A New Year...A New Happiness Project

As I was reflecting on my very full and very colourful Happiness Project pages my mind was drifting to the New Year and how I would continue my practice of writing down one thing each day in my journal that makes me happy.

For 2017 I have decided that I am going to use one of my calendar layouts I designed for the Artsy Journal.  These calendars will be printed on parchment paper (one of my favourites) and will be back to back...no Notes pages on the back.

I wanted something different to inspire me and to expand my creativity so I have decided to use water colour as my means to add colour.

I love the airiness of watercolour...the light, muted tones and soft washes.  It is very peaceful to me.

I am going to go ahead and colour in my blocks a few months in advance and then write on top of the dried colour.  

In future posts I will talk about the watercolour I use, palette, affects on paper, my wash technique.

I am excited about this year's project...I hope you will join me and try it out.

Sheila

A New Project. . . Do You Like Old Fans?

Well hello dear friends...I'm back...with another project.

I just love refreshing/re-purposing old stuff...it is so much fun to see it transform into something beautiful again.

So this is my newest project an old box fan which I calculated is close to 40 years old...and it runs like a charm.  We have been using it quite a bit lately due to all the extremely warm weather we have been experiencing but oh my was it filthy and I won't show you that.

I began disassembling...handles, knob, screens front and back off you go.  Motor, fan out you go (oh dear will this dirt really come off?  It has never been cleaned)  I had to sand this baby, a little rust showing through.

I taped off the 'control' decal, I wanted to keep the original Kmart sticker though I think on my next revamp I will create a new decal.  I also taped off the little white rubber feet on the bottom.

The first coat of paint goes on like a breeze...of course you know I would choose this colour.  ISN'T IT FANTASTIC!!!!  I did do a second coat though I don't think it really needed it...good coverage with the rustoleum.

Et voila!  I am so pleased with how it cleaned up, it looks brand new and matches my kitchen.  I know what you're thinking 'You could have bought a new one for $30' but ah I wouldn't have got THIS colour nor would it have been as much fun.

I have another to paint...do you want to see it when it's finished?

Have a good one...Sheila.

Love Me Some Paint

Hello my Artsy friends . . . so glad you stopped by.  I must apologize for not posting last week . . . I seemed to have gotten consumed by my painting project and when that happens I'm gone.  I don't know if you find that but I know for me I become obsessed and can only focus on that one thing.

So I've had this little pine bathroom cubby for about 20 years now, I had stained in a lovely antique and it has served well as bathroom storage but it was time for an upgrade.  We are re-making our en-suite so it needed a makeover as well.

I took off the hinges and door.  It was never sealed so I didn't worry about sanding. . . I'm all about the easy.

I rounded up my supplies and dove in.  It's always so exciting to start a new project.  I have so much paint, paint of all kinds I decided to see how it all worked together.

I painted all the edges with soft black because I knew I wanted to sand this piece so as the under coat would show through.

Then I added the first coat of Martha Stewart's Heavy Cream (I love the names she gives her paint) then the second and finally the third.  It took little or no time to re-apply it's the waiting in between that's hard . . . good lesson in patience, something we all could use.  Total time to refinish this piece was 4 hours.

I painted the inside Americana Tea Green, I love this shade, again three coats and then applied Annie Sloan's clear soft wax over the entire piece.  this is an amazing product, it goes on like a dream and polishes up so quick and beautiful . . . you should really try it if you love refinishing furniture.

You can see the lovely sanded off effect here where the soft black shows through on the edges. . . yes, that's the stuff.

I put the door back on and there she sits.  I keep a log of paint type, colour and time it takes to complete my projects because you do forget.  Annie Sloan has a work book you can purchase but I use a multi media art book.

This is the finished product, it is how I had envisioned it to be. . . I love when that happens.  The top shelf if for a tissue box that I don't have on hand right now and will drive me insane until I get it (that's my OCD shining through) the project isn't quite finished without it.

Thanks for being here.  Stay tuned for my next project coming soon.

Wishing you  a good and productive weekend.

Sheila