Brush your teeth / Wash your hands - Tutorial

It's been a while since my last blog post. Guess I didn't stick with it like I'd intended. Oops!

Speaking of not sticking with it, my house is still pretty barren. I decided I need to get serious about filling my home with things I love. I dislike buying crap just to buy crap! And I really dislike buying crap that I could make for a fourth of the cost. Take this sign for example:

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I really like typography. I thought that the artwork could pose as gentle reminders that my children, do in fact, have to brush their teeth and wash their hands. However, $89 for ONE sign? Mmyyyeaaahh, not gonna happen.

I headed to Joann's (Joann...?) to buy my supplies...

Supplies needed:
-a canvas
-craft paint
-vinyl
 OR
-freezer paper
-an iron (if you use freezer paper)
-foam paint brush
-Silhouette

First take your 16x24" canvas and paint the top and sides with your foam brush.
 


While it was drying, I headed to my computer to make a stencil. My canvas is a 16"x20" so I kind of just messed around with the sizing until I came up with something I liked. Now here is where you do NOT want to be a fool like me. Go buy some vinyl, make your life easier! I was stuck at home with sick kids so decided not to make the trek back out to get vinyl and instead, used freezer paper... it couldn't be THAT big of a deal, could it? Uhhh yeah, it could.

If you HAVE to use freezer paper, you will need to load it into your silhouette shiny side UP so you will want to mirror image your stencil.

After your Silhouette cuts your stencil, flip it over shiny side DOWN and lightly iron so it'll stick to your canvas. Here's the kicker though, it won't stick very tight to your canvas. Again, if you want super crisp lines, get vinyl! I liked the look of not having the centers of the letters in my stencil so I left them out.


After that it's pretty self explanatory. Paint in your stencil and carefully peel away. Let the paint dry and you are ready to hang it up! I added some stars to the side so it didn't look so plain.

Canvas- $15 for 2 (marked to 40% off)
Martha Stewart Craft Paint- $8 for 4 of them
Foam brushes- $0 (I already had a bunch)
Freezer Paper- $0 (but I'd pay the extra money and get vinyl!!)

Total Cost $23 for two bathroom signs, not bad!
 

Trick or Treat! {tutorial of sorts}

I am in love with the "banner look" sweeping the internet lately.

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To me nothing says, "Oh what? This old thing?? I whipped it up last night after making a turkey dinner and sewing my children's outfits" like a DIY banner. I have been looking for one to make for Halloween for quite a while.

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Requirements:

1. Easy to make
2. Not hard to make
3. Super easy to make


As luck would have it, I accomplished all three with my "trick or treat" banner!

Supplies needed:

-neutral colored fabric (approximately half a yard)
-jute or twine
-black paint
-orange paint
-freezer paper
-iron
-Q tips
-sewing machine
-Cricut, Silhouette or EXTREME patience to cut out stencils

Total spent= $4.00

Because I didn't take a million pictures during the process, you'll have to use your imagination. I simply cut a stencil out of card stock for my triangles. I laid the stencil on my fabric and cut out 14 triangles (3 extra just in case I screwed up, which I typically do). I found it easiest to rotate my card stock stencil vertically so that I would always have the straight line on the top of the triangle cut for me and I would just have to worry about cutting the sides. I bought a yard of fabric for this project at $4.00 and used 1/4th of it because of my triangle size.

After I had all of my triangles cut, I used my Cricut machine to cut out the letter stencils. Seriously, I am ALL ABOUT using my Cricut or Silhouette for stencils. I cute out a 6" by 12" piece of freezer paper and stuck it to my cricut mat. After my stencils were cut out, I laid each one on the fabric and ironed them on (shiny side down). This made them stick really well to the fabric so there was no sliding around while I applied the paint.

Next I got a Q-tip and DABBED the black paint inside the stencil onto the fabric triangle. I was SUPER careful dabbing while doing the edges of the stencil so there would be minimal bleed through. Let the paint dry while you go watch your favorite soap. I know, I'm devastated that All my Children is over too. After the paint dried, I peeled off the stencil and then smiled.... seriously. Crisp black paint on fabric is a.ma.zing

Next I dabbed the orange paint onto the fabric in random spots. Tip: I punched out circles using card stock so that they would be round... yeah, I'm anal like that.

After the flags were dry (probably an hour, I wasn't timing it because I was busy stuffing my face with chocolate) they were ready to be sewn onto my piece of jute string. I used a zig zag stitch to make sure I had secured them to the string nice and tight.

Last but not least, hang that puppy for all to see! Honestly, this project didn't take much time and it cost next to nothing, if you consider $4.00 practically free like I do. I had to buy the paint (.50 cents each because of a 50% off coupon at Joann). The jute string was $1.00 and the fabric was $4.00 because I didn't know how much I needed. I used a quarter of it, hence $2.00 for the fabric.

Honestly, easiest project. Turned out cute! And there are similar banners on Etsy for $45... $4 sounds much better, right?!

Ready? Set. Go!

Entryway light needs some help, for real

So the builder hooked me up with this awesome light in my entry... really, could it be any more dreamy? I especially love how much light it DOESN'T bring to my entryway. Not to mention the nerf dart stuck in there. Pretty amazing really.

Obviously, I'm on the hunt. First, it has to be a cord hung light... I have 100 foot ceilings ( I may or may not be exaggerating). Second, I want something that is industrial or looks like a came from an old barn... imagine my delight when I found Barn Light Electric

These lights are a.ma.zing. Want a rust finish? No problem! Maybe you're thinking you want a black cage? Okey dokey! Seriously, look at all the options on this particular light  ----->>>>

The best part? They aren't that expensive. Most of the styles I liked started UNDER $100. Now I need to talk my husband into an industrial/barn type of look... it totally goes with a farmhouse, right?