A couple of DIY projects

I plan on finishing my chair this week. But the past couple of weeks I have done a couple of small DIY projects. Here are the pictures. I'll post some tutorials later.

Candy Jars

 Guest Room Curtains out of an IKEA duvet cover

 Candy Wreath

I love a good craft project!

Let us EAT!

   Since Shane and I have been watching Cougar Town for a couple of seasons, I have had my eyes on this wall decoration on Courtney Cox’s kitchen wall. I loved the colors of the letters and just the general typography of them. I figured they would be pretty easy to replicate. My brain created my next DIY project.

   There were the same letters at Anthroplogie for $14 each. I had heard that JoAnn Fabrics had letters to use for about $3 a piece. However, when I visited my local store, they didn’t have any of the large letters I wanted to use. Sooo I ended up just get a couple of fabric quarters to think about using on letters once I found some. Each fabric square was about 2 dollars and I purchased a few colors and prints. I figured I could use what I don’t need on other craft projects.

   My next stop in town was to Hobby Lobby. Thankfully they had a couple of options when it came to letters. I had it narrowed down to either wooden letters or a cardboard letter. In the end the cardboard won due to its lightweight and less “serifs” making them easier to cover and easier to hang!

   Once I got the letters home, I painted the front of them with leftover primer I had around the house. Now the fabric would be true to the color versus what it would look like on top of cardboard.

   Once the paint was dry, I covered each letter with fabric or ribbon. I secured the ends with a little dot of hot glue. You could easily use scrapbook paper and Mod Podge to cover letters as well. The possibilities are endless with how you personalize them.

TaDa!!!

   When I finished covering the letters, I use a couple of strips of 3m Command Strips to attach them to the wall.

Now they are placed right above the center bay window in my kitchen. I couldn’t be happier with the way they turned out!!

Picture Wall... Check!

After seeing this picture from a blog I read just about everyday, I was really inspired to do this in our house. I just needed to figure out a space. I decided that going up the stairs would be a good place.  So off I started!

Photo from http://www.younghouselove.com/

Here is a step-by-step of how I made my picture wall.

Step 1 - Buy really cheap frames.
   I looked at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and around my house for frames that would work. I knew that I was going to spray paint them, so it really didn't matter what color it was, just that it was in good shape. I think the total cost of frames was about $13. Here is a picture of the ones I bought.

Step 2 - Clean and Spray paint all the frames white
   It took a couple of coats of spray paint. I actually ended up painting some with extra primer I had in the garage to touch up what the spray paint didn't cover.

Before...



After one coat



Step 3 - Decide the layout

   After letting the paint dry overnight, I made templates out of each of the frames and by using painters tape I taped them up to the wall in the layout I wanted to use. (For some reason i forgot to take a picture of this step ) but you can use your imagination as to what it would look like. After asking opinions from Shane and my sister, I had the final layout planned.

Step 4 - Choose art, and hang the frames

   I haven't quiet picked out all the art or pictures that I want to use so some of my frames are still blank. I have also used some left over scrapbook paper for some not-so-picture art.

   To hang the frames I either used Command hanging strips or used nails. With the templates on the wall it was really easy to measure where to put the nails. I was able to just nail right through the newspaper and pull it off to see a clean nail. EASY!!

This can give you a slight idea of what the templates looked like!

Step 5 - Step back and Enjoy!

   After putting nails in the wall and putting hang strips on the frames, it only took about 10 minutes to finish the project.

   Here are some after shots!!!

I'm happy with the way it turned out, and one more thing to cross off my wish list!!! In the future I would like to add some professional matting to some of the photos, but for now this will work!

Total Cost -- $23 -- not too shabby for 14 frames!

- Frames -- $13

- Paint -- $4

- Hanging Strips -- $6