DIY Wooden Hanging Pumpkin {Crafty Wood Cutouts GIVEAWAY}

Are you guys sick of fall decorations yet?  I hope not, because I have some more to share with you.  This one is a darling pumpkin kit that you can purchase at Crafty Wood Cutouts or you can enter to win below. This is how it looks when you get it.  All the wood pieces you need are included in the kit.  It is a blank canvas perfect for making your very own!

I began by painting my base color on all of the pieces.

I wanted a fun pattern on my pumpkin, but I didn't want to do the scrap book paper look.  I decided to go with paint, tape, and GLITTER.  Yes, the glitter is my favorite part of this.  I didn't really do any exact measuring.  I just started putting tape down and painting.  I decided that I wanted to do some bigger diamonds as well, so I taped again and painted a few bigger ones.  Last, using elmers glue and glitter, I filled in some of the smaller diamonds and outlined all of the big diamonds to give some texture and fun pattern.

Once the pumpkin pieces were drying, I started my leaves.  I painted two of the leaves green, sanded them and then spread a glitter glue over the top to give them a little shimmer.  For the other two leaves, I used mod podge and burlap.  I love the texture this brought to my pumpkin.

The last thing to do was to attach the leaves to the pumpkin and add some embellishments.  I used an 18 gauge wire to connect everything together.  I also used some green ric rac, brown tulle and orange ribbons to cute-i-fy it.   

And there you have it!  A finished, extra cute pumpkin that is perfect for decorating from now until the end of November.

Here's the best part!  You can win one for yourself! All you need to do is enter using the rafflecopter form below.  The contest will run until next Friday and the winner will be announced on Saturday Sept 29th.      
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wall Art for the Music Room {Part 2}

I finally have my music room at a point where I can show you the rest of it!  As a refresher, you can see the first part of my music room decor here.  It is a DIY treble clef sign.

My Great Grandfather was a composer.  He also taught music theory at BYU along with other classes.  I have always admired him, and he helped to foster a love of music in me.  He passed away when I was 12 years old, but my Great Grandma was around until just this last year.  I have always felt fortunate to have had so many grandparents in my life.  Anyway, when she passed, members of my family were cleaning out her home and came to a box of music from various composers that belonged to my grandfather.  They wondered if I would be interested in having the music.  Of course I said "YES!"  I am so glad that I did.  There are so many great pieces in there.  One of the coolest things I found, though, is this certificate.  I love that my grandfather wrote his name at the top, and that it is written in french.  (Anyone care to translate?)  I think it is the perfect thing for my music room!

Two years ago for Christmas, my mom gave me this beautiful picture that she purchased from Hobby Lobby.  It has been sitting in my closet because I didn't have a way to frame it so it would be affordable.  I had big plans of making my own frame, and even bought the moulding to do it.  Things didn't work out the way I planned, so I turned to my brother in law that makes barn wood frames.  He built this frame for me and had it to me 2 days after I asked for it.  He is awesome.

Last, I got the monogram at Hobby Lobby.  I love the turquoise and the way it looks aged.

All together, I think it goes perfectly in my music room and am so pleased with the way it looks. 

You may or may not have noticed, but there is a sneak peek as to a certain huge project I decided to do.  I will show you more about my board and batten (!) in another post this week.  Oh, and one last thing.  If you are part of my Facebook group, you may have seen a little announcement.  I just wanted to say I am working on getting it put together, and there will be not one, but THREE!!!  Just be excited.

Wall Art Part 2

 Several weeks ago, I promised to show you what I hung with my family photo wall art.  Today is the day!  I finally got a tutorial written and am so excited to show you how it all looks!  Here is how my room looks all together.

This is how I made the frames:  I started with a 1X4 piece of wood and a piece of fancy trim molding.  I simply cut the wood at a 45 degree angle to create a square.  I did the same for the molding. The insides of the frames are cut to be 8 inches square, which makes the outsides about 14 inches square. I used wood glue to hold the pieces all together. Then I used a wood filler on the joints so that it was nice and seamless and sanded it.  Last, I painted the frame yellow and the trim white.  I used wood glue to hold those together.  

I cut the molding so that the trim hangs over the edge of the frame which created a perfect place to hold a photo.  

The metal piece above came from Hobby Lobby.  I got in on sale for $15 when it was normally $39!  What a steal!  I love it.  

This space is slowly coming together, but I am pleased with it so far.  Someday I will say "I think it will stay like this now."  Today is not that day.  Wanna see what I mean?  I am always adjusting and re-adjusting things.  Here are my current thoughts about what should be different.

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me.  It has definitely come a long way, and I feel like it morphs with my maturing style. (is there such a thing) I still don't think it is a true reflection of what I love though.  A little at a time.

Music Room Artwork {Part 1}

I am a band nerd.  Seriously.  I played in the band from the time I started 7th grade until I graduated college.  My major, you ask?  Music.  Yep.  I am that cool.  I have now been playing the flute for 15 years and I still love it.  I get to use my flute training as a teaching tool now and I love being able to teach all of my students.

The flute is played in the treble clef. If you aren't sure what that is, basically it just means where the notes played in the higher range are written. 

****If you are still reading, I think I should tell you that you don't have to be a music nerd to appreciate this project.  It can be adapted to any shape and size. ****

The reason I tell you all of these things is so that you will understand why I chose a treble clef sign to decorate my music room with. 

On to the tutorial.  You will need:
Foam Core
Envirotex Pour on Resin 
Exacto Knife
Paint

I began by sketching a trable clef sign onto my foam core.  You can faintly see it in the photo.... if you squint.

Next, I painted the treble clef sign black.

You will then use your exacto knife to cut out the shape and then paint the sides.

The next step I don't have a picture for because I didn't want resin on my camera. (go figure)  But you just pour the Envirotex resin over the top of the foam core and then let it sit for like a couple of days. (Follow the directions on the box.  They are pretty easy to follow.)

Once it's dry, hang it up on the wall and enjoy.  I really love the way it turned out.

Alphabet Art

 Recently I was given the chance to participate in a crafting challenge.  I was given a bag full of crafting supplies and the go ahead to make whatever I wanted from the supplies.  When I first opened the bag, I was immediately drawn to the chipboard alphabet letters.  I have been wanting to do some alphabet art for my girl's room for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

Here's what I did:

I began by painting a piece of wood that I got from the IKEA as-is section for $1.99.  (I was originally going to use the wood I have pictured here, but I decided I wanted a square look instead.)  To make it a little more fun, I painted stripes on it and then sanded it down to give it a little bit of a worn look.

The large letters I got from Hobby Lobby.  They got a coat of paint, a layer of mod podge, and a layer of glitter.  the rest of the letters just got a coat of paint and then it was time to assemble.

I used hot glue to attach the letters to the board which made it so easy and quick to put together.  Last, I hung it with a saw tooth picture hanger on the wall.

I love the way it turned out.  I had been wanting a reading/art/project nook for Lillie for a while now, and this was the perfect excuse to get it all finished up.  Along with the art, my mom found this great little table at the thrift store for me.  It was only $5.00!  With a little paint, it was as good as new.  And these IKEA kids chairs are the perfect height to go a long with it.  Now we have a fun little spot for Lillie to read and play.  She loves it already!

This challenge is being hosted over at Karina's blog.  The projects will all be posted October 1st and then the voting will begin.  I will remind you to go over and vote in a couple of days.  I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with.

Inexpensive DIY Art

Remember my cabinet that I just finished?  Well, I wanted to make some artwork to go above it to add some color to the room as well as to give it a finished look.  I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  Here's what I did.

I took 3 pieces of MDF that I had left over from my clock project.  They measure 12X12 inches.  I used some turquiose paint and painted all of them.  Then I cut out a simple chevron stencil.  Here's where it got a little time consuming.  For some reason, I only could get one line of my stencil to look right when I was cutting it out.  So I had to trace and move the chevron stripe for the whole square.  Then I went back and painted the lines once they were all traced onto the board.  It may or may not have been the reason I only did one square with a pattern instetad of doing two like I had orginally thought I would.

After I had the striped painted on, I went over it with a black glaze which I think gives it a more weathered/textured look. 

To hang it on the wall, I hot glued some ribbon to the back and then hung them on some nails. 

 This is a really easy way to add personalized art work in your home for not a lot of cost.  Seriously.  I think this probably only cost me $2.00 to make all three.  Now go crazy and make some of your own!

Bean Art Tutorial

I am finally caught up to the last round of my CWTS projects.  Here is the final tutorial from the competition. 

This was one of the least expensive projects, and it was also one of my favorites.  I loved it for a lot of reasons, but mainly because literally ANYONE can do it!

Let's get started!

I began at the local thrift store (DI) in the frame section.  I found this huge frame including it's lovely artwork (a print on cardboard) for $2.00.  You will also need to buy some legumes.  There are all sorts of different colors of beans that you can buy, so don't be afraid to go a little crazy.  Also, get some tacky glue.  It holds a lot better than hot glue and it is really cheap.

Next, I went online to search for images that I thought would be fun to re-create.  (This is not a mandatory step by any means.  You can use a stencil or freehand a pattern or whatever you would like.  I have another suggestion at the very bottom for how to use the beans, so keep reading!)  I knew I had white beans and green split peas, so in a google search I typed in green and white floral art.  (Make sure you click the images button at the top.)  I immediately fell in love with the first image that came up. 

Next, I had my dad project the image for me using the laptop and his projector.  I simply traced the image onto the back of the artwork that was there before.  (it made it easier to see the lines since it was a plain cardboard piece.)  I don't have a picture of that because it was really hard to take a picture showing the pencil lines.  They didn't show up very well.  So here is a partially painted board instead.

I didn't want to the brown to show through though, so I painted the artwork so that when the beans were on, you wouldn't be able to see the brown through the cracks. 

All that you need to do now is add those beans.  It is almost like a big paint by numbers project only using beans instead of paint.  It was very tedious and it took forever because of how detailed and huge my project was, but it was worth it in the end because I love the way it turned out. 

In the original picture, there was no black, but there are also no dark green beans.  So I decided to just add in the black beans and I am really glad I did because it helped to define the picture a lot better then if I would have just left the dark green.  The frame recieved a coat of black spray paint and then ta-da!  It's finished!  Very carefully place the artwork back into the frame.  You will have some beans fall off of the picture while you do this.  Try not to cry (too much) because it can easily be fixed.

 There you have it!  A large accent piece that can be customized to any taste and room. 

 Now, if you don't want to spend 11 hours making this (like I did) you can try a different option.  These were the inspiration for my project in the competition.

 My mom made them for me and it really can be made by anyone.  You will need to get some frames from the thrift store, some of your favorite prints and some beans.  I made color copies of the art so that I wasn't using the originals, then my mom glued the prints in the middle of the frames.  Next make a border around the art using any sort of color of bean you want and in any pattern.  It really is so easy and it looks great!  I have these in my kitchen which is the perfect spot for such a tactile, organic piece of art. 

Go get started.  You will love it, I guarantee!  And if you do decide to make one, I would LOVE to see it.  Send me a link.  Oh, and just like always, if you have any questions, please don't be afraid to ask.  I would be more than happy to answer them!