My boys’ bedroom is full of mismatched furniture and accessories.  I don’t need everything to match perfectly because matched furniture is not in my budget nor is it my personal style.  I like a collected look and feel.  That being said, I do want pieces within a room to look like they belong together.  The easiest way for me to bring everything together is with paint. 

I gave the mirror and the dresser frame a couple of coats of blue paint.  I am not sure if I love the result.  I keep thinking I should paint the drawers.  I have seen and admired this look on other blogs and Pinterest but I’m not sure if it works here.  I think I’m going to have to finish the other pieces in the room before I decide.

Thanks for joining me for Feature Friday.  Have a great weekend!

Welcome to That’s Crafty Thursday.  Today I am sharing some of the sketches that I have been working on.  I had to give the oil painting a little rest.  I was getting a little frustrated with myself.  I am trying to learn on my own and sometimes that takes patience.  Patience is NOT one of my virtues.  I guess that is why I enjoy sketching so much.  If I get frustrated I can just put the pencil down and walk away.  With the oil painting, unless I am just taking a short break, I need to clean everything up before I walk away (I know that oil paint does not dry very quickly so I could take a long break but if I turn my back, my youngest will try to help me with my painting).

Thanks for taking the time to join me today.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Okay, so oil painting is not completely new to me.  I did paint a couple of pictures years ago.  Way back before I had teenagers, school-aged children, toddlers, or even babies, I had free time, lots and lots of free time.  I can’t believe I am actually saying this now but I had trouble filling my time back then.  Now, most days I wonder if I can possibly fit everything in I need to.  None the less, I had to find some time for me.  Just a little smidgen of time for me to do something just for the pure joy of it. 

I have been debating whether to share this painting.  I am very insecure about it.  I know it is no masterpiece, but that is really beside the point.  The point is that the entire process of painting this picture made me happy.  I lost myself in the process and for just a little while all my problems and stress just disappeared.

It is a challenge to fit painting into my schedule, just like it was hard at first to fit exercise into my day but I think it is just as necessary to do.  For the first time in my life I am seeing health as more than just a number on the scale.  I feel that making the time to get a full night of sleep and a hobby that makes me bliss out is just as important as my workouts.

 Thanks so much for joining me for this That’s Crafty Thursday.   Have a wonderful day!

This is a vase I made out of a piece of pipe and a flange.  Here is what you will need if you would like to make one too.

All I had to do to make it water tight is cut a circle of sheet metal with some tin snips to fit the bottom of the flange. 

I used a little epoxy putty to hold the sheet metal in place and form a water tight barrier. 

After the epoxy was dry, I put a little Teflon tape around the threads on the bottom end of the pipe. 

 Then I just screwed the pipe into the flange.

I then spray painted the vase with a hammered finish spray paint. 

Note:  this post has been edited from the original post.  When I did the original post, I lost all the step-by-step pictures I had taken.  Today I found my long-lost pictures so I have included them and added a couple of steps.  I hope this will help.  Thanks for joining me for this That’s Crafty Thursday! 

Welcome to That’s Crafty Thursday.  Today I am sharing a Valentine I made using our new scroll saw (new to us anyway, we picked it up for a good deal from a classified ad).  Actually, we have had the saw for a couple of months.  I just haven’t felt up to learning how to use it, let alone make anything crafty until now. 

My sweet Handy Hubby helped me pick out some wood ( a thin length of pine) from the hardware store.   I traced the letters from some stencils I have on hand. I free-handed the hearts onto the wood. He then set up the saw for me,  gave me a lesson and some pointers on how to use it.  Then he stepped back and turned the show over to me.  I love, love doing anything artistic so I couldn’t wait to pick up a new skill, but I was also a little afraid of getting hurt or messing up. 

Of course I did mess up, but after the first couple of tries everything seemed easier.  Then it seemed like fun, a lot of fun.  I could have stayed in the shop playing with the scroll saw all day (and probably would have if I didn’t need to eat ). 

I painted, glazed and distressed the big heart.  I used scrapbook paper to decoupage the letters and little hearts.  I added little felt and burlap rosettes.  I also added burlap and ribbon bows.  I just used hot glue to attach everything to the big heart. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!!