Extended Weekend

I'm taking an extended weekend starting today - tons of stuff going on - but I'll be back Tuesday with an amazing summer drink!

Decorating/Crafting: Decoupage Letters

It was my niece's birthday earlier this month. She turned three and moved into her "big girl bed" complete with new sheets, bedspread, etc. So for her present, I really wanted to do something that would go along with her big girl room, and I've been wanting to decoupage letters for a while now. So she, lucky girl, was my guinea pig.

I got some of the prefab wooden letters at Joann's (On sale! Score!) And I even got the pre-primed ones, and then let my natural laziness roll, and didn't even paint them.

A few foam brushes and some decoupage medium later...

...And I had this.

I traced the letters onto the scrapbook paper, cutting them a little smaller, but it still wasn't quite small enough because the paper stretched when the glue got it wet! Grrr! Next time I will work with tiny pieces of paper, and layer and tear them more like traditional decoupage.

Anyway, when it was all said and done, it turned out pretty cute, and my niece was excited to see her name all spelled out when she opened her present.

Decorating: Making a hideous painting slightly less hideous

OK, maybe the painting isn't that hideous. Or maybe it is. I think my bias stems from the fact that it is painted on velvet. Ew. Shades of Elvis, anyone?

When my mom moved she gave this painting to my daughter, and my daughter loves it. I agreed she could put it in her room if we painted the frame first. I started this little project ages ago (I think I've been stalling hoping she wouldn't actually want it in her room), so I didn't get a good before picture, but this should give you an idea of what it looked like.

This is actually the back of the frame, but if you ignore the seepage from the primer you have the general idea.

Here it is primed.

And here is the finished product. Once I spray painted it (Rustoleum Heirloom White - yeah, baby! LOVE spray paint!!!), AND de-linted it - that's right I never thought I'd have to use a lint roller on a painting - it turned out OK, I guess.

Here's a closer view of the frame detail. Not exactly superior craftsmanship, but whatever.

And here it is in her room. It actually stands out against the wall color better than that, but the lighting in there is really bad.

So there you have it. One frolicking velvet horse and some spray paint makes a daughter happy.

(Another linking party! Thanks TDC!)

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I never would have picked this book for myself, so I am so glad my book club picked it for me! I loved it! Wonderful, charming characters that were revealed so cleverly through the letter format of the book. A sweet love story. Brilliant hommages to books and reading. Interesting and heart-wrenching facts about WWII and the aftermath. This book has it all.

Cleaning: House Numbers

My house numbers have been bugging me for over a year. What I'd really love is a fancy number plaque to give some presence to the house numbers nailed over the garage.
What I've got is this.

Mismatched brass numbers. The fours weathered differently than the three, to the point that from the street they look black, and you can hardly see them. It's ugly AND unsafe.

It's been bugging me for so long, that I totally missed the answer that was right in front of my face!
Hello!
I've had this brass polish for over a year, and just the other morning it finally hit me that I could use it on the house numbers - they're brass! Uh, duh!

I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but after a lot of elbow grease they look much better!

Until the day I can get that fabulous number plaque, I can live with this!

My first linking party! Thanks A Soft Place to Land!

Where has my summer gone?

Oh, I know. It went to:

DD2's Birthday.

The End of School.

A Visit with Thomas.

A stint back at work for the month of June.

Planning and executing a week-long camping trip for 18 darling young ladies from my church. (Exhausting, but totally worth it.)

Swimming.

BBQs.

The Fourth of July, which was lovely. I tried a recipe I've been wanting for a year. (Grilled Pizza from Prudence Pennywise. Delicious doesn't even cover it.) And I found the fireworks setting on my camera. How fun are these sparklers?
And just this last week a trip to the local amusement park.

Whew. Hopefully I'll get back on track this week. I have some mini projects ready to post. See you soon!