The Project

I barely looked at much less touched a computer yesterday. It was actually kind of nice to be digital-free for 24 hours. Of course, I’m hopelessly addicted so I couldn’t go too much longer.

And after that last post, I figured I wouldn’t leave too long a silence in place. Rest assured that all is well and the changes that were alluded to are good. Very good. I’ll explain … soon.

In the meantime, Saturday was a day to run around and get household supplies ahead of more snow and to just generally veg on the loveseat with a dog in my lap. But, determined to accomplish something this weekend, I picked up “the project” I alluded to the other night when I was dismantling all those 8x10 framed pieces.

Now that I finally had the necessary materials, I grabbed a ruler and my trusty purple tweezers out of my scrapbooking supplies. I remember when I was given those tweezers at some scrapbooking event many years back and I couldn’t fathom why I would ever need them. Today, I wouldn’t embark on a project like this without them!

Since I got the frames apart, the mother has managed to jazz them up a bit with some gold leaf paint. (You might remember this paint as she used it a while back to paint the leading in the glass of the front door. It’s become a staple around here ever since.)

So, this morning, I spread everything out on my bed and set to work. (Consider it a mix of lounging and progress.) The task: Create new signs for two of the named dining rooms in my godparent’s new restaurant, also affectionately called Another D*mn House.

Both of the rooms bear the names of original residents of the house, both of whom allegedly have never moved from the place. Both signs – which will replace somewhat pathetic existing versions – were made with merlot linen paper (free, courtesy of an Archiver’s coupon) and gold foil letters (half-price at Hobby Lobby). On the latter is where the tweezers came in handy. Getting those letters apart was a monster and would have been even worse without those handy dandy tweezers.

Total project cost (including frames w/glass and a small bit of leafing paint): $25. That means they were less than $13 each. Perhaps I’m biased but I’m particularly proud of the bargain.

Initially, I wanted to use rub-on letters but my choices were limited to black or white. I was leaning toward white. But then the mother insisted that the lettering be gold.

That meant that I had to either a) pick a Cricut font and ask the MonkeyGirl or MamaMartha to cut them for me or b) use stickers instead. I saw lots of stickers I liked but none had both small and capital letters. Since that wasn’t negotiable, I was all prepared to call up MG and enlist her help. So, I started to head for the paper aisle to get gold paper.

That’s when I saw the foil letters – with both small and caps! I liked them, but they had to pass with the mother. She declared them “very pretty” and at half-price …

I think they look elegant (infinitely more so than what’s currently in place) and I can hardly wait to see them up! Here’s hoping that the spirits whose names they bear are just as pleased.