House Drawing (in which I realize I have the hand stability of an 80-year-old)

November 27, 2012 by Anne 26 Comments

Since I’ve already had one Christmas celebration, I can share this gift that I gave my parents. It cost (close your ears, mom) a whole $1.50 for me to make, so it didn’t break the bank. And, in my opinion, the sentimental value of something like this is through the roof.

It all started when I was bored one evening and was browsing Pinterest.

I came across this little house portrait and was smitten by the little dog.

Picture from here. Someday I would like to have a little painting of my house like this–and I love the paintings of this artist, Rebekka Seale. Ignore the fact that I don’t yet have a house…our garden-level apartment is not something I’d like to memorialize in this way.

Anyway, this little drawing sparked some inspiration that I’d buried deep inside myself and I got to drawing.

I sketched things out very lightly with pencil that I traced with ink, and then I free handed the details like the shingles, brick, and siding.

I found out very quickly that my hand shakes like nobody’s business…let’s just call the crooked lines whimsical, shall we?

It turned out well enough in my mind to be deemed “gift-worthy.” Oh, and this is my parents’ house, the home I grew up in. Lotsa memories here.

My mother will be thrilled that I revealed our home on the internet for all the burglars and robbers and thieves to see, but since I know my readers are awfully nice, I know none of you will break in.

The next (big) task was finding a frame with the right proportions. I  thought it would be a difficult feat, but I found this gem at the first thrift store I tried.

I obviously wanted to keep it as-is and put in some pics of Kenny and I (arms entertwined), but I sacrificed for the sake of the gift and began its transformation.

I wanted some sort of mat, so I cut this one to work. Don’t look too closely… remember the hand-stability issue?

By some miraculous happenstance, the proportions of the frame were JUST RIGHT. Fwew.

I covered the wood frame in chalkboard paint and first painted the mat navy. But it wasn’t quite right.

So I tried again, and a red mat seemed to do the trick.

I gave this to my parents by way of Christmas BINGO on Thanksgiving Day, and I think they liked it. But they sort of have to, don’t they? I’m pretty sure parents are obligated to be proud of their children’s creations. 🙂

I’m sharing this at the Dare to DIY party hosted by Decor and the Dog, Maybe Matilda, Newly Woodwards, and Two Twenty One, and I’m also linking up to Censational Girl‘s linky party!

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