Who's ready for a fresh start? Here's hoping you have a glorious Monday!

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I received the little canvas in last months WhimseyBox and have been mulling over what to do with it. 

I finally decided to just paint it blue.... well teal really.

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I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a monogram or stencil or somthing else. I finally went with a bird in the middle. To give it some extra dimension I used some crackle under the main color of the bird. BTW - crackle paint is really hard to work with but in the end it turned out.

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I didn't like the rough outline that the crackle paint made so I went around outline with a green paint pen. I still thought it needed a little something else so I added some white dots in the corner!

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To create a hanger I took some push tacks and rope (from another months WhimseyBox) and gently smooshed (yes thats a word - my word lol) them into place!

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TA-DA! Super cute right?! Iove how the yellow, green, and blue make each other pop.

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This was my first time using such a small canvas - have you ever made anything with a small canvas?

Let me know I would love to check it out for inspiration!

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Ahh Friday, I am soooooo glad you are here! Today's Fabulous Friday isn't going to be about a product ... so much as... failure. I know I know it sounds odd, but stay with me.

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Pinterest is FULL of amazing ideas using cork so I decided to bust out mine and make some coasters. For some odd, VERY ODD reason, I thought it would be a good idea if they were glued to a cork base. That's right people - corks glued to a cork base... redundant right? - Yes.

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Here is the sad tale of woe regarding the failsauce cork coasters...

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I really thought it was a great idea a the time but as you can see they didn't turn out so great. The are really thick and the hot glue dried white - failsauce :-(

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You will be happy to know that I didn't let this set back hold me down for long and I tried again.

This time I just used E-6000 glue and just glued them together and let them dry. Not only did they turn out MUCH better but I didn't burn myself this way (I ALWAYS manage to burn myself when using my hot glue gun!). The glue dried nice and clear and holds them together quite nicely!

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Much better right?

Have you done anything crafty with corks lately?

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Birchbox Time! WOOO!

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I figured since it was black and pink that there must be awesome makeup goodies waiting for me!

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Mocha couldn't wait to dig in!

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I really liked the perfume sample this month. It is nice and light for summer!

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Not gonna lie .... I was NOT thrilled with this months samples. I like more makeup than chapstick and lotion.

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Maybe next month!

Try it out for yourself!

www.birchbox.com

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Saga

sa·ga/ˈsägə/Noun:

1.A long story of heroic achievement.

2.A long, involved story, account, or series of incidents.

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I think both definitions apply to our siding replacement. #1 - its been 5 years since we have been told that it was going to be done 5 years ago = long story of heroic achievement (its heroic that I didnt go ape sh*t on someone for taking so long to get this done!) #2 - Its been a long, involved mess of incident after incident after incident.

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Here is an update with pics over the past couple of weeks...

At this stage the concrete posts have been set and the fencing is about 50% up.

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Soooooo close!! Just a few more pieces!

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ALL DONE! Here is a view from our top porch. The little garden outlined in stone is also part of our property. I am amazed that I haven't killed all the plants off yet - yay me!

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Here is a view of our front door and gate.

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There are a few things we still have to do - paint the trim around the door from gross brown to white, lay pavers in the mulch area so that we have a bigger usable exterior space, and re-caulk around the doors. To those of you with yards this probably doesn't look like much but its almost 60% more outside living space for us! I will be so happy when its all done and we are outside relaxing.

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I don't know why I haven't done this before but its Guest Post time!

Please give a warm welcome to Oceanside Daydream's very first guest poster - take it away.......

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Hey everyone!

First I wanted to thank Jessica for a posting at my blog last week! My name is Trixi, I blog over at trixih.blogspot.com. I do a lot of creative projects such as sewing, creating jewelry as well as painting and I just started doing some organizing posts.

So I have noticed a lot of chevron around blogtown and decided to make a painting of my own. I started off with an old canvas I painted in a moment of boredom.

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I painted three coats of white paint.

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I was planning on using masking tape, but it wouldn’t stick to my 5 layers of paint canvas. So I decided to just draw up some lines instead with a ruler.

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Then I painted two layers of blue stripes

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Then a layer of red in between the white space, but the colors gave me a slight headache.

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So I decided to add some white paint to give it a distressed look. But it still did not look finished.

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So I decided I wanted a silhouette, and ended up with this:

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I am so happy with the way it turned out, a LOT better than expected! So here is the before and after photos again:

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Hope you all liked my post. Feel free to swing by my blog trixih.blogspot.com.

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I think this turned out super cute! It is amazing how a silhouette can change the look of a piece!

Thanks for stopping by-

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It's gonna be a good day! Happy Monday all!

Happy Mothers Day! Have you told your mother how awesome she is for putting up with you for all these years lol!?

Here's to you mom!

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Happy Hump Day all!! Today I am guest posting over at - trixih.blogspot.com - you should totally go check out her awesome blog ;-)

Here is the post I wrote... you know.. in case you want to read it here and on her site!

I love going to garage sales and picking up old and outdated pieces that are in need of a re-do. I try to do my little projects on the cheap (because I’m cheap lol!) and use stuff I already have around the house. Here is the steps I took to re-do a garage sale find into a new and updated piece of art. Let’s get this party started!

Here’s is a picture of the piece as I bought it.

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I took it completely apart, removed the old piece of art, and picked out what scrapbook paper I wanted to use. For some reason I always go back to my Martha Stewart paper. I cut a piece to size and then secured it with crafters tape. At the last minute I decided to use another piece of paper in the center to accent the letters. I drew the design, cut it out, applied it to the center with crafters tap, and then used some white thumb tacks in the corners as an added accent (those pictures are farther down).

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After that I took the frame and double mat outside for two coats of white spray paint. Once they were dry I used my Martha Stewart crackle finish on the frame. I ended up using a fine grit sandpaper to make the frame look more worn and uneven.

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Next I got to work on the scrabble letters (they were leftovers from a previous project but you can buy them in bulk online if you wanted to know). I didn’t have a ‘v’ so I thought it would be cute to use a heart in place of the ‘v’ and it worked out great! I used a paint marker to draw in on and then used hot glue to secure them all in place.

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Clean the glass, put the mat and picture back in, and secure the backing. ALL DONE! I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Since I used stuff I already had around the art room it didn’t cost me a dime to complete the re-do (I think I paid $1 for the picture at the garage sale).

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Not to shabby right?! 'Love You'

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Couldn't have said it better!

Wake up and seize the day!