Almost There!!

Its almost done! I'm so excited! I was only able to do a few things yesterday, like the clouds (and the wispy grass not shown yet) but I wanted to keep going. I didn't have to time to do so, but that urge was there after realizing there isn't much left to do!

Next is the stickers on the piece of paper on the doorway. Jeff helped measure out where the letters will be stuck, then Pooh himself and then a thin border. Once I'm done painting, Jeff and my FIL will make a wooden frame.

I can't wait!! I want to see it all done so badly!

Fancy Shirts

One of our projects that took place over vacation was to make home-made tye-dye shirts. I haven't done this in so long and no one else in the house (including Zack) ever made them. I thought this was a perfect afternoon project to do with everyone.

Zack's is the upper left shift. Jeff's is the upper right shirt. My FIL's shirt (which he made for my niece Ally and we keep forgetting to give it to her) is the bottom left. Drew's is in the middle and mine is the bottom right.

We still have to make my parents a shirt and my FIL wants to make one for himself, so I see in our near future making more shirts. It was easy to do since we were outside and not worrying about getting the dye on the furniture. The longest part was waiting for the shirts to set with the dye. Other then that, it was a piece of cake.

Wordless Weds - Mural Progress

Mural Update - Slow & Steady

Not too much is new in the mural department. I'm slowly working on the door frame details, two coats of paint on every detail takes a lot of time. With vacation coming up, I hope to have some time to paint. It would be nice to have it done, so I can sit back and enjoy my finished master piece!

Mural Update

The mural is coming along, slowly! I'm at the point where its all the little details that need to be done rather then the large area's to be painted (except Winnie himself).

I finished the log Pooh is sitting on. In the bark area, there are zodiac signs for his family tree, a heart and Drew's name. Its blended in so much, I have to point them out to Jeff.

The next step is the wood detail in the doorway of Winnie's house. Jeff said, just paint it all one color. I said, then it will look like a brown blob and that's not what I'm looking for. After the doorway is finished, its onto the blades of grass.

Its hard to work on the mural after being on your feet all day and then standing to paint. I hope to finish up by vacation time (or be really close). I want to be able to focus on other things while on vacation rather then painting, being cooped up inside.

Mural Update

I've been working on the mural here and there. I've worked on the grass, hill around Winnie's doorway and the sky (not in the picture).

I've done a second layer on all the green (of course, not pictured) and I'm hoping to do one more and wispy grass, then that would be all done.

I have a lot of detail work left, the rest of the log, the door way, clouds and of course Pooh himself. I'm leaving Pooh until the end.

Oh, and of course the lettering in the paper pinned up to the doorway is left too. I won't get much done this weekend since its a busy time at work, but maybe next weekend I'll get to it. We'll see!!

Mural Project - Day 10

I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I was able to work on the mural this weekend, wohoo! I'm feeling good that I'll get this project done before the summer (then I can get outside and do some yard work).

What's left is the grass and hill (the green you see is the first coat of "grass & leaves"), the wood around Pooh Bears doorway, the background sky, the rest of the bark on his log, Pooh's fur and the note in the doorway.

We decided to put Drew's birth information on the note pinned in the doorway (you know, his bday, weight, height, length and time he was born). Also, I started doing the detail in the bark on the log Winnie is resting on and stumbled across a great idea. Since the bark detail is swirly, I will add Drew's close relatives zodiac symbols into the bark and make it a sort of family tree. When I showed Jeff and my FIL this on the log (the one's I started with), they couldn't see it too well. I explained that it's suppost to blend and those who know its there will be able to spot them. Once I have the rest of the clan in there, I'll try and share a picture.

I feel really good about what I was able to accomplish this weekend. Here's to another productive weekend!!

Mural Project - Day 9

Wow! I've only worked on the mural 9 days, buts it seems like years! It must be the stretched out time between those 9 days....phew!

Well, I did get a chance to paint this weekend, but it wasn't too much. I finished up on Pooh Bears shirt (3 coats of red paint) and painted the base coat on the log on which Pooh eats his honey. At this time, it appears Winnie the Pooh is sitting in a mud puddle, so I didn't want to show a current picture of it. I hope to make the bark lines at some point this weekend, but we'll see what happens (it not like I have too much planned this weekend.....two birthday parties for Drew).

But until then, I will keep starring at the mural on Drew's wall as I rock him to sleep, thinking of what can be done next!!

Mural Project - Day 8

I didn't get too much done this past weekend, but I did get a chance to do a little bit of work. I did the second coat of Pooh's red shirt (maybe just one more since when you stand in the room you can still see slight white streaks), the silver nail and started the inside wood of the log. I didn't get a chance to finish that part up, I don't like leaving things unfinished like that, but whatcha' ganna do? You do what ya gatta do!

I hope to get some more done this week! Its taking a little longer then I had hoped, but I take the time when I can! We'll see what happens this weekend coming up.

Mural Project - Day 7

Ask Drew where Pooh Bear is in his room and he'll whip around and point to the huge picture on his wall.

I had some time this past weekend to do a little painting. Jeff took Drew for a ride for most of the day, so I had time to myself. Yeah, I did stuff around the house and errands, but I was excited to do a little painting too. I wanted to do more, but I painted until my arm told me it was enough.

I did the final two coats for the honey, painted Pooh's facial features and started his shirt. I know it doesn't look like much, but there was plenty of painting going on.

I loved it when Drew got home, I brought him into his room and right away he had a huge smile on his face while looking at his wall. He recognized that things are changing on his mural and was talking up a storm. He wanted to get into his crib to check things out!

Mural Project - Day 6

Is that honey I see? Yup, it sure is!!

I was able to paint a little while my parents entertained Drew on Sunday. I had to clean up some of the lines on Pooh Bear since in the drawing I traced had all the lines rough and uneven. It would have been difficult to paint.

After I retraced Pooh Bear, I worked on the pads of his feet, the honey flowing out of the pot (which needs another coat) and I so wanted to paint his little nose for some time now, so I did!!

I also completed the second coat of brown paint on the cut portion of the log Pooh Bear is sitting on. I really want to finish this thing soon, but we'll see what is on the agenda this weekend so I can chip more away at the mural.

As the mural is coming along, Drew points too it often and makes noises. When he's in his crib (since its right under the mural) he likes to hit Pooh Bears feet, its too funny! I am happy to see that he's responding to this massive picture on his wall. I just hope he doesn't get sick of it by the time he's 5 years old and wants to paint over it!!

Mural Project - Day 5

I know, it doesn't look like much, but I had only a little time to work over the weekend on the mural. I took advantage of my mom being over and caught up on some much needed shut eye, then painted a little.

I fixed the honey pot since there were some shadow details on the drawing, but once I painted it, I didn't like it. So, I fixed that part of the mural and while that was drying I worked a little on the tree.

I told Jeff that it doesn't' look like I did much and he reminded me that there is a lot of detail so it would take some time (and then told me that he wouldn't be taking the time for the detail, he's just used to painted a big area.....thanks honey).

So, here is the mural so far. I hope to work on it some more this weekend, but you never know with plans these days. It could all change in the blink of an eye!

Firetruck In My Basement

I have a fire truck in my basement. I'm responsible for it. I'm doing the up-keep and maintenance on it, its my project.

But, its not a life size one or anything, its a model of a firetruck. Jeff wanted to do a project together and he suggested we build models. I didn't hesitate when he made this suggestion and I told him sure! In my head I was thinking, why would I want to do that? But, I didn't want to hurt his feelings. So, we ventured out a few weeks ago and bought ourselves each a model vehicle to build.

I have no skills when it comes to building models, so I found a skill level 1 Mack Fire Truck pumper to build. I like firetrucks enough that I don't mind "building" one and to be honest, the skill level is what really caught my attention. Its a paint and then snap together type of build, perfect!

Jeff is a little more advanced when it comes to model building. He has been putting together models for years, but really hasn't in the past couple of years and so I think the bug bit him again and thought it would be nice to do this together. He is working on a Mustang GT.

Last night we worked a little on the model after Drew went to bed. We haven't gotten too far, but we are moving along nicely. We are each painting tiny parts that will snap onto the larger parts when we are done. Jeff is a real sport at "teaching" me how to build my fire truck and I have to admit its not too bad.

Mural Project Day 4

Its been a little while since I was able to work on the mural in Drew's room. We were a little busy and timing wasn't working out for me to take a break and paint. But, I was able to work in a little paint time this weekend while Drew was napping (and my mom was at the house on stand-by in the event he woke up).

I didn't get much done, so there is no photo to show off, but I worked on the honey pot yesterday. I had Drew point to the color he wanted for the bottom half of the honey pot. The colors were tiny circles representing the paint variety I picked up at the craft store. He held the box and started pointing to the turquise blue color. So, that was it! It is now the bottom color of the honey pot on the wall and I matched it with a lighter blue color for the top.

I still have to work on the shadow part of the pot, but I will get to that and the honey next weekend (I hope). So, depending on how far I get next weekend, there may be photo's to be shown. But until then, I'm happy to look at the semi-painted honey pot while I rock Drew to sleep.

Mural Project Day 3

The task I wanted to complete last weekend, has finally been done! Thanks to mom who had extra tracing paper lying around, she let me use it to finish tracing the massive picture on the wall.

I started off with the little section I did last Sunday with the itty-bitty piece of graphite paper the company sent me to use over and over (pictured to the right).

I was able to work through the hand cramps and blood loss in my right arm while I completed tracing the Winnie the Pooh mural. I think it looks great and now I have to start planning out the colors I'm going to use. I'm a tad frightened that it won't turn out like it should, but I still have some white paint left over to cover up what ever I don't like and start over (I hope I don't paint over the entire thing though).

I asked Jeff what I should put on the tacked piece of paper behind Pooh Bear, since I had a few ideas but couldn't decide. He said, why not Drew's birth information? I said like his birth announcement? He said, yeah! So, I'm going to give that a shot and see what it looks like! It should be interesting!!

The mural photo I traced from (what's on the wall is too light to show)

Mural Project Day 2

Last weekend was day 2 of our big mural project. I wanted to get all the tracing done, but it didn't quite work out that way.

When I pulled the tracing paper out of the envelope it was rather small. I didn't realize or think to look inside to see that it was a tiny square piece of tracing paper. Oh, I was not happy. I instantly because frustrated.

After I figured out how to hang the tracing paper and the stencil of the mural without falling or slipping, I calmed down. I figured I would take care of the area that can be traced by this small square and continue another day after I have more tracing paper. I guess I could move the small piece of graphite paper, but that would get way too complicated and I wasn't up for that task. Also, I didn't want to move the tracing paper, trace the picture and find out the graphite paper ran out of tracing power.

So, I started the top of the tree that Winnie the Pooh leans on while eating honey. Later that night, my mom found some of her tracing paper that I could use for the rest of the mural so I am ready for another day of tracing, but I was so annoyed when I pulled out that tiny paper. I am hoping to work on it this weekend and complete the tracing part of the project.

Mural Project Day 1

Sunday was the first day of the mural production in Drew's room. I had requested assistance from Jeff and my FIL for the first day to help figure out where the mural should go on the wall. I thought I would involve them in someway with helping put this thing together.

So, Jeff and my FIL measured out the size of the mural and marked the wall off with blue painters masking tape for me. It was a whole involved process with pencils, calculators, levelers, laser pointers and the blue tape. Drew stood by to supervise and hold the blue tape for them. He was so proud sitting in his crib so close to the action.

Once that was all taken care of, it was my turn. Today's step was to paint inside the blue box, white over the yellow existing paint. A nice white canvas for the Winnie the Pooh eating honey mural. I had picked up an 8oz container of white paint at Home Depot. It was the "new" try it out before you buy it paint container and it was perfect for my project.

I was able to apply two coats of white paint today. I was very happy. I know it wasn't much for today, but I didn't want to do too much in one day and get sloppy with the project. And besides, when I was done painting, I wanted to get Drew out of the house with the fumes.

Next weekends task, trace the HUGE mural onto the wall. I love the mural company I found on ebay since the mural (4 feet tall x 3 feet long), tracing paper and shipping was under $20. I have a feeling the tracing will be the hardest part, so I am keeping it for its own day's project.