CRAFTY IDEAS

I gave Stew three little wall plaques for his birthday, along with a couple of other things.

I have plans for them.

I want to mount them on one of the wooden beams we took down from the pergola outside.

But first, I want to paint the beam, then distress it and give it an aged look.  NOT that it's not aged though!
But I want it to be in a different colour than just 'stained wood'.

I've not done much 'distressing' as such... so it's something new and interesting.

Has anyone else ever done any?  Tips would be handy.

If it comes out really nice, I might be tempted to do the same to a couple of other things that are going to be in the new 'dining room', once our Archgola and side blinds are installed.

ABOVE:  this is another of Stew's little gifts from me.  It's adorable!  And the little bell actually rings when you tap the little button.  It's quite heavy, so I'm presuming it's a door stop?
But no matter what it is meant for, I love it.  So does Stew... thankfully.  *smiles*

So that's kinda what I am doing to day... craft type stuff.  Mucking around with paint?  Wood.  Sandpaper.  Stain.  Having fun no matter what.

I'll be back later to see if anyone has any tips.

ONWARD...

Hi!  Well. After a very slow start to the day I finally pulled me finger out and went down to Bunnings and got some paint, then Resene for some Crackle stuff.

After choosing one of our boards, I proceeded to hammer dents in it, gough grooves and generally scuff it up a bit.

Then I soaked some tea bags and sat them in the dents and goughes for a while.

ABOVE: Then I applied dark and light blue paint, added some thick drips and sploches and and am now waiting for it to dry.  That might not be until tomorrow.  Some of that paint is fairly thick.

Tomorrow I shall sand some of it back, add some crackle stuff and then paint on white... wait for it to dry and sand back again.

Fingers crossed it looks cool.

It's stinkin' hot again today... too hot to be out in the sun really.  We are all inside keeping as cool as possible.  The humidity is so high you get covered in sweat just moving a little.

I might do me nails.

Well I did me nails, and Bex's again too... we are loving the gel polish!

End of day:  a lovely, lazy summer's day.  I got some painting done on my 'plaque' board, and will do some more tomorrow.
nite nite