This post is a little bit all over the place. A tip about hand painting lettering on antique-looking signs, a little peek at the kind of food I’ve been eating as a vegetarian and some info on how I’m wearing my hair lately.  Some bloggers have a schedule (and I really admire those people), but I just write about whatever comes to mind on that particular day.  Today, it’s a mish-mash.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to paint a sign to hang in my living room.  I had a blank space on my wall and a piece of old wood the perfect size to fill it.  I started out painting it in MMSMP Shutter Gray.  I LOVE using Milk Paint for “old” signs.  It has this soft matte finish that is beautiful.  I used a graphic I found on The Graphics Fairy blog and projected it onto the piece of wood.  I outlined the letters with chalk and then painted them in with MMSMP Ironstone.  I could have stopped at this point, but the sign looked a little flat.

So, I pulled out my 1.0 liner brush and ASCP Graphite…

…and drew a shadow around each letter.  When shadowing, you want to determine where your light source is (mine was high and to the left), so all of the shadows fall in the same direction (low and to the right.)  Use a thin brush, so you have lots of control and use a color that’s in high contrast with the lettering.

This technique is very simple, but makes the lettering pop and gives the sign dimension.

(You can still see the chalk outlines on some of the letters in this photo.  I wipe them off with a damp cloth before distressing.)

I then distressed the sign with a palm sander to bring out the character of the old wood and show the layers of paint.

See how all of the shadows are low and to the right?  It’s a very cool effect you should try next time you’re painting some lettering.

I’ve been a vegetarian for about three weeks now and I have to say that I love it.  I don’t miss meat at all and I’m enjoying so many foods I didn’t eat a lot of (or ever) before.  Kale is pretty tasty and I am totally in love with avocado.  My family was grilling out tonight and I was actually craving a black bean veggie burger.  With kale and avocado.  Yummy.  Who knew?

And lastly, I’ve been getting a lot of nice comments about my hair in the pictures of me at Lucketts.  If you’ve been following my blog for a few years, you may have picked up on the fact that I like change when it comes to my hair.  I’m a little scared of getting stuck in one style, so I like to change it up.  I’m also just a person who likes change.  I like moving.  I like rearranging my furniture.  I like new wall colors, new outfits, and new play lists.  So, of course I like new hair styles.

I’ve been smoothing my hair out for years.  Mainly because it has been pretty short.  Short hair + curly hair = afro.  And my afro was not a cute, stylish afro, but a scary, frizzy, out-of-control afro.  Now that it’s longer, I am tucking away my flattening iron, surrendering to the humidity and wearing my hair curly.  It’s a little crazy-curly at times, but it’s a way I can wear my hair that only involves a spritz, some scrunching and a bobby pin in the front.  This beats the 30 minutes of flattening or throwing it in a bandanna every day.

So, there you go.  A bit of randomness and probably more about my hair than you really cared about.  I’m off to finish out the remainder of the long weekend with a good book.

The winners of the Decor Steals giveaway are…

Emily (emsydaisy) wins the cow bust

AND

Jessica B (jbrim2254) is the winner of the wine holder.