A House Number and some Winter Flowers

My little bottle of Mod Podge is going a long way, and I am loving it.

Here is another really quick project, that has been seen all over the craft blogs thanks to Anna Maria Horner‘s appearance on Martha Stewart (there is a link in Anna’s sidebar to the video tutorial). It’s called Fabric Silhouette Painting, and while I was looking at the video, I had a great idea for what I could make – A decorative house number. Just the right kind of project for a gloomy Melbourne winter day.

House Number

The tutorial starts with a pre-stretched canvas and a piece of fabric, cut to size, that you staple to the back of the canvas. Unfortunately, I only had a domestic stapler, and not a staple gun, so I didn’t really get the fabric tight enough (hence the slightly wrinkled appearance of the finished numbers), but I carried on regardless. I chose to use a great Heather Ross fabric that I got in NYC at Purl, called Matrioshka Dolls (in beige)

Paper Template

Here is the fabric covered, Mod Podged canvas, with a paper stencil that I have made to trace out the numbers. All that was left was to mix up a colour to match the trim on our house, and paint out the background, and then a final coat of Mod Podge. Check Anna Maria’s tutorial for better instructions.

House Number 2

I really like how the nesting dolls are peeking out of the numbers; a detail you can’t see from the street, but will notice as you approach our front door.

While it is under the eaves, it will undoubtably be exposed to some weather, (although, on the south of the house, it will not get direct sunlight) so my husband is sceptical about how long this will last. Nevertheless, Luke kindly drilled in some screws to hang it on.

Luke

This shirt is one I think Luke has had longer than he has known me. He recently rediscovered this to wear for weekend gardening, and the kids told him he looked like a farmer, which certainly didn’t make him unhappy.

So where are these Winter flowers I mentioned in the title? One lot grows right next to the house number, over the boring old grey lattice that surrounds our verandah. It is one of my favourite Aussie natives, Happy Wanderer (Hardenbergia Violacea). We have planted lots of purple flowers because I love they way they look up against the terracotta bricks of our house.

Happy Wanderer or Hardenbergia Violacea

These are just coming into flower, and the flowers will last for months.

Here are the other winter flowers, but they are a little stranger…….

Kids in the tree

It might be a little difficult to see, as it was starting to get dark, but the kids have picked up a whole lot of Camellia blooms that have fallen to the ground, and they have decorated the Magnolia Tree. In a month or so, this tree will have lovely purple blooms of it’s own, but for now, it has bright pink flowers.

kids in tree 2

3 thoughts on “A House Number and some Winter Flowers

  1. What a great idea! Hey, don’t they have a version of Mod Podge that is more weather/water resistant to be used outside? That might help with preserving your beautiful house #. I love the way it came out and am thinking about some Anna Maria fabric I have……hmmm 🙂

  2. hey!
    HistoryBoy and I bought our first home this year, a new townhouse. The common areas have been planted with decorative grasses, camelias (my grandma’s favourite) and these low viney plants which have leaves that remind me of eucalyptus – though my m-i-l disagrees. They’ve recently begun to flower – some are purple, others are white. And now, thanks to you, Claire, I have a name for them 😀
    They’ve been planted as a ground cover, though, which may not be the best use for them, having read the GA site…

    Your house number looks lovely. Cute babushkas!

  3. Ha! I love what your children have done – very Alice in Wonderlandish! And that fabric is too cute! I almost bought some at the patchwork store here the other day but am insisting that I have a plan for it before I buy – maybe I’ll try this – we’ll be matching 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Anti-spam image