While I was getting ready for the boutique, I had a Night Before Marathon. I don’t like to brag, but honestly: I rock Night Before Marathons. Unto some it is given to make good use of time. Unto others it is given to rock Night Before Marathons. And yeah, I always got good scores on my Night Before Research Papers. It truly is a gift, one for which I am at once grateful for and insanely embarrassed of.
Be that as it may: my husband, true and loyal guard dog that he is, sat up and helped me paint. When it comes to doing projects together, there’s a HUGE difference between he and I. You actually don’t have to witness us working together to see it… all you have to do is open our dresser drawers. My shirt drawer looks like… gosh, Woodstock? His is more like Carnagie Hall. He’s a perfectionist. By harsh comparison, I’m Dennis the Menace. Needless to say, he loathed apron painting but the aprons he made were far superior to mine.
Thankfully, he wasn’t home when I got a craft idea smack dab in the middle of cleaning day. I remembered something I’d seen on Pinterest, and I was pretty sure I had everything on hand. By the by, one of my absolute most favorite things is shopping in my own backyard. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to be featured on Hoarders or anything, but living next to a farm does have it’s pros (scrap wood) and cons (MICE!).
In the back of my husband’s truck, he has a few pieces of wood that he hasn’t thrown out yet. They are left over from Ye Ol’ Piana, and one by one I keep snatching them up, painting them, and putting them up in my house. Yesterday was no different. When I should have been scrubbing floors, I was crafting instead.
The idea I found on Pinterest involved transferring words printed on paper to wood using water and the blunt end of a marker. It looked like it should work well enough… and it really didn’t. At all. But it takes quite a bit to stop me once I’ve gotten an idea.
Mira:
My wood ended up not being big enough, so I had to go back outside, find a new piece of scrap wood and cut it down. Which I did. With the saw you see. The handle broke, so I duct taped it and shouldered on. Despite the wood glue spill. The paint spill. And on and on and on…
Here’s what I had hanging above my kitchen window yesterday:
I really love the little sign, but it just seemed too small for the space. And it was too pretty! My kitchen needed something a little banged up and dumpsteresque.
Enter: Alicia’s mad lack of pretty crafting skills. I actually (accidentally!) spilled watered-down BLACK paint on that sign, quickly swiped it all into the wood and it’s plainly obvious to me, but because the craft is so chipped… it blends right in! There’s also red paint that rubbed off from my table on it. And the poor stapled on T. I mean, really. This craft took a heck of a beating, and I absolutely LOVE it! Please don’t ever ask me to make something pretty and neat… unless you don’t mind me stapling crap onto it and spilling paint all over it.
My husband texted me from the computer class he’s taking.
“How’s cleaning day going?”
“Interrupted,” I replied, “I got distracted by a home decor craft, so I’ll finish cleaning when I’m done.”
“What did you do?”
“The kitchen but I haven’t mopped, dusted some, did some laundry, cleaned the living room.”
“No, what craft?” He asked.
“Oh, a sign for the kitchen.”
“Text me a picture when you’re done.”
“Okay,” I said.
A few hours later, I did. His reply made my day and made up for the fact that my bathrooms were still dirty.
“WOW BABE! That kooks awesome! Yo amazing!” He said. Don’t you love auto-correct? Kooks?
I just love it when I make something that doesn’t cost anything. We had everything on hand.
My next kitchen project will involve getting rid of those busy curtains and changing them out for something simpler.
Here’s the WEBSITE I got the idea from. Please know that it did NOT go well for me at all. The ink did not transfer well… in fact it only transferred enough for me to have a VERY VAGUE stencil to fill in with watered-down black paint. If crafts frustrate you, if you’re a perfectionist… do not try this at home!
Now please excuse me, I have toilets to scrub.
Super cute!
That does “kook” awesome!