#334...treetops

I was laying in my newly refinished chaise lounges looking up into the trees and thinking that maybe they would make for a nice oversized graphic wall photo.

#333...mom's retirement party

Mom's retirement party was a backyard success!

#332...chalkboard bunny

Tomorrow, we are having my Mom's retirement party here at our house. She is a 3rd grade teacher, and she has a black pet bunny that shares time in her classroom and at home. His name is "Bunny" and he became the mascot of our party planning decor for the event. Tyler and I decided to make a giant chalkboard bunny cutout to use as a beverage sign at the party. Here's how we made it............. 

We each took a stab at freehanding a bunny shape on a 4x4 piece of thin plywood. I drew in orange Sharpie and Tyler finalized the shape in black.

Next, he cut out the bunny shape with a jig saw

I spray painted the edges with black paint and then proceeded to brush paint the surface of Bunny with Rustoleum Chalkboard paint. I did about 3 coats of chalkboard paint, and did a test run with chalk to make sure it would erase off, and he's ready for the party!

#331...zig zag shams

Premier Prints recently came out with their zig zag pattern in a gray and white colorway, which is right up my alley. I have been trying to decide what to make with the yardage I bought, and ended up making myself some new bed shams for summer.

I occasionally like to make new pillows for my bed, as I get tired of the textiles and need a change. Pillows are about the easiest thing to sew. These sat on my bed last year.

...and these the year before

#330...states & stools

Today is my youngest sister Sarah's 25th birthday, so I thought I'd celebrate by sharing two projects that we recently completed in her apartment.

First up, she has a small breakfast bar hanging from her kitchen counter into her living room. It is perfect height for two short stools. We opted for the Marius from Ikea. I made the stools two small pads using some leftover plaid wool from my fabric stash and two 14" foam circles that I cut out from a piece of 1" thick foam.

To attach the pad to the stool, I simply used a few strips of sticky back Velcro.

The second project, Sarah tackled herself. We found an old paint by number in my attic, that I got at the Goodwill for a few dollars. 

We decided that it would be cute cut into the shape of a state, and hung in a gallery grouping on Sarah's TV wall. She selected Maine as her state of choice, and used this book to copy and blow up her shape to desired size.

She traced the state onto the cardboard paint by number and carefully used an Exacto knife and small sharp craft scissors to cut the shape out. We used sticky back Velcro to adhere it to the wall. Here is a glimpse of it hanging in her gallery grouping.

#329...backyard gravel

Our backyard work has continued. Our latest progress included painting our back fence, adding gravel to the back section of our yard that we had curbed off a few weeks ago, and grouping more terracotta cactus plantings. Here are two before shots of the area that we worked on.

before

....and here is the after

I got help from my friends Nancy and Jonathan in painting the back fence. They rolled, and I brushed the top and without them, I'd still be out there painting. We painted it with a Behr solid wood stain in Harbor Gray color. We have been on the hunt for cactus and low water need plants for weeks, and we finally filled and placed all of the pots we bought from Home Depot. The old stumps came from my neighbor's tree that came down after the last hurricane. They've been laying around our yard looking like trash for a few years, so I painted the tops white and we propped them up in a seating arrangement outside the cabana. This back part of our yard is the first to get shade on a hot, sunny day, so we are hoping to utilize it more this summer.

#328...campaign cabinet

I bought this old campaign style chest at the thrift shop a year or so ago. I bought it because I needed some of the metal edge brackets for use on the campaign style cabinet I had built for my kitchen.

before



The piece has been sitting homeless for awhile, but I recently redid it for my friend Robin. I had the hardware replated at a metal shop, turning it from shiny brass to brushed nickel.

I painted it with Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray. I used a Latex Enamel and then varnished the piece with MinWax Wipe-on Poly in Satin. Here it is in Robin's living room serving as a sofa side table.