Dabbling in Watercolor - Micah Edition

After painting the picture of Bella I wanted to find one of Micah to paint. I figured I would look back through the archives and find on at the ocean but ended up not having to when I snapped this picture while we were in Tahoe for my cousins wedding. 

This time I remembered to include the original photo so you can see where I started (The post with Bella's watercolor has been updated to include the original photo as well)

Water is hard. I love the way it turned out and am completely happy with it. But I think it's pretty obvious I could use some professional instruction! 

Dabbling in watercolor

I started playing with water colors this last summer. Here's my first one of Bella at the pool. Both the kids recognize who it is so....at least I did something right! Haha

**Edited** to add the original photograph... sometime I am slow to think of these things! 

The Entry Walls Go Up!

When we bought this house, one of the first things I knew I wanted to do was get someone to put up the rest of this wall. 

 This room had been used as the dining room. It's now our cuddle up and get cozy TV room.

 I don't like seeing the back of the TV. 

Oh and yes, Micah rides his Puki in the house.

 Guess who the someone was that put up this wall in our home? 
First there was the tear things up a bit portion. 

 Then we were on to the building up parts. Jessica helped a lot with the first two parts.

I missed photographing the "Dexter" parts. Hanging plastic sheets from the ceiling is just creepy.

I have big plans for this side of the wall.....

I love the way it looks now. This is how it always should have been! 

Nice job Babe!

The Eagles (football)

A friend requested an Eagles growth chart.... everyone knows I am totally not a sports team person - but it's always fun to try something different!

 I really enjoyed the process... though it was time consuming... the design at least was a no brainer. I tried to make it look as close as I could to the pictures of their stadium that I found online.

 It's painted with acrylic on primed canvas and then I sealed it with a Matte Finish.

 Lots of fun to do... unfortunately I had to buy the canvas in bulk so now to figure out what to do with the remaining 4+ yards of canvas... I listed some of it in the shop... but I am sure you'll be seeing a lot more projects with it in the near future

 hopefully the new parents will enjoy it

And so the little one will be ready to dress for the games this next season a onesie was made

This was done using the usual freezer paper method-- I cut multiple layers of paper to print the different colors-- fun on a small item ...could drive you crazy though 

Chalkboard Paint = hours of fun

I have a few  plans to update our house this year- just fun smaller things to spice things up a little since I am home all day. The first thing I wanted to work on was our entry way which I have never really done anything with. It's pretty small so there isn't much that can be done but it went from this:

 To this:

I used chalkboard paint to make the area a little more interesting. Below the cork cork board I also put a few layers of magnet paint so now the fridge magnet letters can be used here as well. I drew birch trees on the one wall but I plan to switch it up through out the year... or really just when every I feel like a change. Also I bought chalk markers which write on the walls much better than just plain chalk and they don't come off unless you use water- so no worries about someone brushing the wall and being covered in dust. 

 This is behind the front door Mum and I found this fantastic HUGE mirror at Home Goods for a ridiculously low price- I have been looking for a mirror for here forever and hadn't found anything I loved and was affordable. The frame is really neat. And now I can get one last peak at what a mess I am before I leave the house.

 A better view of the cork board/magnet wall. That is Micah's silhouette down there, his grandparents traced him!

 So another room that has been bugging me for a while is this small half bath its very narrow which makes putting artwork on the big wall that you face when you walk in difficult because it feels like its in your personal space- Excuse the OLD photo I forgot to take a before so this is a pre new flooring photo!

 Chalk board paint now covers this wall to- so yeah i am totally embracing the writing on stall walls look in here. Weird - probably but it's a lot of fun.

 And anyone is welcome to add decorations - infact the walls are a lot more decorated now than when I took this picture. I figure I will wait until it is filled up and then think about erasing and starting over.

 Here's a view of the other side of the room. It's just impossible to get decent photos!

And if you have ever wondered  it may not seem possible but you can in fact fit 3 adults and a baby in this room.... 

I know this look wont be for every one but it has been fun for us and a quick coat of paint will put it all back to normal if I should get bored with it-- that's what I had to tell Uber when he walked in from a business trip to see half painted black walls in his house... I realized I hadn't really run the project by him... SURPRISE! But he ended up really liking it so I guess it is a good thing I forgot to ask because talking him into it would have been hard (apparently)

The Blue Door

 I love color. Who knew? When we moved to this house I knew I wanted the door to be blue. I just found out my sister is painting hers red. I may want a red door soon but for now, it's blue and I love it. I didn't realize until I started painting it that the tiles we hung in the entry are trimmed with almost the same blue. They were a gift from my parents in law heart, who carted them all the way from Spain to Germany. This might not seem like such a big deal but this is not a light weight peice! 

It's one of my favorite things. The door looks so much better than it did before. 

 Someone is smiling a lot and trying to tell me things.

Baby MAC's Growth Folio... Maybe

I still haven't decided if I will be keeping this chart or making an embroidered version like this. But since I just completed it I figured I would show it to you! It has all of Uber's favorite picks on it.
This picture is terrible-- I just don't have the energy to retake it! But it gives you the general idea....
Close ups--
I so want this guy for real! He looks so squeezable!

Along with something new he requested! Who doesn't like woodpeckers?



Anyway I will let you know if I decide to put it in the shop... For now it's going to sit up in the nursery!

Happy Mothers Day...

Better late than never!
This was actually finished before mothers day ....barely... BUT it wasn't fired in time...
We had a girls night out a few weeks ago and we went to a paint your own pottery place so I finally painted a piece just for my Mum. I did it in the Portuguese Pottery style that Williams Sonoma carries (though it is apparently not available online anymore I have seen it in the stores recently) ... will I ever get over this style? Probably not and since I will never be able to afford it (or want a piece of pottery that expensive...) I am perfectly happy painting my own! In fact I am more happy painting my own! Now I just hope she REALLY wanted some for herself!

Super simple inside

I made up the peacock character because I couldn't find any more animals to copy and had one more spot to fill.... I think it looks pretty good though I will do it slightly different if I to it again. Other than that I stuck pretty close to the examples I could find. Just slight variations of the tree and bunny.

Hopefully she likes it... but if not it looks very nice on top of my fridge!!