First attempt

So. Paint chip art. I am sure you've all seen it. It's everywhere.
Lately I have been finding and coming up with a bunch of "make it my self for pennies" ideas, from things I've seen online and things I've seen other do. So, paint chip art. Pretty simple. I wanted to make a really big one, so I gathered my stuff. After trimming my paint chips to size I had a container of narrow pieces, and not one to let things go to waste, I decided to do a trial run. Boy I am glad I did!

You will need:
*A canvas, any size will do, I used a 12x12
*Paint chips, I got mine at Home Depot, you may want to make several trips to get yours. I don't have that luxury  living where I do, so I am the crazy lady at the Martha Stewart Paint display with 122 paint chips stuffed in my purse. I got the Martha Stewart chips cuz they are 5 inches by 2.5 inches. Big means less cutting!
*Mod Podge, I got the glossy kind, cuz I like shiny stuff
*Time - do not start this 12 minutes before a wild baby comes over. It will result in a lovely art project glued to the carpet.

To do this:
Paint your canvas. ALL of it. Trust me, you do not want white canvas showing between your paint chips. I only painted the sides, and a bit of the surface, I wish I would have painted it all.

Cut your paint chips to whatever size you want. It helps if you live with a mathematician, so he can do all the fractional crazy math. My paint chips very from 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch wide. Glue the chips down in any order

Cover with at least 2 layers of Mod Podge

Hang! Which I haven't done yet, I am waiting for the Engineer to get home so he can make sure it goes up straight!

Crayons Again

So, I loved making my crayon art so much I wanted to make more, but who really needs to have 12 canvases with melted crayons on them? Well......Nobody. I bought the supplies to make a bunch more anyway, and took them to my sister's house. Sister1 has 4 children ages 7-15, and they all got a kick out of making something fun for their rooms. We had quite a good time making these, the children got to chose their crayons, and they glued them in the order they wanted. So without any ado I give you3 of the 5 we made. Sorry for the completely junky cell phone pictures. Some of us forget our camera when we go on a trip.

Chachi:

Hammy:

Little Bear:

The Other Canvas

So in an earlier post I used a canvas to make some cool art (here) and I had an extra canvas leftover. SO! What does one do with a 16x20 canvas? Well, we find another idea we can copy and make it for super cheap! So, here is another project that whips up in minutes and is just the right size to fill that empty spot above my bed.

You will need a canvas, I used the extra one from my crayon project.
You will need some chipboard letters, or I bought thin wooden ones at Wal-Mart for $3.
Craft glue, which I had & Spray paint. I used glossy white, also bought at Wal-Mart for $5.

Super easy directions. Glue letters in desired phrase, in desired location on canvas.

Sprat paint it chosen colour, I used 2 coats.

I wanted mine to have a splash of colour, so I bought a flower stem from Michaels when it was 40% off, and took apart the flowers, I had these rhinestone brads kicking around, and used them to secure the layers of the flowers together.

I then trimmed the stem, and shaped it the way I wanted it to look, and glued it to the canvas, then glued the flowers in place and TA-DA!

Gallery Wall

In Little Bear's room, I have started a gallery wall. We currently have 2 things up there, but there are many, many plans to add more. I enjoyed my first round of crayon art so much, I wanted to try it again. This time I used a much smaller canvas, 8x10 and some leftover crayons. Since Her room is grey and blue, those are the shades of crayons I used, with 2 white ones, and 2 black one thrown into the mix because I needed a few more.

This time I cut the crayons in half, I thought smaller canvas, smaller crayons. When melting the crayons this time I kept the canvas very upright, so there is very few places where the wax dried thick. After letting it sit for the night, I put up the first 2 pieces on the gallery wall.

I think I will just call this the Louvre wall.

The Room

Once we moved in and were somewhat settled, the one thing I wanted to do the most was Little Bear's room. In fact, when we moved in, we didn't set up her bed, and she wasn't even in the room that was to be hers. I wanted to leave it empty so I could make the most of the blank canvas. It was blank, white walls and tan carpet, about as bland as it gets. I had a vision of what I wanted the room to look like, and it was nothing like Little Bear wanted it to look like. We had very different ideas about this room, most often when I decorate or re-do something I get both Papa Bear, and Little Bear to give me feedback, and ideas too. This was not one of those times. This time, I just said "This is what we are doing". Little Bear's ideas involved a lot more colour and busyness than I thought would be good for a bedroom. I wanted to give her a quiet, peaceful place to relax, and read. We kept other areas of the house bright and fun, the places where we play and watch TV.

The room, is fabulous. It came out almost exactly the way I had it in my mind. So, here in pictures in Little Bears Room.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For the most part the room is very neutral, I wanted something that could grow with her so I don't have to re-do when she is out of a phase, so that meant no characters of any kind.We did a board and batten look, because I just loved the dimension it gives a room. I wanted it tall, to give the room the illusion of being taller than it is, and it works. The blue is my favorite, it is called cloudless day, and it gives the room height, as well as a nice pop of colour. The bed, we built! and painted a slightly off white colour. The quilt is one I made for Little Bear when she was 2 or 3, there is a new quilt in the works to match the colours of this room.

View my inspiration board for the room on pintrest ---> here

Pretty Pillows

I bought throw pillows, 3 of them, about a year ago to put on my bed. I like pillows, Papa Bear does not, but since I make the bed he has no real reason to complain. Well, today I had all kinds of extra energy and ideas rolling around in my head and one of them had to do with my pillows. They are your standard 12 inch square pillow, found for $6 at a store that is supposed to be a grocery store, but I buy way more not-grocery stuff there than groceries. Anyway, I digress from my point. I wanted to dress up my pillows and since my car is on week 4 of not working (grrr.....) I used things that I had around already. I chose orange decorations on purpose! You'll have to wait to see why!

Step 1 - measure and mark the center of the pillow, I am no good at "eye balling" anything. Mark on the front AND the back so you can keep them both centered.

Step 2 Thread a long needle with whatever you are sewing with, DON'T knot it. I used an heavy thread, push the needle through the pillow, leave a long piece, thread on the button, then push the needle back through the pillow. Then repeat. You should have the long thread and the needle on the same side of the pillow at this point. I kept the tension very loose at this step.

Step 3 Carefully, and without yanking too much, pull the thread tight until the indent is how deep you want. Then simple tie the 2 threads in the back several times to hold it. TA-DA!! I then hot glued a rhinestone in the middle of the button to hide the thread.

The other 2 pillows I did I put a flower on. I followed the same method as I did when I put on the button. And again I hot glued a large rhinestone in the center to hide the thread.

Here they are on the bed. LOVE! Super easy, and super cheap if you get creative and use what you already have! I'd love to see yours if you make some!

Made It Myself!

So, I am kind of hesitant to share all of my little creative secrets, but this one is just too adorable! I found thing blog from another blog, and this girl (Emily) is pretty fantastic! She has really great ideas. I saw this post Emily did, and I knew I HAD to try it! So, it really isn't my idea, but I liked it so much I would love to take credit for it! I was in the city yesterday, and I went to a thrift store. Now, those that know me will understand how unusual that is, but I really wanted to try this idea. SO! I went, and I hunted and hunted and I found these little beauties!

Best part? They cost me $1.99 each.
Came home, washed them, then found my super duper glue that I use for all things crafty. Liberally spread some on the candlestick, and stuck it down to the center of the plate. In the tutorial, Emily spray painted her candlestick, but mine looked so nice and matched so well I didn't need to.

I used on of my heavy books, and a little extra weight and let it sit that way overnight.

VOILA!
One super sweet little dessert stand! Total cost? $4 & 5 min.

If anyone decide to make 1 or 12 of these please leave me a link in the comments, I would LOVE to see what you find! Now, go forth and craft!