Tag Archives: painting

Welcome 2017

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Everyone else is jumping on the New Year’s bandwagon, so why not join them?

2016 included more travel than I’ve done in any other year, home improvements, lots of sewing and knitting and many, many other things not blogged about.

2017 will be the year to finally get my house organized and updated with new carpeting (hopefully), paint rooms that have not seen a paintbrush since we first painted twenty-plus years ago, travel, revamp the staircase, and knit and sew more for others.

Also on the list is to reupholster six, count ’em six, chairs…four of which will go to Colorado.

I want to pick up my calligraphy pen again and make cards and envelopes exciting again.

And travel.

On a personal note I will work toward becoming more positive and less negative, clean up my vocabulary/mouth, give more of myself to others, exercise more, eat less and get rid of 40 pounds of fat.

What are your hopes and dreams for the 365 days?

Weekend

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I woke up early for a Saturday – 8:00.

Guest bathroom – Fixed the 2-3 year-old water damage on the ceiling.  Still have to paint it.  The bathroom was all clean and shiny until I looked at the trim.  I’ve been meaning to repaint the trim for years but never got around to it.  Until Saturday. Done.

Washed, dried, folded, and put away two loads of laundry.

Made cornbread and soup for lunch.

cornbread

Hung the garland on the front porch with Mr. Aitch.  Finished taking in all the porch and deck furniture.  Rolled up the rug from the front porch.  All put neatly away for the winter.  Mr. Aitch swept the porch.

Cut the fabric for one of the quilt tops.

Jambalaya with chicken (no sausage) for dinner).

Cut more fabric for the second quilt top.

Went to bed.

Sunday morning – church.  It started snowing during Mass and when we left the church, about 2 inches had fallen.

Went to the market.  It was crowded for a Sunday morning when I arrived but quickly cleared out as the snow kept piling up outside.

snowy-drive

Groceries put away.

Pancakes and sausage for lunch.

Roast beef with carrots, celery, and onions in the oven.  It smelled so good.

Pieced one quilt top together.  No photo as it was a dark dreary day.

Added potatoes to the roast beef concoction in the oven.

Watched a part of “The Crossing” with Mr. Aitch until dinner was ready.

crossing

Lovely roast beef and vegetables.  And a bottle of wine, of course.

Finished watching “The Crossing” with Mr. Aitch.

Checked email.

Pinterest.

pinterest_logo_red

Did an Internet search for a free knitted pattern for a newsboy cap aka bakers cap, golf cap, ivy cap, English driving cap for a small child.  No luck.  Found crocheted patterns.  Don’t crochet.

cap-2

Turned on the dishwasher and went to bed with a book, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.  Couldn’t stop reading until my eyes got too tired.

The_Book_Thief_by_Markus_Zusak_book_cover

The alarm clock went off at 6:00 this morning.  I turned it off and fell back asleep for 45 more minutes.  That happens more often than I care to admit.

The schools and colleges were closed today due to the snow storm and freezing rain.  I had no trouble getting to work.

And so it goes.

God Bless America

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Tank top part 2

On Saturday morning the twins and I decorated another tank top.  With America’s birthday just around the corner I thought we would do a patriotic themed tank top.

Materials we used:

Tank tops, cardboard, painters tape, textile medium, acrylic paint, Stained by Sharpie markers, old toothbrushes, tongue depressor (not shown), alphabet stamps and star stamps.

I inserted the large piece of cardboard inside the tank top so the ink/paint would not bleed through to the back.  Using the Stained Sharpie marker as the ink, I stamped God Bless America near the front neckline of the tank top.

I taped the edges and made stripes using the painter’s tape to keep the white parts white.  I also taped off the area for the stars.

We tried to splatter the paint on the tank tops but the technique just wasn’t fast enough for 3-year olds.  So they took matters into their own hands and “painted” with the tooth brushes.

When they were finished we stamped the stars using the Stained Sharpie as the ink.  And added some detail to the back.

It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind but I just had to go with the flow and make changes as we went.

You still have time to make something for just as fabulous for your July 4th celebrations!

Secret painting project

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For the past few weeks I have been working on a secret painting project.  It is now finished.

Ever heard of this game?  They have an official site with rules and everything!  Our daughter told us about the game and we thought it would be a great way to get everyone to play together from the two-year-olds on up.  It’s great for family reunions, tailgating, outdoor parties, or any time!

I bought the raw 2-foot by 4-foot plywood game boards already assembled sight unseen and decided to finish them myself.  The plywood was the worst I’ve seen and I think I overpaid (an understatement) for them.  They are solid construction-wise but the quality of the top was pretty poor.

I used an 8-oz. container of wood putty to get them semi-even then sanded them as smooth as I could before the painting on the primer.

Next was a base coat (or three) of white paint.

Then I taped around the edges and painted one blue and one yellow.

The final design with five coasts of polyacrylic.  No, those are not decals.  I painted the flying WV myself with the aid of painter’s tape and an Exacto knife.  Fortunately you can’t see the up-close and personal details.  They look great from a distance…there are “inconsistencies” when you get real close.

Now we just need a party!