Inspired By... #51

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my US friends! 

I can't believe that this is my 51st challenge - it has almost been one year, wow!   

I know I say this every week but I really love this photo, something about it just speaks to me.

(source)

I could think of so many ways to take this photo: distressed, school (ie the rulers), background pattern of the floor, colors...what will you do?

I have another guest up this week.  Amy plays along in many of my challenges and I always love what she creates!  This week is no exception!!!  The pattern of the floor made her think of chicken wire and she went to work creating an organization station.  I love this Amy!  Be sure to stop by Amy's blog, Amy's Art from the Heart for lots of great inspiration.

Thank you so much for being my guest Amy!

As soon as I saw that Exit sign in the photo I knew that I wanted to use that as a jumping off point to create a Christmas themed block.  I have a box full of wooden blocks that I picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents!  I also used it as inspiration to create a few items to add to my Christmas home decor.  Now I really wanted to stage this photo with some of the cute Santas that I have collected over the years.  However, with our house in an upheaval - most of our dining room and living room is full of kitchen stuff due to the kitchen reno... I just did not feel like digging out anymore stuff.  You will have to imagine it ;)  The black tray was a thrift store silver tray that I spray painted with chalkboard paint - no chalk at home, otherwise I would have written something Christmasy on it.

This frame was also something I picked up at a garage sale for next to nothing.  It had one of those chipboard oil paintings in it and the frame was gold.  I painted the frame black, then white then sanded it slightly to mimic the distressing of the chair in the photo.  The photo is a printable I found on Pinterest, I just printed it up on Textured Cardstock to mimic the look of a painted canvas.

Now here is the block.  I sanded it down a bit then rubbed a candle over it in spots so it would be easy to distress.  I painted the front and back white and the edges black, then sanded them slightly.  I used my cricut to cut out the word, then used it as a stencil.  This was so easy and quick.

I had fun creating these quick and easy projects - and they were so inexpensive, yay!

I can't wait to see what you do!

Rules for Playing:

Create a NEW project for this challenge.

Be sure to link your blog with a direct link to the post you would like me to visit.

Please put a link on your post to this challenge.

Create a project with no more than 5 challenges including this challenge.

Feel free to use any crafting products you have!