Well, at least scary to me anyway…

Someone lost their blog this week.

Like when you try to go to her blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, you see this…

I know, sad.  :(

And yes, my computer kindly translates EVERYTHING to Dutch since big brother can see we are in the Netherlands Antilles.  Gee, thanks!

You can still find her on Facebook…and I’m sure she could use some encouraging words right now.

Update:  Kristin’s blog was recovered yesterday!  You might have noticed Foto Friday went up on Thursday…apparently I had some calendar confusion as this post was supposed to go up yesterday and Foto Friday today.  Oh well.  Note to self – Friday comes after Thursday.  

Then, I read that Beth broke her Mac.

And I decided to get backed up.  So all is not lost.

Honestly, we’ve been on the external hard drive bandwagon for some time now. Photography is a long lost hobby of my husband, and I like to think of our vacation photos as a never displayed museum collection.

These are from Tamaya in 2004.
Ok, that second one probably doesn’t belong in a museum…but should probably be on our wall somewhere.  (No, I don’t still have that shirt De, but Joel still sports the Grateful Dead one.)

And, the untanned strip on my arm…that’s just from a spot where I had a temporary tattoo.  That’s how I roll.  :)

These shots are from Spain in 2009.

What, you don’t take pictures of random fishermen and road signs on vacation?

We do…it’s so funny how many great memories a picture of a tree shadow on a stone wall can conjure up.  Smile.

Anyway…before we made the big move to the little island we got our first laptop.  Ha, yes, we got our first laptop in 2009.  :)

And, I had a techie friend of mine swipe our desktop clean so we could donate it.  In the process, he put everything we had on the desktop on a handy dandy little external hard drive…and I’ve been addicted to backing up since then.  Well, let’s not stretch the truth, I will be getting caught up after this post is finished.

Seriously peeps, it’s so easy…and that’s what I keep telling myself every time I procrastinate getting our external updated with our newest photos.  How mad at myself would I be if I lost this forever…
That, my friends, is a blurry picture of my husband watching Team USA in the world cup in 2010.  :)

So, this is what works for us.
We first got external hard drive #1 in 2009.  It’s a 150 GB Toshiba, easily found at Target or Walmart.  My rule for what goes on the external…

ANYTHING THAT, IF OUR LAPTOP CRASHED, I WOULD BE PISSED TO LOSE.

It’s a simple rule really.  With all of our photos, music, etc dating back to 2004, we have only used 55 GB.

Then, in November of 2010 we took a 2 week vacation and it just so happened that Tropical Storm Tomas hit Curacao at the exact same time.  Good for us!  But, somehow, water got into our house and onto our laptop AND external hard drive.  (If you want to see a short video of kids wake boarding in the street click here.)

We were very lucky that they weren’t both ruined.  Well, the laptop has to be plugged in at all times now…and the cord to the external doesn’t work – but no loss of data.  Phew!

So, bring on external hard drive #2 (that has a compatible cord to external #1 so they now share).  It is a  300 GB Toshiba, also easily found at Target or Walmart.  My rule for what goes on external #2…

EVERYTHING THAT IS ON EXTERNAL #1…and some movies

Another simple rule.

So, the train of thought here is that external #2 is the true back up.  I actually keep it in a safe deposit box…I don’t know why…can’t ever have photos of memories (can you really have a photo of a memory?) locked up too tightly I guess.  :)

I actually don’t save too much to our laptop.  I think it helps prevent it from getting bogged down with data, slowing it’s functionality.  And, if we were to ever get our laptop stolen or lost our important data wouldn’t go with it.  There I go with the logic again.  ;)  External #2 with the addition of movies on it has about 155 GB of space used up.

Now, you see the honkin’ big external hard drive #3 is the picture above?  That one is just for fun.  That one needs to be plugged into a power source all it’s own (the others don’t, just USB connection to computer) and holds like 800 GB or something.  (Read:  too lazy to get up and plug it in right now.)  We just got this at Target last fall when we started collecting some movies, and other things that take up a lot of space so we got those things an external all it’s own.

We didn’t want movies taking up all the space on external #2 so any new movie we add just goes to external #3, so technically, they don’t have a back up, I am ok with that right now…but that might change.

Seriously, so simple.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t do it.

And, I found a great tutorial on how to back up your wordpress blog in 60 seconds here.

What about you?  Do you have a system?  Do you use an external hard drive…or 3?  Have a better idea?  Dress up, paint your face and wear a silly hat during world cup soccer games?

Now, since it really IS Friday now, I can say…Enjoy your space this weekend and see you next week!

(Just so you know Dana, I will not be walking off any short piers this weekend so please stay safe!)

Have you gotten signed up on the new Linky Follower tool? If so and want to follow me please let me know you did in the comments so I can follow you back.

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I am sharing this tip here and at:

BNOTP, Home Stories A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Today’s Creative and Sugar Bee Crafts.

Thanks for all of the support.  I sure do appreciate it.  :)

Now, most Saturday mornings I can be found here…sorry for the sunrise directly behind the sign.

And then here.

Well, not actually at the dumpster…the dumpster is outside of the bakery.  This is a pic I took last year.  Apparently I haven’t seen anything interesting at the bakery since.  :)

On the US President’s Day holiday…otherwise known as Carnival here in the Caribbean…also a holiday…we brought these hooligans to the beach.

And they quickly made friends with this lovely couple happy to give Marley attention and feed Mico chips…aka Doggy Heaven.

We watched a young boy fishing.  What are the chances he knows he can hang a whole gallery wall with fishing line?  ;)
And we watched the sun set.
And…

…I may or may not have test painted the back of one of our couches…

Let’s hope today isn’t the day Joel decides to start reading the blog.  ;)

Have a great weekend!  See you next week.

I am going to share Foto Friday with the Wordless Wednesday gals.
Flip Flops & Pearls, Live and Love … Out Loud, Nap Time Mom Tog, Project Alicia, and then she snapped, The Paper Mama, Parenting by Dummies, A Fresh Perspective, NOLA Mommy, Baby Baby Lemon, Dagmar’s Momsense, Better in Bulk

Hello, hello.  How are you?  By the way…  :)

Truth be told, I probably should have blogged about these long ago.  But I’ve been putting it off.  I’m not sure how fun these posts are for those who follow, but aren’t bloggers themselves.  My “real life” friends, my family…blah blah blah…someone I don’t know, gave an “award” I don’t really understand…blah blah blah.

Sometimes I wonder, how bloggy can a blog get?  You know?  :)

But, the truth is, these awards are a great honor in the blog world and I am super duper thankful that someone thought enough of my little blog to think of me when passing the award on.

In lieu of red carpets and designer dresses blog awards are more about answering a few questions and sharing a little bit about myself.  Instead of taking home a trophy I get to pass along the award to blogs of my choice…and I even get a little bling for my sidebar.

So, before the music starts playing over the end of my acceptance speech, I am so thrilled to thank Bri from The Modern Parsonage for giving me the Liebster Award.

So what is the Liebster award? Well, it means beloved, favorite, dearest in German. Best of all, it’s given out by fellow bloggers to up and comers with less than 200 followers, encouraging new friendships and community.

Upon receiving the Liebster award, you do the following:

1. Post the award on your blog for the world to see! – Ok, so it has taken me about 3 weeks to do this, I’m all up to date now.  :)
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who awarded you the Liebster by linking back to them.  - THANK YOU BRI!!!  Just a little tid bit, Bri married her husband exactly one month after Joel and I got married.  :)
3. Reveal your 5 picks for the award and let them know they’ve been chosen.  - Please see below.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogosphere…other bloggers!  - I normally bask at the beach so I’m headed there right after this.  :)
5. Finally, the best rule of all, have fun and spread the love!

So now, who who who to bestow with the Liebster Award?

Please check out these 5 lovely blog friends of mine (in no particular order).

Kelly from JAX does design has a blog that I just get lost in.  So much eye candy, so little time.  And, she participates in something called Extreme Makeover:  Kindness Edition – clearly my kind of gal.  :)

Look at this awesomeness she just created to hang above her mantel.
To find out how to do this and see so much more be sure to pay Kelly a visit here.

Now check out Samantha from Tuffet Whimsy.  I have totally fallen in love with this little under the stairs space she created for her son.  My nephew would LOVE this!!
She is also in the midst of a dining room and craft room update…many fun projects to follow along with here.

And talk about fun projects to keep up with.  Ashley and her husband JUST bought a house…like just closed on Valentine’s Day.  And look where they went to celebrate. LOWE’S!!!  I love these guys!  :)

You have to head over to Attempts at Domestication to get a sneak peak of some of the ideas she has for projects to tackle at the house.

And you should also check in with Kelly at Corner of Main.  She participated wholeheartedly in our Imagine the Impossibilities Challenge.  And not only ended up with some awesome pillows, but she also painted the piping on her sofa.  This whole idea has had my wheels spinning.  (But don’t tell Joel, if he doesn’t like numbers on tv stands I’m pretty sure he’s not going to like a painted couch.)  :)
And Cindy from Oakview Cottage has a home that reminds me of home.  I mean growing up in a house filled with so many vintage and eclectic elements…Cindy’s blog is a true wealth of inspiration!
I give a big HIGH FIVE to these five gals and say “I’m glad this is an award we get to share together”!

It really is amazing to me what a blessing this little blog has become.  I truly appreciate you all (non-bloggers and bloggers alike) being along for the ride.  :)

Enjoy your space today!!

You’ll remember it used to live here.
If you want to see how I upgraded an old dresser with some fun maps and stenciling, click here.

Yes, that is in our bedroom.  :/

And we had this little cutie in our living room.

Wait…is that a plain, dirty piece of plywood hanging above my tv?  Hmmm, odd…more on that another time.  :)

Why?  You ask, do we have our little tv in the living room and large tv in the bedroom?? Well, we have this great outdoor space (being as we live on an island and all) and we will often move our tv outside when we are just hanging out on the roof.  It is a space I have been keeping under lock and key…well not really, it IS outside.  But, I have yet to share it on the blog.

The outdoor space is one of the best parts of this house.  No, I take that back, the outdoor space IS the best part of this house.  :)

But, after over 2 years of living here we find we’re not lugging the little tv outside quite as often as we used to and… really people…the house is the size of a bread box so moving the little tv into the bedroom adds an extra 12 steps when we do decide we want to take it outside.  Yes, I just paced it off.  :)

But, clearly the big a$$ tv wasn’t going to fit on this gal.
No, not the dog, the cute little Ethan Allan 4 drawer I got for….wait for it…$10.  Now…where to put her, hmmmm.  A decision for another day.

But, I did have this, not real special, hutch.

Some of our neighbors actually gave it to us when we lived in MD.  They had sold their house and it was the morning of closing day and whatever was left in the house was being left…unless we wanted anything.  Hahaha…they had no idea who they were dealing with when they innocently came over and made the offer to husband and I to “take whatever we want”.  Ahhh, so many pieces of junk treasures we acquired.  :)

The hutch made the trip to Curacao, you know, along with all of the essentials.  ;)

That’s a joke about all of the items my husband gives me a hard time about bringing on our island adventure.  There may be a still un-upholstered chair and some yarn lying around.  ;)

Anyway, I figured the hutch =
1 – a piece we didn’t care about if anything happened to it, and
2 – good storage.

So, take that husband.  That’s called logic  ;)

One cool part about her is that she is two pieces.  So I thought, if I just take her top off she’d make a great tv stand.  Who needs a top, er hutch, anyway?

But, if she was unremarkable all together, now she’s less than half of that.
Those are close ups of left) cute idea…coral handles, middle) cute idea gone wrong, scratches from coral and, right) top of the bottom of the hutch.

Am I right?  She’s a mess.

I was hesitant to paint her because of the sliding doors.  Wouldn’t they just rub, scratch and get haggard looking?  No, really, wouldn’t they???

Then I saw this beauty hopping around Pinterest.  Seriously, at least 3 of my blog buddies had pinned this, including Roeshel, Kari and Sherry.
Now, it’s going to take more skill than this girl has to turn my hutch into this.  haha

But, I thought a finish like that might give the bottom of my hutch a little pizzazz.

So…how does one get that finish?  Is it a white wash, is it a dry brush, is it a stain?

Let’s say it’s white wash.

How exactly to does one white watch?

Well, if you don’t know Shaunna, you’re missing out.  Not only does she write a beautiful blog, but she has an eBook that is all about different furniture finishes.  And, she wrote a great post way back in 2010 about the difference between white washing a dry brushing.

She gives all kinds of great details and tips so definitely check her out.

Following Shaunna’s advice, I added some water to my paint.

I brushed on my watered down paint.

And then I wiped it with a lint free cloth to get rid of any paint strokes.

I ended up doing two coats and do have a few tips:

1- Less is more.  Brush on your paint/water mixture very thoroughly.  It helps with the look, dries faster and saves paint.
2- Wait a few minutes before wiping if you want a whiter finish.  I wouldn’t have needed to do 2 coats if I had learned this the first time.  :)
3- If you have a spot you don’t like, STOP wiping it.  I had a few OOPS! spots and realized that the more I wiped the worse they got.  I had much better luck just letting the spot dry and then reapplying and wiping.
4- If you put the paint/water mixture on areas to, say touch up a bit and maybe, just hypothetically, forget to wipe it off and end up with a few spots that are a little more painted then you’d like…don’t panic.  :)  I just dipped my brush in pure water and brushed over the same area and it evened out the look a bit.

It’s hard to see in the picture but the top has two coats and the side only has one.

Now, of course, I don’t ever take the time to take pictures when I’m rectifying an OOPS! moment.  Somehow my body just doesn’t react this way.  As, I was evening out my OOPS! spots I was definitely thinking, “I should have taken a picture”.  But I just can’t seem to stop the quick reflex action to Fix. OOPS. Now!

Similar to when I was balancing the one screw gallery wall.  :)  No pics of that hazardous moment either.  :/

Anyway…

After I had the two coats we had her in place for a couple of days before I thought…STRIPES!

I have been wanting to do stripes for awhile and thought this would be an easy little first go round.  Then I thought…DRY BRUSH!  (Yes all of these thoughts came in all caps, exclamation point strength.)

Why not dry brush the stripes in a gray color (they really are gray, I know they look blue in the night pic), over my nice new light, light gray white wash.  Or would that be gray wash?

Then I wrapped a few of the handles I took off of the mapped dresser with twine.
And then…I thought….NUMBERS!

I am clearly loving numbers right now.  So I picked a couple not-so-random numbers, the same copper stencils I used for the HOME art here, and added some numbers.
My stripes were measured at 5 inch height (the whole cabinet is just about 30 inches tall) which worked perfect when I pulled out my stencils and realized they were 5 inches high. Score!

I traced the stencil and then  painted in the lines.  You know how I roll. 

Then I sanded them down a bit…and called her done.
Dare I say she’s nautical and beachy?  I love her.

Joel’s reaction…

…what are the numbers for?  Sigh.

You can’t please everyone.

I am sharing this project here and at:
BNOTP, Home Stories A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Today’s Creative and Sugar Bee Crafts.

I mean, who’s into perfect anymore?

Well, I’m sure there are many out there.  But not this girl.

Is there really any better way to set yourself up for disappointment…than to expect perfection?

For starters, I would never be living in this house.  Oh, how you are imperfect…let me count the ways.  But let me only point out the tile…oh the tile of which you have an abundance.

But what was it that someone once said…where ever you are, I am home…or, my favorite thing about my house is who I share it with…or, as long as we’re living here together I can overlook the tile…it was something like that.  ;)

And it really isn’t about the structure, or even the things in it, is it?!?

Oh, if it were about the perfection of the things…

I would probably shudder at the sight of that silly, un-level driftwood shelf in my new one screw gallery wall every time I walked in the room.
 Or, I might have finished re-upholstering that chair by now…8 years later.
Or, I might not have gotten disproportionately excited when I bought these hideous couches for $65 for the pair.
I can’t even tell you how hard it is to find “American” sized furniture for a reasonable price on an island.

As an aside, if you’re looking for perfection, definitely don’t move to a Caribbean island…I know some people who learned that lesson the hard way.  Please refer back to that comment I made earlier…something about the expectation of perfection = surefire disappointment.  :)

Now, I have to give a shout out to the Nester for the idea of Celebrating the Imperfect with a link party.

And, in contemplating her idea, I realize, that through my never-ending search for a steal deal, my need to find ways, albeit more difficult or time consuming, of doing things that hardly cost me anything, and my complete and total aversion to keeping up with the Jones’, I live in a space full of imperfections.

And that, my friends, suits us absolutely perfectly.  :)

I crack my knuckles, I shave as infrequently as possible, I don’t clean as often as I should. I overlook dog hair everywhere on the couch, I leave unfolded, clean laundry lying around for days, I love to swear.

I often waste time, I don’t keep in touch with people I love, I am not nearly as involved with my nieces and nephews day-to-day lives as I’d like to be.

I am emotional, often times erratic and sometimes just a plain ol’ pain in arse.

But just call me Ellen because “I want to be clear and here are the values that I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated, and helping those in need.”

Everything else…in all of it’s imperfection…is just gravy.  :)

Just for fun, I thought I’d try something new and share a few things I saw this week.

I pass this church all the time and I finally got stuck at the red light long enough to take a pic…too bad it was a gray day in Curacao.  Imagine it with a bright blue sky back drop.  :)

Our view during a little lunch date…luckily not a gray day.  :)

A typical evening in our house.  Me admiring the gallery wall while at least one dog and one husband sleep on the couch watch tv.
My Valentine’s Day card from Joel.  Someone knows what my favorite price is.  :)
 And, I may or may not have done some dumpster diving.

I also carried a 1 x 8 x 16 foot long piece of perfectly drifted wood home from an afternoon dog walk.  Now I just need to figure out what to make with it.  A coffee table?  Shelving?

Here’s a sneak peak…picture this sixteen feet long.  :)
What would you make with a 16 foot long, 8 inch wide and 1 inch think rusty, partially painted piece of wood?

Have anything fun planned for the weekend?  Do you carry long boards home from the beach?  Funny story – when I texted Joel to tell him I might need help carrying a long board home, he was picturing me carrying a long board surf board.  Now that I type that…it doesn’t seem as funny as it was in real life.  :/

I am going to share Foto Friday with the Wordless Wednesday gals.
Project Alicia, Flip Flops & Pearls, Live and Love … Out Loud, Nap Time Mom Tog, and then she snapped, The Paper Mama, Parenting by Dummies, A Fresh Perspective, NOLA Mommy, Baby Baby Lemon, Dagmar’s Momsense, Better in Bulk

Me (still more than half asleep):  I know.

Joel:  Well…then…can you get one?

Me:  Sure

Joel:  Or better yet, just fix this one and blog about it.

Well, since I will take any opportunity to mock my husband am an obedient wife…here we are…blogging about a fixed hair brush.

So, where did we leave off?  Like a month ago…geez, sorry!

Ah yes, with this beauty.

I had a box that, size-wise, was going to work great to just set my newly made frame (check out part 1 of this memento to get caught up on how we got from California to married and then from Curacao to a little driftwood frame), trace the inside edge and cut.
Really, I couldn’t even at least get my pen tip on my already traced line so it would kind of look like an action shot?  Guess not.
As you can see, my cutting wasn’t perfect.  But, my plan was to wrap the cardboard with the brown napkin so it didn’t really matter.  I only had to make sure that the cardboard wrapped in napkin was 1) big enough that there were no “air gaps”, meaning that there were no spots I could see in between the frame and the napkin to what was behind it and 2) small enough that it could be wedged in and cover all of the shims so only the driftwood part of the frame could be seen from the front.

It was just a process of trial and error really.

I also decided I didn’t need to cut the napkin.  I just wrapped the cardboard and used some pins to pin it tight on the back side.
I did play around with ways I could layer the veil so I wouldn’t have to cut it, but I liked the look of only one layer of the tulle so I ended up cutting a piece that I could then just pull tight and pin to the napkin and cardboard.

I had these ribbons in my stash.
The cream colored ribbon I used to wrap my bouquet (read: three hydrangea blossoms I cut that day from a bush in the front yard of our house) of hydrangeas together and the green ribbon we strung our rings on for our youngest nephew to carry as ring bearer.

Truth be told, the ring bearer action…including the green ribbon…only happened at wedding #2, but I’m including it anyway.  Because…I had this idea to make it kind of like a charm necklace.
The charms include a very inexpensive, but very sentimental, ring.  One Joel had given me almost 9 years previously and that I had worn on my left index finger everyday since…I’m not really a switch up my jewelry sort of gal….clearly.  :/

I also cut out a pair of champagne glasses from one of the cards we received.  And I made a little “pendant” out of my wedding dress tag…which I happened to buy at Anthropologie.

And there just so happened to be the perfect rusty nail in the driftwood frame I could tie my charm ribbon to.
The cream ribbon was long enough that I could just use it as sort of a boarder, just folding it over at the corners and hot gluing…
Please excuse the dog hair stuck to the glue gun.  :)

I then used the same embellished pins I used to hold my bouquet together on wedding day to add one more fun corner detail.
I cut out meaningful parts of each of the cards we received that day and randomly glued them on top of the ribbon.

If you don’t know, or remember, why we only got 4 cards at wedding #1, here’s the refresher.

And then, I made what I think is a cute little “framed” picture…other than that stupid house right between our heads.  :)
I just cut off a couple corners of one of the cards we received, squared them off, and then cut a square to size from the lining (Yes, it was one of those fancy shmancy cards with a lining layer!  We have fancy shmancy friends.), glued it on the bigger square and then just hand cut the picture of us with rounded corners to fit.

It looked a little like this.
And this.  :)
What can I say, I’m much more of a trial and error sort of gal.  Measure-and-do-it-right-the-first-time is highly overrated.  ;)

All in all, I’m left with another FREE and uber-meaningful addition to our gallery wall.
She fits in so well right below one of my favorite pics from wedding #1.

Here she is all together and up close.
What do you think?  Did you do anything fun with your wedding cards?  We still have wedding #2 cards…so I’m in need of ideas.

Have you ever made a frame out of driftwood?  If you want some tips, check here.

If you did happen to do anything fun with your little wedding mementos I’d love to see it. Feel free to post it on my Facebook page.  :)

And, have you gotten signed up on the new Linky Follower tool? If so and want to follow me please let me know you did in the comments so I can follow you back.

Click here to follow this blog and view my other followers…

I am sharing this project here and at:
BNOTP, Home Stories A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, and Sugar Bee Crafts.

Hopefully you’re at least smiling now.  If you’re a NASCAR fan, you might be laughing out loud because you’ve seen this.

And really, who doesn’t like kittens, bunnies, and little baby seals?

I just figured I would share a little love on this Hallmark day of love.

I found this picture unexpectedly in my email a few years back when I was traveling on Valentine’s Day.
Is that a collective awwww I’m hearing?  ;)

And this comment on the recent Lowe’s gift card giveaway made me smile.  You had to sign up to be a follower to qualify to win and then leave me a comment telling me you did.
Sorry you didn’t win dad.  ;)

To see if you won click here.

And, because we all love a little free stuff here are some fun free finds I’ve recently seen on the worldwide web.
Beckie, from Infarrantly Creative (and Knock Off Decor and Roadkill Rescue) created this great planner for bloggers…that she is letting us all download for FREE.  As she knows, we are task oriented based on projects and not necessarily time.

If I were to create my own, or have any really creative friends who could just whip this up quick, I would use some of Beckie’s format on that left sheet and also have sections labeled:

• “to make” – to list project ideas and steps to take in current projects
• “to do” – to list that “back of the house” type of blog stuff – figure out how to add a Pin It button to each post is at the top of this list…and also to list any supplies I need to get for upcoming projects
• “to write” – to list the posts that need to be written

Jess and Monica, those cutie patooties from Real Housewives of Bucks County – you may have seen them on the Nate Berkus show a few times – listed their favorite spots to find free printables that can so easily be used as art in your home.

For my really creative friends who are going to whip up my personal blog planner page, it would be fine if you used any of these back ground designs.  ;)

Is that middle one on the bottom the one that Beckie used for her planner…I’m just sayin’.

Lastly, if you’re in the mood for an easy, FREE Valentine’s Day craft go here.

Hopefully you all enjoy your day of love, and I’d just like to add…

Daugher:  I love you

Dad:  Oh, thank you sweetheart

Daughter:  No, write that on the spoiler.

Have you gotten signed up on the new Linky Follower tool?  If so and want to follow me please let me know you did in the comments so I can follow you back.

Click here to follow this blog and view my other followers…

]]> http://thespacebetweenblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/who-doesnt-love-love/feed/ 6 karahb 10Feb girls with happy V day sign 12Jan dad comment Printable-blog-planner_thumb IMAGE - Pattern Pieces . The Series http://thespacebetweenblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/painting-goodwill-canvas-number-art/ http://thespacebetweenblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/painting-goodwill-canvas-number-art/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:08:30 +0000 Karah @ thespacebetweenblog http://thespacebetweenblog.wordpress.com/?p=1999 ]]> It’s the new must-have…the replacement for the little black dress, or maybe the accessory to…I don’t recommend trying to wear it.

But, I actually finally decided what she’s going to wear.
You might remember her back story?  This entire project only cost the $2 I spent for the canvas at Goodwill.  Heck yeah!

She did manage to find her way onto the gallery wall, even though she wasn’t done.

Now…she’s done.

I am quite infatuated with all of the word and letter art out there.  I recently turn a pallet into word art.  But, as I mentioned here, I don’t have any of those fancy machines that can create what I tell it to.

And I can’t always create what I want to.  :/

Luckily, this one worked out.

I first made a paper template the same size as the canvas.
I just scribbled with pencil, used different stencils I had to see what size lettering might fit, played around with ideas.

I had received some GREAT suggestions on what to do.

Maybe some string art like Zoe.

Love the idea, but think this little black canvas is too small for it.

Then I got the awesome suggestion to put my word of the year on it in a dictionary type font.  Who put that comment?  And on which post?  I’ve looked all over and can’t find you…I want you to get credit for the awesome idea.  Let me know if it’s you!

Update:  It was Leena!  Thanks for the great suggestion!!

I had a moment where I thought I might put something kitchy, maybe a funny saying taken from a little DIY group therapy.

But the moment was fleeting.

In the end, I went with dates that are important to us.

I picked 5 different fonts I liked.  I figured it would give it a more eclectic feel.  AND, I would have a better chance of pulling it off if I wasn’t trying to make all of the numbers look the same.  Can you say…intentional imperfection.  :)

I increased the number size so the width of each date fit the whole canvas.  Then I laid them out in order of date…and was not bothered when I discovered I was going to need to overlap them a bit. (Read: not interested in re-sizing and reprinting the numbers.)
My plan was to trace over the outline of each number hard enough that I could see it on the canvas.

 Again, I say, luckily the plan worked.

I just used some paint I had on hand mixed to different shades.  And for a couple dates I added some water for a more paint wash look.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say this project was easy peasy.  Very good light is necessary to see the vague outline imprint.  A very steady hand is necessary to create good looking numbers essentially free hand.  And patience is just always a necessity.  :)

A little before and after just for fun.
Once I knew what I was going to make and had picked out my fonts, this project took me a few hours…including the drying time between dates that wouldn’t be necessary if your numbers don’t overlap.

I have to say, I love her.  She’s meaningful, a bit whimsical and not overly crafted…a nice addition to an already busy gallery wall.

What about you…what would you have done with the little black canvas?  Have any number art of your own I should check out?

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I am sharing this project here and at:
BNOTP, Home Stories A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, Today’s Creative, and Sugar Bee Crafts.