Creating a Photo Wall on a Budget - and How to Determine the Layout

Hello! Welcome to my blog! This project has been on my mind for years - and this summer I found some time to do it. Some reasons it was hard to get started: 1. Out of the tons of pictures I have, which ones should I use? 2. What should the layout be?

3. What frames should I buy?

This photo wall cost me less than $12. It is not that I did not have money to spend, just why spend more money I you have to? I moved into my house ten years ago and never unpacked my framed pictures. I decided I would use the frames I had and use them. The twelve dollars was the fonts (purchased at garage sales) a mirror from the second hand store (which is the frame around the F)  the large frame and the square frame. All were purchased not really knowing I would be using it for this wall - I just liked the items so I bought them. The one I intentionally bought for this wall was a plate frame that cost $2 at a second hand store - I painted it to match.

 Now for my questions that seemed to put this project on hold for so long:
1. What pictures do I use? - do I put grandma on the wall? What about Aunt Jane? I don't want to leave anyone out right? I decided it would be a photo wall of our immediate family. 
2. What should the layout be? - I looked and looked on Pinterest. I had a ton of ideas pinned. I finally decided that the layout would be determined from the frames that I had. 

Laying things out on the floor, I started with the biggest frame I had, having no idea what picture would be inside it. I added other frames that kind of made a nice centre arrangement. Then I thought I could do a collage on either side of the centre arrangement - still not really knowing what pictures would go in the frames. Then the ideas of pictures started to come. My ideas were "We have two girls - their grad photos could go in the centre of the two collages and pictures of their lives surrounding that (baby, family, their dogs, their children) and a family picture in the centre."

3. What frames should I buy? - I really only needed to buy one more frame to match the other side of the collage. I had a ton of frames so I did not need to buy more. They were all mis-matchy though so I went to work painting them. (I will post about the frame painting soon). Then another dilemma came up - what colour do I paint them?

It might sound crazy - but I chose my colours from the amount of paint I had. I had a lot of olive green, and light beige. Of course I had those paints because they matched the style and decor of my house. I had purchased the paint from Michael's when they were on sale for $1. I mixed a bit of plaster of paris in the paint so it would stick to the frames as some of them were cheap dollar store frames. Adding plaster of paris in acrylic paint makes it a chalk paint. Then another dilemma I had was  - what frames should be green?what frames should be beige? I decided the 5x7 frames from the collage would be green and two frames from the centre piece (since I had more of that paint) and the 4x6 frames from the collage and one from the centre piece would be beige. The big frame would remain black to tie in the letters and the round frames I would paint black. I love how the frames turned out:

With the "family" frame I mod podged burlap on poster board to make it stiff. I hot glued the letters on. The glass is still in the frame I just put it behind the burlap, just in case I want to change this up one day. I purchased these letters at a garage sale for $1 a while back. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them - but they just happened to fit perfectly into this frame and so on the photo well they went.

 I loved this tip before putting the pictures up. I traced all the frames on to paper and did a mock set up on the wall. This was extremely helpful. I rearranged the pictures after I took this picture. I noticed the collages were further away than I wanted them to be from the centrepiece. 

It feels so good to have this completed. The awesome thing was my husband was excited to help me hang this up because it looked so good! Usually he cringes when it comes to putting a nail in our walls. He is going to build me a console table to go under this so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

DIY Fabric Rooster Plaque

Hello! Welcome to my blog! Todays post is DIY kitchen decor. I printed this lovely little rooster out on drop cloth and put it in a round plate hanger that I purchased from Walmart. I sanded the edges of the plate hanger to give it some dimension. I printed the rooster on drop cloth. I actually ran the drop cloth through the printer twice. Once with the rooster image found here... and then again with a french print image found here... I did tweak the rooster image a little bit in iphoto to give it a little redish/brown  color to match the hanger.

Here is a tutorial on how to print on fabric.

I trimmed the fabric about the size of the plate. I cut out a round piece of cardboard, adhered batting to it, then I layered my print out on top of that and put those layers where the plate would go in the plate hanger and clipped it in place with the clips that were on the hanger. So easy!!

     This looks lovely on my door corner shelf that my husband made for me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Same Plate, Different Season - Interchangeable Plates Using Contact Paper

Do you remember the Halloween plates I made? These dinner plates went perfect with our spooky Halloween meal.

I made these with the intention of changing them up every season. I finally made my second decals for Valentines Day. I made what I wanted on my plate with my favorite computer program - then I FLIPPED the picture - and printed it on clear contact paper that is used to cover shelves.  Go to the tutorial HERE to get all the details.

I wanted to save the decals from Halloween - so I took the decal off - and put it on the backing from the new decal.

I tried using some color this time and it turned out great! 

Now what to do next time???

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tatertots and Jello

Trick or Treat Wood Blocks

This is the first of my Halloween decorating this year. I started with the blocks that I made for Thanksgiving - that I was planning on switching up for different seasons...

These Thanksgiving blocks have a quote printed on burlap - CLICK HERE to go to that post.

For the Halloween blocks, I used a batty dictionary page for my background that I found on Graphics Fairy.  I tinted it orange on my iphoto program. The words "trick" and "treat" were printed out using the font "Pieces of Eight". The word "or" is printed out using the font, "Rage".

After printing out the sheets, I cut the paper to fit each block, I stamped some scrolls randomly on the paper, and I inked the edges with black. I tacked the paper on the blocks with black upholstery tacks.  

I got the idea for these blocks from the Horton's of Tipton site. I cannot find that exact post now to link to that - but I suggest you check out this site as it has some amazing stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Graphics Fairy

Printing on Burlap Trial

Well, I have gone and done it. I mustered up all my courage and put burlap through my printer. I don't know how other people feel - but I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I try something that is a little out of my comfort zone - and then it turns out amazing. Here is what I made....

I found a tutorial for printing on burlap via Pinterest. CLICK HERE to go to the tutorial found on the wonderful blog called "Domestically Speaking. It has great step by step pics. Basically, you need to find Reynolds Freezer Paper. You iron the freezer paper (shiny side down) on to ironed burlap and cut it to the dimensions to fit your printer. The freezer paper gives the burlap the stiffness it needs to feed through the printer. I live in Canada - and the blog comment chatter I had heard was that it was hard to find freezer paper here. I went searching high and low with no luck. I was beginning to think a 6 hour journey to shop in the States was going to be my only hope for finding this beloved paper - but I found it where I shop all the time - SAFEWAY! I have seen a tutorial for printing on burlap using contact paper too - but I am thinking one could even use the technique for printing on regular fabric - using adhesive spray and adhering the burlap to paper. Anyhoo - I found the freezer paper - I tried it - and it works. Of course I had my finger over the CANCEL button the whole time, and I ALMOST hit cancel as there was this terrible paper jam sounding noise. It turned out it was the freezer paper just making crinkling noises as it was going through the printer - so beware of the crinkling noise. All went well and I am so excited with how easy it was. One thing I do suggest is vacuum the printer after - as burlap seems to shed worse than my daughters dog.

The saying I printed out is my all time favorite Thanksgiving saying -

Here are the images if you want to try making this saying using the three wood block idea. Right click on each image, copy, and paste to your favorite printing program and resize as needed.

I am definitely going to be printing on burlap more. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Whipperberry

Harvest Blessings Burlap Sign

I have been busy decorating for the Canadian Thanksgiving that is going to be a week from now, October 10. I love using burlap for fall decorating. I made a stencil using Cricut cartridges. The word "harvest" was cut out from the Country Life cartridge, and "blessings" was cut from the "Beyond Birthdays" cartridge. I used the same stamp method that I used to paint my wood planters. For the tutorial CLICK HERE.

I used a plate frame to put the sign in. I cut the burlap to fit - a layer of quilting batting - and a piece of heavy cardboard for the back. I snipped off a sunflower and leaves to dress up the bottom and I had a nice fall decor done in about 30 minutes - including drying time.  

I have more fall decor posts on there way so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!
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Brass Lamp Transformation

My home is a newer home and all the fixtures around my home are dark brown. I didn't have the heart to get rid of my brass lamp. It cost us a fortune in the 90's and it was one of my most exciting purchases;

however, it was quite the eye sore with all the new style in my house and its days seemed to be numbered. Then as I was checking out some linky parties, I discovered that a fellow blogger had been spray painting the fixtures in her home the same color as my new fixtures. Please go check out her blog. It is called Life in the Thrifty Lane. She has spray painted many items from her dining room chandelier to her outdoor lights to furniture.

I am so excited how my lamp turned out. Unfortunately, my photography does not do this transformation justice. My hubby is super impressed with the lamp. He was not too excited when I told him what I was going to do - BUT the end result made him think differently. I told him I was going to recover the futon in this room too (yeah - the southwestern look has got to go). Let's just say I need to go a little slow to appease my hubby and let him get used to the changes a little at a time. He seems to always be impressed with the outcome though- especially because it saves us money in the long run.

So this is what I did...

1. I took the lamp apart as much as I could. I sanded it with steel wool, washed it with soapy water, and dried it.
2. I primed it with Rustoleum Clean Metal Primer.

I couldn't believe how good the lamp look just after I primed it. It was tempting to leave it at this stage - but I continued.

3. After the drying time indicated on the spray paint can (twenty minutes) I started with the Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray painting.

This paint is so awesome. I am totally a novice at spray painting and this paint is almost fool proof. I did do some goof ups - but they were really minor and for what I consider a huge project - and being a beginner - this paint is so good! If I kept doing the proper technique - which is to start the spray off the project and work on to it - then I would not have had any problems. Check out the Rustoleum website for tricks, tips and how to's as well as other spray paint project ideas - but be prepared for a spray painting obsession. 

Info that may be helpful: 

I spray painted in my garage with the door open and with a tarp and cardboard to catch the overspray.

I basically held a large piece of cardboard in my left hand as I spray painted with the right, although I did hit the lamp a few times with the cardboard and had to paint over those parts. This lamp is very large and awkward and I didn't think it would work well if I laid it on a table or floor. I am a novice- so I am not sure what the best thing would have been to do. It would have been good to start with a small project for practice - but I don't seem to do things gradually, I just go for it, and I am glad I did.

I wore gloves and covered my nose and mouth with a dust mask - although I did still get paint up my nose. I wish I wore goggles and a plastic hair net. On a smaller project that I am spray down onto, I wouldn't do that. 

And there you have it - my first spray painting re-do.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tip Junkie
Home Stories From A2Z

Canada Day Fabric Yo-Yo Doily

I am on a quest to streamline my fabric scraps into three boxes, and this little Canada Day decorating project helped get rid of some in style. Do you have some fabric scraps you need to diminish? How about making fabric yo-yo doilies? I am thinking I might make one for a bunch of different occasions.

1. I made 16 yo yo's starting with 6"diameter circles. 

2. Line up the yo-yo's how you want them to be placed. Sew them in groups of four, then sew the groups of four together. I sewed about a 3/4" long stitch when sewing them together. 

Wouldn't this be really cool with the American Flag colors? I am picturing stars and stripes here.

Put a favorite centerpiece on it and you have a sweet patriotic centerpiece. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Love Pillows - Wedding Gift Idea

I like to give original gifts for special occasions like weddings. I have seen pillows around blog land that have spelled "LOVE" and thought that would be a unique gift. You could just buy pillow cases and transfer the letters on - but I decided to make everything from scratch. These pillows are more like throw pillows and I didn't want the opening on the side like most pillow cases - so I made envelope slip cover pillow cases. Here is what I did....

1. Purchase pillows. To make a pillow case pattern I found a pillow case that fit the pillows, turned it inside out and cut out two front pieces from pre-washed fabric. My fabric was a cotton/poly blend. My front pieces measured 27 inches x 21 inches BUT PILLOWS ARE DIFFERENT so that might not be the same measurement to use for the pillows you purchase. I printed out the letters using a free font called "Vanessa" (I had a few possible fonts I was going to use but the name of this font was the name of the bride so I thought that was cool). I printed them out the biggest they could fit on a page - the L and V are capitals, the o and e are lower case. I used one transfer per letter - so in other words, one letter should fill a whole 8 1/2 x 11 page. Remember to reverse the image. I used Jolee's Transfer paper that I purchased at Michael's.

2. Iron on the transfer using the package directions.

3. Cut two back pieces per pillow - making sure you have enough fabric to overlap one of the sides. Check out my envelope slip cover tutorial for more information. My measurements for each back piece was 16 inches x 21 inches - Remember - every pillow is different so do your own measuring. I finished each inner edge, folded it over 2 inches and sewing that secured. I layed the back pieces over the letter piece - right sides together - or in other words,  the letters will be on the inside and the non-seam side of the back will be on the inside. Sew all the way around the pillow, sewing an extra stitch at the opening so it will be durable for taking the pillow in and out.

4. Put in the pillows - and you have a fabulous gift. Oh yeah, I bought some other throw pillows to match that were the wedding colors. I could have sewn them BUT I found some at a price that I couldn't have made them for less.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Love at Home Chalkboard

I made this for part of a wedding present. I repurposed a bulletin board that I bought at a thrift store for $1 - into a cute little chalkboard. Here is what I did....

1. I sanded all the wood including bulletin board wood. I painted the frame with four coats of white acrylic paint - sanding lightly between coats. I painted half the board white - and the other half with chalkboard spray paint. This was the first time I used chalkboard paint. The directions said to apply at least two coats, I applied six - sanding lightly between coats. I wasn't expecting to do that many coats but  it didn't look like a chalkboard until the sixth coat. Maybe my coats were too light?? Oh well, live and learn.

2. My original idea for the letters was to buy wood letters and paint them white. I could not find wood letters that fit and that had all the letters - so plan B - I decided to make chipboard letters. I printed out 4 pieces of each word/letter/symbol on card stock, and mod podged them together. I printed these words out from my Cricut using three different cartridges. "Love" -  Home Decor cartridge (size 3 1/2); "Home"  - Home Accents cartridge (size 3 1/2); "@" Graphically Speaking (size 2). The number "2" picture looks wonky - but it is showing what I cut out before I them together.

3. After the letters dried - the next step was to glue them on to the board.

4. I was in a bit of a hurry to finish this project and hot glued the letters to the board - however I suggest giving yourself plenty of time and sticking the words on with tacky glue. Some of the hot glue on mine oozed out and was visible.

5. I made a chalkboard brush using a 1x4 scrap, that I painted, stamped a scroll on top, and glued felt to the bottom.

I think it turned out pretty nice, and that chalkboard brush just made me giddy - it was so cute. I am on the hunt for another bulletin board to make one for myself now. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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