Painting

 

 

Got the paintbrushes and watercolor tubes back out, 

for a pretty special reason! 

Wanted to paint something for our brand new niece, Lilah! 

I painted a few canvases for her big sisters room,

and wanted to do something for her as well. 

A carnation is January's birth flower, 

and since her nursery is gray and purple, 

I chose to add purple a little purple.

This is actually mixed media, violet colored pencil, with watercolor, 

as I was completely out of purple in watercolor! 

Very inspired, it had been forever since I have worked with my favorite medium, watercolor. 

Almost forgot how much I love and enjoy it! 

Can't wait to meet you sweet Lilah Grace! 

Hate that we are so far away!

Chalkboard Art

Had the honor of decorating chalkboards for a wedding this month!

 

Amy (aka Kiki) married her sweet man Brad, on November 16th!

They had a beautiful Catholic Wedding downtown,

followed by a reception at Talon Winery!

(where Matty and I were married over 7 years ago!)

 

Wanted to share!

She shared the ideas, mostly found on Pinterest!

(Seriously don't know what we would do without it now!)

and I made it happen for her.

Was so much fun!

 

(and I must say, a wonderful distraction from feeling so gross!)

 

Here are the chalkboards that their cute little ring bearer carried up the aisle,

and down after the ceremony...

 

Here's the large chalkboard sign,

front and back,

as you entered the barn for the reception...

 

 

and the signs they wanted to lead to the reception site,

as they had a lot of family from out of town.

 

 

 Road signs are from pallet,

loved making all of these signs for them!

 

Wishing Amy & Brad a wonderful marriage with lots of love and joy!

 

 



Fall Freezer Paper T-Shirts

You know to be honest, I'm not even sure where I found this idea, I do know it was before I discovered Pinterest... maybe on a blog?

Anyway, I know this has been around forever, in fact on Reynolds Freezer Paper packaging it says right on the box that it's used for crafting. It is SO MUCH FUN.
I've made them for gifts mostly, but this is the first time I've made my boys something!

First, you find a design that you want for a t-shirt, onesie whatever you want.
(I bought these t-shirts from Wal-Mart, and usually buy the onesies from Target or Hobby Lobby)
Then you trace or draw the design directly on the matte side of the freezer paper. Then you cut out the design, I've used teeny little nail scissors or a scrap booking razor blade with just a piece of cardboard underneath.

I googled "Fall Applique's" since they are always simple and so sweet, and then I drew my version, making sure to leave space between the section so I could cut out my "stencil".

Then I used the same method as I did with my Mr & Mrs Banner I did for Kara's Wedding. :)

Let 'em dry and...

You've got yourself a couple of cheap, easy fall t-shirts!
I LOVE them! I was a little worried about washing them, as I have never seen what they have looked like after being in a washer and dryer. To my surprise though, they turned out great! A touch faded, but it actually looked great, even more like something you would buy in a store - a vintage look almost.

I love them! The boys' wore them to church this last Sunday, and they looked pretty stinkin' cute if I do say so myself. ;)

Mr & Mrs Banner

So, one of my very best friends is getting married in 3 WEEKS! Woo hoo!
She will be having an unbelievably beautiful, simple, perfect back yard wedding, and after being SO motivated from Pinterest I decided to whip up a little present for her Bachelorette Party this weekend.

I wanted her to have it for her wedding pictures, and couldn't wait to give it to her! 

I decided to make her a "Mr & Mrs banner"

 (and I thought I would share how I did it, so fun and easy!)

Here's a list of the supplies I used: 

• Burlap
• Sharpie & Pencil
• Banner Template (I used a cardboard cut out)
• Black Fabric Paint
• Foam Brush
• Freezer Paper
• Tiny Scissors (I used nail scissors)
• Iron
• Hot Glue
• Twine
• Aluminum Foil (just to make clean up super easy)

I started by using my cardboard cut out of a triangle, (Tip: Leave a "lip" on top of the triangle so that you can fold it over onto your twine when you assemble the banner) and traced it on my burlap with a sharpie. 

Then I cut out 6 triangles.

Now, here's the part where people laugh at me. 

I literally just pulled up Microsoft Word on my laptop, typed in a M, R, &, and S found a font I liked and changed the size to about 290...took my freezer paper, put it on top of my lap top (hello it's lit behind it so it was SO easy!) and traced the letters! (Very lightly of course, and with a pencil!) (Tip: Make sure the letters will fit nicely in your triangle though!)

After you have traced all your letters, cut them out with your teeny tiny scissors. 

Now, you iron your new stencil onto your burlap...

Now, after you have ironed them, you have a stencil that will not slip! 

Here's where I put some aluminum foil down on my table, and painted my letters. Remember burlap has lots and lots of little holes so it could get pretty messy!

 I wiped it down after each letter so my burlap wouldn't get all sorts of messy. 

When you are finished, let them all dry. 

When they are all nice and dry, you just peel off the freezer paper and VOILA! 

This is where the "lip" of the banner comes in handy, I ironed mine down so it will be super easy to attach to twine (or whatever you wanted to use)

Then, glue a line of hot glue in the folds, I used a paint stirrer to help press it down so I wouldn't burn the fire out of my fingers. :) 

Then, when it's all finished, you have this...

I just love how it turned out, and the ideas are endless! 

I'm thinking "Happy Halloween" for my porch this year, "Christmas" for us to hold up for Christmas Pictures, "Family"... 

Thank you Pinterest for so many ideas and inspirations!