Home Decor - Heart Paper Art

For those of you who follow me on facebook you know that I tried my hand at making some Valentines Decor and these heart art pictures are really hot on etsy right now.  I have seen several of them featured on HGTV and other popular shows. 

Here is another one that is more like mine.  I wanted the movement of the folded hearts since I wasn't going to frame it. 



This one is my personal favorite - you can find it here.



Here is an example of one on etsy right now where the hearts lay flat. 

I learned some things from trying this out that I'd like to share with you. 

1. It takes a lot more time that it looks and you need a LOT of hearts.  I used a small canvas and I needed 60 hearts

2.  You have to play with the direction you fold the hearts but I found that alternating rows was more pleasing to the eye than a random approach.  I started doing this toward the end.

3.  You need a really strong glue.  I used glossy accents and it worked great.

4. If I did this again I would probably mat it and frame it but I just wanted something to hang on a shelf for decoration.  I might re-do it next year so it looks different - maybe black and red.  



Recipe:

Cricut and George basic shapes for the hearts - cut at 1" real dial size on.

Fresh Alphabet from PTI for the letters

I'm Thankful for vinyl wall art

It is almost Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday.  So many times I feel like my life is over flowing with reasons to be Thankful - a warm home in the winter, hot coco, a good book, family, warm socks, my children and so many other little things.  I decided I wanted to make a wall art canvas to list some of the things I am thankful for to display in our home.  I also wanted to try my hand at vinyl since I have been intimidated up to this point.  (there are alternate ways to do this at the end of this post). Here is what I came up with: 

 I designed the word art in my software program (SCAL, MTC, Silhouette software).  I tried to pick fonts that fit the words and then organize them so that they would fit on my canvas.  The canvas is 11x14.  I bought a lot of these canvases when they were really cheap at Michael's. They are the perfect size for placing on shelves and on bookcases. 

I painted the canvas orange first (the color you want to show through).  I put vinyl on my mat and cut the words out and then peeled the vinyl around the words off and then all the O centers, a centers etc (that was the hardest part!) leaving the stuff I wanted to keep on the mat.  Then I cut my transfer tape to size (you NEED this stuff) and rub really hard over all the words so they would stick to the transfer tape.  Then I lifted up the transfer tape slowly making sure all the letters were picking up as well, if they didn't I would put it down and rub again. 

Vinyl isn't hard but it is time consuming for something like this will a lot of words.  I probably spent 3+ hours on this project. 

Then you lay the transfer tape on top of the canvas and rub really hard again.  I started in one corner and worked to the opposite corner (vertically) and then peeled it back a little at a time.  

After all the words were attached to the canvas and the transfer tape was completely off.  I painted over the letters and everything in brown.  I waited until it was completely dry and got a pair of tweezers and pulled off each letter. 

  

Alternate ways to do this are:

1. to cut the words for card stock and use it as a stencil.  So you'd paint the background color first and then use the orange for the words. You'd have to use a strong temporary adhesive though.   

2.  I could have used left the vinyl on.  I had white vinyl but I could have bought orange vinyl and left it on - that would have been easier but I used what I had on hand. 

3.  If you don't have design software - you could cut each word out separately and then arrange on the canvas and glue the letters down.

4.  You could use an arrangement of letter stickers

5.  You could use letter stencils and just use that.

6. Letter stamps and acrylic paint or ink. 

Painting the roses red...

you know from Alice in Wonderland. Well today I am asking your opinion on kitchens...specifically paint color for kitchens. My sister Ritz is dealing with this too so you can help us both out. We are painting our kitchen this summer. The reason is our cabinets are in good condition but the color is a little outdated so paint is the easy - cheaper fix.

Here are the color choices

Black here is a link to the lettered cottage kitchen when it was black they recently changed it to grey. I like black - it gives it pop and makes it more modern looking however, I am not sure a lot of people would go for black. Check out the pic first then tell me your opinion. http://www.theletteredcottage.net/2009/09/presto-chango.html

Colored - green, turquoise - Here you can see Stephanie's green kitchen
http://cuisinenie.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-12-04T01%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

White - this is classic but I just don't think it would fit the feeling of our house... plus I think that would look really dirty with kids so I am not a fan.










Brown -This is the hubby's pick. He wants a dark brown almost black. I couldn't find an online picture..... maybe something like this....





Do you have opinions on the color of kitchen. If you were buying a house would the color of a kitchen matter? What colors would turn you off? Which colors would excite you?

Do you like the black kitchen thing? I think it is a love or hate kind of thing. I like it but since we would be selling in a few years I don't want to put off people.

Opinions please?

Thanks, Sizzle

Building blocks for grown ups

Happy Thursday!  Thank you for all of your comments about my new door.  I am glad you like it as much as I do.  I can't wait to get started working outside.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  Today I am going to show you something totally different with some tips for getting cheap supplies - like brayers at hardware stores.  Here is the project:

The other day I went to my local hardware store which happens to be Lowe's and came home with this:

Yes, that was the day it was snowing - see all that snow in my car...ick.  Anyway I bought a 2x4 one that is used for studs in building and had the Lowe's people cut it every 5 or 6 inches.  (6 seems big but 5 is perfect)

A 2x4 costs you less than $2.50.  You can get 15 or so blocks depending on the size you use. 

Then I came home and painted three of the blocks in coral (making memories) or hot pink (the craft store brand)...yum

I covered them with mod podge and scrapbook paper.  I cut the paper 4.5 inches wide and trimed it a little.  Then I creased the end around the block and cut it to the exact length.  I adhered with mod pogde.  Make sure you smooth it out as soon as possible. 

which leads me to brayers.  These are so expensive at craft stores it is ridicious.  I swore I had seen the same thing at Lowe's so I went looking.  You will find what you need in the wallpaper section for 1.98.  Seriously, compared to 8 or 9 dollars it is a steal. 

This is what you'll find at a craft store for 9 bucks.  It is rubber and nice but you don't need it.  This is what you'll find at Lowes for less than a quater of the price. 

You can use either tool - you just need something to smooth.  I discovered the secret to working to mod pogde is to make sure only one side is wet at a time and to dry between otherwise the paper can stick to your brayer or your fingers- discovered the hard way.

So put the mod podge - or other sealer (note:you can also get something similar at a hardware store which is probably cheaper but I haven't looked into it yet because I also use a 50% off coupon but when I run out I am checking the hardware store.) on the block, smooth your paper down really good.

Let dry.

Do second side.  Dry.  Adhere lettering.  Dry.  Seal over the top part.  

Done.

 

Decorate.  Smile.

Note:  Joann's has paper including cardstock 5 for a dollar this week! 

Bascially this whole craft -with a ton of blocks left over costs you $3 dollars. 

Here is a link to what you can find at Lowe's similar to Mod podge but I couldn't find the price online.

http://www.liquitex.com/Products/fluidmedglossmedvar.cfm

Finally - a painted door

I have to tell you that I have sat around waiting for a warm day - warm enough that I could leave the door open for hours as I painted it but we never got one. It took forever. I got my hopes up one day and this is what I woke up too.

A lovely surprise for April - right?

So finally on Saturday it was supposed to be 60. I busted out my paint and brushes and got to work. It was not so warm - at least not at 9:30am when I was working, it was FREEZING but I got it done...hurray!.

Ready for the reveal? Of course you are or you wouldn't be reading this right?

I have to say it looks a ton better.  I still have to do something about fixing the steps but I like the door color against the brick.  I ended up getting Twain Blue and Kwal paint.  It has amazing one coat coverage.  I only had to touch up a few places - it was nice paint. 

I am going to paint all the other stuff too....if it ever warms up.  We haven't welcomed spring here yet.  It is depressing especially since I have all these home projects I want to do and CAN'T.  Ick. 

Here is the picture of the house BEFORE the new door and of course before the paint.  I had to really search for this one....

See the old door.  I hated that thing.  You can also see the green steps....maybe I should put that stuff back on....mmm.  Any advice for the steps.  I also need to find shutters for the little window to paint the same color of the door. 

Thanks for all your votes.  I love the blue door and my husband does too.

more red

Okay - so I didn't give you enough red options so here are some others. Brighter.

Option 1 above (Chantellier)- Option 2 below (Rockwood)

keeping color alive

Hello blog readers- thank you for reading our blog by the way! We are thankful somebody reads us and we aren't talking to thin air. The four of us sisters who have been blogging regularly live all over the states and sometimes we don't really know what is going on in each others lives but it is fun when our interests overlap; like Jules post on Color Theory yesterday.

She doesn't know it but we got a new door over the weekend and are trying to decide what color to paint it. We both want something colorful to enhance our curb appeal - we have none at this point. I am thinking blue (turquoise the color of the year)--my husband is wanting red. I love red doors, I do but our house is orange-y brick and our house faces West (so lighter is better) but we do have a covered door so red might be okay in that respect.

I was going to post about something totally different today but instead lets take a vote! I don't know if it will change the outcome but it might help us make up our minds and I'd love an unbiased opinion.

https://www.sherwin-williams.com/visualizer/index.html#d=f;c=2558

For the reds my husband likes Positive Red from Sherwin Williams

I like Show Stopper red SW7588

I tried them in this visualizer they have at sherwinwilliams.com and they didn't look too good.

I tried to pick the better ones from the visualizer program (pretty cool) -my favorites on the picture (not sure how accurate that is) were Bunglehouse blue and Rockwood Red

Vote - red or blue? I am going to try to do a vote thingy on the sidebar but I might not be able to figure it out so just leave a comment. Oh and we have to fix our stairs--they are so ugly because I tore the green astro turf that was there off. Any ideas - cover with bricks?

Shabby Chic Wreath for $5

Have you noticed all the wreath ideas flowing around the Internet lately? There are book wreaths, felt wreaths, fleece wreath, pinecone wreaths and cranberry, almond, wood beads etc.

They seem to be all the rage and I have never had a wreath on my front door. I love wreaths, I am always drawn to homes that have one of the door. They make it look so friendly and approachable but...wreaths are expensive and I am a cheapskate when it comes to home decor.

I hate spending money on those things that aren't needs that just dress up your home...I am not a jewerly buyer either probably for the same reason; I'd rather spend my money on fabric and scrapbook paper and any other crafty type thing I can get my hands on. :) I am one of those people who always thinks I could do this myself for cheaper well finally I DID!

However, I wanted to make my house friendly so I decided I would make one and see what I ended up with. I had one of those grape vine wreaths from a box of craft supplied that a friend was going to throw out so I just took the whole box thinking I might EVENTUALLY use everything in it.

You can find these wreaths at salvation army/thrift stores all time - just pull all the vines and ugly stuff off of them and you have a clean slate. I got this hanger 90% off but you can find them cheap anywhere.

I spray painted the wreath and the hanger white. I wrapped the bottom half of the wreath with beaded garland I got 90% off (which you could spray paint any color) and glued it in a few places. Then I let it sit thinking what should I put in the middle and found this WELCOME sign at Joanns for 75% off )3 dollars and hung that from the hanger. This wreath is CUTE. These pictures do not do it justice. I think the camera makes the beads look a wierd color.

Finally, I have a friendly door.

Have you made a wreath recently? Share your links in the comment section!

This whole project cost me $5