Christmas Card

Snow Flurries Cocoa Christmas 5x7 folded card

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The Result: Anna

All it needs is a few coats of poly and it's finished!  I was very unsure after I'd put the stain on, I should have known that putting such a dark color over such a light paint would be tricky to work with.  But then after the decal went on I kind of fell in love!  It ended up having almost a gloomy sky effect, instead of a "what was I thinking" effect.

I'm kind of okay even if no one else likes it...  it's not so bad in front of my very own couch :)

Anna

I think the hardest part for me in all of this is patience.  Delayed gratification is totally overrated!  However, because I also like to change my mind all the time (haha just ask Alan all about that one), it is a blessing that I can't just wave my hand and a piece is finished.

Take this coffee table for instance:

I knew that it needed something different, otherwise it would look exactly the same with a different color.  I thought I'd use it as an experiment with wall decals.  The big brown truck delivered them today and I was super lucky that I'd ordered two different ones (I only needed $5 more for free shipping!) because the one I was excited about using on the table?  Yeah... waaay too big.  Comically so.  Evidently I'm not awesome at the whole measuring and scale thing.  Anyway... the extra one I loved even more and I think it will be much better.  And by the way www.dalidecals.com is amazing if you haven't checked it out!  They have tons of unique decals and you can customize the color and size (which I obviously did not take advantage of).

Here it is so far, it's a light gray (the color is actually "weathered tin", how appropriate for my little line of birds!).  I'm thinking I will do a distressed look with an almost blackish stain to darken it up.  I'm excited to see how it will turn out, and glad that since it's not too big I can always start all over if it's really awful!

I'll post pics when she's done!  (unless it really does look awful)

The First Project: Emrie

I am lucky to have such a great husband.  He has encouraged this new love of mine, pretends to listen to all of my ideas, and so far hasn't complained that I've started stacking the garage with furniture.  I grabbed this little end table from an antique mall  flea market; I thought it was so cute!  It was actually in really great shape, but since I can't stand plain brown wood anywhere but the floor I knew it needed my help.
I am also lucky to have such great friends that support me in my new love as well, as one of them has already laid her claim to it for her daughter's bedroom.  Therefore it is named after her.  Meet Emrie!

Don't you just love this cute knob?!  I think finding these things is one of the best parts of doing this so far!

And this paper, it seriously makes me happy.

My intention was to paint cute little clouds, but I cannot paint clouds (I have now learned).  So my attempt at copying the bird/branch pattern is now inside the drawer.  I am still undecided.

What started all this?

I can't say it was just one thing.  Mostly it was dreading going to work every day.  I've had lots of different jobs and they all start out great, but after a while I get super bored.  I have learned what I don't want to do:  I don't want to be yelled at all day by mean customers at a retail store,  I don't want to be yelled at all day by mean customers on a phone either.  I don't want to wait tables because I'm way too forgetful (you really don't want me to be your waitress), I also don't want to be in an office.  Talk about monotony!  I have never liked school enough to be a teacher, and especially not enough to be a student again.  I'm awful at math and science, and bodily fluids and I definitely don't get along.  So what is left?  This is a question I have struggled with for a long time.

Then I got a hold of this old dresser that Alan had.  It was scratched up, missing hardware, dated stain color... basically nothing special about it.  After actually getting to see how completely different it looked when it was finished?  Totally hooked!  I am not a person who likes matched sets of furniture.  I am definitely a person who likes flea markets and bargains.  I love color.  I love seeing the potential in something that others can't.  I would love if I could get to the point that refurbishing items was all I did.  Right now it's enough for me to have a creative outlet that goes beyond what color paper to label file boxes.