DIY Wall Art- {In Progress}

I've been on Spring Break! (whoo hoo!) So I apologize for the large gap in posts. 

Being on break has given me a chance to really reflect on a lot of things- including my house. My husband and I have moved a lot in our 3 years of marriage, and  anything that wasn't absolutely necessary or absolutely loved has since been lost, donated, or unfortunately broken. This includes the large majority of anything that goes on our walls.  

Now that we've moved into a new townhouse and it looks like we're going to stay for awhile, I'm eyeing my naked walls and the wheels in my head have begun turning thinking about what I can do to cover them.  My first post was about the paintings I did in my living room- and I kind of want to stay on the same track. (...free I mean.)

Even if we do stay here for a long time- I'm not compeletely invested in purchasing large portions of expensive decor just yet.  So- I browsed my faithful inspirational friend: Pinterest.

And here's what I came across:

 

 

 

(These particular images pop up in google image search for "toilet paper roll wall art" which is why they aren't cited.) 

Pretty neat huh? And GENIUS! I mean... we all use toilet paper right?  (please just say yes for the sake of my public restroom sanity.) So just start saving up those puppies because you can slice them up and stick them together into virtually any design your creative little mind can come up with!

I only have a few saved up so far so I don't have enough to really create anything as of yet- but I couldn't resist laying out some patterns for fun.  Here's some of my (not so creative/ copy-cat) brainstorming so far. 

After I have enough I plan to staple them together (... way too lazy for glue. Plus then you'd need to clip them together until they dry. However, I do think it would probably look nicer.) and then I'm going to spray-paint the whole thing a single color before hanging it on my wall.  I also considered getting a really fine glitter spray to go over the top- but I'm thinking that may be too much for right now.

The nice thing about this wall art (I mean aside from it being cheap AND easy) is that it's already built to nicely hang on nails.  No additional "now how do I actually get this on the wall?!" thoughts necessary. I'm definitely excited!

So next time you're cooling your buns on the toilet- don't feel guilty going a little liberal on your T.P. usage. That just means you're one step closer to more supplies for this spectacular project!

I love upcycling projects.

What are some Toilet Paper Roll crafts you have tried?

(... I feel the need to say I am in no way endorsing the over-use of paper products. That is wasteful. But please make sure your bottom is clean.)

Quick Costume

When my niece turned one last June- my sister in law was throwing a "Old McDonald" themed-party. Guests were encouraged to dress like their favorite farm animals and being 9 months pregnant I was at a loss.  I wanted to think of something quick, cheap, easy, and comfortable.

Brandon and I were also planning to match so that was a challenge.

In the end- we settled on a hen and rooster.  I wish I had gotten pictures of us IN the costumes- maybe my sister in law has some from the party. But this will give you the basic idea.  Because we wanted to be comfortable- Brandon just wore a red polo shirt and I wore a white maternity blouse. 

We both wear glasses so this was the next item I added to our look:

It was actually pretty easy to whip-up these "glasses-masks". I just used some colored yarn and pieces of yellow felt to tie the beaks onto the bridges of our glasses.

Then to complete the look: (please don't judge my swollen ankles!)

I made us some chicken feet by tying more yellow felt onto our flip-flops.

This costume literally took about 10 minutes to put together and turned out really cute. I would have liked to have gotten a little more creative with some feather boas or something but the simplicity worked out perfectly for when we were done being in costume about 15 minutes into the party. ;)

Another awesome thing about this costume is it was cute and fun but still dressed-down enough that I didn't feel completely ridiculous when it turned out that we were pretty much the only adults that were cool enough to actually dress up. 

What are some of your favorite quick-costumes?

Have you ever been to a costume party that wasn't during Halloween?

DIY Custom Bookshelves

This project is back from my nesting craze last year when I was pregnant. My husband and I were living in an apartment with my mother in law.  I was in my final teaching internship so I was gone basically all day (like now) only when I came home I could NOT relax. Despite swollen ankles and an aching back I was stir-crazy beyond belief and I just had to get things done!

One project I had my eye on was doing something about the books stacked on our dresser. Looking back on it now- it really wasn't so bad... but at the time it irked me to no end to see those books stacked there.  They needed a home!  All my bookshelves had been lost or broken during previous moves and so my poor books just sat in homeless stacks on our dresser.

So... I set to work.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So here's the quick and simple process for custom-decorated bookshelves.  :)

Please excuse the mess on the floor. I seem to recall that I was mid-process of reorganizing our closet at that point. What I would kill for a little bit of that motivation now...an occasional burst of energy would also be nice. ;)

Anyway-  I had my eye on some plain white bookcases from Walmart.  They were cheap- and perfect for our budget. I convinced Brandon to let me "invest" in a couple, and he agreed.  At that point I ran immediately to the store to get them- and insisted on bringing them up to our third floor apartment right away. Being hugely pregnant and the bookcases being surprisingly heavy, I ended up opening the boxes in the car and carrying the shelves up piece by piece.  My mother in law helped carry some of the pieces up too.

After the shelves were all upstairs, I enlisted Brandon at his next available moment to start assembling them. (I even did a bit of hammering myself!)

And while he finished up- I began the beautification process of the shelves. First I ran some Elmer's "tape" glue across the face of the shelves.  This was easily the most difficult part of the whole process. The only reason being that the "glue" was clear and it was difficulty for me to see without a bright light reflecting off the surface.  If I did it again- I think I might use some kind of fabric glue. I was worried that using hot glue would cause the ribbon to become discolored.

The benefit of the tape was that it didn't dry out or run anywhere. I would have liked it to be stickier but in the end I'm happy with my choice.

  

Next I measured and cut some ribbon to lay across the front.  Here I was laying down the first ribbon while I was taking the picture so you can see it was starting to go on a little crooked.  Nice thing about the Elmer's tape-glue stuff was that I could lift the ribbon up and stick it right back down again.  

I used a trick I learned from laying down masking tape lines in theatre technology. Stick the very left edge down, and hold the ribbon up directly above the rest of the surface before sticking it down. Basically, line up the ribbon ABOVE the surface and then while you are holding it there use your other hand to slowly smooth it down from left to right. (... Let me know if that doesn't make sense and I'll try to explain it a little better.)

Super simple- I've seen people get really creative with some cute stuff decorating the edges, but this is a quick cheap way to dress-up a bookcase (or dresser?) in just a few minutes!  You could easily stick some ribbon, fringe, lace, buttons, etc... on the shelves after it's already assembled too!

I love alternating my books vertically and horizontally on the shelves to give some visual texture.  Weaving some knickknacks in with the books can help break-up the rectangular look and make a bookshelf an interesting focal point instead of a regular piece of storage furniture.

I also like the idea of mixing reading-levels on a bookshelf. Now that our little man is actually here and reading books is becoming a realistic part of his daily routine I will probably begin taking into consideration the "filtering" of more mature books from the shelves where he will find the books he will be looking at. (Not that any of my books are incredibly inappropriate- but I'm not sure my 8 month old is quite ready to handle the complexities of Middle Earth or Fahrenheit 451 quite yet. lol) I do want to keep some "older" books  on the shelf as he grows though to encourage him to let his reading selections grow with him. (Add beginning reader books with the picture books, then add some chapter books, young adult books, etc...)

Since we've moved one of these shelves didn't quite make the transfer. I salvaged the shelves and am currently using them in my kitchen.  The other shelf is also in my kitchen serving as a storage unit for baby food and baking supplies. It looks pretty cute! And the green matches with the citrus-y feel I'm going for in the kitchen. I'll have to fill you in with my books' new home at a future date.

Until then- happy reading!