Happy Fall!

Today was another crafty crap day...it didn't start that way, but it sure ended that way.

This morning I got up and went to have my second follow-up TB check...still no TB. I then picked up Greg and we headed to lunch at a local bar. The bar is famous for their burgers, but I had a pesto chicken sandwich...holy yummy. After lunch, I dropped Greg off at his office to catch up on a couple things, and then I drove to the coffee shop a few minutes away. I settled in with my hot tea and a crossword; Greg met me a little later and we worked on the puzzle together for a while. At two o'clock, he had to head out for his kickball game, and I had to go restock on my crafty stuff. I really just wanted to wander in JoAnn Fabrics for an hour, but I did also needed some paint.

I did my wandering, restocked, and headed home to get to work. I planned on making more cards, but I got started putting lace patterns on cardstock and things sort of just snowballed from there. I did make a couple more cards, but I also had an idea to paint and pattern a picture frame. I started with a small, basic silver frame that I have had for a while.

I panted the entire frame with a deep, metalic, bronze-colored paint.

After the first coat dried, I gave the frame a second, textured coat by tapping the paint onto the frame with the tips of the bristles.

While that coat dried, I placed a piece of lace onto a paper plate and covered it in a lighter, champagne-colored metalic paint.

I then draped the paint-laden lace over the frame and pressed down evenly across the entire surface.

When the frame completely dried, I cleaned the glass and added one of my favorite pictures from my trip to New York City. Viola! The frame looks like a mix of lace and snakeskin....muuuuuch better than the plain original.

After I finished this frame, I had the idea to do a set of frames for my living room. I had one blank wall.....very large....veeeeeeeeeery blank. Last year, I used a set of 4 plain, thin, silver frames in my old apartment; I had been keeping them in storage, unsure of what I wanted to do with them.

To begin, I did the same paint process as earlier...first a dark coat, then a texture coat, and finally a lighter lace coat.
While the frames dried, I used a cut a piece of lace and covered it in dark metalic brown paint.

I layed this lace over dark khaki-colored cardstock and pressed the lace evenly across the paper with napkins. I removed the lace and cut the cardstock to fit in the frames.

I then picked four of the leaves that I had dried previously; the leaves were similar in size, shape and color. I applied tacky glue evenly to the back of each leaf and pressed one on to each cardstock background.
I then placed the backgrounds and glass back into the frames and hung them on the wall. Viola...again!

After I cleaned up the mess from the painting projects, I found that I still had a LOT of dried leaves left. The colors were so beautiful, it seemed a shame not to display them in some way. I remembered that I also had decorative fish bowl in storage, so I dug it out and cleaned it. I placed some amber-colored glass beads in the bottom, and poured in the leaves.

I let them fall, haphazardly, so they were visible from all sides of the bowl. I love, love, love fall, so I really enjoy having a little of the beauty of the season inside.

Mom is coming to hang out with me tomorrow...we are going to a pumpkin patch festival and I am making lunch...can't wait!

Happy Fall Everybody!