Pin 199: Scrappy Alphabet Wall Art

Original pin:

http://aussiescrapsource.typepad.com/aussie_scrap_source/2011/03/weekend-inspiration-the-girls-paperie.html

You can't see this pin on my Pinterest because its hiding on one of my secret boards. I love the secret boards feature! Now I can surprise more people. I wanted to make something to donate to an auction fundraiser at my youngest son's preschool.  I thought this was really cute and could be reproduced easily.

Step one was to find a good children's book that I did not mind tearing up. This is really hard for me because I just have a sacred spot in my soul for books. I went out to thrift one book and ended up coming home with 15! The book I chose to destroy was one illustrated by my favorite illustrator, Quentin Blake. I had never heard of the title, but I just love his illustrations so much I knew I wanted it to be part of this art piece.

I selected the pages I wanted, and mod podged the back only to a canvas.

Even though these pages were already a bit aged, I decided to stain them. I loved the way the stain turned out! I used this stain,  Ranger TDW-29892 Tim Holtz Distress Stain Fluid Water-Based Dye, Vintage Photo, 1-Ounce , which you can spray with water to create variations in the color.

Now I had this to work with.

I know you are seeing all these wrinkles and thinking what a mess it looks now, but have you seen my post on the greatest mod podge trick ever??? Back at Pin 52 I learned what an asset the blow dryer is for mod podge projects.

Next step was to cut out all the letters. Y'all probably can guess by now that there is NO WAY I was going to measure and trace and precisely cut letters out for this. I flipped on the DVR and went freestyle with my letters. Guess where that ended me?? Well, they didn't quite fit the canvas in a way I was happy with.

So I cut another entire alphabet. Alphabet number two was a bit too small.

 (This is sounding a little like a Goldilocks story. . . ) Alphabet number three was juuuussstt right.  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

No, there was no alphabet three. I just mixed and matched letters from set one and set two to make it fit like I wanted.

There was just one teensy, weensy problem left. You see, this illustrator, Quentin Blake, well I just love his work. I really wanted to make sure some of it was seen in the final result. And there was one picture I was particularly enamored with that I didn't want covered up. Letter spacing now became a problem.

Luckily, I had this giant pile of letters from which to work and I was able to save most of this picture. I don't know why I liked it so much. I didn't actually even read the story so I'm not sure what is even going on here.

a big ol' pile of letters

I skipped a part of the background story I wanted to tell you. . . 

I love mixed media art. As a child, I would spend hours cutting up magazines and creating these gigantic collages of words and pictures I liked. They covered my doors and walls in my room. LITERALLY. Ask my sisters, I'm sure they remember. No magazine was safe in my house.  

I knew when I started this that I would have to add other elements to the canvas besides the alphabet. I added a measuring tape cut. There were a few hits and misses here as well. Thankfully, I had extra book pages because I had to remove a few items I didn't like after they were in place. I decided to go with hand sewn buttons to complete the look. A few people were surprised that I had actually sewn them on, but since it was on canvas, it was a fairly easy endeavor. 

Here is the final project. 

I have never sold an art piece before. I have only gifted one and it was to my mother a few years ago. Giving this away was a little humbling for me because, . . . well. . . .honestly?  I put a lot of time, and a lot of love into this. I made it the way I wanted it to be, and what if no one liked it?? I was fully prepared to buy it back for twice the cost of the materials. I just really, really, REALLY didn't want to hear anybody say anything bad about it. I loved it and might take a comment like that to heart.

Luckily, I didn't have to hear any comments about it. People were bidding on it at the auction so I didn't have to (or get to) buy it back. I hope it went to a good home and they love it like I do.

Total cost: Around $25

Total time: Hours and hours and hours. This time increased because I redid a few things. In all I worked on this for weeks. I would do a little something and then let it sit out and stare at it for a few days. There is a lot of pressure when you are making something for someone else! It sat on an easel in a high traffic part of my house so that I could walk by and contemplate it. My family helped me contemplate and make judgement calls on a few things.

Final verdict: I was a little emotionally wrapped up in this project, but not in an unhealthy way. I love the way it turned out, but was okay parting with it. I received a lot of compliments on it and it did have a few bidders. I tried to stay away from the bidding sheet because I was so emotionally tied to it. Bottom line is, it sold to someone who I hope loves it like I do. If I wanted to make one for myself, I could. I still have half of Willie the Squowse left and an entire alphabet set. Selling personal art is hard! No wonder so many artists aren't discovered until they are dead. They probably hide their stuff from prying eyes to protect their egos!

Pin 178

Original pin:

http://www.compartmentlife.com/2011/11/the-pinterest-challenge-fall-2011-toilet-paper-or-art/

I am always looking for home decor at affordable prices and free is pretty much up my alley. I informed my family to start saving rolls and very quickly I had more than I knew what to do with. It was eye-opening to see exactly how much toilet paper we use in this house! Then my bag just sat there. . . and sat. . . and sat. . . and sat. . . Until I decided to start up these "unfinished projects." So here we are with the completion of, yet another, unfinished project.

It took me just a few weeks to fill up this bag with toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and any other cardboard roll we might come across.

I fired up my glue gun, parked myself in front of the TV (I had some DVR to catch up on) and went to work. I cut one-inch strips and just started gluing together at random. I didn't really have a plan. I did find a really sturdy roll (I think it came from foil) that I was able to cut with a sharp knife and preserve the circle shape. This came in really helpful because it provided some super-sturdy anchors. Hours later, day one's progress was done and I was off to bed.

I was not able to work on it on consecutive days, so this project was not done in four days total, just four episodes of work on it. A few days later, day two progressed in the same way as day one.

And for some size perspective, those tiles are 12 inch by 12 inch in size. This project was growing fairly quickly!

Day three I was getting to the bottom of my stash of rolls. I had already put my family on alert to refill my bag!

Somewhere shortly before day three ended, the project was starting to look like a giant snow flake. NOT what I was going for, so I had to really strategize to avoid the snow flake look. Worried that it might head back in that direction, I called the gluing stage complete after day three.

I picked up some spray paint at the store last week. I found some metallic style paint in "oil rubbed bronze" for a metal look without being too shiny.

After it dried it was ready to hang up. A year ago I took everything from my mantle and have been trying to figure out what to put there next. I put this in the big empty space. Since packing away the Christmas decorations, I haven't put anything back on the mantle, so it looks really empty in my pictures. Guess I'll have to work on that next.

It is pretty sturdy and fairly light. It is held here with one thumbtack in the center circle.

 

 

Total cost: $5.99 for the spray paint. Otherwise, I used the entire bag of rolls, not sure how many, and about 6 hot glue sticks.

 

Total time: It was a little time consuming to do all the cutting and gluing. I did all the cutting and gluing over three sittings--about eight hours total. Then the spray painting was done over around 20 minutes total, split into three sessions, allowing drying in between.

 

Final verdict: It is an inexpensive way to fill some space. I think I like it. Up close, you can see many flaws--jagged edges, unequal heights and spacing, exposed hot glue. But hanging up so high and being painted so dark, a lot of these imperfections are not as obvious. My husband was a little unsure about the whole project from day one, but now that it is hanging, he admits he is surprised at how much better it looks that he expected. We are not completely sold on it yet, but I'm just going to let it hand there a while longer and see if it grows on us. Another problem is similar to the problem I had with the sock bun--I felt weird that people would know I had a sock on my head. Well, now I wonder if my guests will look up and think about my toilet paper rolls hanging on the walls. 

 

Would you?

Pin 93 & 94

I haven't disappeared! I have just been buried under a big project deadline at work. I haven't been doing much pinning the last week, but I do have a few posts to do to catch up on some pins a did a while back. Meanwhile, my little blog has just been blowing up with traffic! Today, alone, I have had over 35,000 visitors! I am shocked! My post on the Jillian Michaels flush, Pin 91, has been very popular.

Today is a two pin project. I have been waiting to post it because it was a father's day gift and I didn't want to give away any secrets.

Original pin one:

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/09/make-chalk-rocks-and-homemade-chalk.html

Step one was to mix up some chalkboard paint. This stuff is all over Pinterest. Some people are using it to paint entire walls, but I decided to start small. It must be made in small batches because it dries really, really fast. And gets lumpy as it dries.

Lumpy paint.

Even though it looks lumpy in the photo, it went on smoothly. It dried fast on our little boards. I put on a few coats each. We were going cheap here, so I just used a box lid and a couple of paper plates as our boards.

A few things to note: The original poster said you could use any kind of paint. I just grabbed some tempra paint I had around. I would recommend that you do not use tempra or any type of paint that is washable because when we actually used the boards, the paint came off when we cleaned them. We had to moisten our cloth a little bit which cause the paint to come off as well. I guess I didn't think about that part.

Total time: 20 minutes to mix the paint and paint our boards. The paint dried fast but we let it dry overnight before we tried it out.

Total cost: $4 for grout

Final verdict: With the exception of the fact that I used the wrong kind of paint, I consider it a success. It was easy and I like that it is made in small batches because I don't think I need a giant pail of it. No chalkboard walls in my future right now.

Original pin two:

http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2011/06/fathers-day-photo-collage-free.html

I packed up the boys and our new chalkboards and we snuck off to the park one day to take some pictures. I uploaded them to a photo site and arranged them into a collage to give to daddy and pops on father's day.

Total time: 45 minutes to take pictures, 1 hour to arrange and order them

Total cost: $6 for two prints including shipping

FInal verdict: I liked the idea and the pictures. The website I used printed them on poster paper (which I would have seen if I had read closely enough) so the printed quality wasn't great. The day of pictures it was rainy so some of our pictures are dark as we had to seek shelter. Cute idea. Daddy had been wanting some fresh pictures for his office so this worked out great.

Pin 73

Original pin:
http://www.sarahortega.com/2011/05/diy-bird-nest-necklace.html

I love these bird nest necklaces. I totally wanted one and I decided that for mothers day I would make one for my mother and myself! I thought I had all the supplies as I headed out to craft night with the girls but as I looked it over, I realized I needed some jump rings for the clasps. I dug through my coupons to find one for the craft store and decided to go to a different one than my usual because that is where my coupon was.

I am so happy I went to a different store because I found some great inspiration! The jewelry selection was better there and they had some fabulous charms on sale. I went in to get a $2.99 pack of jump rings and left after spending nearly $30 (on items for this & other projects)!!

I was inspired to add some sweet bird charms and some silver hearts to the bird nest necklaces and joined them all together with a larger split ring. Threaded them on the chain and added a clasp. The nests themselves were very easy. I love the imperfect-ness of them.  I am soooo happy with the way they turned out. I wanted some light blue, oval shaped beads for my nests since both my boys birthstones are blue, but I couldn't find exactly what I had in mind, so I just went with some different sized pearls.

Here are the final products:

Mom got three pearls for her three girls.

Mine has two for the two boys.

Total cost: I can't say--since it was a gift! But on etsy, you can find them from $20 to $350!

Total time: I made both of these in about 1 1/2 hours while talking, eating hummus, and drinking wine. Focused work time is probably less than one hour.

Final verdict: I am so happy with the way these turned out. My mama loves hers too! They were cute just as a nest, but I love, love the little extra charms too!

Pin 51 & Pin 52

Original pin:

http://jensidea.blogspot.com/2011/06/easy-art-blocks.html

A cute and cheap idea for some original wall art. I have this space above my entertainment center that I have been trying to fill for years. No, literally. We have been in this house six years and I have NEVER had anything in this spot that I was happy with or felt like it was appropriate for the space. This seemed like just the thing.

The big empty. This is really high. The wood in the lower right of the picture is the edge of the mantle.

 The original pin called for scrapbook paper adhered to wood blocks the author bought from the hardware store. There were two problems I initially saw with this: 1. Wood blocks are heavy. Nine wood blocks are heavier. 2. They would require picture hanging equipment to be installed to the back. Installing picture hangers is just one of those things I can't stand doing. Too much precision required, I guess. So when I came across these canvases at the 99 cents store I was really excited. Light weight, no picture hangers required, CHEAP--perfect.

 With the first canvas I had trouble. The paper was buckling and bubbling (like paper does when it is wet. Surprise.) And I could just not get it to lie flat and smooth. I tried a few different techniques to no avail.

One of the first three full of lumps and bumps :(

 Surely I am not the first to have this problem. I got on the friendly internet and did a quick search. The third place I looked had this awesome tip. It was so awesome, that I had to pin it to my friends so that they, too, could know the awesomeness of it. (That is how this pin project turned into a two pin project.)

Here is the second pin:

http://momspark.net/need-art-try-mod-podge/

The most fabulous tip ever is that you can fix these bumps with a hairdryer! Amazing! I didn't know that! But it worked like a charm. Coincidentally this pin was actually for the same project (scrapbook paper on canvas.) I also learned from my google search that there is a special Mod Podge for using when working with fabric, but that's for next time. The hairdryer trick worked great.

After a blow out. Nice and smooth.

Even on canvases more wrinkled than this one, the trick still worked. You can't let it get too hot or the Mod Podge will boil and create bubbles. One drawback was that it had to be dried again after every coat so this step added significant time to my project. I did the original coat to plaster the paper to the canvas. Sanded the edges to give them a smooth edge and a little bit of a weathered effect and then I put on a second coat of Mod Podge. The original project called for antiquing paint (?) which I am not really familiar with. Is it a type of glaze?  I took a little brown acrylic paint and added it to the left over Mod Podge in my bowl to create a glaze which I sponged, smeared, and wiped on and off the edges to give it some dimension and authenticity. Some I did the edges only and others I did the entire tile.

My husband was amused by the blow drying.

 The final product laid out on the table.

This one is my favorite.

All that is left is to hang it up!

Close up of the tiles up on the wall.

The almost-full effect. The baby pics need to be updated, and the vases are going to get some tall-ish foliage.

Hanging that was a dusty chore!! But I got the corners while I was up there.


Total cost: $10.80

Total time: 3 hours

Final verdict: I love the look of the tiles themselves. I love having something up in this space. The top of the center needs some tweaking and now I have this great nook in the living area. Time to work my way around the rest of the room!

Pin 45

Original pin:


http://www.somewhatsimple.com/how-to-hang-a-photo-collage/

I have been in major re-decorate mode since Christmas. In fact, when I packed up the Christmas decorations this year, I packed up/gave away a lot of the regular decor as well. Our house has been in a transition since then. I have been gathering pinspiration and inspiration, setting random things down around the house to absorb the presence of the object. I'm a little embarrassed to have people in my house right now. We are getting new flooring in 85% of the house in a few weeks so I have been a little more motivated to get things pulled together--mostly to get them up off the floor. I had an idea in my head for the kid's playroom wall that required hanging a bunch of things and I thought I'd try out this technique because I thought it was pretty clever (and simple, right?!?)

Here is the playroom before:

Allow me to draw your attention to the center top of the shelves. A bunch of play hats, right? Ok, I am just setting the scene for a future event.

 I used the three pieces that were already there (IKEA pieces circa 2007? 2008?) And then I added a few I had collected and decided would go well in here, including this fabulous piece I made at Ladies Night In with www.paintlikepicasso.com .

I marked the spots on the back, just like the tutorial said and went to work. First, I carefully balanced my level on top of my canvas. Tune in to my inner monologue for a minute: "This is going to be the easiest, awesomest way to hang pictures. I'm just going to balance this level here and the picture is going to be perfectly straight. Its going to be great. I'll just lift it up right here, no, higher, here. Yes, that is just about. . . . "

 CRASH!!!  Want to know what was under those hats?? A few years ago, my son bought everyone piggy banks for the holidays. My husband and I had stored ours in the playroom for some unknown reason. I had envisioned one day installing a shelf and putting them all together on a shelf, but that had yet to happen. View the wreckage:

My husband chipped his tail.

 I thought this was the extent of the damage until I saw mine.

Not sure which is sadder, the trauma or the fact that after 3 years all I have in there is about $7 in quarters.

 Okay, back to the pin. After cleaning up the spray of ceramic chips I tried round two with the same picture because I hadn't quite made it to the wall. I pressed it up there and then pulled back to see two little dots lingering. I put the nails up there and, dang, it wasn't level. So I moved one. Nope, not yet. I moved it again. Not quite, but good enough.

Onto the IKEA pictures. These were different because they have the picture hangers on the back. The problem here was that the hanger was recessed further back than the lip of the frame. I had to pull it out and hope that the mark landed in the right place when it was pressed up against the wall.

It was pretty close. Here is the problem with the technique though. No matter how small of a toothpaste dot I put on the picture, I always ended up with a large dot on the wall that was much larger than the nail. Even if I put the nail in the center of the toothpaste it wasn't always even with where I had intended it to be. It wasn't too much of a problem except on the frames that required two nails (like the first piece.)



See the toothpaste halo around the nail.

 The finished product:

The hats are still there. Maybe the kids won't notice.

Total cost: $0

Total time: 20 minutes

Final verdict: I like how the wall turned out, but I will not be using this technique again. To me, it was just as easy as measuring/guesstimating and I have seen dozens of techniques out there on Pinterest. I usually have a pretty good eye with this sort of thing. I hung the 5 without toothpaste and it was actually level when I checked it. (Pats self on back) Lessons learned: Don't hang pictures while hovering over breakables.