A blank wall is one of the most exciting opportunities to me. Dare I say that it is a blank canvas? No? Too cliché or pun-derful?! But it is. It is just a wall waiting to get color, pattern, and texture splashed all over it in the form of artwork. I’ve done quite a bit of artwork here on the blog, whether buying it or making it. Both have their place. Like when I bought this map for a steal, made this large scale fabric artwork, created art from magazines, got custom framing done, or did it myself with a floating frame, to just name a few. Recently I needed quite a bit more artwork and got down to making some of my own, no painting or real artistic skills needed.
When my mom and I went to Ikea, we found some great frames that were just dying to be filled. Here is what I did with the oh-so colorful frames.
1. The obvious one – print out your own pictures. Nothing will make you happier or seem more special than pictures from your own collection. I decided to take a wedding picture and two from my travels. One is, obviously, the Eiffel Tower and the other is the south of France. They all three make me relive some of my favorite memories.
2. My sister sent me the more adorable card a while back. It was too fun to throw away or put in a memory box. It needed to be displayed, so into a frame it went!
3. Google. Seriously a great tool for grabbing artwork. I found some free printables that were beautiful and inspiring to me. Just print out to the size you need and wa-la. Art work! Get this Coco Chanel printable here.
4. Grab some collectibles from places you have been or projects you have done. When I was in China we took a few classes writing characters in Chinese. Hardest. class. ever. I took one of my tissue paper like scripts, wrapped it around the cardstock that came in the frame, and memorialized one of my own Chinese. Now, I’m pretty sure no Chinese person could actually read what I wrote (it’s all in the wrist and is very difficult to pick up on the small little flicks of the wrist needed to write Chinese) but it makes me happy, reminding me of the hours we spent trying to master it. Lots of laughs ensued from those lessons.
5. The other day I bought a neon green mirror for a buck. It was fun and why not? It had been sitting around waiting for something to happen to it. I finally had a brainstorm. As I was searching for printables online, I came across one that had the exact same shade of green. I decided to print it out and mount it to the mirror as its mat and frame. Then I thought it needed a little something else so I took out my washi tape and framed out the quote with the tape. Loved it! It gives it a little more dimension. Perfect! Get the printable here.
So there are some ideas on making inexpensive, fun, and personalized artwork! Stay tuned for the reveal of where they ended up!
[…] might have guessed in this artwork post that I had something up my sleeve, er rather up my wall. I was up to mischief in my favorite room of […]ReplyCancel
When I wake up in the morning, the sun is already shining, the birds are singing, and green buds and beautiful flowers are sprouting up all around the house. Not only is it beautiful to look outside, but it is beautiful to be outside. It’s that rare month of spring weather we get in Virginia of perfect warm, non-humidity ridden weather before the full force of humid summer days hits. All it makes me want to do is slip on my flips-flops and skip around outside. When the skipping urge subsides, I then want to start outdoor spruces around the house. You saw me start this with the back outdoor organization project, and that just whetted my palette. I am in full-on planning mode as to what I want my hit-list to be for outside this year.
Bonus Project: Anything in the back entertaining area. Perhaps sprucing up the screened in porch, or making the outside porch an oasis, or perhaps staining/stamping/painting the concrete area.
Those are my main, big projects that I want to tackle. That of course does not include any of the regular planting and little, fun projects. Here are some thoughts on those:
Plant garden again.
Replant where certain bushes and plants didn’t make it through the winter. 🙁
Get flowers for front porch. Spray paint old urns I unearthed and set them out front with flowers.
Plant flower boxes on back porch.
De-winterize geraniums and see if they survived.
Brainstorm about DIY-ing an entertaining area or more built-in planters on porch.
Get trees limbed and/or cut down.
So those are some smaller goals for this planting/outdoors season! I can’t wait to go buy lots and lots of beautiful flowers! However, I can wait on all the watering that brings on. Perhaps I should start thinking about adding a rain barrel to that list. Hmm…interesting thought.
In the mean time, since I am brainstorming, I thought I would put together some inspiring outdoor spaces to get us all motivated to get out and dig in the dirt!
This first space is probably one of my favorites I have ever seen. I am completely over the moon for it. I love the colors, the lights, the painted patio, the fire pit area. Agh, I drool over it every time I see it. I’m definitely wondering if we could make our back patio painted like this one.
I love this space because it is embracing the natural beauty of the outdoors and sunshine by just adding a few bright items to make it inviting. I love its simplicity, which would definitely work on our deck since it is a small space. I also like the idea of the floor deck pillows!
All it takes to freshen up a space are some potted plants and lanterns! Another simple fix that I can do for our space. I also love that the watering can is part of the décor. ANd twinkle lights are a MUST.
I am really digging the layers of flowers here. The trails and trails, when all else fails…flowers, flowers, everywhere. [Umm not sure what that little diddy was but let’s just roll with it…]
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So this one is fun! I like the idea of perhaps a bookshelf or rolling cart that I can layer with flowers and such but then put inside for the winter. The DIY wheels are starting to turn on this one.
I couldn’t help but put this type in again, with the many layers of trailing flowers. I think my vision, no my dream, would be to have an outdoor space with walls of flowers. Sigh. Doesn’t that sound magical?
There is a place, a place that I have never shown you before at our house. It is dirty, bug-ridden, and gross. Good thing it is outside! Nevertheless, it was a mess. Under the porch, there was this monster.
Yes, I know it is outside, but I like everything to be organized. It makes me happy. I like symmetrical planting and organized gardening and outdoor equipment. I also think it is nice for the neighbors, in case they can see all our junk from their back windows. So finally (FINALLY) when the weather turned nice (it snowed a few days ago?!) it was time to tackle the outdoor organization pile.
Step 1: Take everything out and separate it by category. Get rid of everything that you don’t need. There were tons of old plastic bags, plant containers, empty bottles, etc. that I was able to just get rid of. Feels so good!
Step 2: Clean out of the space before you put items back. We took this time to use the blower to get all the debris out of the area and make it a little cleaner. Although, I do realize there will always be dirt in the area where we store the dirt. I’m cool with that.
Step 3: Put everything back in a designated place. All the old boards got stored in the ceiling. The fire wood went under the shelves. The bags went on the bottom shelf. The tools, bottles, and planters went on the top. The buckets went into a corner. All the driveway repair materials went together. I was also able to hang a few tools.
That was it! Way less stuff now and we can tell by a glance if we need more fertilizer, top soil, weed killer, etc. No buying stuff we already have! It may not be a pretty organization project (no artwork, pretty patterns), but in a place subject to the elements and about to head into planting season, I was all about making it more functional, not pretty. It works for me, and maybe the neighbors will appreciate it too! Now, let’s get planting!
My mom gave me one of the best gifts I have ever gotten the other week when she visited. This gift basically gave me a window into my childhood that I can visit multiple times a day. She gifted me her own, original miniature collection.
You might remember my attempts at a miniature collection. I really liked my start, although it didn’t have much in it yet. I knew it would take time. This is what it was currently looking like. Pretty empty, some backing paper that wasn’t my favorite.
However, when my mom arrived with a giant bag and it ended up containing her miniature collection (hmm, that’s an oxymoron), I didn’t even hesitate to take down mine and replace it with hers. I don’t even mind the mixing of wood.
It was so much fun to go through each tiny, tiny item with her, reminiscing about all the memories that these little pieces had. I just remember so many moments looking at that miniature collection when I was younger, touching each item so carefully, enamored by its small beauty. It was even more fun piecing it back together, fitting in the objects just so. It was like a giant puzzle full of beautiful and sentimental items.
It’s perfect too, because we have been looking for another tray for Eric to have in the basement. We found that his cars fit perfectly into the tray that I had bought, so that one will be transitioning to the basement and he can fit in tons of Eric’s little cars. Won’t that be fun for him to have a car miniature collection?!
Why the swap and swoon? Because that is what I am doing. This change has me batting my eyelashes and getting all giggly. Why is that? Well, in our bedroom…we changed the artwork! This artwork has a loooooooong back story. It all started in spring of 2008 when a group of teachers and students from Principia College started an exciting journey across China, in the form of a study abroad! It was the best. experience. of. my. life. So many amazing things happened there, too many to fit in one blog post. One of the amazing things was the shopping. Wow, that sounds shallow, although I will at least put it low on the life-altering amazing list. Anyways, the shopping in China is an unbelievable type of event. The bartering, the overwhelming-ness, the techniques, the choices, the language barrier, the deals, the rip-offs…the list goes on. The end result is worth it. I came back with oodles of souvenirs, jewelry, scarves, and artwork. I actually can’t find a picture in the market since I was so busy buying. But I do have a picture of my wares! Check this out!
[Any fellow China abroaders reading, please send a picture of the market if you have one and I will update this post!]
You’ve seen some of the artwork pop up around the house, like this floating picture frame. However, I still had tons of artwork just sitting in the closet since 2008. What a shame! I had literally been carrying the same piece of paper around in my purse that I wrote the dimensions of the artwork on since 2008, looking for a frame that would fit. Since these pieces of artwork came from lots of crazy places around China, they were definitely all shapes and sizes. There is no standard there, even in driving. So I finally bit the bullet and got a few pieces custom framed. Eek! I had been putting this off forever (or 5 years) because custom framing can hit the budget hard. However, I found this great local shop called Beyond These Hills that has a fabulous custom framer named Beth who does a great job with very reasonable prices. Yes, you will have to pay more than you would if you bought a premade frame and mat at a store, but if that isn’t an option and you need to go custom framing, Beth is now my girl! I had so much fun going into the store with my prints and playing with different frames (no mats since the pictures already sort of had them built-in) and finding the perfect match.
Last week when my mom was here I finally paid them off and could take them home with me! The problem was I had no idea where to put them. I thought they would go great in the guest bathroom but that just sounded like a bad idea. Even though it is rarely used for showers, still, it made me nervous for a pricey framing job to go in there. Then, my brilliant husband said, “Why don’t you hang them in our bedroom?” Dude, those instant moments of brilliance are incredible. I have been thinking about this for months, and then the first time I mention it to Eric, he comes up with the perfect place in 5 seconds. Geez, I should just stop thinking myself.
It was the perfect solution. The small compilation of IKEA prints come down and relocated (keep reading, you will see where!) and up went the new China prints.
First, I used my tried and true method of cutting up cardboard boxes to measure and place the pictures to stop needless holes being hammered into the wall. Then “x” marks the spot for the nail and you are ready to hang!
I am in love. Like seriously in love. These prints are perfect in this space and are incredibly beautiful. The colors, the glistening frames, it all works. I find myself staring at these, just aimlessly walking into the room to stare.
I searched long and hard to find the perfect season prints in China. They were everywhere but there were so many that were “too Chinese” (ahh, that sounds terrible but I knew I didn’t want a heavy Asian influence in my decorating but still wanted to incorporate elements) or too expensive or too elaborate. These were just prefect. The colors were gorgeous, the scenes were inviting, and there was just enough China in them to open the floodgates of so many beautiful memories every time I looked at them.
Now, onto our second artwork adventure: relocating the IKEA prints. A few years ago Eric and I randomly found these at IKEA and loved their colors and ode to Sweden (heck, we like an ode to any country), and they have hung there ever since. Now that I see the season paintings up there, I recognize that these little babies were too small a scale for that wall space. They are perfect for the bathroom! No worries about them getting ruined there. I used the same cardboard but just cut it down for these smaller items and then up they went!
I think these are great here too! They definitely go with the white frames across the way and bring in some color of the larger painting. This is becoming quite the artwork gallery bathroom, and I love that! They are still a little small on the wall so I am contemplating putting up a shelf or something like that for balance. For now, they hold their own. Holla to the artwork swap. I’m still swooning!
[…] I bought this map for a steal, made this large scale fabric artwork, created art from magazines, got custom framing done, or did it myself with a floating frame, to just name a few. Recently I needed quite a bit more […]ReplyCancel
Cute!! Love the bright pops of color.
Thanks Rachel! I love to bring bright colors into our house in any way possible!
[…] might have guessed in this artwork post that I had something up my sleeve, er rather up my wall. I was up to mischief in my favorite room of […]