Liberty Wall Art

Remember this?

My quick how-to:

• The plans
• Paint each piece before assembly. I originally used red and white spray paints. I wasn't happy with the way it turned out, so I used white paint from the basement that was used on our walls, and I bought a small sample of red Valspar paint from Lowe's for $2.94. The blue paint was a free sample of Valspar that I had gotten in the mail from Lowe's. I didn't use the dry-brush technique as the plan had recommended, but I could still see the wood grain through the paint, which I was really pleased with.




• Lay the pieces out on your plywood before using glue or nails. There should be a little bit of overhang around the plywood. I used a 1/4" thick piece of plywood (4'x4'), which was definitely not thick enough. I used furring strips to build this piece, and it was so heavy that my plywood bowed when I tried to move it. It took Nathan and me moving it together. A 15/32" was the next thickness I saw, and that's what I'd use next time (probably not for the small one I plan to make, but for this size).



• After laying out my pieces, I figured which sides would be exposed and painted those. Only the tops of the "inside" pieces are painted.
• Then, I glued all the pieces down with Gorilla wood glue. I didn't nail the pieces down; since I used furring strips, I was afraid the wood would split and all my hard work would be ruined. Although, I think it would have looked really good. I also didn't distress the piece. Again, I was pleased with how it looked, and I was afraid I would ruin it. This would have been my first time distressing anything.



• Since my plywood was flimsy, we glued and screwed three 1x6 or 1x8 scraps that we had to the back, to add a little security. We did this sort of in the shape of an "N" to provide the most reinforcement. I'm so glad we did!
• To get the stars on there, I printed the pattern from the computer in various sizes and traced them onto cardstock. I originally used my brush to paint the stars on, but decided that spray paint may work better...and it did. I had to let the excess paint that got onto the back of the cardstock dry in between stars. I learned that the hard way. If you really look, you can see my "error" stars.

This was such a learning experience. It was intended to be a very cheap project, made out of scraps from previous projects. I have only done one other project, so I didn't have a lot of 1x4 scraps, which is primarily what this piece is made of. I think overall, I invested about $40 into this piece. How cool would it be to do something like this for each season (smaller, of course!)?

Craft Reveal

I posted a teaser yesterday about the craft that I made for our family reunion auction. I was pleased with the way it turned out. I knew it was going to be big, but I didn't actually think about how big it would be; make sense? Whoever bought it would have to have a good amount of space to lean it against a wall, because it would probably be almost too heavy to hang on a wall. I got a lot of compliments on the "modern art", so I will definitely attempt it again, only making the next one much smaller. I'm going to build one for my home, and probably one for the auction next year. I'm thinking of cutting the size in half, so it will be about 2'x2'.

And now, the big reveal.....

My goal was for the piece to go for at least $75. Whoever bought it would have to have a truck to get it home, or would have had to live on the reunion grounds. (The reunion was at the property of my aunt and uncle, where there are three homes- my aunt and uncle's, my grandma's, and my cousin and his wife's). The proud new owners of this dandy are my parents :) They bought it for $60. I think they genuinely wanted it, and didn't just buy it out of the goodness of their hearts. My dad is going to seal it and it will go on their front porch in honor of Memorial Day and 4th of July. I will post how the project came to be later...in time to link up with the Tuesday project link party of one of the blogs that I read.

I purchased a plant at the auction. It was a plant that my mom brought that was given to her by my dad's mom about 25 years ago. Wow! That thing's older than I am! It's called a Mother-In-Law's tongue. We seriously have zero plants in our house. This plant will sit on our front steps during the spring, summer, and early fall months, but I will haul it inside during the winter, just like I remember my mom always doing. I actually sort of have a fear of taking care of plants. Flowers, actually. I can't keep flowers alive. Hopefully I can keep this plant alive. It's all green, and I don't think it blooms. If anyone knows how to best care for Mother-In-Law's tongues, please let me know!

I mentioned that some things that are sold at the auction are family heirlooms, so to speak. My aunt shocked us all when she donated my great-grandma's wedding band for the auction. I didn't hear the whole story, so I'm not completely sure how she ended up with it (she's the middle daughter...not that it really matters, I suppose), but she said she never wears it, and she thought someone else in the family might like to have it. It sold for $200 dollars, and was purchased by my aunt's husband. How sweet, right?! She donated it, but apparently it's totally sentimental to her (as it would be for anyone, right?), and he wanted her to have it. That's love right there, folks!

I failed miserably and didn't take any pictures at the reunion. We were only there for a couple of hours. Next year the reunion will be at my uncle's house, which is always a fun time. He lives in the middle of nowhere with horses, a pool, horseshoe pits, four wheelers, a trampoline, and plenty of open land for a skeet shoot. Yep, we're hillbillies. The word "hillbilly" always makes me think of this:



It was an absolutely beautiful weekend, minus a few short thunderstorms. Today was an amazing day to work outside, and Nathan and I were pretty productive. Hopefully this house will be all spruced up before long.

Teaser

Just a little sneak peek at my project for the family reunion auction. I'm pretty pleased with it.

That's all for now! I will post more about it later. I'm anxious to see how much it goes for this afternoon.