In our adopted city, Coldspring, Texas, I am lucky enough to have met a group of ladies who want to hang out once a month and do something crafty. The rules are simple; each person has to take a month, plan the craft, provide the space, a shopping list for those coming, and the basic supplies.
The social planner, Tanis, had this month at her beautiful home. She planned a collage project and collected a bunch of supplies to make the collages with. Everyone had to bring a frame. No rules about size, color, shape, or design.
I made filled my 8X 10 Goodwill frame with Texas winery wine corks that the social planner had access to and was willing to share.
Burlap, scrabble tiles and a key gave the frame the look I was going for.
We used glue guns, E 6000, and spray adhesive depending on the material we wanted to attach.
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We laughed, worked, burned our fingers, and came up with some pretty cool frames.
All eight turned out differently and each is special. I love the diversity.
I also love the fact that these ladies have welcomed me to their group.
I hope you are taking the time to do something creative for yourself this week.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog I appreciate you all more than you will know.
I have a grand-dog. She is a sweet-tempered rescue pup named Maeby and lives with The Southern Belle and Big Cat in North Carolina.
What do you get a dog for Christmas who has everything she wants? I mean she has all the belly rubs, walks, chew toys and snacks a girl could dream of. She is even famous. Her pretty face is on the cover of Pawblo Picasso custom pet portraits.Â
That is her on the left side. The happy one!
She really is a happy dog. Her parents love adore her and have a commissioned painting of her pretty face. Recently I was cleaning out a stack of old pictures (under our bed) and ran across this silhouette of me in like third grade. It got me thinking. I remembered that I had a picture of Maeby in portrait.
An idea formed in my little brain. A rustic silhouette on barn wood of Miss Maeby.
Hubby cut the boards to roughly the same length. He wanted to clean up the edge but I wanted it to look rough. I painted it my favorite off white, Cinnamon Cake by Behr then sanded the hound out of it to make the wood show through. Next, I glazed the boards with Behr Faux Effects mixed with just a little Behr Revival Mahogany. I wanted another layer so I wiped it all down with dark walnut stain. I liked the look of the wood enough that I could have just stopped at this point really, but the next step was to print the photo of Maeby on an overhead transparency sheet. If I had a projector that would project the picture straight on the wall that would have been awesome. I don’t. I do have access to an overhead projector. ( Check out school district auctions, they go on sale all the time for a few bucks.)
Shine it up on the wood, trace then fill in with charcoal colored paint.
Sounded good huh? I hated the first attempt. Well, I thought I did anyway. It took a few days and looking at the picture to realize that I really needed to rough up the portrait a little to match the background.
I still want to do a different picture that is all of her but this one makes a presentable present for her Christmas present now.
Soooo what do you think?
I know for sure that Maeby does not read my blog so if you see her, don’t spoil the surprise.
Wow. My little, baby blog will have 40 thousand views by the end of the day. Thank you, to those of you who read what I write and follow my family’s  very ordinary life. I am honored and blessed to feel that I have made friends I might not have ever met without the blog. My life is so full right now that I feel a little guilty about progress on the new house.  We are getting serious about it because Thanksgiving is coming to the burbs! This past week was our first major event at the school where I am principal. It is a brand new school with only a freshman class this year.  I spent this past week preparing for an amazing dance at school based on a masquerade theme. It was a fun way to use my creative side while getting to know my kids in a more relaxed setting.  It was a long night last night but the kids seemed to have fun. I am so very lucky to have a career that I love and get the chance to work with amazing teachers and students.
foam board makes great decorations. Stiff enough to stand, easy to cut with a serrated knife, cheap, and lightweight.
My amazing secretary gave this project to some students. They made a welcome sign from a frame with a broken mirror. I love it.
cute candy bar
This chocolate fountain is now soaking in my sink. Messy, but a fun addition to the dance.
I have been very inspired by a young artist who lives in Boston, Mae Chevrett lately. I love her use of mixed media and words to convey meaning. Here is her blog. To Go Into The World.  Check out her Etsy page to buy pints of her art.  I will be buying some of her art for Christmas presents this year. Her quote that resonates with me the most is:
It is in all of us
to defy expectations
to go into the world
and
to be brave
and to want, to need, to hunger for
adventure
to embrace change and chance and risk
so that we may breathe
and know what it is
to be free.
What could be more perfect for a school that targets first generation college students? Many of whom are students who are economically disadvantaged and quite possibly they learned English when they enrolled in school. I knew I had to have it on display at school.
Using Mae’s work as inspiration I created a mixed media background for the piece and used our school colors; purple and silver. I promise that I took pictures as I went along but in true Weekend Country Girl fashion, I did not check to see that I had an SD card in the camera. Once again I must apologize for no photos but I will quickly tell you what I did.
Hubby built a large wooden canvas. I do have a photo of this part. He has mastered making these large canvases. They are a fraction the cost of canvas and sturdy. He uses hardboard for the surface part and that cheap light weight 1X2 moulding for the frame part. These are 3 feet by 4 feet. Any larger and he would have had to put in cross braces too.
First fill all nail holes with wood putty and sand down the spots. Then prime everything. I used Kiltz spray primer.
I typed up the words using a variety of fonts and copied it off on a transparency. I used an overhead projector to shine  the words up on the canvas. Once the words were shining up on the canvas I quickly drew uneven lines across the canvas to roughly have a different color for each line of the quote.
I took the canvas and added a section of Mod Podge sheet music to one section and dictionary pages to another section. If you know me, you know I love old books but both the hymnal and the dictionary were beyond repair.
I then painted the rest of the sections quickly with purple, lavender, grey, dark grey, and white. I was going for the torn paper, not straight, look.
After the paint and Mod Podge was all dry I shined the transparency back up so that I could trace the words.
I then painted all the words on starting in the middle then working out so that I could get more done while the paint was wet.
The work is not perfect. I took some close-ups so that you could see all the imperfections.
Here is the fished project minus Mae’s Name at the end of the quote. I want to use a purple Sharpie for that and it is at the office. I hope that I did Mae’s work justice. I also hope that the words inspire my students as they take on the challenge of graduating high school with an associate degree.
My work is not anywhere as good as Mae’s but I like it and will hang it proudly in our main office area.
Herringbone patterned art is showing up all over Pinterest. Of course I had to try my hand at it for the new house. The results were pretty good for a first try.
Here is the tutorial for what is really a simple, but time consuming, art project.
I bought this frame with a covered bridge print in it from my favorite thrift store for $2.00. The print was on super heavy cardboard that was in good shape. It became the base for the art project. The frame just needed to be painted when the art project was done. It was a nice size for a first attempt. The cardboard print was 18″X24″ with the frame adding four inches to each side.
I purchased three bottles of Plaid brand paints in the colors that coordinate with the room. I literally poured the paint in strips on the cardboard print then got a big brush and started mixing the edges together.
Here are the results:
While the paint was drying I rolled out two long sections of Frog painter’s tape. I cut one of them into 5 inch sections and the other into 3 inch sections because I wanted there to be a little more interest in the pattern. I modified the pattern you see below by making the alternating diagonal two inches shorter.
Once it was totally dry I started taping down wide green tape. I may or may not have gotten the blow dryer out to speed the process because I am impatient 🙂 The picture of this part did not come out at all. GRRR. Because I was impatient to get started painting over the tape, I did not check the picture before moving on to the next step. It was way too dark to show.  I frustrate myself when I mess up like this. Here is my inspiration:
English: A herringbone bond in bricklaying. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I put down a section of 5″ tape at an angle on the cardboard canvas then put a 3″ section at the end of the 5″ piece to match the width, leaving a sort of grout line sized space between each piece. I went to Pinterest for Herringbone examples at this point to make sure that I was at least on track. Once I got a whole row done across the cardboard canvas, completing the taping went quickly because I just had to keep the spacing the same and follow the pattern.
Once the whole painting was covered, I painted white plaid paint over the grout-ish lines that I created by leaving space between the tape. As soon as the paint covered everything, I gently started peeling tape up.
I painted the white paint on fairly light so that it would minimize the drippy edges.
A coat of white spray paint on the frame and I was done. Easy. Ta Dah!
I love it above the bed. It really helps to tie the room together.
Here are some of the blogs that I visited for inspiration:
When we moved into our burb house, I did not plan on painting the walls right away, except the front guest room. Here is how the room looked when we purchased the house.
I am not going to talk about the paint job in the front bedroom except to say it was not my style and the color scheme wouldn’t work. I know that the former owner worked really hard on the faux painting.
As soon as we settled in I started looking for inspiration. Here are some of the inspiration pictures I found. I hope that clicking on them allows you to go site I found it at.
I wanted the bedroom to be cheery but restful.
Here is what we have finished to date:
Walls painted. I love the light blue walls. They almost feel like a spa.
Empty frames painted. I found the frames at a resale shop. I spent $4.00 total on all the frames you see on this wall. The paint on the frames is all left overs from other projects. The white plates were 10 cents each at the resale shop. I glued metal soda can tabs to the back of the plates with E6000. I love that stuff.
My bedding arrived. I am crazy about this yellowish paisley print. Target. Over budget. $90.00.
The throw pillows on the bed are all outdoor pillows that were on clearance at Home Depot, Lowes, and Marshall’s.
Curtains hung. Hubby and I went shopping at Ikea recently. I was thrilled to find off the shelf curtains that were 110 inches long for $34.00 a pair.
The herringbone art project done.
I will be writing a DIY on this project. It was a fun evening project that cost less than $10.00 even factoring in the cost of the green tape. ( I have plenty of tape to do several more projects.)$2.00 for the frame and the print that I painted over, Frog tape was $6.00 and I had to get one can of flat white spray paint for the frame. (I need to spray the frame again.) I had the other paint on hand.
The green lamp is in place. I think it is the best $2.00 I have spent in this room.
New art work. Target. Over budget. $20.00
New lamp from Target. $23.00. I know, I know but the colors in the shade go perfectly with the color scheme. Over budget.
I am not a huge fan of the bed frame as is and it will get painted and the posts are going to get trimmed down. I found this funky curio cabinet at a garage sale for a dollar. Here is the before.
Dirt Dobber nests and spiders were included for free. A quick wash down, spray painted the frame and painted the back that amazing Laguna color I love. I am not sure how long it will stay but I think it is a fun piece for now. For a buck investment, It will not kill me to let it go down the road.
I was able to incorporate the old dresser that once belonged to my grandparents, saved by my husband and completely restored.
We have ceiling fans in our bedrooms thanks to a friend of Baby Boy and Sweet Amanda. Don’t judge us for the fans. I think they look ok, It is going to be over a 100 again today here in the burbs. In South East Texas it is miserable without air moving.
This past weekend I made two unusual finds at one of my favorite resale shops; a music book for a flute for twenty five cents and four 78 records for fifty cents each.
What to do with these items? I looked at them for a while then decided they need to go together.
I decided to use the music book to cover a board that the albums will be screwed to with a large screw in the center of each record. I am saving the dust covers and I am doing no damage to the records. I am not sure if the records are worth anything, but I will bet they are worth more than fifty cents!
I Mod Podged the sheet music to a scrap board and allowed it to dry. I am absolutely the worst at getting all the wrinkles out, but I keep trying.
Then I spaced the albums out on the board and hubby screwed them down. They are going up in the game room where we have some album covers framed. This will be a perfect addition to the room.
I love the results. Not too bad for $1.75 art! Pictures of the upstairs game coming room soon.
My mantle is really wide. Six feet wide, in fact. In addition to the string art, the ribbon wreath and the various things collected around the house, I knew I would need something else. I convinced Hubby to stop in Cleveland on our way to the lake house for more supplies. I grabbed two foam spheres, a dowel rod, and two clay pots. The specifics weren’t nailed down but this would be a start.
I painted the pots bright red, the dowel white and glued it all together. I tried to glue tissue paper in with no luck. I ended up going with silk flowers from the dollar store. I love how they add a little Dr, Seuss type whimsy to the mantle.
I am on a mission to decorate my mantle for Valentine’s Day. While up at Star Hill working on the string art I noticed some small wood scraps that hubby had left from a project he is working on. I was board, literally waiting for paint to dry so I decided to try out a project I saw on Pinterest recently, using a paper towel roll to stamp hearts.
I painted the boards pink, then squished an empty paper towel roll into a heart shape. I know, it is a terrible photo. Sorry.
I used some really thick white paint that dipped the roll in.
The hearts were easy to stamp. I went up the left side of one board and the right side of the other.
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