"Today I Will Choose JOY" wall art

(sorry it is sideways... I am having trouble flipping this picture)

I saw this poster and loved the colors, especially since my dining area has taken a liking to these colors too! So I thought I would add this to my collection.

You will need:
4 paint colors (I used Cloudless blue, Antique White, Red Apple, & Black) all by Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints
1 canvas
2 paint brushes (one thick for the blue and berries, and one fine for the writing/ tree)

Directions:
First paint the whole canvas blue. I even painted the sides to give it a professional look. This took me two coats of paint. Use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.

Next, write your words. I started with the white so that I could get the hang of writing and mistakes could easily be corrected with some blue paint over it. Luckily, no mistakes. The top three rows, I tried to keep all the lettering the same size, leaving "JOY" to be bigger at the bottom. Remember to take your time if you want all your print to look the same. Another hint, use chalk to lightly write your letters first, giving you something to trace. I didn't, but I know this works best for some people.
Allow all to dry.
Lastly, draw the twig. It's ok for the twig to go on top of the letters. I liked it best that way. Then, add the berries by taking the handle of the big brush and dipping it into the red. Make circle motions to make the berries full and bigger, if need be.

Finished! Love it!

Total cost was $5 because all I had to buy was the canvas and the blue paint; I already had the other paint colors and brushes!

Wedding Memento Frames

You put so much work into picking out the invites, the stationary for your wedding... why not make them a displayable work of art! This is a great way to keep and display items from your wedding!

I have two different pieces here:

The top piece is a 13" X 17" picture frame from Michaels, about $8 (but you can use your coupons and get it for less!).
I had displayed (top to bottom, starting with the left side) our save-the-dates postcard, our invitations, our wedding programs, a piece of burlap from our wedding decor (1 Corinthians 13:8), a wedding kiss picture, our sparkler send-off picture, a Congratulations card (with a cute bride and groom outfit!), and lastly, our thank you cards.

And then the bottom piece I made of our wedding date. It's a divided picture frame, about 6.5" X 13" undivided, and cost about $6 at Michaels (again, use a coupon and you save!).
I went to this site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/collections/ and found pictures of numbers to print. I just adjusted the size and printed on my printer. 5 7 11!

Here is our living room! Finished project? For now :)

Hint for all you Apartment Dwellers out there: Try to stray away from push pins, they just poke little holes in the wall you have to deal with later when you leave! So, what's a good alternative? How about Command Strips (which you can find in almost any store!). They stick to your object and the other side sticks to the wall, but there is a tab that you can pull when it is time to take it all down, and No Mess/ No Holes! Pretty cool :)

Ruffle Tree Skirt

Now, we bought the tree (Craigslist baby!), I had the ornaments (my mom gifted us ornaments every year since birth!), had the stockings already (my mom had my husband's made to look like mine and gifted it to him last year... and Bentley got his from the in-laws! Bentley is spoiled!), and we bought some awesome led lights from Costco (love that place!). I even found a star in my ornament stash for the top of the tree! So what was left? How about a tree skirt :) I found this awesome site that had a how-to on making a no-sew ruffle tree skirt.

HGTV How to Make a No-Sew Ruffle Tree Skirt


I tried it out and this picture is of my new tree skirt! After MANY burnt fingers on the glue gun (I need to get a better glue gun)... the result was nice! It wasn't my best work, but the project was very forgiving on exact measurements. I will buy a tree skirt one day, but this project didnt cost me (I used what I had), wasn't too time consuming, and I could make it as big/ thick as I wanted... which was great because our tree is really FAT! hehe

Holly Pillows

I wanted to dress up the Adirondacks chairs we have outside on our porch, and so I decided to make Holly Pillows!

I simply created the pillow cases out of left over beige fabric. Sewed up three of the four sides.
Then I cut green holly leaves and red circles out of felt. I didn't want them to be the same size, I wanted them to look artsy and handmade.
Then I hot glued the felt on to the cases (I could have sewn them on, but I wanted instant gratification in a finished quickly project! hehe).
Then just stuffed the cases with my pillows (which already had permanent cases on them, so these Holly Pillows were just cover up solutions!). Then I hot glued the cases shut!

Now obviously, these aren't permanent solutions. If they were, I would sew more and use outdoor fabric. But considering the cost ($0! since I had every thing already!), and the time (probably about 15 min total!), I think they turned out beautifully and I am happy! yay!

Black Friday FREE ornament

I decided to make a "black friday" run when I saw that World Market was giving away a FREE ornament with a FREE movie ticket pass! It was a promo for the up and coming The Adventures of Tintin movie. On Sunday, they were giving out the cute dog (Snowy is his name) ornament (which reminded me of my own Bentley pup) so I just HAD to get it! My brother and I raced over to World Market bright and early, and scored two ornaments and two movies tickets! yay!

Being the tricky craft-er I am... I decided to MAKE The Adventures of Tintin pup into my very own Bentley pup! And I think it was appropriate since this year has been a rough year for Bentley; it would be a good memento of the miracles he has been given from healing his 80% scratched cornea to getting rid of Cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) and 3 infections.


Here's how it turned out!
It went from this:



to... this!

Yarn Wreath

Before we ditch autumn to celebrate (my favorite!!) Christmas holiday, I wanted to share with you a simple craft: a Yarn Wreath. This was one that I found on www.pinterest.com and just HAD to try! It was a bit time consuming, but I liked the final product :)


I created my own foam wreath by buying some outdoor pipe insulation from Home Depot (cost about $4 with tax) and that gave me about 4 tubes to work with. I just took one, cut it a little, and duct taped it together. Then, you start the wrapping of string. This took forever in my opinion (you have to physically take the ball of yarn in and out of the wreath to wrap it), but if you just watch a movie or something, time flies by.


Once I wrapped the wreath 2 or 3 times fully around, then it was finally time to decorate. I found a site for making felt flowers, which I will post instructions later if I can find my pictures, and used them to decorate. I also bought a twig that had sequins on it, from Micheal's, for less than a dollar, to add some bling and a play on natural.


All in all, it was an inexpensive craft. Probably less than $10 total for ALL the supplies. It was a little time consuming, but I was very happy with the results.

Home is where the Heart is

This is a drawing that I did one afternoon. I drew a map of the United States and then drew hearts for each of the places me and my husband have lived (either together or apart). Then I labeled the places. I created a sign on a piece of wood (from our wedding!) saying: Home is where the ♥ is! and put a ribbon through it to hang it up. It really turned out cute, and is a great memento of where life has taken you as a couple, and where you are together today!

Drawings

These are just a sample of some drawings I did one afternoon. A lot of them, I looked on some etsy.com sites and found inspiration and tried to draw the picture I saw.

New Zealand Finch Painting

My mom had two New Zealand Finches named Ozzie and Matilda Moto. She has them for a number of years, and just this year, they passed away. I wanted to do a painting for her in memory of The Motos.
I outlined with a fine tip marker and then watered down acrylic paints to create a water color look.

Wedding Photo Collage

From the wedding, I had four cork boards. They were used as my escort cards holder. I decided to hang them in the dining area with the word: LOVE. Then I printed black and white pictures from our wedding day (free prints from Walgreens!) and used little wooden pins to secure them to the ribbon that was already on there. It is fun to eat dinner and talk about our wedding :)

Bird Silhouette Painting

I am always trying to understand "my style" in life. With music, I've given up trying because although I do have a couple artists I favor... the minute I find a genre that fits "my style", I am surprised with a completely different sounding song that I LOVE. Eclectic? I guess that is the only way to fully describe my music taste.
But I think I am more consistent in my Home decor style. And I've decided to name it "Natural Modern". I love natural fabrics (burlap, canvas, woods), and I love the nature aspect (birds, trees, leaves, flowers). But I also enjoy bold prints and color.

Anyways, this painting is one that I created a while ago, and took a picture of recently. I think it fits "my style" completely! And, "shadow birds" (as I call them) seem to be the "in" trend right now. Love it!



I painted the canvas cream, then did small brown horizontal strokes in brown and blended them in.
Next, I did a dappling technique around the edges of the canvas with the paint brush, and also used a paper towel when I wanted more muted tones. I used reds, yellows, browns, oranges, and even a little blue.
Then I painted a branch across the bottom of the canvas, then the two birds.

A lot of this painting was to taste. Playing with different techniques and using different brushes helped.
And remember, if you "mess up"... you can always dry it and paint over it! The beauty of canvas painting :)

Make your own Pillows

Pick out your fabrics. I wanted to do two different fabrics for four different pillows.

Flowery

Striped. Noticed I kept the same color pallet with a detailed print and a bold stripe. Then your pillows won't clash.

Since this is my first time making pillow covers, I miscalculated how much I would need. So, to remedy this, I made reversable pillows. One side is flowery, one side is striped. This made three pillows, which I think things in odd numbers are better for decorating any ways :)


I had these pillow inserts from an old set of pillows, so I am re-purposing! Making pillows is a great way to make a room your own!

Measure the amount of fabric needed to fit the pillow. It should be snug, but not tight.


Use your pinning needles to keep the fabric together, and to give your self a good line to follow while sewing.


Sew away! This is my new sewing machine and boy is it AWESOME! Before I had it, I tried sewing by hand... I finished one side of the pillow then vowed to not finish the pillow without my machine!!!! Technology is awesome :)

I sewed three sides of the pillow, and left one open. Turn the sewn fabrics inside out, you will see a nice seamless edge! What a reward!


Then stuff the pillow inserts inside. On the side that's open, fold the fabric in, so that you can see the pattern inside the pillow, and stick one side of your Velcro to one fabric side, and the other side of the Velcro to the other fabric side. Press Velcro together to seal up your pillow and creating a flawless seam.

Set on couch and ENJOY!

Trick-Or-Treat Door Ribbon

I can't wait to own my own house one fine day! Now, I really do love our apartment, there's a lot of great positives about it, but when you own your own home... you get to decorate for the holidays!!!! And boy, I LOVE my holidays! I love getting crafty and getting into the holiday season!
I decided to recycle some ribbons I had lying around and create a Trick-or-Treat door ribbon, and then I will sneak it on our front door when Halloween night is here! hehe! The little things ♥

Supplies:
2 ribbons of different colors and widths (I used a thick orange ribbon with a thinner ribbed polka-dotted green ribbon)
1 sheet of scrape book paper (I used a black one that already had a black glitter swirly design on it)
letter stencils/ a Cricut (or if you are like me and can't afford a Cricut (but really want one for Christmas! hint hint!... you can just draw the letters and cut out yourself)
1 hot glue gun/ 2 sticks
scissors

Directions:
Smooth out the ribbon (I use my hair straightener for a quick fix!).
Cut to desired length, and make sure to quickly singe the ends with a match (in order to prevent fraying).
If you have enough extra in one ribbon, save it to make a bow!

Put a strip of hot glue on the center of the thicker width ribbon, and lay the thinner ribbon on top. Do the glue in small sections so that the glue doesn't cool down before you are ready.

Get out your paper and on the back, do your letter outlines. Make SURE to do them backwards!!!! Because once you cut them out, you will see the other side, so you want it to be readable from that side. I did it like that so you wouldn't be able to see any pencil marks, and you can make as many eraser and pencil mistakes as you want and it won't ruin the finished product!

Once the letters are to your liking, cut them out using sharp scissors (preferably small and pointed tips). Take your time! The more precise the cut, the better the final product!

SPECIAL: On the "O", I got a little fancy and wanted to put a spider in the middle. An exacto knife can be used to cut the fine details out (make sure to have some thing to cut on! like cardboard or cutting board). I then glued a white piece of paper behind the cut spider "O", to make it pop against the ribbon.

Then, hot glue your letters to the ribbon! Make sure your spacing is right.

On top, I had some extra ribbon and make a bow. I just tied a knot and then tied the best bow I could. I hot glued the center to make the bow more stable (and to keep it from ever getting undone) and then hot glued the bow to the door ribbon!

Finished Product:


I think it turned out cute! yay re-purposing!

Jar Jack-o-lanterns

I LOVE carving pumpkins, but so far... I haven't gotten around to carving one. I really want to proudly display my pumpkin outside our front door (but that's not allow in our apartment complex) so I could possibly display it on our porch, but I will have to remember no real fire is allowed. Oh rules and regulations...

Well, to get the home into the Halloween scene, I decided to repurpose some sauce glass jars, and create my own apartment friendly jack-o-lanterns!

Supplies:
clean Glass jars (with no paper on them)
acryllic paints (orange, colors to mix with orange (for variations), and black)
a thick paint brush
a small thin paint brush

Directions:
Cover your work space with paper.
Mix your oranges on a surface. I choose a red/orange combo, a brown/orange combo, and a yellow/orange combo.

Paint each clean jar with one color of orange combo. Don't paint too heavy because you want light to shine through, but I think two light coats will do perfectly :)
Make sure to use same direction brush strokes to keep them uniform.
Let dry (or use a blow dryer!).

Paint a "jack-o-lantern" face on each jar using the small paint brush and the black. Make sure the features are completely black (no need for light to shine through the black!).
Let dry (or use a blow dryer!).

Next, get creative! I used some floral tape for the tops (because I threw away the jar lids! ooops!) and then I tied some twine around the tops, using a curling iron to make them curly!






Place a Flameless Flickering tea light candle in each jar and ENJOY!
(I will post a shot of them lite up, once I buy some flameless tea lights!)

Feathers in your Hair

SO there is this craze now a days to get a feather in your hair and it is sooo cute (in my opinion)! It reminds me of my youth when wrapping your hair with thread was the "in" thing :) So this feather thing is the same concept. I did a little research to check where to get a feather put in your hair, and salons will do it... for a price! It's like $10 to $15 for just a single feather! So what if you wanted two or three feathers? You are looking at 50 some dollars (and don't forget to tip!). Well, I did a little more research and found out there is a way to do it for about $3 dollars AND you get to use a better quality feather :)

Supplies and Directions:
"To make a feather hair extension you will need a crochet hook or hair extension hook and you will also need a hair extension link. All you need to do is put it on your hook, put the hair on here and pull it through so the link is on the hair. After the link is on the hair, insert your feather through the link and the hair both, then crimp the link with the pliers -- that's all you have to do," said Nora on a segment on Living Well Network.

And remember people, you don't have to pay full price for these items (making the cost less and less!). Places like Hobby Lobby and Michael's have sales on different items each week, plus they have coupons you can print up from their site and use!

UPDATE: this trend... is for the dogs?!??! http://www.puppylocks.com/puppygallery

Tips from a Friend

I am always on the computer looking for crafts to do (especially through recycling or re-purposing what I already have!). I am LOVING this blogging generation because you are giving a free open data base chalk FULL of ideas and tips and products! Some times it is SO much, that it is overwhelming, but in the best way possible ;)

Well, another great data base is the social networking scene! Connecting with people, sharing ideas, communicating... it's all a great way to get help, encouragement, and recognition. With that said, I got some advice from a friend about the painting I just posted... and I would LOVE to share!

"Just an FYI - you can also use chalk to draw out what you want on a canvas...it erases with a damp paper towel or sponge and is much easier to remove! Also, use a hairdryer to dry your canvas in between layers of paint. It's quick and effective!"
-Jennifer C., Georgia

Thanks Jennifer! The chalk is soo nice because it leaves the canvas clean and eraser markings free! Plus it is easier to see. And the hair dryer saves you time if you can't wait for the next step! Great advice :) Keep 'em coming!

Baby Shower!

I am going to a friend's baby shower today!! Tommy and I were joking about wearing bath robes and bringing shampoo and soap... haha we are silly :) (and corny!)

Well, the presents are all wrapped! (Tomorrow I will show you what I made for the family) But today, all you get to see is the pretty packaging! See you all tomorrow!


ps, Their last name is Fletcher, so Tommy calls his friend "Fletch"... hence "baby Fletch" (but with a pink bow on top since IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!)

Inspired by Fabric

Vera Bradley knows how to pick a good pattern. They are fun and different and colorful! Hanging in my kitchen is a Vera Bradley "Hope Garden" apron with a matching recipe box by the stove and I really wanted to bring out that pattern around the kitchen more!

So I took this pattern:

Picture from: http://merelymeredith.blogspot.com/2010/10/color-me-beautiful.html

And created my version on canvas:


I first did a rough sketch in pencil. I started painting one color at a time, across the whole canvas. I had to do layer upon layer of paints till it was what I wanted the piece to look like. It took several days, because some times the paint had to dry before I could paint the next color. But I think it turned out well! and now is proudly displayed in our kitchen :)

Small Burlap Wall Art & Decorative Poms

Burlap Wall Art
Supplies:
Burlap
acrylic paint
small paint brush
quote

Directions
1. Cut burlap to desired length.
2. Choose quote to write, and carefully plan where the words will go.
3. Paint words with small paint brush and acrylic paint.
4. Allow to dry and hang in any fashion you want! I went with a wavy natural look :)

Decorative Poms
Supplies
tissue paper
wire (to tie the paper together
scissors
ribbon

Directions
I used Martha Stewart for these directions:
http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/tissue-paper-pom-poms-how-to
And just hang on wall for a 4D art display!

Burlap wall art

When we moved into our new apartment, the walls were huge and bare. I just couldn't STAND how empty they made the house feel! So using some recycled goods and creativity, I transformed some burlap from the wedding and created a lovely wall hanging for our living room! I LOVE this piece of wall art! And because of it, I have gotten many compliments, and even some requests! I guess I have Christmas presents figured out for this year ;)

Supplies
A big piece of burlap
A quote to copy or design plan
A small paint brush
Acrylic paint


Directions
First, cover your work space, because the burlap lets through paint with its holes.
I used a big piece burlap (left over from our wedding) and cut into a 3'3" by 2'3" (Not purposely, it just looked good size wise!).
I then took a favorite quote (I really wanted to use: Proverbs 3:5 &6 from the bible "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.") and played with some positioning and fonts I liked and sketched it on a piece of white paper.
Then, with some black acrylic paint, and a thin brush... I started painting slowly and carefully the words and lay out I choose.

It is simple but does take a little bit of patience and time to get the letters right.
If you are afraid of mistakes, definitely sketch out your words first and practice... because once you paint the burlap.... it is there.... sorry! But the finished product is worth the time!
I added a little swirly design to the corner of the quote to create an artsy look; your options are limitless!