Patriotic Decorations - Pallet Flag

I had seen several pictures of pallet flags and I wanted to make one for our porch.

First step... Find a pallet.

I thought I would spray paint the pallet. It wasn't turning out to well.

So I moved the pallet and bought pint size containers of paint and started painting.

Everything took a couple of layers of paint to get things coated. The pallet wood soaked up the paint!

Once all the blue area was painted and the stripes were done I started on the stars.

They weren't perfect (or all there) but I did as many as I could on the pallet.

Once it was all painted and dry it found its place on my front porch.

Painting that started it all - Coffee Cups

See that painting right there.... The one with the coffee cups on my coffee table ;-)

That's the painting that started it all in my painting journey.

We took a date night to Paint Party Studios in Mobile, AL.

You pick out the painting you want to do off their galleries online. This is a picture of the painting I picked.

When you arrive they have it all sketched out for you.

I set down with my paint they provided and started painting.

Background complete...

Coffee cups painted...

And you can't forget the steam! Painting complete!

Thanks to this painting date night I found a new love for painting!

LOVE/NOEL Double decoration

When working through Christmas decorations I knew I wanted to paint out the letters N-O-E-L and put them in the perfect place in my living room. Then it got me thinking about decorations that could be used more than just one time a year.

So along with the N-O-E-L letters I also painted a V. By rearranging the letters and swapping one letter out I had something that could stay up the rest of the year. L-O-V-E!

I bought the wooden letters from Michael's (Hobby Lobby also has them but I was at Michael's at the time) and painted a few layers of red paint on them. Make sure you also paint the sides of the letters. I only did one layer of paint on the back so it was covered but wasn't as concerned about a good color on the back since they weren't seen.

Superhero Paintings

 I've done several sets of paintings for different reasons. The first set was for a friends son who was fighting cancer, I did another set for an auction, some for family members, and others for a friend's son's birthday party. 

Most have been painted on 12 x 12 canvases. I drew out the outlines and went from there to paint them.

Batman

Superman

Captain America

Superman

I will not that for the red in spider-man has to be painted over 2-3 times to get a good red.

Finished Paintings

Fall Wreath

This fall wreath got it's inspiration from a photo on Pinterest.

Photo Source

I set out to the store to pick out the supplies.

While I would have loved to do the hydrangeas all the way around this wreath the hydrangeas (even on sale) were way expensive... So I settled for a few of them...

All done and hanging on the front door!

Monogrammed Pocket T-Shirt

I decided if I was going to play on my embroidery machine I would make things for my family.

So I got various t-shirts for my family members to put their monograms on them... But you see...

I managed to do the wrong initials for my mom. Seriously! I was so proud of myself and even sent her a picture before realizing what I did.

Instead of chunking the tshirt I decided I would attempt to fix it with a pocket.

I found this pattern through pinterest and cut out the pocket!

 Added the monogram to the material, ironed down the top edge and sewed it to create them hem, then ironed down the other sides. Once that was done I pinned it in place.

After it was pinned it was time to sew it down.

Not bad for a monogrammed t-shirt gone wrong turned pocket repair fix project. What do you think?

Brothers PE770

I have had a sewing machine for a little over a year now (I'll post later on the machine I have), but don't get me wrong I learned to sew 20+ years ago not just in the last year and a half. I just haven't had my own machine before the one I got for Christmas 2013.

After LOTS of projects on my sewing machine (I'll be posting those here soon), I was ready for my next crafting adventure... An embroidery machine!!

After some research and consulting with family and friends who have machines I determined the Brother PE770 was for me. I'll have to share some of the pros and cons later in a different post. But I can tell you two points for me was the price and an up to 5x7 hoop options. The photo above was the first design I tried.

Here's a close up of the design... For the first run I decided to use a design on my machine. Another tip... Get some felt from your craft store for "trial" runs. This allows you to try designs without wasting stabilizers. Bonus - Felt is cheap!