Wood Obsession

NASCAR Subway Sign

I, like everyone else, have seen these all over blogland in some form or the other. I decided to choose something that meant something to us. My husband loves NASCAR and so I wanted to do this for him for Father's Day to say thank you for being such a great dad to our son. I started with a 24 X 36 canvas I got with a 50% off coupon from Michael's. I then used my SCAL software to cut all the different names of the tracks out of some vinyl colors that I don't use. I tried this with contact paper on another project, but it bled through on some of the numbers so I used vinyl for this. Here is a picture of them after I cut them and laid them out like I wanted.

I then spraypainted my canvas with some Krylon Khaki spraypaint as my base coat. Next was probably the most difficult part at first. The vinyl was not cooperating with me and sticking to the canvas so the first three or four aren't exactly straight. I had to pretty much peel them off of the transfer tape letter by letter. I was ready to give up. Then I remembered I had bought some Elmer's spray adhesive, so I sprayed the adhesive down and then placed the name down and that seemed to do the trick. It went much faster after that. The only thing was the spacing. I spaced a little too much at the top and when I got down towards the bottom they ended up close together. Oh, well, it gives it character, right? Here is a another picture with all the names on the canvas. You see where it starts to go wrong after Talladega and Texas? By then it was too late to go back.

Now comes the fun part. I spraypainted the whole canvas with black spraypaint. I used what I had, which was the cheap WalMart black glossy paint. I would have preferred a flat paint. Anyway, after that dried I peeled all the letters off. This was my favorite part. I was scared I couldn't get the ones off with the spray adhesive, but they came off so smoothly. I took a picture of the next couple of steps too. I actually remembered to take pictures as I went this time. This picture shows the black spraypaint and where I started peeling off the letters.

For the final steps, I used some sandpaper and roughed it up a bit and then added some RL

smoke glaze to make it look a little more aged. It was a fun project and I can't wait to put some more words on a canvas.

Monogrammed Church Bag

I found this cute bag at Target and knew that it was perfect for me to carry all of my son's keep-me-busy stuff to church in. He moved up a couple of weeks ago and now has to come to the worship service with me. It has two outside pockets on the other side perfect for markers, snacks, and whatever else I might need. Now I just had to make it more me.

I had been wanting to try some of the iron-on vinyl, so I finally bought a couple of different colors to try out on some things and this bag was one of them. I couldn't decide on the font, but settled on Curlz. I'm not totally satisfied with that, but it will do and looks good enough for my first project with it. I found the great directions for iron-on vinyl here. She tells you step by step how to use it in the sidebar of her blog. I bought the vinly at H&H Supply where she recommends and got the Siser Easy Weed. It really was easy to weed. Much better than regular vinyl, especially with all the curls.

I do have to say that my bag looks much better in person than in these pictures. It doesn't show up as well in the picture. I can't wait to take it to church Sunday, but in the meantime it is going to the gym with me.

Here is the bag after the vinyl transformation:

Chalkboard/Magnetic Board

From silver tray to chalkboard. I found this great silver tray at the Dollar Tree of all places. I spray painted the whole thing with chalkboard paint and then went back and used a cream acrylic paint to paint around the edges and then antiqued it with Ralph Lauren "Smoke". Love this stuff! I also love this website too and have gotten so many ideas and have so much more to do.

The fleur de lis is from Hobby Lobby and I painted it with the same cream and used the RL smoke to antique. I did put a magnet on the back of it instead of attaching it directly to the tray so I could use it as a magnetic board too.

Sorry I don't have step by step. I always forget to take pictures as I go. I have to get better at that. I am linking to "The CSI Project." It's the Dollar Store Challenge.

End of the Year Teacher Gift

I just loved my son's teacher this year and wanted to do something special for her for the end of the year. I found all these things at Walmart. I loved the brown with the green. I just did dots on the pitcher and decided not to put them on the cups this time or the platter. Frankly, I'm sick of the dots for a while.

I also tried the A with the name on top of it and I like the way it turned out. I've seen other people do it, but have never tried it. I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot program to cut the letters and dots. The font is Boingo. I just love this font. It's so fun! Thanks for a a great year, Mrs. Allen!!

Gift for a Sweet Friend

I knew I wanted to make something special for my sweet friend Amanda who was moving to Alabama with her family. She had admired some of my initial things in my house and I wanted to do something like that for her. I found this blank tin at Hobby Lobby 50% off and knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind. Of course I cut the letters on my Cricut and placed them on the board, upside down the first time. I had all the letters placed on perfectly and then I looked on the back where the hangers were and they were at the bottom, so I had to pull all of them off and start over. A little frustrated, but well worth starting over to get it done. She loved it and I was so glad! I am really going to miss her and her sweet family!

Wicker Transformation

Before

After

I am now using black instead of brown in my family room, so everything that was brown is now becoming black. I just simply used some black gloss spray paint for this.

Slowly but surely everything is becoming black. I still have to conquer a big coffee table and a console table. Hopefully I will find some time to work on those this summer. I will post them when I get them done.