Lovely Lacey Wall Art

I have previously mentioned my struggle with my master bathroom. This was the one room in my apartment that i just could not seem to develop a clear concept or even color scheme to tie the room together. I think I considered just about every color to "pop" off my black and gray chevron shower curtain from yellows and oranges to blues and greens, I even considered going totally girly despite my boyfriend's protests to the land of purples and pinks!

And then I got an idea! The lace design of the washi tape I used on my medicine cabinet (see here), inspired me to use more lace! Check it out:

By painting the lace (see below), I was able to set a color scheme (blues and greens win!) while keeping it modern and not too girly!!

So for anyone out there who likes my lacey wall art and wants to know how to recreate it, heres how i did it:

1) First I bought some lace! I got mine from Joann's where you can buy lace by the yard. I got 1/2 yard of each kind of lace (each cost between $1.99-$2.99/yd). My total cost for lace was only $5!!

2) Next I cut my lace to size. I knew I wanted to mat it to 8x10" so I cut my pieces to about 9" to have a little wiggle room.

3) Next I painted my lace using a pouncer to dab on the paint like so:

4) Once all my pieces were painted I arranged them on a piece of white cover stock and secured the ends with a little double-stick tape

5) Last I got a pre-matted white-on-white frame from target ($17), matted and framed my artwork and voila!

Close- up :)

Looks great with my towels too! lol

Bathroom panorama! Love how the colors pop off the white-on-white frame 

Now I have unique statement piece to build this room off of :) And for less than $25!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Liz :)

My Inspiration Board

Hi again!

In this post I want to share my super-quick upcycled thrift store cork board that I am now calling, My Inspiration Board! lol. Which is basically, well... a board of inspiration! If you are anything like me (which I am assuming you are since you are reading crafting blogs :) ) then you probably also love thumbing through the latest issues of design/crafting magazines, like HGTV magazine, DIY magazine, BH&G, etc! And again like me, you probably see an awesome project that you know you want to try one day, but when that day comes, low & behold you seem to have conveniently misplaced the article :(! If this is sounding familiar than an inspiration board is the answer to your problem. Check out how I transformed a $2 cork board from Goodwill into my Inspiration board:

First of all, I would like to apologize that I do not have a before picture for this project! I just got a new phone (Galaxy S4, yesss!) and although all of my pics from my previous phone were backed up on google + it seems like a couple were lost somehow :(

Anyways!!! All I did to transform this board was to simply make a random geometric pattern with a ruler and a gold paint pen! I told you it was simple, but cool nonetheless! I also added an embellishment to the top:

My Mom found this eagle at a rummage sale along with some other old decorative pieces! Thanks Mom!! I did have to do a little work on it tho, it originally looked like this:

Kind of an off-white, taupey color, and it still had a lot of extra plastic around it that had to be broken off (along with a few pieces of the eagle itself, which had to be glued back on, oops!) But then after a quick coat of flat black spray paint it makes the perfect topper to my Inspiration Board! And how did I attach it you ask? Well, I didn't! It simply sits on top of the board leaning against the wall, that way if I ever want to use it for something else, no problemo! 

So last step obviously is to tack up some clippings from my fav magazines:

I also tried to group similar clippings together, for example this section is all ideas for how to display large groups of like items 

Love it! Now all my ideas are organized and I know right where to find them :)

Liz :)

Here's a Magnet, There's a Magnet, Everywhere's a Magnet!!

Hey!!

This post is all about, you guessed it, magnets!! This is such a simple idea, that you will never buy decorative magnets again!!

All you need is magnet backs like these adhesive magnet circles from Aleene's:

These are great for easily making magnets, they are super adhesive and don't need any extra glue to hold tight. They also come in stripes and rectangular sheets for custom shapes!

And any trinkets or odds and ends you find at thrift stores, antique stores, on sale at big box stores, or just lying around your own house! 

So just peel and stick your magnets to the back of your object and voila!

Check out what I used:

I used large wine corks from old wine barrels, old liquer bottle caps (from an antique store), and the metal western themed magnets were once button covers that I found at a thrift store :)

This adorable elephant magnet is one of about 12 old cracker jack prizes that I got for about $2 off of etsy! 

So start digging through those junk drawers and find some tiny treasures worthy of magnet status to personalize your fridge!

-Liz :)

More Upcycled Planters!

Hi again!

I am back in Florida after a month long vacation at home in Wisconsin! Sadly, when my boyfriend picked me up at the airport he hesitantly told me about the tragedy that had occurred in my absence... all my plants had died :( lol. Yes, worse things have happened, and yes I kind of expected this (even with my regular reminders to water them!), but nonetheless I couldn't help feel a small sense of loss! But with any loss comes opportunity to rebuild, so thats what I did!! This time instead of using many small containers for my garden I have decided to consolidate (so much easier to water!!).

My plan this time was to have three main containers, 1) a herb garden, 2) a succulent garden and 3) a flower box.

For the flower box I will be using a vintage planter that needs a little work, so stay tuned for the before and after on that one!

For my herb garden I decided to use a gorgeous vintage 7up divided crate that I found at an estate sale for $10 back in Wisconsin! Check it out:

Love the graphic! Even though its a little faded, just adds to the vintage charm :)

Four herbs so far: boxwood basil, rosemary, parsley, and peppermint! This container can hold up to 10 (the two middle ones on the sides have handles cut into them so would not be able to hold enough dirt, but 10 is plenty for me!)

And for my succulent garden I used an old wooden box (I believe an old tool box?) that I have had for awhile:

I used mostly succulents I already had that were still in their original plastic containers, and bought a few more to round out the garden :)

Close-up!

I also had to replace the plant in my hanging planter that I made from an old egg basket:

This beautiful bunch of yellow flowers looks much sturdier than the original white flowers I had planted (crossing my fingers I can keep them alive!!)

Close-up of hanging crystals! 

A little more inspiration for your container gardens at home :)

-Liz :)

Washi Tape Medicine Cabinet

Hey!

So the only room left in my apartment that is still pretty much untouched save for a couple small projects that I have already featured on this blog, (DIY Decals and Canvas Quote Tutorial) is my master bathroom (pretty much a standard size bathroom but it is "en suite" so thats pretty fancy!). Lately, I have been kind of obsessed with washi tape so this morning while brushing my teeth (inspiration strikes at the strangest times, am I right?) I got and idea!

To the right of the mirror above the sink in my bathroom is a medicine cabinet that isn't too bad on a scale from horrible to normal medicine cabinets. Instead of the awful mirror or laminate door it has a white shutter looking door, and this is what got me thinking! Why not add just a little something to take this medicine cabinet from standard to greatness, as far as medicine cabinets are concerned!

So here it is:

:)!

Wider angle for the full effect! And sweet reflection!

So as you can see I took advantage of the "shutter-like" door and striped it with this awesome craft tape from recollections that looks like black lace :). Sorry I forgot to take a before picture, but I promise this is a great improvement!!

If you are wondering how I did it, its so simple!!

First I just ripped off strips of tape slightly bigger than my slats and adhered them:

Then after I got all the pieces on, I got my Xacto knife and trimmed the edges like so:

And then Voila!! Super easy!! And great for renters like me, it will stay put but when its time to take it off, the tape isn't so adhesive that it will remove the finish!

Close-up of this awesome washi tape! Recollections brand, I got it at Michaels :)

Hope you enjoy!! Go and see what you can washi-fy! 

-Liz :)

Wrapped Feather Pen Turtorial

I promised nature (camping friendly) crafts in a previous post, so here is a tutorial for an awesome, easy craft, inspired by of course a pinterest post! 

So here's what you need:

1) Feathers! Go outside and find some! They are free! Plus it's so much more rewarding to find them yourself rather than buying :)

2) A pen (this is a great craft for all those pens from hotels, work events, etc. that everyone has in their junk drawers!)

3) Embroidery floss

4) Scotch tape

5) Scissors 

For all of you wondering what is going in that background of this pic it is my legs in my awesome new graphic leggings! :) I did this craft while watching the newest episode of Mistresses (guilty pleasure lol). This is the perfect craft for in front of the tv! 

Ok, let's get started!

1) Tape your feather to the top of your pen like so:

2) Now pick your first (or only color) of embroidery floss and tie an end around the top of your pen. 

3) Begin wrapping! I left the lose end of my floss on and just held it down to the pen and wrapped around it.

4) To switch colors simply tie the ends of the first and second color together and continue wrapping, wrapping over any lose ends. 

5) When you have finished wrapping tie off the floss with a double knot and trim off extra (I tried to keep my knots at the back of the pen relative to my feather)

And Voila! 

Way cuter than the original standard issue hotel pen! And it cost only pennies!!

Enjoy! 

-Liz :) 

Telephone Table Update

Hi again,

Here's an update on the telephone table I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Telephone Table Upcycle.

So the other day I began the upcycling process which begins of course with disassembling! I love this first step where you get rid of all the old worn down fabric and finish and begin to see the real potential!

So with my telephone table I first unscrewed the seat, then removed the two shelfs. After the seat was off a got a glimpse at what this table looked like in a past life. Check out the cool bright baby blue paint:

Maybe this color will make a reappearance??

After the seat was removed, I decided to remove the old fabric and batting (if these are in good condition I like just upholster over, to save time and materials, but in this case the fabric was kind of smelly so it had to go!). After a good struggle removing upholstery tacks with a screwdriver I managed to remove all the old fabric and got another surprise! Check out what was used for the base of the seat:

It's a piece of old laminate countertop! 

Close-up of the glittery countertop

It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the top of the board that was used to make the seat is covered in old gold glittery laminate! So it looks like someone already beat me to the punch and this table has been repurposed before, using a piece of countertop for the seat! Kind of cool to see how this table has evolved through the years! And what's the next step in its evolution? Well, I have some ideas but I'm not revealing anything yet, you'll just have to wait and see :)

-Liz