This is what I've been busy with...

Well, its been a long time since I've posted anything...sorry 'bout that...we moved just before Christmas 2012...hosted dinner, attended 9 parties, hosted Christmas dinner and an open house...whew...I get tired just thinking about it. Crafting of any sort took a back seat for a while, and although I love card making, I have taken to some other crafting. The house we bought is from the 1870's, and it is a total "pinterest" house...I have had so much fun painting and doing decor projects to fill the walls. I thought I would share some of them with you...I'm really big into the upcycling right now and that has fueled many of my projects...

 So this first one is a wood sign. Hubby found about 5 pieces of old old wood in the garage of the house we bought, and we both thought they would be perfect for an old sign. After searching pinterest for ideas on how to best execute my project, I came up with a plan. Started with my Sure Cuts a Lot software and designed the words, cut a mock up out of scrap paper to make sure everthing was sized right, which it wasn't, so back to square one...after getting the sizes of the fonts right, I cut the letters out of my wall pops material...love this stuff. After it was cut, I "weeded" out the letters, leaving the negative space (don't forget the centers of the letters), then I cut a piece of transfer tape to fit the mat, and carefully placed it on the negative portion...lifted it, peeled the backing off and placed it on the wood...lifted the transfer tape off, which left me with a stencil of sorts, that I smoothed down really well. Took some antique white craft paint and sponged over the stencil, as soon as I was done sponging, I removed the wall pop stencil and took it to show hubby...and he oooooohed and ahhhhhed and said all the right things (smart move) and then promptly placed it on top of our living room wall cabinet.

 I love how the cracks in the wood make the paint look old and worn...I love a successful project!

This was a project I completed for our front porch...which hubby closed in and finished...looks awesome! This is a 16 x 24 canvas that I painted...had to mix some colors up to get what I wanted, a teal of sorts...anyway...then took some expresso paint and lightly brushed the edges up and then rolled with the teal roller over until it was all blended and looked aged...after that was done, I sat down with my Sure Cuts a Lot again, and designed all the words/fonts...took more time than I thought, but worth it in the end. Once all were chosen, I cut them out with my cricut out of bazzill cardstock, ran them through my xyron and carefully placed them on the dried canvas...once all were on, I mod podged over the whole thing twice, allowing to dry in between...ok, maybe I helped it with my heat gun...Here is a picture of the porch with the finished piece

 Next was a set of old wood windows I was just itching to use. They had been previously painted and distressed when we still lived in our other house, but the colors worked perfect for my bathroom in the new house. Previously I had pieces of scrapbook paper in the panes with words on them, but they got damaged in the move, so I pulled that out and replaced them with cardboard inserts covered with fabrics that match my shower curtain, which I also made for our last house, but I love it, so I kept it.

Love this sign...basically just used a wood sign from the dollar store, painted it and then mod podged the scrapbook paper and wording on, and hung it on a beautiful hanger purchased from Hobby Lobby, at 50% off , of course