HOME

Spring was starting to "spring" here in New Brunswick until we got 10cm of snow yesterday! But hopefully it will all be gone by the end of the week and warmer days will be ahead.

My chair has been slide lined....I thought I knew what I wanted to paint on it, but I just can't seem to get it done, so it is back to the drawing board for me. 

I was on Pinterest (which is a fabulous site; you should check it out if you haven't already) and was getting so many wonderful and inspiring ideas from all the pictures. I have been really wanting to make my house a home. Not just a place to live, but a place that really expresses who my family is. I saw a hutch with the letters "H O M E" cut out of wood, painted and sitting nicely on top of the hutch. I thought...I want to make one of those. I went into word and typed out the word "home" and picked four different fonts that I liked. I used one called Kingthings for the "H" , font size 600, Constantia for the "O",font size 550, Berlin Sans for the "M", font size 650, and Bernard MT Condensed for the "E", font size 700. There are many great sites on the web for downloading free fonts. Be careful though, you can spend hours looking and downloading all the wonderful fonts!

I cut them all out of a scrap piece of pine which had knots and rough spots on it. I decided I wanted to use those "imperfections" to make it look old and roughed up. I used my band saw and scroll saw to cut them out. Then I sanded and wiped it clean. I had to be really careful though as pine is soft and I ended up breaking the "H" and the "E". But nothing a little glue couldn't fix.

I chose not to cut the centre out of the "O"....honestly because I didn't feel like it! But it was a good decision, because it forced me to come up with a creative way to use that space.

My kitchen and living room are open to each other. My living room is green and my kitchen is yellow. I chose two different greens, a natural stain colour and a cream colour. I used Deco Art Staining medium mixed with Asphaltum to stain the backs and sides of all the letters. I stained the entire surface of the "M" and the centre of the "O".

For the "H, O" and "E", I sealed with DecoArt multi-purpose sealer the fronts of the letters.

When everything was dry, I based the "H" with a few coats of Light Butter Milk. When it was dry, I applied a stencil and dry rubbed a nice yellow colour to give it some interest.

To make it look old, I sanded down the edges and applied stain to the front of the "H" and then wiped it off quickly. I spattered it with Asphaltum and Light Buttermilk.

For the "O" I painted it Medium Hauser Green. I found a map of where I live and made a photocopy of it. I tore it out of the paper so the edges would be rough. I used Modge podge to apply it to the "O". When it was dry I applied some DecoArt texture crackle. I shaded and antiqued it with Asphaltum and a small touch of black. I shaded the green part of the "O" with Plantation Pine and Black. Then I spatter with Black and Light Buttermilk. I covered the map area with a tissue so I wouldn't get spatters all over the map. Next, I transferred my house number onto the map and used a wash of Bleach Sand to fill it in. I then shaded around the numbers with Asphaltum.

The "M" was stained with the Asphaltum and the shaded on the edges with Asphaltum and Black and then spattered with Black.

I painted the "E" with Celery. I mixed some Celery paint in with some Texture Crackle and applied it here and there to the letter. When it was dry I sanded it lightly to remove any rough spots. Then, I shaded the letter with Plantation Pine and Black; and then spattered with Plantation Pine and Black.

Finally, to finish off the letters, I applied a coat of Matte varnish. They are going to hang in my kitchen....once I build my shelf!

Old Window Phase Two

Here we go! The fun part of designing and painting the insert. I decided I would put my family name and the year we were "established". I wanted to add a little texture and dimension, so I used a stencil that I purchased from Tracy Moreau . It is the Corner Motif. 

I measured where I wanted put the stencil and then used Deco Art Texture Crackle. I put a thin coat on, just thick enough to cover the stencil. When it dries, it leaves a beautiful cracked, raised motif.

After letting the texture crackle dry, I started painting. I did a slip slap of Bleached Sand, Medium Hauser Green and Dark Forest Green.

Then I measured out where I wanted to put "CARR" and "Est. 1998". I painted that with two light coats of Bleached Sand and I added a drop shadow of Dark Forest Green.

I decided it needed a little more depth, so I added more Dark Forest Green around the edges and brought it up into the middle. 

So, here is the final product. I painted the frame in Bleached Sand to help it work better with the insert. It was so much fun and I am really happy with the out come. It is going to hang in my kitchen.

Old Window - Phase One

I had this old window that my wonderful husband took out of our house. And it has just been begging me to break the glass in it and clean it up and put an insert in it with something wonderful painted on it. Here is what I did.

First I assembled together everything I thought I would need... goggles...they are actually 3D glasses from the theater...hey, I'm all about using what I have :)

...a hammer, wide tape, a putty knife, measuring tape and a garbage bag. I'm all set! Let the fun begin! (I'm a little excited!)

I started out by digging out all the old caulking that was holding the window in....this is when I realized a utility knife would be helpful, so I added that to my pile of supplies. Then, I taped the entire back of the window so when I broke the glass with the hammer it would stick to the tape and not go everywhere in a million little pieces.

Now the real fun begins! I put the window in the garbage bag, turned the window over so the tape was on the back and gave the window a few good whacks. 

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! lol...then I realized I needed to add another item to my supply list....work gloves to take the window out. The tape worked really well. All the window pieces stuck to the tape and went into the garbage bag in one piece. There were just a few little shards of glass stuck in the window fame that I cleaned out with no problem at all.

 

I used the utility knife and the putty knife to clean off all the chipping paint and remaining caulking. Now I am ready to measure for my insert! I made sure to measure the back side of the window where the insert will sit in the frame. 

My husband's square was at his father's house, so  to to make a straight edge to cut on, I had to use a piece of old molding....again...use what you have! Of course I did measure my other sides first to make sure they were straight. :) Now I have to confess...I do not like using the table saw! It is just too loud and just a little bit scarey for me. lol So I had my husband, Chris, cut the insert for me.

 When it was all cut, I sanded it and then primed both sides and the edges with Bulls Eye 1-2-3.

Phase two....what to put on the insert???....stay tuned!

Cookie Creamcheese balls

These are so easy to make and so VERY delicious!!!

 Ingredients: 1pkg of cream filled chocolate cookies

                     1 pkg. cream cheese (250g)

                     2 cups Chocolate chips

In a food processor, chop up the cookies until they are fine crumbs. Add the block of cream cheese and mix again until well blended. Roll the mixture in your hands to form 1" balls. Place on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Place in the fridge for 30minutes. Melt chocolate on the stove and dip the oreo balls one at a time into the chocolate; coating them completely, then placing them back on the cookie sheet. Keep refrigerated. 

That's it!!!! Enjoy!

Paint the Town E-zine Publication

Susan Kelley from Tole Town asked if I would submit a project for the December issue of Paint the Town e-zine. I was so excited to be able to participate in this wonderful e-zine and to work with Susan Kelley and Lorrie Webber. I painted a glass block and added some lights and a bow.

My first blog post!

Welcome!!! This is so exciting! My very first blog post. My goal for this blog is to share with you what inspires me and to also share my designs and ideas. There is inspiration everywhere; all around us. 

It is only a few days past Christmas and I am still in the celebrating mood. I love this time of year. It is so wonderful. So many sparkling lights and glittery ornaments; church Christmas concerts to make us laugh and remember the reason for the season; so many songs to get us feeling all warm and fuzzy inside...it's just a wonderful time. 

A few years ago I decorated a Charlie Brown tree for my kitchen. It had gingerbread ornaments, white lights, gumdrops & popcorn on it. It was a small tree, but looked oh so cute! This year, my daughter and I decided to string popcorn for our big tree in the living room. It was a lot of fun...and really didn't take that long. It looked great on the tree too. I also added berries and pine cones along with our ornaments; a collection of homemade ornaments from my mom and my children and some bought and given to me as a gift. Every year my mom purchases me an ornament to go on the tree and I have stared this same tradition with my children.

I hope everybody had a very Merry Christmas!