Country Sunflowers - Painting

Country Sunflowers

I started this project to complement the décor for my 2nd daughter's wedding. She had a country wedding with sunflowers. We bought a roll of burlap for all the decorating we had to do for the wedding, she was her own wedding planner.

I started by choosing the subject and what better way than using your own flower. We planted sunflowers to use in the wedding. Only a few made it as the chipmunks discovered the seeds.

I used acrylics to for this painting. It is more difficult to paint on burlap as one would imagine, I was glad the theme for the wedding was rustic, country, vintage, so the imperfections in the burlap was celebrated.

 

Green background done and I left a 2" border unfinished because the frame was not planned yet.  

 

 

 

I filled it in with leaves and the big sunflowers but left the some bare background.

 

 

 

My husband is very talented with building things and being creative when I present him with a problem, the frame. We had a couple of pallet projects and used the sanded planks to build a frame, to keep the burlap stretched and flat.

Finished painting, framed and ready to hang. It was a beautiful addition to the rest of the wedding décor.

 

 This I where it hangs now, happy in my kitchen for now.

 

 

Country Wedding

We did all the wedding planning for both daughter's weddings and had blast creating everything ourselves. I will be posting some step by step instructions and in other cases just pictures of what we made. It was most enjoyable, and I look forward to sharing the experience.





 

Country Sunflowers

http://upcycledpeacock.blogspot.com/2013/08/country-sunflowers-painting_25.html

We used a lot of burlap for this wedding, The letters were painted with acrylic.

Cornhole boards

SEE-SAW

We always get the stumps and branches form cut-down trees from our neighbors because we are known for our fires, there is usually a bit of smoke coming from the backyard. We created our own bit of "country" in the city.

 

That being said my husband came home a few weekends ago with a load of wood. The stumps were there for a few days and I knew my husband was up to something when he told me he had a plan. I envisioned a totempole, but he saw a "teeter-totter".

This is what followed:


6ft stump planted about 3ft deep

Top edges worked off to allow up-and-down movement

10" deep hole drilled for 15x3/4" lag bolt.



Seats were cut from a piece od 10"x2"x8'

having fun in the backyard

The handle was made from our outside broomstick.

Beautifying The Glider

Beautifying The Glider

 

Blessed to find a friend on my yardsail route Saturday. I told her I was looking for baby-stuff, in particular a glider or rocking chair. Co-incidence?  She had one in her spare bedroom and her boys are older so she won't use it anymore, it is blue, but I can have it. As it works out the gifter of the glider happened to be the wife of my daughter's boss. God provides in mysterious but wonderful ways.

Another project is born.

 

Daddy enjoying the glider before I give it a facelift.

7/4/13 - Since we don't want to do all this over again if they have a little boy I decided to keep it neutral with a removable twist. I found Khaki denim at Wal-Mart for $2.00 a Yard - would only need 2 and some left-over fabric from the onesie project. Baby is due in less that 10 days so I better get moving.




7/5/13 Turns out the blue was also a re-do because the original upholstery was pink. It was not the shade I like and I had already bought the khaki so I used the blue as templates for my fabric.

Footstool before
 



 

 

Original pink cushion.

Seat cover used as template.

Strips of fabric with piping



Backside of footstool with binding.

I decided to use a green accent as piping for the seats and footstool, I made my own by cutting the green in 2" strips and folding it over the piping. I used the zipper foot to stitch it close to the piping.

Start of the piping process.

Fabric first then piping close to the edge. Stapled to footstool.

I used the piping to finish the edge of the stool to have a universal look throughout the project. I pinned the piping on the inside edges of the cushions and gathered the fabric on the curves to give it a nice round edge.

I am putting a bird applique on the back cushion, to match the birds in the mozzy net. I used the green from the piping and cut a the bird a little bigger than the one in my accent fabric, same with the tail feathers. The tail feathers will repeat on the seat and footstool.

 

My 8yo drew the bird I used as template, she loves being involved in the creative process.

Scraps used from other projects, to get a layered look.

I machine stitched the smaller pieces to the green background. I did not finish the edges to get the "worn" look. I then placed the applique on the cushion and used embroidery yarn in different colors hand-stitching to attach it.   

 



Applique bird design on back cushion.

 

 I used 4" wide strips to make the straps, I cut one piece of 4'x4" and stitched it right sides together. I cut it into 4 pieces that I finished on one side slanting toward the folded side. I then turned each piece inside-out and stitched it to the cushion. I would have done this in one step when I did the piping but since we may change the applique to suit boy this will be easy to remove and replace.

 

Ties to secure the cushion to the glider

 



I will post the final product when I the glider delivered and ready for use.

What I couldn't get but found -1

YARD SAILING 6/30/2013

Old Ford Passion-Wagon

I asked but he would not let go! All you need is love! I could see my family going down Route 66 in this van, free, happy and loading it chok-full of treasures. That will be a dream I will hang on to. In the mean time I found the complete series of StarWars for my son-in-law to watch while he is at the hospital waiting for my first grandchild.

Star Wars, the series.

7/4/2013 And so the day comes to an end and the gift was appreciated. Happy Birthday Daniel and God Bless America!

Star Wars series wrapped in brown paper with hand-painted flag for a July 4th Birthday

Applique Onesies (Babygrows)

Applique Onesies (Babygrows)

 

 

My first grandchild is due in a month and her 2 aunts and I hosted the baby-shower. I thought it would be a neat idea to have her name on onesies as decoration. She can wear them when she is born too. I will post baby pictures when the time comes.

Selection of cotton fabric, bright and happy designs. I bought a 1/4 yard of each so I could use it for the mosquito net as well. Post to follow

Various onesies gifted to me by a mommy who used them just a couple of times
 

I cut paper templates and placed them to see that the designs on the onesie were covered, cut the fabric and appliqued the letters on the onesies.

 

The final product a nice banner with the new baby's name hung under a picture of mommy and daddy. Needless to say they loved it and little Celia will wear them once she is big enough. I will post the pictures of that when the time come.
Success!

The Bat House

Bat House

 

 

During summer time in the Carolina's we are invaded by mosquitos. To cut back on that we decided to make a bat house and put it up near the area where we spend most of our time outdoors.

 

We read somewhere online that bats eat mosquitos. Something about the blood. I'm not sure.

Anyway, my daughter had a sand box shaped like a boat that was falling apart. We made the bat house out of those materials.

 

Looks like a mess but we basically cut away all the bad/unnecessary wood.

Made a couple measurements and cuts.

We covered the plywood with mesh so that the bats have something to hold on to.

We figured we'd make a house for a couple hundred bats.



Finished project. Welcome to the Bat Cave.

 

We have yet to confirm that bats actually live in our "Bat Cave" but we have seen some low fliers.