DIY Urban Outfitters Wall Art

 I saw this at Urban Outfitters a while back and thought, "Hey! I can totally make that!"  

 So, I went home and made one! Here's my version:

I learned the hard way that I should have used a lighter color fabric and darker colored spray paint but whatever! I lined it with a skinny sharpie and it looks fine.

Here's what I did: 

First, gather supplies:

Something to put it on

-If you choose a frame, cut out a piece of cardboard to fit in the frame

-If you choose a canvas (urban outfitters style) then you will just need a canvas

-Or you can just use a piece of cardboard

A piece of fabric that is big enough to wrap around your frame or canvas with a couple of inches extra

Duct tape

(ignore the stapler)

Spray Paint

A printed piece of paper with words of your choosing

Scissors

Hair Spray

So first off, lay your fabric face down and place your canvas or cardboard face down on top of it.

 

Starting with opposite sides, pull your fabric taught and duct tape it to the back or your cardboard or canvas

Then flip it over and tape off a border along the edge, I decided on a thicker border but it totally depends on what you want.

Next, cut out your letters and place them on your fabric. Double check the spelling and spacing.

Here comes the tricky part. Keeping the hair spray about a foot away, spray the letters. In my opinion, it helps the letters stay flat, stay where they are, and keeps the paint from leaking through. After that, spray with the paint, being careful not to blow away your letters. You may want to do a couple of coats.

After the paint dries, peel off your letters a tape.

So it didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to but that's cool. I lined it with a skinny sharpie and it looks better now. I actually decided to leave out the frame but it looks good either way.

 

Daily Outfit Post: cut-off shorts

I've been meaning to get some shorts for the summer and instead of buying some, I decided to make a pair of my own high-waisted, cut-off shorts. I just went to the nearest goodwill and bought a pair of old, high-waisted pants. Then, I brought them home and using a pair of shorts I already had, cut off the legs and voila! A pair of cute jean cut-off shorts for a total of $7. They look better after a wash when the ends fray and they don't look freshly cut but I was just too excited to wait! And isn't this shirt too cute?! I was thinking of selling it but just couldn't bring myself to give it away. 

I wore this to work one day (which is why it's in front of the store backdrop).

Kittie shirt: thrifted

Striped headband: diy

Cut-off shorts: thrifted/diy

Brown braided belt: thrifted

My crew came along with me this day and decided to hop in for a quick picture.

 Speaking of summer, I need a tan...  

Vintage Hair

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across this video in a blog. It's a way to create vintage style curls around the crown of your head, without using heat or curlers. All you need is a headband! So I decided to give it a go.   Here it is, hair all wrapped up in my headband and it didn't look half bad the way it was!

A back view:

And finally, the after:

First, sorry for the weird colors. Second, if you didn't notice, I decided to go with a different route once I took my hair down.  Instead of trying to "shape" my curles, I teased them to make them get really crazy. Unfortunately, the fiance wasn't too fond of my lion's mane so I ended up clipping it back, letting a few strands hang loose.

 I don't know what it is but I just love curly hair.

I finished up about 5 home decor projects today that I've been working for the last week and boy does it feel good! I'll share them with you over the next few days, kind of spread them out a little. I am very limited when it comes to being able to buy decor and while it does make decorating more difficult, I think it's kind of a good thing. It forces me to be creative and thrifty and really use my imagination. Also, it makes me have to learn a lot about what I'm dealing with and teaches me about so many things that I would never even try to learn about otherwise. Yes, sometimes the results don't come out... perfect but more than often I amaze myself at what I can do with a little knowledge, a lot of creativity, and the least amount of money. I am very proud to say that I've made or thrifted 90% of the things in my house and spent very, very little because you don't have to be rich to have a beautiful home! WooOOOo! Here's to doin' it yourself, baby!

Zig-zag/Chevron/Harringbone, whatever you call it!

I'm just now starting to get into the chevron pattern craze! I have this idea to paint zig zags all over this curtain I have but I haven't worked up the energy to do it quite yet. I don't know how to go at it, to be honest and I have a feeling it's going to be harder than I think. Anyhow, here's some inspiration/tutorials:  

http://racheldenbow.blogspot.com/2011/03/to-paint-or-not-to-paint-toybox.html 

 http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/2010/01/i-am-so-proud-of-my-diy-zig-zag-rug.html 

 

http://daveandjoi.blogspot.com/2010/01/office-makeover-part-2-whats-that.html 

http://blackvelvetchair.blogspot.com/2011/02/chevron-love-affairover-for-me.html  

Gnome Home

At Target a couple weeks ago, Eliza and I found this cute gnome guy that you stick in your plants and some mushrooms to go along. I had this really wide shallow pot that my mother-in-law gave me and didn't quite know what to do with it and decided I'd make a little gnome land for Eliza to play with. Now hopefully she'll leave my poor plants alone, I don't think they enjoy being dumped out every few days! Supplies: Shallow, wide, potCaladiumMoss Some PVC Pipe fittings The little gnome guy And some small mushrooms  

My little helper bringing in all the supplies

  

I put in the plants first with the caladium in the back and moss in the front (I'm hoping it spreads around the whole pot?) and then I decorated the gnome house. First, I painted it with an off-white texture spray. Next, I painted the top (roof) red.

And then I painted this little stone and wood door. It turned out better than I expected!

 

Ta-Da! Our own little gnome haven!

A Few Fun Projects

I've had these links forever, hoping I'd get to them someday. Maybe I will, maybe I won't but I will share them with you guys! So here they are:

DIY Cakestand

PVC Pipe Mirror

Braided Rag Rug- I'm actually in the process of making one of these, love!

 DIY Play Kitchen from Nightstand

Land of Nod Inspired Floor Cushion 

Hangy Thing  It's finally the weekend! All of our friends are coming back into town so I'm really looking forward to seeing them all! Hope you guys have a good one!   



Daily Outfit Post: Park

It's only 10 o'clock and this is turning out to be the worst Thursday in the history of Thursdays! Brandon woke me up by breaking the news of my bike being stolen from our patio... It was a vintage Lady Raleigh Bike and was in the process of being fixed up. We probably spent around $200 which sucks the most. I don't even think I had a full picture of her :/ And the second bad part of my day is, I have my first canker sore. It hurts. And I can't have wings tonight, which is like the highlight of my week (i love wings). I guess on the bright side, my day can't really get much worse than this. I really just want to go shopping and blow off all my steam but I am broke. Arg, what's a girl to do  Well, sorry about that. I had to vent a little. Moving on, last week we went to this park that is about a mile away from our apartment that I had no idea about! It wasn't really that great... which is probably why I've  never been there before. I made Brandon exercise his photography skills a little bit and take some pictures of me in one of my new favorite dresses! 

I got it at buffalo exchange for $20! Nice, huh?

Belt: Thrifted

Crochet Vest: Forever 21

Leggings: Forever 21

This is actually one of the dresses I had to buy while I was in Austin, suitcase-less.

What a cutie (: Well here's to my day getting better, I hope you guys have a great Thursday!