Pallet Fireplace, Ghostbusters Painting & Beatles Chair - Thanks Pinterest!

So, I LOVE looking at Pinterest, so many talented people and their amazing ideas!   

We decided, what the heck, let's give it a try.  :) 

A) Saw a simular painting and decided to give it a try. I had an unused canvas and I love the character Stay Puft from the Ghostbusters' Movie.    :)

B) A while back, we had an electric fireplace that was given to me by my grandmother.    We ended up purchasing a used 70 gallon fish tank.  We gave the fireplace to my brother & sister-in-law. After a few years, we ended up getting rid of the fish tank (it sprang an unfixable leak).   I missed having that fireplace mantle, so decided after looking on Pinterest to make our own fireplace mantle.  We picked up the pallets free of charge from my workplace (as they just recycle them)  Mr. Bob then got to work and created this fireplace - I love it so much!!!  :)

C) A few years back, a Beatle's Sofa appeared online with a price tag of over $2000.00.   Something we could not afford (plus the fact we own cats, did not want it getting ruined by being scratched apart).   One day I spotted a pillow that was the same fabric on the couch.   Around the same time my cousin was cleaning house and gave us a chair that was in a little need of repair.   So we actually cut apart and reused and Ikea table cloth for the seat portion and painted the ugly brown chair black and placed that nice little pillow on it.   Total price:  Chair = Free.  Pillow = $50.00.  Ikea Table Cloth = $10.00.  :). Not bad!!!   :).  So awesome!!   Goes with my Yellow Submarine theme :)

Did I mention I love EVERYTHING to do with the Beatles Yellow Submarine?

Have I mentioned to you before that I love everything to do with the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie?  LOL

Anywho, going back a couple of month ago, my husband and I visited an adorable store in Cambridge, Ontario named NEXT TIME AROUND.   It was full of awesome items!!  In the back they had some items that had not been placed out in the main floor.   I had noticed a strange looking round piece with a square attached, it was sort of dirty, with maple keys and cobwebs, but as soon as I landed my eyes on it, I KNEW I had to have it.  I instantly knew what I was going to do with it. 

My plans was to paint it to resemble one of the Yellow Submarine's Portholes.  :)

Casey & Whitney wanted me to show it off to you before I started.

My grand plan was to paint it up and then somehow save up to purchase the following dolls:

* Photo of dolls found in Google Search

Unfortunately, these dolls cost approx. $500.00 +  so it will take some time to do this.    I didn't want to have to wait until I could afford to buy these dolls, so in the mean time I came up with another plan.   My husband cute a small back to my "porthole" and I painted a scene from the Yellow Submarine.   George & Captain Fred with the Motor:

I think it came out pretty fantastic if I do say so myself.  :)

Thanks NEXT TIME AROUND for the awesome item you sold me!!!!  :)

Once I am able to save up enough money to purchase the dolls, I will show you what I will do with porthole.  :)

Painting & Necklace Storage Idea!

As you know, I LOVE everything to do with the Beatles' YELLOW SUBMARINE!!!    After finding an unfinished table at a local thrift store I knew what I had to do - paint my own Yellow Submarine table!!   I used the colours: lime green, purple, yellow, red & black.   I LOVE IT!!!!!  



Now, I was introduced to the fabulous website  PINTEREST - it is Heaven!!!!!   All the wonderful pictures & ideas.  I was so inspired by the following:

I was looking through photos one day and came across a sign someone had painted that stated something about Dog's Nose Art.   We don't own any dogs, but we do own SIX cats, so I turned to my husband and said I HAVE to paint my own sign.   I located a piece of wood that I had downstairs, again something from a thrift store years ago and couldn't figure out what to paint on it and after seeing the Dog's Nose Art sign, I knew what to paint on it.   Again, I have to use funky colours and paint.   So here is what I painted.  :o)




And again, searching through Pinterest this morning looking for an idea to hang necklaces.  I liked the ideas they had for using picture frames, but I own A LOT of necklaces.  Over the years I have bought, been given as gifts and inherited some gorgeous necklaces, so the picture frame idea was out.   Then it popped into my head - I have a gorgeous rustic ladder I purchased at a yard sale a few years back at my aunt's house.  I fell in love with it when I saw it and decided to place it out on our front porch.  I brought it in and started placing the necklaces on it.  LOOKS AWESOME!!  Yaaaa, my own Pinterest Idea!!!

Catching Up with Some Art Work

Wow, I've been neglecting this blog - I am so sorry.

I'll show you something I painted up this summer.  :o)

I finished a Cheshire Cat (from Alice in Wonderland) Table / Magazine Rack

and

an painted up an old metal gnome that some friend's found in their garden.    LOL    He had a peg leg, so I KNEW I had to paint him up as a pirate. 

More Painting Time

So I'm catching up on projects we started before Christmas and ended after Christmas.

As you know, Bob was in Nunsense A-Men - and reconnected with some actor friends he had when he was in previous plays (before he met me). One such friend was Ian. After meeting Ian, I made him my friend on facebook and learned he was recently engaged to a lovely girl named Laura. I decided since I was a "Theatre Widow" that means Laura would be (GIGGLE). So I added her as a friend and we got chatting through messages on and off and learned she is a big big animal lover. She had LOTS of photo's she had taken and one I fell in love with. Ian and Laura had bought themselves a St. Bernard puppy and named him Beethoven.



As you can see, this photo is awesome - he's just so adorable. I then decided I just HAD to paint this photo. I really enjoy trying to paint animals. The scary part was not knowing how Laura and Ian would react, I didn't know them well. I had only met Ian a couple of times and had not met Laura (Still haven't (GIGGLE) hopefully that will change soon. ;o)
I decided I would work on it in painting class, since I knew I would be able to work on it weekly without interruptions from everyday life situations.
I finished it just before Christmas and I we rushed to where Ian worked and waited over an hour to give it to him as he was busy with customers. He seemed pleased and the message I received from Laura confirmed it that they really really liked it.
May I present to you............ the painting of Beethoven The Puppy.




Another painting I did before Christmas was a mirror for our friend Xander's son Alex. Heather, who is Xander's wife's Mom had requested I paint a Hulk Mirror as a Christmas gift she could give to Alex. I was tickled pink at being asked. She said she really liked the mirror I had painted Xander & Heather as a wedding gift of a pirate map, so I jumped all over at the chance to paint it and again, everyone seemed super happy!

In the new dining room we went from light green to Turquoise, Red, Yellow & Purple.
LOVING the colour!!!!!!! We moved the tiffany lights into this room too. Bob finished up the Yellow Submarine Mural he made out of construction paper and hung it on the wall last night. The Giggle Sign you see, mysteriously appeared one morning this week and for the life of us we couldn't figure out where it came from. It was discovered it was my Uncle -- We were a little freaked at first so we took it down and moved it into the house, but I'm thinking by this coming weekend it will be moved back outside as when spring comes, I really want a whimsical looking yard.


My next painting assignment is another dog, this one is owned by my cousin, his wife & daughter. Hopefully I will do the dog justice. lol Stay tuned!!!

Halloween Paintings

So, as you know, Halloween is fast approaching. It was coming faster than I was prepared for. In September I started back to painting class and started on a HUGE project, which you will get to see at the end of this blog entry.

In the mean time, with Bob in rehersals for the musical Nunsense along with the show starting, we thought it would be neat if I started whipping up some Halloween decorations myself.

Here is my GHOSTBUSTERS painting I did in an afternoon. :o)

Then came another fun project. I had done some research on the internet for some interesting Skeleton creations and came across these SKELANIMALS.

Here is a kitty I painted.

and a Bunny..........

and a penguin..........

and a mouse and bird.

I have a lot more to paint, but time is running out and so are the scrap wood pieces.

The forecast is calling for rain on Halloween evening along with this week leading up to it, I don't think these pieces of wood will hold up.

On Sunday, October 25th, Bob and I had our 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. We had one last year the month after we moved into the house, we had approx. 15 people back then, this year we increased the size to over 21 people.

Bob is in full swing with the Nunsense Play/Musical and the night before a whole bunch of us got together to go and see it at the Port Mansion in St. Catharines, (Interested?? Click the NUNSENSE PLAY/MUSICAL link to see a write-up on the show or click PORT MANSION to go to the Port Mansion Web Site and book tickets to see the show). OH MY GOSH, what a hoot, it was one of the most funniest things I have seen!! A great time was had by all!!!

Because Bob was in the play again on Sunday, that meant I had to hold down for the fort while all our guests arrived. My mom had come over a day before to help me set up all these tables and chairs.

It was a complete success. We had a no-show (as Dave, one of our friends) was tied up with a fire call in Niagara On the Lake .

It was awesome, everyone seemed to bring extra yummies for the party, including this awesome cake creation by our friend Heather. (Heather's husband Xander was in the musical Nunsense with Bob).

Since we knew Bob wouldn't be able to carve a pumpkin on the Pumpkin Carving Party day, him and I worked on our pumpkins the weekend before. This is Bob's pumpkin along with the photo he was going to use.

The unveiling of his pumpkin happened after he returned from the show on the day of the Party.

Here's Bob's pumpkin on the day of the party.

Here is my pumpkin. Yep, I cheated, I painted. lol

Here is the result of the party. Everyone's pumpkins before we OFFICIALLY lit them.










and here they are lit. :o) It was a sight be behold!!!

And finally, here is my project I worked on during painting class. Five us in class worked on our own pieces. My painting is on a huge chunk of wood, I just need to seal it and then I will be able to put it outside for Halloween. :o)

Thanks for looking!

Hope you have an amazing safe, spooky & fun Halloween!!

Happy Thanksgiving

This past weekend was a long weekend for us here in Canada - it was Thanksgiving. That means yumba meals, craft sales & sleeping in.

This weekends chefs were Marnie & Mom VanderValk. Each made an amazing meal which was to rave about. Bob and I are really trying to watch our portion sizes and it made it VERY difficult for us to only go with one plate of food but then of course we had to have one of each dessert. I'm truly scared to step on the WII FIT tomorrow morning. I had managed to maintain my weight loss which means I'm stuck at 169 (I've lost 10 lbs).... (aiming to get back down to 152 which is what I was when I met Bob) but with this weekend, I'm sure I've probably shot up 5 lbs. lol Bob's been doing awesome! I think he reported a loss of 20 lbs so far, but I'm sure the dancing he is doing in the musical he is in is contributing to the weight loss.

We were able to hit the Vineland Public School Craft sale. ALWAYS love looking at the creative ideas of others wishing I had a tonne of money to buy everything I see. lol I was good, I only purchased one Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup... last year I think I bought 6 and proceeded to eat every last one while I was wondering around = Upset tummy. :o)

So today was awesome but started out really funny. Slept in and woke up and decided to hit Timmies for a XL Triple Triple. Bob decided since we were going to do through the drive-thru he would just go out in a pair on thermal underwear (which were too small) so he put on some long black socks and tucked the ends of the underwear into them, so I'm sure you can imagine what that looked like. Me, I would normally opt to do that, but for some reason I just put on a pair of jeans, it was cold outside. We started driving and a short while later I could smell something burning, but we had figured some farmer was burning something outside. We got almost to the entrance of Timmies and heard this really bad noise. THUMP THUMP THUMP, Bob pulled to the side of the road and we got out of the car, ugh............. flat tire. Bob grabbed the spare and his little jack and tools and was about to proceed with taking the tire off when a large TIRE TRUCK pulled up (one that frequents the highways looking for Transport Trucks that have flat to sell them a tire and change it for them). He offered to help Bob for free since he had nothing better to do and turned on his large yellow flashing light on the top of the truck. I started laughing as I noticed towards Timmies, the light was attracting attention and everyone was looking over to where we were. LOL There was Bob in all his glory in his thermal underwear HAHAHAHAHAHA Poor baby! :o) THANK GOD I was wearing my jeans. lol I would of froze. We offered to buy the guy a coffee (he had just bought one) and then offered him $5.00 but he refused, I thanked him and wished him a VERY Happy Thanksgiving. He smiled and wished us one too. What an Angel. :o)

Once we returned with our Timmies in hand I decided I wanted to paint a Halloween Decoration.

Here it is:

I REALLY love the Ghostbusters Movie, so I just had to paint a cupboard door with the logo for myself. Bob really likes it too. I love lazy painting days, I don't get too many of those. Bob worked on some stuff for the G-Scale train layout.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A WONDERFUL LONG WEEKEND TOO (for those of you who were able to celebrate Thanksgiving) :o)

Bob's G-Scale Train Graffiti - PET SHOP BOYS & YELLOW SUBMARINE

So, as you know, Bob and I are starting to collect G-Scale Trains and we want to make them look like the REAL trains that go by our back yard.

We started off with a new train and Bob wanted to make it look aged and worn.




NEW TRAIN



AGED TRAIN







After some yard work last night, he was eager to start painting graffiti on the side cars, who knew what he chose to paint would be items I love. He used my old brushes and acrylic paints, what a man!!! Great job Bob!! I LOVE THESE!!!





&





I LOVE THE PET SHOP BOYS & Beatle's YELLOW SUBMARINE!!!

Now I have my own personalized train cars!!!! I can hardly wait to see what Bob does next!!!


NOTE: We started a G-Scale Train Blog strickly for our love of G-Scale Trains www.gscaletrain.blogspot.com

Magic Mirror on the Wall SECRET PAINTING & More Fun!

First, I want to show off my newest SECRET PAINTING. I'm actually showing you before my friend Betsy receives it because I have to mail it to her and I'm not sure when she'll get it. Her baby is due on the 6th of May. She told me that the nursery was a princess theme so I decided to do a Disney Princess Themed Ikea Mirror. I hope she likes it!

MAGIC MIRROR ON THE WALL VIDEO :o)

The other day Bob surprised me with my own TANKER G-Scale Train car!! I'm so excited! I love watching the trains go by and I really admire the tanker cars, now I have my own! lol

This past weekend we got to go metal detecting with my cousin Steve and wife Nadine. Mom came along too! We got to detect an older property that had a house on it that caught fire earlier this year. No one is currently living in it and Steve knew the property owner so we had permission to detect. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT OUR COOL FINDS!

Oh!! And back on the train subject, Bob has been making shingles for his little G-Scale buildings. He is cutting them out of sandpaper! What a man!!!

The other night we were watching America's Top Model and I realized Bob has a Twin in the world!

NOTE: We started another blog strickly for our love of G-Scale Trains www.gscaletrain.blogspot.com

Secret Painting Revealed & a neato Metal Detecting Find!

Here is my work area at work. Heehee, see the Wall of Bob including a photo of the Pet Shop Boys. teehee!

It was quite a busy day today which isn't bad, but I was looking forward to coming home and relaxing, unfortunately, I was greeted with a "not so nice" note stuck in the front door stating our Gas had been turned off. WTH! Bob got home shortly after and after calling the gas company, we found out that we had not ever received a bill since we moved in due to them having a wrong postal code - they had a Niagara On the Lake postal code.... They will be coming tomorrow to turn it back on, good thing it's suppose to be warm. Okay, I guess we are to blame because we should of realized we had not received a gas bill, but we receive a lot of bills so that one basically slipped our minds, but at the same time, come on, WHY could they of not given us a warning so we knew this was going to happen? (sigh)

We needed to DE-STRESS so we called Cousin Steve up to see if him and Nadine wanted to have pizza and go Metal Detecting. Nadine was working but Steve was up for it. We headed up to the house with a pizza in hand, Steve had a fire going outside so we ate out by the fire. So nice!!



We also got to visit with Riley. That leads me to THE SECRET PAINTING. :o)

It just seems like yesterday when they first got Riley, he was sooooooo little. Well, Bob had taken a photo of him as a puppy and I knew I wanted to paint a picture for Steve & Nadine.
















....and here is the painting! Steve was VERY impressed so I'm hoping that Nadine is equally happy!!! Bob said not to worry!





and as for metal detecting, here is one of our finds! Click the photo to read the full story.