Paint Chip Wall Art: Where words fail, music speaks

2 years ago, I stumbled accross this post: By Jen @ Life Crafts & Whatever and was so inspired, I quickly made one quite similar to it. (However, I've never posted it here... I think I should change that huh?)

When I was looking for something to create to hang in my son's bedroom (I'm redoing his room, as well as my daughter's bedroom, in the coming months, so stay tuned for more!!), I thought about doing something similar... but with a twist!!

Xavier's room will be a mix of "Urban" and "Music" theme....so I wanted something to reflect that.

So, I went out to Home Depot and got several gray, white, black and red paint chips, punched holes with my Square hole punch from Michael's.

Since I didnt have any wood on hand, and since I'm cheap, I took a big piece of foam core from the dollar store, and used that as my base.

I did the same thing as Jen on the link above... I glued them to the base, then put 2 coats of Mod Podge on the whole thing, not being careful about strokes or what have you: they just add to the charm of the piece.

Then, when dry, I added an Ebony Wood Stain, and wiped most of it off. I did that a couple of times. The stain gets in all the strokes and cracks, and it adds texture, color and an aged look.

Then, like I said, I wanted to add something, and I had a quote in mind... "Where words fail, music speaks." I used some of my old stash of scrapbooking stickers for that.

I was going to just paint a treble clef with black paint, but then I had an epiphany... all my black stickers were on the table, and I thought.... Hum, why don't I just use THOSE to create the treble clef shape?

And so I did. And WOW... it just makes sense, with the quote and all... I love it!

 

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teacher gifts

Here are the gifts I created for the kids' teachers this year.

First up, my classic pencil monogram:

I've been doing these for YEARS now, and each year, the teachers RAVE about them!! I think they're so cool. I should do one for my studio. :)


My daughter had the same teacher last year, so I couldn't make her a monogram this year, since she received one last year!! So, I made her 2 things...

This pencil vase:

(totally easy: Just take a can and hot glue pencils to it! I added a rubber band to secure them (in case it were to fall) and a ribbon atop that.


And I created this star out of buttons.


I didnt want to do a monogram, since she got the pencil one last year. So I chose a star, since her last name, De L'Étoile, means "Of the Star" and she often signs her first name followed by a star :)

Hope you like these, let me know if you do something similar!

By popular request... My pencil monograms

I've been making these for 5 years now, as teacher gifts. The teachers LOVE it. They always show me, the next year, where they hang it in their classroom. The first time I did it, the teacher went around the school showing it off to all the other teachers!!
And *I* love it, because, well, it's much appreciated. And also because it's CHEAP!! You know how I love cheap, frugal, thrifty art!!

This is super easy to do.

What you need
a frame (Dollar Store!)
A canvas (dollar store!)
Pencils (dollar store, leftovers, or whatever! I bought a bag of several hundred mismatched pencils at the thrift store, for 2 bucks, this year!)
Glue gun
A saw
Sandpaper
Sharpie or Rub-Ons

Start off by taking the glass off the frame (you can use it for another project or as a cutting mat)
Now cut the canvas, if need be, to fit inside it.
You can paint or varnish the canvas if you want.

Go on your computer and open Word. Then open WordArt, choose the outline option, choose your font and write the letter you need. (uppercase, lowercase, whatever style you wish, but make it simple). Make it the size needed. Print it out, then cut it out.
Outline the letter on the canvas with a pencil or other tracing pen that is easily removed.

Now, time to get those pencils. First, sharpen them if need be.
Start by the upper hand of the letter. Put something heavy so that the pencil won't roll out of place. Mark where you need to cut with a sharpie. Do that for all the pencils (leave the pencils there so you know where you are)
Before removing them, take a picture to make sure you know exactly where each goes!
Some people, I've seen, cut the pencils in a straight line. I prefer following the edge of the letter, it makes a nicer finish IMO. So, I cut in a diagonal often.

Cut with a saw (hand saw or whatever you have on hand!) and sand the edge.

Then, with a glue gun, glue the pencils back into place, erasing the lines before you glue.

At the end, you can add a name or sentiment with either a black sharpie or rub-ons. You can add a decorative flower or not

Sharing this to these linky parties:






Il te faut:
*Un cadre (j'achète les cadres pour diplômes, au dollo!)
*Une toile (ceux du haut étaient en carton avec un cardstock, mais maintenant j'utilise une toile d'artiste, aussi trouvée au dollo. Par contre, je dois la couper légèrement pour la faire entrer dans le cadre comme il faut)
*De la colle chaude
*Une scie quelconque (à main ou non)
*Des crayons de bois
*Un aiguisoir, hihihiTu enlèves la vitre du cadre. (Garde la pour un autre projet, ou comme tapis de coupe)Tu mesures la toile pour qu'elle entre dans la cadre

Tu peux peindre la toile, ou la protéger avec un vernis, mais c'est pas obligatoire.
Ensuite, tu vas dans Word, et tu ouvres Word Art. Tu choisis l'option "outline" (contour de lettre seulement). Tu écris ta lettre, tu choisis ta police d'écriture (pas de fioritures, juste simple... regardes si tu veux, par exemple, une majuscule ou minuscule, etc). Tu imprimes, puis tu découpes ta lettre. Tu traces ta lettre sur la toile, très légèrement avec un crayon à mine ou crayon blanc.

Maintenant, c'est le tour des crayons. S'ils ne sont pas aiguisés, tu les aiguises!

Puis, tu commences au bout de la lettre (je commence habituellement par en haut) et tu fais une ligne, au sharpie, là où tu devras couper. J'ai souvent vu des gens qui coupent droit, mais je préfère suivre l'angle de la lettre et couper en diagonale quand il le faut. Mais... c'est pas facile à couper parfois!! Ah, et assure-toi que si y'a de l'écriture sur le crayon, que ça soit en dessous et non visible!! (ah, et après avoir coupé le crayon, assure-toi de bien sabler avec un papier sablé!)

Je place les lettres sur la toile (je les empêche de bouger en mettant un objet lourd de chaque bord) et je continue à prendre les mesures et tracer au sharpie. Puis, je prends le tout en photo, comme ça si quand sont tous fait, je commence à couper. Parfois, faut recommencer parce que le crayon casse ou ta scie accroche le dessus du crayon. Par contre, si la mine casse, je fais juste la recoller en dedans du crayon, hihihi!!

Puis, je colle, avec de la colle chaude. J'efface ma ligne tracée avant d'y déposer mon crayon.
À la fin, j'ajoute soit une pensée, soit le nom de la personne, et parfois, comme en haut, des fleurs :)

Stashbuster Project #1: monogram frame

When I got my stashbuster package, I was scared when I saw fabric and a zipper. I *CANT* sew to save my life. But I was determined to do something with it!!


We were allowed to add anything from our own stash, but couldn't go out and buy anything. No problemo, I've got a ton of things here. I'm a scrapbooker and crafter, so supplies are almost unlimited here, hehe.

Anyway, I present you my Monogram Frame:


I started out with this frame that I got at the thrift store months ago for 1$. It still had a 29.99 tag on the back of it!! It's nice, but NOT MY STYLE. I loved the details on the frame itself, but hate the gold colour!!



I then went to my studio and gathered all the "B" letter stickers I could get. All scrapbookers know how we end up with tons of unused alphabets!! The Es, Ns, Ts all get used quickly, but we are left with the other unused letters. We never want to throw them away!! I gave most of my mismatched chipboard letters to my daughter Béatrice (this frame is for her!)... so I went in HER stash to find these, hehe!!

The colours don't matter, they will all be spray painted!

I took the chipboard from the frame to use as my base. I started by just putting the letters on the chipboard base to see if I liked the way it looked. Once I was satisfied, I started gluing the letters on there. The paper stickers stick well as is, but I know from experience that the adhesive on chipboard stickers end up failing, so I glued them with quick dry tacky glue.

Took it outside, as well as the frame, and spray painted it all!




For the big B, I traced it on thick cardstock and hand cut it.
Then, using fabric glue, I adhered the fabric to it. Wrapped around and glue on the back.


For some extra dimension, I cut out some cardboard (I didn't have any pop-dots or foam adhesive on hand! Gotta make due with whatcha got!) and glued it on the backside.

I cut out 2 sections from the zipper, to use as a ribbon behind the black rosettes:

Glue the big B on the base (once it's dry of course!)
Put the base back in the frame, but leave the glass out!

And voilà!

I'm in love!!

My daughter is in LOVE with it as well!!

It was so easy to do!! I will so be doing this again!! I want to make some for teacher gifts!

Don't forget to visit Dollar Store Crafts to see all the other amazing projects!

Secret Stashbuster Challenge!

A few weeks ago, I saw there was a "contest" up on Dollar Store Crafts (one of my fave craft blogs!) where, when you signed up, you could be chosen to participate in the Secret StashBuster Challenge! Heather would randomly pick 10 people and send them some of her craft stash. And then Melissa, from Until Wednesday Calls, decided to send out 4 more packages, to Canadian Crafters... And I was picked!! WOOOT!!!

Here are the goodies I received yesterday!

OOOOOOOOOH!!!! Look at that pile of goodies!!!

You'll have to stay tuned to see what I make. It should be posted by Earth Day (friday)

I'm in LOVE with the felt iron-on!! And the ribbon... and the lace (I love me some lace!), and those quote cards...

However, these have me stumped:


LOL!!!
I hope I can find a clever way to use them!

Stay tuned!
Thanks Melissa and Heather!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our Christmas tree :)
I only chose natural trees, and this year I wanted a more rustic one, not cultivated... I love it! I hate my DEL lights and will be buying some new ones on boxing day!! I much prefer my old huge bulbs even though they were dangerous. lol!

here's a closeup of some of my favourite vintage ornaments:

I love it. I know that the "in" thing (at least in Québec!) these years is to have a huge ribbon around the tree and matching ornaments in non-traditional colours (i.e. turquoise, lime, purple...), and white lights. But that just aint me. I love a vintage looking tree. I love non-matching ornaments. I love looking for treasures in thrift stores (where I found all of these). I love having a history behind each ornament.

Here are some more vintage ornaments, but that I didnt use on the tree, as they are breakable, and with 3 kids and a dog, that's a no-no!! Some day, I'll buy a fake white vintage tree to put these on:

Gorgeous, huh?


Now here's a Xmas tradition we instaured in our home 7 or 8 years ago: Making paper snowflakes to decorate the living room window!! Over the years, we've gotten quite good at these, and can make intricate details.
Can you spot: * the Montreal Canadiens snowflake?
* the Xmas tree snowflake?
* The snowman snowflake?

(click for larger pic)
Here's how they look from the outside. We get lots of people stop and stare! And a look from inside, during the day.

Here's what I started... wrapping my empty frames in the living room!! I've not decided if I will do them all, or just keep it to a few.

After i took this next photo, I realized someone had hung it crooked. lol.
I did this feather wreath with my 9yo daughter. I just bought the feathers for a dollar. I already had the bird and ribbon.

I hung some ornaments on ribbon in my kitchen window. Cute look!

Here's my tiny collection of Santas. I only collect the ones that have the robe going to their feet like those. I LOVE them. I bought them all at thrift stores, over about 2 years now. I paid between 25 cents and 3 bucks for them!!

There will be more to come soon. My daughter and I decided to do one Xmas-related activity each day (whether it's a craft, watching a movie, going to see the lights, going to see the nativity scenes at the Oratory, etc)

Embroidery Hoops on my bedroom wall... and a painting!!

Wow, I havent updated in forever.

This summer, while I was at our summer house in Vermont, hubby decided to repaint our bedroom and our main bathroom!! He did a great job, adding moulding and stuff. Love it.
Of course, there was the decorating left to do!! YEAH!!!

As you might've noticed, I'm in love with anything that creates a kind of "mosaic" on the wall... like these empty frames... or these white plates... or these black frames in the staircase...
I like how they fill up a space, are interesting, and so very thrifty!!

So... I decided to use embroidery hoops on my bedroom wall. I'd seen them before online, and looooved them.

So here's my version of it: (click on picture for bigger pic!)
*love* :)

I found most hoops at thrift stores, but I did have to buy a couple brand new since I had trouble finding more!!

And as for the fabric in the hoops... well I didnt really want to go buy brand new fabric. I dont like buying new when I dont have to, and I didnt want to have to buy a ton of it when I only needed a few inches!!
So what's a girl to do?

On my many thrifting trips, I found cool SHIRTS and SCARVES that had AWESOME fabric and design!! Most of them for 50 cents or a dollar!!
I cut what i needed and kept the rest in case I need them for another project!!
I also took one of DH's shirts, he had in a pile to be sent to the thrift store! It was plain orange, and I painted a bird design on it. It's the one on the upper left!!



The huge one has an awesome crocheted fabric in it, and I am in love with it! But since it was kind of plain as is, I raided my scrapbook stuff and found 5 huge flowers (5, because we're a family of five!) and layered smaller ones on top, and used a big brad as the center.

My favourite one, however, is the one on the top right of the middle one. It's orange, and it has big eyelets that create holes, in it. SO funky!!!

And while I was raiding my scrapbook stuff, I took out my buttons and added some here and there between the hoops. :)
And with my puffy paint, I scribbled the word "love" on the wall. :)

I am in LOVE with this project, and I have a huge smile when I walk into my bedroom!!!

What do you think??

And since I had to find more things to decorate my walls (which, btw, we had NEVER decorated in the 9 years we'd been here!!), I decided to PAINT a canvas!! I've never done anything like it before. But I figured it could be fun.
And it was. I loved doing it.
What do you think?

The flowers are to mimic the ones on my comforter. I thought it was too bland so I added the clouds.

As for the quote, I put letter stickers (hurray for scrapbook stuff again!) before painting, then I painted on top of them. Once dry, I removed the letters.

I decided that I will do more paintings for my bedroom, and all of them will have a *dream* quote on it. :)