Bathroom Makeover

After having the classic 'beach theme' bathroom for several years, I decided I wanted a bathroom makeover. I had no idea, at first, what I wanted to switch to, but I thought something with purple would be nice. I started with my poppy picture and pieced together an elegant poppy, purple and orange bathroom.

  When I got my first apartment on my own, I was excited to decorate in themes and colors of my choice. I picked seashells and beach colors for the bathroom and found three seashell art pieces online for just $5 each and free shipping. Even when I first bought them, I knew I could easily paint over them when I wanted something different to look at. And that's exactly what I did as I redid my bathroom look.

  I started by completely painting one of the pieces completely tan;

I wanted to create a 'wooden pallet' look to the already wood square.
  After the paint had dried, I sanded it down a bit and put on a second coat. While the paint was still wet, I brushed in strokes of darker shades of brown to make it look like wood grains and knots. I used different sized paint brushes and, for some spots, brushed in a circle, let it dry a little, then brushed it out. Once I was happy with how it looked, I let it dry overnight, before starting to outline the lettering.
  I had seen this quote on a canvas at Target about a year ago and I loved it. I think it is a great reminder to have hanging next to the bathroom mirror, so that I see it each morning as I'm getting ready for the day.
  First, I measured out three sections and penciled in straight lines. Then I started penciling in the words. There was a lot of erasing and adjusting to get the letters (mostly) centered and to give each letter a calligraphy look. It was a lot of close-up work; I had to keep setting it down and coming back to it, so that I didn't get a headache. It was a few days to get all the letters penciled and painted on, but well worth it!

This bathroom feels super relaxing, happy, and inspirational.
I also added a picture that a friend made me as a Christmas gift.
He used mirror paint on the frame's glass, then painted in the
words from a stencil - absolutely perfect!

Refurbished Bed Frame

For the past several years, I've been sleeping on a mattress and box-springs just laid on the floor... I figured it was time to grow up a little more and get a bed frame. Lucky for me, my dad had an old frame that he didn't want anymore!

I wanted to paint it over with a white-shade, but not too bright; my bedroom is tones of grey, with citron green, white, and black accents. Even the photos on the walls are printed in black-and-white to match.
Who knew there were so many "shades" of white to chose from at the paint store?! I was not going to look them all over, so when I found one called Gray Shimmer, I was sold.
I'm really not sure why it's called that because it isn't really grey or shimmery at all; but I like it.
   

After about three coats and two days of dry-time in my basement,

I was ready to put it together and get my new bed set on!

I think the color is perfect! (Although, when I first saw it next to the off-white walls, I thought the walls looked filthy.) Once everything was made up, I don't think the color difference is noticeable.

And I'm loving my new bedroom!

Yay for being more adult!

"Float On" Painted Canvas

Have you ever heard of the stages of change? If not, read about it by following the link, or view a quick image explanation here. I started this in February, when I was starting to think about some changes that I needed to make, and I finally completed it after I had put the changes into motion. This is a piece of art that I created that has a lot of personal meaning for me. While I was going through my own stages of change, these lyrics from "Float On" by Modest Mouse were a good reminder. We will, everything will, float on alright.

The song came on my mp3 player as I was driving one day, and every time it plays I think, "I really like this song!" I thought it would be fun to make something to represent it. I decided that a hot air balloon was a good representation of floating, being at peace in the clouds, knowing that the world keeps turning no matter what we are doing.
Rather than searching Google for an image of a hot air balloon without a copyright, I tried my hand at sketching one. Then scanned it into my computer to add the text where I wanted.

I had an 8x8 inch canvas which would be perfect for a standard size paper. I printed a flipped version of my image so that I could trace the lines with pencil and press it onto the canvas.

Then it was simple tracing with a paint marker and "coloring" inside the lines with acrylic paint.

I added the cloud at the end, because it needed something else to 'balance' it; and a cloud is also a peaceful representation of floating on.

I love how this piece is reflective of choices that I made in my life. I was finally able to finish it and be at peace with the changes that I

had decided to make.

If you have decisions to make, that you have been putting off, remember that change is

a necessary part of life (usually for the better) and we will all keep floating on.

Valentine's Crafts

Normally, I'm not the pink & purple, hearts, and glitter kind of girl; but lately, it's been growing on me. I keep seeing pretty little decor for Valentine's day and going, "oooh, I like that!" So, even though I don't normally decorate or do much for February 14th, here are a couple crafts that I just had to make this year...
"Love" canvas art and "Love Birds" photo holder.

"Love" Canvas Art

You've probably seen a lot of canvases with letter stickers put on them and painted over -

they are cute and look so easy!

Well, naturally I had to make this a little different with colored letters and a white top coat of paint.

First, I started with a 12x12 inch white canvas and used acrylic paints (that I had bought forever ago and hadn't opened yet) to create abstract streaks of colors. I used the obvious "Valentine" colors, then added in some teal because I keep seeing teal and gold together and love it!

After letting the paint dry overnight, I cut out a paper heart to the size that I wanted and set it on the canvas so that I knew where to place the stickers. Lucky for me, when I went to buy stickers, there were a few sheets on clearance (stickers can be expensive!).
Even though I had enough of the four letters I needed, I wanted each "love" word to look a little different. I got creative with the other letters and numbers, using parts of a "Z", "h", "0", and "3". (Can you find them?)

It took some firm pressing to keep some of the stickers down before I started to paint over the whole canvas with white. I'm not the most patient person and brushed the paint on a bit too rough. One sticker came up and I had to wipe up the wet paint to make sure some color was still showing.
*Make sure you are gentle when applying the paint over the stickers, or it will get under them or lift them up.
I had to let it dry and paint a second coat to get it really white.
Then, I used an extra pair of tweezers to lift the stickers off while the paint was still tacky.

Next, once the canvas was completely dry, I outlined the heart area where I wanted all the gold glitter. I used a paint brush to apply glue and sprinkled lots of glitter on top. I mixed some glitter and glue together and brushed it over the rest of the canvas to create some extra sparkle.

Lastly, I sprayed over the whole canvas with a high-gloss spray; this helped to hide some of the brush strokes and smoothed out the letters.

This craft would be just as nice on a wood block or as a pallet art project!
Use lyrics from your favorite love song or add an anniversary date to make it extra special. Mine makes me think of the Beatles song lyrics.

"Love Birds" Photo Holder

This is the easier of the two crafts - that is, if you have the right size wood block lying around; I happened to have this piece that I just had to saw about four inches off. If you don't have any wood handy, you can probably find some nice shapes and sizes at your craft store; or head over to the hardware store and ask them to cut a piece for you.

I had the "love birds" fabric left over from some baby burp cloths that I'd made for my cousin last year, and thought it was perfect for Valentine's decor too! I aligned it just so to get the hearts and birds where you could still see them around the picture, then cut the fabric slightly smaller than the wood piece. Using ModPodge (that I found at the Dollar Store!), I glued the fabric down and applied another layer over the top.
The ModPodge dried overnight; I glued on the mini clothespin and went to work. When I got home, the photo holder was ready for display!

Instead of fabric, you could use scrapbook paper, newspaper or a magazine page, or even just paint the block!

This was another photocraft that I kept seeing and just had to try out. Are you ready to make your own now? What are some craft projects that you've been wanting to do?

Even if you aren't the type to care much for Valentine's Day, I hope you all feel lots of love this year!

Picture Frame Makeover #2

Here's a great before and after project! 

First, a little background -
I love Kohl's; everything about it. I have a Kohl's credit card; and with my statements I often get coupons. One of these coupons was for a free 16x20 print through Shutterfly (score!). Picking out one of my photos proved to be the hard part, but I settled on a close up of a poppy from my dad's backyard and placed my order.

I thought if I could find a thick, purple frame that it would match nicely with the center color of the poppy and make the orange petals pop. However, I had no luck finding what I was hoping for in stores. After scouring the internet, I found exactly what I wanted... for upwards of $50, plus more to ship it. That was a bit more than I was willing to pay, but it got me thinking, maybe I could make my own.

I found this frame at a thrift store, complete with an Anne Geddes poster (that I won't be keeping), for just $2.99! It had a plastic pane that had a crack, but I knew it could be exactly what I wanted once I dressed it up. I found another 16x20 frame with a glass pane that could replace the ugly plastic, for another $2.99. (So now I'm at $5.98 total.)

I was set on having a purple frame; so, immediately following this purchase, I headed over to Lowe's and picked out several purple paint samples. 

Upon arriving home (I'm not sure I even took my coat off, I was so excited), I proceeded to match up the colors with the photo, viewing them under different lighting to make sure the final choice was perfect. I settled on "Royal Plum" by Olympic.
I had to wait til the next day to get the $2.98, 7 oz. sampler of paint. (Total cost now at $8.96 and I'll have a bit of extra paint for other projects.)

With two coats of paint and a little sanding to create a weathered look, I had pretty much the exact frame I had wanted with a whole lot of savings!

Isn't it perfect? I think so! 

I love a great makeover craft; are there any gems you've found at a thrift store and made your own? I'd love to see your story!

Wooden Pallet Sign

I may be a little behind with the wooden pallet trend, but I'm still happy to have made my first pallet sign.

I had seen so many beautiful ideas on Pinterest and knew I wanted to make one, but first to get some pallets, and second to put an image and a quote together...

If you think making a pallet sign is going to be easy, think again - taking the slats off took a lot of strength! Now if I had a saw to cut through the nails, it may have been different, but I was hammering at the wood to force the nails back out.
I was able to obtain a smaller than average pallet, the slats measuring about 28.5" by 3.5". I didn't want as much gap between the slats, so I had to take it all apart and put it back together. I might add that I'm all arms and legs, without much muscle, but I like to be able to do things myself. And, for this one, I didn't ask for any help - and only broke one slat!

After it was apart, I attempted to sand the edges and rough spots. Pallet wood seems to be extra rough and untreated, it's like the wood that isn't good for anything else. I by no means got the wood smooth, but it was somewhat nicer than before sanding.

Next, I nailed the pallet back together, closer, using the same nail holes that were already there; and started drawing on the sun and rays. I used a very large plant pot to get a perfect arc and used the straight edge of the broken slat for the rays.

I used a pencil to draw the lines, thinking that the paint would cover it; however, if you are more of a perfectionist than I am, you will want to be very light with the pencil and/or erase it as you go. If I look very closely at my finished art, I can see the pencil lines.

Before beginning to paint, I spackled over the nails to help hide them and let it dry overnight. I couldn't wait to get up and start painting the next day!

I did two coats of paint on everything, which took a couple days with having to go to my real job and all, but I wanted vibrant color!

Figuring out how to the the letters on took some thinking - I don't trust my freehand and I wanted some different fonts. I had seen a lot blogs on transferring ink to wood by printing the lettering backwards, then wetting it to force the ink back out onto the wood. That was all on unpainted wood and mine had to go over the paint, so I didn't think that would work. I resorted to cutting out and tracing the letters.

A steady hand and patience gets the letter painting done; I definitely had to take breaks because I kept going cross-eyed with the closeup work. Again, I did two coats of paint.
Now I could have been done; the sign was beautiful, bright, and cheery - just what I need for first thing in the morning. I love the 'weathered' look though, so I got the sandpaper out again and roughed up the painted edges and scratched out some of the letters.
Finally, I need to add something to be able to hang it on the wall. I found these hooks and Michael's and thought they would work well - this pallet sign is pretty heavy!

I thought I'd need to get my dad's help to hang it, but he's pretty busy getting ready for the school year to start. I went over to see what I'd need and he gave me some dry wall anchors. I drilled some holes and got it hung all by myself!

I'm so excited to have this hanging in my craft room - "be awesome" - not just about personality, I think it fits for crafting too. I'll have it on the wall right next to my work clothes closet, so every morning when I 'zombie-walk' into the room to get dressed, I'll see the bright colors and have a nice reminder to start my day.

Another thing that I love about this is that it could be a great hand-me-down for my nephew someday!

Picture Frame Makeover

Just a quick post to show off this picture frame that I have finally finished!

When I moved into my apartment, two years ago, I printed these photos of mine and had the frame that I needed to repaint. It was previously red and not an easy task to cover.

I began my first attempt at covering the red the same week I moved in, The wood of the frame must have been treated. The red was glossy and the paint wasn't sticking. Two coats wasn't enough. And as soon as I peeled the painter's tape off one color it pulled all the paint with it.

I washed (literally, washed in my bathtub) the whole frame and tried another approach - sand the red off until I got to the bare wood. I think the wood was soaked in glossy red evil. I sanded and sanded, but didn't see much of a difference.

To give you an idea, here's the back of the frame - sorry, I didn't take photos throughout the process.

Frustrated, I walked away from the project; and almost two years later, it was still in my basement.

I decided to give it one more try and if the paint still peeled, I would toss the frame and buy a new one. But a happy day for me, the paint stuck and it looked just the way I had imagined!

Some projects get lost for a while, but they're always satisfying to see completed!