"Beachy" Framed Transfer

Oh man! Another week of not getting much done. This new 3 hour commute (1.5 each way) is killing me! And Tom has been really sick since Tuesday. Right now he's having trouble breathing deeply because his chest is so congested. So it's off to the doctor tomorrow. Enough is enough.

I did play around with my freezer paper transfers again today. If you remember, I had terrific success with transferring onto a painter's drop cloth.

This is what I made today.

Before I go any further I should show you my original plan and the total failure that was. I wanted to do a transfer onto burlap but it turns out that the weave was too loose.

You can kind of see the word "beach" but not much else is legible. So I went back to my trusty drop cloth.

I used the same method as before - first using spray adhesive to attach a piece of freezer paper to a plain piece of printer paper (waxy side out).  Then I created a graphic - in this case the phrase, "Life is better at the beach" - flipped it backwards, and printed it out on the freezer paper.  I forgot to mention last time that I used PicMonkey to create the text and to flip it - it's the simplest program I've found so far.

I dampened the drop cloth, placed the print out face down on the cloth and "burnished" the back of the paper with a spoon.  Yes, this time I actually made the trip downstairs to get a spoon instead of using whatever was handy.

I printed the words in a navy blue to give it a nautical feel. Once the cloth was dry I trimmed it to 8x10 and put it in a white frame. You can see that some of the letters bled a little as they dried but I think that makes it look a little more weathered.

I think I'm going to rub some brown stain into the grooves of the frame to age it as well. Right now it's a bit too shiny. We plan on re-doing the basement in beachy colours and this is going to hang there.

Side note - Sasha was completely freaked out by the starfish I used in the picture. I guess it smelled funny to her. She was barking at it and trying to challenge it to a fight. Crazy girl. Everyone knows you can't beat a starfish.

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I'm linking up here this week!

Blue Mountain

I realized today that I neglected to tell you about our weekend at Blue Mountain.  Well let me remedy that!  I hope you like photo-heavy posts.

Our room was on the top floor and this was the view from our balcony.  It was rainy all weekend - can you imagine what this would look like on a sunny day?

We reserved a bachelor room this time. We had a suite last time but it really was a waste when it's only the two of us. Gorgeous fluffy linens on the bed.

On the first night, I closed the blackout curtains and put on my sleep mask (yes I am a diva), and I swear I could have slept until noon the next day if we didn't have things to do.

Oh! Check out the chandelier over the dining room table. Do you think they'd notice if it was missing?

And I was obsessed with this table lamp. I must have taken 15 pictures of it. Not that I want it in my own house, but it sure is fun to look at.

The bathroom was pretty standard, but I was drawn to the frame around the mirror.  

I wonder why?

Tom went mountain biking with his friends on Saturday so I hiked up the mountain as far as the trail went so that I could take some pictures. I could have taken the gondola to the top, but I was saving that for Sunday with Tom (Spoiler: it was raining too hard on Sunday and we didn't end up going.) They have a ride at the resort called the Ridge Runner Mountain Coaster. You can ride by yourself or with someone else, and you control the speed you descend at. I think there's going to be a collision in that second picture!

They're building a treetop high ropes challenge. There are suspension bridges, ladders, zip lines, and cargo nets. Part of it is open but they're expanding it all the time. At the highest level you're 60 feet above the ground.

Here is a shot with some people in it just to give you some perspective.  How much fun would that be?!  It was closed that weekend, but I definitely would have given it a shot.

And the course goes out over the roller coaster. I only grabbed this shot because this woman screamed the whole way down the mountain. I wish I'd had the shutter speed set so you could see her face.

I wandered around the village taking pictures of the buildings. It's like a mini-Disneyland.  I never get tired of it.

And I stopped into the chocolate shop. Had to. There were so many different things to choose from. This beaver candy apple was so cute.

How about some chocolate-dipped licorice? 

I really wanted one of the rice krispie clusters but the price was way too high. I settled on a Rolo-dipped pretzel and chocolate-covered marshmallows on a stick.

This is the store that I mentioned in my post about the bracelets. They have so many interesting things to look at.

 I really liked this zebra, even if it wouldn't match anything else we have. 

Maybe I could start a collection?

And what do you think of this single-person hammock?  I love it so much! If we had the room it would probably have come home with us. Though it didn't have a price on it - isn't that always a sign that it's too expensive?

That night was Tom's work dinner. Check it out, baby. 

I learned just the day before that the evening dress code was casual. I said too bad - I look good! I think I needed a higher heel, but do you know how hard it is to find navy shoes? No shots of Tom but he looked pretty handsome himself.

The dinner was fun, and Tom won a $100 Home Depot gift card in the raffle. Perfect for DIYers like us. I drank a little and was asleep in my bed by 11pm. Yep, I'm a party animal.

The next day I took Tom back up the mountain to see the rope challenge. Here he is pretending to be all athletic.

 But it was raining so hard that we decided to end it there and just go home.

We drove by this housing development on the way out. Is this not the coolest display ever? I didn't care how hard it was raining, I made Tom pull over so I could take some pictures. Whoever thought of this is brilliant.

So that was our weekend away. This is the third time Tom's company has taken us to Blue Mountain. I'm so thankful for their generosity. Even though the weather didn't co-operate we still had a terrific time. Can't wait until next year!

Light Me Up!

After breakfast one Saturday we were wandering around the local Restore. Since we were holding a garage sale the next weekend we weren't really looking for anything in particular. But isn't that when you make the best finds?

At the Restore we found a basket of panels used to make cube storage. 

There were 30 panels, all of the connectors, and even instructions (that I accidentally tore just before I took this picture).

The panels are 14" x 14" each and I thought, wouldn't they make an excellent light tent? I've been asking Tom to make a light tent for me for quite a while - not because I can't make one for myself, but because he has better access to the materials. The panels are white plastic and just thin enough to let a light source through for a diffused look. The price on one panel said $5.00 each.

Per panel? That's crazy. I hid the panel that said $5 and took the basket to the cashier pretending I didn't know how much they were. The cashier said, "I know there was a price on here somewhere...", so I wasn't going to get away with it. I mentioned the "$5 each" and she told me not to be silly, it was the price for the whole basket. Sold! I only wanted 5 panels but I figured I could sell the rest as storage at the yard sale.

Later Tom said I should keep the extra panels in case I needed a larger tent.

They snap together so easily. The panel corners slide into the connectors in two different ways depending on the angle you need. 

And the wire frame is really sturdy. So until we get it together to build (or buy) a better lightbox, I have this one for about 75 cents per cube.

You can use it with both sides up,

A light source on one side for more illumination,

Or with one side removed for stronger light.

It also comes apart easily and you can then make a bigger box if you are photographing something larger.

And if the divisions between panels bothers you, you can hang a piece of fabric or paper over the back to create a smooth background. (I would get rid of the wrinkles first of course!)

I'm so excited to start using it.  After I wash it.  The whole thing is completely filthy.

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I'm linking up here this week!