DIY : recycle old painting with quote art

Well like all other breathing 25 year olds the majority of my inspiration comes from pinterest these days.
I found a DIY art project I wanted to try

                                                                         Source: craftgawker.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

I had a painting under my bed for at least 10 years (no joke) that I picked up at a yard sale and had always intended to re-purpose.  I liked it because it was large, and have a good frame so I could easy re-cover it with canvas and paint a new picture or something.
Well flash forward a decade and I saw this and remembered my sad, forgotten painting.  And then I breathed new life into it and it proudly hangs above our bed.

This is SUPER easy to do.
promise.

All you need is:

• a painting or some type of picture with colors that you like
• paint - I used cheapo white acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby for $1 and then added a little paint thinner because I wanted some of the original artwork to show through
• letter stickers - I bought some on clearance at Jo-Anns
• a paint brush
• time 

Choosing a quote is probably about the hardest part.  I had so many ideas running through my head... but I ultimately decided on this one because I love it so much.  It has a special meaning to me ever since we lived in Grenada.  We lived in the sunshine, swam the sea, and drank lots of wild air...... 

I love how Emerson turned out.  The colors are perfect behind the words.

the bedroom isn't finished as of yet.... just this lone painting hangs on the wall.
my husband said "do all these patterns go together"
ummm not exactly. and I like it that way.

Dr. Seuss Lorax Tree Art

This week we had Monday and Tuesday off from school.
Monday for a snow day and Tuesday for election day here in Ohio.
My nieces and I spent Monday evening working on some art work that I was inspired by pinterest to try. 
We also paintined Dr. Seuss Lorax trees because the girls recently watched the movie, and who doesn't love Dr. Seuss inspired crazy trees :)


We used paper grocery sacks from Kroger, a mountain dew bottle, paint, and an old pickle jar lid to put the paint in.


Use the bottom of the pop bottle as a stamp




the lid works as a stamp too!




winter, spring, and summer







Once we filled all the paper bags we held an art auction in the kitchen and sold the paintings to my parents (their grandparents) for .25-1.00.  My nieces' idea... they are little entrepreneurs!  

Boot socks

Maybe I am like 6 months behind with this trend, but cut me some slack I wasn't exactly in boot sock wearing weather until recently...  I'm finally getting to some of the DIY projects I have in my pinterest to do file.

I made my boots socks the simple, lazy girl way.

First I went through my closet and decided that I didn't have any sweaters ugly enough that I was willing to cut them up, so where did I go next?  My mom's closet.  Ugly sweater heaven.
Not that my mom is a bad dresser.... she just has a tendency to hang on to things way, way past their prime or keep something around because it is "comfortable", which is exactly what she said when I pulled out 3 sweaters I wanted to chop.

I convinced her that these sweaters had to go and she willingly (I am so thankful for my sweet mom) let me take a pair of scissors to them.
I had been looking for sweaters at the Goodwill and Salvation Army but I'm seriously so cheap I couldn't justify paying $3-4 for a sweater just to cut it up.  Free is so much better, wouldn't you agree?

*Before you begin cutting make sure that the wrist of the sweater is large enough to fit over your calf, but tight enough that it isn't going to fall down!  

 

I simply cut off the sleeves of the sweater, put it on my leg, trimmed the bottom so it was about ankle length, and then put my boots on.

That's it.
I figure if the unfinished edge is going to be down inside of my boot anyway there was no need to hem it or put an elastic band in.  But that's just me.  Feel free to hem it and make it look nice if you want.

The results look something like this.  You can see the entire outfit on my most recent What I Wear Wednesday post.  

These are the other two pairs I made...  I do think that I would like these better layered over skinny jeans or tights, but these pictures were taken quickly to share on here, so bare legs it was!

 

Perhaps my next What I Wear Wednesday will be a boot parade... I have been "collecting" boots since I met my Canadian hubby and thought that if I'm forced to live in the freezing cold I might as well be warm and look stylish while doing it.  Little did I know that I should have been collecting sunglasses and bikinis for our little Grenadian adventure :)
Now it looks like we may be heading north to Detroit, Michigan so I will be well prepared for the cold snowy winters ahead.  ha! 
I also collect coats, scarves, hats, gloves, sweaters, etc....
Do you think my husband is buying into this rationalization?

adorable bunting 4 ways!

I am excited to share a few pictures with you from my older sister's house! {not the one who is doing a vow renewal, the other one}
She is a {young}30something wife and mommy with 3 absolutely beautiful daughters.  They recently moved to California for her husband's job and she has been having a lot of fun decorating their new home!  I love her style and her new-found creativity!  {this is the sister who didn't know how to decorate before and so she just didn't}
I asked her if I could feature some of the projects she has done because she no longer blogs {long story, but basically people are creeps} and I don't have a ton of projects currently going on nor do I have a camera. 
Win!

Today I am going to be featuring the adorable bunting that she has scattered throughout their home.  I love it!

1. story book bunting - perfect for a little girl's room, and great if you have some books that are torn or the binding is falling apart.

Her girls love Alice in Wonderland!

       2. paint chip bunting - aka free bunting!

Isn't her fall mantel the cutest thing you've ever seen!  candy corn bunting!

This shelf is set up in the room that her step-son uses when he visits.  I love how she designated a special boy space just for him!  I'm sure he loves it with all the pink in the house!  Bunting aside, isn't this skateboard shelf awesome!! Good job Sister!

rainbow!

          3. handkerchief bunting!
 

this is the window above her kitchen sink.  The dainty hankies allow lots of sunlight to come in and doesn't block the great view of the woods she has!  She says deer come right up in their backyard and will eat out of your hand!

        4. Scrapbook paper bunting!

I am so thankful my sister allowed me to show her home to the world... and I have so many more great things to show you all!  Bunting is just the beginning!


ps. what do you think of this new blog header? 

felt flowers galore

I can't believe I'm sitting in 100degree heat making felt flowers.... but I am.
They are so easy and so cute!!

I had some felt given to me and I decided to try my hand at making some flowers and it turned into lots of flowers!
I hope all 9 of my nieces are prepared to get felt flower hair clips for Christmas :)
Once I'm in colder weather I'm going to wear them too... on my coat, sweaters, scarfs, in my hair, on my purse, on my shoes. EVERYWHERE!

I'm not going to post a tutorial because there are already a billion out there, like these! 
Dahlia - http://news.holidash.com
Super cute, simple sewn flower here -http://www.foodwineandmodpodge.com
Simple "generic" flowers - http://www.creativejewishmom.com
Rosettes - http://alililly.blogspot.com
Super cute bows, I will be trying these soon! (and please check out how cute her layout is! This may be one of my new favorite blogs!) - http://iloverosemarywatson.blogspot.com


These are the only colors I have... I can't wait to get home where everything is cheap cheap cheap and get a rainbow of colors!

Do you have a favorite flower tutorial to share?
What do you like to do with felt?
Please share!

beauty from the rubbish

You're going to think I'm crazier than ever... but last week when I went on my twig hunt {and came home with that sign} I also came home with a random piece of metal wire, kind of like that used for a cage or something.
When I first saw it I thought it would be great to hang my earrings on, I've seen similar DIYs all over the internet, but once I started looking at it, I got a different type of inspiration. 
I have been drying some different flowers and leaves for fall decorations and decided that the rusted wire and the dried flowers would be a great combination.

Putting the fear of tetanus aside I began flattening out the wire and trimmed it down to about a 10x10in square.  After cutting the wire I bent the sharp edges down.

Arranged the dried flowers and hot glued them to the wire.

Added a little lace across the top for a hanger.

And since my hanging options are limited... I temporarily hung it from the light switch.

side note: see that red switch? it's to turn the heat on for our shower! crazy!

This week I'll be sharing some more of the little bits of fall I'm bringing into our home! 
Who's to say that because it's still a tropical island outside it can't be autumn in inside? :)

Saturday Afternoon Picnik - collage

A couple weeks ago Picnik started allowing you to layer photos.  Before this my biggest complaint about Picnik was the limited collage options.  I used Picasa to create the collage and then added text and effects with Picnik... well not any longer!  I can do it all in 1 place!

This is an example of how I would make a blog header.

Start by selecting collage on the main page.

I chose the 3 box collage, but only for the shape.  Remember you can move and adjust the pictures in any way you want, and use way more than 3 images! 
In the bottom right corner it says the dimensions... around 1000x400 is a great size for a blog header.  Adjust the proportion to change the dimensions.


Click 'Done' and now you  are ready to add pictures from the 'Photo Basket'


I start by adding the background images... scrapbook paper, fabrics, or patterns I have created from colourlovers.com


I used a muted green and blue color scheme and added the plaid to get a bit of a fall look.
By right clicking on the images you can change the order in which they are layered.
For instance the plaid is much larger than what is shown here, but it is layered behind the stripes.  I right clicked and said 'send to back'


Next I added the images of Lee and I that I wanted to use.


Once you have all the images in place how you want, now is a good time to save it.  Saving it before you added text or stickers allows the layers to be secured so you don't accidentally drag a photo when you meant to drag the text (trust me it can get frustrating when you're dealing with lots of layers & as of yet Picnik doesn't have a grouping feature to lock in the layers).
It also allows you to go back later and add different text or stickers to the collage if you decide you want something different.
Once it is saved upload it to Picnik and open it as you would any other picture to be edited.


Next add text if you want to.  This is from one of my favorite songs...


I added a few 'whimsy trees' to my collage since it is fall after all.



And you're done!




Today I signed up with Picket Fence Blogs! and I realized that my blog button was super tiny... but hopefully that's fixed now!  Both are on the sidebars... let me know if you have any feedback for me.
Have you been picnik'ing anything fun??