Just a quick project

While in Target this week I lusted over a cute doormat with lovely spring colors and bold, graphic lettering. Problem is I can't see spending 15 bucks when I have a perfectly good, but boring, doormat sitting outside my front door. 

While taking a break from a very intense labor project I decided to do a quick update to our doormat. I taped off the line with painters tape and sprayed with some aqua outdoor spray paint I had on hand. It wasn't as dark as I wanted so I also did a quick swipe with some aqua chalk paint with a brush. I hand lettered the "hi!" with some yellow chalk paint. I thought about putting "yo!" instead, but our teenager rolls his eyes at us enough as it is. :) 

Chalk Paint

This months Better Homes and Gardens magazine has a coupon for a free sample of one of Lowes new spring colors. I picked up this bright coral pink to make a new batch of chalk paint. I loosely follow a recipe that is 3 parts paint mixed with 1 part water & 1 part plaster of paris. You mix the water and plaster of paris first then add to your paint. I say I follow it loosely because sometimes it just depends on how much room is in the container. In this instance I just eyeballed it and it came out a perfect consistency, just like pudding.

I love this coral color so much that the large bowl will likely stay here with me instead of ending up in my Etsy Shop. Now I just need to find the perfect quote to put on it. 

Old fence recycle

I've been spending a lot of time this season working in our yard. Part of the many projects has been tearing down an old privacy fence. The boards are rotting away and growing moss. They are beautiful. There is no way I could just get rid of them. The grain of the wood is deep and weathered. Every swirl and knot is pronounced. 

After our dark floors went in I've been wanting to lighten up some of our dark wood furniture. I used some of the old weathered fence wood to make a new top for the coffee table. Soon I will make matching tops for the side tables. After a quick sanding, some whitewashing and distressing the overall look is very beachy. I love it. 

Seed Starting

Now that spring is officially here I've switched gears to starting seeds and getting my vegetable garden plan in order. The first spring we were in this house I spent the entire time building raised beds and turning the front yard into a Potager Garden. This year I'm trying to pre-sprout all my seeds on an old heating pad and then transplant them into starter pots and into the cold frame in the garden. Once they grow big enough then they'll be planted in to the raised garden beds. I've also been direct sowing peas, lettuce and other cold loving crops. I've already harvested the first spears of asparagus and my rhubarb is starting to look good as well. We're still digging up overwintered carrots and I found that I didn't get all the potatoes dug up last fall. I have plenty of spots where potatoes are already sending up foliage.

The distractions of Spring

I've been a little remiss in my indoor creative endeavors lately. Spring has arrived to the Pacific Northwest AND there was a break in the rain. This means I've been weeding, planting, dividing, mulching and just in general out enjoying some nice weather with color bursting all around me. It still isn't warm enough for planting any veggies but peas and lettuce but my rhubarb and asparagus are poking their heads up making me want to plant more, more, more! We moved into this house a year and a half ago and I've been building the garden since then. Gardening is full of surprises, my favorite here has been peonies. Growing up with a gardening mother I had never seen a peony until one bloomed here at our new house (and a tree peony at that!). I am hooked! I've since planted 8 more. I received another surprise this spring that the two boxwoods I've been trying to dig up and remove (then gave up and pruned to a round ball) are in fact, compact azaleas. Poor things have been too stressed to bloom until now. Okay, okay...they can stay. :)

The rain returns tomorrow so I'll be back inside crafting away then.

New Etsy items

I've been working on some new items for the Etsy shop. I love these little trinket boxes and am experimenting with both painting and woodburning the tops. What do you think? 

Nailed it!

Like many creative folks I'm a huge fan of Pinterest. I found a great tutorial at Design Folder that dyes glass bottles and even makes them waterproof so they can be vases. Fail. Hers turned out perfect, streakless and beautiful. Mine are splotchy, spotty and in general a mess. Well, I should say....literally a mess. Every time I touch them my fingers blue and I had to throw away a paint brush I used on the project. So ya....nailed it! Not.