Ramblings and a FLOP!

LOOK at these beauties!!!

Our tomato plants are awesome!!!! If only I could make something magical out of them. The best I can do is use them in a salad, on a sandwich, or add them to sauce. That's about the extent of my skills in the kitchen :)

This is where the E.A.T ended up

Again, not that magical but it is what it is. Looking at it in these pictures, I should put the E.A.T below the memo board. But, the holes are already there and I.Am.LAZY!

Lastly, my Floppity FLOP.
Back story: I wanted to make some personalized wall art to hang over my fire place. It all started when I got a Michael's coupon for 50% off of a canvas. My wheels started spinning, and without a super clear idea of what I wanted to do, I just went for it. BAD idea.

Ready???  DON'T Laugh!!! (ok, you can laugh because you're laughing with me).
note: it isn't hung up because it is NOT staying here. NO way!

Ok. So, Hmmm....what should I paint? Hmmmm. I wanted something casual and personal and a bit less formal than the Eiffel Tower that currently hangs there.....hmmmm. Yep, that was what was going through my head. And then BAM,  I ended up with this flop. I have seen some awesome hot air balloon stuff on etsy lately and that was sort of my inspiration. It just didn't come together in the end. It looks super home done and is definitely not what I had in mind. As many of you know, large canvases aren't cheap. This one (with my coupon) ended up costing me $14. So, it must be re-worked into something fabulous! It must!!

I actually hesitated showing you this mess because I was a bit embarrassed. I took art class all 4 years in high school, and a bit in college too. I should have been able to paint something semi-decent. It looked so cool in my head but the reality just wasn't so. Here are some pics throughout the process

First I painted the whole canvas cream (same paint as my dining chairs)
Next, I drew on the hot air balloon shape with a pencil.
Then, I taped off some stripes and painted them on (with the same paint as the high boy).
At this point, it was looking a bit "nursery" but still had potential to be cool.

Next came the hot air balloon. I debated doing multi-colors and even thought about a chevron. I knew I wanted there to be a big gold R on it and then rest just "happened." Originally I wanted to attempt to sand the canvas with my sander after it had been painted to give it a really faded, weathered, and distressed look. Almost like an old piece of advertising or something.

NOTE: Paint does not sand off canvas like it does wood. It just doesn't. Information that would have been helpful to me before I attempted it. Ah well, what can ya do!?

I wanted there to be some unexpected mixed media elements to add texture and dimension. FLOP. After taking tons of time "weaving" strips of book pages into a basket..... it turned out looking LAME! grrrrrr. I mean, I like the look of the book pages, but just not in this way, on this painting.

I'm chuckling now, but I have to say, I was super grouchy when this project was over. Super grouchy!

Oh, and to add insult to injury, my last attempt to help this sad piece of "art" look cool. Nail heads. Yep, brassy nail heads. It is NOT easy to hammer nail heads in straight. NOT.AT.ALL!! Ha ha! Game over. I quit!

So this floppy piece of wall art it going to get a total overhaul and will hopefully turn into something cool. Fingers crossed (but no guarantees people).

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Happy Moan-day!!!