Paint Night at Board & Brush

Yesterday I told you about the paint night I won at our Ladies tea last May.  Today I wanted to share pictures of our session.  It was such a fun experience!  I'm so glad I gave Lisa the other ticket, because she is the one who got the ball rolling and helped motivate me to pick a design and choose a date.  If it wasn't for her the gift certificate might still be collecting dust instead of turning into decor for my house and a fun memory for my heart.

The first thing we had to do, after choosing our date, was to choose our design.  There are so many wonderful options that it was hard to choose.  In the end I asked if I could combine the quote from the picture above with the images from the picture below.  They said yes!  

If you've never taken one of these paint classes, I highly encourage you to.  They are popping up all over.  For this method we distressed and stained our wood.  There were several color options for the stain, or I could have just painted it a solid color.  After that dried (it was summer & hot, so it didn't take long) we added our stencil and again chose colors of paint.   It was relaxing and rewarding to spend a few hours and come out with a finished piece.

Their teachers were on hand to help us with any questions or suggestions.   This was our main teacher, but there were at least 3 other people walking around to lend us a hand. 

I chose this big board, and Lisa chose a flower box.  Hers even came with 3 mason jars to put inside.  So cute! 

Pulling away a stencil for the reveal is always the funnest part!

I chose Trinidad, CA for my beach location.  It is where we used to go camping on vacation every year as a child, it's where Scott and I went on our honeymoon and it is where both of my boys first learned to walk.  Trinidad holds a very special place in my heart and always will.

Isn't Lisa's box cute?!  You can put it on the table and use the jars to hold utensils or flowers, you can fill the jars with herbs and put it on a windowsill or even hang the box on the wall for wall decor with candles or silk flowers in the jars.  I want to make one of these next!

At this point perhaps I should admit that I almost canceled on Lisa the day of.  My anxiety was high.  I didn't want to be around people, but I really wanted to connect with Lisa outside of church and I knew I would love making this project once I got started.  I'm so glad I overcame my fears and went.  We had a great time and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  Sometimes it is just "doing it" that makes the creative juices start flowing again.

Thank you Board & Brush of Olympia for donating to our church and making this day possible!  Anyone local that wants to give it a try, I am down with going with you.  ;)