DIY Greek Key Fabric [with printable]

This one time I was shopping daydreaming about shopping at Horchow online.

Mostly looking for duvet inspiration when  came across this pillow.

source

Since you've read the title of this post, you've probably inferred I am referring to the Greek Key beaut. I love the symmetry, simplicity and how you eye automatically travels through the lines. There's not even a price for the pillow I like, but the other two are 250 bucks a pop. 

Two. Hundred. And. Fifty. Dollars...Each. {umm, no thank you}

Armed with the pillow as my inspiration, I decided to make my own fabric.

I came across this super fun website that helps you make your own Greek Key patterns. It is honestly awesome. They give you so many options, you could make any pattern you want in just a few minutes. 

WANNA PRINT ME?!

Here's the one I came up with, it's pretty close to the original. I made it a square pattern and used it at 10x10 inches, but you could use it at whichever size you'd like.

Materials Plastic sheet/folder (or stencil sheet)Natural Fabric with Tight Weave (cotton or linen) Paint of desired colorFabric Medium {from Michaels'- purchased 2 but used 1/2 of one}Spray AdhesiveExacto Knife & Paper Cutter (or stencil-burning tool)Greek Key Stencil

Iron

Instead of buying the stencil sheets and the stencil burning tool, yadda yadda- I used what I had on hand.

A plastic folder.

With a little deconstruction, I had a piece of plastic to experiment on.
I just used my trusty spray adhesive to attach the template to the folder, then got to work.

The stencil is designed for the black part to be removed. I used an inexpensive paper cutter to do all the straight cuts. I marked how far forward and back I could move the blade {without cutting into the white portion of the template} with a piece of white electrical tape. See in the pic below? That way I could do speedy cuts, because there really is a lot of them.

After I had done all the cutting vertically and horizontally I used an Exacto knife for some of the corners. It took me the entire episode of Project Runway to cut it out. 

A nice chunk of time- but still worth it for 

(1) the money saved &

(2) I got exactly what I wanted. 

I wasn't loving the patterns I found online, so getting the exact pattern in the exact color is a HUGE value for me. The bigger the pattern is blown up to use, the quicker and easier it will be to cut out. 

Also, if you made your own, you could simplify it quite a bit. 

As usual, I ignored the amount of time it would take and went full speed ahead towards getting a very close copy of my inspiration. Here's what I used to for the color. 

I was dying to try out the much-talked-about Martha Stewart paint line. I chose Beach Glass in Satin and mixed it with some white paint, to lighten the color a bit. I also picked up Fabric Medium and Pearlizing Medium. I bought everything from Michael's, on sale and ended up using about  1/2 a bottle of each of them (less the white paint.)

Follow the directions on the back of your paints in order to combine them properly. You can only see the shimmer in these pics of the paint while it was wet. Dry, the shimmer is super subtle and doesn't show in the dry paint pics I've taken.

Use a tight weave, natural fabric to paint on. Mine is an inexpensive cotton that feel like a 200-300 thread count sheet.

I used spray adhesive to attach the stencil to the fabric. I sprayed a light coat on the back of the stencil so the fabric wouldn't get very sticky. {You could use regular spray adhesive or stencil adhesive, both will work}

If you're following my lead and using a folder the adhesive is a must. 

The stencil will be in two pieces- the inner scrolls and the outer frame and lines- so you need to secure the inner scroll work to the fabric, though I still held it down as I dabbed/stippled the paint brush. The paint didn't bleed under the stencil at all, I was really impressed.

Can you see the clump of paint on the left side?

If you get one, it's probably where the acrylic didn't get mixed into the fabric medium. Just scrape'em off while the paint is wet.

Drying time is 24-48 hours. If you need to do any touch-ups the next day you should be fine. When I did there wasn't any color variation between the old and newly applied paints.

After the drying time, you need to iron the fabric to heat set the paint. Follow the directions on your specific brand of fabric medium. You should iron the reverse side of the fabric, without steam.

Want some IDEAS for your new 4 dollar Greek Key FABRIC? OK!

Pillows {of course}

 

Curtains {or Shower Curtains}

 

Headband? It's kinda chic.

PLACES to use your new, free STENCIL?

Walls. Mimic the look of mucho expensive wallpaper.

  Floors. This Greek Key rug is gorgeous,  but DIYing a runner or mat would probably be a little more realistic!

This smaller rug is $147 on Amazon I'm sure we could make it for a fraction of the price.

Add a Greek key border to pre-bought sheets or bedding, to make them look instantly expensive and gorgeous!

Here's a close up of my new fabric. It looks legit- right?

I can't wait to show you guys the end product. I love, love, love it! You can find it here!

Don't forget to grab the printable pattern & to check out the website to make any Greek Key design you want, it ROCKS!

Create a Blogging Signature

I had never really read blogs before I started mine. I expected to write about Z and I and , well, just life. But very quickly I realized blogs are awesome! Seriously, I couldn't believe I had never checked them out before. My favorite to read were and still are home blogs about creative and inspirational DIY decorating.

When I decided to start blogging my own little projects there was a pretty big learning curve. But I took note of all the little {and big} touches that set popular blogs aside from the run of the mill family one.

I noticed that creating an identity was important. One way to do that was to add a personalized signature to sign off at the end of a post. Adding a signature is a piece of cake. Head over to My Live Signature where they will walk you through a few easy steps in creating your new individualized touch.

You will choose the font, color, size, and angle your signature can appear.

You don't need an account, just select "Click Here to Start" .

 

On the next page we are going to select the first option, 

"Using the signature creation wizard"

Step 1:Write your name, as you want it to appear in the box.

Step 2: On the next page we can choose from 120 different fonts by viewing a preview.

Here's some of the ones I liked:

 

 From there you will be asked to select all your specifications to make your name look exactly as you'd like it to.

Step 3: Pick out your size, I think I choose size #5.  I'm not 100% certain though.

 Steep 4: Color. Just double click in the box and you'll have the whole color wheel to choose from.

In this screen shot you can see the preview for my name on the left. 

I chose a transparent background and a color for my name.

Step 5: Pick the slant for your name. Currently I have slope #1, which is  pretty much 0 slope. I think I'll change it in the future, to make my name stand apart from all the other text a little better.

Go to the next page and you will have 3 options of what you can do with your new signature. You wan the last choice,  "Want to Use this Signature?" 

The link takes you to the next page, just click on "Generate HTML Code."

Step 6: Now your last decision, would you like you name to appear with other writing or alone. Do you use a good bye tag line? Would you like to start using one?

For example, some peeps say "Hugs" or "xoxo" or something like that. Now's your time to add one if you want one.

Preview your choice and click on "Generate Code" once you've finished.

 Step 7:Choose the link "Generate Code for Blogging" { there are other usage options if you want to explore those on your own}

Below your new code you should select "click here" to get directions on how to insert the code into your blog.

It's super easy, I copied them and pasted them below in case you guys have questions.

WordPress

To add your signature to a post:

- Select "Code" in the editor window

- Insert the HTML code of the signature

- Select "Visual" and continue editing

 Blogger

To add your signature to a post:

- Click "Edit HTML" in the editor window

- Insert the HTML code of the signature

- Click "Edit HTML" and continue editing

Basically, your signature Html code is pasted into the Html version of EACH post you write. You can paste it anywhere, I always scroll to the very bottom and paste it in there.

BLOGGER: You can also upload it permanently into your blog template- just go to:

• Settings
• then: Posts and Comments
• in the Post Template box add your img src code

Super easy and quick way to help personalize your blog, portray who you are, and solidify you blogging identity. Hope that helps some of you new guys. I wished I had help with these things { like making blog buttons, creating the Html code to allow others to copy your button, personalizing your Favicon, and adding Email and RSS social media icons} when I was getting started.

That's why I write these babies up! Hope they help!

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

I'm also linked up here

Vase into Mercury Glass Pendent Light [West Elm Inspired]

I am always looking for ways to spice up and personalize our condo, although I'm somewhat limited because we're renting right now. Sometimes people forget they can change out the lighting when they rent. It's an easy change, just make sure you're not doing anything that will damage the existing fixture or the ceiling and you can easily take it back out when you move. 

For this project I was inspired by these cylinder pendent lights from Rogan Objects. They're priced at 500-700 bucks(!!), are made of hand blown glass and look pretty fantastic {and pretty expensive}

West Elm is selling these "antique" glass jars.  These babies will set you back 100 bucks.  I love the color gray glass and the visible light bulbs inside them.

My plan was to create a combination of both these looks. Here's what I did. I started with a brand new vase. First things first, we need to make the hole in the vase for the cord to come out of.

DRILL THE HOLE: What you will need

• glass vase
• diamond tip drill bit (available at home improvement store, cost $5)
• electric drill
• spray bottle with water
• goggles
• rubber gloves
• 220 grit sand paper
• permanent marker
• measuring tape

1. Measure and mark the exact center of the bottom of the vase with permanent marker.
2. Suit up in some protective gear. eHow- says to put on long sleeved shirt, goggles, and wear rubber gloves. So, I did that. Pretty quickly I took off the long sleeved shirt because one, it was hot outside, and two, there weren't any shards of glass flying anywhere, at all, the whole time. But I kept the goggle on, don't mess around with your eyes!
3. Grab your new drill bit, a drill, and a spray bottle. 
4. You're going to drill a hole though the glass and this will be where the cord passes through. At Home Depot they only had one size drill bit for glass, but it was plenty big enough for the cord to be threaded through.  

Drilling:

• *When you drill, you want the surface to be wet the whole time. Lubricating the tip keeps the glass from breaking and helps the tip last longer. 
• *Place your vase on a flat surface, so that it will be supported equally on all sides the entire time.
•  *If you're drilling though a thick glass surface you can use a high drill speed, but start on a slow speed either way.
• *Be careful to hold the drill firmly, but don't apply pressure. Allow the drill's weight to do the work.
• *Make sure to hold the drill straight up and down so the hole is straight, otherwise the lamp will hang crooked.
• {note: This is the same procedure you would follow to drill through ceramic, porcelain, and pottery. Just in case you want to turn all your household items into lamps!} Getting the drill to bite into the glass was the hardest part of drilling because you don't want the drill to slip and nick up the glass. Also, the shape of the bottom of my vase helped the water to pool to the center and made it easy to keep the drill bit lubricated. During most of the drilling, I would only spray the hole every minute or two.

(4) Grab a friend to help. When your drill tip starts to reach through the glass to the other side, you will need to spray water on the hole every few seconds since it'll keep draining right through to the other side. You can easily hear the difference between drilling with water and without. At this point it's smart to stop and have someone help you. 

Have one person spray the hole almost constantly and hold the vase steady while the other holds the drill with both hands making sure to support most of the drills weight and go slowly. This should help from chipping the glass at the very end when it will be weak.

5. Keep your gloves on and sand the edges of the glass hole with 220 grit sandpaper. Make sure everywhere but the hole is covered in tape, so you don't scratch the glass anywhere else. Keep the gloves on to clean up all the water and thoroughly wipe down the vase. 

CREATE THE MERCURY GLASS FINISH: What you will need

Krylon's "Looking Glass" spray paint (cheapest @ Michael's, cost $7 with 40% off coupon)

• painter's tape
• newspaper

(6) Follow my directions to make mercury glass. The only thing I did differently was the number of coats I applied. I only did three LIGHT coats because I wanted the light to easily pass through and wanted a mottled looking finish.

INSTALLING THE LIGHT: What you will need

• lighting kit (cheapest @ Ikea, cost $5)
• ceiling medallion (home improvement store, cost $5)
• electrical tape
• 60 watt light bulb

(7) Take down your existing light fixture and disconnect the electrical from it.

In my case I took down a recessed light.

(8) Put your new pendant light together. Thread the lighting kit wire through your new pendent light/glass vase, through the top of the vase and out the new hole in the bottom. I added a piece from another light to the new top, to make it look more like a light. 

(9) Thread the cord through the ceiling medallion of your choice. I chose the cheapest option, a silver 6 inch medallion purchased for 5$ from Home Depot. This will cover the hole in your ceiling left from the removal of the old light.

(10) Connect the electrical wires for your new light.  There's a positive and negative wire for both the light and the electrical in the ceiling. They are usually color coded, black and white, one for each charge. It's a matter of matching up colors. In the photo you can see the black wires coming down from the ceiling, them tape, then black wire coming up from the light fixture.

Use the electrical tape the cover all the exposed wire.

(11) Secure the lighting kit cord somewhere in the ceiling using the hooks that came in the package with the light kit.  {There's directions that come in the light kit. If you have questions.} The hooks will support the weight of the light fixture, instead of the electrical wire holding it up- which would be bad. **Amended, we took off the electrical tape, per a reader's suggestion, and crimped the wires instead. 

(11) Attach the medallion to the ceiling using the hardware that came in the package. There's directions in the package and it looks easy to do. I ran into a bit of trouble with this step. Because I took out a recessed light, rather than a normal light fixture, the hole in the ceiling was over 7 inches wide. I would need a second larger medallion to cover a hole that big and it would have to be layered with the smaller one. Like these:

However, I had no way to affix them to the ceiling without leaving a mark when it was time to take it down. So instead, I used glue to secure the medallion directly to the recessed light. It's a rubbery glue that holds well, but when you pull the items apart and break the seal, it will easily come off without leaving a trace.  Before popping the recessed light housing back into place in the ceiling, I secured the lighting cord on the hooks I attached the the light housing, as can be seen two pictures up.

Unfortunately, I was left with two holes where the medallion was supposed to be attached to the ceiling with screws.



So I used upholstery nails left over from my headboard project. I used a toothbrush to brush Rub 'n Buff silver wax on the brass tacks. They matched well enough.


(12) Now, put the bulb in and you're all set!

All said, this was an afternoon's worth of work. A bit longer for me though, since I didn't know what materials would be needed ahead of time. You know how it goes when you're winging it, right?

 Here's the BEFORE

 And the AFTER



Here's a close up, with the light on. There's a lot of variation to the mirror finish.



The cord is beginning to hang straighter, the longer it's up. It's still a little wavy from being folded in the package. I love how you see the bulb and light assembly through the glass. It's exactly what I was going for!


What about you? Have you made your own light fixture lately? Made up a project on the spot and have to improvise? Or run to the store 25 times?

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

I'm also linked up here.

 

Vintage Suitcase & Food Storage

I have been coveting the suitcase decor trend for awhile now. This week I finally dropped five whole dollars at the DI {thrift store} on two blue lovelies.

Check out some awesome suitcase inspiration-

This is almost a carbon copy of one of the suitcases I purchased.

Source: crate.typepad.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: cupcakesandcashmere.com via Rebecca on Pinteret

 Source: sweetandsaucysupply.com via Janice on Pinterest

Do you guys have vaulted ceilings? 

If you do, then you probably have some weird nook, where the wall stops and doesn't touch the ceiling. This creates a strange, dust collecting, ledge that's ridiculously hard to decorate.

Unfortunately, I have a major lack of storage space.
Well actually, the condo has great storage for a "normal" people. But when you are packing in a year's worth of food, hygeine products, cleaning products and 3+ months of animal food-
well, you get the idea.


This is what we have been living with. No amount of Photoshop is going to spiff up  this picture. It is what it is, dust collecting ledge "awesome" architectural feature being used as an animal food storage shelf.
{Yup, there's a grill up there too.}

I almost mentioned this ledge way back when I first started blogging, in my post about small space food storage solutions. But then I quickly realized the post was intended to be about food storing SOLUTIONS, not eye sores in your living room!
Enter the suitcases.

They'll be working double duty. On the one hand I needed some older items to temper all the modern pieces I've been buying or refurbishing.
On the other, they'll be creating some {always} needed storage. The suitcases are large enough to each fit a 20lb of cat/dog food, with room to spare! Yay! Totally awesome news because we believe in food storage and don't want our furry family to starve, but I cannot look at cat food bags even one more day!

 Pretty much these sweet little babies are saving the day!

The dark blue one had a name written on it in black sharpie. I used a Magic Eraser and it took it right off. Actually, the Magic Eraser took off like 40 years of grime off of each of them. Uh, gross. Next I cleaned the exterior with my homemade all purpose cleaner.

I used my carpet cleaner on the inside fabric and scrubbed the heck out of it!
Where the fabric was gaping, I used some spray adhesive and just shot it right into the hole! Then smoothed the fabric back down and it worked like a charm.

This is what things are looking like these days. For now I'll be keeping the color. I have so many projects planned that involve this side of the room, that it just doesn't make sense to change them yet.

 

 I am thinking about painting them. Mostly I'm playing around with the idea of a light gray or a white with gray undertones. Don't these look beautiful? I like that the hardware is painted, as well.

I have some more to add on this side of the suitcases, a few more vintage items.
But was actually thinking about getting one more suitcase. That would be one more bag of food out of sight or out of my guest room closet.

What about you guys? Have some hard to decorate area of you home? How about storage problems? Or storage solutions?!

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

I'm also linked up here.