Our house update (the work in progress)....

Thought I would share a bit of the work in progress aka our house in Florida. We are slowly but surely getting there. We moved in so close to Christmas that we didn't bother with regular decorating. Now that Christmas has been packed away....the place looks REALLY empty! LOL I'm still struggling with how to decorate 12' ceilings but wouldn't change them for the world. So in no particular order....here we go.

Up first is some new additions to the family room. DH has been wanting to make an Entertainment Center for quite some time now. Finally, we found some inspiration in a Pottery Barn catalog and began drafting out a plan. Here is the finished project (well sans the glass doors that will eventually grace the center section). She is lovingly stained in our fave color: Gunstock. The doodads and nick nacks are in the beginning stages and it will be a work in progress as I find more things to add, but I HAD to start somewhere. We have tons of family pics that are framed that will be coming into the space too at some point....just not sure where.

Entertainment Center

Entertainment Center

Entertainment Center

Entertainment Center - Gunstock close-up

This is a shot of one of the 2 lamps we repurposed. The first is the wooden camera tripod carried all over the world by his Great Uncle (He was a photographer for National Geographic). We weren't sure what to do with it, but knew it had to stay in the family. Thus was born the first of our lamps. Isn't it the coolest?  Since we had one I knew we needed a second eclectic lamp. So, at a tag sale I fell in love with this fire extinguisher and thus was born the 2nd lamp. The shade is new.....I'm thinking it needs a good dunking in some black RIT dye but am living with it for awhile before I (Or it) takes the plunge.

Tripod Lamp

Fire Extinguisher Lamp

Close-up

Here is the first step on the fireplace mantle.....not sure it is finished yet, but I do like the black iron addition. This fireplace is so weird with the space between the mantle and the hearth. I think it was a nice tie in! Yes, you know I sprayed it flat black!

Mantle close-up

Fireplace

This is my new cool giant clock from Kohl's. I have wanted one for awhile now, but the only sale they ever have is BOGO (Buy one get one free). Now seriously, who really goes to the store to buy TWO giant clocks.....come on! So, finally at Christmas time they were 50% off! YES! Now that makes a wee bit more sense doesn't it? Geesh!

Big Clock

Big Clock

On to my bedroom. You may remember my $1 dresser project. Well, she is now sporting some fun doodads including my Eiffel Tower, my found head and some Valentine ART goodies from various friends. Next to the dresser is Ruth Iola and my newly acquired black Christmas tree. I LOVE it and it will remain out year round. It is decorated with the themes for this room. I call it 3 P's and a D. That stands for Pink, Pirates, Peacocks and Disney. I have some serious wall ART in the works for this room too, but that is for another day. Ruth Iola is sporting a new HOPE hanging ornie too that I think is really awesome.

Dresser

Dresser

Dresser

Dresser

Ruth Iola

Ruth Iola

Black Tree

Black Tree

Tree close-up

Tree close-up

On the other side of the room is my newly repuposed hutch. It was in our dining room in our last house. Since I'm using black in here it was a perfect fit although quite boring. So I had DH cut me some panels and I headed to the studio. Armed with my decoupage glue mix and some vintage papers (Russian dictionary, church hymnal, American dictionary stamped with my fave ART images)and some vintage ladies cut from a vintage sewing book) I began the transformation. After the collages were dry I coated them with 2 coats of Polycrylic. Best stuff ever people....try it if you have not! They were cut to fit precisely so they just sit at the back and are therefore removable if need be. I LOVE this personalized piece of MEness!  I have now added in more personalized goodies: my Great Grandma's candy dish, more Valentine ART from friends, my fave Disney pics and more. I really am happy with how it is turning out. Hope you enjoyed your mini tour of the work going on in Florida this week! Enjoy!



Before



During

After

Close-ups

Close-ups

ART

ART

ART

ART

4 x 4 ART pages Finished......

.....but it was definitely quite an endeavor!! Geesh!! Has anyone seen my brain....it has certainly left my body. Some days you just forget to stop and think things through....you know?? This was my first time making 4 x 4's. I knew I was to leave a left hand border of about 3/4" for binding. Yep, planned out the design, laid it out, left that nice border on the left hand margin on the front pages......flipped them over to do the back side ....and....well....I left the margin on the LEFT side again!! My darling hubby, looking at the FINISHED pages says: "Aren't you going to lose all these details when it's bound??" Argh!! "Well, yes, yes I am," I say while collapsing in a full swoon onto the sofa. Gee whiz Forest....stupid is as stupid does..... :::sigh:::

So, I redid my design, which actually works better in a weird "I didn't plan it out but now I like it" sort of way. I just have to remember to tell my hostess that what looks to be the front is really now the back. LOL

Anywho, here are the nitty gritty details. Theme: Under lock and key Quantity: 38

Of course I had to make something with pirates......they keep their treasures under lock and key! Well and sometimes their hearts....but let's just not go there shall we??

Please see my previous blog post if you want to know how I made the Cricut cut outs really "pop". Don't forget to click the pics so you can see all that sparkly treasure!! :)

I started with blue cardstocks. Side 1 was rubber stamped with a multi-blues ink pad and a large bubles background stamp. All shapes were cut from the "Life's a beach" Cricut cartridge. All pages were sealed with glossy Mod Podge.

Side 2 was water colored using my fave Peerless Watercolors. The treasure is made from Diamond glaze, tiny faceted jewels, gold rocaille beads and gold fine art glitter. The "treasure trail" is done with a black sharpie......I believe that Black Sharpies are to the ART world what Duct Tape is for the household.

So there you have it, my screwed up but now fixed 4 x 4 ART pages. :)

Preview of my 4 x 4 ART pages "Under Lock & Key"

I am working on a BIG little project. I am swapping 4 x 4's with 37 other ARTists that are being bound into a book. The theme is "Under Lock & Key". I have finally come up with my idea.....and am steadily making progress.

I decided to use my new "Life's a Beach" Cricut cartridge for the main components. So, I set about cutting all the tiny pieces times 38. After they were all cut out they were cool, but lacking. The Cricut cuts all these awesome shapes with great details that you can't really see. Hmmmm......they are very lifeless and flat. So I set about enhancing them. The background blue cardstock and the treasure chests were livened up with coats of watercolors. I used my very fave Peerless watercolors. www.peerlesscolor.com To bring out all the highlights of the sea shells, sun, sand dollars, treasure chests, skull and crossbones, palm trees.....I used similar colored ink pads and lightly swiped them across the cut outs. Wow!! The details just exploded off the page. Ta-da!! I am a happy camper now. To give dimension to the eye patch, skull cap and red"X"'s, and the coconuts, I used coordinating Sakura Glaze pens. www.sakuraofamerica.com/Pen-3d-pen I made the "sand" with some of DH's sandpaper!! Shhh!! :)

I'm sharing a few of the pieces today to show you the difference. Hopefully tomorrow I can share the completed pages.......side one is drying with a top coat of Mod Podge. Stay tuned......

Plain Cricut cutouts

Embellished Cricut cutouts

Plain treasure chest

Wow....what a difference
Peerless watercolors, Gold gel Pen, Black glaze pen (on lock)

Boring Palm Tree

Dimensional cool palm

No faced sun, invisible detailed sand dollar, flat skull

Sunny face, awesome sand dollar and dimensional skull

Plain blue cardstock

Gorgeous backgrounds from the Sea

Left - Peerless Watercolors

Right - blue ink pad, bubble background rubber stamp