A Subtle Revelry Fairy lights, esprit cabane, DIY decorative objects Fairy lights can be enhanced with feathers, paper, cardboard cones or...egg carton cups! These recycled cardboard cups offer an unusual texture and soft colors that, with minimal skills, can be turned into a vine of light-emitting morning glory. For this project, use LED lights only. Save different colored egg cartons. With a pair of sturdy scissors, cut away excess cardboard surrounding the cup strips. Starting at the cup opening, make a short slit into each side of the cup. Hang your fairy lights in a dark area, over a mirror or above a bed for a cozy, warm effect. How to Block Print A guest post by Ania of Paper Cut Works. Block printing is the exact opposite of paper cutting, a new adventure for my “x-acto knife-wired” brain & hand. You begin by transferring a soft-pencil sketch onto the block, then using a chisel to carefully carve out the portions of the design youd leave intact in a papercut. To stay true to my papercutting roots however I began with creating a stencil of a heart and then transferring it onto the linoleum. Since this was my first attempt working with this century+ old technique I had to stop in the middle of the process several times just to think through the steps and make sure Im not ruining my print! Linoleum sheets are fairly soft and easy to navigate, an interesting change from paper! And here it is. A limited edition of 50 Heart Anatomy prints is available at PaperCutWorks. About Ania: She has been re-purposing outdated cartography and vintage lexicography into paper-cut art for the one you heart for years now.
lovelydesign How To: Decorate Your Own Tea Set Most Popular Posts | Apartment Therapy Re-Nest Previous image Next image Title: Decorated Tea Set Name: Aya Rosen Time: 2 1/2 HoursCost: about $12 Wow, what great small project that allows you to be totally creative on a very functional household item. A tea set - I found mine at a local vintage store, it was 1.99 for the saucers and 2.99 for the cups. The coolest thing about painting porcelain or china dishes is that it's basically like drawing or painting on paper, you can do whatever you want, and limited only by your imagination and creativity. First of all you need to prepare a dish for painting. I draw the design straight on the cup, using a photo book for reference. Once the pattern is done, I painted the background in the turquoise paint. Once your are done, leave to dry for 24 hours then bake in a regular oven at 300F (150C). If you can't draw to save your life and don't have kids, try writing a poem or a favorite quote for a cool inspiring dish.
Acrylic Paint and Letters This is a fact: there is something magical about craft stores. Like, fairy dust magical. I know this because the minute I step inside one, suddenly I believe I’m capable of completing all kinds of art projects I have no business touching, and suddenly I’m buying the necessary supplies to knit a designer dress (yes, out of yarn) or bake a cake shaped like a rocketship or something. It’s like I’m invincible, craft-wise. Welp, they got me again. I saw this art on Pinterest: It’s a pricey little piece you can pick up here for £195. I knew I could recreate the look with a few chipboard letters on a solid-painted canvas – and a few other bloggers have done just that. Suddenly I was PICASSO! I picked up some paints, a pack of chipboard letters and a canvas and headed home, all inspired and high off their secret craft-store air. I decided to use words from this Bible verse: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
retro mama sunburst mirror DIY It has been soooo long since this first post went up and I thought it would be fun to include some updated photos of this mirror and show you how it has been used over the years. Still using it and loving it! Where ol' girl currently lives in our Houston house. Check out my tutorial below so you can make one of your own! Remember the teaser of my new sunburst mirror... Well here she is in all her glory! She's nice and beefy, and has lots of texture. It's hard to tell in these photos (because we haven't had sun outside our windows in DAYS), but she has a really nice shine too. Here's how I did it! I'm certainly not the first to make a wood shim mirror, I've seen several versions around blogland. What you'll need: STEP ONE: Lay out your wood shims to figure out a pattern you like. STEP TWO: Using wood glue, glue the individual shims in your 5 and 7 groupings together. STEP THREE: Once your groups of shims are dry, arrange them back into the exact pattern you want them to be in once finished. Cost:
text art: I can't do this but I'm doing it anyway I saw this on pinterest the other day and immediately wanted to scrawl it across every wall in my apartment with black paint. In some ways, I felt like this statement had become my mantra. But the ironic thing is, I painted this over the weekend while I was feeling great about things and confident that this deployment was going to fly by. I was making plans to visit apartments in Ventura and starting to think about moving up there on my own this December. It was so easy to create this painting then. But Tuesday and yesterday morning were a completely different story. This deployment hit me like a ton of bricks and for the first time since Paul left I really felt like "I can't do this." As I struggled through the past two days, this painting sat on my dresser and served as a quiet reminder. And so moving on... here's what I did to make this text art that ended up making a much bigger statement than I intended. I knew that I wanted something substantial.
Do-It-Yourself Information for Home Improvement Projects - DIY Ideas Cool Copper Projects Warm metallic hues are easy to love but often pricey. When you create the look... Easy Doily Bowl Craft a decorative bowl from a doily picked up from a flea market, antique... Camper Birdhouse Encourage birds to stay awhile with an adorable vintage birdhouse. Skeleton leaves, esprit cabane, creative ideas, DIY decorating It is hard to reproduce the beauties of nature. In the fall, by a pool of water, you may sometimes find skeleton leaves in which the pulp has decomposed, so that only the veins are left, like a fragile piece of lace created by nature. Here are instructions on how to "skeletonize" leaves. With this method, you will need to use thick, shiny leaves, such as ivy, maple, or hydrangea. If the leaves are too fragile, this approach will not work. Choose a dozen or so leaves and put them in an old saucepan that can withstand a few stains. When the leaf pulp has completely softened - this might take up to one or two hours, depending on the type of leaf - lay a leaf on a dishtowel. Once only the skeleton of veins is left, place the leaf on a sheet of paper and cover with a few drops of hydrogen peroxide. Making skeleton leaves is tricky at first, but if you boil a dozen or so leaves at a time, you will have enough to practice on, and the results are really worth it.
Modern Paint Swatches Wall Art Looking for a way to fill that blank wall but don't have permission to paint? All you need is a trip to a major hardware store and an afternoon in front of a good movie to take care of that little dilemma. Supplies Needed: Large frame with paper insert, a ton of pretty paint chips, double-sided tape squares, and vinyl letters appropriate to the size of your frame or phrase (4" - 6"). I went with a color scheme that involved a variety of tones from some of my favorite colors. It's basically a muted rainbow with plenty of lighter shades to keep things from getting too busy. 1. 3. Paint chip art is a great option for renters looking to fill a big space without spending a small fortune!
angry chicken I am very excited to be selling 2 new products in my etsy shop! A Cleansing Oil and Facial Toner. Both 100% organic. I have always washed my face with a custom blended oil cleanser followed with a facial toner before I use the facial oil. The toners I use (and now sell) are 100% organic hydrosols. I made 3 different formulations of these 2 products to go with the existing line of Restorative, Balancing, and Nourishing Facial Oils. My goal is to keep my prices low, and keep selling direct instead of wholesale to shops, so please spread the word if you like my products and to those of you who have supported me all these years, thank you so much! I hope you love these as much as I do.