Readers in the US know the Fourth of July is coming up soon. In honor, I have a free 8 inch by 10 inch sparkler print design in six Americana colors to get you geared up. Fourth of July is such a nostalgic holiday. Along with our local parade, we enjoyed barbeques, fireworks, snaps, and sparklers.
Print away! While you’re printing, care to share your plans for the Fourth of July? Barbeque at your house? Fireworks? A vacation?
One last Friday before the 4th of July! We’re almost half way through (unofficial) summer. I can’t believe it. Random.org selected Alyson, Elizabeth G, and Jena C as the winners of the Happy Landings giveaway. Congrats, ladies!
On Monday, my sisters and their boyfriends got to Montana for a summer visit. Along with hiking and swimming, we decided to take a trip out on the boat.
Ben and I have boated out here before, but it was a first for my family. Getting ready at the boat launch and they were already excited about the views.
On either side, you’re usually surrounded by 200 to 300 foot tall rock cliffs. Hence the canyon in the name. Haha. Different areas have been hollowed out, leaving behind cool caves,
sloped rocks,
and spires.
Many inlets to explore.
And sweeping views when coming out.
Yep, fun family outings keep me calm.
Personal art is something I love having in my home and something I really enjoy making. Last year, I made a cut out map of Savannah, Georgia, where Ben and I honeymooned. Patricia from PVE and I traded art, and she requested a map cut out of New York. Well, I’m at it again, this time with our home town. It started when I decided to clear some of our junk from the basement. After hanging the Savannah cut out in the living room, I looked around at our bare walls. Specifically, these matching bare walls on either side of the dining room doors.
Wanting to prominently display my hard work, I decided to make the Savannah cut out a set. I complied images from Google maps to map out our town. After piecing the pages together in Photoshop, I adjusted the size until I had my design perfect. To save ink, I made a street overlay, which is just a new layer that I trace the lines over.
If you want to make your own cut out, it would be easier to take your map to a print shop (even Kinkos, now FedEx Office), enlarge it to the size you want, and print it on plain paper. Basically, I’m lazy and cheap, so it is easier for me to make the overlay, divide it into 8 by 10 print sheets and tape my papers together, like this:
I use that printed design as a template by taping the edges on top of my nice paper. Then I cut. And cut. And cut some more until my fingers hurt and my hand cramps. If that doesn’t make you want to try this, I don’t know what will. Haha.
At first, the boys colored next to me while I worked. When they get bored, I’ll take a break to play with the kids or clean up the house and come back to it. Honestly, I don’t know how long this took because I worked on it when I felt like it and when if was convenient. Maybe six hours total for a 14 by 18 design?
Once my design is completely cut out, I carefully peel back the template. Because I already had one framed map, but not another frame to match, I bought two 22 by 28 inch plain wood frames from Hobby Lobby for 35 bucks thanks to a 50% off sale. Not the prettiest frames, but spray paint can fix that.
While at HoLo, I bought two sheets of mat board to cut a new mat for each frame and a sheet of dark gray paper to back my map. And here’s the newest art addition in our abode.
With Savannah flanking the other side of the doors.
Eventually we’ll need a dining table to make the space look more like a room.
For now, I can admire new art in a substantial frame and mat.
V loves to point out some of the roads and knows where our house (and the old house!) are. Which means he approves of the art.
What art have you made lately? Cut out designs? Perhaps a painting? Feel free to share, I’m always needing art.
Over the weekend, we took a quick trip to Yosemite. Not the national park, but the paint. Several weeks ago, I asked for your color suggestions for our entertainment center. I also mentioned the plan for gray walls (Wood Smoke by Glidden). White is always the safest option for us, and I like crisp white cabinetry. But all white seemed boring. So I decided to paint the backs a fun color. Of course blues and greens are my favorite, but something different would be, well, different. After asking Ben what he thought of yellow backs, he said he didn’t mind either way. I set ahead on my quest to find the right yellow paint. Actually, I considered a few yellow paints for the guest bedroom so I had it narrowed to a few swatch cards.
Yosemite Yellow by Ben Moore seemed the perfect mix of yellow, gold, and slightly muted. Still yellow, but not bright sunshiney day yellow. Or Big Bird yellow.
Our Ace Hardware stores carry Ben Moore paint, so I grabbed a sample can while out running errands. At home, I got to work. First, I primed the bare wood.
Then I brushed the bold color on the backs of each cabinet shell.
Two coats of color, then I painted the rest of the insides with white satin paint and hauled them upstairs.
I hoped Ben would put them on the entertainment center if they were sitting in the living room, but they are about 1/4 inch too tall. We’ll have to bring them down to the garage, cut each down a little, then carry the cabinets back up.
I’m glad I painted over the red, or we’d have a little ketchup and mustard action going on. Ha. Gray and yellow have been a hot combo for a long time, and I’m happy to add it to our house. Getting excited to get these up, add shelves, and accessorize.
Have you been accessorizing lately? Or painting something sunny yellow? What is your favorite way to add color to a room?
Are you as excited as I am for the Fourth of July? Seriously, fireworks and we should be able to see them from our house. Awesome! I started thinking about invitations, so I put together this printable version.
If you have Photoshop, you can download the .psd file, add your information and add a second to a page.
Or get this version to write your info in.
And, you can use standard envelopes from any office supply store, no searching for a specific size.
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