Baby Shower Plaque

A couple years ago was wedding season and it seemed like Mr. Engineer and I were going to a wedding every weekend... Now it is officially baby season with all of our newly married friends becoming new parents. Last week, I went to a baby shower for a family friend. She is having a sweet baby boy.

This is the plaque I created! I like to make something to give as a gift because it is more personal than buying something.

I am going to go through step by step instructions if anyone wants to do this plaque project!

Supplies for this project:

- paint (I just used some paint I already had -for the background I used Ultra White - 70143 Valspar interior semi-gloss paint, for the lettering I used La Fonda Artisan Green - 5009-7 Valspar interior flat paint and Navy Blue - 403 FolkArt matte acrylic paint and for the outline I used Metallic Silver Sterling - 4034 FolkArt enamel acrylic paint

- pencil (to outline the image or words)

- paint brushes of various sizes

- wood plaque (this is the only supply I bought, I picked mine up at Michael's)

The plaque I used was already primed with white, so I only had to do one coat of white paint.

Then, I outlined my lettering.

Next, I painted the lettering in the green and blue.

Finally, I added the silver accents.

I even added some color on the edges.






I also wanted to share a different plaque I made for another family friend:

 

She had a little girl.

 

All I did was change the colors and font...

...so it would match the color of the nursery décor.

Fourth of July Burlap Flag Wreath

To celebrate Fourth of July, I wanted to share the burlap flag wreath that I made.

I wrapped red chevron burlap and blue star burlap and added a couple flags...

... and I used a hot glue gun to put it all together.

I hope everyone has a happy time memorializing the anniversary of the Decoration of Independence. Mr. Engineer and I will be heading to the camp for the weekend for plenty of fun in the sun.






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Lace Frame Accessory Holder

I love to use accessories for my hair because I hate it in my face, so you will usually find me with a headband or clip in my hair. I was using a shelf divider and a couple of shoe boxes to currently house these items. The organization of these accessories has become unruly in my closet. 

It is so messy and makes finding anything a chore. I needed a new solution, so I came up with a plan...

 ...a Lace Frame Accessory Holder. I was inspired by this. This allows me to easily see everything and to have a pretty display that I can choose from.

 

 I started with this open frame that was on sale at Hobby Lobby.

Supplies for this project:

 

- open frame

- staple gun and staples

- various lace (I used a yard of emerald lace I already had and bought some stretchy ivory lace ribbon)

- scissors

- needle and thread

 First I cut three pieces of the ivory lace ribbon.

  

Then I stapled the first piece to the back of the frame.

 

 Then I stapled the other two pieces.

 

 Here you can see the detail of the double row staples, so I could make sure it wouldn't break when that piece was streached.

 Next, I cut down a piece of the emerald lace.

Then, I attached a lace panel to the back with more nail gun action.

After I stapled all four sides, I trimmed off the excess.

Here you can see the detail of the staples on the back.

I wanted to make the three lace ribbon on the front more secure, so I hand sewed areas so that the lace ribbon could stay in place and not sag due to the weight of the items I place on it.

I stitched the first ivory lace ribbon to the emerald lace panel.

Then I stitched the other two ribbon.

Now the fun part was going through my collection and picking a spot for each accessory.  It really also allowed me to clean out stuff that I don't need anymore.

 

I added hangers to the back and mounted it on the wall in my closet.

 

It fits perfectly.

Voila! All my pretty hair things displayed!

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Architectural Charcoal Rendering - Mount Carmel Academy

I was commissioned by my almer mater for some artwork of Mt. Carmel Academy for an auction. I was super excited at the chance to give back to my high school.

 Here are a couple photos of the building:

Photograph by scrambler390

Photograph by Nicole Bell Photography

 This is Mount Carmel Academy located on the corner of Duperior Avenue and Front Street in New Iberia, Louisiana. It is a beautiful building sited on the Bayou Tech. I was familiar with the history, but I learned some new thing about it's past when I did some research. It was constructed in 1850 as a residence for Doctor Henry Duperier. In 1872 it was sold to the Sisters of Mount Carmel and became a Catholic boarding school. The school was closed in 1988 when it joined with St. Peter's College to become Catholic High School of New Iberia, where I went to elementary and high school. Today it is the Place Eugenie office building owned by the Schellestede family.

After getting a feel for the building's history I got started on the rendering:

I choose 17" x 14" 80lb drawing paper.

 I started by taping off the area I want to work within. I used the dimension of 11" x 14" which is a typical size that can be easily matted and framed.

 Next I used vine charcoal and a ruler to do a basic perspective. I choose the view looking directly at the front facade.

 Then, I added more detail with the vine charcoal.

 Next, I picked up some black conte' and started retracing lines and adding more detail.

 Then, I wanted to add some color to give more life to the building. So, I picked up some brown conte' and started adding texture to the roof, shutters, and lentils.

 Next, I used white conte and more black conte to give some more contrast and add texture.

 Finally, I added in the final touches of the vegetation, oaks, sky and grass.

 My favorite part is peeling back the tape to reveal the crisp border line.  I love the way it turned out!

Here you can see more detail and the title of the artwork above my signature.

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DIY Cake Plate

I have been on the hunt for the perfect cake plate, but they are either too plain or too expensive.

I got the idea of making my own cake plate.

The plan was set to action when I happened upon the perfect base for it at Hobby Lobby. It was a candle holder... Now all I needed was a plate.

I also found these found plates at Hobby Lobby and these and they were only $2.

  

 The only tools I needed to complete the project were a can of spray paint and a hot glue gun.

The bottom of the plate was black, so I sprayed it gold.

Then hot glued the candle holder to the plate.

Voila! My own gold and green cake plate.

It looks even better with a cake on it!

It even looks great with a cake dome.

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