My version of a hummer

Remember the fabric wall silhouette tutorial I wrote during the tryouts for the Ohdeedoh blogger job? Well, I finally got around to giving the rooster a friend--Mr. Hummingbird. (Unfortunately they live in different rooms in my house and they are stuck to the walls so they will never meet.)

This idea was brewing for a while. If nothing else, it gives us something new to look at in our oh-so-blank Navajo White-walled house. We painted the whole interior BM Navajo White when we moved in, with the intent that our house would be like an art gallery--full of colorful paintings. One year later, the walls are still pretty bare.

It was looking great for a while when we were renting art through the museum here. Probably like a lot of museums, they have a three-month art rental program. Their prices were extremely reasonable (I believe prices range from $50-$150 or so per piece for three-month periods), but with the baby coming last fall it was one thing we cut from our budget.

We do have a drawing by J's grandfather up on one wall right now and a few alternatives to art--the vintage phonetics cards I've posted before are near the girls' rooms and a poster from the movie "Life is Beautiful" is in our foyer. Some people think it's weird that we have a movie poster in our foyer. That movie blew us both away. We put it somewhere so prominent as a reminder that no matter what our daily troubles might be, life truly is beautiful.
Next to the poster is a little tag with the number 5 on it--to represent the five of us (me, j, bo, magpie and Cronkite the dog) and a rubberband in a frame. The rubberband was originally a bracelet with the word "luminous" stamped on it. It was a gift from my dear from Gil--one of the nicest compliments anyone ever gave me--and again, it's just a reminder to aim for luminosity as opposed to grim and grime.

And now, the hummingbird in the living room. We call our house Hummingbird Ranch because it's a ranch-style house and because we get a TON of hummingbirds in the backyard during the summer. Happy humming, little bird.

(Movie poster image courtesy of moviegoods.com. Call it censorship if you want, but the foyer is a disaster right now so I'm not going to take a picture.)

Comments

[beth]

soooo cute Megan!! DO you make the liquid startch for the wall art?
Bethany

[Megan]

Thanks, Bethany! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've been using a bottle of liquid starch I bought at Target (about $3, in the laundry aisle), but I'm planning on experimenting with a natural homemade version once I run out. It looks like it just involves boiling cornstarch, but they warn that it can go rancid so I worry about what would happen on the walls. Potential yuck.

Here's the recipe I have bookmarked:
http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/2008/05/liquid-starch-r.html

If your Target-type store doesn't carry liquid starch, craft stores like Michaels do. I think they call it "Stiffy" (tee hee hee). It's more expensive and it comes in a smaller bottle than the jug o' starch from Target, but you don't need a ton to put these silhouettes up.

[Susan]

I love the hummingbird mural. What a wonderful addition to a white wall. Great job.

[Megan]

Thanks, Susan!

[marjorie]

such a nice, restful bird-friendly space!