{Post #881} New Bulletin Board

This will be a very short post.  I hot glued buttons to my thumb tacks and this is the resulting new look for my picture bulletin board.  Better?  Suggestions for the empty spaces that don't involve more pictures??

Before, for comparison:

~Joan

{Post #880} New Sign

I mentioned that we took down our Christmas decorations a few days ago.  I left up a new Christmas sign that was in our living room.  I wanted the incentive to finish a new sign to put up in its place.  Here is the new sign from afar, closer up, then at the table where I had just finished painting it.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I have been painting monogram signs for wedding gifts.  This is another option for that idea.  I needed this to be a bit larger than one of my monogram signs that have just one initial.


One of the girls at my church saw me painting this:

She asked me to paint her one as she is getting married this summer.  Her "new" name is very long, so I thought about turning the sign to "landscape" setting.  I played around with it to make one for my family.  I think this works!!


Yes, Julie, that is my Emily in the picture above.  Don't even think about it.


~Joan

{Post #879} Four Ornaments

So, which of these is your favorite and why?

The bottom right one is the first I made.  the top left was the second.  I like each one I make more than the last.  I have asked my kids which ones they like.  So far I have two votes for top right, one for bottom right, and one for bottom left.  Four more kids to ask.


These don't all have their outside strip on yet.  Just sayin'...


Oddly enough (or not), my husband and I both like the same one the most.


~Joan

{Post #878} New Foyer Table Runner

Today we took down all our Christmas decorations and got them in the attic in about an hour.  We had already taken down the tree a few days ago.  I put a table runner on my foyer table and put up my apple quilt.  The runner did not look good.  It also had apples on it and together the quilt and the runner...they just looked...looked...stupid!!


I was downstairs doing laundry, so I whipped up a runner I had in mind.  I had seen this style a long time ago, and it just seemed like it would match the table and quilt better.

Here is my sad little tree.  This is a new little sign I just got a few days ago.  I like it.  The tree might have to go.

This was a quilt-as-you-go, so it worked up very quickly.  I sewed the binding down while Isaac and I finished watching a movie we started last night.  This seems to work and look better.


~Joan  

{Post #877} New Wall Art

I am not a good decorator.  If you have been to my house, you already know that.  But I do buy what I like.  I might not like it where it is, but I like it!  The bulletin board two pictures down is the result of several things.  Realizing I did not need a bulletin board in the kitchen where it was.  Wanting a way to display lots of pictures with the ease of changing them out at will w/o major headaches and time involved.  Wanting to hang a sign I bought sort of on impulse.  


I saw this sign and liked it better in that same spot...above Rachel's school desk in the corner of our kitchen.  I had seen similar signs for lots of money.  This one is about 16" x 22" and was $10.  Sold!!  I also love the way it stands out on our red walls.

I am not a huge Pinterest addict, but I have seen some things that I'd like to make for my house.  The inspiration for my board was an empty picture frame that had picture-hanging wire strung along the back and photos hung from tiny snap clothespins.  My very thoughtful daughter pointed out that if I wanted a pic of each person in my family, I'd either need a huge frame or very tiny pictures.  I do have eight children and now a son-in-law!!

She was SO right.  As usual.  :)  She knows who she is.

When I took down the bulletin board, I realized I could spray paint it to match another item in our bedroom and end up with THIS:

It was very difficult to get a picture without glare somewhere.  The paint is a puzzle to me.  It is milk chocolate brown and has tiny terra-cotta-colored sparkles in it.  How do the sparkles stay uncovered by paint enough to show up?  Here is a close-up of my favorite part, a picture of my dear husband and I, and a picture of our hands forming a heart.

My husband pushed flat-headed thumb tacks through the tops of the snap clothespins, and I painted them brown to match the frame.  Our walls are sort of a Wendy's Frosty brown color, so this looks great.  I plan to add little embellishments such as putting a piece of paper behind the pictures, buttons, etc.  This is just the basis for the rest.


~Joan