Cheapskate Cricut Rugs

I have been busy trying to get some outdoor projects done before winter really sets in.  I think it may have come last night.  So windy and cold, and chance of flurries today.  I got my shutters painted and back up, but it's too nasty to go outside and take any pictures, so that will have to wait for a nicer day.

The other outdoor project I completed was a stenciled door mat.  I was looking for a 'coir' mat, (I think that's what they're called, not sure) for awhile, but couldn't find a plain one.  My sweet hubby found me one for Christmas last year, but it has been sitting downstairs since then.  I decided it was was past time to do something with it.  I had tried this technique on a couple other rugs, and it worked great.

I am an avid sewer, with an embroidery machine.  For that, I have a roll of sticky back tear away backing for embroidery hooping.  Well, I had a great idea!  Cut it the size of a sheet of paper, run it through my printer with the pattern I want, cut it out and stick it to my project.  Cheapskate stencil!  It is a little tedious to cut out the design, but I seem to thrive on tedious projects.

So, here are some pics of the rugs.  The little rug with the damask design is a plain carpet sample type rug that actually worked the best.  I stuck the stencil to it and spray painted it. It has been my front door rug all summer, and was getting kind of faded looking.  I just took a small paint brush and repainted it all.  Took me maybe 1/2 hour or so, well worth it, I think.

Here it is with just the stencils stuck on it.  I had to cover the rest of the rug with newspaper and tape it off before I started spray painting.

These are the designs I decided to put on my coir mat. My daughter pointed out that I am a little damask happy, so I decided to just go with something simple.  I always look at my favorite stores to see what I like, and try to do a knock off. I used an exacto type knife, and a small pair of scissors to cut it out, remembering that I wanted the outside stencil, not the actual letter and numbers.  However, they came out nicely, and I saved them for a future project, perhaps.

Here is the plain mat before decorating.

Here it is all ready for paint.

Here it is after painting.

And here it is all done.  Looks pretty good.  It was hard to get the stencil to stick really well on the points of the surface of the rug.  The other rug that had a flatter surface had a neater finish, but I'm OK with this.  I'm sure no one would notice but me!

Notice my helper sleeping inside!

Also notice the rug inside in the entry.  I am so done with that!  I am going to find a piece of carpet and have 3 rugs bound for my front door, back door and slider.  If you could look beyond the sleeping dog, you look right out my back slider, and my back door is just to the left of that.  So you can see all 3 rugs at once, and I want them all to match, sort of.  I plan to decorate them somehow too, just haven't decided what.

I'm sure this could be done with any sticker sheet, as long as you can remove it from your project.  I would really like a Silhouette. It is like a cricut, but you don't need cartridges. It is computer generated, and it will cut any stencil design you send it.  The choices are limitless.  So....if anyone wants to donate to my Silhouette  fund, I will be more that happy to cut stencils or wall vinyl or anything you'd like!  :)

Thanks for stopping by to read, come back soon!

Karilyn

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Brass to Class

Well, here we are in the middle of October, and I am trying to hurry and do all those outdoor projects that were supposed to be done this summer.  Fortunately, the weather has been pretty awesome, and I have done quite a bit of painting.

                                                  Before                                After

My front doors and shutters are hunter green, and I am so done with them!  Yesterday, I decided to paint the doors black.  Not pitch black, but a nice shade of black I picked out at the paint store.  It's Benjamin Moore Onyx, and I also picked a nice green that I may paint my shutters, but I don't want to get in over my head.  One thing at a time!  Anyway, I put 2 coats on the doors yesterday, but I think the first coat wasn't really dry (I'm not real patient!), and they didn't end up looking too great.  So... I let them dry good overnight, and rolled another coat on today.  They turned out pretty good, for a DIYer. 

As long as the knobs were off for painting, I figured I might as well sand them a bit and spray the outside handles with Oil Rubbed Bronze, one of my Rustoleum favs.  I've done a few indoor light fixtures, my cabinet knobs, and my outdoor light fixtures.  Say goodbye to brass, and hello to oil rubbed bronze.  What a difference.  I love it!!

                                          Brass before                         Oil Rubbed Bronze after

         Front door with new knob



Here's a few pics of my light fixtures.  They once were a nice shiny brass, but now after 16 years, were a rather discolored, tarnished shade of yuck.  Spray paint to the rescue.  I wiped them down, took them apart, primed and then painted them.  They're like brand new!

Before - tarnished brass





Ok, I guess a couple of my lights were still shiny, but they were take offs my hubby brought home from a job he was on. 

Before - shiny brass

Now they all match, garage, front porch and back patio.  Yea!!



Notice the one on the right is missing it's tail!  The threaded part rusted right off, and I need to find another one.  Oh well, it's OK for now, it's just the back slider light.

Well, I also stenciled a rug for the front door, but that I'll share later.  It turned out really cute.

Thanks for stopping by!