Art Wall Project . . .

While the bedroom revamp is not yet finished, I thought I'd show you another house 'work in progress'. 

I have always loathed the look of our big TV - it's great to watch, but you can't avoid looking at it even when it's not turned on, as it's in our main living area.

It's so large and black and smack-bang in the middle of the main wall. My husband loves it, of course.

I have decided to take some inspiration from shots like these . . .

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and make the TV part of an art wall!

After making a template of the TV from newspaper, I laid it out on the floor in the living area and started to arrange all the frames I have around it.

Once I had finished, I took some shots to remind me how they will need to be hung once painted and 'filled'.

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I worked on the floor in front of the space to make sure everything would fit nicely on the wall above and be well balanced.

I'll update you all again once the non-black ones are black, and I start to fill them with some interesting/quirky artworks. 

P.S. “Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.”  Robert Motherwell

Happy Mothers' Day

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To all my friends and family who are mums, and to their mums, have a lovely day! 

P.S. “There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.” 
 Jill Churchill

Camping was intense . . .

See what I did there? Intense. In-tents. Bah! You all have no sense of humour!

But seriously, over the long weekend we did the opposite of 'glamping'. There was no glamour, but due to the extended wet weather last week, there was plenty of mud . And cold. And fun!

We had a big bonfire . . . 

 

 The kids ran around madly with glow sticks . . .

Tried to stay warm . . .

 Paddled in the dam and made a mud slide . . .

 Cooked our bread on sticks over the fire . . .

And came home with clothes like these!

P.S. " It always rains on tents.  Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent. " Dave Barry

Happy Star Wars Day . . .

to all my fellow geeks!

source (and check out more cool and funny SW art here, though some are NSFW!)

May the 4th be with you. That is all.

Lest We Forget

Whether you have a military connection or not, make sure you take a moment today for a quiet 'thank you' to those who have served or are serving on behalf of our country . No matter your opinion of war , our life would certainly be different today if they didn't .

At the going down of the sun , and in the morning , 

We will remember them.

Vale Edward Arthur Chant

My dear grandfather Ted ( ' Gandie ' to my family ) passed away this morning , just shy of his 90th birthday .
I believe he had what they call a ' good innings ' .

"For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity."  William Penn

A Cloche Encounter . . .

For the last couple of years I have been crushing on cloches, which are bell shaped glass covers (and also hats!) like this . . .

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that are usually used for either covering food or growing plants. 

But  I have seen lots of great re-purposed ones used in decorating .  Check out these beauties . . . 

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Lots of clever folks have made their own from various combinations of items like stemmed glasses, cheese domes, candlesticks, old lantern parts, hurricane lamps etc , and I knew I could too. So each thrifting expedition over the past year or so has seen me searching for great second-hand goodies to make my own. I set myself a goal of making one for $10 or less . . .

and now I have!

Mine is made from a $4 cheese dome . . .

and a $3 timber stand . I'm not sure of it's intended use, but I reckon some lovely old bloke learning wood turning was very proud of it years ago.

I gave the pieces a good clean with metholated spirits to get rid of the grease and dust, then used E6000 to glue the cheese board to the stand. ('Liquid nails' would also be great if you have it.)

Once the glue had dried overnight, I gave the whole thing a light sand to get rid of any varnish and give the paint a good key.

Then I started the spray painting, using a 'booth' (read cardboard box ) in the backyard. The trick to a nice even job is lots of light coats, with drying time in between.

I used White Knight 'Squirts' quick dry gloss enamel paint in Medium Grey and gave it four or five thin coats all over. (I did toss up lots of colours - I think it would have looked lovely in a pale aqua or dusty red, but went with a neutral so it can be used with any kind of 'filling'.)

Then after a good clean and polish of the glass dome and leaving the paint to dry overnight, I put it together.

Voila! With a few dollars and a lot of patience, a decorator cloche of my very own.

P.S. “Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character."   Calvin Coolidge