Little Changes: Star Fish Accent

Last week I guest posted for Amy over at One Artsy Mama.  And I'm going to re-post the project!  This is just a little accent that'd work for most themes.  

My guest bedroom is a beach theme, but not an in-your-face beach theme, very subtle, white washed, reclaimed wood and airy feel.  This is the first star fish or seashell anything that I put in there and it's very small, which is how I like it.  

Here is what you'll need:

1. Canvas - I bought this at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 - but I could have waited for it to go half off too and saved some more.  
2. Paint.  I wanted a very pale blue so I mixed a little bit of Spa Blue with White Wash to get the color I wanted.
3. A star fish, or really anything that would go with your theme of choice.
4. Glue gun & Glue sticks
5. Tape.  I used regular old run-of-the-mill scotch tape because I wanted thinner lines.  
6. Not pictured - paint brush.

Next:

I taped off one inch sections.  I eyeballed it, because I'm lazy and truthfully I wasn't after "perfect."

Next:

I mixed my paint so I'd have a very, very pale blue.  I just wanted faint lines because I like the white-washed beach feel for my guest bedroom.  I only painted on one coat and it took about 10 minutes to dry.  Once it's dry go ahead and peel off the tape.

Next:

Star fish generally don't lay flat, so I only applied glue at the points and let it set.

Next:

 Because this little accent is small, I used a push pin.  I mounted it in between the guest bedroom door and the door to the guest bathroom.  

And that's all there is to it.  Quick - simple and easy!  Just the way I like it!  Well I hope you all have a great week!

Linking up: See the "I Like To Party" link up top!

A2Z,TCB,


Featured:

Happy Friday to you!

Oh it's Friday once again and I now have 19 days until I leave for vacation. So much needs to be done, its scary. I was just informed that family will be staying at our house the night before we leave so they can break up their long drive. Which is absolutely fine - the entire reason we have a guest bedroom, but that part of my brain that thinks that everything needs to be super clean for house guests just had a heart attack. My house is a wreck right now. I know I have 19 days, but I borrow trouble like a pro, and it's on my mind...(my baseboards! I need to clean those baseboards!)

So in order to keep my mind off of things that stress me out, I've window shopped and today I looked for fun silvery things:

1. Here. 2. Here. 3. Here. 4. Here. 5. Here. 6. Here.

Of course Toms are featured. At this point you should know my feelings about them. I've decided to shop in the kids section. I have small feet so I could potentially save $10. (I know...I have a problem.) I'm loving the mustache stuff too. While I'm try not to jump on the bandwagon, I really want a mustache necklace. They're hilarious. I normally wouldn't wear the corset, but I have seen some very cute and creative ways to wear them, so don't count them out!


And since Friday wouldn't be Friday without some hot shoes:

Link Here.

Heels.com
Report Signature: Neptune
Color: Gunmetal
Price: $224.99

*Way more than I would spend...but oh they're pretty*


Link Here.
Heels.com
Chinese Laundry: Traffic Jam
Color: Silver
Price: $74.99
*I LOVE the little peep toe. I can't get enough platforms!*

Link Here.
Heels.com
Michael Antonio: Keme
Color: Silver Glitter
Price: $54.99

*They sparkle. No idea what I'd wear them with...but...they sparkle.*

Well, that was fun. Now I'm back to thinking about steam cleaning my floors and organizing my laundry room. So much needs to be done!!


Have an awesome weekend - new project should be up Sunday.



Linking up to the Friday Shoegasm over at Peace, Love & Applesauce!

Hoo Are You? Wedding Questions

This week's who are you is wedding themed!! So I decided to get in on the action...



1. What type of diamond cut do you like?

Well this is a boring answer, but round. Mine is a round cut and it's perfect for me.

2. If you're married, when is your anniversary? If not, what month would you like to be married in?

My anniversary is December 13th. It was the first big snowstorm of the year. And it was CHILLY!!


3. What were or would you like your wedding colors to be?

Mine were mostly red, black and white with pops of orange and hot pink. I loved how it turned out.

4. How many bridesmaids did or would you have at your wedding?

I had three. My two best girlfriends and my little sister!


5. How long have you been married?

2 years, 5 months and 5 days!

Little Changes: Quatrefoil Canvas Accent

Happy Easter Sunday to you all!!

I'm still adding more blue to my living area and this week I did that by adding a little quatrefoil canvas accent.

This is a really easy way to add a little color.

Also: it was cheap.

I picked up the small canvas frame at Hobby Lobby for 30% off which brought it to around $3.00. I only ended up using a little bit of paint. The paint was $.99.

See what I mean? Cheap.

This could also be a small accent for a wall too. I thought about picking up two more and doing coordinating colors and stencils on those as well. I could mount them on the wall horizontal or vertical for pops of color too.

See - this craft is versatile!

The essentials:

1. Canvas Frame - about $3.00. 2. Stencil found for free courtesy of Jen at Tatertots and Jello. 3. Paint of your choice. This color is "Spa Blue." 4. Paintbrushes. (Thanks for not commenting on my dusty table...)

Originally I thought it might be a good idea to maybe add a monogram to this, either in white or black depending on how it looked after I was finished stenciling. But then afterwards I decided not to. The stencil I used to was too big, if I had printed it off smaller- maybe.

Because I don't like to take my own advice I printed it off on paper again. I had visions of it flipping up and slipping off so I taped it down to make sure it wouldn't move.

You can blot/ dab or just paint on depending on the brush you're using. Since I was using my cheap brushes it was a combination of both.

I knew it'd need more than one coat. So after the first coat dried I went back and carefully painted within the lines. Again - this is where a fine tipped brush could have come in handy...

This is after the second coat. You can't tell because of poor lighting...

I decided to put it up on my shelf instead of my accent table. After all I'm trying to add blue everywhere.

Another angle...

I like the color of blue. It's not a huge change but I like how it brightens the shelf a little more. I feel like it's so dark with the big steel accent (should I paint it white? Seriously I have no idea.), but the blue helps a little bit.

Another small change to my living area. Hopefully I'll move onto pillows to help brighten up my dark place! I'm keeping an eye out! (If anyone knows any great deals on aqua pillows - let me know!!)

Linking up:

I Heart Nap Time, Under the Table & Dreaming, Its So Very Cheri, The DIY Showoff,Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, Making The World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, C.R.A.F.T., Keeping It Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Homemaker on a Dime, Sarahndipities, Embellishing Life, Dittle Dattle, The Girl Creative, Mad In Crafts, Craft-O-Maniac, Me Making Do, All Things Fee, Vintage Wanna Bee, Type A, Today's Creative, This & That, Sugar Bee Crafts, All Thingz Related, Tip Junkie, Hope Studios, Giggles Glitz & Glam, Not Just A Housewife, The Stories of A to Z, Running with Glitter, At Home with K, The Little Birdie Blog, Strictly Homemade, Blackberry Vine, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Cherished Bliss, I'm Topsy Turvy, All Things Heart & Home, Blue Cricket, Eisy Morgan, Someday Crafts, Sugar & Dots, Handy Man Crafty Woman, My Girlish Whims, Trendy Treehouse, Passionately Artistic, Elements Interiors, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, DIY by Design, My Backyard Eden, Sisters Stuff, Night Owl Crafting, House of Hepworths, Paisley Passions, Yesterday on Tuesday, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Delightful Order, Thrifty Decorating, Saved by Love Creations, A Glimpse Inside, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Momnivore's Dilemma, Stuff & Nonsense, Momma's Kinda Crafty, Simply Designing, 504 Main, Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Remodelaholic, Simple Home Life, Simply Sweet Home, Shabby Nest, 30 Days Handmade, Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Naptime Crafters, Lovely Crafty Home, It's Fun to Craft, Bubbly Nature Creations, At the Picket Fence, My Romantic Home, Iron Violet Designs, Designer Garden, Tatertots & Jello, Craft Envy, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal,

What Did You Learn Today?

During my daily blog browsing, I've come across some really cute crafts, upcycling, and remodeling that involves stencils. Whether it's damask, chevron, quatrefoil or the Moroccan stencil I used, you can't deny - it's cute.

Now, if you'll remember this post, where I discuss how I bought this tray and mod podged the paper on the inside. Honestly I wasn't that thrilled with the finished product.

So then it hit me...why not stencil the bottom?! I already had the paint, brushes and product - no money spent! DONE!

Then I got started...

And this is what I learned:

• If you're going to use such a small stencil...maybe go ahead and purchase the quality stencil or vinyl. Because paper...sucks.


• I also learned I lose patience cutting out stencils, over...and over...and over again.


• I also learned that it would have been nice if I had a fine tipped paintbrush.

I'm not going to pretend that this came out perfectly...it didn't. So for all of those "perfectionists" out there that stumbled upon this blog today - you might want to look away. It's not uniform, the lines aren't crisp and I don't care that much because most of the mistakes are hidden by vases and such.

I give you:

My Attempt At Stenciling

or "My little centerpiece redo."

We begin with the essentials:

About 4 paintbrushes, a fine tipped paintbrush (I didn't have one, but it would have been nice), paint of your choice, a chilled beverage and a movie.

My movie choice was "Morning Glory."

Next came a dilemma. To peel or not to peel. Apparently I'm a little mod podge crazy and that paper is on there like cement. So after multiple failed attempts at trying to just pick at the corner...it was decided to just leave the freaking paper on there. So next came painting... And some more painting... Finally it was covered, but it took a lot more paint than I thought it would. Next came the stencil...the dreaded stencil. I found a great Moroccan stencil online. And then my printer decided to forget how to connect. So plan B was to trace it off of the laptop screen. Yes, you read that right. I ended up having to trace it multiple times because the paper was so flimsy and was even worse after it was painted on. Also - I guess I didn't really think it through...so I not only had to cut out the smallest, intricate lines inside the stencil, but I had to cut out and tape the inside as well. Again - this is just regular paper, so yes, it flipped up, and yes it wasn't that great of a stencil. Here it is after applying the color...as you can see I've already smudged color on the sides... After peeling the paper off, you can see how a quality stencil or vinyl would have been the easy way to go... Finally after cutting out more stencils I decided to just cut out the inside shape and tape them in place instead. It was still just as time consuming, but it was much less frustrating.

Another helpful tip: IF you're going to try this in paper...use a different color paper than the background of what you're working on. You could make (multiple) mistakes.

I learned that if I waited for the paint to dry completely, I ended up peeling paper off and leaving a lot of it behind - so I peeled off the pieces when it was almost dry.

Flimsy paper and poor planning left this hot mess:

But after retouching with some white paint (where that fine tipped paint brush would have been really helpful)...and if you blur your eyes a little - it looks good! It helps to cover up the worst of the misshapen stenciling with the rest of the centerpiece. It's a small start, but I like the pattern. And the best part: since I had all the essentials - it was free! I'm going to be adding more blues and patterns to my living area. So check back to see a canvas frame I'm going to work on and pillow purchases!

Linking up: