Saturday, February 5, 2011

Stencils and Snow

For some reason I thought stenciling would be a fun activity. OK its not that bad, but I wouldn't call it fun, LOL! I got these plain wood boxes for a couple of bucks at JoAnn's a few months back. I had extra paint from the trim in my craft room so I thought I would paint them to match and use them for storage - maybe WIPs or yarn or magazines, I've got plenty of things to put in them! I used my Cricut to make a stencil and penciled it on and then painted it in by hand with some acrylic craft paint.


The box is tipped on its side for picture purposes. I stenciled above the handle on the other side as well. I think its a little off center, but I'm wondering if its the handle. I measured and checked several times before I penciled it on. If you squint a little bit it looks just fine :) Its good enough for a storage box, I'm not making a work of art here.


I have two boxes so I have three more stencils to go. Once they are painted in with the light purple paint I figured I would embellish with darker metallic purple and some clear glitter paint, not sure yet.

We've got quite a bit of snow! That's our deck furniture you can barely see there ... don't worry, we tipped the table over on purpose for winter so that the snow wouldn't break the glass top.

Way in the back you can barely see the bird bath, I would guess that the bird bath is about 2 1/2 feet tall ...


Snow, snow everywhere. I don't mind a little snow, but its too much right now. Lots of roads and parking lots are difficult to get out of because you can't see what's coming. People have to shovel their roofs off to prevent damage or collapse. We should really shovel off the deck this weekend. Its got even more snow because some of it is what came off the roof. It rained a bit today too, initially they were forecasting more snow, but it was up in the 40s.



When I went to the bank this morning I brought my camera to snap a picture of the icicles on the front of the local seafood take out place (closed for the season). I noticed them last night while I was driving home ... but didn't have my camera and it was way dark out by then anyway. The icicles were from the roof to the ground and were about 6-12" in diameter. The front part of the building is a screened in area where patrons order from a window - like and ice cream place - but in the summer its nice so while you are waiting for your food you're not standing outside where the mosquitoes can get you. I would guess the roof of the screened in portion is probably 10 feet tall. When I drove by I saw that the icicles had broken and fallen down. So no picture :(

When I got back from the bank errand, it was snowing, BIG, huge, fat flakes ... OK that I'll admit was very pretty (especially since it didn't accumulate). I watched the birds at the bird feeder and the huge flakes fall ... reminded me of a snow globe.

I had lots of grandiose plans of finishing some knitting project today, but instead did some much needed cleaning around the house. The floors were an absolute mess from the snow. Muddy, icky footprints everywhere and I was really sick of hearing things crunch when I walked around. So most floors were swept and mopped. Only to get messy again this coming week I'm sure. While the idea of taking our shoes off when we enter the house in theory is a good one, in reality, its just not possible all the time.

I wish I had a project that was near completion, but as I think of them, I can't think of any one that's any nearer to the end than any other. I think I may pull out my Nugatory socks and try and figure out where I was in the pattern ...

Or maybe I'll work on this ...


Because we actually do get Hummers here ... not this time of year though, LOL!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Stenciling is one of those projects that is fun to watch someone else do it.

I never minded lots of snow. I hate it in March when it starts to melt and you have sooting yucky piles of dark.

Love your humming bird cross stitch. I'm keeping your birds safe down here in the mostly warm. My hair is red and I once had one dive bomb my head. It sounded like a huge bee.

JelliDonut said...

What Denise said about stenciling.

Can't wait for the hummingbirds to get back to my neighborhood. That will mean the snow is gone and not a second too soon!

Ziggyeor said...

giggle. Actually stenciling sounds fun! I decorated one of the drawers of my craft desk with paper but it's starting to come off.

Ug on all the snow. It's pretty but I hate the accumulation because the schools are out and then I don't work :p

Cute hummingbird pattern.

Lynn said...

You did a nice job on the box!! The stenciling matches your door handle quite well. Love the stitching of the humming birds. we get birds here but we cant seem to attract the hummers. Thanks for stopping by!

geeky Heather said...

I think the stenciling looks great! You are probably the only one who will ever think it looks off center...we are our own worst critics. =)

Pretty hummingbird!!

We have a no shoes in the house policy...we provide slippers or flip-flops at the door for guests (exotic $2 IKEA slippers or $1 Target flip flops), and I throw them in the wash after each party. None of our friends think it's weird (and of course our Asian friends think we're perfectly normal ;)...both sets of our parents think it's the weirdest, LOL!

Dani - tkdchick said...

Your Humming birrds look lovely!

Teresa Kasner said...

Seeing the hummingbird brought a smile to my face, can't wait till ours come back to Oregon! Some people here have had them all winter!

Teresa in Oregon

Caffeine Girl said...

Your stenciling looks great. I love stenciling onto walls. I wish I were brave enough to paint free-hand, but I'm more comfortable with stencils on walls, which are pretty public!

Anonymous said...

Just the idea that there will be a time of the year in which you can see hummingbirds is giving me hope. I'm so, so, so tired of winter.