Hi, I'm Mat!

I love long weekends.
I set aside some time this weekend for creativity since I have been a little off my game.
I decided to spruce up the kitchen.
I have this really functional (the soft squishy kind), yet bland kitchen mat.

I have seen some tutorials online for painting rugs, mats, etc.
I figured, it can't get any worse so I got to work.
The first step was covering the dark background with a base coat.

After that dried, I went on to paint it 3 different shades of yellow trying to find the right one to match my kitchen.

More dry time and then on to the creative aspect. I couldn't decide what pattern to do. Stripes? polka dots? words? Ok, wording....but what?
Neil came to the rescue with the suggestion of "YUM". Very appropriate.
I simply wrote on the mat with pencil.

I traced it with white acrylic paint and voila!

I did not add an overcoat of polyeurethane or anything that might help keep the paint on. I did drop water on it, stepped on it with shoes, bare feet, and socks to see what might happen. And nothing did. So I guess for now, we will see how that goes.

Its the perfect shade of yellow and it adds a little whimsy to our kitchen. Plus, it was FREE! I had all the paints already and I rescued a boring mat!

I would call that a successful crafting day.

map it out

Recently, I have been caught up on DIY projects with maps. I love the variety of colors and vintage feel. We already have a map "curtain" in our guest room.

I saw these matted picture frames on Martha Stewart.com

and I thought it would be cute way to document the places life takes us.
I shopped Laverty's (my favorite shop in Waco) and bought this map for $1. I chose an map of Central America from 1938.

I bought the mats from the dollar store and was pleasantly surprised when I got home and found out that there are two mats for $1!!

Next step, I traced the mat on the map (got that?) and cut it out. I used Modge Podge on both sides of the map and put it down.

.Here is the look I was going for

This map includes Waco and the other includes Belize, which is actually listed as British Honduras in 1938. Nice, personalized, unique wall art.