Fingerpainting

The day that I was moving I stumbled over my old acrylic paints and decided to take a break from packing and play around with them, nothing special, just wasting time. I then decided what my next project was going to be.

Once I got all my stuff moved (into my parents again, I was waiting for my new lease to start) I went down into my mom's wood working room. (My mom enjoys making little nic-naks out of wood and then painting them. She makes a lot of seasonal things like scarecrows for fall, easter bunnies for easter, and lots of other stuff.) Anyway, I went down into her room and found some wood dowels and solid wood spheres and some rope. I then got some posterboard and just started smearing paint in all different directions using the rope, dowels, and spheres. I then cut out two matching frames out of the same posterboard, kind of like a view finder, and scanned over the mess I just made to find a creative composition that I might not have found without it.

Once the paint dried I traced around the frame and cut out the rectangle I traced. I did this again so I had two unique compostions of smeared paint. I then just taped the painted posterboard to the posterboard frames that I already cut out. My plan was to get matching frames somewhere that weren't too expensive and hang these masterpieces in my bathroom to spice it up a little bit. Lucky for me ( I'm usually lucky when it comes to bargins, if you haven't already noticed) I found two matching frames at goodwill, that were exactly what I wanted. I wanted something on the modern side, metal was what I was looking for. They were stainless steal. Only dilemma was that one frame had glass and the other had nothing :-( I borrowed a plastic insert that came with a frame my mom had and wasn't using. It didn't fit exactly but I just taped it in the frame so the viewer wouldn't be able to notice, and from the pictures, you can determine if you can tell or not.

Hello! I have yet another creative home decor idea for all of you.

This idea was something that I just pulled from somewhere... and many people ask what are those, and what is the purpose?? I just smile and enjoy what I made.

So your probably wondering what it is that I thought up and here it is.

I really have no justification for this project, I don't know if I saw something like it somewhere or if I really just made it up. But okay here it is:

I was thinking about the new house I was going to move into in about a month, and all I could think about was how I was going to fill it up with decoration. I came up with this grand idea of making wooden square frames covered in funky fabric that would look nice hanging on the wall. They don't have a purpose at all, purely aesthetic.

I ran this idea past many people and they just couldn't understand what I was talking about and why I wanted to do something like this. So I just had to get someone to stand by me and help with the cutting and I would tell them exactly what I wanted them to do.

I got my helpful sidekick (a boy who is a friend :-) ) to help me cut and nail my boards the way I wanted them. I didn't have to pay for the wood again because my dad has a bunch of this stuff laying around in the garage. I used four pieces of wood on each side to make three identical square frames.

I couldn't get my cat to leave me alone while taking the pictures, so I guess she gets to be famous on the internet.
**These pictures show the back of the frames to give you an idea on how they were put together and how I stapled fabric around the wood frames.

I then went to the fabric store to find some cool fabric to staple around the frames. The cool thing about this was that the store was closing and all fabric was like 75% off. I spent like $3 on my fabric. Awesome I know. I found a cool floral pattern that I wanted to use for two of the squares and then a mustard yellow to use for the third. The only pain with the floral pattern was when it came time to staple it to the frames. I wanted to pull the fabric tight enough around the frames so that it wouldn't sag or show any waves or wrinkles. When I did this without turning them around to look at the final square, the pattern was disstorted because it was pulled too tight. So then I had to redue it a few times to make sure it looked right. Other than that this project was so fun and I love what I made, even if other people don't appreciate it like I do.

Final project. I have them hanging in the entry way of my house. Lovely.

Headboard vs. Bookshelf

Hello again! I hope you enjoyed the picture of my tapestry that I finally posted :-)



This post is going to be about another little project that I did, but for this I didn't spend money on something new because I re-created something that I already owned.



When I bought a bed frame for my new mattress it came with a headboard that I wasn't going to use. I figured I was just going to throw it away or give it to someone that needed one. Before I threw it away or gave it away, I came up with an idea on how to use my headboard in a way that I would like. I'm glad that I decided to keep it around long enough to come up with this.



What I decided to do was turn it into a bookshelf.



The only thing was that my headboard only had one shelf on it so I was going to have to add two more boards to make a decent bookshelf. So I went out into my garage and found some left over wood that my dad had laying around. We didn't have to do much cutting because it turns out the pieces of wood I found were just about perfect. Lucky for me this was a big price cut because I didn't have to spend any money on wood. Also my dad is pretty handy for all the little projects I want to complete. Dads are great.



So once I got the boards cut to the size I needed them to be, I ran across town to the local hardware store and bought some sandpaper and varnish to make the wood match in appearance to the existing headboard. After this was done I got help to finish the project by nailing the boards in place. I decided to use an air powered nail gun so I wouldn't split the wood boards. Thanks again dad.



After the project was done I was so pleased with the results. The woods matched almost perfect and I was actually going to use this piece of furniture in my home. I have it now in my dining room holding books and other random things that don't have any other place to go.

I thought this was the best thing I could have done with the headboard, and if you have materials like I did this would be something fun to do with your spare time and if you aren't already a handyman, I would suggest setting up some bonding time with dad :-)

Tapestries??

Traditional tapestries are woven by hand on a vertical loom. If you were to buy a tapestry you would hang it on your wall like you would a poster or painting. They usually depict a famous painting or interesting pattern. If you were to shop for trapestries you would find them to be very expensive. The pictures I have included are pictures of traditional tapestries, and as you can see the one is of a famous painting and the other is just a unique piece of art. I think that tapestries are a very exciting way to have art in your home because of the unique way they are presented. My less expensive alternative is just as exciting.

About two years ago I stopped at Urban Outfitters and walked on back to their home and decor section. I came across a pile of sheets (like flat bed sheets) with colorful patterns on them, and I thought to myself that this would be great as a wall hanging. I bought a floral printed sheet for less then $20 and went home to try to find a cool way to hang it. Since this sheet is like a normal bed sheet it is really large, and I found that nailing it to my wall would be my best bet. The traditional tapestries usually come on a hanger so its easier to install, but I found this way to work just as well. I draped the sheet in many directions to find a good way to hang it, and I finally got it just the way I wanted it. So now I have a bed sheet on my wall. Sounds funny, I know, but it looks really cool. I have found an inexpensive alternative to a traditional tapestry and I think it gives a lot of charcter to my bedroom wall.

Even if you don't want to spend $2o on a sheet, you could use an old table cloth that has a print on it that you like, or even an old bed sheet that was once used.

Here is the picture of my tapestry that is in my bedroom.

p.s. I had to make my bed to take this picture....