After finding out we were pregnant, we looked around our two bedroom condo and realized there was definitely not enough room for three people. So in August, we moved into a new house in the suburbs, with enough room for the three of us (and then some, if we feel so inclined). The house we chose has a great floorplan, but definitely needed some work. We spent the fall getting the house livable, painting and having a new floor laid down on the bottom level. As the fall wore on and I grew increasingly huge, I was less and less able to tackle new projects.
The first few months after T-Money was born, I didn’t feel crafty at all. I was definitely in survival mode – eat, nurse, sleep (sort of), repeat. But when he started sleeping well, and we got in a good nursing pattern, a little inspiration returned and I decided to try a small project.
And when I say small, I mean tiny. Namely, placemats. We bought a new kitchen table and I wanted to try to keep it looking nice, at least until there’s a little man banging, scratching and drawing on it. It literally took me 3 weeks to finish 6 placemats. Babies are super demanding, folks! But I’m happy with how they turned out.
I made them reversible, using two fabrics from Premier Fabric: Feathers in Spirit/Slub and Gigi in Coastal Blue/Slub.
We only keep 4 of the 6 chairs at the table, unless we have company, but I went ahead and made 6 placemats. I also have a little fabric left, which I want to use to make a few hot plates. W’e’ll see how long it takes me to get to that!
The only thing I don’t like about these is that they come out of the washing machine pretty wrinkled. But for my first post-baby project, I think they look pretty good!
This project has been all over Pinterest lately, and I thought I’d put my spin on it. I used an 8 x 10 shadow box and backed it with a simple piece of kraft paper. I then sketched on the image of an old school ticket. For the most part, I just dumped all of my tickets from the fast few years in, but I did move a few of the more meaningful ones to the front (like the first movie Mike and I saw together… the terrifically awful Nightmare on Elm Street remake).
Made this while I was bored at work yesterday. Lyric by Mumford and Sons.
I have a feeling this is going to be a slow week, so there may be several “Bored at Work” posts coming!!
Filed under: Design on a Budget
Thanks to a relatively slow weekend and a Saturday morning run to Home Depot, I managed to start a few new projects.
A few weeks ago, I bought four clear glass vases at Goodwill with the intention of using them to make terrariums. After a bit of research online, I discovered that terrariums might be a bit ambitious for a black thumb like me, so the vases have sat unused. I considered filling them half-way with colorful beans and nestling candles inside. But while wandering around Home Depot this weekend, I spied some really cool cacti and succulents and thought, “hey, maybe that’s a plant I can keep alive!”
So I picked out four plants, each costing about $2-3, and a small bag of potting soil. Right now I have them sitting on my TV table, but I’m considering moving them onto the dining room table.
The Working Proof was founded by Anna Corpron and Sean Auyeung as a way to “promote art and social responsibility.” Each print that they sell is paired with a charity of the artist’s choosing, which receives 15% of the sales price. The prints range from $25-$100, and a new print is released every Tuesday. Here are a few of my favorites:
Manhattan, by Jennifer Hill for Doctors Without Borders
Alice, by Katie Kirk for the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation
Jam Session, by Emily Dumas for Little Kids Rock
This is going to be one of those “do what I say, not what I do” posts, because I realized a fairly large snafu about 1/2 way through the project! But I still think it turned out pretty cool, so I wanted to share it anyway!
Now that I’m feeling pretty good about most of the rooms in the apartment, I decided to do something about the large swaths of empty wall in the hallway. I’m not going to do a full tutorial, because I’m using the same technique as the bathroom door signs and the peephole owl. But here are some pics of the process.
The hallway, before.
Okay, here’s the DON’T DO THIS portion of the post. I used a really thin broadcloth cotton fabric. My first piece of advice is NOT to do that. First of all, it’s going to be a pain to peel these off when I’m sick of them. Stick with really thick uhpolstery or decorator fabric. Second, DO NOT iron directly on the wall. Since the fabric was so thin and the pieces were too small, there was too much of the iron actually against the wall. There’s definitely going to be some paint stickage when I’m peeling these off. Make sure you use a bigger, thicker piece of fabric between the iron and the wall (like in the last in progress picture below).
Don't do this!
Or this!
Or this!
There we go... THIS you can do. This picture came after a good deal of cursing and gnashing of teeth.
I think I’m going to add a little more to the last section, but I ran out of birdies and my cramping hands would not allow me to cut out any more tonight! It looks a bit too uniform… I need to round it out on the bottom. I think it’s pretty fun! And it’s staying there for a while, because I don’t want to have to touch up the paint!
Filed under: Design on a Budget
Hoping to have this project done and ready to post by the end of the week, but we’ll see. SUPER labor intensive!
Before moving into my current apartment, I lived in a house with my sister for 6 years. After that long in one place, I had gotten my bedroom just PERFECT. My walls were painted the most beautiful pale blue, and I had these framed photos from Alicia Bock over my bed. It was lovely and soothing, and I really miss it!
My new bedroom is turning out to be much brighter and bolder than the old one, and because of that, the Alicia Bock prints don’t really go anymore. SUPER SAD. Eventually I want to find some cool linocuts on Etsy for those frames, but I have had neither the time nor money to look for them so far. So in the meantime, I decided to make my own little retro art to make the room feel more “finished.”
I took a bright yellow piece of scrabooking paper, and printed 2 crown images that I found on The Graphics Fairy. Honestly, the hardest part of the project was picking which images to use! But the good part is, since this cost pretty much nothing, I can change it out whenever I want!
Now I just need to find another place for those Alicia Bock prints!
If you’re anything like me, the word “poster” brings to mind the image of Scarface staring out from a college frat house wall, or the latest tween hearthrob keeping watch over a giddy slumber party. That’s why I didn’t expect to find much at a website called Poster Cabaret.
I was pleased to discover that, instead of the ubiquitous pop culture images that saturate so much of our daily lives, Poster Cabaret is actually a carefully curated collection of modern concert posters and art prints. Based in Austin, TX, the shop features the work of several artists, and new posters are added weekly. Starting at just $20, this is a great resource for unique art on a budget.
Too Small to Fail by Aesthetic Apparatus
Runaway Girl by Methane Studios
Nighttime in the City by Nate Duval
metalandmud.wordpress.com 
