I could literally pee my pants right now!

I woke up early this morning with a goal. My goal was to finish my upcycled desk project, and after a long day during which I was interrupted from my project like 50 times, lol, I AM DONE! Since I having been dreaming of this project for months, this is a pretty big deal, and I feel like I could literally pee my pants right now!

The Project- I inherited a 70's desk from one of my church "grandmas". This poor desk only had two legs. I used it in my room all through high school... I just propped up the side with no legs using a small cabinet and an empty paint can... super classy, I know. I have been married for four years now, and every time I passed my poor discarded desk in my mom's basement I'd think, "I've got to do something with it!" Several months ago I had an "ah-ha" moment and realized that the desk top was a really good size for a canvas. But what would I do with this canvas... Another "ah-ha" moment happened a few months ago, and I loaded the poor desk into my car. This is what it looked like when I brought it home.

The poor thing was a hot mess! Some how it had lost the two legs it had left, and I don't know what happened to the drawer. I busted out a saw and removed the housing for the renegade drawer. Then I sanded and primed it.

Then out came the paint, and my mini muffin pans... which I always use for mixing paint.

I did my first ever background. I watched some youtube tutorials about making backgrounds blendy. The effect I wanted was a fade from light to dark gray. It worked out great :) So without further ado, here is my upcycled desk!

It is kinda hard to tell from these pictures but the birds actually stick off the "canvas". I found them at Target, and feel in love because they add a kind of sculptural element. I think they have been discontinued...The birds are attached by nailing in a tack like thing, and then the birds kinda click onto the tacks. They are adjustable, so I can turn them to suit my whims... which I know I will do, but I like the idea of a piece of art that continually changes.

 I've titled this piece "twilight tango" because every night at twilight if you go out in my back yard and look up you will see barn swallows feeding on bugs. Now this might not sound so exciting, but I'm truly fascinated by them. They zip and zoom silently through the air, and even though sometimes there are between 30-50 of them in such a small area they don't run into each other. It's such a graceful and awe-inspiring display.

 

The arrangement in the green vase is kinda special to me as well. I collected the driftwood on a trip to a MO state park with my husband. He laughs at me because I am always picking up sticks, leaves, or rocks and bringing them home. (On this particular trip I also brought home a whole bag of Mississippi River clay and spent the rest of the evening molding it into little ducks. Yeah, I'm a little nuts, but he loves me anyway!) The rocks are from Lake Michigan. I went on a trip to Wakeegan, Chicago in the winter-time and walked along the shore of Lake Michigan for hours picking up pretty rock after pretty rock... I think I had like two full shopping bags full, lol. They were so pretty, I couldn't help myself. So I have combined two collections of mine into a pretty sweet arrangement, and it makes me happy to look at it.

Ok, so that's what I did all day :) And tomorrow I plan on working on another upcycle I've already started... hopefully I will be able to finish it too... but I'm not going to push myself too hard, lol.