A House Number and some Winter Flowers
June 28th, 2008My 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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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…….

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.



I purchased this plain wooden G from 









Saturday found us at an enormous play centre, celebrating Rory’s birthday with his friends.








It’s my birthday today




Tonight we had a lovely dinner together and another Pavlova “birthday cake” thanks to our non-functional oven (to be fixed on Monday). So overall I had a wonderful day, and feel like such a lucky person, if this is what 34 feels like, than I think I like it!








