A true sign of Family

Hi Guys!!

 

This weekend I've being so busy!! Being a mum? yes, as always, but! with my hobby also.

 

Not only have I made a few more of these...

 

Had a couple of requests from friends and family, Look good in different colours don't they?

(previous blogs shows how these were done)

 

So this weekend I have started on a plaque for a gap in the kitchen I had, which previously had a different plaque in, but as we changed the colour scheme it didn't go, so I thought I would have a go at making one. Here's how it went.

 

 

Excitingly I bought my first two tins of Annie Sloan paint (I love it!!) I bought the French Linen and the Old White colours.

 

So I got a piece of timber 6"x1" and cut it to the exact size of my old plaque, as shown above. I sanded the edges down to take any roughness away, also smoothed some of the corners off, When the piece of wood was cut, some of the wood split on one corner, I used this as an effect, which ill show you later on, It was so effective.

 

 

First coat of the French Linen, went all different ways with my brush and left thicker bits of paint on the wood, adds to the effect later on, literally chuck it on. Takes about 10/20minutes to dry.

 

 

Then I applied a coat of the Old White, but I watered the paint down as it makes it easier to sand off to get the shabby chic effect. left this to dry for about 10minutes then started sanding,

 

 

You need to sand anywhere that you think would have the most where if it was used a lot, that's when you get the right aged shabby chic look, so the corners a bit of the front and the edges.

Above in my pictures you can see where I have aged it by sanding.

 

THEN......

 

The plaque began to take shape...

 

 

The wording starts, This took the longest to do really, as it needs to be in the centre and needs to be level, so it looks perfect on the wall. (Not good if your a perfectionist like me lol)

 

 

The words have now been wrote and we chose to do the FAMILY yellow as that goes with our colour scheme, If you decided to have a go yourself you can do it to suit your own colour scheme.

(I've already had a request for me to make one the same but the FAMILY in red...will show you this soon)

 

And...

The finished piece...Very Happy with it to say it was my first ever attempt

 

The finished piece in its prime position, in all its glory, chuffed to bits with it.

 

 

FAMILY

where life begins and love never ends

 

 

 Hope you like it.

 

Comment let me know what you think :)

 

xox Amy xox

 

 

 

 

Step into Spring!!

Hi Everyone!!

 

Hope you've all had a lovely day, I just wanted to post this that I made a few days ago.

 

I wanted to bring a bit of the outside inside, so I thought what better way than to dress up a plant pot and pop some beautiful Daffodils inside, after all its almost Spring, its bright and makes me smile when I see it in my window.

 

Below is the plant pot and water dish I purchased. (looks very boooooring)

 

 

 

And.....tadaaaarrrr!!!

 





 

 

It really didn't take that long, I was making dinner in the process so quick and easy enough to do when your a busy Mummy like me.

 

I painted the middle bit of the pot first a light creamy yellow colour and left it to dry 10/15mins then painted it again, it took two coats to cover all the pot. I then mixed a bit of bright yellow acrylic with the creamy yellow emulsion to do the rim and the water tray. I then painted those left them to dry and painted them again.

 

Its always a good idea to just go over it a third and final time, just to tidy any areas that you may of missed.

 

I painted inside but only up to where I knew the compost would lie when finished.

 

Once it had all dried thoroughly, I took it outside and sprayed a clear sealant on it so that the paint wouldn't come off when I watered my flowers, left the sealant to dry for 10 minutes then sprayed it again. I then left it outside a good half hour to get rid of the smell as it is very strong and needs to be well ventilated.

 

After this was all done I added a bit of  self adhesive lace to give it a finishing touch.

 

Finally got some daffodils with some compost and potted them up. (you can always plant these in the garden when you have finished with them, so they come again next year)

 

Leave me a comment let me know what you think :)

 

 

What I used

 

Valspar - Clear sealant in satin finish cost around £7.98, its good stuff for sealing the paint onto the pot but make sure your in a well ventilated area and read before you use it.
I got this from B&Q but they do sell products similar on amazon and eBay

A tester pot of matt emulsion in the colour lemon twist, 75ml pot cost around £1.00 it was a really nice pale yellow colour, it gives a nice soft look.
I got mine from my local garden centre, just shop around you'll get the colour you require.

Acrylic paint 12ml -  This was called Lemon yellow but was a very bold yellow colour, so I just added some of the emulsion to this to get the colour I required.
This came in a set of acrylic paints cost around £5.00.
Again I got this from the local garden centre, shop around you'll find some at a decent prices.

Plant pot from my local garden centre - pot £1.25 and the tray £0.95p

Lace - eBay  £1.98  and you get plenty to do other pretty things as well, I got mine in a ivory colour but their was plenty of colour to choose from

Have a go and send me your versions :)

xox Amy xox

 



MY FIRST POST!!!

Hi Guys!!

So this is my first post!! ... and this is me and my family!!



The Ellis Family

Myself, my husband Dean, My two children, Ethan James (4) and Olivia Grace (now 21 weeks)

 

I'm quite excited to get this all up and running as its my first ever blog. Being a stay at home Mummy is one of the most rewarding jobs you could possibly think of but at the same time it can get a bit tedious (doing the same things day in day out). I needed something to do, so I thought what better way of having some me time than showing you some of the things I get up to in my life.

 

We are currently in the process of having an extension on the house and I wanted some way of putting my mark on things, I don't want the same as everyone else, so I have started looking for old furniture to refurbish, as well as little quirky projects and money saving ideas, which I would love to share with you all.

 

 So keep a look out for new posts on all the projects I will undergo throughout the year, as well as the odd post about my family and the things we get up to.

 

xxx Amy xxx