Make Prints into Oil {looking} Artwork

I was working on the design of our living room makeover. Trying to figure out is I'm working in our old art into our new design and it's been driving me crazy. 

We have a huge framed oil paint looking piece of art over the couch. I purchased it at Ross years ago for 100 bucks and started researching the piece. Turns out it's an "enhanced print" that retails framed for $275 to $650! Wowza! 

When I was looking up this artwork I thought it was an oil painting. I quickly learned it was not, as this particular oil painting was worth $16,000! What I had was called an "enhanced print".
I researched what that term meant and it's basically a print that has been brushed with a medium. 

This process makes it look WAY more expensive- like it would be worth 1000's rather than 100's! (maybe a bit of an exaggeration?)

  I decided to experiment and try to make my own enhanced print.

I started with a print I wouldn't mind messing up. Someone gave me this one, so kinda perfect for my little experiment.





Here's my what I started with:
a print, a brush, a bottle of medium, a bottle of texture and something to mix it together
- all of which I already had.





 I took the print out of the frame and mixed some medium with the texture which thickened the medium up considerably.

After the first coat it looked like this and truthfully I was thinking I ruined the print. Ahhh!


But thankfully it did dry clear. Like this. (I'm sure all you artists are cringing! Sorry!)
  
I decided it needed two coats to really build up the texture and look like brush strokes.



You want to make sure the strokes go in many different direction.

Also, make sure it is thinker and thinner in places.

 
Here's the end product next to the inspiration piece for comparison.

I think it's pretty darn close to the original. It has the same shine and varying texture.

I call it a success and I'm ready to try it on something bigger and maybe more expensive! Isn't this the perfect solution to a frame with no glass? I am thrilled with the possibilities!

Check it out Yo! I got me another feature!

Thanks for checking out my project!

- Becca -

I party everywhere!

Tools are for Women Too, Chic on a Shoestring,  Tip Junkie,  At the Picket Fence, Shabby Nest, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Simply Designing,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Petite Hermine, Craft Envy, Stories of A 2 Z,  Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, Sugarbee Crafts, Ask Anna Moseley, DIY By Design, Passionately Artistic, Women Who Do It All, House of Hepworths, L Bratina, Beyond the Picket Fence, Shabby Chic Cottage,  Fire Flies and Jelly Beans, Its a Hodge Podge Life, Just a Girl Blog, Simply Sweet Home ,  Inspiring Creations Blog, On the Verge 6, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic, All Thingz Related, Saturday Mornings,  Poppies at Play, The Girl Creative, Type A Decorating, At Home With K, Elements Interiors, Some what Simple, Today's Creative Blog and  Stuff and Nonsense.

A Baby Shower {in images}

Not to throw anyone under the bus- but I didn't get to take the shower pics. 

Just work with me, k?

Talked about these easy peasy cake toppers here.

HOORAY GERRET! Talked about these here.

Bummer pic- but more about the design of this here.

BAD pic, but made these here.

Yummy popcorn in pretty paper cones.

More about this here and here
and even here!

Talked about making these here.

a

Pom Pom disclaimer- The ceilings were vaulted and I wasn't able to pick exactly where they needed to go, since Z and buddy were standing on the BACK of a folding chair to get high enough., basically risking life and limb to even get them up! 
{thanks Hunny}


Please stop by again sometime!

- Becca -

I PARTY EVERYWHERE I CAN!

Tools are for Women Too, Chic on a Shoestring,  Tip Junkie,  At the Picket Fence, Shabby Nest, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Simply Designing,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Petite Hermine, Craft Envy, Stories of A 2 Z,  Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, Sugarbee Crafts, Ask Anna Moseley, DIY By Design, Passionately Artistic, Women Who Do It All, House of Hepworths, L Bratina, Beyond the Picket Fence, Shabby Chic Cottage,  Fire Flies and Jelly Beans, Its a Hodge Podge Life, Just a Girl Blog, Simply Sweet Home ,  Inspiring Creations Blog, On the Verge 6, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic, All Thingz Related, Saturday Mornings,  Poppies at Play, The Girl Creative, Type A Decorating, At Home With K, Elements Interiors, Some what Simple, Todays Creative Blog and  Stuff and Nonsense.

Room Planners for Macs

WOW!
I am LATE posting today! It has been a super busy morning and afternoon, but today we are talking about space planning.

I've been looking for a comfy, charcoal colored sectional with modern lines for over three months. I've found out that in my area they pretty much come in two lengths. One where I may have room for a small end table and one where I won't. 

A room planner is one great way to decide what you want to do. But it can be difficult to find one that works with Macs.

Pottery Barn has this room planner available and it works like a charm. You can set up an account and save your top choices.

What do you think?

As for me, I'm still deciding...Shorter...Longer? hmm.
One thing I do know- this space planner is the BOMB!
Try it out and link up your plans!

- Becca -

I party HERE
and more specifically here and here.

Home Sewn Favors

I was doing the rounds at each and every craft and party store in my area and realized that party favors are pretty ridiculous in price.
I could pay $1 for 4 of these cute little organza bags or I could...

Well, I didn't know what I could do. See, I'm originally from Boston. My own mother's motto with anything having to do with crafts or sewing was "if a glue gun can't fix it than neither can I". 

Serious.

So, or rather sew, I knew making my own bags would be a heck of a lot cheaper and just as cute but I can't sew.

Well, Mom-in-Law Berger saved the day. We got some fabric with a 40% off coupon and used ribbon I had on hand and made these sweet babies.

It was actually sew (last time, I promise) easy that I probably could do it again on my own.

 Start by cutting strips of fabric-  these are approximately 3x5in.

See where my thumb is? Next you will sew to create the pocket where the drawstrings will be inserted. Hold the fabric so that the 3in side will be the height and 5 in side will be the width.


Sew across the top of fabric about one in from the top and then again across the top only about 1/2 in from the top.

Now you'll fold the fabric in half and sew the edges to secure the other two sides of the bag. Turn the bag inside out so the seems are on the inside.


You want to make two little cuts in the pocket you created for the draw strings and thread through a piece of ribbon. Tie it in a knot and then tie one through heading the opposite direction. This way you'll be able to pull it closed.

Side note- where can a person learn to sew these days, anyhow?

The overall cost was mostly for the candies inside the bag. Cheap Frugal project anyone with a sewing machine could do. Not only that you can customize it with cute ribbons or coordinating fabric.

As always, thanks for coming by!

- Becca -


I PARTY EVERYWHERE!
Tools are for Women Too, Chic on a Shoestring,  Tip Junkie,  At the Picket Fence, Shabby Nest, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Simply Designing,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Petite Hermine, Craft Envy, Stories of A 2 Z,  Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, Sugarbee Crafts, Ask Anna Moseley, DIY By Design, Passionately Artistic, Women Who Do It All, House of Hepworths, L Bratina, Beyond the Picket Fence, Shabby Chic Cottage,  Fire Flies and Jelly Beans, Its a Hodge Podge Life, Just a Girl Blog, Simply Sweet Home ,  Inspiring Creations Blog, On the Verge 6, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic, All Thingz Related, Saturday Mornings,  Poppies at Play, The Girl Creative, Type A Decorating, At Home With K, Elements Interiors, Some what Simple and  Stuff and Nonsense.

Paper Flowers + Mother Nature

Mother nature completely ruined, uhh showed up, uhh- blew my Spring Centerpiece out of the water.

This is what she's looking like these days.

Muy bonita, right?

- Becca -

I PREETY MUCH PARTY EVERYWHERE!
Tools are for Women Too, Chic on a Shoestring,  Tip Junkie,  At the Picket Fence, Shabby Nest, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Simply Designing,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Petite Hermine, Craft Envy, Stories of A 2 Z,  Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, Sugarbee Crafts, Ask Anna Moseley, DIY By Design, Passionately Artistic, Women Who Do It All, House of Hepworths, L Bratina, Beyond the Picket Fence, Shabby Chic Cottage,  Fire Flies and Jelly Beans, Its a Hodge Podge Life, Just a Girl Blog, Simply Sweet Home ,  Inspiring Creations Blog, On the Verge 6, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic, All Thingz Related, Saturday Mornings,  Poppies at Play, The Girl Creative, Type A Decorating, At Home With K, Elements Interiors, Some what Simple and  Stuff and Nonsense.

Thrifty Gift Idea (Mother's Day/Visiting Teaching)

I received this plaque for my anniversary a few years ago. I decided to make 5x7 versions for my monthly visiting teaching handout as it's two of my girls' birthdays this month and the third gal is a mom and I will be seeing her right before mom's day- I thought the temple that is meaningful to each of them would be a perfect gift.

I started with a piece of scrap alder from Home Depot that costs me $1.01-yeah seriously! I had a pic of my happy face but switched phones and you'll just have to imagine it.

I had the guy there cut the scrap into 8 5x7 pieces. The sanded the crap out of it with 80 grit and then 220. It took the entire Nate Berkus show AND an episode of Dancing with the Stars to sand it to my liking.

 
Make LASER copies of whichever photo you want to use (inkjet prints will run). When I was looking for the free temple pics online I found that someone had done this idea before. If you go to The Idea Door you can find some variations of this as well as TONS of temple pdf files. I sized them down to 4x6 and put two to a page so it would cost less-it's 59 cents a page for color copies at Kinkos.

Then I did two coats of black craft paint. After it's super dry, you'll apply either glossy or matte modge podge (for paper) to the wood surface and then to the back of the picture- starting in the middle and working towards the edges.

The wood should look almost dry when you apply the picture to it. You'll want to press it onto the wood for 1-2 minutes and make sure no bubbles form.

 After at least 15 minutes you can do a second modge podge coat on top of the pic, this is where I had to be careful with the bubbling. Keep pressing down working from the center towards the edges- there are tools to do this, but fingers work fine.

Let the boards dry overnight, in the morning the modge podge may still feel tacky to the touch. You may then use a clear acrylic finish spray paint which fix that and make it look more professional.

Mesa, AZ Temple

Salt Lake City Temple

Laie Hawaii Temple

Although I chose a religious picture of the LDS temple because I wanted the message to be family oriented, i.e. "Families are Forever"-
you COULD do this with any print you want, a family photo or whatever.

You could also layer cute card stock or scrap book paper under the chosen picture.

For Z's and my moms we'll buy a stand to give as  part of the gift.
For the other women I'll just wrap a bow around it and call it good.



Thanks for dropping by!

- Becca -

I'M A PARTY ANIMAL!
Tools are for Women Too, Chic on a Shoestring,  Tip Junkie,  At the Picket Fence, Shabby Nest, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Simply Designing,  Funky Junk Interiors,  Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Petite Hermine, Craft Envy, Stories of A 2 Z,  Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, Sugarbee Crafts, Ask Anna Moseley, DIY By Design, Passionately Artistic, Women Who Do It All, House of Hepworths, L Bratina, Beyond the Picket Fence, Shabby Chic Cottage,  Fire Flies and Jelly Beans, Its a Hodge Podge Life, Just a Girl Blog, Simply Sweet Home ,  Inspiring Creations Blog, On the Verge 6, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Whipperberry, Remodelaholic, All Thingz Related, Saturday Mornings,  Poppies at Play, The Girl Creative, Type A Decorating, At Home With K, Elements Interiors, Some what Simple, Todays Creative Blog and  Stuff and Nonsense.

Upholstered Headboard with Nail Head Trim

Ahhh, sweet success!

My headboard is FINALLY COMPLETE!

Click if you wanna hear the planning details and the search for all my budget friendly materials cause this post is about the actual construction.

Upholstering a piece of wood is easy peasy!

1) Sand the edges of the board

2) Apply spray adhesive to the  MDF

2) Place foam (or whatever cushioning product you've chosen) on top of adhesive sprayed board

3) Place layer of batting over the foam

4) Place fabric on the floor with decorative side facing touching the ground ( & smooth wrinkles)

5) Put board and foam on top of fabric with foam touching fabric and back of the board facing you

6) Pull fabric tightly on all sides and use staple gun to secure fabric to back of the board- I like to start stapling opposite sides first. Do the corners last and fold them like a present.

7) Now the tricky part- the trim

This is where I got hung up, because I ran out of the nail heads I was using to secure the strips of nail head trim to the board. I could only find three matching boxes at Joanne's and then they were out of stock forever for over a month.

Finally they got them back in and I got Z to get the board back off the wall and could finally get to work. I do NOT usually have project hanging over my head (pun intended) for long periods of time. I'm type A all the way and like to get in and get'em done.

Here's what I started with today.

All I needed to do was secure two more sides to the outer row of trim and then the inner row. I found the easiest way to ensure the trim was straight was to set up my laser level to keep a straight line. I couldn't find any tips online to really straight trim and that lined fabric in NOT forgiving!
After getting the laser it really was a piece of cake!

{Say hello to Chew-Doggy!}

A few words to the wise-

-(1)- If you're an inpatient person or a little sloppy do NOT buy a striped fabric. You will hate you life- seriously!

-(2)-Secure the foam WELL especially if you're not using trim on the headboard. I could tell my adhesive was coming lose, but fortunately it wasn't a big deal since I was nailing it all down.

-(3)-Wear gloves that trim is SHARP- especially after you trim an edge.

 I used a French Cleat I found at Lowe's to attach the headboard to the wall. This is the perfect device to get the job done because they can support a lot of weight and are so easy to install.
I purchased 1 large cleat with a 100 pound capacity. It comes in two pieces.

It's a piece of cake to install. Just screw the first half to the wall. I used a drill and a level to get it straight.

Then screw the second piece to the back of the headboard (or anything heavy you want to hang) again making sure it's level.

 See how big the headboard is? Almost as large as the bed!

Anyhow, you should have something like this, 1/2 attached to each piece.

Grab someone to help you lift the headboard up above the cleat.   See where the cleat juts out from the wall?
The cleat on the back of the headboard will slide right into this part on the wall.


 Even though you could possibly save a couple of bucks hanging it a different way, I love this method. With it you can cheat the headboard a little to the left or right simply by sliding it!
We've moved the bed a little to the right and a little to the left and haven't had to rehang the headboard- which rocks!

And finally, the finished after!

A small piece of advice-Choose your measurements thoughtfully.When I chose the size of my MDF I decided to make a very large headboard. The H 60 x W 78  inches! The reason being, I wanted the headboard to show a little on each side of my king size mattress.

BUT ALSO- if I ever decide to use this in a guest bedroom with my QUEEN SIZE bed I can FLIP IT and USE IT SIDEWAYS. Pretty sweet, right? It will be the right width and look very dramatic as 6 1/2 foot tall headboard. Have you seen them- they look fantastic! I also left room and have supplies to finish the trim when I'm ready to change things up.

Cost Break Down:
MDF- $15

Carpet Padding- $17 (would be even less for a thinner pad)

Batting-$8
French Cleat- $15
Fabric- Curtain Panel $8

(Target clearance )  

Nail Heads- $1.50/box (8 boxes Joann's) 

Nail Head Trim- (Ebay store)

I already had- staple gun, staples, measuring tape, spray adhesive
TOTAL: $75

Thanks for dropping in on me!

Please swing by and check out some wonderful blogs from these kind ladies who featured my headboard!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party Page.

I'm also linked up here.