Year Round Mantle

Mr. Penguin Bunny and I have now been in this house for over a year and I have had some AMAZING holiday mantels. The other months of the year however, not so much. We have tried several decorative mirrors, candles, and at times a combination of both. I found a printable on pinterest the other day with the quote, "Every love story is beautiful but ours is my favorite." I had a really nice frame I had found in the clearance section at hobby lobby and a canvas that fit in it perfectly. So began my new year round mantle painting.

Supply List:

Stencil Set 2" letters

18 x 24 Canvas

Acrylic Paint (I chose white, yellow ochre, and cerulean blue)

Stencil dauber

I began by laying a base of a yellow ochre and white. 

I then added blue on top in vertical strokes and made sure that the paint was darker in different areas to add an illusion of texture. If you don't normally work in acrylic paint on canvas the best way to do this is to add paint directly to the canvas and spread with a watered down brush. Once the blue base dries I planned where to place the words. I placed the individual letters on top and lightly traced them with a white charcoal pencil. Once I knew they were spaced correctly I lightly dabbed a mixture of the white and yellow ochre over the stencil. Making sure the blue still showed slightly through to give it that "vintage" look. 

Once all the letters were painted I decided to add G & B at the end, our initials. Here is the finished product. The fiance loves it, I love it, and it looks great in our living room!

Hit the ground running

     As of December 15, 2011 the man of my dreams proposed! I couldn't be happier about my life at this very moment. I am creating this blog to remind me of the good, the bad, and the ugly times while my fiance and I plan our wedding. I have a rather demanding schedule that includes: working 40 hours a week, taking 4-5 classes each semester (those are all art courses that are about 6 hours per class per week NOT including projects), and holding a leadership role in Barrio Dogs, to whom I donate most of my free time to. With that being said, my new status as an engaged gal will be adding brand new challenges to my life that I will be happy to share with anyone reading.

     The most recent DIY project came a little after one of our engagement celebrations. We decided to save the cork of the champagne bottle we drank with my family to celebrate! Lets get to it:

Step one: Pop the bubbly and enjoy with family. Done!

Step Two: Gather your supplies.

Here are mine:

2 12x12 sparkly pieces of scrapbook paper 

Shadow box (not pictured)

Engagement stickers

Sparkly script letters

Glue/Tape

Paper trimmer

OH! and the cork of course.

Took this after I had finished the project woops!

Step Three: Measure the inside panel of your shadow box to ensure you cut your background piece to the right size. Mine was a simple 5 by 7. Because I used a dark blue I decided to cut some ivory pieces to place the cork and date on. I measured the cork and cut a rectangle. Then I measured out the date and the sticker I was using and cut a second rectangle. It took a few tries to center the letters and stickers but finally they were stuck* on and ready to be placed on the back of the box.
(*I hard first tried double sided tape and after a day the rectangles fell due to the weight. Super glue worked much better. DUH!)

Mr. PenguinBunny was busy cooking and I took over the dinner table!

Step Four: If you are a tad OCD like I am you will eyeball, measure, eyeball again, remeasure and finally glue down your pieces. Glue the cork to its perfect spot and you are basically done!

Step Five: Place in your frame and display! Tell your fiance to come look at your amazing piece of work, open a bottle of wine and enjoy the dinner he cooked. :) Mine does the cooking in the household, I just provide the art work and crafts.

I have to say I really enjoy seeing this guy when we walk out of our bedroom. This sits on a corner shelf that is filled with pictures of our adorable four legged children and a couple of ceramic projects from class. Whenever I look at it the memory of that date makes me smile. The end.

Toodles,