Calgon...Take Me Away!

 I swear every day just feels that much hotter than the one before! I know that's probably not true but the heat is definitely cramping my style-more so this year than ever before. Maybe it's just because I am yet another year older but I refuse to consider that as the reason. Lol

In any case, I woke up armed with a long list of outdoor chores that I WAS going to accomplish today and I headed out to start spraying the weeds that seem to have appeared overnight between the stones of one of the patios and, let's just say it's a good thing it wasn't any larger than it is! I got that done and then the fountains refilled and the potted plants all watered before I had to call it quits!

And that found me back inside and figuring I'd finish up the Mason jar decoupage. Here is where I last left you...

Once I gathered the supplies, it was back to the basics for decoupage. I ripped the edges of the image, painted the canvas, ModPodged on the picture, distressed the edges of the print and called it a day.

I knew I wanted to use a green for the canvas and as I was looking for one I happened upon a small container of some paint I had mixed up for a previous project. I have no idea what colors I put together to make this but it looked good with the leaves, so I went with it.

Is this a project I couldn't have lived without? Definitely not but, did it keep me busy inside the house while the outside world was melting away? Yes. Lol Of course, that brought me to "where could I possibly want to put this?" now that it was done. I tried a number of spots but it just isn't large enough without a frame-and, honestly, I won't be "wasting" a frame on this-so, ultimately it ended up on the baker's rack. I figured since it is a Mason jar somewhere near the kitchen would be appropriate. Not sure this is where it will "live" forever but, it is here for now.

Fast forward...it is now Sunday and although when I left this post yesterday my intentions had been to sign off and publish it, I found myself unable to "hit that button". I just really didn't like leaving the post where it was because, honestly, not only did I not like this piece and was beginning to question the time I had spent on it but, if I was going to use it, this was not the right spot...its proportions weren't good amidst all of that chunky stuff.

And so, I grabbed a crystal candle holder from $ Tree from my stash and got to work today. I started by painting it green. Since I had already emptied the rest of the custom mixed green I had yesterday, I had to mix something new. This time I used chalk paint because it adheres to glass a bit better. I mixed up white, green and a drop of aqua and it got close enough for me. It took two coats of paint and then I covered it in antique wax.

As soon as that was set enough, I used a wet-wipe to wipe off most of the wax. I was heading to grab a dowel when I remembered that I had small pieces of dowels left over from not using them as stands on the frames from the hanging decorations I made recently and they worked perfectly.

I hot glued both of them to the back of the canvas and when that had dried I did put a piece of packing tape over all of it before covering the back with a piece of matching card stock.

Then, it was a simple matter of fitting some floral foam into the opening on the holder and pushing in the dowels. I strengthened it all with more hot glue before adding some green reindeer moss and then a small sunflower. My plan had been to use the silk messy bow that I made but I wasn't crazy about that no matter where I tried to put it so, at least for now, I just went with the moss and flower.

Is it now a favorite? The answer is still a resounding NO but, it is better. I like that it has a bit more presence but I'm still not sold on this spot as the perfect home for it so we shall see what happens. I will live with it for a bit and then let you know what happens. Stay safe and stay tuned.