Perfectly Imperfect

Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect; it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.    
--Buddhist Teaching

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Inspiration from The Serendipity Factory

I love the way that The Serendipity Factory puts together pictures and puts a quote with them.  I really wanted to do that but not seem like I was copying them.  So I decided to pull from my own personal photos and make that my Saturday theme, Anti-Slacking Saturdays.  I will be a little different, though, and only use 1 to 2 photos instead of 9.  Check theirs out (click on The Serendipity Factory above), very cool stuff. 

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Hanging Letter Art

I have now made 4 of my hanging letter arts.  The first one I made for my son, to match his bedspread.  It has hung in his room since.

I then made one for my nephew and then my niece as baby shower presents.  Since neither being born yet, there was not a theme to use to go with their likes.  (The one with the greens and blues was for my nephew, the pinks and purples for my niece.)

I have finally gotten around to making one for my little cousin, which is a good thing I didn’t do it before because I took before, during and after photos and am going to tell you how I made it. 
You will need:
1.  2 unpainted picture frames.  I like the 4-inch x 6-inch Unfinished (wood) Frame from Michael’s.  
2.  A letter.  I played around with the letter C this time, but stuck with the dimensional letters from Hobby Lobby that I have always used.
1. 2.  3.  4.
5. 6.7.


3.  Acrylic Paint…use any colors you like.  Mix it up.  Make it match.  I ended up using several colors this time.
4.  Mod Podge Clear Acrylic Sealer (any acrylic sealer will work)
5.   Liquid Nails
6.  2 small clamps (if you don’t have these a heavy object will also work)
7.  Embellishments
8.  Paintbrushes and paint tray or paper plates
9.  Box or tray big enough to hold finished project when ready to spray and throw away when done
10.  Sand paper
What you do:
1.  Sand the rough edges, only enough to get rid of the impurities from being cut.
2.  Paint one side of each frame and the letter (I usually start with the back, but you don’t have to paint there).  Let dry.
3.  Paint another side of each piece, let dry.
4.  Repeat step 3 until finished.  Paint a second coat on each (except the back if you painted that).
 
I know you want to know now which is the back.  I have placed the two frames together different ways.  Usually I put the holes in the back for the bottom piece so that I can hang it from one of the holes.  I then put the holes on the other frame on top so that I can have the dimension of the sides it creates that way.  This last time I put the holes facing up on the bottom piece (the blue one) and the holes facing down on the top piece (purple).  It entirely depends on how you want it to look.
5.  After all the paint has dried you want to glue the frames together.  Place the frame bottom side down, and dab Liquid Nails around the top of the frame where the other frame is going to touch.  I always do it cock-eyed so it isn’t important unless you need to cover the holes on the bottom frame with the top frame.  Clamp the frames together and wipe off the excess Liquid Nails.  Let set for about 8 hours (I usually let it set over night).



6.  Once the frames have set, then dab Liquid Nails on the back of the letter and place where you want on the top frame, remember to cover the holes if you have them there.  Clamp and let set for about 8 hours. 

7.  Liquid Nail on the embellishments.  In this case I used the little wood, painted pieces from Michael’s, and filled in a empty space with 3 little white buttons.  I have embellished with different pieces each time.  On the B, I used the swirly and painted it myself, adding my son’s name. 
8.  After letting the embellishments set, dry, then take outside and put upside down in the box, or tray.  Spray with the acrylic sealer.  Let dry for a few hours.  Flip over and spray the top side.  I usually spray the top side 2 or 3 times depending how glossy I want it.  (You can also buy Matte sealer if you don’t want it glossy at all.)
9.  Hang on wall.  This time I didn’t leave the holes on the back of the bottom frame and needed a way for it to hang up.  So I used a dab of glue and a thumb tack to attach ribbon to the back .

I hope you have fun with it and make it special.  I am thinking of ways to make them for craft fairs or other ways to sell. 

Disclaimer: I forgot a step, a bit important, there are little metal tabs in the frames that are there to hold in a picture. With a pair of pliers, pull these tabs out before sanding the edges.

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I linked this post with Amanda at

 
and with Becca at

My homemade header

I had decided to draw my own header, show more of who I am.  But the more and more blogs I started following because I liked their designs, I liked my homemade header less and less.  I just wish I could get the right combo of font into the header I have now.  A little more tweaking on the perfect font set should do it.  I incorporated my drawn bee into my blog but didn’t want to totally lose my whole drawn picture, so am posting it here.  I think I will play around a little more with my signature and get a little hibiscus flower with it and that will do it.

Live Writer

I read yesterday from a very wonderful lady giving blogging tips at Manic Mother who suggested using Windows Live to write your blogs.  I had been using Blogger to write all my blogs and didn’t like the “lack of control” I had.  I tried installing Live Writer on my desktop computer all day to no avail.  Luckily it was already on my laptop, so with Adobe Photoshop on here as well, looks like my laptop is now my blogging computer.  That’s cool, it’s purple.  It is good to have purple inspiration .

Needless to say, this post is just a test to see what control I can have over this post and how it works.  Please bare with me in my test.  Already I love the changing of fonts and hope that it actually posts that way.

Ooh, there I played with the Picture Effects.  Embossed, framed, color change and blurred.  I love this already.  I am telling each and every one of you, if you are using a PC still like me, use the Live Writer.  Now hopefully it posts just like it looks for me here. 

Mod Podged Office Organizers

I got this idea from another group party that has the theme as cardboard.  I started with a Swann's box, a Kleenex Box, a breakfast bar box, a Ziplock box and a box from a toy my son got yesterday.  

Some scissors and masking tape later, I had these.

2 Albuquerque The Magazines and a bunch of Mod Podge later, I had a letter tray, business card holder and pen organizer.  I think I am going to embellish them a little more later, but here they are.

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I linked this up with 

The Creative Chick Parade

Reuse/Recycle Mayhem

I went a shopping this weekend, spent maybe $30 on all things I found.  Went to some Goodwill's and Savers.  Though I don't like the smell in those places, I had a grand time going down all the non-clothes aisles.  I wish I had more money because I also saw some furniture I would have liked to have gotten to fix up.  Here is a peak at what I picked up.  I can't wait to get them all created...I then found this fence in the backyard and oohy OH.  My son was a little upset because he was who painted it four years ago, but it was time for a change.