Canvas art

Have you ever stumbled across a painting or sign online and thought, "I could totally make that!" Well, I know I have. Often, the paintings, pictures or signs that I find are SUPER cute but too pricey for my budget.

I have based my home purchases around the idea to spend where it counts. Basically, I splurge on the furniture and save on the smaller décor items. I can totally justify paying a higher price for an intricate piece of art, but a simple sign? I don't think so. Paying $40 for a sign I can easily make myself for less than $10...no ma'am.

Michael's runs "super buys" on wrapped canvases a few times a year. I like to take advantage of these savings, as I'm sure I'll come up with a way to use them in the future. Recently, I noticed my guest bathroom was looking a little bare. I'd like to make my guests feel welcome and hopefully make them smile....with a humorous bathroom sign. So, I dug out a canvas and some paint and got to work.

To conserve paint, I like to mix a gel medium with my acrylic. I've had good experiences with this brand:

I first painted my base layer, then hand sketched the words I wanted on the canvas. I didn't want it to be "perfect" but I did use a ruler as a guide. After writing, erasing, writing and erasing some more... I was ready to paint. End Result:

As I mentioned in my first blog post, I'm obsessed with Christmas. I MAY or may not be listening to Christmas music as I type (don't judge me). So, naturally... I used some canvas art to jazz up my Christmas decorations this year as well:

Is it Christmas yet?!

Another way I like to use canvases is to make DIY canvas photos. Here's some that I made for my kitchen & hallway:

Breakfast Area Canvas Prints

Hallway Canvas Prints

These are easy to make and WAY cheaper than buying the "real thing." I know the actual canvas prints look amazing, but these aren't too far off. (In my humble opinion) To make these, you will need:

• Canvas
• Photo Print (same size as canvas)
• Scissors
• Sand Paper
• Acrylic Paint
• Mod Podge
• Foam Brush

Ok, got everything together? good..let's go!

Step 1: Lay your picture on top of the canvas to see if it hangs over the edge(s). If it does, trim off the excess so the picture will lie right on the edge of the canvas.

Step 2: Paint the sides of your canvas desired color (I used dark down for my kitchen and black for the hallway pictures)

Step 3: Apply a layer of mod podge to the entire canvas.

Step 4: Lie your photo on the canvas (on top of the modge podge) and press down to adhere the photo to the canvas. Make sure your edges line up!
TIP: Once I have the picture pressed down, I flip the canvas over (so the picture is face down) and firmly press on the back of the canvas to make sure I get rid of all the air bubbles!

Step 5: Wait for the mod podge to dry (I know.. I know... this is a lot to ask!)

Step 6: Use sandpaper to remove any rough edges from your photo.

Step 7: Apply another layer of mod podge on top of the photo and all edges of the canvas.

Step 8: Wait for the mod podge to dry (I know what you're thinking...again?! I have to wait?! YES, yes you do.)

Step 9: Apply a 2nd layer of mod podge to the entire canvas/photo.

Step 10: Let dry and you're done!

Side view

I hope you enjoy using these ideas to create your own home décor!

<3 Brandy

Indoor Mini-Garden

Our kitchen island is home to holiday decorations in some months, and fresh flowers when we actually have them. Otherwise, the island is empty and sad. This had to change!

My green thumb is what I would call a "work-in-progress" and certainly has not been successful with indoor plants. Since I love miniature things, I was attracted to the succulent area at my local nursery. I started reading about succulents and learned that they are easy and low-maintenance. This sounds like my kind of plant!

"Totes adorbs"

I read about how to plant and care for these adorable little plants, and made the decision that these NEED to live in my kitchen. The one pictured on the back left is called "jellybean," obviously I couldn't resist. I mean... a miniature garden...right in my kitchen.. YESSSS!

I went ahead and picked up some succulents during my last nursery trip (while working on THIS project). This was my way of 1/2 way committing to the project, considering I didn't have all the supplies. So, I finally decided to make it happen and purchased a glass bowl at Michael's, then headed to the pet store for the remaining supplies. Now I know this sounds odd, but the articles I read said to use activated carbon in the bottom of succulent containers. Supposedly, this will help clean the water and prevent mold/mildew. I'm not sure if you can buy this stuff anywhere else, but I knew the pet store had it in the fish department. If this is what the experts say.. I'm doing it! Additionally, the "experts" say that succulents like well drained soil. Therefore, you should have a layer of rocks in the bottom of the container with soil on top. To avoid going to more stores, I purchased some aquarium rocks as they were the size I felt looked best in my chosen container.

Side note: I was at the pet supply store anyways... obviously, Toby NEEDED a new toy. He is my child, and he is spoiled. Rotten... anddd I'm ok with that. Moving on....

Shameless photo of Toby...because I can.

Here's all the supplies you'll need to make your own mini succulent garden:

Pebbles/Rocks, Activated Carbon, Potting Soil, Container & Succulents

Start with a layer of carbon, then add your rocks/pebbles.Next, add a generous layer of potting soil.

I arranged the succulents as I felt looked best, then planted. I topped the whole container with another layer of rocks, just for aesthetic purposes. Wah-Lah, DONE:

I'm hoping the articles I read will prove to be true and my little garden will flourish! If not, Toby looks cute year round and I suppose I can just sit him on the island.

<3 Brandy

You can call me a flower if you want to, I don't mind....

Spring has officially sprung in Georgia! We were blessed with 70+ degree weather and abundant sunshine this weekend, and I was ready to get outside! Our yard is (thankfully) turning green...slowly, but surely.... but it still needed some more color. You know where I'm going with this..... FLOWERS!

We recently purchased a new planter for our back porch after last year's planter met a terrible demise in the February ice storm.....R.I.P. little planter. I was pretty stoked about this planter and started looking for some flower inspiration on Pinterest. I fell in love with some Mexican Feather Grass, but to my displeasure, I found that neither Lowes, Home Depot or Pike carries this beauty. Booo!

This setback didn't deter me from my mission. I knew there would be plenty of other gorgeous flowers. So, I set out on my flower shopping adventure and came home with some loot:

 

While selecting flowers for my planter I kept 3 words in mind: Filler, Spiller and Thriller. This is a common concept that people use to design planters. In short, you need flowers to Fill, some to "Spill" over and some to "Thrill" (aka: tall, flashy, etc). Why did I just start singing Michael Jackson? ok ok, moving on..

I partially filled my planter with potting soil and then started arranging the flowers. After deciding the layout, I added more potting soil to complete the process.

A few tips:

• When pulling flowers out of their plastic containers, squeeze the pot to loosen the soil and the plant will come out easier.
• Make sure to break up the soil/roots before planting your new flowers. Basically, don't just pull that sucker out of its old house and stick it in a new one. It needs a little massaging to make its new home feel cozy.
• If your planter does not have a hole in the bottom, make sure to drill one to ensure proper water drainage.

After completing the planter for the back porch, I realized that there's enough space between our 2 garage doors for another planter. So.. ya, I went back to the store for more. GUILTY!

Same process, different planter. I'm not sure which one I love more, but I do love all the colors. I can't wait to see them grow, because in this case, BIGGER is BETTER!

 

<3 Brandy

Timothy the Turkey

Meet Timothy.

Timothy the Turkey

Timothy was proudly harvested in 2013 by none other than my boyfriend, Brett. Since taking a short trip to the talkative taxidermist (seriously though, she talks A LOT), Timothy has lived in Brett's man cave.

His days haven't been completely lonely, as he has been proudly displayed with other wildlife. Unfortunately, this display was quite sad. Just kind of blah...needed a little jazzing up!

Ho Hum, How Boring....

While wasting time browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago, I stumbled across this gem:

Picture Credit: Pinterest via Indulgy.com/ designmom.com

I love it and I have to have it. Naturally, I clicked the pin to get more information and follow the link....only to find a dead end. Really Pinterest? Really.... you're gunna do me like this. So after digging all over the internet, I finally found the original picture. SUCCESS! I start reading the post and find out ..OH, surprise, surprise... this picture is from one of Joanna Gaines past homes. She may or may not be my style soul mate. I'm just saying, if my style had a spirit animal, it'd be her.

The article was an interview/home tour, not the "how to" article I was expecting. BUT this didn't stop me. Afterall, I have Brett and all his super handyman skills.

So off to Home Depot we went to search for some beautiful cedar boards. I thought that we would get some 1x6 boards, but ended up purchasing some rough cut 2x6's. This allowed us to save some money by cutting down the boards ourselves. Also, the boards were better looking, in my humble opinion.

Gimme!

Don't let the SUPER bright lights trick you, these boards are  a gorgeous red color.

Once at home, we ripped down the boards to 1x6 with a table saw. Next, we randomly cut the boards to various sizes to get the "imperfect" effect. I laid all the boards out on the ground to decide how I wanted them to hang on the wall. Once I changed my mind ummm 5 times, we had a plan.

After hauling all those boards upstairs, we used a stud finder to locate the studs to ensure these beautiful babies don't fall off the wall. Once we had that marked, we started screwing the boards up on the wall, using a level to ensure they were relatively straight. We used some gold-toned finish screws (aka; small heads) so they would blend well with the boards.

Here's how it looked once we had a few rows complete:

We "kept on keepin' on" until all the boards were hung. Overall, it took us a couple hours to hang all the boards. Lastly, we hung the deer, fish, antlers and other items to complete the look. 

Drum roll please....

Brett's first bow :)

I am quite happy with the results. I'm still trying to determine if Timothy should have a "perch" of sorts...decisions, decisions. Either way, Timothy's place has certainly got a face lift.