Wood Shim American Flag

I had to jump on the bandwagon and create my own American Flag, just in time for the 4th.

I started out with a bundle of wood shims, about $3.00 

 I had Sidney and her friend paint four shim red and four shims white. 

Just a light coat of paint so you can see a little of the wood grains.

In order to even up the shims, I added a couple skinny pieces 

and glued them down with some Gorilla glue.

Then I glued everything together. 

 Added some rocks to help the wood to bond. Waited...

Grabbed a bag of little wooden stars from Hobby Lobby.

 Painted them blue.

 Added some of my favorite jute twine.

Happy Birthday America!!!

Stay tuned for Antsi-Pants "The Cottage Series"...

You are my Sunshine

Recently I was commissioned by a friend to create a piece of art work, on boards, 

with the words from the song "You are my Sunshine"

Here's what I came up with:

The paint technique was very intentional. The colors were picked by my "client." 

My favorite part is the Ralph Lauren Tobacco stain rubbed on the top. 

I've used this paint/glaze treatment several times on various pieces of furniture in my home. 

I got the idea from my good friend and the both of us use it on everything!

For years I've been signing the backs of my scrapbook pages...

Here is where my latest creation now resides:

 Doesn't it look stunning against her mocha walls? I love it!

I had to show you a couple of pictures of her house (with her permission of course!) 

She painted all her cabinets and used the Ralph Lauren Tobacco stain rubbed on the top.

Close-up of the cabinets. 

The same treatment done again here. 

Don't you love the clean look of her family room? I do!

One of my favorite rooms in her house is her 3-year-old daughter's room. 

The color choice is so bold and unique 

It actually inspired me to use the same scheme in my kid's bathroom.

She is not only my good friend and now "client" she is the hair stylist for me and my girls. 

Here is Sidney after getting several inches cut off. We love her cute summer bob.

 And here she and I are. Me with MY new summer-do!

Chevron Frame & Welcome Pennant

I'm loving Chevron stripes and pennant flags. I decided to combine the two together!

 I started with a wood frame and painted it white.

I created a stencil with evenly spaced Chevron stripes
and then I taped it onto my frame.

I chose a bright summer yellow and painted the Chevron stripes.

Some of the paint bled through, but that was easy to touch up.

I cut out some letters
(from my Silhouette, but you could use stickers as well)

I found some fun bright scrapbook paper and cut out little pennants.

After adhering the letters to the flags, I mod-podged both sides of the pennant.

And then attached them to a ribbon.

I used a couple little Stampin' Up clips to hold the ribbon.

Summer's here-party all the time!

Flip Flop Fantastic

I love summer. I love the heat. And I love wearing flip-flops! 

I wanted to jazz-up a plain pair of black flip-flops. 

Which turned out to be super easy. 

Here's how I did it:

I bought some fun ribbon at Hobby Lobby. 

Mine is a black lace with tiny square black sequence. 

Ribbon & plain flop-flops I measured the length of each side of the strap and then cut my ribbon double the mesured amount. I grabbed some black upholstery thread. And a big needle. And then I went to work sewing the ribbon onto the flip-flop strap. I scrunched the ribbon as I sewed along. You can also stitch along the middle of your thread (with the sewing machine on the longest stitch) and gather up the thread that way. 

I love the completed look!