Pinterest Challenge Party-Summer

Boy is it hot!   Sure wishing I were at the beach.

I guess it is time to take down my 4th of July/Patriotic mantel and put up a Summer one.

I plan on using a few of the same elements from last years Summer mantel.  My favorite three items to be exact.  And since they were all knockoffs of stuff I had pinned to Pinterest.  I thought I would join in on the Pinterest Challenge, summer edition.

What?  You say that I am a day late for the party?  Well, better late than never I always say. 

My first entry into the Pinterest challenge is my "Life is good at the beach" sign.  Here is the original I found online last year that I pinned. 

I found it at Dean Miller.  The original is actually a metal sign that they sell for $19.99.   I loved the colors and it was exactly what I wanted for my summer mantel.  That is, except for the price. 

I like FREE better!  Hubby had 3 cedar fence boards sitting on the side of the house.  I asked him "pretty please" if he would cut them down for me to make this sign.

He was so excited that he jumped up and down for joy and clapped his hands.  Just kidding.  But he did say "yes".  In fact, he made me 2 wood plank signs.  The other one I still haven't done anything with. 

Here he is putting all the pieces together for me. 

Next I painted the board with some white craft paint.  I didn't want it to completely cover the board.   Then I used some aqua paint and painted 3 areas.   I pretty much copied the inspiration sign. 

 

I did more of a whitewash effect with the paint.  I wanted some of the original board to show through.  The best part about using cedar fence planks is the roughness of the wood.  Adds great texture.                       

 

I was then going to use a stencil for writing the words.  But you know how lazy I am.  I decided to just wing it and live dangerously, by free handing my words.  Scary!  But it all worked out.  Lucky for me.                  

I used a pencil to sketch my letters.  Then I used some grey paint to paint "Life is Good".  White paint for "at the" and red paint for "BEACH".  I then used a black sharpie to outline "BEACH".   I then lightly sanded it    and called it done.                                                                                                                                            

My next project was inspired by this image I found on Pinterest at Obee Designs. 

 

Aren't you crushing over these vintage SeaSide beach pails?  I know I have been ever since laying eyes on this image.                                                                                                                                               

I had to have one of these pails.  

I found one on eBay last year.  Yipee!  But wait, I'm el cheapo.  I'm not going to pay $100 for a vintage beach pail.  No matter how much I wanted it.  I guess I will have to make my own.  

Plus, I wanted an aqua blue stripe, not a royal blue stripe in mine.    And I wanted it to be FREE.  

                                                                                                                                        

Luckily, I had a plain tin pail in my stash that came from either the Dollar Spot at Target or from Michael's dollar bins a few years back.  So I painted the bucket with some red, some white and some aqua blue. 

Next I took my handy dandy Sharpie pen and lived dangerously again.  And wrote "Seaside", free hand.  The adrenaline was a pumping.    I girl can only take so much danger in one day.  I was fast becoming an adrenaline junky.  (OK, you can stop laughing now.)

Problem was, it wasn't looking very vintage.  So I shabbied it up a bit with some sandpaper.  And then used some watered down burnt umber paint and slathered it on.  Then wiped it off.   Much better. 

Still doesn't look like it's 100 years old.  But for free, I'm estatic.

And if you must have your own vintage Seaside beach pail.  I found you one on ebay.   It's only at $49.00 currently and closes in 2 days.  But if you are cheap like me.  You can make your own.  Just like me. 

My final Pinterest inspiration project is bunting made from a map.  Here is my inspiration pin from Five Brothers One Sister. 

I really liked this one.  But I wanted mine to say "Summer".  And to be in a slightly different shape.

Now I'm not that handy with making computer graphics.  In fact, I down right stink at it.  I have not a clue how it's done.  So I had to make mine the good old fashion way.

I got my neighbor to give me some of her old maps (again a free project).  Remember when AAA used to give you free road maps?  Do they still do that?

I drew me up a template for the shape I wanted on some card stock.  Used my template to cut out the map.

Now I just needed me some red letters that spell out "SUMMER".  

I then remembered I had these vintage letters saved on my computer.  I have no idea where they originally came from.  I cut and pasted the letters I needed to spell "SUMMER".  Printed them out onto cardstock.

Then I painstakingly cut out each letter & glued on top of my map bunting pieces.  

I then punched a hole at the top on each side and strung them on a piece of twine.

And WALA!  I had the "SUMMER" map bunting of my dreams.

I really like the "S" section of the map since I grew up in San Diego county.  

And just because I am nice, and some of you may be every bit as cheap as me, I scanned my Summer map bunting just for you.

I don't know how to make a fancy shmancy download.  But you can right click on the images below and save to your computer.  You know, the "I have not a clue how to use a computer much" kind of way. 

And there you have my 3 Pinterest challenge projects.  Now go check out all the rest and get crackin' on making your Pinterest inspiration dreams come true. 

Hopefully I will get my Summer mantel completed this weekend.  And even though I am reusing 3 items from last years mantel, it will look a little different.  Shall I dare say, even better than last years?  At least that is what I am hoping.  But the laziness monster is still possessing my body, so who knows what will actually happen.

It's still hot.  I still would rather be at the beach.  But I guess my pool will just have to do.  

Linking to:

Centsational Girl: The Pinterest Challenge