Starry, Starry Night

 For my part  I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.  
Vincent Van Gogh


What makes you dream?  What fills you with wonder?  What takes your breath away?  For me, it is the night sky filled with uncountable stars and planets twinkling in the inky blackness of nighttime.  When did I fall in love with the night sky?  In 1960 while traveling to Arizona with my family - I was not quite 12 years old.  We traveled all night and my dad was driving.  My mom and sister slept in the back seat while I stayed awake to keep my dad company.  We were traveling route 66 in my dad's first brand new car, his red and white 1960 Chevrolet Impala.  We had the windows down and the cool night air stirred something in me as I raptly gazed at the glory of the night sky.  If you have never been in the desert or far away from the city without all the lights interfering with the wonder of the night sky, you have not lived.   You have not experienced the night sky.  As long as I live, I will never forget that night as I gazed intently at the innumerable lights twinkling and flashing in the sky.  I started to count the shooting stars which flashed across the sky with regularity leaving glowing trails behind them.  Some were short bursts of light while others seemed to cross the entire sky.  I watched the changing positions of the constellations as we traveled, knowing this was a night I would never forget.  As dawn approached and the sky lightened, I was thankful that I had gotten to experience a most unforgettable night.

For those of you who know me or have been in our home, you know my love of stars, or the shapes we use to represent the heavenly bodies.  My home is filled with stars.  My son-in-love teases me about all my stars, but they represent wonder and awe to me and what inspires me.  To me, the mystery of the universe is just a reminder of where we came from and the place we will return to some day, becoming one with the divine.

The first picture shows a project I just finished for our guest bedroom and I chose a quote from Vincent Van Gogh about the stars.  We are all familiar with his painting Starry Night which is my most favorite painting.  Van Gogh understood the glory of the night sky and was able to express it in his painting in a truly inspiring way.  The wall hanging is from an inspiration I found on a blog site called The Lettered Cottage.   She took her inspiration from a picture in a Pottery Barn catalog and that hanging cost hundreds of dollars.  This one can be made for waaaaaaaaay less.  Check out her blog for some great inspiration.  As soon as I saw the picture of her hanging, I knew it was exactly what I wanted for the guest bedroom.  The wall had been empty since we moved here.  I just hadn't found the "right" thing to put there.

We made a trip to Home Depot to purchase the materials we needed for the hanging which is a take off of an antique drying rack.  We purchased two 1x2's and a package of lattice strips that are used for replacements when they break.  The lattice strips were 72 inches long and there were 10 in the package.   The 1 x 2's were 8 feet long which is enough to make the frame and he cut the lattice strips in half.  The materials were less than $15.00.

Dan built the frame which he made 25x36 with a reinforcement strip down the middle.  It looks like this.

Next, he cut the strips to the length needed to fit the frame (36 inches) and attached them with small finishing nails.  He pre-drilled the holes before hammering the nails in so the thin lattice strips would not split.

 We laid the strips out so we knew how many it would take to cover the frame and then he worked from the top and bottom edges to the middle so there would not be a gap at the bottom if the spacing was off just a bit.  We used a "shim" to measure between the strips so they would be evenly spaced.

 This is how the finished hanging looked before painting.  I chose a dark red paint for the color since red is the accent color I use throughout the little yellow cottage.  And, red just makes me happy.  It took one can of spray paint to spray the front and back plus the frame.  I did not spray it heavily as I wanted a rustic look.

After the paint  dried, I went over the entire surface with fine sandpaper because I did not want any shine to the paint and to give it an aged look.  The strips are 1.5 inches wide, so I used a 1 inch stencil to place my quote on the boards.  After deciding how I wanted the words to be placed so they would fill the space,  I went to work with my small stencil brush and white acrylic paint.

The first picture shows the guest room with it's fabulous new "headboard" of stars and a truly easy and inexpensive hanging that is very personal to me.  I am hoping our guests will enjoy the quote from Vincent Van Gogh and that they will dream beautiful dreams, finding inspiration in his words.

What makes you dream?  What inspires you?   What takes your breath away?  For me, it is the stars.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

You may not be a Picasso or Mozart but you don’t have to be. Just create to create. Create to remind yourself you’re still alive. Make stuff to inspire others to make something too. Create to learn a bit more about yourself.” Frederick Terral

An Easy Fall Wall Hanging - No Sewing Required

I am not a pastel kind of girl - it's jewel tones for me every time!  Their rich colors make my heart sing.  Perhaps that is one of the many reasons Fall is my favorite season.  The rich colors of the season cause me to smile in anticipation of lovely days to come.  Vermillion, golds, greens, purples, oranges and rich, warm browns are the colors I love to wear as well as decorate my home with.   As summer days wane and the air begins to cool, it is time to put away all the lovely shells and beach themed decorations I used in the little yellow cottage this summer.  Its time for a change while Fall decorations are plentiful and varied.  

I did not want to use another wreath in place of my summertime shell wreath in our entryway.  There was an idea stirring to make a wall hanging of some sort and burlap was my fabric of choice.  There is something about the texture and colors available in burlap that make me think of fall.  You know what that meant - first stop - the fabric store.  So, Dan and I headed down the road to a few of my favorite places.  I shop for fabric and craft supplies, he goes to the guitar store.  Works for me.

I had several packages of fall-type leaves that I had purchased at the Dollar Tree when I made my fall wreath for out of doors.  There were yellows, oranges and browns, so I decided to use a red burlap for my wall hanging.  I bought two yards, knowing I only needed a little for the wall hanging, but I have plans for the rest of it.  Of course, I had to sashay around Jo Ann's to see what other interesting things were available and then headed to Michaels.  At Michael's I found a couple of packages of smaller leaves that would go nicely with the ones I already had.  There was a mesh bag of itty bitty pine cones that I also purchased and some things for another project.   Time to go home and get started.   (Anticipation - I LOVE the process of creating things.)

I measured the area where the new wall hanging would go.  The finished size needed to be 18 x 22, so I cut a piece of burlap 18 x 25 because I knew I had to make a hanger at the top using either a dowel rod or something to tie the hanger to.  Fabric is never straight when it is cut at the store, but burlap is very easy to make straight.  All you have to do is pull a thread the length of the piece you are using and then trim along the gap where the pulled thread was.  Easy Peasy.

If you look closely, you can see the thread I pulled laying on top of the burlap and the gap it left.  Trim here to make your piece straight.  I left the edges unfinished because I like the slightly fringed appearance it leaves.

I put a plastic trash bag on the table because I knew I would be using hot glue and paint.  You don't want to get it all over the table top and risk ruining your table.  Next, I laid the burlap on top of the trash bag.  Laying the leaves out on the table, I chose leaves and laid them in different ways until I got the look I wanted.  

This was my "base" for the decorations.  (Picking up one leaf at a time, place hot glue on the back and return it to the place it came from so as not to disturb your arrangement).  Next, I added smaller leaves to make the arrangement have more depth.

Now, repeat the same process.  Pick up each leaf, put some hot glue on the back of it and return it to the proper place.  

Next, I placed the itty bitty pine cones and some small pods I had around until I liked the look, put hot glue on the back and glued them down.  

Because burlap is a very loose weave, stenciling seems to be the easiest way to paint on it.  Since our last name begins with "K", I decided to monogram the hanging.  I googled images for the letter "K" and found one I liked.  You could enlarge it and print it out which would be the easiest way, but our printer is not working so I freehanded the letter onto a piece of printer paper and cut it out.  Pin the monogram to the burlap in the location where you want it.  You will need a stencil brush and some acrylic paint in the color of your choice.  You only need a small bottle and they can be purchased at most craft stores for less than $2.00.   Place a small amount of paint on a plate and you are ready to stencil.  If you have never stenciled anything, a stencil brush is flat on the bottom and you use an up and down pouncing motion so that the paint does not run under the edge of the stencil.  Fill in the entire area that has been cut out.

The finished stencil will look like this.

Let the paint dry.  Remove the pins and then the paper.  This is what you will have.

Lovely isn't it?  Nice and crisp like a beautiful fall day.  Now, it's time to add the hanger.  I had some pieces of wood that are used to replace broken lattice strips.  They are 1.5 inches wide.  You may choose to use a dowel rod, I just didn't want to purchase something when the lattice strip would work.  I cut it to 20 inches long so there would be some wood outside of the wall hanging to tie my sisal to.  This is how I did my hanger.  I turned the burlap over and laid the wood strip along the top edge of the burlap.  I used the hot glue gun and glued the burlap to the wood.  Then, I turned it down so the wood was covered with the burlap and glued the bottom of the wood to the burlap.  Next, I cut a piece of sisal (jute string) and tied it to the wood outside of the burlap.  I cut a few extra pieces of sisal in different lengths and tied it to the hanger with a knot.  Now, it was time to hang it on the wall.  It only takes a small nail, the hanging is very light.  

Here is the finished product and I am really pleased with it.  It is something different than a wreath, you could make it any size you want, big or small, (you could hang it on your front door if it is protected from the weather) and it was really inexpensive!  Now, how is that for a quick afternoon project?  These could make lovely gifts for friends and family too! How easy to do one for the Christmas holidays!  There goes my busy brain again, ideas are already formulating.

There is absolutely no sewing required for this easy project.  I hope you will give it a try using whatever colors you like.  Let me know how yours turns out.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Paulo Coelho
Live with no regrets and love with no apologies