Sheep to Sunshine!!

Today's question is: "Can you up-cycle an ugly canvas?"

Why YES YOU CAN!

I got a picture strictly for the frame...I wanted to use it for a chalkboard. But when I took the frame off, I noticed the picture was a "real" painting on canvas, and I decided to hang on to it until I found the perfect project...and I did!

This is what I started out with...

The painting was mostly smooth, except for the sheep, which had been painted with big chunky swirls and things to resemble fleece, creating a very rough surface. I painted over the whole thing with Behr Ultra paint--yes, regular old latex paint--but the rough spaces stood out too much.

I thought to myself, "I wonder if you can use paint stripper on canvas?"

Guess what....you can!

After I sheared those poor sheep, I repainted the canvas with my latex paint.

Then, using this is my inspiration, I designed the lettering on my Silhouette and cut everything out of vinyl. It was a painstaking process to get the vinyl on the canvas in a reasonably level manner! The vinyl wasn't going to stay on the canvas, but be used as kind of a "reverse stencil." That means I paint over the vinyl and all, and then carefully lift the vinyl off while the paint is still wet.

I laid awake for hours (no, I'm not kidding) wondering what kind of paint I should use for the yellow coat. I worried about how quickly spray paint can dry...sometimes that leads to the paint tearing off around the vinyl when you remove it. If I hadn't been stuck at home with sick kids, I might have bought a sample pot of latex paint to use. But I was, so I didn't! Brushing on paint has it's own hazards--it tends to bleed underneath the vinyl.

So I chose my poison: Rustoleum Summer Squash spray paint.

Here's what it looked liked when I was in the process of taking of the letters!


I was in luck...the spray paint seemed to dry more slowly on canvas. I only had the tiniest bit of tearing on the very last letters, and it isn't noticeable. Two people pulling off the letters at once would have worked perfectly!

Here's the finished product!

I love, love, love it! I painted on the little red heart with acrylic paint, and I washed the whole canvas with diluted white acrylic paint--so this one canvas has three kinds of paint on it! Probably four, if you count what's underneath!

It is HUGE: 30" x 40". Right now it's sitting on my buffet in front of my chalkboard. It doesn't get to stay there, but I love looking at it for the moment!

Be sure to stop by this post and leave a comment to be entered in my giveaway! Ends May 2.

Nursery Wall

I have one of the best neighbors on the planet. Not only does she run over here on a moment's notice to give her opinion on any and all of the projects I work on, but she and her husband also helped a TON in getting me to the Spring Market a few weeks ago!

In return, she gets to shop through my garage once in a while. :-)

When she was looking for ideas for her daughter's bedroom wall, she discovered this mirror in my stash:


I painted it with Rustoleum Heirloom White for her, and then we glazed it with brown craft paint. Unfortunately...it was still a little too "creamy." So we tried glazing it with white paint next, and it worked great! It toned down the "creamy" and made it work better with the whites in the nursery. (I loved the white glazing so much I used it on a few projects right after that!)

Here's the wall space before:

And here's the beautiful AFTER!

The "L" was one of those gold "L"'s from Hobby lobby. I painted it pink, and then we glazed it with white to give it some depth. She already had the footprints framed, and we found a complementary white frame for the yellow temple picture she found on-line. I will claim the brilliant idea of using a plate for the 5th element, but she found the perfect bird plate at Pier 1 (there are other bird decorations in the room).

I never had the money, time, or interest to decorate a nursery when my babies were little...glad I get to live vicariously through my neighbor's baby now!

Be sure to check out this post for a giveaway! Ends May 2.

Birds and a Banner

The window that hangs in my kitchen needed to change with the season, and this is what I came up with:

(If you want to see its most recent look, look here.)

I used my pinking shears to cut triangles out of burlap, drop cloth, and other neutral-printed fabrics in my stash, and strung them together on yarn.

What's perched on the frame?

Birdies! Of course.

Some look like they might be trying to take a dive...

Simple...but I like it.

Would you like some scrappy birds of your own? Then be sure to leave a comment on this post!

How do you feel about leftovers?

Hello, friends!

If you have been with me any time at all, you know that I participated in the Scraps of Simplicity Spring Market about a week ago (see pictures of my booth here and here). It was exhausting fun! I only had two weeks to prepare, and they may have been the busiest two weeks OF MY LIFE!

In order to make it all look good, I (with help from wonderful friends) spent some time making little frou-frou items to decorate with.

There were yarn-wrapped carrots, (ala Homework)

Vintage Sheet Music Rosettes
(these are cute in a glass jar, or strung together in a garland)

And lots of scrappy birds (ala Living Life Creatively)






Plus there were a few Pottery Barn-esque book bundles scattered about.
(They look really cute with a bird...or two...or three...on them!)


I ended up bringing home some of my little accoutrements,
but they are none the worse for the trip!

So back to the original question...
How do you feel about leftovers??

If you like 'em...my kind, at least...


...and that would include:

Book bundle
Yarn-wrapped carrots
Bundle of vintage sheet-music rosettes
Five scrappy birds

...leave a comment and let me know! Tell me which item you like best, or which is your favorite bird. Or tell me what you're having for dinner that night; I'm always looking for ideas!
Just chime in on some topic or another. :-)

I will choose a random winner on Monday, May 2.