Extra Large Ampersand

I feel like I start so many of my posts by stating I am a bad blogger. Yes, it may be true that my posts are somewhat sporadic but HEY! I have a real life people, one that consumes at least 40hrs a week, plus nurturing my relationship and raising my furry babies. But enough excuses.
I made something. And its pretty freaking awesome. And I will make another one, that is even better.

Its a giant Ampersand (you know, the AND sign, this one - & - )

Finally, a picture that shows the wall color as it looks in real life!!!

Perfect, no. Good for a first attempt, YES!! Here's the breakdown.
Whilst browsing Pinterest and blogland for wedding inspiration, I came across many pictures where the couple holds an ampersand between them. I love it!! But the pre-made sizes at Joann's and Micheal's just weren't bulky enough for my larger than life style. So I took matters into my own hands. With all the new construction at work, we have been swimming in giant pieces of cardboard, perfect for creating large projects.
I thought I knew how to draw this. A few million attempts, and I kind of got it right.

 

I freehanded the ampersand onto a piece of cardboard, and cut it out with a utility knife. 

 

Roughly following the technique laid out by Becca over at from GARDNERS 2 BERGERS, I did a faux zinc finish. 

I laid out two pieces of tin foil, shiny side down, and cut off the excess, and used scrapbooking adhesive to adhere the foil to my symbol. 

 

After smoothing out most of the wrinkles, I dry brushed black acrylic paint over the symbol, lightly and randomly to give it a tarnished look. I got a little heavy handed near the top, but because of the slickness, I was able to wipe it off and mostly fix my error. 

 

I'm out of Mod Podge, but when I get some more I will be giving this baby a few coats for extra durability, but in the meantime, I think it turned out awesome!!! Its little tail is kind of stubby but I like it that way. Its unique. 

Check out this other handmade ampersand by Living Savvy!! I'm loving the texture she achieved! 

Lots of other changes have been happening around the house here, including a new rug that gave the living room a new lease on life, and further de-grannyfying with an updated light fixture!!! Stay tuned!!

Peeks of Christmas Cheer

Holla holla my fine friends!
Man, I am such a bad blogger. Either that, or I am just super busy, and it seems like every day I have more and more to do! Yikes! Between work and our crazy expansion that is happening in like 5 weeks,  taking care of a sweet baby puppy who is growing like a dandelion (crazy fast), trying to squeeze in wedding planning, holiday preparations, AND, my best friend just got engaged too!!! Seriously now!
I feel thankful when I can get 8 hours of sleep.

Anyhoo... last night I decided to pull out our box of Christmas decor and start fancying up the place for the holiday. First things first, I swapped out our Bath and Body Works wallflower for my favorite, 'Cranberry Woods', to get the house all stinkified and put me in the mood for decorating. Do smells do that to you as well? I need to smell the seasonality.

I swapped out the front door wreath for my DIY ornament wreath I made last year.

I also added some ornaments to the trunk of my tricycle planter, which I found at TJ Maxx last summer.

It is the cutest little planter, but don't be fooled, its a killer! I have tried several different plants in this bad boy, and none have survived. I am blaming the bike, since I'd give myself an A- on keeping plants alive. I'm pretty good...

I also decided to revamp my NOEL sign I created last year. It began as an attempt to knock off Pottery Barn's hella spendy but hella cute version. Here is how it looked last year:

Pretty basic, got the job done. Also pretty flimsy, as I had the whole thing precariously held together with just hot glue.

Here is the 2011 shiny new version:

 

I simply painted a canvas bright white, and lightly brushed silver paint over it, then attached the letters (which are MDF and from Michaels), with epoxy. Man that stuff is schtinky. Phew. But now its much more durable, and the canvas gives it more substance on my 'mantle'. (We don't have one, boohoo) 

I plan on adding much more seasonal decor to this shelf my mantle, when I have time of course. The one thing I don't seem to have enough of. But I love the sign, it makes me feel in the spirit, and I love how its neutral color, makes Cruzie's Memory Ball on its DIY candle stand pop!
Its so bizarre to me that the wall is now a different color, but it looks orangey still to me. Ugh. That paint color will never stop haunting me.

So that's the Christmas that has shown up at our casa these days. Hopefully this weekend we will get our tree, and then the madness can really start!
In conclusion, here are some adorable pics of my babies. Cash will be 14 weeks old tomorrow, is excelling in puppy kindergarten, and still doesn't sleep past 7:30am. Sigh. Happy holidays friends!

 

I was holding a treat, which is why they are so focused and serious. I love doggie focused faces. Isn't Cash huge?!! And Sammy, handsome and dapper as always. I love his silver whiskers that are appearing. He's aging well. 

I'll  be linking up to Hi Sugarplum's Christmas Cheer party!

Fall Wish Tree

Once again, I must state the obvious...
I LOVE CENTRAL OREGON!!!!!

Among many other things, one reason is access to tons of Wild Manzanita, which has the most wonderful spiky branches, making excellent decor for all seasons. I've been feeling thankful these days, so a thankful tree like Cassie's has been on my mind. A quick search on Etsy yields page after page of branches, painted in a rainbow of hues, for a very pretty penny.
A quick run on my favorite trail with my favorite furry workout buddy, yields miles and miles of free branches, in any size and condition I choose!!!
Can I get a woop woop up in here, cause I love it!!!

Here is a manzanita bush in the wild! When the branches die, they get a beautiful, gnarled shape!

 

My prize! 

Once we arrived home, I gave the branch a few coats of white spray paint, and placed it in a mason jar with white decorative rocks I snagged from the Dollar Tree. 

Using a large heart hole punch, a normal hole punch, and some fishing line, we punched out 45 hearts in Fall hues, and strung them up! Piled in a leaf shaped bowl, they now live on the dining room table, so friends can write what they are feeling thankful for as soon as the thought hits! 

 

Its looking so pretty, especially covered in all the silly serious things we are all thankful for. 

This one is my fave, obviously. Hub better be thankful for me!

This project is kind of a double whammy. Our original idea for this tree came from a twist on a money tree for our wedding. We don't particularly like the idea of a money dance, but we wanted a small 'fundraiser'. We plan on putting it on our gift table, with a photo of Cruz under it. It will  be our wish tree, and people can write a wish and clip some cash onto hearts, and then place them on the tree. We will be donating half of all money we receive to the Canine Cancer Research Facility that wrote off a lot of Cruz's treatment expenses. We figure its one way we can remember our little buddy.

So what do you think of my cheap'n'easy craft?! I love it, its so simple and very pretty as well!! What are you thankful for these days?

Scrapbook Initials

Quick and easy craft projects are my thing.
Time consuming furniture makeovers are also my thing.

I snagged these initials from Joann's, and wanted to paint them or something to add to our "gallery wall". Black is pretty much my favorite color, so they got a coat of black craft paint, and waited for the next step.

And waited.
And waited.
Until I received a wave of crazy motivation and finally fixed them up! I laid them over my chosen paper, and traced around with a pencil.

 

This paper in particular, was more difficult because it wasn't a solid sheet, so lots of little pieces fell off once they were removed from the larger piece. I just kind of moved them around until I liked the layout. 

 

A coat of adhesive and some dry time and they were looking cute! But the edges still had some overhang, so the utility knife cleaned that right up. 

At this point, I was considering being done with it, but the edges still showed some white where I had trimmed them up. I dragged out my markers to find a matching blue hue for touchups. Of course, it got messier than I anticipated, and I ended up coloring both the letters slightly different shades of aqua. When James saw it, he loved it, so my fail turned into a win.

I love that. 

After attaching some twine to the back with hot glue, I hung them from a shelf in our dining nook. 

 

I love the slight difference in their color, and the little extra details that raises them from your standard painted initial. 

Quick and easy crafts. Mostly. 

Any fun new projects out there? I'm itching for some fall, but other projects are currently in the way ; ) More on that later. 

Have fun friends!

Upcycled Candle Holder

Ok, raise your hand if you LOVE Chobani Greek Yogurt.

Thats what I thought. The stuff is the bomb! (no one is paying me to say this, I really just eat a lot of the stuff)
So I bought a cute lantern at Pier 1 on clearance the other day, and picked out a delectable Cilantro Citrus green candle to go along with it.

Fugly to Fab!!

Laminate. Ugh. And for 24 years of my life I was SURE it was destined to stay that way, because nothing, in my mind, could adhere to that sleek surface of fakeness. So when the Hub and I combined households a couple years ago, I became part owner of the fugliest lamiate oak cabinet in the world.

Before we bought our house, it lived in our kitchen and stored... NOTHING!!! Except for spiderwebs inside it, fingerprints and doggie nose prints on the doors, and water damage on the top. Joy. When we moved into our current home, it landed in the guest room and recieved a small step up in life, it was used as a bookshelf. One day as I perused blogland, I stumbled across Kate's tutorial on 'How to paint laminate'.

Stuff to make while you drink

Oh the Dollar Tree. Such a source of inspiration. Not. Like the day this spring I was browsing around looking for nothing at all, and came home with this cute little vase and some twine.

After pouring myself a Mimosa with some leftover champange from goodness knows... I started wrapping the twine around the neck of the vase, then crossing diagnally to the bottom, where I tied off another knot.