Today I would like to share a non-card project I’ve been working on over the last couple weeks.  Since the husbo and I moved into our lovely home in the fall, we’ve been not-so-patiently awaiting the spring.  We’ve been dyinngg to plant a garden full of veggies and herbs.  And we did it!!!!! Finished it this weekend! Yay! We have 3 raised garden beds in the yard for all the veggies…. tomatoes, peppers, peas, carrots, lettuces, radishes, beets, etc.  I wanted to keep all my herbs nice and close to the house, so on the deck they needed to go.  I wanted a hodge podge of ctonainers, so over the past few weeks I have scoured local antique shops and fairs, and collected a few vintage boxes to plant my herbs in.

And all that seemed to get pricey rather quickly.  So what is a girl to do?  After lots of Pinteresting, I decided I would give a go at creating my own distressed terracotta pots.  I picked up four pots at Michael’s and a new skinny paintbrush.  ( I have a terrrrrrrible lazy habit of not washing my brushes out after painting and having to throw them away.  Everything else  had at home.  Cheap. And my husband loooves that!

Materials for pots:

Terracotta pots, acrylic paint, brushes, electric sander, graphite paper, free font from the net, printer

Directions:

1. First I messily painted the pots.  Then I splattered paint on them (and on the wall! yikes!)

2. Then I sanded the pots down with the electric sander in random places to create a worn/aged/distressed look, with the natural terracotta showing through.

3. I found a font that I liked on the net, called Past Due. I downloaded and installed the font.  Then I typed up the numbers in a Word document, font size 170, and printed it the numbers out onto regular white computer paper.

4.  Then I cut around the numbers – just a rough square.  Then I taped that right on top of some graphite paper that was cut just a bit bigger.  Then adhered the graphite/number paper combo right onto the pot.  Next up I used a pencil to trace the printed number, creating a transferred image directly onto the pot.

5.  Slowllllly paint the numbers on the pots!

6. Plant your herbs.

7.  Eat your herbs all summer long!

 

Uh oh! I took this before I added my cute little pinwheel to my basil “tool” box! I picked that pinwheel up at Target! It was hard to only buy one….

 

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This is my second card for this week’s Cas-ual Fridays challenge, themed “feathered friends.”  I “found” this stamp set when I was looking around, and I don’t think I’ve ever used it.  I grabbed it on the clearance rack at Michael’s.  Love a deal.

All the paper is from Crate Paper.  I’m addicted.  And I spritzed some Mr. Huey’s onto the woodgrain panel.  The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, and I actually cut it so I could use it all in one row.  Yes, I cut my stamp.  I don’t know what got into me, usually I would only stamp part of the sentiment.  It turned out well, and you can easily use it in it’s original format too, so it’s really no big whoop! Maybe I’ll get crazy and do it again sometime…..

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I had a chance to make a few cards last night when the husband was off at the Red Sox game.  I really love getting to craft during the week while listening (and singing really obnoxiously) to my favorite Pandora stations.  This week the theme over at  Cas-ual Fridays is “feathered friends.”  Irresistable! I love birds!!

****Thanks to Kimberly for pointing out that my card could also be submitted over at this week’s Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.  It’s been awhile since I’ve submitted a card for this challenge…but I have certainly played along and not posted my cards.  What a lazy blogger I can be sometimes.  I love, love, love, love Kim’s sketches.  I have a bunch pinned on Pinterest.  They’re so clever!  So I am super excited that they will be adding a sketch component to their challenges.  Whoop whoop.

And a close up of the “special hot pink bird.

 

 

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This spring is just flying by! Mother’s Day is tomorrow?! Holy moly.  I am cooking dinner for the family…really looking forward to it!  The twist over at Twisted Sketches is “flowers”…..perfect for a Mother’s Day card!

The flower die is from Memory Box.  Those dies are so impressive…love them.

My husband told me that this card “looks like a card you could buy in a store.”  I said “really??!!!” Then he said “well, you’re cards are usually a little more interesting!”  HAha.

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