The most important part of any shoot is a good assistant. You might recognize this guy from my post about photographing the terrible twos….
I don’t know if photographing a newborn is any easier than a two year old, actually, but they are equally adorable.
Could he be any cuter?
The mantel in our house has more or less been a giant eyesore since I can remember. It didn’t always look as bad as it does in the before picture, though. It had a bunch of cheesy square mirrors on the top and sides. We took those off, and it sat in that sad state for longer than I’d like to admit. The stack of wood was purchased probably two months ago. I had the idea for a plank wall and we saw a nice bunch of wood in the discount pile in Home Depot. In total, all of the wood for the project was less than $9. There was a few things that I had to do, before cutting and mounting the wood…
There were giant holes where the shelf was bolted to the wall, and also one of the fake bricks was missing from the framing of the fireplace. I used Rock Hard to fill in the holes, and (more or less) made a fake, fake brick to blend in the gap. The “bricks” around the fireplace aren’t actual bricks, so that’s why it’s a “fake, fake brick.” It’s not perfect, but it did the trick for now. Before painting the bricks, it’s also important to vacuum and wipe down all the crevices. It’s easy for dust to hide in there and ruin the paint job.
Cutting the wood was surprisingly easy. I give 100% credit to the nice miter saw that I got at an estate sale for $20. I got the idea for the chevron shape of the wood from a friendly older gentleman at Home Depot. I was telling him about why I was collecting all that wood and he said, “You know there’s a really simple way to make your wall look really fancy…” You just set the miter saw to a 45 degree angle, measure and cut. All I needed to attach the planks were 1.5in finishing nails and voila! It was up!
Next came the caulking…
Then the paint…
The bare wood looked great, but I wanted to try the white wash treatment. We’re also supposed to install some marble on the bottom, so I thought the raw wood and the marble might be too busy. I didn’t use an official measurement for the paint, just a plastic cup with some paint and added water until the mixture seemed about right. Very precise…
I’m in love with that incense jar…
So that’s that! I’m not brave enough to try to do anything with the marble right now, but I’ll post pictures of it when it eventually gets done. If you’re thinking of doing a plank wall, do it! It’s easier than you’d think and they look fantastic. For another great tutorial on planking an entire room, check out Domestic Imperfection… Leave me some comments with questions or suggestions. It’s always appreciated!
You’re driving through the the Everglades and you see a sign that says, “Skunk Ape Research Facility.” Do you stop, or do you keep going thinking, “What kind of person goes there?” The answer to that question is, “I do!!!” You are missing out if you don’t. The research facility is on hwy 41 in the middle of the Everglades. If you’re road-tripping down to the Keys, it’s the perfect place to stop for some leg stretching.
For those that don’t know, which is most of us, the Skunk Ape is the Everglades version of Bigfoot. It’s a large primate type thing, that allegedly lives up in the trees, feasting on deer liver and beans. I can promise you that I’m not advising you to stop to see a bunch of hazy pictures of grown men running around in ape suits. What you will see, though, is a lot of really cool animals and exceptionally helpful staff.
That nice gentleman is the main caretaker for all of the animals. He will happily stand there and tell you about each individual creature’s personalities, quirks and preferences. He will also feed many of those large birds dozens of cashews right out of his mouth. His immune system must be impressive.
We went through the whole animal tour without even a slight mention of the Skunk Ape. That was until I walked outside and asked a group of locals, “So who knows about the Skunk Ape?” Apparently, the world’s leading skunk ape expert was one of the men standing there when I asked. I got the full skunk ape tour complete with YouTube video clips, a book, personal stories of encounters from the man himself and more information than I could have ever wanted about a creature that almost certainly doesn’t exist. It was an adventure. I would recommend the stop 100%. Admission is only $5 and it’s worth every penny!
The U.S. of A. is about to have another birthday which means family time, fireworks and BBQ. Here are a few events happening in the Bradenton/Sarasota/Beaches area that look like they would be pretty fun.
First there’s the Independence Day Celebration at McKechnie Field. Take in a baseball game complete with fan giveaways, fireworks and a post game concert by David Nail.
If baseball isn’t your thing, there are extravagant (and FREE) fireworks shows at Sarasota Bay, Siesta Key, Bradenton and Palmetto. There is plenty of seating in the nearby parks, but get there early because spaces fill up fast! Unless of course you want to take your boat, or a friend’s, and have a little viewing party from the water!
Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key really know how to throw a birthday party. First the city comes together to celebrate with a fantastic parade, followed by music, food and fireworks!
Take your pick and enjoy the holiday! Happy birthday ‘Merica!
I’ve been a little silent recently because I’ve had a monumental amount of school work. Recently though, I was able to make a trip to Ikea (love that place!) to buy some mattresses. Their mattresses come in impossibly tight rolls covered in plastic. I ended up with four pieces of plastic and a large blue tarp, from the box spring, all in one big pile. For most people, that’s just a big pile of garbage. For Kitten, that is heaven. Crazy, Cross-eyed Heaven. So to apologize for my absence, I give you a few pictures of my immensely adorable Kitten…
Just. Tired.
Forget “Happy as a pig in mud.” Now it’s “Happy as a Kitten with plastic.”
After watching WAY TOO MANY cat videos online yesterday, I decided I would try to film one myself. I didn’t really have a plan, I was just going to film and see what came out of it. As you can see from the above video, he was less than cooperative. Every time I would start to film, he would move to the most inconvenient spot…
Ordinarily he is the least cuddly cat you can possibly imagine. Try to take his picture though, and he becomes ridiculously clingy. I did get a few decent shots in, before giving up..
I’m very sad that this last one was blurry, but I still love it.
Have a good Caturday, everyone…
I spent my Memorial Day at Sun City Stables and I have the sunburn to prove it! They have horseback riding or a petting zoo if riding isn’t really your thing. Time is of the essence though, because right now they have the CUTEST little baby horse! Meet Milo…
He has absolutely no fears and will happily walk over and chew on your arm, face, camera… whatever. He’s not picky. The sheep are shameless as well.
In their defense, I did enter the pen with a bag of chips. If you are around sheep, or goats for that matter, with a bag of chips they really can’t be held responsible for their actions.
On top of the goats, sheep and horses, there are also llamas, an alpaca, an ostrich and a couple guinea pigs… and maybe some other things that I have forgotten. It’s only $5 for the petting zoo, which is nothing, so go check it out! The riding trails are lovely, the people are friendly and the animals are great. 🙂
Kitten always chooses the most inconvenient times to be ridiculously cute. For example, when I’m supposed to be studying for a Spanish exam… He makes this face…
then he attacks a helpless blanket…
That doesn’t satisfy his thirst for action, so he sneaks up on my unsuspecting elephant…
First came the exploratory pat..
Then the full on attack..
A good indicator of his current level of crazy is the claws. He may have sweet round “Puss in Boots” eyes, but he also has a Mufasa-like grip on the couch..
So I found this little table by the side of the road. IDespite my mom’s objections, I picked it up. I thought with a little TLC it could be adorable. As you’ll see from the pictures, it was covered in about 25 different layers and colors of paint. It was wobbly and it was sad.
The first picture shows it in all of its peely glory. In the second one, I had already painted the legs with a brown base boat and peeled off A LOT of the paint already. What’s left is what I couldn’t get off aka it was too much work.
Ignore my feet please!
I glued the joints to make it a bit more sturdy, and because I didn’t have clamps at the time, I used bungees. Yay for improvising.
So my laziness cost me in the long run. After the base coat, you could still clearly see the chunky old paint showing through. So I had to go back and peel it off and paint over it again. Don’t cut corners!
It was my plan to distress it when I was done, so I thought it might be kinda cool to add some gold between the brown and blue to add a little sparkly effect. There wasn’t a science to it, just slapped some on there before the blue coat.
Once I finished with the final blue layer and the distressing, I wasn’t really satisfied. It needed a little something else. I’ve been in love with this stencil table over at Domestic Imperfection and it gave me an idea…
Tada! A few coats of polycrylic and it was finished.
I think it’s perfect! I use it as a little hallway table with candles and a picture. The lighting is terrible though, so getting a good picture is near impossible. That’s what’s great about blogs, you see other people’s great ideas and make them your own!
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