MMS MilkPaint Fun

Hey everyone! I am getting back from Vegas today and I am so excited to hug my kids. Four days is a long time to be away from the munchkins and I need some snuggles. But I promised you a post or two while away so here's something else I did last week instead of packing for the trip!

Guess what I got?

Yep, I jumped on the Miss Mustard Seed MilkPaint bandwagon. 

I have been wanting to for a while but finally decided to just order it and be done. I loved all of the colors so it was hard to choose. I started with Flow Blue and Tricycle for their deep saturated color..

Now what to use it on?

Our little town of Bellevue has a sidewalk sale the third weekend in July every year. All the stores in the business district put out tables filled with fun finds.

I found this little rocking horse for $2.00 and decided that THIS is what I would try my Tricycle color on. I figured I'd start small and see how it goes. From what I have read Milkpaint is a little unpredictable based on the finish that you have on your piece. So until I got a handle on how to mix, paint, and seal etc. I thought small was the way to go before painting a dresser etc. 

This is so NOT my style. But that is why paint is so cool. It transforms so much, so easily, and at such a small cost. I wanted this to look less Christmassy and more Vintage toy.

I gave the whole rocking horse 2 coats of grey chalk paint. I then painted the rockers in Chalkboard paint and the seat in the tricycle. 

 Here's my new "Vintage" Rocking Horse

 I thought the rockers would be fun to customize every once in a while, which is why the chalkboard paint was used. I can write sayings or just doodle whatever strikes my fancy.

What I found out about MMS MilkPaint:

Mix it in the right ratio. I made mine too watery at first and it just rolled off and puddled. I was trying to mix only a very small amount and that makes it a little tough to judge amounts. 

Mix it well: Take the full 5 minutes to mix it. It takes some time for the pigment to absorb the water fully. Just keep mixing. I started with a popsicle stick and moved to just using my brush since it was such a small batch. Her website says to use a blender for larger batches. Mix it while painting to keep the pigments consistent because they will settle so mix well before and during each coat.

It adheres REALLY well to porous material. I had to really sand the red to get it to distress. If I had added the hemp oil or wax over the grey chalk paint, it would have chipped off better. I used the remaining paint on a little step stool I bought at an estate sale last week and it chipped well.

You know what else I found out?

I love this red color.

Just like old can be made new again with a little paint....

new can be made old with a little paint!

Always being renewed,

Initial Wall

I am going to be in Vegas this week with my man for a few days so feel free to come over and take what you want! Don't clean me out, just help control the hoard if you don't mind. Since I will be away, I thought I'd show you a wall project that is pretty easy to do and I love it because it has to do with family....and I loves me my fam.

I had this idea to build an initial wall in my foyer. My goal was to make each letter a little bit different and hopefully reflect a little bit of the persons personality. Which is harder to do than you might think. It could go from classy to scrapbook scrappy in a hot minute. 

 It seems like I have been working on my initial wall for a year. When I looked back at the dates of my first photos it has been more like a year and a half! These things take time I guess if you want it to look well thought out.

I tried to take a photo each time I added a letter from the same spot so it was kind of fun to see it come together. It is really fun when you click through the pics on the camera really fast! Then it only takes 5 seconds to complete and not a year and a half! 

The J is for Jake, my 14 year old son. I found his letter at the Goodwill with a giant crack in it. Perfect for him and his sense of humor.

The A is for my husband and he got a shot of gold because his is solid gold in my book. He's worth a boat load, well not in actual assets, but to me and my kiddos, he is of great value. 

The K is for me and yes I am framed but not because I am more important, I just liked the frame and wanted to use it on the wall. Ok, I am a little bit more important...

The I is for IzzyB and she got some swirly orange craft paper because she is an awful like her mom and she is loves to use paper in crazy good ways. Oh, and Jake got sprayed glossy black. 

Just because I like it better than silver and I thought we were getting a little heavy into precious metals. 

Which is good for your stock portfolio, not so much a wall.

The T is for Tessa and she got some pallet wood made into a T and decorated with my wood burning tool and some silver leaf. She carefully picked out a T just like this at the Hobby Lobby but it was about 2 inches tall.  Then she didn't want to give it up so I did what all moms would do and let her love it in her room and spent two hours creating another one. 

Plus to avoid future psychological bills, all the letters need to be in the same size range so no one thinks I love them more than anyone else. Ok, the J just dwarfs the I and the T...but so far no one has really noticed because they LOVE their letters. We may have avoided additional months of therapy! 

I tried to get a few close-ups of the girl letters since they are a little more complicated, just like us women...

 I took a frame I found at the thrift and covered it with a page from a medical book about ears.  

Why ears?

Cuz' I'm a professional audiologist by day! 

So I thought this would be a fun addition to my letter about me.

Then I took two corks and cut them in half and hot glued them to the letter K

and then hot-glued them to the frame. I covered them in fake paper bag bay leaves. Just paint a brown paper bag with some green paint and then some gold streaks for sheen. Cut into leaves and hot glue over your letter.

The I was inspired by WhipperBerry. The only thing I did differently was that I lined the entire inside of the letter with the craft paper. 

Just draw your design with a pencil and then go over it with your burning tool. Add your leaf wherver you want it to be. Find out how to silver leaf here.

Now my only problem is that I need to add something on the U from my Communion Table Hack and I don't want to wait another 12 months before I find it. 

Any suggestions?

And if by some micro chance that my kids are reading this.....I love you all the same and beyond measure. Or as we are fond of saying at night....I love you to infinity.....I love you to infinity plus 1.....no, I love you to infinity plus infinity.....

So you get it...

I love you to the deepest parts of my heart....and then go deeper still. 

XOXOXO, 

mama

Always being renewed,

5 minute Initial makeover

I decided to give our front porch a little face lift and when I mean little, I mean a little.  Just a sharpie pen and some rub and buff did the trick!

First, I have had the second leg of my Communion Table Hack sitting around for about a year. I just let it languish in a corner. Well, today it got a little Rub N' Buff in gold and added to the front porch.

First I had to dust it off....really well, ahem.

Then I just put a little gold Rub N' Buff on a paper towel and applied it to the "U"

WOW! I'm gonna try this on my eyelids! Just kidding, that would be madness! Although I have always been a sucker for gold eyeshadow...

Then my house numbers got a little love as well. The previous owner had just used a flat paint on the numbers. Very dull. So I got my Sharpie Oil-based pen in gloss black and colored for a while. Then I got a little cray-cray and even outlined the outline! 

I added some punch to an otherwise blah doorbell. 

 I had to remember less is more because coloring with Sharpies is serious fun.

Seriously, give it a try!

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99