Happy Tuesday!
They let me come back!
I wasn't sure when I posted my "I've Got Wood" heading (and then snickered to myself like a 12 year old boy), but here I am. Maybe they thought I did not understand what I typed.
But I did.
I'm cheeky like that.
So back to the wood.
My husband is a carpenter by trade.
He is also a cableguy, so most of his carpentery stuff are now projects on the side and "Can you cut this to 12x18 for me? And will it be exact? And I probably need a couple more things cut, too. Let me rifle through this pile (I'm not the only one with piles - that sounded bad - hold on I need to stifle the 12 year old boy living in me, so I can get on with this...) of scrap wood and see what else I might need" kind of stuff.
We have a bunch of lumber left over from when we built our house which I have been eyeing up (and moving from pile to pile) for the last couple of years.
The first project I did was one of the few trial runs that I've done that actually worked the first time.This project is seriously so easy it seems silly. Here's what I did:
- told the husband what a fine carpenter he is, asked him to flex for me and then requested that he cut me a 6x6 piece of wood
- used left over stain (dark walnut I think) and stained the whole piece
- cut out the word "create" on my cricut, using one of the cartridges that came with it on dollar store vinyl
- when stain was dry (and this was the hardest part with me and my premature touching problem) I laid the vinyl across the board and rubbed it so it stuck on
- using Heirloom White spraypaint I sprayed a very light coat of paint over the whole thing - I held the paint can a good 3 feet back to make sure it was a light coat, my usual more is more theory wasn't going to give me the effect I wanted
- when it was dry (or mostly dry, for the love of Mike, why can't I wait until things are dry?!) remove vinyl
I kind of dig how you can see the wood grain through the paint.
The other benefit of doing a light coat of paint and not letting dry completely is that you won't run the risk of pulling up the edges of the paint around the letters.
As you will notice, I am very resourceful at finding excuses for my lack of patience.
Then I thought to myself, "Self, you have been wanting to make one of those butterfly art thingies that have been making the rounds on blogs for the last three years."
So I did.
Then I thought, what about words or a quote?
I love words.
Showboat.
Menial.
Chrysanthemum.
Words are great.
So now that I'm on a roll, I may as well share this one.
I will add a disclaimer, saying, of course, I would never punch my kids, or anyone's kids, for that matter, it's a joke. And if I've really offended anyone, I apologize and will send you my friend, Dawn's, email address for any complaints, because we originally made this in vinyl for her laundry room wall and I shamelessly copied it from her.
She's clearly a bad influence on me.
That one is just plain old vinyl on stained wood.
Please note both the terrible spacing on the bottom line followed up with creative belt placement to hide the terrible spacing.
So that's what I have for cut wood projects.
My next shares are found wood projects. The wooden bowl/platter section is conveniently located right next to the frame section at our local VV Boutique.
Coincidence?
Probably.
I saw this while on the information highway via Google a few months ago:
At this supercool site that I am passionately in love with:
I searched for the right quote.
A quote that would convey something deep and meaningful to me.
A quote that would remind me that life is good and that we should live every day to it's fullest.
A quote that would remind me to hope I dance, dang it.
I thought to myself, what was that funny thing I heard on 30 Rock the other night that made me laugh and laugh and think to myself "I have GOT to remember that".
I couldn't remember.
So, I asked the husband, because in addition to being good at cutting things and hooking up cable, he is also quite talented at remembering quotes from movies and tv.
Once I had the quote chosen, being all mostly grown-up (except for that pesky 12 year old boy) instead of just grabbing the nearest metal stamp and going to town on the kitchen table (I had to restrain myself), I found an inexpensive set of stamps at the local Princess Auto and took out all my frustrations at the fact that I had to restrain myself, on this little tray.
I'm glad my kitchen table is intact.
The buttons are covering my first attempt (the "L" is sideways).
All my letters are fairly crooked, and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or not.
But it makes me smile.
And smiling's my favourite.
My last project today is a little wooden bowl that I bought on the same day I picked up the tray.
I used the same technique as on the first couple of projects I shared, but I must confessed, I initially tried using the metal stamps inside it and it was completely unsuccessful.
I had initally thought I would use it on my bedside table to corral all the stuff that I feel compelled to keep there. I couldn't think of a clever quote that would fit so I went with shhhh... because I'm usually either watching tv, playing Angry Birds on my son's IPOD that I snuck when he wasn't looking or sleeping. All ssshhhworthy activities, I'm sure you will agree...
Here's the cute bowl (50 cents, baby!):
Here's the shhhh....cut out on vinyl from the dollar store:
Here's me taking some of the tackiness off of the painters tape by using my clothes - painters tape works really well for moving the vinyl from the mat to the project, but it tends to be a bit sticky so sticking it on your clothes, kids, dog, whatever, helps take the tack down a bit:
Here's the bowl getting it's make-over.
Here's me deciding whether I should just use the vinyl and forgo the painting this time. I decided that leaving it unpainted would never do.
Here's the bowl with a fresh (and dry!) coat of paint:
Much better.
What was I thinking?
"No paint".
Sheesh.
Here's a peek inside the bowl with my bedside must-haves:
Burts Bees Lip Balm, Nutra Nail Touch of Colour (but mostly clear) Nail Polish and OPI Avojoice Skin Quencher cream (Jasmine Juice is the best!)
About 3 seconds after loaded up the bowl, I realized that there was no room for my watch or jewelery, and once again, that would never do.
So I moved it into the laundry room where it holds all the change I pilfer from the laundry pockets and the shhh....now simply means "shhh....I'm stealing your money" instead of the bedtime stuff.
I know what I like and what I think looks good, sometimes I just end up taking the scenic route getting there.
Thanks for tuning in today, I'll have more projects to share tomorrow, I hope you can join me!
