Old Shutters, new life & Live, love, laugh

 A few weeks ago while browsing some of our favorite shops in Steveston, my friend Karen spotted a "Live, Love, Laugh" sign that she really liked. The shop wanted over $80.00 for it. I told her I'd make her one for her birthday. I found the letters in a large pad of scrapbooking papers, which are made of heavy cardboard and traced them onto a board I had already painted, and sanded to distress it a bit.

 I then filled them in by hand

 then sanded over the letters to distress the writing as well.

 This is the finished sign.

 I had some old shutters in the workshop, just waiting for an project so they could have a new life! :)  Karen and her hubby Don recently painted and re-decorated their master bedroom, and wanted some kind of cabinet to hide the television they mounted to the wall...So, I came up with this...

 Old shutters, which I lightly sanded before pulling out my trusty compressor to spray paint them a robin's egg blue..

 Shutters have so many nooks and crannies, spraying them is a must!

I then put together a basic "box", painted it, added a shelf inside and hubby added some crown molding on the top part (I suck at mitered corners)...then came the hinges,

 did a little sanding...

I added some pretty glass knobs, hung an antique key,

This is the (almost) finished cabinet sitting in our living room, with the sign on it. It needs to be distressed a bit in some spots, then it will be done!

Happy Birthday Karen, I hope you like your gifts!

xx

Sandra

Live, Love, Laugh.