Revamping an Old Window

My mom is constantly checking out stained glass windows and has always wanted one to hang in our living room window. The problem is, they are always very expensive - even the small one! So, being the crafty woman I am, I decided to make her one myself. We've been to countless craft shows and seen where people have taken old windows and painted them. It has long been an ambition of mine to do this, but old windows that are affordable are hard to come by! Recently, I was in a large antique store in downtown Boone and low and behold, an old window for $10! It was clearly meant to be!

This project for me was probably the cheapest Mother's Day gift I have ever or will ever purchase! I already had loads of acrylic paint on hand and lots of brushes, so I was set to go. made this project for the cost of the window.

I started by cleaning the window. Luckily, there was not much old paint on the pane itself. What was there I just decided to leave, it happened that it was right where I planned on painting anyway and didn't really interfere.

Next, I looked up some designs online. Now, I can draw pretty well myself, but I have this problem where I want everything PERFECT, so I took a shortcut and did a few google image searches to come up with what I wanted. I found the perfect flowers, birds, and font! I printed and taped these to the backside of the window. If you prefer, you can tape them to the frontside, and paint the backside. This will give you a smooth front. I didn't flip the words before printing, so I knew they would be on the front of the window, so I made everything that way for simplicity and a cohesive look. Not to mention, when painting on the back, you have to paint front to back, which is tricky.

Next, choose a good work space. My dining room table was the perfect size for the window, but I had little room for anything else! I set my table mate (a TV tray, basically) beside my chair and put my painting supplies on it.

Now the painting! I sort of winged it with the flower colors and chose what I felt would look best as I went. I began with the lighter colors first, then added darker colors. I knew that overlapping light over dark would be ugly, and like I said, I was trying to keep this easy and pretty! Rule of thumb is to usually work your way down, then you don't have to worry about getting your hands and arm in the paint. Like I ALWAYS DO. I started with the birds and moved down to the next two flowers.

Once I finished the birds and lower flowers, I turned the window around. For the words, I actually used a sharpie for the smaller words. I then went back over it with a brush.  "Home" and the heart were fairly easy to do with a paint brush, so I wasn't concerned. When I finished those two, I moved on to the last two flowers!

I actually did this project over a few weeks. I chose to start early so I had plenty of time for each layer to dry before the next color/layer was added!

Two things to note: There is a slight distance between your stencil/paper and where your brush will touch the glass, it will take a little get used to. Second, the acrylic paint doesn't go on so well with the first coat. I sort of globbed it on, then went back over again. In the future, I may be tempted to purchase a glass paint. I've used them before, and they grab a little better!

Post-Grad

I really am terrible at blogging. And that's all I have to say about that.

It's still a little surreal that Saturday makes three weeks since I graduated from App State. Right now I mostly just feel like I'm on summer break. Since graduating high school, I've never taken a full summer break. The most I've ever had at a time was three weeks. So working all summer is nothing new. The crazy part is planning for the fall, knowing I'll still be at work full time.

Adjusting to a full time job hasn't been too hard. Last summer I worked 6 days a week leading trail rides for 3 months, so working 5 days a week is not a big deal. The struggle for me is packing lunches. Most of the last four years I've been able to make lunch at home, so the possibilities are endless. Now, I need to come up with healthy lunches that are easy to prepare and take to work. Definitely a learning curve! But I've found some great recipes and ideas that I cannot wait to try!

I'm officially three weeks into living in my new apartment this weekend as well. I am loving the country life, even with the micey intruders and birds trying to get it. It's so peaceful at night, and during the day for that matter! My front porch is also ideal for hammocking. The biggest change is paying my rent. The last three years of my life, I've used student loans to pay rent. I went to App for free from my sophomore year on, so taking loans to pay rent was not a big deal, and it made sense. I was in school to learn, not to spend all my time working to afford a place so I could go to school. My last paycheck wasn't for a full two weeks of full time work, and it was JUST enough to cover my rent for the month. Thank goodness for graduation money! That made things this last week much easier.

I'm excited to see how my paychecks will really look once I have a full two weeks on them. This may sound silly, but I am so excited about sitting down with my BFFs Excel and "Total Money Make-Over" and reworking my budget! Now that I have a predictable income, I think things will be a bit easier. I am ready to really pick up some momentum in saving my emergency fund as well as paying down my student debt! My boss has even mentioned the possibility of bonuses if we have a super busy summer - that would go a long way to helping pay down those debts!

One of the best things about my post grad life is no homework! I LOVE to read. I could spend all day reading a good book. It has been so great to be able to read for fun and not feel guilty for neglecting school work! I also love that after work, I can borrow our guard dog Knox and go to the park for an hour, or eat dinner with a friend, or go to Boone for the evening, and not be ignoring something important. The BEST part is that I acutally have a weekend! For the last year, when I wasn't at school, I was at work or doing homework. Even on Sundays, I worked in the morning at 8am until time to leave for church. I now have Sunday and Monday all to myself, aside from being blessed to be able to volunteer at Elevation Boone. Life is good :)

Hopefully I really can actually pick blogging up for once. Perhaps I can come up with themes for a few days of the week? If I had direction, I know I could do it!