Initial Artwork: Letter C

I suppose initial artwork, or lettering in the nursery is nothing new.  It's nice to stamp a nursery, or a kids room with their name to make it more personal.  (Heck, I've even talked about my love of monograms before too!)  When we settled on a name for our baby boy, I was able to purchase a white letter "C" to try to attempt a project along these lines.

So, here's what I did.

First I took an $8 clearance frame from Home Goods (regularly $25!).  Of course, the butterfly motif wasn't going to quite cut it with the baby boats bedding.  :)  It was all wrong!

The white frame stayed, but the green mat was painted blue.  I painted this with acrylics, and I think it looked like wood when I was done.  I just loved that the mat was cut to fit the square frame already, plus the cut out/lined details were great.

Because of the depth of the frame, I was able to adhere the C to the board, and still have room to close the frame down.  First though, I needed to cover the cardboard backing with green houndstooth fabric, that matches the curtains.  I used spray adhesive and adhered a piece of fabric to the top of the cardboard.  Since the mat was going to cover the edges of the cardboard backing, I didn't fold it around the back edges... just simply adhered to the top.

Then, after a failed hot glue gun attempt at putting the C on the fabric, I checked out my E6000 glue for it's specs... turns out it adheres fabric to wood with a 3 smiley face rating (I guess that's good?!)  So I dabbed it on the backing of my MDF "C" and placed it in the middle of the fabric (I had lined up the mat as a guide.)

Then, just cleaned and reassembled!  Oh, I just L-O-V-E it, but am even more excited to see it on the wall in baby boy's room!

It's amazing what a little vision and paint will do!

What do you think about the transformation, and colors?

More to come on the nursery progress.  Labor Day Weekend brought a lot of progress that I can't wait to share!

Whilst Shopping, the images...

Whoever invented the camera phone should be given a pat on the back.  I had a "totally business" Blackberry (with NO camera) for 2 LOOOONG years, and when we got iPhones this past November finally, I've enjoyed having a camera again!

Because you can be inspired anywhere, I snap pictures constantly.  As I was walking at Target today, I realized I have nearly 150 photos on my little iPhone.

Here are some of the photos I've gathered Whilst Shopping (hence the title!) and I hope that some of these inspire some of you as well.  Enjoy!

TARGET FINDS:

Ok, I want this storage cube as a side table, asap.  It appears to be really solidly made, but is still $99.99.  I found it online at Target HERE for you.  :)  I'm going to watch for this one to go on sale, I like it that much.

 

This pillow is white, but the lighting in Tar-jay doesn't condone fantastic iPhone shots.  I love the strips that mimic ruffles, and because I'm dangerous with a sewing machine now, I totally thought I could make this!

And doesn't this little stool remind you of something?!  Yes!  I'm not crazy to have a zebra ottoman!  This little stool was $49.99, not bad, but my $15 table, and $6 yard of fabric will be cheaper.  :)  You can find it online HERE.

 

This looks simple enough to make.  A thin square pillow, with a black button through it, and a black ribbon ruffle border?  Yep.  For $24.99 though?  Probably cheaper to make it!

Thanks Target!

HOMEGOODS FINDS:

 

I love this fretwork mirror.  The silver/champagne color, and the detail.  I think this one was $39 or $49.  Ultimately, it really inspired my painting I created in black and white.

This is a kids size Louis XVI chair for $39.  White?  Yes!  Pink Pleather?  Yes!  How stylish for a little coutour girl.  Makes me want to change up my Louis XVI chair!

 

This canister was nearly 18" tall, and I loved the color, but didn't have a place for it.  It was on clearance though, my favorite spot in the store!  :)

The green metalic glass, and oil rubbed bronze coloring on this peice caught my eye and made me walk back and take a photo.  I think it was $16.99 but I'll wait for it to go on clearance in the hopes I can find a spot for it by then.

 

Remember my love of the fleur de lis lately?  Like in this small stencil project?  Isn't this table neat?  I've been seeing stenciled tables online lately, which I'm sure could be made to mimic this photo, for less that $79.99.

How fun are these chests!  They had yellow, blue, and green stripe versions.  I'm totally on the lookout for some pieces to do this treatment to now.  I think these were $129.99 each.  

 

And onto a few Easter decor items.  I loved this egg tree, that sort of mimics a topiary.  The colors are so country, but I love the softness of them.  The eggs are speckled, so find a tutorial out there in blogland (there are plenty!) and make this tree (then make sure you share it with me!).  The $19.99 price was actually pretty good for this one I think.

Then there was this cool egg, that's a takeoff on the technique I used for this wreath.  The paper is stiff, and the "petals" are attached in big sections, like the size of a wooden pencil eraser.  I liked the idea of the craft, and just need to put it to use at some point.

So I love this color so much, I'm considering it for the master bedroom!  This plate set was everything I love: Fleur de lis (notice a pattern here?!), scalloped edges, dot detailing.  Can I just have these to hang on the wall somewhere?!  Not bad at $3.99 each.

How fun is this lamp from the children's section?!  They also had a pink and white version.  A glass lamp base with pom poms in it?  Too cute!  And, totally a DIY project :)

 

I really liked the crisp black and white on this bucket, and it made me wonder if I should add the wreath detail around my bulletin board bee.  What do you think?

Thanks HomeGoods!

 

Anyway, I hope you had fun shopping with me.  I'm super bummed I didn't take a photo of the antique buffet I was eyeing at the Salvation army yesterday.  It was in awesome condition, with original beautiful hardware.  The catch?  Even when this store is extremely well priced normally, this piece was $399!  Even on a 50% off day, that's still $200.  I may see if they've marked it down by next weekend, if it's still there.  I could totally see someone snatching it up, even at $200, or $399!  (Just not me... my buffet cost me $20!)

Hope you all are having (or had!) a great weekend!  I'm finally mostly better (except my remaining pesky cough!) so it's back to the grind for me.

Take care, and stay dry/warm/[cool?] depending on where you are in the world!

Ballard Inspired Bee Bulletin Board

Do you remember when I posted about my love/hate relationship with bees?  I've been itching to use one in the decor here ever since then.  Now that our calendar is off of our bulletin board (because I made this dry-erase message center), I have a big wall of brown.  Ok, "Cappuccino" if you want to be technical.  But there's no contrast.  Enter: bee stencil, and watered down acrylic paint...

My Ballard-inspired Bee Bulletin Board:

Here are some before photos so you can really appreciate the size of this bad-boy.  I think it's about 36x24" with a 2.5" crown molding border.  It's pretty big!  And, it's a message center for us, directy across from our kitchen.  You may have also see that I posted Christmas cards on it during the season.

 

  

 

Anyway, I finally settled on a bee that looked slightly vintage, slightly whimsical, and not all furry and fuzzy, cause you know I don't really want to look at a full on INSECT.  (Which Z reminded me, it is a BUG... zoinks.)

This was a project inspired by two Ballard Items- Their framed bulletin boards, which are super fancy and a bit overpriced (!) and their bee designs on items such as totes, bags, towels and lampshades:

Their "Madison Corkboard" which is $299:

And things like the "Queen Bee" tote:

or the "laptop tote": or or the "Bee Pillow":

So, here's what I did:

I taped some paper together, and brought the image up on my desktop.  I freehanded this one, by starting with the body shapes, adding in the lower legs, then wings.  I added the detailing of the strips and the upper legs last.

I transfered my drawing to the bulletin board, and made sure the scale was good, and then cut the whole pattern out.  I didn't worry about cutting the stripes out yet.  Then, I pinned the pattern down, and traced the outer edge with a black ballpoint pen.  (Black, since my paint was going to be black, and my pencil didn't work on the corkboard :)  )

 

  

Here's a straight on view in case you want to use this one as a pattern:

 

Then, I took a squirt of cheapo acrylic paint in black (even though it's not a true black, more a very dark grey) and watered it down with a few drops.  I knew I could make the painting darker later, but I was attempting a more vintagey look.

Paint!  Just use your outline, and a brush with a flat edge, and cover your traced pattern.

 

  

  

 

I love that the cork sucked the paint in, and while I didn't water it down enough initially, the cork did the rest by getting me to almost the look I was going for.

Finished product again:

 

  

Up close on the paint:

Now, I just need to find (or make?) cuter push pins.  :)  And one question:  Should the bee body be colored in solid black?  Or, would it look like a flying termite (as Z so eloquently put it) if it were solid?  The stripes let you know it's a bee, but a solid version would look more whimsical?  I don't know!  Help!

I guess this bee thing isn't just a fad.  My first puppy, Kadee, had bee toys.  And Lexi and Gunner share a few bee toys too:

So anyway, I love it, and now just need to work on the rest of that big, blank, brown, boring wall.  Alliteration my friends, alliteration.

**Oh, and did you SEE IT?!  I finally made my curtains.  Go check out the sneak peak, with a full post coming soon.**

Until next time!