Gone Fishin'

I've been working on some busy bags for B lately and this one was a sure winner! These counting felt fish were super simple to make and he has played with them several times since I introduced them to him. The great thing about these fish is that they can be used for colors, counting and hand eye coordination!

Hmmmmm...Need some ideas...

I picked up this sweet vintage kids table and chairs at the Habitat Restore this past weekend. They are all solid wood and the table has a laminate top. It was an awesome deal! Now I'm just looking for some inspiration to transform it. I'm thinking paint but not sure just what color or colors... Thoughts?



I also got some other odds and ends like the two birds and some kitchen utensils.



Oh! And you can see our new sunroom floor in this photo!

God Made You...Canvas Project

I've been working on some art for B's playroom and finished this piece on Saturday. I cut out vinyl letters with my Silhouette machine and placed them where I wanted them on the canvas. Then I spray painted over the canvas, being careful to not blow the letters off with the spray. After it dried, I peeled the vinyl off and then sprayed with a matte finish clear coat. I think it turned out pretty good.



I also tried another project with the vinyl letters. I added the word "journey" to a broken globe that we had laying around, then sprayed it white. The project that gave me this idea had a larger font but the word was shorter. I'm not as crazy about how this one turned out but I do like the idea. Just wished I would have used a bigger font.



Oh, and B is liking his chalk train!

Chalkboard Stencil

We have been working on transforming the office space in our home into a playroom for B...and mainly a space for all of his toys. We only have a couple of more things to do and it will be finished. This past weekend I worked on creating a chalkboard train on the wall. I took photos as I walked through the process. It began with me traveling back in time to my 8th grade art class...

I first printed out a couple of train silhouettes from the internet and since I didn't like the direction they were going in, I used their negative. Then I taped down a huge piece of wrapping paper on our dining room table. I knew that I was going to need to establish some markers for the size the train will end up being relative to the printed train. I decided to use salad plates as the train "wheels". I was then able to use the wheels as a basis for all of my other dimensions and only had to freehand a couple of parts. As you can see from the photo below, I used several things I had lying around...a level, a Harry Potter book, a boot box lid, etc.


Once I had it all drawn out in pencil, I went back over it in black marker and then cut the stencil out. By this time it was late at night and I knew the project could be postponed till the next day.




I then taped the stencil up on the wall and traced around it in pencil. Then I removed the stencil and started filling the shape in with chalkboard paint. I ended up doing 2 coats of the paint with a large brush and then going back around the edges with a smaller brush so that I would have as even of lines as I could muster.


Voila! B hasn't seen it yet but he did carry the printed train pages around the house all weekend after he saw them. He kept saying they were his choo choo trains.

Ben 'n Boots

Well, Dreamworks took a pass. They decided to go with that smooth talkin' cat with the fancy hat. But I think they made a big mistake. This little guy is going places...

Before and After

I recently picked up a simple, small wood hutch from the ReStore for a makeover. The hardest and most time-consuming part was picking the paint color and fabric to back it with. Now, I just have to fill it! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for some wire baskets for the bottom shelves.





Isn't my model such a cutie?!

Demo Time

We had a demo crew over the other night...we had been thinking about remodeling a little...the crew was cute...but a little demanding. But, they did come highly recommended and they had a pretty fair price of a handful of animal crackers each.