Sunday, February 27, 2011

For the Birds

For the last year or so, I have enjoyed looking at all the wonderful signs in Bloggersville and finally got the courage (I am not much of a crafter) to make one for myself.     I knew I wanted my sign to hang on a 15 inch wide wall that separates the kitchen from the sun porch.    I “went shopping” in my hubby’s woodworking shop and found the perfect size board.   How lucky is that?     It seemed like a sign from above (pun intended) that I should make this sign in spite of my fear.

Now the dilemma was what wording to place on the sign.      I thought about various words related to cooking but decided to go with my love of birds.   My creative hubby came up with the idea of Aviary and from the moment the word came out of his mouth, I knew that was what I wanted on the sign.

I went outside, braved gale force winds (maybe I am exaggerating a bit here, but it was very windy), and began the painting process.   Only one curse word was uttered in the making of this sign and ironically it was because a bird flew a little too close to my head while I was painting.

I applied left over white paint to the wood with a rag and wiping it off creating a whitewashed effect.    Using a scientific and mathematical method often referred to as eyeballing it, I stenciled the word Aviary with terra cotta colored paint.

After letting  it dry for about 30 minutes I went back over the lettering with a lime green color.     When that dried, I sanded it with the hope that the terra cotta would show through but it didn’t show as much as I would have liked it to.

One of the downsides to eyeballing your projects is that you may not always get them spaced properly which forces you to think creatively.

I ended up with more space at the bottom than at the top which drove me crazy so I modpodged a picture of birds onto it that I found in a Pier One advertising flyer.   

You can see the aviary sun porch  in the background where my parakeet, Sky, happily lives.     She, too, loves to bird watch.     There is a little wren who comes up to the window to flirt with her, but she won’t have anything to do with him.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting.     Sky and I hope you have a blessed week!     I will be partying will all these wonderful ladies and hope that you will pay a visit to them also.

Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday

Marlee

3 comments:

Linda@Coastal Charm said...

Marlee,
This sign came out great...love the colors that you went with.

Blessings,
Linda

Unknown said...

Love your idea! The style and colors are great. I can appreciate the work!

Heaven's Walk said...

Great job, Marlee! I love the way you combined colors and sanded them. And your sweet little Sky is just so very pretty! No wonder the other birds like to flirt with her! lol!

xoxo laurie