I Am Kilo Bravo: Nuke The Whales {Or a Spring Pinterest Challenge!}

I can't say how much I love joining in on these Pinterest Challenges (which are not sponsored by Pinterest in any way, just dreamed up by Katie Bower to stop pinning and start doing). You can see my other linky party projects here. I'm a sucker for deadlines (except my self imposed ones, of course) to get me off the internet and onto a project.

This coming weekend we are attempting our first ever Stoop Sale (that is what we have to call a yard sale in Brooklyn) so I've been walking around the house and literally pulling stuff off the walls and out of closets in an effort to really purge as I've realized my decorating style is changing. So when I was thinking about what I wanted to do for this Pinterest Challenge, I found myself going back to these pins for updating cheap/old/ugly/thrift store art:

And found myself doing exactly what I'm afraid I'll be doing this Saturday at our Stoop Sale - pulling stuff out of the "to sell" pile and bringing it back into the house. Ha. Figures. For whatever reason, we have actually accumulated quite a few pieces of ugly landscapes (mostly bc all I see is HUGE FRAME FOR FUTURE PROJECT and scoop them up) so I decided I would attempt one of these tricks. I was actually leaning towards one of the first two - specifically wanting to spray paint half of it a brassy gold (ugh gold is sooo my obsession right now), but since it would be a big piece I decided to let Tom weigh in.

He decided he wanted to do something more like the last one with words, and instantly said "let's write 'Nuke the Whales' ".

Nuke the whales? Yes. I thought that sounded a little vulgar at first, and then he showed me this old Simpsons clip:

And it was silly enough to sell me. We probably won't hang this in a future baby nursery, and this definitely isn't going to fit everyone's taste, but for now I think I like it. Now I feel like I've got some really meta pop art (that I could probably sell for a buttload if any hipsters check out our stoop sale on Saturday). Plus, we really aren't the type to hang up self affirmations or mushy song lyrics, so this weirdness works for us. Best part - this whole project was free, and if we ever get sick of it we can just paint over it again, or even toss the canvas and use the frame for something else.

Not too much to this tutorial - except for this Pro-Life Tip: when you run out of ink (when have we had ink?), just link up your computer to the TV so you can trace your letters by hand. You're welcome.

I was originally wanting to paint the letters in white, and then to spray paint the dingy cream frame a crisp white as well, but I didn't have enough white acrylic on hand. Gold leafing it is!

I actually like that it changes color depending on the angle you view it.

I later realized we have had this painting in our dining room for oh, 5 years? Back when all I did was work, Tom went to an event where someone was doing portraits on found junk for a nominal fee:

While editing this post I also realized Sherry from YHL made this sweet little sign a few months back which is reaffirming my initial inclination to have used white paint...hmm only time will tell if we decide to change ours...

Now tell me you haven't said "gotta nuke something" to yourself about 5 times while reading the rest of this post!

Disclaimer: I love whales, and I don't want anything or anyone to be nuked. This is just a silly homage to an obscure scene in one of our favorite shows. Don't sick PETA on me!

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Remember, half the fun of this challenge is meeting new blogs, so go check out these ladies and what they "pinned then spinned", and see who else joined the linky party!