Using my Basting Spray to Help Stencil

I found another use for my basting spray! It's not really what it's made for, but I thought I'd share this project with you anyway!

Our house has two doors, just around the corner from each other. Everyone gets confused as to which door to use and usually go to the door that opens into my kitchen/laundry room (which is not normally the room I want to bring them in through). We're trying to get the living room door designated as the door to come to and slowly it's working. The wreath I showed in the previous post helps, but I came up with another idea (from Pinterest!) to help as well. I saw an idea for spray painting welcome onto the porch in front of the door. I definitely wanted to do that here! I almost pulled out my coral spray paint but decided to go with something more neutral for whoever moves in after us.

But first I had to figure out stencils. I knew ordering a stencil was a possibility, but I hated to pay for something I was sure I could make for cheap on my own. I almost decided to draw it by hand until I realized the printer would be way easier. I pulled up Microsoft Publisher (but Word or Paint would work great as well!) and found a font I liked that would work well to turn into a stencil. I put each letter on a separate page and printed them out. This next bit was the slow part (but not horribly slow, just more than I wanted). I cut the letters out with an exacto knife, saving the little pieces to go in the inner parts of some of the letters (like the e). Next, I gathered my paint, some boxes to use to protect the rest of the porch, spray adhesive, and went to work.

And here is where my basting spray came into play. I needed some way to stick the paper stencil to the concrete step. I had Elmer's permanent spray adhesive, but that leaves and awful residue and I didn't want dirt clinging to the step where the residue was. So in digging around my craft supplies I came upon my basting spray and knew it would be perfect! 

I sprayed the back of the paper and stuck it to the step (lining up the bottom of the paper on the bottom of the step so the letters would all be the same height).

I then did a quick coat of gray, and a quick coat of nickel to make it shiny and stand out better. I was nervous when I pulled off the paper, but it worked great!

On to the next letters. This font has the letters all connected (cursive), so I made sure the e overlapped a little onto the edge of the w when I stuck it to the step.

That worked great. I followed the same steps with each letter, being careful to not get paint beyond the edge of the paper. It turned out just right!

It doesn't stick out huge, but it's a fun little touch on the steps. I might try doing another layer maybe with gold, I think that'd stick out just a little better. But for now I love how this looks!

It does stick out beautifully when the steps are wet from the rain though! 

DIY Autumn Leaves Wreath

The weather has definitely felt like fall lately! I went to pull out our Fall decorations and realized that I gave most of them away when we moved. All I had left were two fall garlands.

http://www.marquettelareeblog.com/2011/09/autumn-necktie-garland.html

http://www.marquettelareeblog.com/2011/09/autumn-necktie-garland.html

So I decided to see what I could come up with from our local Walmart crafting aisle (the home improvement/hardware/crafting store wasn't open yet when I made my shopping run, so Walmart it was).  I found our crafting section is pretty pathetic compared to what I was used to, but it would work.

I ended up going home with a wire wreath form I got for $2.96 (much cheaper than the grapevine wreaths I discovered!), and 3 sets of autumn plants (two bunches of oak leaves and a floral arrangement) which I got for $3 each (ouch! I remember the leave bunches being $0.99 two years ago!). I dismantled the leaves, clipping them into singles leaves rather than pairs.

I pulled out the hot glue gun and just started gluing them on with no rhyme or reason.

And, I found a great use for the Bumbo (Darrow still loves this thing and it comes in handy when we have two toddlers in the house needing somewhere to sit during mealtime). It makes quite the handy little holder for the glue gun between leaves!

I got all the leaves on and decided I did want to put the items from the floral bunch on, so I clipped those off and glued them on as well. I love how it turned out! I probably could have only bought one bunch of oak leaves as I had a ton left over, but I didn't know that before.

I've had a pin on Pinterest saved for forever about using a command hook to hang wreaths (especially on cabinet doors, or if you just don't like the metal over the door hangers). I didn't have a wreath hanger (and didn't want to buy one), but I did remember that pin. So I used some twine out of the craft drawer and secured the wreath to the back of the screen door, only I did this redneck style. You know the little hydraulic thing on top of screen doors that keeps the door from flinging open or slamming shut? This door is missing that I discovered. I was going to use a command hook, but using that bracket meant that there wouldn't be the back of the command hook visible through the glass. So I tied the twine to that and hung the wreath. At least this way I know the command hook isn't going to give out.

It adds some cheer and color to the front of the house (which desperately needs some cheer and color). This picture made me realize just how badly the house is in need of a paint trim job. I'll put that on the list.

So with the supplies used (one wreath form, and 2 floral bundles-I'm saving the other bunch of leaves for another project down the road), I spent $9 on my fall wreath! Not bad!