A bird with a french fry!

Do you ever find in life we are sometimes not as "happy" as we should be?

Do you wonder how you can be blessed with so much and yet still experience less than complete joy?

I have felt these things. I've said before in previous blogs that I am newly re-married. I have the most wonderful husband. He loves me for who I am no matter what. In my previous life this is where I'd gag and say: Well isn't she lucky?" I spent many years in a marriage in which I did not have that security. I do have it now and am so very THANKFUL, because I have been in both places and know how valuable it is to feel unconditional love.

The sign at the top of this page is one I made my 4 daughters. I placed it in their bathroom so they will see it everyday. I saw this saying somewhere and loved it! I wish I could remember where, I'd give them credit.

I really and truly believe that we are the creators of how happy our day and life can be. Even when unplanned clouds threaten our day our positive thinking can drive them away. Have you ever seen a bird get a french fry? They flap and squawk and you'd think something terribly important was happening! They take and enjoy the nibble and seem so smug happy! I think we all need to be more like a bird with a french fry. Let's look at what we have and decide we will be happy today!

Details of project Happy Bird:

1. simple wood plaque from Michael's: $2.99 (I purchased about a year ago)
2. acrylic paints in black, orange and aqua, I use Ceramacoat brand
3. brushes in large and small (for detail work on lettering)

You could use a canvas, piece of wood or a pre-finished plaque like I did. You want to base coat the piece in your aqua color. Let dry...

really let it dry...

okay, now while you let it dry some more (because I know you are anxious and probably really only let it "sort of" dry)use  a word processing program to type out the saying on the above sign and center it. I believe I used Tunga in bold as my font. Any font of your choice will work. 

You want to mess with the point size in your fonts menu till the words fit onto whatever you are painting. I fit mine by printing it out and kind of eyeballing it until I had a good fit.

*Please email me if you need help. I think most of you know how to change your font sizes, but just ask if you don't.

Now comes the fun part...

note: I painted my letters on, but if you don't feel comfortable doing this, you could use a paint pen for the lettering. 

I always transfer by rubbing a pencil on the back of my text and then placing the "rubbed side" down with my right side up on top of the piece. Here you can use graphite paper as well. I never have it on hand and have just always used the rub method. I then tape the text to the piece to hold it still (actually I'm ADD and don't I just hold it in place). Trace over the outline of your text until you have traced the whole body of text. Once done remove the edge of the paper to peek" under. You should see an outline of the text on your piece? If you don't retrace the lines (with more pressure)that don't show. When the piece is traced well and you see transferred text you can remove the paper. I used a small brush and painted the inner part of the letters with orange paint. After it dried (Really dried), I went back and created a "drop shadow" on the letters. Please see the example. You could do all the lettering with paint pens as well. I enjoy painting text so for me this is heaven. I hope you enjoy this quick project and place it somewhere that will make you happy!

"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." -Martha Washington

I wish you a day full of happiness!

Until next time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy