Simple DIY Art

Good Grief. Has it really been 2 months since I last blogged? My how time flies.
I have been doing lots of fun projects. I have so much more up my sleeve too. Now if I could just find the time right?!

I needed a soft simple piece of art to go over my jewelry armoire in my bedroom. I didnt want anything harsh or drastic and i needed it to be CHEAP! I went to Big Lots and found a naked canvas for $6.00. Yep that is a great starting point.

I already had some paint. I like that it is silver color to match the bedroom. I had wished it was not quite as metallic maybe just more gray but, the metallic has actually grown on me.

I this super cute stencil for FREE. When i ordered the stencil for my bedroom wall from Royal Stencil company they sent me a little stencil for free with my order. This was the perfect time to get that out and put it to use.
Here she is all done and up close. My mom and husband said i should outline the flowers to make them more prominent but I like the subtleness of it.
So there you have it super duper simple $6.00 wall art! What have you been working on?

I am in the market for a Cameo Silhouette if you know of a great deal going on right now let me know please! Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!!!
~Julie~

Crafty Home Decor

Hidy Ho Everyone!

so a few months ago while I was watching the best channel on television, HGTV! I noticed in an episode of High Low Project some artwork. side note.. is that show going to come back on? I mean seriously I LOVED IT. i sure hope it comes back. Sabrina (the shows host) did not focus on this particular part of the redo BUT I noticed it. It was 6 framed squares of fabric. I thought WHAT??!! i CAN so do that. and cheap too! instead of fabric i used scrapbooking paper. so here goes.

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For the frames I went as cheaply as I could without looking super cheesy. I settled on album display frames that I found at JoAnn. They were about $10.00 each but the stars were lined up that day because they were 50% off WHEN I was ready to get them! sweet!

I also used white foam board. I had some on hand already so I only had to buy one piece. I cut them into 12X12 squares to fit the frames, then cut the paper down to 11X11 because I wanted the white boarder around the images. BTW I used foam board to give some dimension, because these were album frames, they are made to hold a wee bit of thickness.

After I had them all framed up I played around with the layout on the kitchen table. then hung them up over the fireplace. I have to say I was very pleased with myself. Sorry for the glare in the pictures. One of these days I will learn how to photograph.

So there ya go. For around $40.00 i had a whole set of artwork. Not too shabby eh?

Thanks for spending a few minutes with me. OH! that pic to the side over the ottoman was what i used to have over the fireplace. it was nice too but I love change things up around here. Much to hubby's dismay.
have a super week!
Cheers!
~Julie~

Linking to :
House of Hepworths

The Shabby Nest

Finding Fabulous

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

The House That Creaks # 11 Bedroom Redo!!

ACK!! I am so excited to show of the bedroom redo! I have been working on this for weeks. I started off by adding the bead board wall paper. then painted the bathroom and bedroom. then painted the stencil on one wall. then made the headboard. then put up the chair rail in the bathroom. whew... but the big parts are over and i LOVE it.
for the headboard I started with a piece of plywood for $10.00 ! whoop. OMG i had NO idea plywood was that dang heavy. now my foot knows it too! got two layers of 1/2 batting with coupon for $16.00

Staple gunned the batting and used a canvas drop cloth for the fabric. for $10.00 I wanted a casual fabric that could easily adapt to any decor changes. it was perfect!

Of course, i could not find any old pictures of the bedroom. i think they were all on my old computer. but here is a pic of the old bathroom so you get an idea of the color the bedroom was.


Okay.. my pictures are all out of whack. some just got deleted... UGGG.. so . i am making do with what i can. my computer is super sensitive and it just goes crazy sometimes.. anywhooooo
here is a look from the bathroom into the bedroom. i used two colors of blue from Sherwin Williams. Let me give some props for a minute. the Super paint by Sherwin .. HOLY MOLY yall!
it cover in ONE coat. I painted over a yellowy orange to a light smokey blue in ONE coat. WHAT?? !!!!
I finally got real curtains for the bathroom, If you look again at the old bathroom pic you will see the pink quilt hanging in the window.. that was there for oh.... about a year! LOL
Just take a look at this cottagey goodness will you?! feels like a little cottage near the ocean to me.
Here is a gander in the bedroom of the stenciled wall. someday i will get new furniture. so dont look at that!
Here is a view of the completed bead board. I got all white bedding for Christmas. Super nice set too! Thanks step mom!! :-) I do plan to put a piece of artwork or maybe a framed mirror over the jewelry box there. but not sure exactly what i want yet.

I also plan to get new lamp shades maybe a drum shape. I got some this weekend but they didnt fit.. phooey! Also got curtains for the bedroom. NEVER had curtains in there before. lived here 2 years with no curtains. at least i did have blinds in the window though. teeheee
I spray painted the lamps a sliver to match the bedroom better. I would like to have wall mounted lamps. but making do with what i have for now.

Just making sure you have a view from all angles :-)

so this is it. last pic of the tour. thanks so much for looking. so here is a rundown
headboard:
plywood $10.00 , batting $16.00, drop cloth $10.00, nail head trim kit $20.00 = $56.00!!
oh, we did have to buy a jigsaw to cut the corners in the headboard. so that was around $30.00 so total was $86.00 what??!!! you will pay HUNDREDS for a ready made one. AND not near the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

the stencil is Royal Designs it was $40.00 but i got it as a gift for Christmas :-) thanks MOM!

the paint was $100.00 for both rooms BUT! well worth the money. like i said.. ONE COAT. the bathroom i used SW cashmere.. i did not like it near as much as the Super Paint. Cashmere i had to use two coats. Super paint is the primer and paint in one.

Cheers!
~Julie~

The House That Creaks #10 Striped Walls

Happy Sunday Evening to you!
I finally completed a project!! It has been probably early December since I have started and completed a house project. So lately I have been seeing striped walls everywhere in blog land.
Thursday afternoon I had an overwhelming urge to paint stripes in my upstairs landing. I had originally wanted to put up bead board however I have bead board in the bathroom and thought that it would be too much in one area then.. BAM! it hit me and I went running. I already had most of the tools on hand so this did not cost much at all. A BIG PLUS!

I forgot to get a before shot but this is pretty much it minus the renovated toy box and the framed wall art I made a little while back.

Yellow is a hard color to cover so I started with 2 coats of a good Primer. Zinzer 123. Used my trusty Purdy angled tip brush and a Purdy roller. (I Heart Purdy)

After gathering all of the supplies the next step is to measure. This is where my hubby came in handy. (Wish I would have given more effort to math in school). He helped me figure out what size stripes I would need to make them as even as possible. I didn't really care how many stripes but new I wanted them fairly large. I did 15 1/2 inch stripes for a total of 6 on a 93 inch wall.

I taped the measuring tape to the wall then made my marks all around the hallway.

I totally need to talk my daughter into taking her posters off her bedroom door. Good luck with that though. She just turned 13 yesterday (Happy bday boo!). I remember when I was 13, I had posters, magazine pages, all kinds of stuff on my walls.

I left the yellow color and just painted a white strip. I still love this orangy yellow color. It is called Spun Gold by Porter Paints.

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I have to say, I am quite impressed with myself. The lines are super straight and there was almost zero bleeding under the tape. I used FROG tape. Once i had it on the wall I used the back of my finger nail to really get it stuck on there. Worked AWESOME! My finger was a wee bit sore though! HA

Keep scrolling down for picures

That white spot in the upper right is not really there. Not sure why my camera did that.

It is really hard to get a great pic in a super small sort-of circular area. I LOVE how it turned out. Hubs is not a fan but thinks I did a great job on it. It reminds me of summer time. Maybe it is the yellow and white? Thanks for checking out the project!!
Cheers!
~Julie~

Simple Gift Wrapping

Good Morning!! And what a great morning it is! I am off from work the rest of this week! wooooohhoooooo!!

I am planning on spending time with my favorite girl and shopping and playing and hanging out. I have a DIY project planned too.

I saw this gift wrapping idea on Pintrest. Love that place!


Such a simple idea with a brown lunch sack. I would have liked to make the tag but dang... I just dont seem to have time for paper crafting lately. So these are gift tags I bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago. And the string is twine from PaperTrey Ink. I used the Fiskars boarder punch to add a wee bit of design, then wrapped the twine around and threaded the tag, tied a bow and called it a wrap! FUN. The super simple gift inside is for co workers which consists of two small bags of flavored coffee (each bag makes one pot) and several individual creamer cups.
The total for 3 gifts was $2.66 each. not too shabby!!
Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy your week before Christmas!!!

The House That Creaks # 8 Refurbished Toy Box

Hello!!! Happy Thursday to you. Thanks for stopping by. In case you have not read my first "House that creaks" episode. I call it that because some areas of the floors in this 20 year old house creak like no body's business! I totally want to fix it but secretly dont want to also because in just a couple of short years my daughter will be a teenager and possibly sneaking out of the house ! HA With these floors she will get caught for sure. Okay anywhoooo.......

I have had this toy box since I was oh.. 9 years old maybe?? It was up in the attic for a long time, then when my daughter was a wee one we got it down for her. Now she doesn't need it anymore. My first initial thought was to make a cushioned seat cover and I did that, but once I finally got the box looking like i wanted to, the material clashed.

Obviously my name was carved in it. If I was not going to have a seat cushion then I needed my name covered up. Got out the handy dandy wood filler. LOVE that stuff, it has been a big helper in quite a few projects. So filled in my name and sanded down the entire box. Primed it and Spray painted it gray. I looked like a big glob. I hated it. It was just missing something. I wandered around blog land. One girl (wish I would have kept her link) had the stencil pattern that I had already printed out from Emily at Jones Design Company.
she had used her stencil on a box and I squealed with delight! I just new I had to use the stencil on my toy box.

I am soooo in love with how it turned out. This is no longer an ugly grey glob. It is a deliciously fun refurbished piece!! YEA ME! oh, and the design is on both sides as well.
I have it sitting on the upstairs landing. I totally hate that lamp. I will be switched out.. eventually. Hopefully sooner than later. Last night i just finished that frame. I really need to hang it a little lower and post about it so, don't look at it yet! teehee

Thanks for looking!
Cheers!
~Julie~

The House that Creaks #8 Faux Wainscoting

Happy Sunday Night to you! So, I have this project to share that I totally stole from Decor Chick can I just add how much I heart her style. I get TONS of Ideas from her. Click on her name and it will take you to her wainscoting transformation. Her has decorative trim which i would have loved to use however, hottie hubs and I are brand new to wainscoting and wasnt sure we could match up all of the lines with the cuts from the tools that we had. So we settled on some flat trim. and now if we change our mind later and use a more decorative trim, the process will be soooooo much easier.
So I started with priming the area I wanted to wainscot. Hubs made fun of me because I did not measure precisely where to end the white paint. I giggled told him whatever.. to my dismay because we are out of the orange paint that is on the walls! and of course the chair railing was below the white. I cannot get a stinkin' sample of orange paint mixed that matches exactly! Arrg

okay so the next steps where to measure, measure and measure again. I left that part to hottie. I have zero math skills and this was hard core crazy calculations. Well, for me anyway. Hubs has way more patients than I. I am totally kewl with slapping it up on the wall, thank goodness he is not cool like that :-)
Then we got out the chalk line marker thing. You know, the tool that kinda looks like a measuring tape that you pull out and then hold it in place then snap the line and it makes a chalk mark on your surface? Yea, that one..

Next step is to cut out all of your box pieces. We used little glue dots (my scrap booking supplies always come in handy!!) to hold the pieces in place to make sure that is where we wanted them before we started nailing it all in. After that caulk around all the trim and chair rail. Paint a couple of coats and you are done.
Here is the right side in all of its glory... with all that white left above the chair rail! Arrgg (hate it when he is right!)
Here is the left side.

And here is the view going down. I reeeeaaaaallly need to work on my picture taking skills and learn to edit. Hubs work is so much better in person. I look at it all the time and I am amazed at his success at his first go at this! Now.. this project to way longer than we anticipated but totally worth the effort. Especially since he did most of the work! HA!!

Then here is a pic after I painted over the white above the chair rail. You cannot really tell in this pic that the oranges dont match. in all honesty it is very close to the original orange so its not bad. I would love to repaint all of the orange a different color! Hubs says I have to wait for a total of 5 years before repainting. teehee.. only because the staircase and living room where a MAJOR pain in the buttocks to paint. So thats it! be sure to check out Decor Chicks wainscoting. Thanks so much for your visit today!
Cheers!
~Julie~

LINKING UP TO :
Perfectly Imperfect
The Shabby Nest
The Idea Room
C.R.A.F.T.