Owl Trio Blocks

I. Love. Owls. There, I said it! I really do though. They are so adorable and I see them everywhere now that I am using them more in my home decor. I have another reason, but I will announce that in a later post. (no, I'm not expecting).

For the bottom two pieces of wood, they are both 2x3's, the bottom being 7", and the middle is 6". The owl block is a 2x4 cut to approx 4.5". I wasn't going to add the papers as the background, but there was just something blah about them. I love chevron, so of course when I saw I had a tan color that matched perfectly, I knew that was what it needed. The owl and letters are all a chocolate brown color. I used a dark wax to age the edges and the front of the owl block. So adorable.

Pallet Art: God gave me you...

Pallet art is so very popular right now, and so very cute! A friend sent me a link to this idea, and I have searched all over to find it so I could reference it here. I didn't have any luck, but I will keep looking and put the link on when I find it.

I used wood shims for this pallet. Cute, eh!? Now, as you probably know, shims aren't the exact width, they have a thicker and thin end. That's okay though, because I kind of like the looks of it. I tried flipping the shims back and forth, so that it was a really uneven look, but I decided to keep them all going the same direction. You can't tell from the picture, and you really have to get up super close to it to even know they aren't the same thickness. I used gorilla glue and attached a shim at the top and the bottom of the backside. Once it dried, I used Minwax wood stain in Provincial. I printed the vinyl out and took the letters out, not the background of the vinyl, and used it as a stencil. I love the type writer font, don't you!? The little birdies were also in a font package I had downloaded. I added the initials "S" and "K" for my friend and her husbands initials. (This ended up being a surprise birthday gift for her).  So, know that I have used wood shims to make my own pallet, I do believe I will be making quite a few more projects with them!

you are...Beautiful, Worthy, Strong, Pure and Deeply Loved

A customer recently ordered some signs with these quotes on them. I have to say I'm in love with them. So much so, that I made another project with them as well, on a canvas. Here is a picture of how the rustic looking signs turned out. She wanted each one to be done on a sign, instead of one larger sign. That way she had the option of hanging them together on a wall, or moving one or all to different places if she wanted to. I made the lettering the exact same size, and then cut the wood to the appropriate lengths. I used the vinyl as a stencil for this project. I painted the wood white, then placed the lettering on top and stenciled the black paint. I gave it all a good sanding once I peeled the vinyl stencil off. I stained the entire board with Minwax Provincial.

And, here is a picture of project #2 with the same quotes:

I used a 12x16 canvas and cut the teal and grey papers to fit. I used mod podge to glue the papers to the canvas. I used some grey paint to "age" the edges and in between all of the papers. Once the lettering was on, I sealed the entire project with glossy mod podge. It's a beautiful canvas. I love reading these words!

Every Love Story is beautiful...and spray painting vinyl!

Did you know that you can spray paint vinyl! I didn`t have any gold vinyl, but I did have some copper color. It was close, but not exactly the look I wanted for this project. So, I took my gold spray paint, and tried it. I printed it out first, sprayed it, let it dry a good day, and then I peeled the rest of the vinyl away. It worked fabulously!

I made the tile (to the right) first, and then I had a customer ask if I could s t r e t c h it out so she could put it above her bed. So, I made it into a 3ft board. I think it turned out quite beautiful.

Valentines Day Projects 2015...

 I've been having a lot of fun making various projects. These first three pictures are all done on 12x12 tiles. I have a lot of extra tiles left over from our kitchen floors. I decided to try painting them to see if it would stick. It does! I cleaned the tiles with rubbing alcohol first, then I lightly sanded the entire surface. The first two pictures have white latex paint in a satin finish. The teal colored one is the homemade chalk paint that I made for other projects. Both of the paints seemed to adhere great, but before I put the vinly lettering on, I antiqued the edges of the white tiles with some black acrylic paint, and then I put a coat of matte mod podge over the entire surface, just to seal it really well first.

I made these adorable mini cube LOVE blocks. Aren't they cute?! I love anything teeny tiny like this.

I used 2x2's, which aren't really 2x2, but whatever. I cut some co-ordinating papers and after painting and sanding the blocks, I used mod podge to adhere the papers. I cut the letters with my vinyl cutter and placed them on the papers. I used a dark wax to antique the edges of both sets.

You + ME = Awesome. Yes it does.
I had some 1/4" mdf left over from another project, so instead of painting the entire piece, I decided to mod podged a piece of white cardstock to the board. I painted the edges black, and then did the antiqued look with black paint around the edges of the white paper as well. 

Rustic Centerpiece Boxes

Now that another Christmas and New Years has passed, and all the decoration have been put away, it was time to start on the next holiday! Valentines Day.

I have a really long kitchen table. I thought a long rustic centerpiece box would be the perfect way to display these pretty hydrangeas in mason jars. I used 1x4's for this project. I cut three pieces 30" long, and then two end pieces. I don't remember the size, but it was easy enough to just mark the wood and cut.

Since I don't own a nail gun (sad face) I used gorilla glue to hold the pieces of wood together, and then I used nails with flat heads so that it was nice and flush with the surface. I filled the small gaps with stainable wood filler, and let it dry overnight. I gave it a good sanding and cleaned off the dust with a dry cloth. I stained the entire box with Minwax wood stain in Provincial.

I have a lot of mason jars, and this particular size fit perfectly! I found the hydrangea blooms at the Dollarama, and was lucky enough to buy the last 5 they had left. I cut the stems so that they rested right on the top of the jars. I'm going to add some twine and possibly a decorative tag or a vinyl lettering word in the corner, but for now, it looks just fine to me. :)

Tutorial on how I make my Name Blocks

I've done a million sets of these name blocks. Ok, well, maybe not a million, but it sure felt like it before christmas. I've had a lot of questions on how I get my papers to be so smooth when I mod podge. I am the. mod. podge. queen. I love this stuff! I buy the 2x3 wood from Home Depot, and then cut various lengths from 4' - 7". I sand them, and then paint whatever color I'm going to be using for that set of blocks.


I choose my papers and cut them to fit just a tad bit smaller than blocks, as you can see in the picture below.














I then place a thin and even coat of mod podge over the entire surface of the block.











I line up the paper, and start smoothing it from the center out. Once I've done that a couple of times, I run my fingers around the edges of the paper. I find it sometimes lifts up a bit, so this makes the edges lay super flat!

I always wait a minimum of 15 minutes before I do anything else to the blocks.









Now it's time to put the lettering on! I center the vinyl, and peel the transfer tape off.








I put another coat of mod podge over the lettering AND the entire block. I use the gloss because I like the subtle shine it gives to the entire look of these blocks.










And voila! Here is the final look...they are quite adorbable.