Extreme Makeover

This past weekend was our little school's Fall Fair.  Each classroom, from K-12, is responsible for a booth (or as in the case of some classes, booths) that will provide either entertainment or food and hopefully raise some funds for the classroom.  The last couple of years, the Home and School has picked a theme for the fall fair and has asked each of the classrooms to decorate with said theme in mind.  This years theme was "Hawaiian/Luau".  And luckily, the weather decided to cooperate and give us a beautiful sunny day to enjoy!

This year the oldest Kiddo's class had three booths:  churros (which, by the way, were very yummy!), shaved ice and a sponge throw. 

One of the teacher's asked if I could update the sponge throw booth.  This is one of those booths where a "volunteer" sticks his/her head through the cut out in a piece of plywood and has the privilege of having someone pay to throw sopping wet sponges at him/her.  There was a board that had been used in years  past and all I needed to do was just update the theme. 

This is what I was given to work with (here comes the photo disclaimer again.  All of these were taken in the garage where I was painting.  The board was 8 ft. tall.  I leaned it up against the cabinets in the garage and had only about a 5-6 ft space between the cabinets and the opposite wall.  Not a lot of room to take decent photos):

 

This photo does not accurately show the horrible condition of this board.  While I saw it come out of the storage bin, it had obviously been left out in the elements for an extended time.  In addition to it being extremely dry with a wonderful splintered texture, it also had CHUNKS of wood missing.  I seriously considered sending the Toad out for a new piece of plywood, but given the fact that it would probably face the same fate as this one, I just decided to work with what it was.

The rattle can paint job was obviously done by the previous students who used this board a couple of years ago.  While I really do admire their skill with spray paint, I do not possess the same ability.  To be honest, I don't know if I ever even attempted to paint a "picture" with spray paint.  Objects, yes.  Picture, nope.  Don't think so.  One full quart of Kilz primer later.....

Then I painted the entire board with a base coat of light blue.  Let me just insert this one fact for anyone who is going to paint a project.  Whether it be a weathered piece of plywood, your living room or a canvas, you get what you pay for in the paint.  I bought the cheapest paint I could find at Walmart for the base.  And the clumps of paint that came out of that can prove it.  For years I have used a combination of the cheap craft paints and good quality paint to  paint murals. Mostly because the small containers are very convenient to haul to work sites.  And the large selection of colors.  But for my house, baseboards and such, I ALWAYS pay for quality paint. It makes a HUGE difference in the coverage and in the "workability" if you are doing any special faux or painting techniques. 

I found a piece of clip art as my inspiration and then drew the rough draft of my image.



Pulled out my drawers of cheap  craft paints and went to work.

I had thought about going with a "buff" body builder, surfer dude, but thought it would be rather funny to use a scrawny surfer instead, given the fact that most of the "volunteers" for this booth would be 8th grade boys.  8th grade boys who think their bodies are getting buff, but in reality, are still scrawny.  Just a glimpse into my demented sense of humor!

The Toad giving his "gnarly surfer impression"

The youngest Kiddo giving his "cool surfer dude" impression

The oldest kiddo giving his "Do I have to do this" surfer impression

Then finally giving in to the stupid fun of it all



And The Toad's favorite part of the whole project:

The "gnarly" mess that I make when I create taking over his garage!!

I still haven't downloaded the actual pictures of the Fair.  That will be for another post!! Thanks for dropping by again today!!  Remember~~creativity comes in all different mediums.  Make sure you explore one today!!

Till next time.......