“Here’s your sign,” FARMBOY

My daddy was born & raised just about 300 miles due south of the geographic center of the 48 states. And although he “left the farm” to attend college, get married, raise a family, make a career in ministry -- I don’t think he ever really left the farm. The phrase “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy” was coined just for him! Our “vacation” for all my growing up years was spent back on the farm -- slopping pigs, throwing grain for chickens & tinkering with tractors.

Unfortunately his beloved farm was sold after my grandparents passed away. He does retain a sliver of land near the old digs; but he’s pretty much a prisoner of our city, these days. (Unless he has opportunity to get out camping or hunting…)

So I crafted a little sign for his yard:

If you’re wondering how I made it, here’s a quick look…

First, I designed & cut the lettering with my Silhouette Portrait. I then printed out a full-size rendition of the sign so I could trace the letter placement on my painted board (you know I suck struggle can’t make a straight line to save my life…)Here, the contact-paper letters are applied in position. (The “n” of URBAN was the last letter I situated in place -- note orientation…)Painted another coat of yellow to minimize seapage. (still unaware of “n” rotation)Here come da’ John-Deere-ish green. (again, clueless on the “n” situation)After the green is dry, I removed the contact paper. (NOW it is glaringly obvious that “n” has misbehaved!)Anyhow, I love the roughness of the board.

The sign gets slightly distressed…I applied a découpaging medium with just a touch of brown paint mixed in.

TADA!

some mo’ joe

My friend Sara had a yard sale last fall. I got a great deal on a slightly beat up canvas --  50¢!

It was the perfect size for a little project I had in mind for Keith’s coffee corner in my kitchen.I found a logo I liked and set up my lettering in the Silhouette software.I cut a stencil from the cheapie shelf vinyl.Let me tell you – that logo was a pain to “weed”! All those itty-bitty pieces! argh!Decided on a blue metalic-looking acrylic paint. Then I antiqued it a bit with some black glaze. The hubs still needs to hang it over the doorway; but for now his new sign rests atop the dusty cupboards.Soon it will take its place with the other signs:

“faux”– boarding

In the two and a half years I’ve been blogging, I’ve seen quite a few fads come & go. Some are understandable while others leave me saying, “Why? Just who thinks this thing/process/color is vital to the existence of every blogging (or Pinteresting) household?”

Having begun my teaching career in the pre-multimedia projector & pre-whiteboard dark ages; I pretty much had my fill of chalkboards, chalk, erasers & chalk dust… That could be why I don’t “get” the current infatuation with all things blackboard. Sure, I would love to get my hands on my grandfather’s 100 year old slate (& hand-carved pencil box!) but painting the side of my refrigerator or entire hallway with chalkboard paint is not quite to my liking.

But this time I have caved (on my own terms) to the decorating dictators who demand a chalkboard in every home. Here is how it came to be:

1. dumpster dive and find a down & out headboard
2. store headboard in garage for 7 (seven!) years
3. find headboard under subsequent crap junk finds
4. dust & displace spiders
5. paint blue
6. decide it needs to be antiqued with black glaze
7. store outside by front door a couple months to determine what the heck to make out of it (seriously!)
8. determine, well, the kitchen décor needs some class
9. paint upper panel with black craft paint
10. letter lower panel with gold Sharpie® Oil-Based Paint Pen
11. determine lettering would be improved with calligraphic border
12. squint and determine “blackboard” would also be improved with gold border
13. use white Sharpie® Oil-Based Paint Pen to impersonate chalk
14. be thankful it will only be viewed from a distance
15. stand on counter to place on upper cabinets & accessorize

JUNQUE! Junkie

Mr. Incredible (aka "the hubs") arises every weekday morning @ 5 a.m. to walk me. He's so not a morning person; so this is a manifestation of his sweet love, and desire to keep me & my back healthy.

A major benefit of rising & walking at this early hour is that on loose-trash-pick-up week, I hit the jackpot neighborhood piles before anyone else sees them. (Sometimes this shortens our walk so Keith can take his truck over to pick up a particularly heavy object...)

Last month I spotted this on the neighbor's pile:

When he got it home, it looked worse than I'd thought.

A quick trip to Home Depot netted me some trim pieces & some "oops" paint.

Not really happy about the way the keys did not go back in...

And I need to work on my use of black glaze.

Here it is on the dust catcher shelf in the living room.

Looks like this from the dining table:

Oh, you noticed my big blank wall?

Well, I've got plans... someday... when I've got extra cash...

(It's a quote from Martin Luther regarding music.)