fit. I got my ideas for the layout from searching that quote on Pinterest. 

Flipping the printed paper over, I rubbed a piece of chalk all over where the words were placed on the other side. Because my board was painted with white, I used a bolder/brighter color.

After making sure all the backs of the words are covered in chalk, I flipped my piece of paper back over, placing it where I wanted it on the board, the words now facing up. I used some painter's tape to keep it in place. 

Now you are ready to trace all the words! 

Just grab a pen and trace and outline all of the letters.

Once you're done tracing and you remove the paper, you get this! 

Chalk lines on your board that are now ready to be filled in with paint! Super easy and neato trick for transferring words or shapes onto something for painting!

I found all my skinny little paint brushes at the dollar store! They work great! 

And now I have an adorable new summer decor sign! 

The perfect craft for a lazy Saturday afternoon. I actually find these painting projects very relaxing. 

The mustard yellow is a little hard to see until you come closer. But it looks great in the photos! And at least it will make me happy since I sit near this spot often!

Hmmm.. I have one more piece of scrap wood.. what should I paint next?!

Old Plant Stand Made Pretty

Last winter I picked up this old neat looking plant stand from someone's trash pile at the end of their driveway. .. I seem to like trash finds, don't I? 

Since the warm weather has finally graced us with its presence, I decided I felt like giving it a makeover! So out of the storage closet it came! 

I brushed it up a bit with a little scrubber to get some little bits of gunk left behind from when I gave it a bath in my tub after bringing it home. Then gave it a quick wipe down with some bathroom cleaning wipes.

Spray painting can be a challenge when living in an apartment, so I went for some acrylic craft paint.. plus it's cheaper! The color on the bottle says Aqua, but the photo totally doesn't show its true color. It has more of a greenish tint.. I can't describe it very well really. But it's very vibrant and not as dull as the photo shows. I hate that! But atleast I can see it's true beauty when I look at it in person!

It's so nice to sit out on my balcony and work on a project on a nice sunny day!

And here's my new plant stand!

.. Don't laugh at my poor droopy little plant. I've had it since our first year of being married and it's kind of always been a mopey little plant.

I think I like it inside.. not sure still.. 

And I think I'd like to get a pretty new pot to fit inside.. white, maybe?

Refreshing little update :) 

Hand Painted Wooden Sign Decor

HELLO HELLO! My goodness, it's been ages since I've hung out at my blog! The last time I blogged was in December! I miss the days when I used to blog about everything I did.. I've gotten a bit lazy I guess. Well guess what?! I was feeling crafty last weekend and went browsing through my Decor board on Pinterest to see if there was anything pretty I could make. I found this pretty hand painted wooden sign that I'd pinned forever ago and decided since I had a piece of scrap wood I'd give it a try! 

And here it is!

Didn't it turn out lovely?!

I decided to put it up on a small wall to the side of our couch, right next to the balcony doors. I was never sure about what to put in that spot, or if I should put anything there at all.. in case it looked too crowed with having my photo wall above my couch. But that's where I put it up! Along with a cutie little vintage bicycle decor piece that I got from my Grampa (I begged him for it), who got it from my mom a few years ago haha! I always wanted to put the little bicycle up somewhere but I'm just not creative when it comes to adding wall decor in an attractive way. I take waaaaay too long thinking about stuff first, and then I just get tired thinking so I forget about it!

  

I think it looks GREAT! I'm in love with it! And I can't stop looking at it whenever I come into my living room. It makes me smile and say, "Awwwee..."

As difficult as it was to get a hold of my husband's attention while he was grossly and intensely watching his favorite hockey team play in the playoffs, I was able to get him to hang my new decorations up on commercial breaks! ...

Check out those sunburns!

Now, I didn't take any photos during the creation, because I didn't think about blogging! But it was pretty easy. First, to get the stained look, I watered down some brown acrylic craft paint with water and covered the board a couple of times till it was a shade I liked. When dry, I began on the words. I drew my words on a piece of paper while looking at the pinned inspiration photo for a guide. I did "Love" first and when I had it all drawn up how I wanted it, I took a piece of chalk and rubbed the back of the paper all over where the word was. Then I gently placed the paper where I wanted it on the piece of wood, with the chalked side facing down onto the wood. Taking a pen, I traced over the letters. When I lifted the paper off, the word was drawn onto the wood with the chalk!! Super easy for transferring! So then I just filled it all in with craft paint! (I'm in love with that color these days!) And I just repeated that same process with the rest of the words on the sign. The rest was a little tougher for me though, because I can't seem to write nicely.. After that was all finished and dried I covered the whole board with a clear varathane finish. That's it! 

Feels nice to share something on my blog again! : )

Fall Specimen Art

The other day I came across this pumpkin specimen art from My Blessed Nest and thought it was so super cute! I wanted to make my own, but I don't have a pumpkin punch. But I just purchased a large heart punch on Ebay, so when it came in the mail the other day I had my first project for it all figured out!

Months ago a neighbor gave me a huuuge stack of magazines when she moved, and I've had that stack just sitting around under one of our side tables. 

Because I didn't have any cute scrapbook paper, I flipped through the magazines looking for designs and images I could punch out. There's TONS of pretty designs and images you could use from magazines! So before you throw them out make sure you get all the prettiness punched out of them!

I bought my cheapo frame from the dollar store and hot glued some burlap material to the back of the frame, glued my tiles on, then picked out 12 hearts I wanted to use and lightly glued them down. I didn't use the glass piece at all. I'll just throw it away.. or something. With a crafter nothing is trash, right? :) 

I couldn't be more pleased! 

So cute! 

And I decorated my piano last night all Fall-ish. I don't have a mantel to decorate, so I use my piano! But I'll share that later on. I'm still finishing up on it. 

Master Bedroom: Mirror Makeover

Several weeks ago when Hubby and I were driving out of his parents' neighborhood I spotted this mirror in someone's junk pile out on the curb. Shoved it in the car and took this beauty home! 

It's perfect! I love these swirls and designs on frames.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it yet, but a new paint job was definitely on the "to do" list for it's future! Finally, after a couple weeks of sitting in my craft room I made my decision! It got a nice makeover in white {after it got a good scrubbing down in the tub- boy was that thing dusty... that old sticky dust!}

And here it is now! ... 

I really really like it.

... F.i.n.a.l.l.y there is something on our bedroom walls!

Dollar Store Owl Gets A New Look

Hello Hello! Did you all forget about me?!.. I wouldn't blame you if you did. I've been MIA for a very long time on my little blog here and have been feeling sad about not keeping up with anything or sharing any tid bits. So I thought I'd share a fun and quick little makeover I did tonight!

I found this sad little owl at the dollar store today for $2.

 .. it cried for me to take it home and give it some TLC. So I gave in to the little cutie and in my basket he went. 

The wings were like a foamy tree bark feeling material, so I wanted to remove those. It was too hard to pick at it, so he got a little bird bath and soaked for awhile in the suds. Aaahhh, that looks relaxing..

After soaking for like 2 minutes the tree bark foam junk peeled off like a charm! ...

.. but then there was this layer of weird stuck hard glue... I couldn't get it off so I soaked him for like 10 minutes. Then I was able to peel it all right off easily.

He's a little terracotta owl underneath! :)

After he was all dried off, I set up a little spot on my balcony and sprayed away using Kylon's Bauhaus Gold.

So much cuter, right!? 

Oh ya, let me introduce you to my lovely little piano! I got it for free from Kijiji! It was actually quite the ordeal trying to get help for picking it up and moving it here. One mover kept falling through and wouldn't keep to his word and I thought it was never going to happen, but finally we found a nice mover guy and my piano finally made it to its new home. I love it! It needs work and a tune up, but for now it's perfect and plays great! And my sweet little owl looks pretty cute chillin' up there too! 

... aah, it feels nice to blog a project again : )