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A Little Bit of Sanity and A Lot of Chaos: A Great Weekend and a doable art project

Sunday, December 20, 2009

A Great Weekend and a doable art project

We had a very full weekend! Saturday morning was spent cleaning. We cleaned the entire house. Scruba-dub-dub. Tom spent the whole morning scrubbing the kitchen floor, and I did the bathrooms and the rest of the house. I had some extra special snuggle time with Jack and those moments are always the best!
Tom's parents come on Wednesday, his Grandma on Christmas Day and then we head to the Cabin (yes, Cabin with a capital "C") on Saturday. I'm looking forward to being away for a little while to spend some time as a family.
We are a family that hangs out together a lot. We like to. We like to run errands together and go places together. But, Tom's been working a lot this week, even late Saturday night, and he is going to Chicago tomorrow for two days, so it's been a little hit and miss with all of us lately. It will be nice to play for a week.
Gus is getting tubes when we get back. I hope he can make it that long without an ear infection. It amazes me that he is still such a happy-go-with-the-flow baby even with a sinus infection and double ear infection. He is amazing.

The rest of this is about our weekend project. We have a two-story entry (it sounds fancy, but it's not) and it leaves a ginormous blank space in my life. I was going to put this there, but it was heavy and I actually wanted to be able to reference it when the boys get older, so it went to the mudroom/laundry room. Then, I wanted to do a huge mural using a projector, but we couldn't get the projector...such is my life. Never easy...so I freehanded it. Seriously. I'm not an artist, but I figured, how hard can it be to draw some branches and leaves? Well, it's not "hard", it's just not that "easy". I had an idea from some scrapbook paper that I liked, and did my best...take that seventh grade art teacher who gave me a B.
Here's the paper:


I didn't want to spend a ton of money on an artist canvas, those run about $90. So, I got a drop cloth canvas. Five bucks. And it had a protective plastic backing so I wouldn't have to worry about paint on the floor! Another plus, especially with my history of paint spills...eh hem, the carpet in the boys' room...

First I drew it on with chalk. Then I took the leftover black paint from the island and bathroom cabinets and painted it on. That's right. Leftover latex paint used to paint stuff. Not art....eh.
By the way, I'm a huge Behr fan. I love their paints. (They should pay me to say that. Please Behr, pay me to say that.)

 

It wasn't that bad....just time consuming. Thank goodness the kids went to bed well!
And here it is:


Tom built the frame out of some inexpensive 1x1. (He's the handy one. We all know that.) Then I stapled it to the frame. If I was an angry, lonely woman and wanted to cut my ear off I could totally be famous. Totally.


I love it! It looks great up there. And it's something that we did! I think it was a total of $7.00. This is a vey doable project for someone that is not artistic, like me. Especially if you have access to a projector and a handy hubby, but not mine. You can borrow him. But you can't keep him.

Ahhh....I'm at peace with the blank space in my life.
Now, if only I could stop eating cookies...

Okay, I'll share. Cottage Instincts, Met Monday, DIY Day, Today's Creative Blog and Transformation Thursday here I come! Aren't they all so clever!


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22 Comments:

Blogger cindy said...

I'm seriously impressed! Freehanded??? Yeah, I could never make art look that good.

It totally makes the space too! Great job!

December 20, 2009 at 8:47 PM  
Blogger Michelle, All Home and Love said...

Wow, great job! It really looks perfect in that space!

And the cookies, oh boy. I hear ya!
~michelle

December 20, 2009 at 8:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks fantastic! I once tried to do sticks and leaves with a metallic paint pen and that did not go over well at all.

December 20, 2009 at 9:16 PM  
Blogger Miss Mustard Seed said...

Very cool art project. It looks very posh and not "crafty" at all. Well done.

December 20, 2009 at 9:35 PM  
Blogger Sleepyhead Designs Studio said...

Yes, of course you can use that paint! It turned out great! Looks like real art to me! Came over from cottage instincts party!

December 20, 2009 at 9:44 PM  
Blogger Ruby Red Slippers said...

WOW!!
I am totally impressed...and I ate two Christmas cookies today-

December 20, 2009 at 9:47 PM  
Blogger Leah said...

Looks fantastic, perfect in that spot.

December 20, 2009 at 10:23 PM  
Blogger Valeree said...

Hi Kirsty,
I have an almost identical entryway and that same blank spot. When we first moved into our house, I couldn't decide what to put there, but eventually decided I must have an antique metal advertising sign. It had to be authentic (no reproduction), a sign that advertised something I like (no cigarettes or beer ads), big enough to fill the space but not too big that we couldn't get it home, and a reasonable price...so, yep, you guessed it, four years later and I still have that big blank spot! Thanks so much for the great idea of something I can use until that perfect, cheap, elusive antique sign drops out of the sky just for me one day :-)

December 21, 2009 at 2:47 AM  
Blogger Erika said...

Wow, it looks great! :)

December 21, 2009 at 7:13 AM  
Blogger Heather said...

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing!

December 21, 2009 at 10:28 AM  
Blogger Amy@TheLemonCottage said...

Stopping over from MM.
What a fantastic and clever idea.
You did a beautiful job!
~Amy

December 21, 2009 at 2:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is truly one of the most impressive projects I've seen. I love the look and the price. I think I can do this! I'll share with you when I do. Thank you for posting such wonderful instructions, and I love your blog!

December 21, 2009 at 7:49 PM  
Blogger gail@My Repurposed Life said...

fabulous! it looks great!

Merry Christmas!
gail

December 21, 2009 at 8:28 PM  
Blogger Sarah @ Hennessey House said...

i love. love. love this. seriously. and i am going to steal this idea. :)

December 22, 2009 at 10:19 AM  
Blogger KimMalk said...

You did a wonderful job. Original art, it's nice to have bragging rights.

December 22, 2009 at 4:52 PM  
Blogger Mama Thompson said...

I love that...you did a great job! I bought 3 artist canvases (?) a year ago on sale...never could figure out what to do with them...I think I may have to try finding paper or fabric I like and copying...such a great idea. Thanks for sharing!

December 22, 2009 at 11:46 PM  
Blogger Kim -today's creative blog said...

love it

December 24, 2009 at 6:07 PM  
Blogger Amanda Lee said...

Love, love, love this! So creative!

January 6, 2010 at 2:52 PM  
Blogger Destination Seaborn said...

Very Nice! ~Lisa

January 7, 2010 at 12:09 AM  
Blogger Sherry said...

WOW!! nice!

January 7, 2010 at 6:13 AM  
Blogger Angie Holden said...

That is REALLY great!! I love this idea! You should be proud of this one! Thank you soooo much for sharing!

January 7, 2010 at 9:31 AM  
Blogger Jeannine said...

love it!!

January 13, 2010 at 4:44 PM  

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