Fixed it..

Gary decided to paint the front side walk at the lake house.  It turned out to be a very orange color.  It was terrible.  I don't know if it shows how orange it really looked in this photo.  BUT it is very orange.

I got another gallon of the SAME concrete paint just a very different color from Home Depot.  I took a broom/brush and dipped the brush straight in the gallon of paint and swirled the paint onto the side walk making sure that it pooled in the cracks and low spots.  I wanted an age/dirty/old look.  Here it is wet.

It took an entire gallon of paint to paint the side walk.  This is an oil based paint, I just tossed the brush I was using.  $7 bucks Home Depot, I found it in the broom section.  You will need a stiff brush when working with concrete.  Don't use expensive brushes the concrete eats the bristles.

Can you see the dog paws?

Here they are on the porch.. I am going to paint this making it look like a rug.  I wasn't going to do it until the spring.  But.. Now I will when it cools off.  Since I want to stencil it and I don't want to melt.

Gotta love dogs.  And all three of them did it.. You can just see the "big" dog prints.. The littles are harder to see, in size and because they weight so much less that the print is very very light.

Done. 

Here it is dry.  I really do like the way it turned out.  And honestly the orange worked in my favor.  I need to take a new front photo.

When it doubt just repaint.  

Happy fixing.

Kiss me

I love my Silhouette machine.. I have been playing with it for days now.  Things I have learned.

1. You can totally use contact paper.  $8 bucks for a roll of black 18 inches wide by 24 feet.

2 You can use blue painters tape to transfer all the vinyl, the heavy stuff and the contact paper.

3. You can use the clear contact paper to transfer the colored contact paper when you want to transfer a stencil.

4 Cutting stencils is a pain in &*%$#.  DO a test cut to see if it will cut.  Getting the stencil off the cutting mat will make you crazy.

5 Write down the information when you find the cuts you like.  Example when cutting contact paper you have to use the cutting mat. 

6.  You can use the other brand cutting mat.  I could only get the 12x24 cutting mat in the other brand.  It totally worked.

Today I'll finished this.  It is not completely dry.  I will need to flip it over to mount the hanging brackets on the back.  One on each end will get it level when mounting it to the wall.

It could have used a second coat.  The glue shows up.  I painted around the letters with watered down glue.  I won't buy decoupage glue.  It is expensive for what I want to do.

By painting the letters first you get clean lines.

Here is what I used.  Confession I didn't realize that it was not acrylic until I was home and then I just wanted to finish it.  I was not going back to home depot, so this is an oil based paint.  I just tossed the foam roller.

$8 bucks and it did cover in one coat, as long as you don't get picky.   It would have been really nice with a second coat, it would have covered the glue lines.

I found this in the garage.  It was a piece of window seal.  It is paint grade.  

See the finger joints.

I knew it would work for what I wanted to do.  But as you can see it was very noticeable stained with the black lettering.

I had to cut each word separately using my large mat.  I cut the vinyl down into 7 x 18, which was just measuring out 7 inches and using my wheel to cut.  The contact paper is 18 inches wide.  I drew a pencil line across the entire board to use as my guide line.  You can't see it in the finished product, unless you look for it. 

I ordered some more vinyl online, I will let you know how that turns out.

Happy Cutting...

Craft day

I finished my other granddaughter's name today.

I used contact paper to make the letters.  It is $6 a roll 18 inches wide by 24 feet long.  Instead of 12" by 5' for $12.  It is way way thinner and you have to cut using the mat.  And set the cutter sittings to 6 deep and 7 speed on the vinyl setting.

It also does not stick as well so I glued over the top.  Looks great.

I had two more boards so I took four different colors of blue and spread them around.

I took a sponge painter, and drug it from one side to the other.

It gives a great look.

I love this saying.. I am however not sure if I think it is large enough.

I didn't "love" this so I painted over the letters.

It as too white so I glazed over this to tone it down. Pulled the letters.

I like this one much better.

Another one... Different colors.

I really like the way this one turned out.

I love how this one turned out.

What I learned.  You can totally use the contact paper.  But you will have to put a sealer over the top.  It really isn't as sticky as the vinyl.    And you have to use the cutting mat.  I am going to get the larger one tomorrow.

Happy sign making.

Catch up..

Okay I couldn't take the first time how uneven it was.  I just picked the love off and I made it bigger.  The second time I made even more pencil lines.  Still very hard to see.  But this time I have the same amount of space.  I can live with this.  Going to the lake house this weekend.

The painters tape works like a gem. And it is way way cheaper than the transfer tape.

I had an idea to do baby names for the girls.  I decoupaged craft paper over wood.

The cutter does have trouble on little letters and lots of detail to close together.  But I got it to work.

You have to be very careful when removing the unwanted vinyl.

I cut it free several times.  Do NOT let it fall back on the letters.

I refused to buy the kit.  I had an old rubber scrapper that had a broken handle.  The x acto knife was just a cheap Walmart one.  The other two tools came from the dollar store they are "teeth" cleaning tools.  They work great.  My kit cost me less than 10 bucks.

I am having so much fun with the cutter.  LOVE it.

Happy cutting.