First I want to mention some amazing things that happened today, since I've had too many negative days lately! First, our loan officer told me today that the underwriter said we would have our commitment letter Monday! That is a formal approval for the mortgage! Now as long as we get the money from our taxes to close LOL, we'll be all set! I can't wait to move in!
Also, today I took my kids swimming after Riley had swim practice (Friday is open swim after practice). There was just such a moment of joy I had there, that I knew I had to post about it. My kids are amazing. They love each other so much, even though they fight sometimes. Lily and I were "racing" and it was so adorable, Riley was trying to help her, to give her a head start. He would lift her up, so gently, and try to give her a little push through the water so she would go faster. It sounds so insignificant, but I just can't explain being there. He was so genuinely and lovingly trying to help her, it was amazing. I wish I had a camera!
Now for the crafty part! For Christmas I decided to make my mom, my mother-in-law and my sister stained glass pictures for their large living room windows. I personally think they came out so cool! And they weren't hard! Tedious, but not hard!
These are the instructions I used from this site.
How to Paint on Glass
Supplies:
- glass paint, in your choice of colors
- liquid leading
- glass picture frame
- printed pattern (or your choice of pattern)
- Caulking
- 2 small nails
- wire
Faux Stained Glass Window
Instructions:
1. Print out the pattern that you have chosen, adjusting the picture size to fit the size of your picture frame.
2. Tack two small nails to the back of the picture frame, placing one in each top corner.
3. Remove the backing from the frame and slide the pattern under the glass.
4. Begin tracing the pattern with liquid leading and let dry. Fill in the design with your choice of colored glass paints and let dry.
5. Remove the pattern. Caulk around the gap at the back of the frame so the glass is held in place, and let the caulking dry.
6. Wrap a length of wire around each of the nail heads to form a hanger. Hang in a sunny window. Enjoy!
I got my leading and glass paint at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabrics. I checked A.C. Moore and couldn't find the leading. They had glass stain, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. Though I think it would look just as cool and might be easier to work with. I didn't check any other store.
I thought this was the best site for patterns, but mine weren't all from there. I just googled and found what I wanted. My sister's I actually cut and pasted different pieces together to get what I wanted. I did download the rapid resizer on that site and it was very helpful.
The caulk was kind of tricky (keeping it neat and not on the glass). I also suggest either having the time to paint the dry caulk to match the frame or buy the caulk to match the frame or the frame to match the caulk. I didn't think ahead and had black frames and white caulk and it didn't look that great from the back LOL.
I used 2 different kinds of paint for them. The kinds in the little tubs (like kid's paint with 7 or 8 little plastic tubs attached together) and larger squeeze bottles. The bottles were MUCH easier. They give you a little tool to use in some of the paint packages, but not all. I used a handle of a small, thin paintbrush if the area was large enough, and toothpicks for the smaller areas. You can't just paint this paint on with a brush, it's textured and you need to kind of dab and swirl it on.
Here are my finished products!
This was a test run to see if I could do it. It's just on a 3 1/2 x 5 in frame I had laying around.
Ok, somehow I lost my pictures of my finished ones, so all I have is half finished. I'll try to upload finished ones later.
This one is for my sister. It says Bethany (my sister), Ethan (my nephew), Kendall (my niece) and Jeremy (my sister's fiance), with LOVE in the middle. I just needed to finish the large white boxes for this one. This is my favorite! You can see the clips holding the glass in on each of these, I removed those before putting the caulk on so you can't see them.
I made two for my mother-in-law, because she has two big front windows. They have a large pond in their yard and love bird watching and nature. The first one I just did blue in the circle around the bird.
This one was amazing. I wish I had a finished picture of it. The tree trunk/branches and the sky needs to be finished, but you get the idea.
My mom's. She loves violets, so that's what this is. Obviously the violets were purple and the leaves green. I did the border red and inside the circle blue (I think LOL).
I think that's all I have, so onto being thankful!
Lily is thankful for:
1. Getting to go swimming after Riley's swim practice.
2. The dinosaur puppets she made in school that I played with, with her after school. [They were cute, a T-rex and baby stegasaurus and a little song sung to the tune of "Little Bunny Foo Foo"]
3. We got to go to Wendy's tonight for dinner [Swim practice nights are tough for dinners LOL!]
4. Getting to play dollhouse with Caitlyn and her other friends at school.
5. That Hailey was at swim practice and she got to play with her. [She is the little sister of one of Riley's teammates. Every practice Lily asks for her, but she's hardly ever there.]
Riley is thankful for:
1. Mommy and daddy for buying me bunk beds. [That he does not use nearly enough.
] 2. Miss perry "because she always lets us have fun a lot". [His principal, she really is great with the kids. I'm going to miss her next year when we switch schools.]
3. Grandma rosie, because she brought me to McDonald's twice. [Days that she brought him to swim practice for us. She's always spoiling them LOL!]
4. Grandma Sue, because she has a lot of cool Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. [She has a ton from when I was a kid!]
5. His friend Kieran, because he has a Spiderman DS and a DaGeDar game.
Jeremiah is thankful for:
1. Riding 4 wheelers in the rain. I like mud.
2. Going down waterslides with the kids.
3. Playing frisbee.
4. Shasta Daisies (can you tell I'm ready for winter to be over?)
5. Zombie Lane. [Dork LOL!]
I am thankful for:
1. Watching my babies sleep next to me.
2. Going swimming with Riley and Lily and watching them become so good at it.
3. Having 2 kids who love each other so much.
4. Supposed to get the confirmation letter on Monday!
5. My computer LOL!
Have a GREAT weekend! Wish us luck, Riley has a swim meet tomorrow!
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