Friday, December 7, 2012

Outdoor JOY!

 
 I have to say it's been a surprisingly, enjoyable blog break this past month.  The break was prompted by a sermon series our pastor is doing on the Beatitudes.  We were encouraged to practice fasting from a legitimate pleasure for the sake of pursuing righteousness.  I chose to give up blogging for a month and substitute that time with a study of the book of Ecclesiastes.  It's been a profitable month and I realized, while blogging is fun, it easily consumes my time so I'll continue to monitor that. That said, I'm back with a project I completed for the front of my home.  The number buckets were created this summer so I wanted something to replace the flowers for Christmas.

I have a ton of these old fence boards so after cutting them to size, I used flat white paint to dry brush them.


I chose a font I liked and printed the letters out.  I then cut them out and traced around them using a sharpie.


Red, acrylic paint was used to fill in the letters.  I wanted to mimic the dots on the buckets so using an eraser I added the black dot border.  Since I used acrylic paint, I did give the boards a few coats of clear sealer.
 To complete the project I cut some branches and sprayed them silver and added some white lights.  The glowing 'orbs'?
These are just those cheapo light globes with part of the white lights tucked inside!  I could only find two at GW (.99 each) but plan to collect more to use throughout my garden this summer for lighting.  Total cost of this project was the $2.00 for the globes as I had everything else.

Linking to these parties this week . . .
The DIY Showoff   http://diyshowoff.com/
Marvelous Mondays http://www.jamscorner.com/
From My Front Porch to Yours http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/
Under the Table and Dreaming http://www.bystephanielynn.com/






7 comments:

  1. Your globes for outdoor lights is a fantastic idea--I may have to try that out in my garden, too. And your sign is lovely--I love the dry-brushed effect that you got with the white paint. Nice to hear from you over at my blog, and glad you liked the blue ornament vignette I put together!

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  2. This is a great project, Lauren. I have never thought to print out the letters in a font I like on the computer as a pattern.

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  3. Hi Lauren! Oh, this is so cute and what a great idea! Thanks so much for popping in to see me.
    be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  4. Lauren,
    That is the cutest project and you photos look wonderful!
    Have a great Christmas!
    Sherry

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  5. Love this...and those globes are so fun too!! Welcome back...it's good to take a break here and there...and remember what is REALLY important :)

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  6. I love this .. I saved a pic and want to mention you on my blog with the JOY fence pickets.. WOULD that be okay ? I love love love your blog and your message .. SO happy to meet you and be blogging with you . I saw you joined me .. I couldnt wait to check out your blog and I AM so glad that I did .. LOVE IT

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  7. Joy is such a meaningful word...full of hope and promise! I'm glad we stayed in touch this past month! You were a true friend...a friend in need! Sweet hugs to you and Happy holidays!

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