Custom Family Sign

For Christmas, my brother, my sister-in-law, my husband and I used to exchange presents.  Now that we both have families, we skip our gifts and just do the god-parents gifts from the boys.  It's always tough to buy a gift for a couple without it being the standard restaurant gift certificate.  This year I decided I should make them something for their home, and make it personal.  One day it dawned on me.

My brother has a tattoo on his inner bicep that says "Familia Fortitudo Mea".  It means "Family is my strength" in latin. Bingo!  I would just have to change it to say "Family is our Strength" since it would be a family gift.

Sign installed

Oh, and of course I needed to have a helping hand from my husband.  My dear hubby cut me 2 pieces of wood, and we bought a router.  He routed out the edge to create a nice detail. While I was at it, I figured my client would also enjoy a sign for her new home, and her growing family. It would be a "Thank You" gift for their home.  I really don't care for much of the signage work out there, mostly because it's mass produced and is missing that hand made, old, worn look.  I knew that these signs were going to be very distressed, much like the Beaver Dam sign I did.


What better way to start out getting a distressed old sign, then letting my 3 year old go to town on the wood and paint it for me!! Yep, Kyle helped out. He wasn't feeling the banging with the tools part, but he loved to paint.  I left it in the capable hands of my assistant and her assistant, Kyle, to get it down. If I had actually watched, my OCD probably would have smoothed out the globs of paint he put on.  And I do mean globs, they paint was so thick in some areas I was able to smooth it with a putty knife 12 hours later and it was still wet. But it created the perfect under base.

Painting in the lettering.

The boards were first primed, then base coated a deep chocolate, then a Navajo White.  I used every kind of tool to beat them up.  Then I used the computer to create the designs and projected them onto the sign. I traced them in pencil.  The names were painted in a light grey, and I sanded them down.  The quote was painted in black. I went back with a heavy grit sandpaper and really took a lot of the paint off.

I worked on both side by side, easier to do them together.

Detail of letterings being sanded. 

Next step was this fabulous crackling varnish. It gives the look of old oil canvas paintings. I sprayed the
signs first with Damar Varnish and while tacky, brushed on the Cracking Varnish.  I sped up the drying process with the hairdryer. Like a kid in the candy store, I was ecstatic to see the cracks forming. The kit comes with a antiquing black. It is rubbed into the cracks with a dry cloth.  I sealed it all with a Flat Varnish, my "old" signs can't be shiny.

Close up of crackle. Love the different sizes!

I love how the antiquing part just emphasizes the distressing.

Both my client and my brother and sister-in-law were thrilled with their gifts. I was so happy that it went well and they loved them. Now I just have to work on more to try and sell!

How to Paint a Checkerboard Floor, Parts 4 & 5

Back for more? You have made it to the end!! I am hoping the tutorial is easy to understand.  I do hope if anyone has any questions that you email or call me.  I will try my best to answer them!

My floor layout.

The supplies. Go to Faux Effects Stain

This is how your tape should look in the points that they meet.1

Divide your template through the corners and you will get your measurements.

How to Paint a Checkerboard Floor Parts 2 & 3

Hopefully my first video of this series made sense.  I apologize for my lack of photo editing skills, and the abrupt ending.  If I ever record tutorials again, I will shoot shorter films so they don't have to be chopped up. In the meantime, keep in mind I am a decorative artist, and not a film editor!!

Below are videos 2 and 3:

When doing a floor, or anything with math, it's always better to double check your numbers.  I always use a calculator, and double check our first 2 snapped lines to ensure that they are in the center of the room.  If you are working with an assistant, as I strongly recommend, check on their work as well. Make sure you are both using the same type of ruler, marking off in the same spots. If someone has a fatter pencil, their marks and lines will be bigger and that can add up over time.  When you are drawing in your squares with your ruler and pencil, it's very important to draw light lines. They won't show up through the stain, and you always want to tape the squares off so that the pencil lines are inside the taped area. This will let the stain bury the pencil lines.

This is how our floor looks taped off, the brown squares appear larger then the white due to the tape
being on the white area. They are all equal in size.

I also wanted to mention, do not use a wet rag to wipe off your floor chalk lines. We usually just use a dry towel, or our feet.  Yep, our socks work great. We always wear socks when working on a floor, and usually have cushions with us to keep our knees and bottoms comfortable.

Another good use for your square template, is it will be used for your work surface later. We usually put our stain on top, and all our other tools and drag it on the floor.  I also forgot to mention that the square template comes in handy when you need to bend it around a door, or into a small closet where your ruler can't fit. You can hold down part of it, and trace your square. Works great!

The next 2 videos will follow shortly.

How to Paint a Checkerboard Floor, Part 1

I first started doing painted floors about six years ago. Thinking back I can't remember what floor was my first, but I remember stressing out about it.  My husband and I put rosen paper down on our driveway to practice how I could measure this out. I looked online for help and found very few directions ... maybe now its different.

I learned that you make your marks along the outside walls and snap lines. Well, I tried that. Thankfully it was a tiny hallway, because by the time I got half way down, the squares grew by an inch.

I wanted to share some helpful videos on how I measure out the room and make my squares.  Below is the first video in the series.  Please allow time for "buffering."

Keep in mind, I don't have Hollywood lighting, or a makeup artist, and I am in my studio ... it's late at night, and I am a bit forgetful. And I am also the cameraman! But hopefully this will help someone out. Oh, and it's a 5 part series ... so I will post the next part later.

Quick Notes on What you Will Need:
1. An Assistant
2. Patience
3. Measuring Tape
4. Pencils
5. Chalk Line
6. 3M Safe Release orange core tape
7. Straight razor blades
8. Illustration board or Polystyrene board

Check back for Part 2

Bring it on, 2013!

2012 had a tough ending. Between Sandy hitting us and the tragedy at Newtowne, CT, it just seemed like the little things really didn't matter.  Family and friends were hugged tighter, and we counted our blessings.  Even Christmas seemed to be a little duller, I just couldn't shake what happened to those poor families.  I hope that 2013 is a better year, and with that a focus more on home, and family.

I haven't had a New Year's resolution in a very long time. Too long that I can't even remember what it would have been.  But this year, I would like to try and take time to be more artsy. By that I mean, maybe, just maybe putting the brush to the canvas more, just for myself.

My mother-in-law asked me to paint her a floral painting as a gift for Christmas, and she chose a white Magnolia.  I was trying to cram it in between finishing up a few work projects and I didn't want to work on it while she was watching the boys.  So most of it was painted at night.  I painted it in acrylics, and added a varnish on top to bring out the color. I haven't done a painting in years, other then murals, and I miss it.  That's resolution number 1: Paint more for myself.

I will have to get a better shot, you can't see much of the background colors.

The next few things probably can't be called resolutions, but more like fun projects to do.

For a client for Christmas, and for my brother's family, I made wooden signs with their family name and a message written in Latin, "Familia est Fortitudo Nostra," which means "Family is Our Strength."  My brother had "Family is my Strength" tattooed on his arm, and it was the inspiration.

#2:  I would like to make more signs to sell for business and as gifts.

#3:  I would also like to post more on my blog, and more tutorials ... like how to make these signs.

#4:  On our home front, some small projects to tackle this year.  Making the upholstered cornice boards for dining room.  I've had the fabric for 9 months now.  Paint Kyle's room. Move Logan in Kyle's room! Paint my room!! Make it a grown up room, instead of part nursery.   Make an upholstered headboard for our king sized bed.  Start making frames with my tin tiles.  More to come on that later.

I think that about sums up the little projects. 

#5:  Hanging out with the family more of course, cousins, grandparents ... seeing more of my friends and their families.  Too many things get in the way, and it shouldn't be so.  

To a Happy, Healthy, and Successful 2013!

Thanksgiving Floral Centerpiece

My brief stint as a floral designer when I was younger comes in handy every once in awhile.
This year I knew I wanted to use small pumpkins with flowers as my arrangement.  Last year I was still not getting enough sleep due to the baby to even think about doing anything. So last night after the boys were asleep, I broke out the pumpkins, flowers, and plastic cups...yep, thats all you need.

First I cut out the stem and removed the seeds...holy smokes, I have never seen so many seeds.
I was very happy to roast them, and have been snacking on them all day.

I cut the top off small plastic cups, making them almost even with the top of the pumpkin.

Next I cut my flowers short, and tested the height of the stems, making sure they would reach the water even if it went down. I happen to like my arrangements tight, and grouped into colors.
I also went with a purple, orange and yellow scheme with white hydrangeas in 2 pumpkins to break it up. I used yellow Gerbera Daisies, Purple Poms, Purple Alstroemaria, and Orange Roses.

Right now, they are grouped on my serving buffet, to keep out of the way of little grabbing hands. I had quite a few extra flowers, so I was able to do a tall vase and a small vase to put in the powder room.

Tomorrow, on Thanksgiving when I decorate the table, they will be grouped with the gourds, and of course a table cloth!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sidetracked

I can honestly say that being a mom, has completely changed my outlook on weather, safety, and preparedness when you have children to care for and a hurricane is on the way. My husband and I got the generator ready before Hurricane Sandy was coming, filled up our cars with gas, got two gallons of milk, bread, and filled two gas cans for the generator.  My three year old helped out in the yard as we put almost everything into the garage and tied down the table and chairs. During the storm, he actually asked to go outside in the wind! He didn't seem to notice how badly things were blowing.  We lost power Monday night about 6 pm, right after dinner.  We hung out the rest of the night by candle and Kyle couldn't understand why he could watch the Toy Story movie on the iPad, but not the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, by wifi.  Books were read by candlelight and the sound machines had batteries in them. But our room, where Logan sleeps, had no sound machine and it was deadly silent.  My husband, being the greatest protector one could marry, slept on the couch in case a window blew in.  It was a bit scary that night, and I don't think I slept much.

Morning came, and it was time to turn the generator on. I still had very limited cell service, so I wasn't sure what was happening at my brother's, parent's or mother-in-law's houses.  My friends slowly texted through the week, but the biggest news came from my friend that morning when she said, "Colleen's house was lucky, it didn't burn." She texted me, "Breezy is burning." I was in shock. I had no news, no radio, no internet, no wifi on my phone, so basically in the dark. My job was only to make sure that the boys were happy and fed, sleeping well, and totally impervious to what was really going on. Both Bryan and I were stressed. We wanted to conserve the gas for the generator, so we would only run it during the day, and turn if off in the afternoon while the boys were napping. Prepared for the storm, yes. But not prepared for the way it destroyed our Island.

The images on the news don't do the damage justice. I saw today a video of the Great South Bay, the boats tossed on top of each other like they were Matchbox toys. Our beaches and the boardwalks are ruined. We were just at Long Beach a week earlier with the boys, total calmness in the water. Flat. The calm before the storm. I kept thinking prior to Sandy's arrival, "Oh, it's a storm, we will be fine." I couldn't even imagine the damage it caused. I cannot complain one bit that we lost power for a few days, I have friends whose electric boxes were ripped off of their homes. My friend Colleen who is lucky enough to say she only has to rebuild her first floor, compared to her other family and friends homes in Breezy Point and Roxbury that burned to the ground or were washed away by the storm surge.

And now today, a Noreaster. Really? I mean come on, give us a break.  It's freezing out, people have no power, more people lost the power they just got back, and people are suffering.   Once again, our cars have gas, the gas cans are ready ... I am hoping our power stays on through the night.

I feel utterly useless sitting in my house, the gas shortage is causing everyone to panic and fuel up whatever they have. It's also a matter of conservation at this point, don't go anywhere unnecessary. My friends and I have started collecting donations of clothing for my friend's families in Breezy Point. But we have to get them to the families, and this weather and gas thing is getting in the way.

I am so thankful for the family and friends that I have, and for a home that is still warm. Having two little boys puts everything in perspective.  I can only hope and pray for the families still suffering that their prayers are answered quickly, and that they can rebuild soon.