House Tour: Room 1

Alright, we have been officially in the house for 2 weeks and married only 3 weeks!

It has been SO FUN!! I love having friends over to our house.

Sitting on our sofa watching TV. 

Not having to go home at the end of the day. 

It has all just been so great. I know everyone says the real world will hit us soon. 

But I'm just looking forward to the years ahead. 

I love my new roommate :) 

Alright, this is our first house tour!! 

This is our living rooooommmmm! 

It is a pretty small room only 12x16 so I was really worried about fitting everything in. 

Luckily my mom loaned us the chair and love seat. 

I'm pretty sure it was at one time porch furniture.

But I love it and it fits pretty perfectly in our tiny house :) 

We also got that sofa for a pretty sweet deal off Craigslist for $100 bucks! 

Its a queen pull out and the microfiber has only one little stain on the back of a cushion. 

Finding this furniture was such a blessing. 

This is the other corner of the living room. 

Yes the glorious TV! 

Reed and I received this fabulous TV as a wedding present along with the blue-ray player. 

Of course Reed wanted bigger but our room (and me) would only allow for a 42 inch. 

I think it fits perfectly!!

The TV stand is actually something that my dad had left over from when he owned a hardware store.

It was a rack used to display cast iron skillets. 

Yep, just basic wooden sides with 2 gridded selves. 

The shelves can easily be moved to different levels.

Of course meaning we had to put the raccoon on the bottom shelf :) 

The image on the right is a painting that my grandmother did. 

I had it in my last apartment and hopefully my mom will let me keep it forever!

Now for some detail shots. 

These are all of the pillows that we have around the living room. 

I was planning to make my own pillows out of canvas and just paint them but

I was lucky enough to find all of these at great deals!

The 2 brightly colored smaller pillows I found at a local consignment store for $8 a piece! 

And the 3 larger ones I got on redtag clearance at Belk! 

Reed was getting frustrated with all of my pillow purchases but I think they are perfect for the room. 

And he should be happy that I got them all for great prices. :) 

Annnnd finally our trinket stand! 

We both have a lot of things we want to show off. 

Reed has his animals, I have my artwork. 

I've tried my hardest to incorporate them both in a some what cohesive manner. 

This bookcase was one Reed had and really didn't want to part with. 

At first I had no idea what we would fill it with or where we would put it,

but I am so glad that he made me keep it. 

Because now we have a perfect spot in the living room to display some of our favorite trinkets and gifts we have received over the years. 

I've shown these images before but I thought it appropriate 

to share them now that the room is finished :) 

Just a quick reminder. This is a piece of fencing that Reed and I got at Lowes. 

Check out how we built it here.

And this is the display over the sofa. 

I explain the significance of each piece on this post if your interested. 

We are both so happy with how our little living room has turned out. 

We spend a lot of time hanging out in it. 

Finally it has started feel like OUR house :) 

*PS> Reed has 2 more duck mounts coming in the next month or so. Help me figure out where would be good to add in TWO MORE animals!! 

Giveaway!

Back to school, lets set up your dorm or tailgate!

With school starting back and football season starting I thought it would be appropriate to do a giveaway getting in to the spirit.

Here are a few examples.
Please head over to my etsy store or check out my other posts that include some tin artwork!

Most of these are Clemson or Carolina but I can do another team if you'd like!

Whoever wins the raffle will get one 16x13inch hand painted tin sign 
customized to your favorite team 
FOR FREE! 

Look around and good luck!!

The raffle ends the 25th!
(And if you aren't the lucky winner, or if you don't feel like waiting out the raffle I am offering a 20% off discount at the store with the coupon code BACKTOSCHOOL this will only last from the 22nd until the first Clemson football game September 1st!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

I know I haven't done as many posts as promised but I have a good reason. This holiday season wasn't too terribly hectic so I was focusing on having good time at home. What I qualify as good time is quality time with the people I love, it doesn't have to be full of exciting parties or really anything at all it's just uninterrupted time. I got back to Columbia the third week of December and got to spend a lot of time with my family. My original goal was to finally catch back up on my blogging and to even do some revisions for you guys; however, I was enjoying my good time with the fam.

So, I'm just gonna give a quick over view of all of my projects from the holiday season.

The Holidays are great because I get lots of fun projects! This project was for a friend from Clemson who is engaged to a pretty big Gamecock fan.

I also got to do another pair of TOMS for a friend while I was home over break. I really enjoyed this pair because she gave me free rein and just gave me a few things that she thought could inspire me. Her only requirement was that she wanted 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ("Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus").

Even though I love the free time over the holidays to do projects on my own schedule, I do think that my friends and family get a little tired of my gifts... This year I did better and didn't give EVERYONE a homemade gift. But Reed will get one every year...

This year I knew that he really wanted a large cooler. He talked non-stop about his buddy Cody's cooler that he could fit all of his deer meat in when taking it to the processor. So I decided to make a Reed a meat locker for Christmas. I was attempting to make the top of it look like the cooler was open and full of meat ready to be grilled. Sadly, I think the cup holders messed up the illusion. This was a new techinque that I had never tried before, I think it was pretty successfull for a first try.

-Funny story- I got the pictures printed at Wal-mart and when I went to pick them up the lady asked what my pictures where of so she could find them quicker. I tried to avoid saying raw meat so I just told her the size and number of prints I was picking up. Sadly, this did not suffice and she asked for the content. Once I said raw meat she didn't talk to me again. I guess it would be kind of creepy for some random person to print 16 pictures of raw meat...

Now I'm back at school and ready to start the Spring semester. I can't wait to get back in the studio I'm taking nothing but studio classes which is WAYYYY exciting! Be looking out for new sculptures, photographs, and prints from printmaking!! All of these classes are going to be very tedious and time consuming but I can't wait to get my hands dirty again! 

-Also, I have made a Facebook page for the blog and am working on an Etsy store, if you have any advice pleeeeeaaassssseeee share. I am most definitely not tech. savvy. 

Cooler season...

Literally, the days are getting cooler. This morning it was 55 degrees and I think the high was in the mid 70's. Which is VERY strange for South Carolina, but I'll take it! 
Buuuutttttttttt, that isn't the type of cooler I am talking about. As I am sure everyone knows, it is football season. Which also means it is tailgating season, so coolers are all the rage right now. I thought I would show you a few I have painted in the past and one that I just did a few weeks ago! 


This is the most recent cooler that I did for Maggie to give to my cousin Glenn for their 2 year dating anniversary. Even though I think this cooler was a huge surprise to Glenn and I know that it is something he will use for a while Maggie totally got a better present. Maggie gave Glenn a cooler and Glenn asked Maggie to marry him!! Yayyyyyy! 
-Back to the cooler. This is a 120 quart cooler that I got from Wal-Mart for $55, thought that was a total deal. 

Lid: USC Gamecock Flag

Front: Lyrics from a Corey Smith song with palmetto tree

Glenns monogram

Maggies monogram (don't worry I'll change this for her now that her name changes!)

Their anniversary and a fabulous quote

This cooler was done with sort of a rushed time line so I didn't get to do everything I was hoping to do. But, I really like how it turned out, and Glenn loved it enough to propose! (Just kidding I know it wasn't because of the cooler...) 


This is a cooler I did for Reed last year for his birthday. I thought I would  give him something that would be practical but I couldn't help getting creative with it too! 

Front: The song that describes Reed best: Indian Outlaw by Tim McGraw. 

Left Side: Reeds favorite fish to shoot, a carp. 

Back: Lyrics to Indian out law and some brim. 

Right Side: a Bass

Lid: the 2nd best description of Reeds life.

This is another cooler done last year for a friends birthday. 

Lid: Tals monogram 

Front: A dolphin fish. 

Painting on coolers is so fun! The paint is so easy to lay down and mixes so well on the plastic. Now I just need a fool proof sealant, so if anyone knows of any let me know :) 

The Old Smith Barn

I wanted to give you guys some history on the tin signs that have become such a big hit this summer. The rusty tin that I paint on is from the old Smith barn here in Pontiac. The barn was built around 1972 by my Granddaddy Smith and provided shelter for the horses and farm equipment used on the 180 acres. Granddaddy Smith died in 1977 and then my daddies family moved out to Pontiac in January of 1979. The land has all been slowly sold off and now my family is the last of the Smiths on Granddaddies land. The barn became more of a storage building over the years and at times was even a play ground for my cousins, siblings and I. Now the barn is falling apart and is missing half of the roof. The roof that has fallen is where I pick up the tin I paint on. So, over all, the paintings are more than rusty old tin. They are a piece of Smith family history! 


Now enough of the history lesson and on to the art work! 

Most of these tins are custom orders for friends and family; however, I can reproduce and customize nearly anything! I have plenty more orders to fill before the end of the summer so be looking for more of these tin roof originals!