painted house numbers & mantle art

I have so many projects on my to-do list, but sometimes little projects just pop up out of the clear blue and make it to the top of the list.  Here are two mini-painting projects that did so.

After seeing this post on a blog I subscribe to, I knew this would be a perfect way to attempt to update our extremely outdated front door.

I didn't realize how off-center my numbers were until I finished and stood back to admire my freshly painted numbers.  I guess that's what happens when you have a 17 month old distraction trying to climb on you as you work...

But I still think it looks pretty good.

This is the other project I just finished, directly inspired from this print I came across on etsy.com.

My project budget is practically $0.00, so if I ever find something I like, I need to recreate it myself (like I did with this project) with supplies I already have.  Luckily, I had a 22x28 canvas lying around, as well as some interior house paint, and some left over artistic ability from my Interior Design days.  

I used a trick that I had seen on the same blog post where I had gotten the house number idea.  Just print out what you want transferred, rub the back of it with with some white chalk, place the piece of paper with the text you want transferred onto the surface you want it applied to, trace over the text with a pencil, and voila!  The outline of your text is clearly transferred!  And if you messed up?  Just wipe it clean and start the process over - so easy, and incredibly smart!

See how well this works?  From here, I just went over the chalk outline with pencil, so it wouldn't smudge and fade away as I painted.

I filled in my outline with some white craft paint, using very fine paint brush and a steady hand.

I love it up on our mantel.

And it pairs well with my ampersand.  

Have you finished any projects lately?  Have any projects suddenly jumped to the top of your to-do list?  Do share!