At The Cross

I have a thing for crosses. I have them hanging on at least two walls in my living room, have a painted one in my kitchen and wear a cross necklace occasionally.  I always stop at the flea market vendors who sell them and pet them and wish I could afford them.

Yes, they are beautiful to me but more than that, they're comforting. It's that visual reminder that God's son, Jesus, died on a cross and saved my soul from eternal damnation. But even more that THAT, it's a visual comfort that through the cross, there is a place for me with Jesus up in Heaven someday.

On days when I feel unloved, unwanted, useless and ugly, I can look to the cross and remember that all this junk here on earth is just a temporary stop on my way to the place that He has prepared for me.

With that in mind, you won't be surprised to discover what my latest craft project was. ;-)

When we went to the flea market after Thanksgiving, Emmy and I found a vendor who sold unpainted and unadorned wooden crosses for sorta cheap. The finished ones at other booths started at $25 for the small ones and went up. I bought a rather large unfinished one for $10 and lugged it home happily.

Then it sat on my dining table for a while because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do to it. When I decorated for Christmas it went to live in Libby's room with everything else I don't know what I want to do with.

Slowly, though, ideas started coming to me. Colors, adornments, etc.

First came the thought of layering. Wal-Mart sells small-ish ornate wooden crosses in their art section (where the canvases are) so I picked one up for just under $3. Then it sat in the room with the larger cross until a couple of weeks ago when the final puzzle pieces feel into place in my mind.

Four coats of glossy acrylic craft paint later and...Tada!



Sorry it looks a little "soft".
I had to turn the flash off to avoid a glare on the glossy paint.
Mah hands, they are not steady.


The angel on top is actually the "lid" to a little trinket box that someone at church gave me for Christmas. I don't really use little trinket boxes so when it came to me to use that as the adornment I was all up IN that idea.

It's laying on the floor in this picture because 1) I'm not sure where I'm going to hang it yet, b) the table was too dark to lay it on for a decent photo and 3) I need to get some Command Strips to hang it with because I lost the hook thingy the vendor gave me to go with it. Also, I hate trying to put nails in this ornery fake wood paneling because it takes an act of congress with my wimpy little hammer.

Anyway, truth be told, I had my doubts about this project after the first coat because I am a TERRIBLE detail painting person. If you ever look closely at the crown molding in my house you'll know exactly what I mean. And the same could be said for what this cross looked like after the first coat of each color. The blue got all up in the brown's grill, ya'll and then when I went to touch that up, the brown got all over the blue's Kool-Aid and I had to just quit for a few days until it dawned on me that, duh, a smaller brush might work better. And that up there's the end result.

In true confessions form, I started it while watching Kourtney and Kim Take Miami so that may have something to do with my lack of common sense in the size brush I used. haha