mod podge | Planting Sequoias

Oh hello there!

I actually did a craft recently.

I know, I know, shocker. It’s not all beach nights and travel planning and fancy dinners and floods around here.

So. Now that I’ve decorated the apartment once, we’re now into the redecorating phase of our lives.

You’ve seen this picture over our sink before, have you not? (Please ignore our cabinets. They are gross. Part of the grossness is because that’s actually a sticker that looks like wood on the side of the cupboard there…).

Well, it’s not there anymore. Now this seascape hangs above the sink, and I used the blue frame on this deer painting.

But that left me with the picture itself. I still like the umbrella painting/collage/drawing (whatever it is), so I flipped it over and used the other side.

Using magazines, I cut out dozens of 2 inch hexagons and played around with color patterns.

We lived with this non-glued artwork on the living room floor for a few days, because it was quite fun to see all of the hexagons go flying at the slightest gust of air (not).

Soon I got to gluing, and once I’d glued everything down, I layered on some mod podge.

Once it dried, I styled it in our bedroom on the bookshelf. We needed some height on that top shelf, and this artwork delivered.

Not to mention color. I like color, and our bedroom decor is lacking in that department (Oh, and here‘s the tutorial for the doily wreath on the second shelf).

This craft owes its life to my friend and inspiration BL, who did a much nicer and much larger version of this that I’m still lusting over. Perhaps I can stealthily take a picture of it the next time I’m at her place and share, because it is gorgeous…

So. Operation “make a craft out of everything” continues. (Not really; I just made that up. But it is kind of what my creative life looks like right now). I need to get to work and write a book or something.

What have you re-crafted lately?

If you’ve ever met me in person, you would probably place me in the category of “moderately well-adjusted.”

I have you all fooled.

What’s really happening under the surface is that I’m thinking about how to avoid attracting attention to myself or worrying that I (heaven forbid) might actually have to talk on the phone at my real job or reminding myself not to mouth my words when thinking and walking down the hallway (it’s awkward when you meet someone while doing that).

So the other day I created a little reminder that things aren’t quite as bad as they often seem to be.

I started with this piece of nondescript fake woodland scenery from the upper right quadrant of our gallery wall.

I scored it at the motherland, aka the thrift store, for a mere $.25, so I felt no remorse for defacing it.

Also, it came with a super swell plastic frame with fake wood grain. I just had to point that out.

I cut out some letters from white cardstock and lightly glued them smack dab in the center of the scenery. I then slathered on the mod podge, which actually matched the gloss and fake brushed texture of the rest of the painting remarkably well.

Oh, and I was very careful to center everything just so…I used a tape measure and everything.

Nothing negates the phrase “it is well” more than off-centeredness.

Oh, and the phrase comes from my sixth or seventh favorite hymn. Cutting out all of the letters from my favorite hymn, “Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation,” seemed like a rather daunting task so I took the easy route.

mod podge paper letters onto artwork