No Power? No Problem.

This summer was a crazy one for SE Michigan.  We've had hail, wind, rain, and floods that have just been bananas.  BANANAS.  One day last month, the internet kept warning me that yet another storm was coming...yippee, right?

And storm did it ever.  We lost power on a Friday evening, and didn't get it back til Sunday night. Sooo, what to do with a weekend full of power outages?  Can't break out the sewing machine.  Can't break out the power tools.  Can't even cook because I don't have a gas stove, and the refrigerator has become a bacterial death trap.

Luckily, I had just cleaned out the fridge the week before, emptying bottles with expiration dates of 2011 stamped on them.  Yikes.  Apparently I didn't need a power outage for my fridge to be a death trap.  Anyone else clicking out of this blog to go check your condiment bottle expiration dates right now?  You might want to.

Let's wait a minute while people do that (insert Musak here).

Everyone back?  So, after the Great Fridge Cleanout of 2014, I bought a few plastic bins at Target, and labeled them with a few of the most commonly grouped items for easy reach.  Even though I have a small fridge, things still seem to get pushed to the back and lost for eternity, shriveling up and dying, only to be discovered weeks later with a, "Hey, I could have used that if I had known it was back there!" 

Lucky for my wallet, when the power went out, I hadn't yet gotten around to replacing all of those staples that I usually kept in the fridge.  Win for big grocery shopping procrastination!!

So, with an empty fridge, no power, and plenty of time on my hands, what is there to do?  Well, lots of things, but only one I'm going to actually write about in a public forum.  Get your minds out of the gutter, people...I'm talking about going to the movies, which no one wants to hear about.

After my last post detailing my lovely little Wine Sign for my sister, I thought I could just pull more wood scraps out of the garage and paint.  So I did.  I'm not really feeling a detailed instructional play by play on this, so I'll just show you a few pictures and then reveal the final product.

Can you spot me in the glass table reflection?
It's the blog version of Where's Waldo!

Add some tape in your favorite geometric shapes!

Slap on some mastic!

Layer on some paint!

Keep on layering!

Take a picture!

Then take a closeup!

I have no clue what I'm going to do with this.  I'm not even a huge fan of modern art pieces like this one, probably because when I see them hanging in a gallery, I think, "Why would I pay thousands of dollars for this when I could make it myself?"  Annnnd I think I just proved my point.

In honor of my Storm Happened, Lines are Down, DTE Can't Work Fast Enough, No Power weekend, this piece is titled, "Edison."


It's Electricity Appreciation Day in this house, peeps!

Wine. It Does a Body Good.

Please don't sue me for stealing your slogan, Dairy Farmers of America!  Wine is much more fabulous than milk, though, isn't it? (and water. and every other beverage. right?)

Preach it!

My sister had a birthday in August, so it was time to DIY!  For those of you who like to say, "It takes too much time to DIY, I can just go shopping and buy something.", I officially challenge that statement.  All in, which included researching my sister's Pinterest boards for what to make, making the gift, and running it to the post office took a smidge over an hour (in bits and pieces, mind you).  Unless you live directly above a gift shop and your sister lives with you, I doubt you're clocking any less time in buying vs. DIY'ing a gift like this.  Plus, people LOVE homemade gifts.  Unless they don't.  Soooo, there's that, I guess.

Luckily for me, my sister appreciates what I DIY for her.  Either that, or she's just too nice to say otherwise.  I'm sure I've given her a few duds in my DIY days, but hopefully the good projects make up for it.

Today's project is an easy one!  Here's what you need:

Scrap of wood
Paint (the 99cent acrylic variety will do just fine)
Paintbrush
Paper/pattern/sketch (or freehand it, whatevs.)

Here's the plan:

Take your piece of wood that most certainly DID NOT come from the garage attic covered in bird poop, and make sure it's clean and free of rough edges.  (Here's the spot where my sister will pause, never knowing if the above sentence is the truth, or just my way of freaking her out.  She'll live in the dark forever- I'll never tell.)

It's clean, I promise!!
(I used the tacks to hold up the backside of the board for quicker drying time)

Next up, paint the wood with your background color.  I chose to use a mixture of white and graphite paint with a smidge of water- I wanted more of a weathered gray wood look- something slightly opaque, but still rustic looking. 

Let the paint soak in for a  minute, and then wipe it softly
with a rag to let some of the wood grain show through.

While your paint is drying, start making sketches of your wine bottle.  Don't worry if it isn't perfect- it shouldn't be- it's not a photograph!!  When you think you have the template you want, slap it on your DRY wood piece, and trace around it.

I sketched a smaller version of the bottle first,
and then enlarged around it to make the process a bit easier.

Here's where you need to make sure you've got the right paintbrush- no dollar store paint by numbers brush here.  Get yourself a small angled brush- that's what'll work best for painting straight lines with a smart edge.  Use your angled brush to trace the outline of your wine bottle, and then fill it in.  I used the full strength version of my graphite acrylic paint that I mixed up earlier.  You could always use chalkboard paint here, as I was going for a similar look, but I did not feel like busting out and mixing up my pint of chalkboard paint when I wasn't going to use it as a reusable chalkboard. 

Ignore the shadows, please- my basement craft room needs some additional lighting.

While that dries, practice your handwriting.  You need to give it a few goes- work the kinks out!!

Practice makes (almost) perfect!

When you feel that your handwriting is sufficiently less sucky than when you started practicing, use a paint marker on your wood board.

Almost done!

Drill a small hole in the back to use as a hangar of sorts, and voila, you're done!

Easy peazy.

Instant gift!!

Hope you liked it, Jess!!