Decor, cooking, organization, all the pretty things
The week in review:
February 6 – J is for Jars
February 7 – H is for Hankies
February 8 – L is for Letters
February 9 – Y is for Yo-Yo's
February 10 – I is for Ikea
Unfortunately there are no pictures for February 11 or 12. On Saturday I got a call from my son that his car had been stolen. That kind of takes the starch out of you. The car was recovered about 10 miles from his apartment, minus the wheels and tires and a tank of gas. Somehow during all the excitement I neglected to take pictures.
Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)
Sorry to be missing in action. Just a busier than usual work week.
We are having houseguests this weekend and then early on Sunday we are headed off to the Sacramento Antique Faire.
Have a splendid weekend everyone!
The week in review:
January 30 – My vanity
January 31 – Failed project
February 1 – Start of my month long photography class. B is for Brushes (all will be inspired by the letter of the alphabet)
February 2 – K is for Kitsch
February 3 – P is for Perfume
February 4 – N is for Negligee (This one made Explore in Flickr!)
February 5 – T is for Teacups
Hey! This is my 1000 post! What a blabber mouth.
Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)
Friday – my favorite day of the week with the promise of the weekend stretching before me. No plans really. I think there is some big football game happening where I am required to bring snacks. Actually we turn it into a tapas party which, to me, is the only way to make it tolerable.
Have a fabulous weekend everyone! I have to rush off to take a photograph while the light is right in my garage….
As I mentioned yesterday I have signed up for an online photography class offered by Besotted Brand Blog.
The session is to take a photo a day for the month of February using the alphabet as our inspiration. We were also encouraged to pick a theme if that would help with our focus.
I decided on the theme "Collections" and since it isn't necessary to go in the order of the alphabet I started of with the letter B for my collection of brushes.
I'll continue to post the week's photos on Sundays but I wanted to give you a sneak peak. I'm also abandoning the date stamp I was using in January. I wish I hadn't started that.
Normally I just take three or four shots of something but this morning I took almost 40 of that can of brushes!
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.
