Mod Podge Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Weekend Quote Art Project

October 13, 2013 Karen

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.

Coldspring, Decorating, DIY Art, DIY Projects, Mod Podge, resale finds, Thrifty Art

Art from Resale Finds

February 6, 2013 Karen

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.

Chair, DIY Furniture, Map, Mod Podge

Using a Map to Redo a Chair

September 23, 2012April 22, 2013 Karen

I believe in eating dessert first so I am going to show you my favorite project of the weekend. I have had an old chair in my garage at the city house and then in the Garagemahal for years. A family friend, Homer, who I loved, gave this to me years ago so that I had an old chair to put a potted plant into. Homer was a crafter like nobody’s business. He turned barrels into tables, had cowboy boot table legs, used tractor seats for bar stools. I loved going to Homer and Juanita’s house. I miss them both.

I never did get around to cutting a hole in the chair to put a plant into the seat and I am really glad. I have seen a ton of stuff recently on Pinterest where a map was Mod Podged onto something. I thought that this would be the perfect project for the chair. Of course I had to use a Texas map we got at the visitor center for the map and I made sure that Coldspring was prominently displayed. Here is the project:

The first step was easy. Remove the worn out seat from the chair. Screws were in the bottom. I did it by myself.

The next step started out easy. Remove the veneer from the seat. A lot of it was already loose or gone.

It got too hard for me at the end so Hubby had to chisel it off.

Next sanded it all then I painted everything with one coat of paint I used paint left over from the Lovebirds’ furniture. Valspar- Rapids

I painted the chair frame with two coats of paint.

I loved the color.

Next, I laid the seat on top of the map and moved it around until I had a good location. I wanted to put all places we have lived on the seat, but no luck. I could not get Dimmit and Beeville to play nice so they both had to go. That was it for the day.

This morning I got up early and got busy.

I cut out the map and then I Mod Podged the map to the seat. It brought back a lot of memories for me and my Social Planner who was a weekend guest. Did you guys Mod Podge when you were kids too? I used a plastic putty knife to smooth it out as I went along. It was easier than I remembered. My Social Planner thought I should call this post Crafting with Coffee.

After I finished the seat. I decided to rough up the chair. I took some sand paper and removed paint where it stuck out or where normal wear and tear would occur.

Here she is all put together! Love it. This is going to make a great craft chair.

At the craft corner.