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I'm about to show my husband's age. He was the tender age of 3 when the song Rhinestone Cowboy came out and he was hooked. He just knew when he grew up that he would be one. He did become a cowboy, but thankfully not a rhinestone in sight. He's more of a nothing better than an old, broken in pair of cowboy boots/would rather be outside/one of these days we'll have a ranch filled with cattle/get it done kind of cowboy. And that's one of the reasons I love him.
Anyways, he is a huge fan of Glen Campbell and has always loved this line from Wichita Lineman. I don't remember exactly when he mentioned it to me but I looked up the song and from time to time I would think I needed to do something with those lyrics as a gift for him. Last week I started working on ideas for signs for our bedroom and these lyrics came to the surface again.
I picked through my wood collection hoard and found this piece of scrap that measures 7" wide and 38" tall and started the design. I have found that working on a design for something that is staying in my home is the most brutal part. I am my worst customer. Our bedroom is a rustic/industrial type of feel so I wanted the design to be a little country, a little modern.
Believe it or not, I designed and painted this right under my husband's nose without him ever realizing it was for him. I had to let the paint sit over night before distressing so I showed him before it was completely done. First response was, "Where do I know that quote from?" which was quickly followed by, "You remembered?! This is for us right?!". Like I mentioned before, he's ready for me to decorate our house with my creations instead of everyone else's.
Yesterday was the fun part. Taking the sand paper to it, heavily. I usually distress the edges with a palm sander but for all over projects like this I prefer to do it by hand. I feel more in control of the distressing and if I press a little harder in some parts I don't have to worry about it gouging the wood. Plus, you can't always get this old worn out feel with a palm sander.
Since the wood scrap I used was plywood, I nailed a few smaller pieces of scrap lumber on the back to make the sign stand out on the wall instead of sitting flush. I like the feel of the varying thickness of wood and I didn't want this one to get lost on the wall.
Now I just have to get some more ideas to get this wall filled up! Any suggestions?!
One store I will never pass up a trip to is Pottery Barn, even if their prices are a little out of my comfort zone. Actually, there are quite a few on that list, but Pottery Barn is the one that I can leave feeling inspired and not silently crying on the inside {I'm looking at you Restoration Hardware!}.
A few weeks ago, we took an after Christmas shopping excursion to Austin and my mom swung by Pottery Barn. Browsing through the store I found this pillow on a bed display.
We re-did our bedroom this last year in black and white and I have been adding some red for a pop of color. This pillow would be perfect, but at almost $40 for just the pillow cover, I put it back. I knew I would immediately feel buyer's remorse spending that much on a pillow and...I'm guilty of not making the bed unless we're expecting company. I know, I know. I really should, I always admire the bed when it's made, makes me feel like I'm a grown up or something. Plus, I would freak out every time I saw someone using the $40 pillow.
So this pillow has been sitting in the back of my mind for the last few weeks.
And then it hit me. We have this gigantic wall in our bedroom that I have been wondering what to do with.
I also have a husband that wishes that I would make more cool signs that actually stay in our home instead of being taken to the shop. So why not take the concept of the pillow and make it in to a sign?! Duh!!
I think my husband was a little stunned that he went to bed last night to me watching tv and woke up to his wife with red paint splattered on the side of her arm and a brand new sign waiting for it's final sanding. I think he was even more shocked when I told him the paint was from a sign I had made for our bedroom.
I love the pop of red. The font makes me smile.
The distressing reminds me of how true love stands up to the test of time.
But best of all...it has given me that vision of what I want to do with the wall. My plan is to take all these quotes and song lyrics about love that have been locked in my head and get them down on wood and up on the wall.
I've been struggling with getting this blog up and going the way I would like. That seems to be a theme in my life, hard to get something new started but once it becomes part of my usual routine my true inner self shines through. So I'm going to experiment with this for a while. I have so many blog post started but they feel so forced. I apologize in advance for the randomness and ramblings that may occur for a while. {p.s. This post will be one of those rambling post.}
December went by in a blur. Thanks to Thanksgiving being later than we are used to meant that people began shopping online later and there was a sense of urgency all around.
This was on the downward slide of Christmas orders to be done and shipped. My husband started a new position in the company he works for and had to travel off and on so I would take advantage of having the garage to my self and cut and sand as much as I could before I felt that the neighbors would call the cops for the excessive buzzing sander noises.
December 1st brought back Elvis, our Elf on the Shelf and boy did he make an entrance!
Luckily he wasn't as mischievous as he has been in the last few years.
I also took advantage of some tutorials on Pinterest and had some fun with my camera.
And I just realized that this is pretty much the only photo I took during the holidays that has any type of holiday feel to it! I don't think I touched my camera at all after taking this. If I couldn't snap a quick photo with my iPhone, I didn't get a photo of it.
Major news that I shared quietly on my personal Facebook page, but left me feeling like I had hit the big time also happened in December...
Sale #1,000! It has always been on my list of goals to accomplish, I just never thought it would happen as soon as it did. I did a quick little happy dance in my head, shared it on Facebook and then got back to work.
I also turned 34 in December. Growing up my Nana would call every year and ask if I felt like I was however many years old I turned that year. This year she was here {along with my Grampie} and I was ready for her to ask because my answer was yes...yes, I feel every single day of my 34 years. Luckily I didn't have any big plans in place. My day was spent with this sleeping beauty.
She had finally succumbed to the stomach bug that was being passed around at school.
Christmas was the usual chaotic day for us, but the girls enjoyed it and that's all that matters.
New Year's Eve came and went quietly. Kind of. We managed to stay up past midnight {Yay!} to ring in the new year, but I spent most of the evening in bed with severe back pain that went down my leg {Boo!}. Turns out sitting on a hard floor for hours putting together desks from Ikea doesn't agree with my sciatic nerve. Add my already bad posture to that and it didn't help at all. For days ibuprofen, a heating pad and YouTube videos on how to massage areas that were sore were my best friends!
Now we're in to 2014 and I've been thinking about my list of resolutions things I would like to continue working on. The word resolution seems so overwhelming to me so I'm going to focus on areas that need improvement and work on them gradually. Like I mentioned before, one of them being this blog.
I have so many things I want to share and Facebook used to do it for me, but as we all know, Facebook has been frustrating the past year for businesses. I want to share news about my business and tutorials for DIY projects but I also want to give you all a glimpse in to my day to day life. I follow so many other blogs that share all of the above and I truly feel that if I was to meet one of these lovely ladies, I would immediately feel like I was reuniting with an old friend {once I got over the school girl giddiness of actually meeting them!} and I know there may be some awkward phases as I figure all of this out and find my happy medium.
But most of all, I am so happy that you are here to watch me go through it. I'm hoping that 2014 will be my year to inspire you in to trying something new!
p.s. I would really love to be able to add the thingy in the side bar that allows for you to sign up for email alerts of new posts {and so many other things} so if you have any experience with blogging, any help is greatly appreciated!!
