Hello! I do still exist!
I think this may be the longest haul between updates yet. I really want to get back into creating and blogging, we've had a lot going on around our house lately! Here's my latest project! It all started when I bought Kid #1 a new bike, Kid #2 thought she needed a new bike too, except she hasn't quite mastered the tricycle we had already. To make it more enticing I thought I'd update it a bit. Here's what we started with - third hand from my cousin's son, we've had it for a few years and the sun hasn't been good to it, so it was definitely time for an update.
So this is what I started with. got home kind of late last night but it was so gorgeous out I didn't want to go inside, so I grabbed some tools (Screwdrivers, pliers & scissors are really all I needed for this!) and started taking it apart. I kept all the screws, nuts & washers in that plastic cup so I didn't lose them. I had the husband cut off the streamers for me. He also helped me a bit with getting the screws/bolts loose. Some of them are pretty awkward to hold the nut still while backing out the screw - you may need an extra set of hands! I put plastic bags over the wheels and taped off the center pieces so I could cover the red.
I put down an old tablecloth over my picnic table and got started with a couple colors of spray paint. I chose Rust-oleum American Accents in Grape & Seaside - both glossy. I love how this stuff covers and that it adheres to plastic!
Here we go! I did the frame in Seaside, I taped off all the chrome parts of the bike (Some of them are a little rusty but nothing major so I left them) The plastic seat & basket are in Grape, as well as the pedals.
It was super hard to do a good job in the dark, taking these pictures actually helped me to see I missed that big spot on the bottom of the seat, so I touched that up before moving on :)
I found these great Olaf stickers at Wal-Mart in the scrapbook section. I didn't want to go full on Frozen themed, but the Kid#2 loves Olaf! I plan to use my Silhouette Portrait to cut out the words "I Love Warm Hugs" and the kid#2's name to put on the basket.
I put the bike back together and added the stickers on. Here's where if you're using my technique I'd differ a bit. I added the stickers and then sprayed the whole thing over with a clear coat of spraypaint. This caused parts of the underlying paint to bubble up and it's seriously irritating after putting in all that effort. I would either give it DAYS to dry (rather than hours) before applying the coat or skip it all together. these stickers are quite smooth and plastic feeling so I doubt they'd come off in the weather anyway.
Lastly, I found some streamers to replace the ones we put on. I just used gift-wrap bows, they may not last long because they're the kid's favorite part of the bike! We just used a small screw to screw rigth through the streamers and into the plastic around the side of the handles.
Here's the finished product with the bows!
The kid was very excited to get pushed around the driveway with big sister! She was very mad though when I didn't want to push her around the block on her new bike!
Messy Smiling faces! Perfect on a nice warm day!
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