Ballard Inspired Canvases Tutorial

 

Good Morning! I am so excited to hurry and post this morning! I am making good progress this week! I started Saturday by refinishing two dressers and a nightstand for the boys room! Stryders bed is painted and he is now sleeping in it! The quilt tops are done and I am just waiting for a good time to find fabric to finish them! I need to paint the crib and rocking chair and find some knobs for one of the dressers! I am holding out on you to post the room at one time! I have also got tonz of spring cleaning done, including some shelving repainted in the closets of the salon and pantry. I am going to try to tackle the upstairs today and hopefully the outside windows on days off! I have also found many projects to add to my to do list as I spring clean! Hopefully by the end of the week the weather will be nice again and the kids and I can hit the park (which we might try to sneak in today anyway)!

I fell in love with these prints when I got the new Ballard Design magazine a few months ago. I love anything out of old book pages or anything up-cycled! The dress is priced at $299 and the small ones start at $89.

 

I wanted to come up with something similar and a little more my style. I have been loving silhouettes lately and don’t have any around the house. I did one for myself and one for Serendipity.

Begin with a blank canvas. I got this one @ JoAnne's in a pack of two for I believe $20. I used some vintage sheet music and tore it up. I used the majority of straight edges on the edge of the canvases to cover it easily. Be sure to use a foam brush and coat the back side of the paper very well. When you get it all covered, put one more coat of modge podge on the whole canvas.

 

I found a silhouette of a lady on Google images. I do not have a program that will let me print as large as I wanted to on multiple pieces of paper so instead I cropped the picture in half in Windows Photo Gallery and then taped them together and hand drew the back of the bun, nose, and her chest that was cut off by making it large enough! The next few pictures are very blurry. The focus on my camera was not working and after playing with it forever I had found a setting that the kids must have switched over.

Cut out your silhouette and secure a few places scotch tape so that it will not slide around while you stencil it on. Be sure to use pencil incase you need to erase.

Use a small paint brush to go around the edges and then fill in with a small foam brush.

I used a needle and thread to tie a knot through the back of the wood on the canvas.

I then came up on one side and thread some pearls that I had onto the string. I then took it back down and tied around the other side.

I secured the strings on back with some hot glue to make it more sturdy.

I also tied a bow and hot glued it on her hair. This one I did with book pages instead of sheet music and left them in larger pieces. It went much faster and I actually like the look a little better! You could easily do this with any picture or snap a few quick shots of your kids at a side angle and make it personal!

 

Love, Amanda

Home Sweet Home!

 

Hi! It is good to be back! We had so much fun at Disneyland! The kids were too cute with all the characters. I would have to say that was their favorite part! Leave it to me to make it all the way to Disneyland with my camera and no memory card. We got plenty of pictures on my moms camera so I don’t have any to upload at the moment, darn! We were sick before we left and by the time we got home it had turned into bronchitis. I haven’t felt as ambitious as I would like to but I did get my soldier boxes finished today. With a little bit of modge-podge and a few things that I had in my stash… I came up with this! These will be going in Serendipity! Bright pink is suppose to be the trend color this year. I am not sure that it will make a spot in my house but kind of fun to have play with color!

Spring is Here!

 

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Thank Goodness! I am so happy that spring is here! Spring is one step closer to summer and I am due in July, and one step closer to meeting our baby boy!

We got the rooms switched around last week! The bed is painted and Stryder is now sleeping in it! He LOVES it! The blue hutch will also work well in there! I got the top of Stryders duvet cover sewn and the top of Stantons quilt. Oh yes…. we are naming him Stanton (in-love)!! I also think I have enough fabric left to make two of these Land of Nod inspired floor cushions! I can’t finish anything until I find some solid grey fabric for the backing of the quilts and to finish off the cushions! Everything else is cut and ready to go! Walmart had all kinds of solid color fabrics but no grey… go figure!

The tutorial to make this can be found at Living with Punks.

 

My new craft room on the other hand is quite an issue! It is way too small for way too large of collection! I think I need one of those really good professional organizers to come in and figure out how to put a lot in a really small space! I am thinking that we may need to refer back to Ana White for a few fun pieces that will hold some JUNK!

On the other hand, It is almost yard-sale season! I am so excited! Maybe I will come across a piece to re-finish!

Our spring stuff is out! Is yours?!?! It just seems to put you in a good mood!

I love these rabbits I got at Black Eyed Susan's the other day! I also found this antique egg holder for $3.00 at Gypsy Mamas! What a cool find!

I won’t be back for a week or so! We leave tomorrow to take the kids to Disneyland with my mom, dad, and sister!!!!!!! They love to play dress up and are so into characters. I can’t wait to see their reaction!

Here is a sneak peek of my next project. I have plans for these boxes I got for Christmas! Stay tuned to see what he becomes!

Love, Amanda

Technorati Tags: spring decor,ana white,land of nod floor cushion

The bed is built! Now it is time to paint!

 

The bed went together so quick and easy! Brandon worked a few hours yesterday and today and wa-la! Unfortunately, I think this project is going to take a little bit longer to paint! I started on wood filler but it is a little to cold for me outside today!

The plans to build this bed can be found at http://ana-white.com/.

Technorati Tags: bed,diy bed,farmhouse bed

Spring Fever, Room re-do plan, some cute kids, and a new blog to check out!

 

I am starting to get spring fever! It is so nice outside today, and I am loving it! We got off to a really good start on a building Stryder a bed today, or I should say Brandon got off to a really good start! We are now sure that we are having another BOY!!! He will share the bonus room with Stryder and I will be taking over Stryders room for my craft room! Here are a few ideas for the room so far.

We got the plans for the bed from Ana White! Her site is amazing! There are tons of free plans on how to build all kinds of awesome knock-off furniture! She breaks it down by shopping list, cost and more!

Here is some fabric that I ordered from a cute fabric shop on Etsy. http://www.etsy.com/shop/skyerevefabrics?ref=pr_shop

I am thinking guitars in Stryders area and the zoo animals in the babies area. The room is big enough that I will do a play area in the middle and use the furniture that I redid here along with a cute rug and some kids tables and chairs!

My friend Natalie scored me a dresser from D.I. for $10! I am thinking I will paint it and the babies dresser white!

The crib and the bed will be the green that coordinates because Stryder insists! The walls are going to be grey!

We have been working hard to grow Stryder a little shag the last couple of months and it is finally starting to come around. We put some “guy lights” in his hair today to lighten it up for spring. He was too cute about it! He is not a good poser for pictures! I was lucky enough to get a good picture of the process but not so lucky on the after!

The Library had a Fancy Nancy Tea Party on Saturday. Addi and I went and had so much fun! They did such a great job putting it together. First we painted fingernails and then decorated crowns and magic wands. They set up a photo booth and had refreshments!

She loves to get dressed up fancy! You are never too fancy according to Fancy Nancy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cousin is in the progress of kicking off her new business Serendipity! I am so excited to get to help and be a part of her first occasional sale! What is an occasional sale? Become a follower of her blog and learn a lot on daily updates, decorating advice and information on the first Serendipity sale!

http://serendip-i-ty.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=10

Here is a peek of a few things I have been working on lately to prepare!

Have a great night and I will try to be back quicker this time!!