mumford & son's inspired decorative wall sign

We could definitely use some more artwork in the house. 

And since I've been obsessed with all things wooden lately, I decided to be adventurous 

and make a cool sign with words for the living room.

All I used was:

-- A sheet of craft wood from Michaels

-- Paint and stain

I decided on using Mumford & Son's words, not only because they are one of Randy and I's 

very favorites, but also because pretty much all of their lyrics are extremely beautiful 

and meaningful. 

The one I chose in particular (one of the most meaningful and inspiring to me at least). 

"Where you invest your love, you invest your life" from the song 'Awake My Soul,' which is probably top three for me.

I tried something new to transfer the words this time, since my stencils have been 

annoying me a ton and failing miserably. A lot of people know about this technique but 

it was new to me. It's used with printing out fonts most of the time,

 but since we don't have a printer and neither of us seems to be doing anything about that,

 I had to get clever with it. 

I taped tissue paper to my computer screen and typed out the words in my desired 

font in photoshop and traced them with a pencil. 

Afterwards, all you have to do is flip the paper over  and rub the backside 

of the lettering w/ some chalk, line it up where you want it on your surface

and retrace the letters with a pen. Peel off the tissue paper and like magic,

 a chalk outline of your words transfers to the surface and then you just have to paint.

What I like most about this sign is how the coloring and texture came out just by 

experimenting. I used two different stains, a gray and walnut, as well as white 

paint and just rubbed and streaked and messed around with it until it came out

how I wanted. I'm super happy about it :)

So yeah, still needs a little touch up and a finish over top,

but I'm definitely gonna love this hanging up in our living room. Woop woop!

rustic pine-wood bathroom decor sign

Since this house and has been lived in for years before I moved in,
the room decor and colors are very simple, dark and masculine.

The bathroom in particular. I've been working to put some prettier touches to it
in order to give it a little something. It didn't really have any decorative elements at all.

So I found a scrap piece of pine-wood, sanded it down smooth and stained it with some 

Minwax wood stain in "Special Walnut." 

After letting it settle and dry, I used some white paint and some awesome stencils I got at Home Depot for the bordering design. Stenciled the letters after that dried with some great alphabet stencils I found at Meijer.
(they were like $4 for the full alphabet in three different fonts!)

Here is the space above the toilet now after adding the sign and some other little touches. :) 

Still looking to find some cute little things to add, but it's a lot better than it used to be!

more garden goodness!

Michigan weather is very frustrating right now. How are you supposed to start a spring garden when it's still snowing in April?! Ludacris. Regardless, I'm still getting just a few things started. Bought some cheap pots and painted them. In addition to my herbs that I posted earlier, I've added baby's breath and lavender in some bigger pots. So here they are after I've painted and decorated them :)

The left one is supposed to say "Jardin," garden in Spainish, but it messed up a little so I probably will re-do it. Left two are for baby's breath, and the right is for Lavender. I have another pot and another seed pack of Lavender awaiting so I probably will make another one. Regardless, I am happy and excited to see some growth hopefully soon!

homemade shelf for my studio :)

So this is definitely a project of mine that I am most proud of. Not only because it was probably the most effort I've put into something, but also because I finally mustered up the courage and used the hubby-to-be's giant Ryobi power miter saw with the very scary sounding "Diablo" blade by myself for the first time.

I'm no girly girl, but I'm sorry, that thing is very loud, fast, sharp and intimidating. 

Haha. I mean look at this thing!:

But I did it :) And it was super easy! These are the only tools I needed to complete the project:

Minwax stain, Behr white paint, gorilla glue, and some small fastener nails.

All I did was stain and paint both pieces, then attached them with the glue and

nailed both pieces together for additional security. I had another piece of vintage hardware

I got at a Detroit thrift shop that I added to the center for decoration :)

Another photo of the final product:

diy coat hanger for home walk-in!

One of the greatest things, and actually what has allowed me to think up and execute my projects, is that my fiance is very handy himself, and has been working on the house even before I moved in. He pretty much could own Home Depot with how much money he has spent there.

Because of this, there is a plethora of paints, stains, scrap wood, tools, etc. around the house. You name it, it's probably here. So when I get bored during the day, I just look around, gather some materials up and get creative.

Our living room, right when you walk in, needed something to it. So today I decided to build a coat rack out of scrap wood and some antique hardware I got awhile back from a thrift shop in Detroit. So here is the result!:

All I did was take a random piece of wood I found laying around the house, stained it, 

screwed in the hooks and the awesome rusty gold piece of hardware and then screwed it into 

the wall right next to the door. Voila! 

A close up of the hardware:

(I still need to straighten it out, but you get the idea)

getting ready to garden!

I'm a big believer of things fresh from nature and organic. Especially when it comes to food :) I also REALLY love to cook and always want the best ingredients for my recipes.

So I decided to be adventurous this spring/summer season and make my own garden! I've always helped to maintain the one my mother created as I was growing up, but have never started one on my own. So wish me luck. In addition to some fresh herbs, I think I've decided on planting cucumber, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and maybe peas.

Here's a hanging planter for fresh herbs I created to get started. I'm thinking of either hanging it in the kitchen or on the front porch.

I bought a three-pack of these glass jars and the hanging planter from Marshalls
(Marshalls, if you can't tell by now, is one of my main go-to places)

I sized and cut small circles of construction paper & glued them to the inside lid
and painted them with chalk paint. I used a white chalk marker for the label.
(I went with the paper after learning that chalk paint doesn't adhere very well to glass
and takes FOREVER to dry! Haha)

I can't wait to create more planters & pretty things for the garden! Stay tuned.

handmade home studio decor & details

So I've been working on making my home studio in the spare room we had upstairs and I am super proud of myself. This project has inspired most of my latest crafting projects and I think I have been improving and getting pretty durn good if I do say so myself. So here's a look at some of my favorite details of my new space. Enjoy!

A front view of my hand-painted and distressed antique side table also seem above.
Behr paint used- base is "Classic Silver" and the detail in "Mineral."
The vase I also painted using a metallic spray by Krylon in champagne color.

Small shelf from Home Depot.
I created the flower arrangement that sits in an old planter
box I found at my parents' house.

This table was made from an old wooden coffee table
my fiance and I found on the side of the road. I painted the top
and attached this amazing antique window my fiance had laying
around in the garage :)

Here's my desk :) The wood crate was found at hubby-to-be's parents' house
(They have a large barn that should seriously be featured on American Pickers. It's great!)
Painted the quote using Martha Stewart stencils and my fav paint from her- Grey Wolf.
The lamp I've had forever since I lived at home, I went and stole it back and added the stencil painting :)

I created this floral arrangement from various fake flowers found at Salvation Army,
The white vase is also from SA and the lantern I found at Marshalls.
Old drawer found roadside, I painted it and attached the vintage pull.

  

Left: Old shed style door found roadside and painted using Behr's Classic Silver.
I unscrewed the handle and attached vintage style decor key found at Marshall's :)
Right: Homemade large chalkboard made from an old, cheap bifold door!


More studio posts to come as I finish. :) Thanks for lookin'!