Saying I love you with wood

Hello and welcome to my little blog. Hopefully you all have had a wonderful holiday with Valentine's Day. I decided to make my DH a wooden sign. The numbers on the sign are very special to us and one of a kind.

I started with some leftover pine boards and stained it with MinWax. I let that dry overnight and then printed out my latitude and longitude. These coordinates are the location of where Kyle and I first met. Awwww! I printed just the outline of the numbers to save on ink.

The next step was to "weather" my boards. I applied some watered down DecoArt chalky paint. After that was dry, I dry brushed some of the same chalky paint over the boards. Viola! The easiest way to make new boards look older and weathered. TIP-You might also want to take some random objects (metal works best) and beat the boards. This technique makes some interesting intentions for your stain to seep into. I've used a tire iron, chains, an axe, hammer and such on past projects. It's awesome and fun. 

The time consuming part came when I outlined all of the numbers and letters to show the coordinates. Yes, some people use transfer paper, others remember to flip their image before they print it and trace that outline but I plum forgot and had to transfer paper. So, I taped my "template" to the board and used a pen to trace the letters. Using a bit of force while tracing I was able to get the font onto my board and then use a pencil to make it even more apparent. 

Once my outline was done I used DecoArt titanium white and painted the letters and numbers. 

After everything was dry, I used a hand sander and lightly sanded parts of the boards to create even more of a weathered look. Below is a closer look after the sanding. 

All done and ready to hang up. I nailed some shims to the back of the boards and some hooks. This was a gift for my husband for Valentines Day and I just got it hung today. Whew! Here is a look at it on our wall.

Please don't mind my wall color. Our living room has not been painted yet and this brown was there when we moved in. I am so very tired of living in brown houses. Haha! But that is another post for another day.

Hugz and Carpe Diem! Thank you for stopping by! 

~Niki

I would like to share this design with these challenges: 

A Bit More Time to Craft #38-Anything Goes

Creative Carte Blanche-Love

Rhedds Creative Spirit-February Challenge

Mini Top Hat for CHA

So excited to finally being able to share this top hat I designed for Kim of Emerald Creek Dares. She has a new stamp designer, Gail, of Crystal Media Arts, and asked if I would like to have a go at these new stamps. The stamps are burlesque themed and so perfect for a mini top hat! I couldn't refuse and was so thrilled to get started.

I started the usual way and used craft foam and my template to cut out each piece. This hat is made from scratch. It doesn't matter what color your craft foam is because everything gets a coat (or two or three) of paint.

Good scissors and contact glue are so important! You just can't make this hat without contact glue. Here is a shot of the gluing process. 

I left the top of the hat off because I wanted to stamp one of the Crystal Cookie stamps on it and heat emboss the image using the new Epaulette Blue powder from Emerald Creek. The base of the hat is painted with metallic blue paint. The stamp is called Boots Before Corset

Once the hat was completely glued together I went to town on decorating it to achieve the burlesque theme. Black lace with some bling went around the top and the bottom. Black feathers and a black rose, with a mini metal rose in the middle are a must! I applied black alcohol ink to the little boot and added those near the black rose 'cause these boots are made for walkin, and that's just what I'll do!

I used a metal frame that I heat embossed with another new Emerald Creek EP, Metabaloid Blue. I then stamped the Playful and Full of Life lady onto some tissue paper and then glued the tissue paper onto some tinfoil. 

I then cut the foil to fit inside the frame and hot glue it to the front of the hat. 

Some more feathers were added and I wanted a surprise pop of color so I added bright purple feathers as well. I found these purple feathers on a rather cheap mask and since it was falling apart at the store they sold it to me for a dollar! Score!

Then I got out some clear vellum and stamped the words "Boots Before Corset" using Versamark and heat embossed it with the Metabaloid Blue powder as well. 

Every girls needs a sassy hat and this one sure turned out sassy. Haha. Huge thank you to Kim for the opportunity and also to Gail for creating these wonderful stamps! Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would like to share this hat with these wonderful challenges:

Altered Eclectics-Anything Mixed Media

Mixed Media Place

I used the feathers and the overall blue hues and the sentiment inspired me as well.

A Vintage Journey-Words that are Special

I used Boots Before Corset. These words are special to me because this was my first design made for CHA and without this stamp, it wouldn't have been possible. 

Craft Stamper February Take It, Make It-Anything Goes Stamping