Dracula Untold 2014

Are we ready for yet another Vampire movie?

My answer is, bring it on!

I love vampire movies, and I try to watch them when they come out.
When I went to see the Transformers; Age of Extintion last night, (which was good - tons of non-stop action) I was somewhat bored with the pre-views, until I saw Luke Evans (Achem, A Welsh Boy, may I add) smoldering on screen in the new 'Dracula Untold' Movie, which comes to the screen in October this year.

Now,  I watched in awe at the amazing special effects, and Luke's  strong demeanor as he played Dracula.
I, SO look forward to watching this version. And as I see it, watching this movie can only help with my creative writing flow, as I work on my vampire novel. (We writers have to keep up with all the new forms of Vampire Movies, that  keeps being put out there in movies.)

Take a look at the official trailer and see for yourself.

Dracula Untold

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My Daughter, Lauries Wedding

Time flies by and when you live thousands of miles away from your loved ones, time flies much quicker.

Yesterday,  Saturday, June 28th

My 3rd sweet daughter, Laurie Helen Drew, married her sweetheart Liam.

The hardest thing for me was, not being there to see my daughter marry.

Living thousands of miles away & living on a students wage -- sucks.

But I did get to spend a few quick minutes over Skype, before the pictures

To see and say, Hi to my Laurie xx

How Beautiful she looked :)

I couldn't contain my tears.

My other 2 beautiful daughters

Jodi & Ashton

Laurie & Liam

xxxx

Laurie, Laurie, Laurie!

What a way to go, with your shoes. 

Comfort comes first LOL

This made me laugh -- so like Laurie :)

CHEESE

Beautiful Cupcakes!

My daughter Jodi & her daughter, my cute granddaughter, Hannah

Beautiful.

My 3 sisters.

Judith, Kaye and Alison.

The Beautiful Bride, Laurie xx

 I love you, my darling daughter.

Congratulations on your stunning wedding x

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Vintage Window Frame Decor

I've been wanting to buy an old vintage window for ages now.

And, when I was having one of those days (no chocolate in da house days)

I just had to get out and about and I headed to Odana Antique Store, here in Madison.

A store where, if I had tons and tons of money and a house, is where I would easily spend a LOT

Of money there, for decor for our place. But today I just wanted an old window frame.

Here, is my vintage window frame, all gray and lifeless.

Still, sporting it's lovely sharp thingy's (Sorry, I don't know what those things are) 

But they hold the pain of glass in. I removed them all and scraped off all the old dried putty. Then I gave it a quick white wash with white paint and let it dry.

Once dried, I applied a mix of burnt umber brown paint and black. 

And applied it in the nooks and crannies.

Then with a dry thick brush, I applied that brown/black paint mix all over.

Leaving it to dry.

Now comes the fun part.

Apply Mod Podge Glue all over and leave until it feels tacky.

One the glue is tacky, work quickly. Load your paint brush in Acrylic White Paint

And apply all over the glue, making sure you go in ONE direction. Don't be tempted to go back over the paint. 

It will and can look like this. Don't worry. The trick of this technique is that you're making the paint crack.

That way it looks like a chippy, old window frame. Once you have done this allow to dry.

You can see the paint crack - it's cool to see.

You can see the paint, crack :)

Next I painted a single plank of wood in the same manner, and let that to dry. 

This will become my shelf.

Once my shelf was dry, I measured where to put my shelf brackets.

 And screwed them in.

Once I screwed the brackets onto the shelf, I screwed them down onto

The Window frame.

I added a cast iron handle at its bottom.

Hung up the Antique Window Frame and placed books, and Nik-naks for decor.

And a wreath, with a key hanging in its center.

I made a quick picture frame and adding some burlap from a Cocoa sack.

Vintage Window Frame Decor

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Quick Art

I tend to change things up, whether it is in the living room or bathroom etc. 

 I feel changing or adding or removing things from a room, can give it a new lease of life.

So, with that in mind, I decided to do a Quick Art project for the girls' room.

I actually saw a picture like the one I painted at Hobby Lobby, the only difference is that mine cost, $12 and theirs $42. Huge difference.

It does help if you can draw, but even if you can't, this is easy to do.

You start with a primed canvas -- any size really, but I had a large on hand.

Acrylic paints, a few brushes, a white paint pen (thin tip) and water, pencil to sketch out your lines.

Start with mixing your desired color paint, and then paint it on your canvas.

Repeat another 2 times, leaving the paint to dry in between coats.

Once dried, sketch where you want the branches & Owl to go.

Paint the branches (3 coats)

Then paint the Owl (3 coats)

I used a silver iridescence paint over the whole owl, once I'd finished painting it.

This gives it a shiny appearance.

I think it looks rather cute, so does Seren and Carys, who cutely named it

"OWL"

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