Mendhi Style Name Sign

I finally finished A's sign to hang over the crib- yeah! It was not a total disaster!  Although I think of myself as pretty crafty, I'm not much of an artist and I'd usually consider something like this beyond my abilities.  I'm so proud of how it turned out.

 

I bought a wooden sign from Hobby Lobby and painted over the existing artwork with dark brown craft paint.  Next I sketched out the letters with a pencil and then drew over the pencil marks with a white paint pen (extra fine point).  I free handed the mendhi "extras" and the interior of the letters.  My mistakes ( and there were a lot) I had to paint over with brown and then I tried again with the paint pen.  A little painstaking, but I like the results!

 

I mostly used books to practice drawing mendhi (or mehndi, or henna, etc) style designs.  I haven't tried anything with actual henna on the skin, but hopefully that's my next step.  I hope my girls let me practice on them!

This book was great in that it started out really simple, then worked up to recreating designs.  The left page is the example and the right side is my attempt to copy it.

The sign is hanging over her crib with the gold foil India silhouette I bought and a piece of the elephant fabric that I love.

I am ready for my little girl to come home!  We've had a set back with our travel plans, but are still hoping we will be traveling soon and A will be sleeping in this crib before long!

 

 

 

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk Paint

We are having a mellow summer this year, but D has big plans for all the crafty things she wants to do.  First up is chalk paints.  Her teacher filled me in on an easy, homemade version- cornstarch, water and food coloring.  I'm guessing there are actual "recipes" all over Pinterest.  These took about five minutes to mix up- she's been painting the driveway for days!

Coat Rack Before and After

One of the things I like about our house is our good size entryway- it has just enough space for greeting guests and taking coats.  But our front hall closet is stuffed with board games, winter coats, and snow pants, so there's no place to put guests' coats!  I went in search of a free or very, very cheap coat rack.  One day my husband brought home this unbelievably uninspired stand that he found in the basement at work.  Time for an makeover. 

 

This project was very simple- remove old hardware, sand, paint, install new hardware.  One afternoon and finally a spot to hang your hat!

Dining Room Before and After

Way back in January I felt the need to redo something.  I think I needed a new room for the new year.  So I went to work updating the dining room.

 

Here is the before (staring Mozie, the handsome cat).  Our dining room chairs were really beat up and blended in too much with the table and buffet.

The curtains were a grey-green chenille that had seen much better days...

 So time for a new color- it only took me five months to paint all six chairs.  I couldn't find a spray paint color I liked so I ended up painting each one by hand.  I love how the green contrasts with the buffet table.

And new brown/cream rugby stripe curtains.  I looked everywhere to buy these instead of having to sew them, but I never found anything close to what I wanted.  They were actually easier than I thought they'd be and the stripes match up when I close the curtains.  Success!

Painted Easter Baskets

I finally got around to painting an Easter basket for M this year (it only took three years.)  I couldn't find the same basket I used for I and D, so he gets a unique square basket. 

We are ready for our egg hunt!