Baby name art and my Christmas decor

I have wanted to try the split letter names on coloured card stock for a while. The opportunity arose to make a gift for a baby boy’s nursery. I love how it turned out.

The frame is the Virserum from Ikea, the cardstock is a beautiful blue which may not show up well on the screen; not too dark and not typical baby blue. In the white frame it’s stunning.

 

 

This is the entire extent of my Christmas decorations. Bah Humbug.  I have to let myself be ok with not being able to do everything. I don’t get to spend all of my time being crafty and decorating how I would like to, so I have to let it go, take a deep breath and let it go.

Christmas Craft #5 – Memorial plaque

I made this for my parents. My sisters sudden passing on the 1st of this year still has us all reeling. I hope that this brings them some comfort.

Nested Herb Crates DIY

This is not the first time I made a set of these crates, but the previous ones were all the same size and there were only three.  This time I sourced out a set of four nested boxes and made a new set.



Thank you to Claire at A Little Something in the Meantime, she told me about these boxes that can be found at Jysk, a Canadian store similar to Ikea. They are fairly inexpensive and very lightweight.



I stained them with Minwax’s special walnut, a little haphazardly as I didn’t want them to look too uniform.



I cut out black vinyl on my cricut and applied that rather than painting them in.  As before, I don’t have a way to hang them but I’m working on an idea ;)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

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Diy art

This is part of a quote attributed to Marilyn Monroe, and there was just something about it that resonated me. Probably the part about madness :)

Here are the steps I took to make it.
I used an old canvas and spray painted it in silver to cover up the old design. I dry brushed a very small amount of orange and green on. The canvas is 24” x 24”

I designed the lettering using SCAL and cut it out of vinyl with my Cricut. Because my mat is only 24” X 12”, I had to cut the middle row of lettering in two and place it on another board layout.
              
I then placed my lettering on my canvas, painted over top in black and then lifted the vinyl lettering off. I didn’t burnish it completely, so there was some bleeding, but I think it fits the theme “imperfection is beauty” , at least that’s my story :)

It's give away time - rustic herb crates stencils

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

It's been a long time since I hosted my own giveaway. Remember my rustic herb crates?

I have two sets of vinyl stencils to give away. Although I did not make the Rosemary crate, I have recently created the stencil. You get all four stencils.

These are pre-weeded vinyl, ready to lay down on your surface, then you just paint them in. I recommend using a few very light coats of paint to reduce the risk of bleeding. They can only be used one time, they are not stencils made of acetate or mylar, but of vinyl.

So, in order to win, there has to be a hoop to jump through. Just kidding. I'd like to do something a little different this time.

Leave me a comment telling me one person that you would like to sit down and talk with, and why. That's it.
If you want to follow my blog, great, but you don't have to.

Two random winners will be chosen on Friday February 24th. Good luck, my friends.

P.S. be sure to leave your email address if you don't have one associated with your account.

Subway Art – finally

I’ve attempted this project using various methods, only to fail. But this morning I found instructions at The Shabby Nest, and it worked out well.

My canvas is quite large at 24” x 48” and fortunately I have a Cricut that can cut up to 24”. It was time consuming but so much fun, as I decided which places I wanted to include and the fond memories they evoked.

Now I can say I’ve done it and don’t ever have to do it again :)






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Fun with placemats

Recently while at Urban Barn, I found a package of 8 placemats that I thought would be fun to create something out of.

My daughter had a couple of girlfriends over to celebrate her 13th birthday so we came up with these

Yes, my daughter is the different one; the apple don’t fall far from the tree :)

We took profile photos and then created the silhouettes in PS. I used SCAL software and cut the vinyl out with my cricut.

The girls love them.

Beautifully graphic peacocks

I recently replaced my dinnerware and have several white plates that I knew I would find something to do with.

While searching the internet today, I came across the graphic peacock image, which totally inspired me.

I traced it out using SCAL then cut it out on my cricut.  Of course, one wasn’t enough, so I made two more.

The beauty of using vinyl is that it is not permanent, which suits me fine as I change my mind quickly :)

Anyone interested in the scut file, let me know as I love to share.

I’m sharing this project at the parties that you can find on my Party links page

Family name on a frame

I made this for a friend last night, very last minute before going to celebrate his birthday. I’m sorry that I don’t have a photo of it before I wrapped the cord around it, but I was pressed for time :)
He is a sentimental kind of guy and was really touched when I gave it to him. 
Normally I make these on wood, but this time I lined the frame with white paper and put the vinyl directly on the glass.  I used the year that he and his wife got married.

zebra coasters

I picked up a box of coasters at the thrift store for a couple of bucks. I want no reminders of the snowfall we had last night, so the snowflakes had to go.
I spray painted them while the sun was shining, then cut out a zebra pattern in vinyl.
I’m going to keep a few for myself and the other four are wrapped up and put in my stash for a last minute gift.

Vintage inspired Union Jack

Another Union Jack cushion. I made this one for a girl in my book club who actually  IS British :) She happens to have a tattoo of the Union Jack flag on her back, which is a little faded, so I wanted to make this cushion look like it’s been around for a while. She’ll kill me if she knew that I was saying that. Ha ha.
I really enjoy making cushions. They don’t take long to make, which is exactly what I like. I don’t have a long attention span and if it can’t be done in an hour, pfftt, I lose interest. The other thing I like is using my SCAL software, Cricut and freezer paper to come up with these designs.
For another girl in my book club, I made her this sign, that she’s been asking me for, forever, but I forgot. oops.


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Something new in the powder room

When I updated the powder room, I installed this sweet little shelf and decorated it with my thrift store finds.

The other day my daughter got up off of the throne, hit the shelf and everything came tumbling down. Fortunately nothing broke, but I was left with a problem; If I rehang it, it’s only going to happen again.
I love the frame above it as well as the P (for powder room), so I had to come up with something that would sit flush against the wall.
I used an old frame, the type that has all of the little windows to put photos in, and the photos you want to put in are always the wrong direction. I covered the back cardboard with some drop cloth, glued the frame to the glass and put the P on the glass.
Every room needs a bit of black :)

I’m going to make a roman blind for the window in here (sorry, room is too small to get a picture of it) with the curtain that I got at the GW yesterday.

problem solved.