Initial Artwork: Letter C

I suppose initial artwork, or lettering in the nursery is nothing new.  It's nice to stamp a nursery, or a kids room with their name to make it more personal.  (Heck, I've even talked about my love of monograms before too!)  When we settled on a name for our baby boy, I was able to purchase a white letter "C" to try to attempt a project along these lines.

So, here's what I did.

First I took an $8 clearance frame from Home Goods (regularly $25!).  Of course, the butterfly motif wasn't going to quite cut it with the baby boats bedding.  :)  It was all wrong!

The white frame stayed, but the green mat was painted blue.  I painted this with acrylics, and I think it looked like wood when I was done.  I just loved that the mat was cut to fit the square frame already, plus the cut out/lined details were great.

Because of the depth of the frame, I was able to adhere the C to the board, and still have room to close the frame down.  First though, I needed to cover the cardboard backing with green houndstooth fabric, that matches the curtains.  I used spray adhesive and adhered a piece of fabric to the top of the cardboard.  Since the mat was going to cover the edges of the cardboard backing, I didn't fold it around the back edges... just simply adhered to the top.

Then, after a failed hot glue gun attempt at putting the C on the fabric, I checked out my E6000 glue for it's specs... turns out it adheres fabric to wood with a 3 smiley face rating (I guess that's good?!)  So I dabbed it on the backing of my MDF "C" and placed it in the middle of the fabric (I had lined up the mat as a guide.)

Then, just cleaned and reassembled!  Oh, I just L-O-V-E it, but am even more excited to see it on the wall in baby boy's room!

It's amazing what a little vision and paint will do!

What do you think about the transformation, and colors?

More to come on the nursery progress.  Labor Day Weekend brought a lot of progress that I can't wait to share!

A stencil in honor of the Saints

Well, that's what I'm calling it at least!

I have recently had an interest in decorating with bees (here, and in this project) and now have a similar energy about the Fleur de Lis.

And, since I decided that the Fluer de Lis the Saints sport was the reason I'd root for them, I figured it fitting when they won.  :)

So if you'll remember from this post about how I arrange a gallery ledge, I had a few picture frames that were empty.  This was one of them.  I thought I could try my hand at stenciling for the first time.

I bought a 3-pack of stencils, with one page dedicated to Fleur de Lis.  I simply put the appropriate size stencil in the middle of the brown fabric, and dabbed some white acrylic paint on with a flat head stencil brush.  AND, I let it dry.

 

  

  

  

 

Pop it back in, and prop up on the ledge.  At least I have a little more "French" in my house now.  I read up on Wikipedia, and found out that the Fleur de Lis is historically associated with French Monarchy.

Oh, and as a side comment, about adding more "French", I was considering adding some wreath/sprig/ crest thingies on the sides of my bee from the Ballard Inspired Bulletin Board I made last week.  I found this bucket at HomeGoods this weekend, and the lightbulb went off.  Pop over there and leave me a comment if you think I should or shouldn't. 

Anyway, quick and easy for today.  I got some great stuff at the thrift store this weekend, but you'll either have to check the Design-Aholic Facebook page, or come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day...  :)

How I arrange a Picture Ledge Gallery Wall

One of my favorite features of our living room is the picture ledge gallery wall that we installed about a year ago.  I really like the Pottery Barn versions, but they used to be too deep, sticking out off the wall around 10".  They now make a much shallower version called the Holman Shelf.  During a trip to IKEA, I found shallower shelves, that were exactly what I wanted!  They came in white and black, so I picked up two of the 6' version in black.

Here are two options, as your base, for creating a gallery ledge wall:

The Pottery Barn version of the Holman ledge only comes in lengths up to 4', and is $55/ea.
The IKEA version of the Ribba ledge that was 6'+ was $19.99/ea.  :)

Pottery Barn Holman Shelf:

 

IKEA Ribba ledge:

 

I went to work creating a collage of my photography in many different style framing options.  I tried to mix black, white, wood, and silver tones, in hopes that I wouldn't be fixed in one style as I shop and come across frames I like.

The ledges make it easy to quickly rearrange our photos, and I love that they just lean- much more modern than hanging them all on the wall.  (not to mention that I don't have tons of holes in the walls now)

So I tried different combos of heights and colors, along with frame mats and colors.  While prepping for this post, I literally heard a crash as one of my frames came tumbling off the ledge.  But that's for another day.

Here are a few different arrangements I created...

 

Grouping Browns together

  

Grouping green based photos together

 

Grouping black and whites...

And ultimately the version we have now:

 

  

(there's the orange curtains.  SQUEAL!!  Check out the sneak peak here)

Sorry for the glare, but you get the idea...

And yes, it's all my photography.  :)

I like to add in little adornments during the holidays.  For example, I had some glittery snowflakes randomly on the shelf, and I'm sure the upcoming months will see flowers, stars, and other small knick knacks.  :)

Oh yea, and the other thing about ledges?  They get dusty.  Take a rag to them every so often to keep the focus on the art, not the layer of fluffy dust!

 

EW!

 

And, to note, I had originally titled this post "How To Arrange..." but quickly realized this is only how I arrange it, with what I have now, and to my preference.  There are so many options out there, so get creative!

So anyway, I hope you will share your photo displays too.  It's so very personal, but I absolutely think this type of display has allowed me to display my ever changing art.  :)  I love it!

Frames within a Frame: Brown + White collages

When I posted a few days ago about not being able to find bulldog clips, let me tell you, I was relieved to have them in my hot little hands!  Oh, and yes, this was another teaser project!

Here's what I made:

I was ELATED to have finished these!  One was supposed to be a gift for a friend that bought a new house a month back.  Well, I guess it's better late than never!

I got this fabulous idea from the girls over at Shanty 2 Chic- if you haven't checked their site out you should- inspiration galore!

While these may look pretty now, they started life on a whole other planet.  Somewhere far, far from what I'm going for in my house.  But, that's what the beauty of paint will do for you.  :)

The white one started out as this great duck print:

 

 

While the brown one housed a *gasp* jungle cat!  Oh my:

I picked both the large frames up at a 50% day at the thrift store.  They came to $7.50 total.  They were the perfect size, and had good bones.  check!

The other materials I needed were:

- 1 yard of burlap, duck clock, or other fabric.  My option was $2.99/yd

- dollar store frames (or other frames you'd like to use.  Surprisingly, the dollar store has a wide selection of frames that look great when painted.  Just sayin'...

- medallion of choice

- BULLDOG CLIPS!  (or other clip you'd like to use.  I liked their simplicity, which caused me to look everywhere for the exact ones I wanted...)

- Spray paint in color of choice, hot glue gun

I started out by doing the white one first.  Big mistake.  Or, if you want to think of it another way, it was a learning experience.  While the wood frame primed and painted nice, I found out that the plastic frames I snagged at the dollar store didn't like spray paint.  They were red, oh red!  The spray paint only masked it, and they turned pink!  Even with spray paint meant for plastic!  (*So, note: if you're using plastic frames, spray them a color DARKER than they originate... sigh)

Anyway, I also painted the print with the primer (since the awesome pattern of the ducks/jaguar showed through the fabric I purchased).

 

I then got to use spray adhesive for the first time on a project!  I sprayed, and applied the fabric, smoothing out wrinkles and bumps here and there.  I wrapped around the back side, and secured with hot glue at the edges.

I purchased two wooden medalions from Joann's and Michael's, that I painted with the frames.  I think they were around $2 each. 

Next, I tried to reposition the frame set a few times, since I wasn't sure how many I could really get in the center.  Turns out 5 look better than 4, but when you make this project, you'll do the right thing.  :)

(see!  Those are PINK frames!)

 

Then, I replaced the fabric covered board into the frame, and used hot glue to secure the frames (once I settled on placement!) to the board.

I also centered, and hot glued my little 1" bulldog clips to the board.

ahhh...  victory!

(I love how this frame bubbled a little.  Added that real crackle look, without even trying!)

Don't you love these?  I can't wait to give one as a gift...  If it doesn't jump onto my wall first.  :)

Total cost for Two frame sets:

$7.50 (two main frames), $2.99 (fabric), $4 frames (for white set), $4 frames (for brown set, yes, 2 of the frames were a 2-pk for $1), $4.50 for medallions, $2.60 for the bulldogs clips (when you calculate that I paid $10.50 for 36)=  

$25 for TWO, or $12.50/ea.

(what I didn't add in to the cost was the spray adhesive, the EXTRA bulldog clips, the spray paint for plastic, or the EXTRA dollar store frames I now have laying around for other projects.  That would have added another $20 to the total.)

Anyway, this project was definitely trying, to say the least.  I'm glad they're done, and thankful, yes thankful, for the project know-how I learned whilst making them.  :)

What do you think?!  I think mine will go in the new office.  When we get there.