Handmade Gift #2 ABC Blocks

Months ago I found pre-cut wooden blocks at Goodwill, and of course I snatched them right up. $3.99 minus 30% off special, plus an additional 10% off as a student discount = a great deal.

After a coat of primer, some acrylic paint, and some sharpie permanent markers, this is what we have.

We already celebrated Christmas at my house, and I'm pleased to say that he likes them! That is, he likes to knock them over after I stack them.

Family Tree

I've been keeping busy working on Christmas presents the past couple days. We plan on giving home made gifts to most people on our lists. One thing I've been working on is a family tree painting that was inspired by this post from Make The Best of Things. Isn't she so talented?

Here is my interpretation:

 

The colors are a bit off on both, but you get the idea. The reds are more like the one on the right, but the tree color is dark like that on the left. My original idea was to make this into a family tree, but I'm not sure if I will like the finished product if I do that. I'm going to sleep on it, and go from there.

Night Stand Update

Oh, hi! I'm still here, just a-pluggin' along. Apartment hunting, packing, playing, and painting our bedroom furniture. Nothing in our bedroom looks like it goes together. I'm not a fan of bedroom sets, or matchy-matchy things, but similar color schemes would be nice. Here's what we're working with as far as night stands go.

After sanding.

Not at all exciting, but they were free, so who am I to complain? They came from the graduate student housing at the university I worked at for a summer. For whatever reason they were replacing the perfectly good furniture, so I inherited whatever would fit in my tiny car, aka two of these sturdy little night stands.

primed twice

In my quest for a deal on "Whoops" paint I came across light blue tinted primer. I like the color, so I thought I would just prime them and leave them, but in my research (doesn't that make me sound all informed?) I found that it could feel chalky, and look dull, so on to plan B. I decided to give them a light blue wash similar to the primer color. Unfortunately my budget for decorating is pretty much zero, and I didn't have said paint. Crap.

Then, it occurred to me that once upon a time I was a painter. I have tons of oil and acrylics for painting on canvas! Why can't I just use that paint? So I did. I mixed white and aqua marine acrylic paints with about a cup or two of water, and came up with a light blue wash.

The sun washed out the color a bit, amplify this color by 20% and there you have it.

Umm...ok, so not quite as light as I had intended. They came out a bit brighter than anticipated, but turns out I love it! I couldn't stop looking at them. I kept peeking out the window at them while they dried, and breaking out into a huge grin. 

I knew that my husband wouldn't be quite as thrilled as I was, so I added a little more white paint and water when I painted the second one, and did a thinner wash.

I would have loved to buy pretty new pulls, but like I said, my budget is zero. Instead I dry-brushed primer on them, then spray painted the original pulls black. I actually like how the black and blue look together, and the dry brushing gave them a little texture, so they look kind of like wrought iron. Nice!

I lightly distressed the edges a little here and there.

My husband thought I was crazy for "ruining" my brand new paint job. It's going to get "ruined" during the move anyway, I'm just helping it look more intentional. :) Lastly I sprayed a clear coat on the tops, drawer fronts and pulls. This color isn't for everyone, but for an apartment-dweller surrounded in white, I think it's awesome!

One more  photo...

My little monkey boy, who can climb up the back of the couch and onto the ledge in 3 second flat.

Linked to: