Leaving the past behind

I’ve known for a while I wanted to update a certain set of frames in my home.  They were a Christmas gift a few years back but they were never 100% my style.  They were an antique bronze looking color.  But they held lots of pictures and came in a three set that hung beautifully in any space.

I took them down off the wall and as I started pulling the old pictures out I got sad.  Like really sad!  These pictures were all from around 2003/2004 and my youngest daughter wasn’t even in the mix yet. 

There were pictures of our wedding, my husbands baptism when our son wasn’t yet three.  The birth of our first daughter and her first year of life.  Our honeymoon….  I knew these needed to be updated so that our completed family would stand on the wall together but leaving the past behind is hard.

So I set them all on the counter and started to paint the frames.  I used Krylons Brushed Nickel over some white primer.  It was TOO silver!  Ack!  So with all the pretty detail in these babies I glazed with my black glaze and then ahhhh came the subtlety of an antique silver finish.  It now has that aged patina to it which I love.
Here is a before and after…
 
And the set completed.  I put all black and white photo’s inside with the exception of just a few that had color highlights.

And as I started putting in the new pictures I again had a smile on face.  As my beautiful family started to fill the frames I realized that it didn’t matter which year or age we were when we entered into the 4x6 spaces… all the memories are special.

Here are some of the photo’s I put in….









So try to remember that leaving the past behind makes room for a great future!
~Sommer

Fresh Bread

Happy Hump day gardeners!  Before I get started I want to announce the winner of the Fabric Pumpkin giveaway we had...  Drum roll please.....

The winner is Kai!  Congratulations Kai... please send me an email with your shipping information so I can get those out to you!  I have the three shown and two more, one is more of a burnt orange color and pattern and the other is a brighter yellow and gold colors.  Just specify the three you want =)

Sadly my first little giveaway didn't generate as much traffic as I had hoped but I'm very excited someone gets to give these pumpkins a great home!

So on with the show as they say... I've had a serious love affair for chalk board signs as of late.  They have become so popular and are in all the great catalogs and great blogs out there. 

I tried my hand at my first chalk board sign using and old picture.  I repainted the frame and painted the chalk paint on to the cardboard backing.  It turned out okay. You can see that one here. 

I recently acquired some cabinet doors I planned on making some signs out of and one of them was exceptionally large, a dark 70's stained wood.  So I got to work taking off the hardware left on it and filling the holes with some wood putty.  Then i sanded it down with some 150 grit just to give a nice finish. 

Another thing I learned on the last project is that chalk paint is expensive and I'm cheap.  So instead of layering and layering the paint on I just primed my cabinet door with dark gray primer then I only used about 2 coats of the chalk paint to get a nice coverage.

I wasn't liking the blank slate look I had going here so I grabbed some old trim I had laying around that I had saved from an old barn earlier this summer.  I cut my pieces and made a frame. Then I primed and painted them.

Not bad eh?

First I glued the frame onto the door and held it with clamps.  Then I left it over night to dry.  I ended up securing it with some finish nails from the back side.

Now I hadn't thought this through at the beginning but I rarely do.  It's really heavy! So now I'm not sure if it will end up being hung in the spot I had intended for it until Mr Garden gets home to analyze it for me.  In the mean time it's sitting pretty leaning against the wall on the kitchen counter but it's pretty big so I don't think it will stay there long.  But I highly recommend the chalk paint on wood!  It made an amazing chalk board that I can change out to a menu or welcome sign etc...