Feeling Crafty

I usually have Saturdays off work. Most of the time, I get up early and make Jake a hot breakfast (this is the only "real" breakfast he gets all week) and then I go about my day, or go back to sleep. This week I decided I would spend the day pampering myself. I was going to take a bath, do my nails, take some real time on my hair etc. It was a great plan! Until I got on Pinterst. Looking at all the great homes, I decided that I really REALLY wanted to craft. I had all these great ideas and I wanted to make them a reality.

So I told Jake I was going to make a mess of house, but promised it would look pretty when I was done, and I headed out for supplies. Home Depot for some wood, painter's tape and hardware. Michael's for paint and decorative wire. Home Depot was extra special since I measured the space I wanted the piece of wood for, but forgot to measure my car. Seriously, don't forget to measure your car. A 5 ft X 3 ft piece of wood is not going to fit in your little chevy cobalt sedan. Figure it out. Well, I did figure it out and finally got home to get to work. A week later I am now finished with my projects and here are the results:

Inspiration: 

I saw this picture on Pinterest about a week ago and fell in love with it! You can see the full tutorial of this DIY chevron canvas here. I wanted something a little more uniform though and this is what i came up with. 

Mine: 

I love how this came out! I used a thing piece of panelling instead of a canvass because it was much cheaper. A 4X8 ft piece was only about $10. They cut it to size and you keep the extra pieces. The hardest part... the taping. For a perfectionist like me, it was a nightmare. It took an entire movie ("The Help" great movie!!!!) just to tape it. I almost gave up but, in the end, I let go and allowed for imperfections. Mixing the paint was an adventure as well. I decided to go with three colors. White, grey, and a teal. The fading isn't perfect but i'm a fan of variety and blue/teal we have in our grey and white bedroom. 

Taping and Painting: 

Still getting used to the Chevron and Floral mix: 

Next I wanted to make some frames of the living room. We had a large empty frame left over from our wedding and I wanted to do something cool with. So I strung some wire across the empty space and painted clothes pins to add some color. The clothes pins look black here but are actually a deep blue that matches our couch pillows. 

Hanging above our couch: 

That's my god-daughter Emilee Ann. She's perfect: 

I'm also working some frames to house pictures of our family. The Wilhelm side, The Thomson side and us The newly established Wilhelms. They are a work in progress. 

Finally, I wanted something for the empty call in our dining room. The space has been glaring at me since we moved in and I felt it was time to fix it. 

A few pretty pieces: 

These were inspired by something I saw at Target. I loved the pinwheels and wanted to paint them to match the living room. However, I didn't want to spend the $20 on plastic pieces so I made them from paper instead. They are a mustard yellow, deep blue and gold. The gold is really close in color to the yellow but I love the subtle shine. I cut Trader Joes bags into strips and accordion folded them. Then glued the end to end. Then I fanned them out into a pinwheel. I glued a thumb tack on the back and painted them.  ( The paint job is messy. I like that up close you can tell they are painted paper.)  Finally, I tacked them to the wall in a pattern I liked. 

Time consuming but worth it: 

 

Loving the end result:

In the end,  I'm really happy with how things turned out. I think they add a nice touch to my home. I love having a bit of color in our white apartment. I think that the management might regret telling us we can put holes in the walls. And I know they will be unhappy about the paint spots on the carpet.  But I'm happy we can make our small space feel like home. I'm grateful for what we have and pray that we continually use it for our good and His glory.