Driftwood Signs Beach and Lake

Every now and then I find a piece of driftwood that is just the perfect size and shape that is screaming to be a sign! That was the case with these two pieces of wood -- BEACH and LAKE.

I was able to order wood letters from this great Etsy shop in Arizona https://www.etsy.com/shop/azwoodlady. Last year for Christmas I bought a saw for my husband so he could cut letters for me....did I mention I ordered these from AZWOODLADY....never mind, that's another story for another time!

I used two colors of paint on these letters. For BEACH I used the blue as the base and covered it with an aqua, then sanded/distressed it to pull some of the blue forward. For LAKE, I did the opposite. I then added a paste wax and buffed it out.

I just love the color and depth of the signs. Just a fun little addition to any ones beach or lake house. See the signs in my Etsy store here.

Muskegon Sailboat Project

I love how this project turned out. See all the details below.

I received a note via Etsy asking if I could customize the head sail on a driftwood sailboat. I responded 'most likely send me a picture.' This is what I received!

 

Woo, that wasn't what I expected. I thought maybe the sail had a blue stripe on it or something. At first I thought 'no way' but then I started to study it a bit further. I was asked to make two. Luckily I had two pieces of driftwood nearly the same size but they faced opposite ways. So I started by drawing out the colors and then creating a mirror image of the drawing. I then cut out each of the pieces.

 

I was able to find batik fabric which I think looks a lot like water color painting in all of the colors I needed.

 

 

Then I drew the warrior facing both directions and cut him out of black fabric.

 

 

I fused and appliqued all of the colors on to the sail and here's the final product!

 

 

This was a very fun, challenging project. The sailboats are gifts to two children who lost their father. This was the head sail on his boat. It was a pleasure to be a part of preserving his memory.







 



Wooden Boxes Before and After

You know how you go into an antique shop and spot something and think, "I want that but I have no idea why." Then you go home without it and it haunts you. So weeks later you go back and hope it's still there. Well, it was my lucky day because this set of three wooden boxes that I just had to have was still there. Here's my set of wooden boxes -- okay, truth be told, they are an old canister set. But they are solid wood and have such potential!

 

I brought them home and sanded them down. Mixed up a batch of chalk paint and gave them a few coats. Distressed them and applied a coat of wax that I then buffed out. I topped them with beach glass for knobs, and wow, what a transformation! When I get out to Seattle later this spring I'm going to search for the perfect sea glass chunks to become the official toppers for these fun boxes.

Color of the Year - Marsala

Pantone has named Marsala the color of the year for 2015. Now, I've seen many interpretations of :marsala -- everything from mauve to red. But this above Pantone color example is my favorite. I have created a collection of pillows to demonstrate how you can incorporate

Marsala into your nautical décor.

 

 

This deep red works beautifully with blue, white and natural burlap colors. Here's a sampling of the finished pillows.

 

 

Handstitched pillow designs

I used to love to stitch -- cross stitch and embroidery -- I found it to be very relaxing. When I travelled frequently for work I used to take projects on the plane. Long flights and sitting in airports produced a lot of finished projects! But, since 911, you can't bring sewing needles or scissors on the plane and I just stopped working on things.

Recently I found a couple fun patterns and thought I'd take it up again. I just finished this seagull on black denim. I stitched it on waste cloth; when finished I pulled out the cloth, and there you have it. Watch for this to become a pillow in the future.

What's more fun than felt fish?

Not much!
I had so much fun making these little critters. I started out by cutting small felt circles to create the fish scales. Cutting the circles wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but I do like the look:

 

 

I then decided to try using small felt squares to create the fish scale pattern. I sewed the tiny squares in an alternating pattern to a piece of muslin. I found this great coordinating chevron-style cotton which I think works really great with the diamond pattern. I overlayed the felt square pattern onto the chevron fish and cut the squares the shape of the fish.

 

Here's the final product!

 

I'm trying some other combinations in citrus colors and I found another great cotton fabric for the fish. Watch for this project coming soon!

 



Turquoise and Orange Part 2 - Frames

My little beach cabanas, which I originally attached to a piece of driftwood, just weren't going over as well as I'd hoped. I decided to try something a bit different. I searched antique and thrift shops for frames with good character features, then repurposed them into these funky frames to give my beach cabanas new life! I think they turned out very fun!