Howdy,
I hope everyone is well and enjoying what remains of Summer. I am not ready for Winter, putting coats on and freezing our butts off but I am ready for slightly cooler temps. How is the weather in your neck of the woods?
Before I introduce you to my nemisis....I'd like to show you an amazing project by CDT member Johanne.
Johanne used my
card base 6 file to create this stunning card. I just love this card as at first glance it looks like a tag but opens to reveal a sentiment inside. Here is what Johanne had to say about her wonderful card/tag.
Cutting File:
Paper: Bo-Bunny Jazmyne Effloresce
Stamp:
Magnolia Wish Granted Tilda
On the circle: Delicate Pattern from Hot Off the Press
Sentiment: Juste pour toi (Just for you) from the collection Merci from Bonnidée
Inside card translation:
...To make you smile and brighten your day
... To encourage you and make you grow
... To remind you that people who love you are around and are thinking about you
Have courage!
I love that Magnolia image and Johanne colored it sooo well. That sentiment is great too!
If you would like to purchase the file Johanne used to make your own tag card please click on the photo to be taken directly to my store. It's a steal at 30% off this month.
I just thought I'd show you how you can easily add a photo (using my
folded photo corners file) to the inside top of the tag as I did in this card I made.
Okay I have mentioned how we decided to remodel our porch. We started working on it July 5th I believe..and we are still working on it. Is that nuts or what!?! Seriously, I am not slacking we truly are still working on it. I hope to be able to paint on the primer this weekend. I thought I'd share some photos with you of what I have been doing all this time.
This is our porch as it stands today. As you can see it is quite large. Normally, I love having a big porch and it sure did come in handy when it rained during Adoree's birthday party and we had everyone huddled on it. But....
...the porch is covered in the crackle paint you see above. It is very hard to remove and can't be done with just a traditional scraper. We tried a paint stripper but didn't have much luck with that. Finally I took out my crafting heat gun and realized the paint could be removed by heating it first and then scraping it off. We bought a heat gun designed for paint removal and that is what hubby and I have been working on for ages now.
It's a very slow process since you have to hold the gun in place until the paint is hot enough to scrape off but as you can see in the above photo it works great! The above peice was scraped and then sanded. There are a few places we couldn't get completely clean but primer should help with that.
Okay now meet my nemisis........
I have been working on this wall of windows forever now! I do believe this little wall is taking longer than the whole rest of the porch because of all the nooks and crannies. I can't wait to tackle this beast! I am still having a few problems with my foot so I can't stand on the ladder a long time and must take frequent breaks plus the kids always seem to need my attention. This is one instance where I wish we lived closer to family who could watch the kids while we work. I worked on this wall a good bit this weekend and have most of it done except for right up against the window. I could not take this down to bare wood..just this grey stuff but at least now it's paintable! My goal is to finish this up today and start sanding it. Then I will celebrate because that will mean we have scraped all that darn crackle paint off the porch and can move on to sanding then pressure washing and finally priming! We've had to return two heat guns soo far because of the switch breaking and the store we got it from is about 2 hours away. So I'm hoping the heat gun hold out until we finish. Also, there is this weird substance coming out of the wood when I heat it...almost like a sap consistency. Very weird and I'm hoping this won't cause the new paint to crackle or flake off.
So....I haven't been slacking. I do have new files I want to get into my store and more projects to share with you on here but we must get this porch done before we leave on vacation. We are in the home stretch now though. After we get the painting done hubby is going to put two more posts on either side of the front steps and vinyl railings around the perimeter. He also is going to put sofet on the ceiling. Thanks goodness as that look even worse then the crackled photos I showed you. I will share with you an after photo once we complete it. I'm thinking it will look awesome and really boost the appearance of the house!
Okay well I've gotta eat lunch and get back to the porch! Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!
I was thrilled to finally get to use some of my handmade paper. (My son got a paper making kit for his birthday one year. It makes gorgeous paper from scraps!) Keep in mind my KNK digital paper cutter will not cut the handmade paper since it is too fiberous. However, It was easy to cut card stock triangles to use to trace a pattern on the handmade paper and cut out to place on the pennants in the top right corner. I used a paper trimmer for the strip on the bottom. This photo doesn't do the paper justice. It has golden foiled diamonds and hand stitched swirls. A few sequins and twine finished up the card. 
The kids had a snow day today. They are loving having the day off..but I bet they will be awfully antsy in June when they are still in school! I hope the weather is good in your neck of the woods! 
