New Stuff

I keep hearing variations on the phrase “if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.”

When I was all about acting I would have interpreted this as “you may love it but you’ll never get a job.”

But now that I’m a little more….in control of things (acting is all about other people telling you when you can act) I’m finding the sunnier side of that turn of phrase.

I spent a good part of my weekend “working” on new ideas.

Easy Little Wall Organizer

As you are well aware, organizing is my mantra these days (or it would be if I could find my mantra – I think it’s under a pile of papers somewhere)

So, when my friend Aimee requested a small, decorative wall organizer for her desk I was up for it.

Also, because “organized” means using time wisely, I thought I’d combine two projects and make her wall organizer my latest Mod Pod Rocks project!

See?  I’m getting really good at this!

I took some inexpensive (dollar bin!) boxes from Michaels, some scrapbook paper, a bit of scrap wood and, of course some poor, innocent candle and got to work. It’s a very easy project although quite specific to Aimee so I think of this as more of  a “jumping off point” idea.

Although I’m pretty sure you can intuit the various steps of this project you can, if you’d like, see the full tutorial at MPR.

Halloween Door Hanger Project and Free Printables

At last it’s chilly here in LA (in the morning at least) and starting to feel Fall-ish….or as Fall-ish as Southern California gets….I’m wearing shorts……

Anyway, it’s helped with my Halloween thinking.  So, with the assistance of the invaluable Graphics Fairy along with some fun fonts from DaFont I threw together a quick, easy, Halloween Door hanger that I thought might be fun if you haven’t done all your decorating already.  And the best part, it cost about $4.00!

You will need:

• Scrap wood cut to size (any thickness will do, mine happened to be ¾”)
• A candle
• Flat black paint
• A sander or just plain sand paper
• Mod Podge (I used both Matte Mod Podge and Outdoor Modpodge for this project.)
• Eye hooks
• Wire
• Printables

I came up with these designs using graphics from the aforementioned Graphics Fairy and a couple of free clip art images.

Here are all the graphics along with the two backgrounds in case you wanted to do your own thing.  If I’ve done it right you should be able to click on them and then save them as a JPEG to print out.

I cut my scrap wood down to 10.5” by 3” strips

….and let’s say it all together shall we?….” rubbed my candle along the edges!” (Cheltenham Road: where good ideas go to be beaten into the ground!) and then painted over it with flat black latex paint.

(The candle lays down a barrier between the raw wood and the top coat of paint and the paint won’t stick to the candle wax.  So, when you sand the edges in the next step you reveal the wood beneath and end up with an antiqued/aged look. You can see a full tutorial and explanation in this post I did on making chippy wood letters)

After the paint had dried a quick sanding gave me that slightly antiqued edge.

I then Mod Podged the graphics into place and, after they dried, trimmed and sanded the edges slightly and sealed them with a coat of Outdoor Mod Podge.

After that I put a mark 1″ in from each corner and drilled pilot holes (pilot holes are particularly important if you’re dealing with old, scrap wood – it prevents the wood from splitting).

I wired them together and my front door immediately took on a festive, fall Halloween vibe.

Now, if I can manage to look welcoming while keeping most of the candy for myself…………

Further thoughts:

I’m not crazy about the wire hanger.  I think a black rope or something would be better and painting the eye screws black would be cool too.

I wanted to use hooks and eyes (rather than wire) which I thought would be easy to come by.  However, by thinking that I, of course, immediately invoked the David Law whereby things that you’ve seen before and seem quite common and attainable suddenly cease to exist.  This happens regularly.  I don’t mean to be egocentric but I’m pretty sure that, at some point in my childhood I uttered the phrase “Oh, I’ll go pick you up a Unicorn – they’re everywhere” which lead to their immediate disappearance from the planet.

Another Anniversary!

My new tutorial has just been posted over at Mod Podge Rocks and it marks another anniversary for me – my one year ManPodgerVersary.

A little over a year ago Amy (the Mod Podge Rocks Grand Poo-bah and master of all things podgy) put out a call asking if there were any guys who used Mod Podge.  The talented Walter Silva and I responded and she asked us to come up with projects and it has been an amazing opportunity.

Amy is a constant source of encouragement and positive energy and incredibly patient (I keep turning in my tutorials late or just-on-time-but-not-really-on-time-enough).  And being pleasantly “forced” to come up with ideas has been the best imagination-stretching opportunity ever!

In addition it has lead me to meet most if not all of you who read this blog and for that I am very grateful!

Here is a brief anniversary tour of some of the projects that never would have happened without Ms. Anderson’s encouragement (and my friends who help me brainstorm when I’m stuck):

(If you click on the pictures it will take you to the tutorial on Mod Podge Rocks)

A cocktail table made from a shadow box frame and a porch rail:Chalkboard Paint place card holders:Reversible Chalkboard Bunting (I was going through a chalkboard phase)

Some more of my blocks themed for Halloween :Comic Book Coasters made from hardware store wall plates:

Luminaries made with more hardware store odds and ends:

And there are tons more.  It’s been great!

Anyway, the new project is up.

As you know from my previous post I (sort of) recently found out about Anaglypta Paper and have been looking for ways to use it.  I’ve put it under glass on some tables but this time around I thought I’d try using it on some of my letters.

I thought these could make for cool centerpieces or wedding….things?  I’m not sure but they seem potentially very weddingy (it’s a word!) to meIf you like the look head on over to MPR for the full tutorial.

Patchwork, Coasters and Wedding Blocks… Oh My!

Hi,

I’m workin’ away getting ready for Patchwork on Sunday.  If anyone is LA-local please do consider dropping by.  The historic Helms Bakery is one of the coolest spots in LA to cruise around (whether you go to the show or not) and the Patchwork show is inside so you can peruse without need of sunscreen!

I’m trying to get some new designs out in time.  I’ve been working on my Wonderful LA coasters

And a few other project that I’ll try to photograph before the event.

Also, if you’re keen on such things, my new tutorial is up over at Amy’s Mod Podge Rocks site.  I came up with (yet another) variation on my tea light holders but the tutorial also goes into how to get that distressed look under the paper.And now it’s out to the garage!  Things to paint!  Things to sand!

 

Opposite Day – Picture Frame Makeover Tutorial

I am not  a “beach person.”  In all honesty I’m not sure I’ve been to the beach since I moved to LA.  I mean, I’ve walked by it, sure but I haven’t actually tossed a towel down or made a sand castle or anything – it’s just not my scene.

But apparently the Patchwork show tomorrow in Long Beach has put me in a fully beach state of mind and has lead to Opposite Day.

So, I was rummaging around in the thrift store looking for frames to use for my magnetic chalkboards when I came across this frame

It’s a nice frame but the minute I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do and it involved the beach – which seemed odd but who am I to argue with sudden flashes of vision?  And, of course, being me I had to do this project RIGHT NOW!!!

I have this habit of rummaging around at flea markets and coming home with random black and white photos.  I have no idea what I want to do with them but they capture my imagination.  Over the years I’ve developed certain “themes” in my collecting and one of them is vintage beach scenes.  I found this young lady years ago and something about her – the way she’s standing maybe – always caught my imagination.And I finally knew what I wanted to do with her.

Now usually my task is to find something old and beaten down at the thrift store and make it look better but this time around I’m taking something that’s in fine shape and making it look old and beaten down.

So I set about sanding the edges of my frame down to bare wood Then I grabbed my trusty candle and rubbed the wax along those sanded edges and top coated the whole thing with Rustoleum’s Heirloom White.  The paint won’t stick to the wax so, after the rest of it had dried I sanded away and ended up with this

Easy!

And now it was time for the details.

I did a little Google search for vintage beach bathing beauty magazine covers and downloaded a random selection and then re sized them in MSWord and made little strips the same width as the frame I Mod Podged my little collages into place and blew up my vintage photo to fit the frame.I think it suits her.

OK, now I’m off to the beach myself.  Wish me luck and, if anyone is in that area please do stop by!

Please Pardon Our Mess

Well, my noble goal to become totally organized, amazingly efficient and completely together is……going to take longer than anticipated.

Honestly, I think I made more of a mess this weekend than ever before.  But I have faith that it’s a mess that is going in the right direction.

And I must say you folks are a great motivator!  Thank you!

I spent my weekend working, working, working to get the room finished (among other things) because I kept thinking “I promised this for Monday.”   Clearly DEADLINES are going to be the key to my success.

I’m happy to report my workroom is almost done and I’m very pleased with it.  But, I’m waiting on a couple of finishing touches so the big reveal will have to wait a day or two.

In the meantime part of my weekend was spent prepping and finishing my latest Mod Podge Rocks Project which Amy posted today.

I’ve been contemplating for a while how to make a vase using  PVC piping and, while discussing the idea with my imaginative friend Karla she suggested making a Mother’s Day themed vase using old photos and it all clicked.

So, I took rather random assortment of stuffAnd made this centerpiece that I thought was a fun way to celebrate family history.

Of course, since I finished it, all I can think about is all the OTHER ways I could do it and all the possible variations.  I love it when an idea takes off like that.  So we may be revisiting this one later as well.

If you’d like to find out the details please head on over to Mod Podge Rocks to check out the full tutorial

In the meantime I’m back to the workroom project!

Lets Get Lazy!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I’m pleased to report that Amy  just posted my latest tutorial over on Mod Podge Rocks.

Apparently a deep desire to create lazy susans runs in my family.

You may remember my dad’s beautiful lazy susans. Well, in an Oedipus like maneuver (without the killing, eye gouging or marrying your mom part)I have come up with my on lazy susan design!

Of course, my father’s were meticulously crafted using fine wood, incredible patience, creativity and crazy-mad woodworking skills and mine were…….made of random stuff I grabbed on sale at Home Depot.  But lets not quibble about minor details or explore too deeply what makes my dad my dad and me, well, me.

So, I found some metal plant saucers (the things that go under the planters to protect your floor) and thought they would make great, oversize, lazy susans when combined with an inexpensive turntable.

So I had this:

And then, of course, due to my graphics obsession/color problem I had to make it all bright, shiny and graphicy so I ended up with this:

I hope you’ll check it out and, as always, if you have any questions you can ask over on the site or drop me a line here and I’ll be happy to answer.

Rose Bowl Ramp Up!

It’s the big Rose Bowl run up.  One piece of furniture down……several to go……..

When I first saw this little dresser I thought (and you may remember) that I’d put chalkboard paint on the front and make it for a kids room.

However, my sister Phebe wisely weighed in on that idea.

You see Phebe marches to a different drummer than I do.

Phebe’s  drummer is way cool and waaaay together.  Her drummer leads her to have alphabetized spices and to never be late.  My drummer…..probably got fired from the band for missing rehearsal.

Anyway, Phebe pointed out that as a mom of three she wouldn’t have been thrilled to find chalk dust all over her children’s clean clothes.

I really couldn’t argue with her reasoning and so a new idea was born.

Or rather a recent idea was expanded.

I seem to have a thing lately for old postcards.  So after some mad downloading from the Graphics Fairy and a few other sources I came up with this.

Once again, here is the before with it’s charming shelf liner top

And here we go.

Perhaps a little on the busy side but I’m pleased.

OK – back to work!

Pay no attention to the man behind the garage door!

Part 1

First off I apologize for being a total tease and I am now happy to report that the awesome Amy of Mod Podge Rocks has completed her cross-country trek and has posted my tutorial for the Subway signs! So, if you’re at all interested in learning how to make theseOut of some bits and pieces then by all means head on over to Mod Podge Rocks  to get the full tutorial.

They are easy to make and, of course, totally customizable to whatever city inspires you.  For a local store I’ve since made ones for London and Chicago!

Part 2

I arrived home yesterday afternoon and discovered this in front of my garage door. Just patiently sitting there, waiting for me.

Now, I think I’ve chronicled my exploits of furniture acquisitions:

• Beg: “you gonna take that with you when you move”,
• Borrow:  “Does taking things left on the street count as borrow?” and of course
• Steal: It wasn’t my fault!

Bottom line: I’m all about getting furniture wherever I can.

However, I’ve never had a piece of furniture just walk to my front door of its own volition.

Logic tells me, of course, that a friend, knowing of my sickness, dropped it off.  However, there was no note or subsequent email.

So, I’m choosing to believe that word has gotten out among the cast off, discarded and dilapidated furniture subculture that “there’s this guy in LA who can help you out.”   And, even as I type, pieces of furniture are making their way carefully down the yellow brick road to my door.  There’s no place like home…the garage.  There’s no place like the garage…..!