Halloweekend

We had one heckuva weekend.

There was a trip to the pumpkin patch -

And pumpkin carving -

And the boys came over to watch football and hang out most of the weekend.

Football bores me.

[even if the Chiefs are winning...I'm still bored.]

So while they were yelling and screaming in the basement over the last play, I was upstairs doing way cooler stuff. 

Like crafts.

Okay, maybe not cooler.

But it kept me entertained.

Backstory

For those of you who know me, you probably know of my obsession with KU basketball.

My level of love for that team has probably become somewhat of a problem.

And no, I didn't just start liking the Hawks when they started kicking ass and taking names [in my opinion they've always done that]. I've loved that team since my parents let me buy a rockin' KU hat from a gas station on our way to a t-ball game when I was like 6 [which I still have. Signed. By one of the late '90s teams.]

And I'm not a bandwagon fan, either. 

Call me that, and I'm likely to beat you with a retort so sarcastic and demeaning that you will want to ball up on the floor and cry.

Just kidding.

But seriously.

I'm a super fan.

Which is probably why most people didn't question my sanity when I got this -

Because they knew I was just that kind of weird-o fan.

Whatev's.

So - on to my crafts.

I've collected KU newspaper clippings since the beginning of time.

I've always kept them on cork boards in a sort of collage, but I wanted to try out something different.

Something more...permanent.

Insert: Mod Podge.

I have come to find that Mod Podge is now my favorite product of all time.

It makes even the lamest of stuff look intensely cool.

So I gathered all of my old newspaper clippings of Raef Lafrenz, Paul Pierce, Aaron miles - all the greats. Plus, I found some old tickets that I thought would look cool on there too. 

[There is one of the canvases Matt was questioning me buying. Showed him.]

I took a bunch of random newspaper clippings to put as background [white background = lame].

First, you put a layer of mod podge down & then lay down your newspaper. And add another layer of mp on top.

Let it dry 30 minutes or so. I had a lot of stuff on there, so I made it about 35-40 just to be safe.

Then I started laying all of the clippings on top and I realized that they were just clashing with the rest of the random articles I had laid as background. 

Not good.

So I took a paint brush & some of the black paint I had used on my "Boo" sign and brushed a little on there. Turns out that brush put a LOT of paint on the canvas. And it nearly covered all of the lettering. 

Not exactly what I wanted...

So I wiped it off with a wet paper towel, and thankfully it all came off. 

And I looked at the paper towel and thought...well, I suppose this would work.

And I proceeded to use that as my "brush"

Perfect! 

Then, I laid out all of my goodies.

I even had a drawing I had made & gotten signed at one of the events we attended.

[you know you're jealous of my sweet drawing skills]

And then I carefully mp'd everything onto the canvas & then did two top coats [for safe measure]. I think I might even add another one on there to add a little more texture.

Now, I had never worked with mp before & I tried to get the bubbles out, but it just wasn't happening. So I chalked it up to another layer of 'texture' that I couldn't control.

Next up I'm going to make a championship one to hang next to this one. 

I think it was a great way to preserve the sweet articles I had saved.

They were all starting to yellow anyway, so it was time to do something with them before they got extra-crappy.

So that was my super exciting, slightly dorky weekend. 

Next up: 

TOPEKA!

LAWRENCE!

YAY! 

Alright, I'm done.

Peace out, homies.