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Just so you can see it's not all kittens and sunshine around here.  I've had two crafty failures in a row.

I find Pinterest a wonderful source of inspiration.  I mean really – have you ever seen so many different craft projects featured in one place before?  See a pretty picture – click on it to see the source.  It's brilliant.  

My goal this year is to try as many of them as I can.  I'll look at a picture and think "Hmmmm.  Wonder if I could do that  - if it would actually turn out."  

Not always is the answer.   And I fault myself – not the original sources.  

The first was to try to paint something to look like zinc.  Like the ever popular Anthropologie letters.  Here is the inspiration: Zinc Inspired Letters 

I took my Ikea Fira chest and decided it might be kind of cool if it looked like it was made out of zinc.  Since I have an original Anthropologie zinc letter I used it for comparison.  I could not get it to look like zinc to save my life.  I painted it black.  Then I applied a coat of the pearl paint in long, uninterrupted strokes.  The black showed through very streaky like.  So I put on another coat of the pearl paint.  Too light now.  I dabbed on some watered down raw umber (my solution to age anything).  Still not right.

I believe the issue is the wood grain.  I think this project would work much better on smooth cardboard like the tutorial depicts.   I finally gave up.  I painted all five drawers and then abandoned ship.  I think I'll try this next: DIY Lacquer Lookalikes  

I think it is safe to say I won't be going into the felt flower business. However I am not completely giving up on this project.  

Here is the inspiration – go ahead click on it and then come back and laugh at my attempt.  I sure did: Mother's Day Corsage 

Okay – I've pinpointed my issues.  First of all I should have just stuck with one color.  However I didn't have enough of one color in my felt stash so I tried (and failed) an ombre effect.  Secondly my gluing skills suck.  I needed to glue my petals closer together and more evenly.  

I'm not giving up on this – I'll try again with new felt. 

You can't alway be perfect right out of the gate.  Sometimes it takes a little practice.

Speaking of practice tomorrow I am starting an online photography class.  It goes along with my picture a day project.  Instead of just random pictures I'll be sticking with a theme for the month of February.  And I'll get some expert critiquing on my photos.  You'll see my work each Sunday.  

 

The week in review:

January 23 – My mantel

January 24 – My breakfast (frozen oatmeal which I still maintain is a brilliant idea)

January 25 – The girls taking advantage of the sunshine

January 26 – The verdigris experiment 

January 27 – I think this is my favorite photo of the week.  Sequins in a vase.

January 28 – Lemon loaf.  Recipe and photo styling inspiration found here.

January 29 – Milk glass collection.  If I could sort out the lighting this might make for a good blog banner.

 

 

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• My friend (and coworker) has the most adorable Etsy shop – Springdream.  She has some nice pieces for Valentine's Day.  Especially love the Sparrow with Love Letters necklace
• DIY Lanterns – these are lovely for a wedding, shower, just because…
• In case you were wondering how to make your own bouquet out of vintage brooches
• Good manners are always appropriate.  And make for a cute sign. 
• I love this story about a French bank forgiving some of it's poorest client's debts. 

It is gloomy and grey here in Northern California.  That's okay though – we need the rain and we'll just appreciate the pretty, sunny days all the more (when they get here).  Not much planned for this weekend except for a friend's birthday celebration on Saturday.  

I still haven't gotten around to putting the binding on the one and only semi-full sized quilt I've ever made (okay it's a lap quilt but at least it isn't a baby quilt or table-topper).  So maybe I'll try to work on that.   

Oh!  One of the chickens finally laid an egg!  I thought they had gone entirely on strike and would never lay again.  But today we had an egg!  The days must be getting longer. 

Okay – trying something new here.  You know I'm trying to do a picture a day for the entire year.  I was thinking on Sundays I could do the week in review.  We'll see how it goes.

1/16 – Cleaned my garage.  I bought pretty (to me) containers for bird seed and dusted the cobwebs out of my garden clogs and wellies.

1/17 – Took a walk out to the creek to check things out before the rain started.

1/18 – New feeders are up and are successful!  Note:  We do not get colorful birds here in No. California.  These are quite glamorous. 

1/19 – Playing with flash.  

1/20 – Eight years ago my mother passed away.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of her and miss her.  In her honor I bought white flowers and put them in a blue and white vase.

1/21 – Hello – this looks like a repeat.  I was just playing with the light (the 1/19 was taken at night, with a flash).  

1/22 – I am SOOO coming back as a cat in my next life.  

I hope this wasn't too boring.  I'll try not to use my daily pics in blog posts during the week so the images will be fresh and interesting.