Mansion from Mole Hill #2

To remind you of what a mansion from a mole hill even means, go here:

http://mansionsfrommolehills.blogspot.com/2011/10/mondays-mansion-from-mole-hill.html

The first ever mansion from a mole hill happened over a year ago. And today, I bring you the second! One solution per DIY problem per year is enough, right?

I started with these wine plates. They are really nice plates and there is nothing wrong with them. But my BFF Pinterest (BFF to a lot of people, I'm sure) gave me the DIY itch and I just had to do something creative. I wanted to work with what I had and not spend any money. But, of course, the paint colors I already own just weren't right. So, $18 (only 7 bucks of which were for this project) and 3 new paint colors later from Hobby Lobby, I got started.

Before:

I taped off the edges of the plates, thinking this would make a clean line for me after I was done painting. I would be wrong about that (but I didn't know that until the end so my spirits were still high at this point). And, it was a lot of work getting straight tape to line up perfectly on a round plate.

My next strategy was to test the back of a plate to make sure that acrylic paint would even work on an already finished surface. The plan was to use painters tape after I painted all of the plates white to get a perfectly crisp chevron pattern and stripe pattern but the tape just tore the paint to shreds as I gently lifted it up. A little upsetting, but I decided to plunge forward (could be a pun if you'd like because I do feel like this project went down the drown fast). 

Each plate got 4 coats of white acrylic paint to cover the wine picture underneath. I didn't know that acrylic paint dries so quickly that it cracks because the outside layer dries faster than the underside. But I kept going. I printed off a chevron pattern and cut out one strip, tracing it on the plates as a stencil. Very, very difficult to paint straight lines, even if they are traced for you. FYI.

Here is a close up of the finished product:

It's not even close to perfect and it looks crafty, but I'm happy that it still makes me smile more than the wine plates from before. There is not a straight line or perfect circle to be found on these plates, but I feel like they reflect more of what I am going for in life and home. Now I just need to figure out which spot the yellow plate looks better in:

Before again:

 

Which do you prefer? Fun, imperfect prints with color or the classy, sophisticated wine theme? Another FYI: I would never do this project again or recommend this method. It didn't turn out to my standards and was too much of a pain. But it still makes me happy to look at so I'll keep it...until I get tired of it per my usual with everything else I own! 

Four Whole Days

It starts now.

Fun to Come!!

I have three projects I'm working on this weekend. A sneak peek for you:

Nostalgia

It's amazing how being threatened as a child that the nasties on the plate in front you will be your breakfast if you don't finish it, can turn those meals into favorites. Plaza soup, chili, and ham, beans, and cornbread...I'm sure there were others but these are the ones I remember staring at the most. And now? Instead of only a few beans and mostly cornbread, I give you a perfectly proportioned adult meal that I would gladly eat for breakfast, too!

I'm sorry! Can I watch RHOBH now?

So I'm checked into my hotel for the evening and for what seems like the first time in forever, I decide to do a little yoga to relax. I had the TV on Bravo already, waiting in anticipation for the new episode of RHOBH (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) that was to start at 8pm.

I'm doing my yoga, still paying attention to the TV so I don't miss the start of my show. I'm breathing, counting my breaths, trying to breathe deeper, still tense... You know, normal yoga stuff. And then at exactly 8pm (what starts at that time? Yes, my show), I lose all signal to the TV. No. Joke.

The yogi gods have to be really upset that I'm multitasking their sacred practice with RHOBH to go so low as to knock out my signal. So I'm like, ok, I'll go with it! Learn from the process of yoga. I use the silence to go inward and I tell myself that I don't need to see that episode anyway. It's important to take time to be quiet and rest in silence to rejuvenate and grow.

And then I start thinking about hotels and the hidden nastiness that's lurking all over the carpet that I was just stretching on. It sure looks clean but that's why it's patterned. To fool suckers like me that just want to watch RHOBH but instead are being taught a lesson in life from the gods of yoga. Wait. Refocus...Still breathing, counting breaths, trying to connect with my third eye...

I thought if I tried hard enough they would let me watch the rest of my show. But over an hour later, my TV still looks like this and I feel that I have learned nothing from this little lesson. It just feels like a cruel joke. Like taking candy from a fat kid. Aww, i just hurt my own feelings by saying that! Sorry...

A New Tradition...I Hope

I know a lot of people do this but I read about it last year and tucked it away for this November. Each day for the month of November, Ken and I are writing something that we are thankful for on a little card. At the end of the month, we will read them together and get to see what the other person was thankful for. No peeksies!

I'm a little surprised that Ken didn't put up any complaints about the whole thing (maybe that should go on one of my cards...I wasn't expecting it to be so easy!). He did, however, write himself a little grocery list on the back of one of the cards that I left sitting out as his friendly reminder to fill it out from missing the day before. Funny, he still has yet to fill out the card and he never went to the store. Mission hopefully accomplished for a new tradition every November! We shall see in another year how motivated I am.

It's easy to take things for granted and life can be challenging at times, so this little project seemed very fitting to remind us that we truly have a lot to be thankful for!

Pushed to the Limit

Since bringing the cat home, all she does is stay in her little room. When it's nighttime though, and she can hear the dogs and Ken snoring, she tiptoes all around the house. Poor cat doesn't realize she sounds like a clumsy horse that weighs a million and one pounds. I'm sure she thinks no one can hear her...

Anyway, we've been trying to expand her comfort zone and you can see from these pictures that being forced to socialize in the living room with the family does not make her happy. We give her the best goodies in an effort to trick her into being part of the clan but she's not having us yet.

Happy Election Day!

Did you vote?

I didn't.

I registered though.

Catnip: Speed for Kitties