Nautical Knot Art

Hello!  I hope you're all having a wonderful Monday!

The boys and I spent the morning at the park with some of our friends.  They must have played really hard because they're both napping right now, AT THE SAME TIME!!!  That never happens anymore!

Today I would like to share with you some "art" I created for Henry's room.  I knew I wanted to make him something ever since I made art for Oliver's nursery.  Mom has to be fair, right?  I simply drew some shapes and animals onto some card stock, cut them out, and glued them down onto another piece of card stock.   Then I framed it.  It was super easy and very cheap.  Best of all?  Ollie loves it!

I wasn't sure what I was going to do in Henry's room until I picked up the latest PB Teen catalogue in the store.  I don't usually pick those up when I go, but for some reason the last time I went into their store I did.  As I was flipping through, I saw something that caught my eye on a desk.  It was a framed picture of different types of knots used for sailing.  I thought it was such a great idea and figured it could be easily replicated.  I headed to Michaels and bought a shadow box, some navy card stock, and some thin, white hemp cord.

Next, I searched online for some knot tutorials.  I used the website Animated Knots for each of my knots.  I found them under the boating section, since Henry's room is decorated with a nautical theme.  I watched the tutorials and knotted away!  I actually thought this project was really fun.  I don't know if a real sailor would approve of my knots, but that's okay with me.  I don't plan on buying a boat anytime soon.

I then divided up my card stock and figured out where I wanted each knot.  The knots I made were:  the bowline, the rolling hitch, the bowline on a bight, the carrick bend, the figure 8 knot, and the reef knot.

I then used one of my stamps to make a label for each knot.  I used some white card stock that I already had on hand.  It took me awhile to get each label to match and I ended up cutting of the finial things on each end of the label.  I wasn't too crazy about how they looked.

I thought about typing out the names of the knots on the computer and then printing them out, but decided I liked writing out the names instead in my own handwriting.  After gluing the knots in place, I trimmed the long pieces of cord and then glued the labels in place under the knots.  Then I put the card stock back into the shadow box.

Here is the finished product in Henry's room.

The total cost of the project was under fifteen dollars.  The shadow box was $10.19, the paper was $.29, and the hemp cord was $1.79.

Once again, I would like to thank Pottery Barn for their never ending inspiration!  I wasn't able to figure out who made this knot art first and am unable to give credit where credit is due...  If anyone out there knows anything about it, please let me know!

Have a great day, all!

I'm linking up to:

Home Stories A to Z

who always has such wonderful ideas!  I love her style!

Re-do a Deer

This post could have had many titles, some of which include:

1.  My husband must truly love me.

2.  The most disturbing, bizarre diy project ever.

3.  No deer were harmed during this project (at least by us, anyway).

No, but really.  I have no idea why I wanted to find deer antlers, spray paint them, and mount them on wood.  And then hang them in my living room.  I had seen antlers in magazines, on blogs, and on pinterest, not to mention real deer heads in horribly decorated log cabins.  I had an idea in my head of what I wanted my antlers to look like.  I didn't want ones made from resin, not that there is nothing wrong with those.  I just wanted them to be real, probably because I live with boys.  I owed it to them!  Plus, this would be a lot less expensive.   My husband thought it was a little strange at first.  Being the wonderful partner that he is is however, he jumped on board and was the one who did most of the work.  Why?  Probably because I could have been found gagging somewhere from the grossness of this project.  Let me start from the beginning.

I found these antlers in a consignment store early in the summer while shopping with my sister.  I didn't buy them, but I wanted them.  We searched other places for antlers, but they can tend to be pretty expensive.  The ones I first found were the cheapest I had found.  I couldn't stop thinking about them.  So we went back, and we bought them for ten dollars each.

Yes, they had hair on them.  And they grossed me out.  But I still loved them.  So what exactly were my plans for these fine specimens?  I wanted the hair gone.  And I wanted them painted.  That's where Jason came in.  He was going to burn that hair off for me.  I actually remember him being intrigued about the whole process.  I, on the other hand, was not.  Have you ever smelled burnt hair?  The closest I have ever come to that is leaving my hair straightener on a section of my hair a little bit too long.  The smell is not one that you want to have on you all day long.

Obviously, the hair burning process did not go well.  It took forever.  So Jason switched to cutting the hair off.  And then he burned it some more.  What was I doing you ask, since this was my brilliant idea?  I was covering my nose with my shirt sleeve while taking pictures.

We resorted to a bonfire.  I know.  I told you this was the most bizarre project ever.  No marshmallows were roasted in this fire.  Because that would be gross.  Let me tell you that this process took forever.  Jason was burning hair for a long time.  Disgusting.

After the hair was burned off (Thank you Jason.  You win the husband of the year award for life!), I bleached them.  I actually bleached them a couple of times.  After they were dry, I spray painted them.  To mount them, I found some wooden plaques at Michaels.

I primed them with a spray paint primer,

sanded them because they were a little rough, and painted them.

I used the same gray Dark Cavern Behr paint I used on the dining room chairs. 

In order to mount the antlers onto the plaques, Jason used drywall screws.  He laid the antlers on the plaque to see where they should go and then traced around the base of the antlers.  He removed the antlers and then pre-drilled three holes into the wood inside of the tracing.  After putting the antlers back on the plaque, he drilled through the wood and into the antlers using a cement bit.  He used three drywall screws to secure the antlers to the wood and picture hangers to secure the whole thing to the wall.

Here is a close-up of the screw so that you could see how he screwed into the antlers.  You'll have to look closely to see it!

Just like that, the most disgusting diy project was over.  They're done!

Jason hung them up for me above our TV.

I couldn't let this post end without giving props to the man of the hour, who apparently grew his own set of antlers for this picture.  Thank you, Jason!  I owe you.

The picture below shows you just how badly I need to finish painting the woodwork in the hallway.  We'll see if that gets done this fall.  That's the goal.

What do you think?  Do you think we're crazy like our neighbors most likely do since they saw us putting antlers into a fire?  Are you into antlers or do you hate them?  Spill those beans.

  Are we crazy for going through all of that just for some antler art?  Maybe.  I'll let you decide.

Happy Wednesday!

I'm linking up to these lovely blogs:

Young House Love

Bower Power

A Beach Cottage

Sweet Silhouettes

When I was little my Mom and Grandma Esther took my sister Gretel and I to get our silhouettes done at a department store.  I distinctly remember having to sit so very still as the lady traced our shadows.  She did a wonderful job as I'm sure we were pretty wiggly!  My Mom still has them hanging in her dining room to this day in the same black oval frame.  I have always thought they were so pretty and seemed old fashioned to me.  When I saw that silhouettes were "coming back," I was thrilled and wanted to make some of my boys for myself.  While there are many easy ways of doing them, I found this way to be the easiest for me.  I found this idea from a website called little momma & co.  I adore this blog!  Like me, Emily lives with her husband and two boys.  About a month ago, she posted about an easy DIY silhouette project.  I thought, "I can do that!  I want to do that!"  You can see her awesome tutorial here.

Here is what I did.  First, I took pictures of my boys' profiles.  This was difficult.  They don't stand still for long.

Can you tell that Henry isn't too happy about having his picture taken?  This little boy just wanted to ride his bike.

Next, I loaded my pictures onto my computer and printed them out on card stock.  The size I chose to print them out in was 8x10.  I then carefully cut around their sweet little heads. 

I decided to put my silhouettes on plain canvases I purchased at Michaels.  The size of the canvases were 8x10 as well.  I had to trim a little extra off of the bottom of Henry's silhouette so that it would fit on the canvas.

I then took their pictures outside and gave them two coats of black paint.  Easy as pie.

This is the paint I used.  I also purchased it at Michaels for a few dollars.

After the paint dried, I glued the silhouettes onto the canvases.  That's it!  Super fun, cheap, and easy!

I too, hung mine in the dining room.  Just like Mom.

Thanks for the inspiration, Emily!  I love my silhouettes!

I'll be posting about the corner cabinets yet this weekend but until then, have a great weekend, friends!