That Was Easy: Painted Silhouettes

OR

what you get when you mix 5 minute silhouettes with old canvas pictures that you were going to get rid of.

Take the photo,

print, cut out, and trace.

{kinda morbid, no?}

Then fill it in. For best results, paint topless.

We could've done a second coat of black paint, but I like the little specks of white. It makes it look aged, rather than a just-did-it-last-Sunday-night-while-watching-Once-Upon-A-Time.

Big Ol' Honkin' Ginormous Freakin' Huge Oversized DIY Map {for 20 bucks}

This had been hanging in our back room for over six months.

I finally decided that the thumbtack was too classy for the rest of the house, so down it came.
Which left this. A big expanse of nothingness.



(and some jacked up molding hiding cable wires)

You know what would look brilliant? A big map.
Except I didn't have one.
So I did what any desperate housewife would do:

I went to Lowes.

I got a sheet of the thinnest, smoothest wood I could find
{"utility plywood panel"}

and some 4 inch x 8 foot "multi-purpose furring strips."

I had them cut the plywood down to size at the store, since it's free and STRAIGHT and makes it easier to shove into the van.

These itty bitty lil' nails tack the wood directly to the wall,

 

and if you sink them in far enough they'll disappear after the whole thing gets a coat of blue-ish paint {leftover from our kitchen table years ago}.

Then, the fun part.

Using an overhead projector (best $25 Craigslist money ever spent), I traced the image in chalk,

then painted the states, keeping just inside the lines.

{I love night photos.}

I realized after the fact that I could have painted the whole country green....THEN painted the blue state lines....which may(?) have been faster, but you know my motto: do first, think second.

The furring strips got some stain (leftover from the Christmas star), and went from cold and naked to rich and delicious in two coats.

So yummy that I nixed the mitered corners and kept the edges of the frame straight.
Wipe away the chalk lines with a wet rag and BOOM.







You could get all fancy nancy and mark the states that you've visited as a family.
Or put hearts where the grandparents and cousins live.

I kept it simple and just marked the place we call home.

Linking up with

Spring Purging Has Its Benefits

 {gift bags for your friends who are girlier than you}

* Start cleaning out your disastrous hall closet and find a cosmetic bag that was given to you years ago that you never used because you are perfectly fine with your 

tupperware-in-a-drawer makeup storing system.

 * Put present inside.

* Add a paper loopy bow, attach a pin backing, stick it on and zip it up.

Coping Mechanisms

It's been a week since sadness hit our house.

Even though we know she isn't in pain anymore, we still weren't ready to say goodbye to our sweet Mesa.

How do I deal with overwhelming grief?

Goodwill. 

Looking for the perfect canvas for our family tribute to the bestest dog ever.

Sierra let me use her paints,

and the rest was up to this guy.

{Yes, that's Brendan in the background with his hand down his pants. We all deal with loss in different ways.}

We hung it where we'll miss her the most:
right by the garage door, where she would greet us every time we came home.

Hoppy Hoppy Joy Joy

I'm not a pastel/cutesy/springtime-y kind of girl, but I can fake it.

Finally a use for those decades old decorative scissors.

I hated to take down our St. Patrick's day rainbow, so.....I didn't. The pot o' gold was simply swapped out for some flowers.

This time not only does Carlos get a sweet ride (check out that driving face),

he also gets to paint. Lucky guy.

That bow slays me.

Here's hoping that you don't find any dragons in your eggs this weekend.