Vintage-y Family Sign Display

I've wanted to make a family sign for awhile now. I was going to get a wooden sign and paint it, but then I found this awesome tray at the Dollar Tree and was inspired to use it to make my sign. At first I had another use for it in mind, but after looking at it I decided that it would be perfect. Pretty much everything in this "vignette" is all new/revamped. Let me tell you what I did, 'kay?

The tray came home solid silver. I painted it with one thin coat of brown acrylic paint, followed by three coats of Kilz semi gloss in "Antique White". I then took sandpaper and sanded it down, to expose the silver and brown undercoat, giving it a "worn" look.

The pillar candleholder was a garish, tarnished gold when it came home from the thrift store. Three coats of the same Kilz paint had it looking good. This is ceramic, and the paint adhered wonderfully. You can see the corner of a picture frame in the shot. Super cute frame, from the Dollar Tree. Cute scroll work embellishments in the corner, ugly brown to begin with. I painted it with one coat of Kilz, followed by a light coat of metallic brown glaze. Then I took sandpaper to it, distressing it slightly.

I used my scrapbooking stamps to stamp out the lettering on the sign, it turned out perfectly. I just finished it off with a light coat of matte acrylic sealant to keep it protected. The finial looking thingy is also from the Dollar Tree. Came home this funky, mottled brown and I spray painted it solid semi-gloss brown and then used the same metallic glaze that I did with the picture frame.

I left the reverse side of the finial solid brown for versatility. I am over the moon happy with how this all turned out. It cost under $10 for what was bought new (tray, picture frame, finial, pillar holder and glaze). It only took a few days start to finish (including drying time for everything). I'm so happy with the overall look, including the chippy cabinet top that it's all displayed on. The only thing I want to do is update the pictures in the frame that's hanging on the wall.

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Spring Flower Topiary

I saw this adorable topiary a few days ago here. I love topiaries and wanted to make it, but I wanted mine to be a bit more "Springy" so I tweaked it a bit and came up with this.

So this is what I used. I found the pot at the Dollar Tree, I bought a square foam block and moss there too. I also used stick pins, skewers, scrapbook paper and ribbon that I already had.

To make the flowers, I punched printed scrapbook paper with a 1" circle punch and solid scrapbook paper flowers for the center. I used pearlized stick pins to stick the flowers to the tree, that way I can remove them when I want to or change them out for different seasons.

To make the tree I took four skewers and grouped them together and wrapped them with solid brown ribbon, that was my trunk. I cut the foam block with a serrated knife to a semi ball shape and then hot glued the moss to the outside. Took my "trunk" and stuck the pointed end directly into the top. Then I hot glued it to the inside of the pot, crumpled up a bunch of newspaper to stabilize it and hot glued moss to the top to finish it off.

Love how it turned out. Love the fact that it was so cheap. Love the fact that I can change out the flowers, remove them or leave it as is.

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My First Mommy E-Mail

My oldest sent me his first "e-mail" today, with the help of Daddy. It was the sweetest ever, I had to give him the biggest bear hug when I read it.

"Mommy I want to watch her shine! I love her so!"
J