The Good Life

I regularly play with word art.

That and scour Pinterest for ideas for my pallet projects.

I have also been on a journey of introspection and reflection.

There are a couple of things I really want right now.

Things that I don't have in my life that make me feel like "the grass is greener."

If I could just have those things, THEN I would be happy.

Then everything would be right with the world.

Then life would be all that I imagine it could be.

The problem is that I don't have any control over whether those things will happen or not.

So rather than stew over what I want and don't have,

I have to rethink my attitude.

There are some song lyrics by Cheryl Crow that say,

"It's not having what you want,

It's wanting what you've got."

When I start feeling sad about the things I want and don't have,
I have been forcing myself to look around and appreciate the things I do have.

A wonderful husband and 5 amazing kids.
A beautiful house in an awseome neighborhood.
I live close to my family.
I get to create pallet art, AND get paid for it.
And on and on and on.

Really.
LIFE is GOOD!

So here's the board I created, to remind myself.

Be grateful.

Life really is that good!

Here's to you.

Here's to the GOOD LIFE!

Here Birdy Birdy!

I regularly get requests for bird images on my pallet wood boards.

I think I've done this image maybe 20 times.

It never gets old.

This one wasn't a custom request, I just felt like I needed to do it.

Then when I dropped off the latest batch over at Twigs and Twine,

{M} asked me if this was the custom one they had a customer reqest.

I hadn't heard of any request.

I guess I was just on the right wavelength that day.

That doesn't happen often, but is so nice when it does.

The image comes from The Graphics Fairy here.

I will use different parts of the image depending on what look I'm going for.

This time I did the 4th line from the bottom.

The boards got screwed together, a light blue wash,

then I drew the image on with a Sharpie.

Not my regular method of paint and paintbrush,

but much more control.

If I could find a good paint pen that actually worked right all the time,

I would probably switch, but I haven't found one yet that works the way I want it to.

Someday maybe.

The next two pics are from Twigs and Twine.

The middle board used the same graphic, I just painted the birds in rather than outlining the image.

The same for the bottom board.

I thought it would be fun to paint one of the birds Orange.

Kind of a "Be your own kind of Beautiful."

I just don't always have time to stage the boards for the blog

before delivery.

I try.

But sometimes it just doesn't happen.

Pretty Birds all in a row.

Lovely.

Feeling Patriotic with Pallet Wood

I made these a while ago and just never got around to posting them.

I love playing with the stars and stripes.

Especially during the summer.

Perfect for Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

Or just some fun summer time color.

We had the opportunity to go back east and tour Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.

The history, workmanship and sacrifice that went in to building our country is astounding.

Sometimes I wish we could go back to that time.

The honor and respect for each other and our country.

The building that floored me the most was the Library of Congress.

The craftsmanship that went in to that building.... WOW!

And while I'm no master craftsman...

I work with pallet wood after all.

I would like to think I make things a little more beautiful.

A little more good for those around me.

So here's a few of my recent patriotic creations.

Red White and Blue.

Home Sweet Home!

This one is very simple.

A bit of paint here and there and done.

You can't go wrong with some stars and stripes.

I also love stars.

I thought I would just keep things simple and paint a red star.

I decided it needed a little outline to finish it off.

Last but not least is this cute wreath.

It's hanging on my door as we speak... er.. write.

Anyway, I just painted a few scraps of pallet wood

red, white, and blue.

I layed them out on the ground and screwed them together.

It needed a few extra screws to keep it from shifting.

Then I roughly figured out where the points of a star would be and added screws

partly screwed in.

Then wrapped some bailing wire around the screws to form the star in the center.

I like it.

Simple.

Rustic.

Patriotic.

Perfect for Summer!

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