Painty Fun

Isn't this just lovely?!? I've seen so many tutorials for ways you can transform "gems" like this into something cool for your wall.... I'd been on the lookout for something suitable, and once again I would like to pause and lament the lack of good thrifting in this area. I dream of transforming an old dresser into an amazing statement piece for our dining area, but apparently it's easier to find a chupacabra down here than cheap furniture. OK, taking a deep breath and moving on ;) Anyway, I finally found this picture at our local thrift shop two weeks ago; the frame is plastic, not even composite wood, and it was still priced at $3.98! Thankfully it was 50% off, and the shape worked for what I had in mind, so I forked over 2 bucks and brought it home.

I used this tutorial as my guide, so I didn't have to mess with cutting wood to fit the oval frame. I didn't have primer that was recommended for use on glass, but I did have glass etching spray, which is often recommended as a first step on other projects. It worked beautifully! It took three coats of chalkboard paint and you can still see some brushmarks (possibly because it was already 80 degrees?!?) but overall I really am happy with it. Love the fun turquoise - and see how it really pops against that yellow wall? (This happens to be the room immediately to the right as you enter the house, which the previous owners used as a formal dining room. I already have a a gallon of a pale gray paint on standby, but the arched doorway was not properly built up, and I'm waiting for hubby to rip that apart and reassemble it in a nice, boring rectangle before painting)

One last funny story: I was debating about what to write/draw, and decided to just make a simple tree based on some of the doodles here. Let's just say I need more practice ;) When our son saw it, his first question was, "Why did you make that pokey thing with circles all over it?" His second was, "Why do you put Bible verses on EVERYTHING?!"

What better words are there with which to surround our family?!