White-washed Easter Blocks.....(Repost)

****This is a repost from one of YOUR favorites from last Easter.....Just thought you'd like to see it, again ;)  ******


As I was walking a couple of weeks ago, I spotted several wood blocks that someone had put in their trash pile (this house is doing a lot of reno….so hopefully I’ll be able to pick up some more!). Can you say FREE?!?!?! I have seen several of these painted blocks on Pinterest with words and sayings and already had an idea of what I wanted to do with them.

I got them out today to do my “thang” with ‘em. I’ve planned on doing my Easter pianoscape in a natural, neutral color scheme this year, so I’m figuring, white, beige, brown, wood, etc…….. So here’s what I did.

Here are the FREE blocks. I’m so glad they weren’t all the same size, makes them more interesting!

I bought a package of sponges at the Dollar Tree the other day. They come 4 to a package and they make great paint daubers! I just cut one of them thirds and that was plenty big enough.

I didn’t have a full tube of white paint, so I thought, let’s do a white-wash look. I put as much of the white paint I could get into a bowl and added water, stirred, and this is how it looked.

As with my Chevron Easter Egg Burlee door hanger , I printed out some lettering on my computer, then put tape over the lettering before I cut it out (to make it more sturdy for the stencil), then stenciled the saying out on the blocks.

And this is what it looks like, FINI! I did do a couple of streaks of the brown paint on the top and sides of the blocks to give it more depth.

Not too bad for FREE! (Yep, love that word!

I’m thrilled that you’ve taken time to stop by and see my tutorial! Please be sure to leave a comment! I read each one and would love to hop on over to your blog too!

Trash can redo

I guess when you're updating a look in your house, we tend to forget the smaller items that might be due for a facelift! I repainted the hallway bathroom about 2 years ago and have been adding things here and there to make it look nice (trust me, it's so much better than the pink/green floral wallpaper and border from the 70's!). I don't know what made me think about it (maybe 'cause I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor with Comet), but when I saw our trash can, it truly made me shudder! You know, that kind of "mufasa" (come on people, you know you've watched Lion King 9 million times, so you know the inflection I'm using here! LOL!) moment when you say, "Why did I not do something about this sooner?" Well, I finally put it out of it's misery and made it PURTY!

I CAN NOT BELIEVE that I didn't get a picture of what this tin looked like before-hand, I guess I was in too much of a hurry to get the thing covered with something other than burgundy! Don't get me wrong, burgundy is a lovely color, and I had a ton of it in my house back in the 90's, but when your bathroom is blue and brown, something just doesn't look right! LOL!

Ok, so easy-peasy. I just spray painted it white, like so:

(see, you can see a hint of the burgundy showing through) It took several coats of spray paint!

Then I just dry brushed on (with a sponge) the blue for the wheat-like shafts, and then brown for the X's and O detail. Also did the lines with the brown, blue on top for the "rope-y" design. I had a can of clear varnish spray, so used 2 coats to help protect it a little better........

I have to remind myself that when looking for items to 'redo', I need to look up and down, not just eye level! Hope you've enjoyed this little tute and have a BLESSED WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Sharing this on-going project with the following AWESOME link-up parties!!!

CraftOManiac
TaterTots and Jello
Design Dazzle
Uncommon Designs
Savvy Southern Style
The 36th Avenue
Five Days, Five Ways French Country Cottage