Category Archives: paint

Family Rules Take Two!

Posted by Leanne on June 7, 2012 4 comments

After some sanding, a light coat of wax for protection, a big ta-da!

I was spoiled again yesterday… hubby took the day off, because our family was crazy busy in the morning… Jordan had a school field trip to the zoo, Anna had one to the trout hatchery, I had a specialist appointment, and the baby had her nap (with my mom sitting her)! Not knowing how my appointment would go (which went fine, I just now have to be scheduled for some dreaded tests!), we thought it best hubby stick around. So in the afternoon, we spoiled ourselves with a trip to Tanglebank nursery, and after picking up the kids, we headed back down to Lynden Washington. You all know how much I love Lynden! We hit up my favorite antique store, More Than Antiques, and went for a fabulous Mexican dinner at Marta’s Cucina. Fabulous. Even baby loved the rice and beans!

Do you remember the Family Rules sign I made some time back? I still love it, in fact it’s hanging above our TV… but it bothered me how small it was… I wanted to make one much, much, larger!!

My newer, MUCH larger, version!

I love this one!!

It all started with a large scrap of wood I found outside in hubby’s junk pile…

The Scrap piece of wood....

I painted the base of it a bright red, and on top of the red I painted a coat of graphite...

Family Rules Custom Wood Sign, Handpainted

I had created my fonts on picnic.com (boy, I still miss that site!), and then enlarged it on blockposter.com

I tried something a little different this time....instead of newspaper or pencil, I colored the back with yellow chalk...

...and then traced over the words to transfer the chalk onto the board...

it didn't transfer great, but it was good enough... beware though, the chalk makes it messy! Don't use this technique on a board you want to keep clean-looking!...

After some sanding, a light coat of wax for protection, a big ta-da!

What do you think? Do these look like the family rules you have for your family??

Thanks so much for reading! Have a fabulous Thursday!

xo, Leanne

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Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall

Posted by Leanne on April 19, 2012 2 comments

I have a few minutes to pull together a post for you today, so because I don’t have much time today, this post will be mostly pictures, instead of all “wordy” like I normally get!

I bought this mirror off a Facebook friend, unfortunately when I picked it up I realized it wasn’t in as good condition as I had hoped for, so I had a bit of a learning curve with this project. Learning how to take a mirror apart, and put it back together again!

Well, now it looks like my before picture won’t upload. Darn it anyways. I did post it on my facebook page a while back, you could see it there! Otherwise, just imagine it all gold, and falling apart a bit!

Oh, and a disclaimer, don’t look too closely at the reflections in the mirror, I took these pics while my kids were sick with the flu, so there was no house cleaning getting done!! Here’s my made-over mirror!

Elissa!!

we baby proof with elastics!

I hope you like!

The baby is crying, that’s my cue to go! I hope you are all having a fabulous day!

xo, Leanne

PS. Update: this mirror has been SOLD!

Fresh Cut Flowers and a Mason Jar!

Posted by Leanne on April 16, 2012 14 comments

Well, I have been dealing with 3 sick kids and a sick hubby since Wednesday, and I am beat! My post on Thursday let you know about my son Jordan, and how we feared he had the chicken pox. It turned out it wasn’t, but Thursday night the poor guy was sick all.night.long. And I was on mama duty, sleeping on the couch next to him, doing keep-up-on-the-cleanup-duty. Then he needed a second night on the couch with me beside him, just in case. Yesterday we figured he was good enough to take out, but alas, there we were in the parking lot of the dollar store, when Anna suddenly got sick. Yup. And who walked by but an old friend from highschool. Of course. Luckily he is an elementary PE teacher, and was very, very kind. I went inside with the baby, to buy some ginger ale, and… the baby started vomiting. Everywhere. That was not a fun ride home. Poor hubby got it by 9:00 pm. Again, on mama duty, I have now spent 3 nights in a row on the couch, have seen (and smelled) way more than I ever needed to, and I am beat! (I am writing this post Sunday night). I hope that wasn’t too much info for you all, but I needed to get it off my chest!

So now I would like to focus on something that makes me much happier, a little project I managed to pull off last week, and I love this little darling!

Fresh Cut Flowers!

What do ya think???

Here’s my “how-I-did-it”:

I started out with my piece of pine, painted the outer border brown, and the inside roughly with a blue, both from my craft paint selection...

...I used a new tip I found online: before adding the top layer of paint, apply vaseline to the areas you want to have easily distresses, as the paint won't stick to these areas. I focused the vaseline on the corners, and added a few streaks randomly on the board. Best Tip Ever! ...

(Source for the Vaseline trick: Shanty 2 Chic - awesome blog, I’ve learned many little tricks from here!)

...I then added a top coat of white paint....

...distressed with sandpaper...whew, that was easy!!! I LOVE the way both the blue and brown show from underneath...

...I had made my template on Picnik.com, and printed it out on my computer. Cut it and decided on its placement...

I colored the back of the template with pencil for the transfer method... I then used my favorite Sharpie paint pen to paint the letters in...

...traced the template with a ball point pen, and the lettering transfers onto the board...

I then took one of these plumber-thingies (oh, hubby just told me it's a 6" hose clamp)... Hubby helped with pounding a nail through 2 of the slots on this, so screws could fit through... I needed hubby's help a lot with this part of the project!

And used the hose clamp to hold my Mason Jar in place! (in case you don't know, because I didn't have a clue, the clamp tightens and loosens with the help of a drill at that big knobby part of it. You can completely open it up too, to screw it onto the board) ...After I took this picture I realized the jar didn't sit straight on the board, so you'll see in the later pictures that I adjusted the jar so the clamp sits lower...

...I waxed it the sign with Annie Sloan clear Wax, added a wire hangar to the back...

...picked our first blooms of daffodils from our garden, with a bit of "greenery" (lavender and chives), added a wee bit of twine to the mouth of the jar, and Ta-da!

...this baby will be hanging on my wall until it is sold!...

Fresh Cut Flowers!

I’m holding on to this sign for our school’s ladies night, but you can check out my For Sale page for more info on how to get your own!

I hope this sign makes you smile as much as it does for me, and I hope we all have a wonderful Monday!!

Thanks so much for reading!

xo, Leanne

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Not Just A Housewife

Chevron Mirror – Redo!

Posted by Leanne on April 5, 2012 9 comments

That’s right! You read the title right, I redid my Chevron Mirror! This post was one of my most viewed, most complimented-on posts, and was even featured on 2 different blogs! Yet, I still didn’t like it.

This is what my Chevron Mirror (an IKEA wood framed mirror I painted, “they” call this an “Ikea-Hack”! Transforming something from Ikea into something even better!) looked like, when I was done with it before,

Chevron Mirror *before*

I just wasn’t crazy about it. Most of the compliments I received (and thank you SO much for all of them!!!) included the fact that it was soft and soothing… but my problem was that wasn’t what I was going for! To recap, this picture from Pinterest was my inspiration:

Source: etsy.com via Leanne on Pinterest

So, one evening when I just couldn’t handle it anymore, I got out my paints - I went for my blackest black and my whitest white, and painted right overtop of my last paint job. Honestly, even I thought I was crazy, but after repainting it, and some crazy sanding, I got this,

Chevron Mirror *After*

And now I am in love with it! What do you think??? I hope you love it as much as I do! And I hope no ones hating me for painting over my last job!

I’d love to know what you think of it! Did I do good, or was I crazy for painting over my last job?!

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!!

xo, Leanne

Family Frames – Before and After

Posted by Leanne on April 3, 2012 7 comments

I remember the first time I entered my in-laws home, when I was first dating my hubby… and these pictures were the first things I saw,

Hubby in the middle, and his older brother and younger sister...

So cute! When you see a cute picture of your current boyfriend like this, you know there could be some pretty cute kids in the future for the 2 of you!

These pictures in these frames have always held spots of honor in my in-laws house… a couple of weeks ago, my mother-in-law asked me if I could refinish the frames for her. Here is their after shot!

Frames After!

What do you think?? I think they are pretty darned adorable! the kids and the frames!

here’s my How-I-Did-It:

First, some more before shots to give you more details...

...before...

...I took the frames apart, and gave them a cleaning...

...gave them each a coat of primer....

...then 2 coats of antique white.... when the paint dried, I followed with a very light distressing job...

...I distressed a bit around the outer edges to show the brown under, and along the inside to show some gold...

...got out my Distress Ink and a stiff artist brush...

...I alternated between applying the Ink directly, and using the brush in the creases...

...for a light antique finish...

...for the ink, I liked the look best when I applied it then followed with a damp cloth to buff it around...

...some of the corners had come apart a bit from their last move, so out came the glue...

...and my fabulous hubby glued and clamped them together...

...and ta-da, 24 hours later and you can't even tell they had been glued!...

...after...

...I mean seriously, how can you resist a face that cute?!...

Thanks so much for reading!!

xo, Leanne

oh, and by the way, my Chevron Mirror was featured on Embracing Change today!!! I hope she won’t be upset I’ve painted over it :/ Yes, I did! that post will happen later this week!

Have a great Tuesday!

Linked to: Schoolhouse Scraps, Embracing Change, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Aka Design