Valentines Decor?

I'm not even going to talk about how I'm the worst blogger ever. I'm just going to post a new project and try to be more dedicated than I have been. Forgive me, followers! I still heart you!

I saw this project posted eons ago and filed it away in my head.

At one point, I even purchased the wood to build my own.
I never got around to it, though.

This is the view from my front door when looking directly to the back of my house.

The little wall over the stairs has never bothered me before, but a couple of weeks ago I suddenly decided it was the perfect place to hang something. I was putting my Valentines decor out at the time, and all the "Love" themed pieces must have reminded me of my Beatles inspiration piece.

The wood I had in the garage, however, was far too big. Instead I picked up a 2 gallery canvas's at JoAnn's.

For my letters I created a custom document in microsoft publisher that was the same size as my canvas (24x12) and played with the size and stretch of the letters until it fit the way I wanted it to. Then I turned those letters light grey (so as not to waste too much ink) and moved them to a standard letter size sheet of paper to print them out. 

Then I cut the letters out and attached them to my canvas with a regular old glue stick. 

(I started by just doing one canvas. That way, if it didn't work, I'd only ruined one, lol)

I love this reverse-stencil technique - and using a glue stick to make the paper stay works perfectly. It peels off without too much trouble but stays well enough if you don't jostle it around.

Anyway, I sprayed over the entire canvas with black spray paint. Two light coats.

When it was completely dry, I peeled the paper letters off. They came off surprisingly well. So, instead of printing and cutting out an entire new set of letters, I reused these ones. They were a bit curled, but I pressed them with my iron between two towels and they were perfect.

The letters stood out as extremely white and the black was just a pit too perfect for my taste, so I took some fine grit sand paper to it. Then I diluted some bronze paint and rubbed it over the canvas, giving the letters a bit of color and softening the black.

I love the result. The question is, is it Valentines Decor, or not?
I'm leaning towards not. I think I'll probably keep these up all year long.

Before and After:

Now I just need to replace those hideous sconce's. Bleck!

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

Recently I added a new folder to my "Favorites"
I called it "To Make"
I'm adding crafts to it like crazy - it's going to be my favorite favorite folder :)

This darling soap dispenser is the reason I created my new folder - and it was the first thing I made from it, too. I just love it so much!

How cute is that?

It's been made by several people, but I went ahead and used Heather's instructions from HeatherBullard.com. They were well written and easy to follow - a huge bonus!

Start with a soap dispenser you like, a mason jar, a drill with whole saw attachment and some epoxy.

Cut the top off your soap dispenser, leaving the threading intact. Measure and drill a whole into your mason jar lid for your bottle top to fit through. Then epoxy them together.

I went with a purple soap. It's blackberry-vanilla scented. Or something.

Anyway, it's lovely! I absolutely adore the way it looks - so cute and fun!

My Last Patriotic Project

Okay - this will be my last patriotic project for this year!
After all - the 4th of July is only 2 days away!

In Utah we celebrate the 24th of July, too. It's Pioneer Day - and we celebrate it in much the same way as we do the 4th. Barbecues and Fireworks and lots of red, white and blue. That makes it possible to stretch my Patriotic Decor all the way through August 1 :)

I needed something patriotic, but in a non-traditional (meaning not red, white and blue!) for my entry table.  Here's what I came up with.

I started with a scrap piece of bead board and am ikea frame (still in the plastic!) that I found in my basement.

Then I traced a metal star - temporarily stolen from my son's cowboy room - onto the bead board.

Then I hot glued penny's onto the star shape, overlapping some here and there to get the best coverage.

I attached my bead board to the back of my ikea frame (now spray painted white) and in less than 20 minutes was done with this one. Nothing's better than a 20 minute project, right?

I LOVE the copper against the white. It seems patriotic enough to me - after all, that's USA Currency, baby!

 
By the way - does this count as defacing money? Can I go to jail for this?

PB Knockoff, just in time for the 4th!

I'm so excited about this project!!!

Who among us had NOT seen this lovely from the Pottery Barn and coveted it for our own home?

It's gorgeous!
It's also $129
I don't spend $129 on accessories at my house. To be honest, I can't decide if I'm sad about that, or if I'm happy that I'm more creative than that.

Anyway, I decided to try my hand at another Pottery Barn knockoff.

I started by purchasing a sheet of wood from the Home Depot.

I used 1/4 inch thick plywood, because I wanted it to be light. I cut my piece to what I felt like was a large, but still manageable size.
The Pottery Barn flag is 27x50. 50 inches seemed incredibly long to me.
My flag is 24x36

I started by taping off my stripes. I counted them up on the PB flag - 7 red stripes, 6 white. I did mine just like theirs.

Red was first, white was second.

 

Blue was last.

After all the blue was dry, I used a rubber scrapbooking stamp to put the stars on.  I wasn't really super careful with these - I knew I was going to distress it, anyway.

Confession: there are only 40 stars on my flag. I apologize to the last 10 states in the Union. I just didn't have room on my flag. I don't think it's noticeable...

I forgot to take a picture of the flag when she was all shiney and new. I was too excited to beat her up, I guess!
The next step was distressing the flag with sandpaper. I started off with some 120 grit in my hand...but it really wasn't getting the job done quickly enough, so I switched to my power sander. It may have gotten a little over-distressed in a few areas, but overall I love how it turned out.

Since I used craft paint to paint my flag (I already had all the right colors, it was easier than buying real paint for the project! You could totally buy those sample paints from Home Depot for this, though, and then you could probably skip this step) I needed to seal it. So I used this Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating and gave it 2 good coats.

It darkened up all my colors and gave it a bit of a sheen. I realize it's kind of impossible to tell the difference in these photos...trust me, it gave it a much more "finished" look.

 

Next I attached D rings to the back for hanging it up. One on each side, about 2.5 inches in from the edge. Since my wood was kind of thin, I used some little washers to make sure my screws wouldn't poke through the other side :)

 

Then I (my husband) hung it from my gorgeous pergola. I'd have done it myself, but I could get the screw driver attachment out of my drill to put the right bit in. DH had tightened it up too much last time he used it. I swear he does it just so I will have to wait for him at times. It must make him feel strong ;)

LOVE.

Linking up all over the place...
The Girl Creative
Tools are For Women, Too
These Creative Juices
Today's Creative Blog
Sugar Bee

Candlesticks

Adorable Michelle at Someday Crafts is having a Categorically Crafting party today - and the theme is candlesticks!
Since I LOVE candles (and their sticks, of course) I had to join in.

First up - this hideous find.

The strange marble-looking portion of this candlestick is...well, I'm not sure what. Not marble, that's for sure.
Easy fix on this - black spray paint hides a multitude of sins.

Next up -
Here is a strange before picture. I had a day of crafting planned, so I threw every item I thought I might use on the counter and took a picture of them.  This was NOT being a good blogger. This was a bad idea. Unfortunately, it's the only "before" type picture I have.
So - notice the 3 arrows.

3 random pieces of junk. An ugly metal candlestick from the dollar store, a .50 piece of unfinished wood (mostly hidden in this picture) and a .75 jar from the thrift store.
Paint and glue and a candle later - here she is!

 

Last, is another creation from the objects in the "before photo"
New arrows this time.

Another .50 piece of unfinished wood from the craft store and a .75 weird wooden...bowl...type...thing.
Glued together and lightly brushed with creamy beige -

My favorite after.

For more candle projects from me, you can check out these posts,
Pottery Barn Cadlesticks and Useless (budget) Decor

For more candlestick projects that are NOT from me, check out the Someday Crafts Candlestick Party :)

The rest of my Spring

I never got around to posting pictures of my Valentines decor, and I hated myself for it.

Seasonal decorating is one of the great joys of my life. That's just how it is. I'm tempted to call that "sad", but I'm going to try to embrace it, instead.

Anyway, I didn't want to miss out on sharing another round of photos, so here they are.

I've already shown you the entry way table, but here's another picture - just because I love the way it turned out :)

First, the front room.
This is the bench underneath the window.
I threw my sister a baby shower last Summer and the theme was "Nesting"
I painted all these darling birdhouses for decorations. Spring seemed like the perfect time to reuse them :)

This is the coffee table.

I picked this giant birdhouse up for just $3 at the thrift store, and all it needed was some cleaning.

 

The mercury glass bird came from Target. I got it on extreme clearance because the tail is broken. I think it's pretty impossible to tell, and I know it's there!

This is the console table in my family room

This is the shelf in my hallway - love the way Spring looks on it! I was so tired of Winter decor.

And here's my dining area. I saved the best for last :)
The table

I finally sewed the ruffled edge burlap table runner I've been dreaming about. And I love it. I washed the burlap before I used it, then I lined it with canvas, it feels very substantial. Plus, it's so girly looking!

 

The pretty rose dishes are just girly enough to match :)

The centerpiece is one of my favorite things...
Another thrift store lazy susan, painted and distressed, is the base. The candle holder is made up of some strange wooden parts I found at the thrift store and glued together. The rocks are actual stones that I found in my yard and hot glued moss to. The nest was cheap from the craft store. The egg I already had :)

The buffet

I tucked some artificial flowering branches in with the real ones my husband pruned off our tree last summer :)