Clouds and Crafts

If you read blogs regularly then you know there are about a trillion craft blogs out there.  This is not one of them.  So, if you are looking for that awesome craft blog to find great ideas for using recycled garbage to make beautiful and useful art, you won't find them here, sorry.  If you are looking for a great way to enjoy three or four cloudy, dreary days with your daughter in a remote rural farmhouse then it is your lucky day!  You have hit the big time!!! 

Kelly was here for five days and six nights, it was much too short a time.  We managed to fit in some of the classic Nova Scotia "must do" list in that short time though.  We "must" walk on the sandbars with our dog.  We "must" eat lobster.  We "must" have at least one or two dreary, rainy days in which we find interesting ways to entertain ourselves.  We "must" have beautiful days and amazing sunsets at which to marvel and vow to return again next year.  DONE!

The arts and crafts part of this post started on one of those perfectly sunny, amazing, Nova Scotia days that we all love when we are here.  Kelly wanted to make a mosaic.  OK, no problem.  First, find something on which to craft the mosaic.  We had many old pieces of furntiture just jumping up and getting in line for their make-over.  This end table, made out of a door, was the lucky winner.

Kelly sanding the winning table on one of "those" days!

After Kelly sanded the table she decided it needed to be painted to coordinate with the planned mosaic.  So, she painted and she painted and she painted.  It took several coats of paint to turn this brown door into the palate she wanted.

The formerly brown and old table is now white and navy.....

I got the most awesome job of breaking all the tiles into mosaic size pieces.  We bought ceramic plates for the brighter colors because the hardware store in town did not have any tiles in the bright colors we wanted.  I loved my job breaking the tiles into pieces, talk about a great way to work out any stress, smash, smash, smash!  I did wear safety glasses so don't worry, my eyes are fine!

Kelly was in charge of all creative aspects.  First she drew the picture to scale, then she layed the tiles on the drawing so she would know where everything belonged.  Then, she put down the glue on the table, placed the tiles to make the design and waited......for the glue to dry.  The next day was grout day. 

Grouting is a messy job!  Halfway there, hope this stuff comes off where we want and stays on where we want!

Kelly managed to do the entire job before she left.  It came out really cute and will be perfect for our new sun porch.  I am in charge of sealing the grout because you never know when someone might use this table at one of our wild parties and accidentally spill a beer, or a glass of milk....hahahaha!  I am waiting the perscribed seven days before I seal the grout but I would say the formerly boring table has been transformed into a very Nova Scotia piece of art, signed and dated by none other than our LG! 

A great way to spend some of "those" days and some cloudy days!