He is finished!

I think for a spur-of-the-moment idea he looks pretty good! If I had it to do again, I would find a more accurate skin color paint for the face, but otherwise I think our Santa Gourd turned out quite nicely! Thanks to my dad for his help and my mom for her patience while a giant veggie dried on her kitchen table for two days.

The Great Anne

One thing I know I cannot do is paint. For some reason I have a huge issue with drip, and honestly, everything else that has to do with painting. When I saw this "Joy to the World" painting on pintrest (originally pinned from etsy.com), I knew just who to ask to duplicate it! My fried, Anne, gave me this today and I LOVE it! She is so very talented, and kind, and generous!

Gourd Stage 2...

He is ALMOST finished! All he needs are a few minor paint touch ups and a Santa hat, but I wanted to post an updated picture. Life has been crazy busy around here and I didn't get to update as quickly as I'd hoped. My dad and I used spray adhesive and cotton balls for the beard and eyebrows (so easy!) and electric tape for Santa's belt. After drawing them on, we decided buttons for the eyes and nose would be far cuter! I think we were right.

Coming Soon...

While decorating my parent's exterior for Christmas, we had to pitch the fall produce-turned decor. They had a 2 foot tall and very fat green gourd that I thought we should turn into Santa Claus. My dad generously carried it to the garage where we primed it and began to paint the bottom half red. Sadly, the first coat still hadn't dried and it is going to take a few days to get this guy done. I forgot to take a before picture but I did remember to snap one after our first couple of steps. Here is what it looks like now....

I can't wait to finish him!

Quite simple

While browsing pintrest, I came across a beautiful damask wreath with hot pink flowers from The Patriotic Peacock and my immediate thought was that I could do a Christmas version. Honestly, a smaller pattern 0n the fabric would have been easier to work with, but for a first attempt I am very happy with the results. I have made four of these for family and friends so far and they take roughly 30 minutes to assemble start to finish. I suggest this tutorial!

Wooden Plaque turned "frame"

I wanted to post a sort-of tutorial for my .99 wooden plaque turned wall art, but I don't have them all on my wall quite yet. I will post a picture of the whole collection once my wonderful husband drills and hangs them! For now, this is a brief tutorial...

I purchased several different shapes and sanded the rough edges before starting to paint. I had on hand little bottles of the acrylic brightly colored paints and decided I would start with aqua blue.

After two to three coats of paint I used my sand paper to distress the border of the plaque and applied a coat of Mod Podge

Next I trimmed my picture to fit the shape and applied it using mod podge.

I can't get my pictures to turn so please forgive my lack of blog-ability.

I am excited to get them all finished and up!

Craft Thursday!

I got together with a good friend of mine today and we attempted to get crafty. I say attempted because it was the two of us, two newly walking toddlers, a four year old, and a dog. We were a tad outnumbered and no one was sleeping. We managed to make a couple of things before naptime fell upon us and then I came home and made some cute "frames". Pictures and hopefully tutorial to follow tomorrow!