My First Typography!

I have been wanting to do a typography poster for a long time. I have probably spent one month trying to come up with a cool phrase to print... but I never did. So last week I painted this frame I bought at the thrift store and I really want to put it up... so Idecided to make a quick typography print... and I love it!

I choose "party rocking in the house tonight", which is from a song me and my husband have been singing alot lately. (Usually we change the words to "polly rockin in the house tonight" ... polly is our dog) But anyway, here it is... with my husband and his gross movember mustache too.

Renos Revealed!

Here is my three week bathroom reno! (I think 2 of those weeks was spent on taking down the wallpaper)

A few before pictures

This renovation cost me 85$... but that is pretty misleading since I used alot of supplies I already had in my house. Let me brake it down for you:

Martha Stewart Living beadboard paintable wallpaper 24.99$
Wood trim on top of wallpaper (we already had one piece) 10$
Silver mirror from Homesense 30$
Glass knobs, found on ebay, 20$

Taking down the wallpaper

Stuff we already had.... wallpaper paste, paint, baseboards, spray paint, vintage wood frames and all the other decorations.

So here is a list of what I did... painted the room a beachy weathered grey color, put up beadboard wallpaper and wood trim on top of it. Painted the baseboards, wallpaper and wood trim the same white color. Spray painted the existing lighting fixture white, spray painted some old frames white, put new glass knobs on the vanity and white cupboard, and bought a new mirror.

The new knobs

The frames, before and after

I love the bathroom now. I can't believe I left it for so long! When I pass by sometimes I just walk in and look around. It's so fresh and bright!

Finished Project!

Max's Room ... take 1

I did the tree mural from my last post and I love it! I have been finding it a little challenging to decorate Max's room, but I feel that things are on a roll now. I am currently working on painting a dresser for his room and modifying a crib bedding set that I bought... hopefully pictures will be up soon.

A Butterfly Display

I made these record butterflies months ago, but never displayed them. Now that Halloween is over and I have to cover up the headless horseman painting, I decided to finally display them. I think I got a little too excited with color. I think a neutral color would have done the display more justice. That is the benefits of foresight I guess.

Feed Your Soul = Free Art!

I found the website Feed Your Soul through a design blog. This is a little snip taken from the site to explain the project:

Feed Your Soul is a free art project. Each month artists are invited to participate and to contribute a print which is totally free and available for download.

This project is coordinated by Jen Wallace of Indie Fixx to help art lovers feed their souls with art in these recessionary times and to help artists promote their work.

Each week (usually on Monday) 2 + prints are added to the available downloads.

If you are an artist and would like to submit your work for consideration, just send an email with your url or 1-2 images of your work. The project is booked through August. It may take us a while to get back to you as well.

Remember, art can free your soul!

Peace, love, art and happiness...

So I downloaded a few photos and got them printed... the result:

Butterflies on the Brain {Operation... I'm the Dr. for you}

Apparently all I think about is butterflies these days. Oh well, I can think or worse things to think about... sick puppies, dandylions, biting tin foil...

Anyway. I saw this photo of an art exhibit (link to picture's website here) and got so anxious to try it myself. I went out and bought myself five records for five dollars at a thrift store, cut out my butterfly template and taped it on to the record. I got my scissors and went to cut when, to my surprize, I realized how hard vinyl actually is. There is no way any type of scissor could make it through that. So my dad set up his scroll saw for me and that work beautifully. Then I put them in the oven at 200 degrees for two mins to soften them up so I could mold the wings. The picture below are my little butterflies... I will wait till we move before I hang them up some where.
Side note, last night I realized that my new house has lots of halls which means more surface space for art!

There was a little picture...

There was a little picture that lived in a little frame.
And all the people wondered of where this combo came.
And as sure as grass is blue, and lies are true... this I tell to you:
This love match, of picture and frame, of vintage origins they are the same.

(like my poem? It's kind of confusing though, because I really did find the frame at a thrift store, and the photo is from a vintage book.)

Birch Tree Bedroom!

I did this actually at the end of April, but with my computer breaking down at that time, and then my planned theme month... this is getting to you a little belated, but I am still uber excited to share it with you guys. I painted the bedroom a light brown with a hint of red in it. My mom came over for the day and helped my put up the wallpaper. I was so grateful... I've never done wallpaper before so it was nice to have a veteran on my side.

What A Night Of Boardom Can Create

One evening a few days ago me and my husband were at home and completely board. Like the type of board were you sit on your couch and go through the list of "what can we do"... you know, the list that always included make cookies. Well since we are planning to renovate our bedroom next month we decided that we would paint a little mural on our wall... just for fun. Because it will only be around for a month we didn't really put a lot of thought into it, as you can maybe tell. I think it looks like iPods, Jonas thinks games boys.

I Need More Walls!

I love decorating walls, it's probably my favorite part of interior design. You maybe have figured this out from my previous posts.
[A little Re-cap... click for the post link]
1. My ceiling
2. Hand made art
3. Paintings and Photos
4. Wall decals

In the past few weeks I have fallen in a deep and ardent love affair with a new type of wall decor. Wallpaper murals! I am so pumped to do this. Since most of the walls in my house are either covered with something already or textured the only option available to me is the bedroom. This is probably perfect since that it the room that has been ignored since we moved in last year.
So here are some examples and options I am considering:










[The first two photos are from www.lelandswallpaper.com and the rest are from www.walldecorshops.com ]

Pretty awesome, eh? It's kind of a commercial look, like something you would find in a hotel lobby or a restaurant, but what a statement in a house! To be honest the picture my heart is set on is not in the photos above. It'll have to remain a mystery till it's up... it's a surprising choice I think.

I Take A Stand Against Souviniers!

Ok, well I am not that adamant against souvenirs, it's just lots of times people buy things in the heat of the moment... and why not, you having a great time on your vacation you want something to remember the trip by. It's just that for most of these purchases three months down the road those Mickey Mouse ear headbands, your "I Got Tipsy in Vegas" shot glass and Eiffel Tower key chain are in the trash or in your junk drawer. On my last trip out of the country, to Cuba, I decided to only buy things that I knew I would keep. So in the end me and my husband bought this painting. We love it, it totally reminds us of our trip without saying "Veradero" on it. I also bought a ring and photo album for our Cuba pictures. And all in all I don't regret the fact that I don't have a wooden cigar pipe with the country's name on it.

Mounting Mirrors

I inherited this mirror when my parents remodeled one of their bathrooms. It was just a large rectangular mirror but to mount it we used a 1 x 4 and beveled out a ledge on both pieces to hold the mirror... painted it black and voila! It looks pretty happenin' on our barn wall.

Display Decision Made!

With help from my dad I cut and painted this board to display my fossil tin collection. I used magnets (thanks to Trevor for the idea) glued on the board to hold the tins up... leaving space for my collection to grow! Anyway, it was a pretty quick fix... I might try something different down the road but for now it's just perfect!

Twice as Nice

My husband made these wall hangings out of a picture I took when I lived in Holland. He got the picture printed at a sign store, then mounted them on to painted styrofoam. I love them because not only does it look chic, but it's a personal picture and uniquely mine.

Miniature in Measure, Mega in iMagination

When I moved into my house I left behind a huge, double closeted, bedroom. A bedroom in which my sister decided to take over. (Double closets... how could she not!) To everyone's surprise she decided to go with a Victorian pink theme. So for her birthday I decided to make her some wall art.
I used mostly scrapbooking and beading supplies. And to make it more personal I spelt out a message in each box. (You can't see all the letters because of the angles) The left is a bedroom scene and the right is a kitchen scene. I had so much fun making these... especially trying to making the little items. An example is the broom, I made it from an old blush brush and a toothpick and a bit of hemp rope. The little apron and chef hat are made of fabric.

Display Decisions

I am a collector. I have been since I was little collecting Little Mermaid cards. Right now I am big into collecting Fossil Tins, I have over 30. Most of the them are the same size and shape, about six are different. Currently they are sitting on a few window sills, but I'd much rather have them all together displayed as a collection... so I am toying with a few ideas that I thought I'd share.
1) Stick them right up on the wall.
The example I've shown is from http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5174222 (Side note: its a pretty cool site, she sells wood block art pieces that are meant to be hung in groups.)
Pro: its looks organized
Con: the "odd" shaped tins would look out of place
2) Shelves.
Pro: all tins would get to be used and a smaller space is needed
Con: Less impact and more messy?
3) Different sized display boxes
I like this idea because then I could stack the tins to make taller arrangements. Plus I like the disorder to the order... and I could paint the frames a funky color, like bright red or orange! Oh, and I could put a subtle but fun printed wall paper or fabric as the back panel. That would be kind of fun.
4) Show case coffee table.
This one is an idea I've been toying with for awhile. I haven't seen it done anywhere. Pros would be it's unique, organized, and impactfull. Cons: a lot more time and effort. I would like to do something like this coffee table (I saw it at Kesay), but maybe with a groove where the tins would sit in, so they wouldn't move around when we moved the table... or walls that from the wood piece up to the glass. I dunno, what do you think?

Fabric in a Frame... yep, its that easy

The frames were purchased from thrift stores and then spray painted. For fabric I would recommend using something with a large print. If you have bare walls this is a quick and easy way to fill them up. Also a good way to add in an accent color, because it's so easy to change the fabric if you decide to change you accent color. Look at me, just handing out the tips.