art – Page 2 – emerald city diaries

valentine’s day diy: sparks card & date night jar.

to wrap up my valentine’s day diy {just two days away, eek!}, i have two small projects to share.

first up is a card which is loosely based off of a card i have seen before in stores.

supplies:

short matchstick
cardstock or blank card
thin wire
marker or pen – i love the thin sharpies
construction paper/paper/envelope
washi tape – optional

i cut out a folding card from plain white cardstock. i put the fold on the top edge, but you could put it on the side edge too. then i laid down the matchstick where i wanted it on the card – a bit off-centered – & punched two tiny holes on both sides of the matchstick. then i thread a short piece of wire thru the holes, looping around the matchstick, & putting the ends thru the back of the card. i twisted the wire to secure the matchstick.

then i wrote out “sparks fly” on the outside of the card, & “when we’re together” in the inside. simple as that.

the last project i have to share is a fun valentine’s gift for aaron – a date night jar. we have been talking about the fact that two-and-a-half years into marriage that we don’t go on dates really anymore. at least not like we used to. so, i thought it would be fun to compile some ideas so that when we find ourselves looking for something fun to do, we could skip past the brainstorming & move right to the date!

there are lots of “date night jars” on pinterest so definitely search there if you want some more versions of this idea.

supplies:

short glass jar – i used a mason jar
fat popsicle sticks
acrylic paint – i used festive red & pink
sharpie or marker
felt
twine or string

i started out by brainstorming & writing out all of my date ideas. i tried to make half of them free dates & half of them pay dates. i was with some girlfriends during this process which helped the idea-flowing tremendously, but i tried to think of all of those things that we always say we want to do or only do when out-of-town guests are visiting. then i painted the ends of the sticks {both sides} – red signifying the pay dates & pink the free ones.

then i put all of the sticks in the jar, painted side up. i traced a heart out of felt & tied it onto the jar with some string.

it’s not too late to whip up a fun something for your valentine! do you craft or buy for valentine’s day?

diy framed polaroids.

a while ago i posted about the polaroid project where i made “polaroids” out of pictures of parisian french doors. i really liked the way the pictures turned out, but i didn’t love that they were just stuck on the wall. the pictures came down along with everything else over thanksgiving weekend when we painted the bedroom & i finally got around to finding a new way to display the pictures {i framed them!}.

this was super easy. i picked up two fjallsta frames from ikea. i knew i wanted big picture frames & decided the square frame was what i wanted. i also picked up some poster tack & two heavy white posterboards from target.

i opened up the frame & took out the mat. i traced the outside of the mat onto the posterboard, one for each frame, & then cut. {this is what the second picture is, i know its hard to see with the white on white.}

then i measured the inside {back} of the frame to figure out how much of a margin i would need to leave between the edge of the posterboard & the edge of the pictures. i left a one inch margin on the left, right & bottom edges, and a one-and-a-quarter inch margin on the top {the extra 1/4 inch was to account for the washi tape}.

then i added a small wad of poster tack to the top corners of each picture. the washi tape was already on the tops of all the pictures.

i placed the four corner pictures first & then filled in the rest of the grid.

& then the frames went back onto our bedroom walls as a fun reminder of our trip to paris!

what kind of art are you framing & hanging on your walls?

a pinterest christmas: etched mason jar monograms & ornament cluster.

welcome to the fifth & final week of a pinterest christmas! {see the first, second, third, & fourth week posts}

i would like to share two final pinspiration projects with you before the end of the year {eeks, that is close!}.

first up, etched mason jar monograms. i adore monograms {as you can see here} & have been wanting to try glass etching for a while now. it seemed perfect to make our neighbors monogrammed mason jars for fun christmas presents.

{original pinterest link – diy etched glass}

supplies:

mason jars {i used the smooth sided ones}
armour etch
painter’s tape
sticker letters/sticker paper
paintbrush
plastic gloves
optional: hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, crushed candy canes

this was a pretty straight-forward project & the linked tutorial above is pretty good. the armour etch didn’t have a lot of instruction with it, so i followed the tutorials recommendation & left the armour etch on for 10 minutes which seemed to do the trick. my guess {though an untested one} is that the longer you leave the armour etch on, the darker the white etching will be.

the etching was difficult to photograph, but you can see it, right? i liked the two initial monogram, but also think a big letter would be cute {like in the original tutorial}.

my last pinterest christmas project is an ornament cluster. an ornament cluster you ask? well, if you don’t know what this is, i don’t blame you. i made it up because i needed a name to call this craft!

{original pinspiration – pottery barn catalog cover}

when i saw this pottery barn catalog, i knew i wanted to make a similar cluster of ornaments. i happened to have five pink ornaments {old from cost plus world market} lying around – perfect!

supplies:

ornaments
ribbon or string
optional: 3m hook for hanging

1. i cut five lengths of ribbon that were around 1 foot in length – some were a few inches longer, some a few inches shorter, some were 1 foot. then i threaded each ornament onto a length of ribbon.

2. after all of the ornaments were strung, i gathered up all of the ends of the ribbon. then i pulled the ornaments up or down depending on where i wanted them to hang {in relation to the other ornaments}.

3. then i took a length of ribbon & tied the ends of ribbon group together. then i tied the ribbon in a bow. i bent back the ends of the group of ribbons {my ribbon was wired} to hide these ends {you could also just trim them}.

4. i hung my ornament cluster using a 3m hook!

& so marks the end of another pinterest christmas. it was fun to see all of the projects these crafty gals completed during an already busy holiday season. until next year!

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – bunting tutorial

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – santa hat brownies & christmas cards

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – giant smores stuffed chocolate chip cookies

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – yarn trees & abbi @ The Pena Family – pinterest christmas wrapup

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

a pinterest christmas: magazine bows & chalkboard art.

welcome to the fourth week of a pinterest christmas! {see the first, second, & third week posts}

even though it is the day after christmas, i wanted to share two projects with you because it is still the holiday season, right?

first up, magazine bows. every year i try to re-use as much as i can when it comes to wrapping presents. last year i wrapped all of our presents in re-used paper grocery bags & added real red ribbon for a festive touch. this year i knew i was going to wrap in paper grocery bags, but i wanted to make my own bows.

{original pinterest link – recycled bows}

supplies:

magazine/newspaper/catalog/book pages
paper cutter or scissors
double-sided tape
ruler

you start by cutting the strips of paper. for each bow you need nine strips in all: the three long strips are the original length of the magazine page; the next three strips are one inch shorter than the original length; the two strips are two inches shorter than the original length; and the shortest is three-and-a-half or four inches.

once the strips are cut, you will start looping & taping. {i started with the longest & went down in size order.} take a strip & fold it in half. open the strip back up & put a small square of tape on the middle of the fold. loop the top part of the strip & attach the end to the tape square; add another tape square on the taped end of the strip, loop the bottom part of the strip & attach the end.

repeat with all of the strips. make a circle out of the shortest strip. to assemble the bow, start with one of the biggest strip loops & add a square of tape to the middle. stack another big strip loop on top of the first one, alternating the direction. add a square of tape to the middle of the top loop & add the last big strip loop, alternating the direction. repeat with the remaining five loops being sure to alternate the direction of the loops to form a bow. finally, add a tape square & attach the paper circle to the center. ta-da!

second up is my chalkboard art i added to our chalkboarded entryway. there were lots & lots of pinspiration posts for this project. {see my christmas pinterest board here}

i knew i wanted to put a fun holiday phrase on the wall & scoured pinterest for ideas. once i figured out what phrase i wanted – may your days be merry & bright – i sketched a few ideas of fonts & form. i also decided to add color for a bit of a pop!

{my initial sketch of the letters & layout – sorry for the blue picture, my white balance was off!}

{the festive art as you walk into our house.}

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – Christmas Cards & Wrapping

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – mistle toes

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – sock vase

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney & abbi @ The Pena Family

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

a fresh coat of paint: bedroom edition.

over thanksgiving break, our other big painting project {in addition to the bathroom} was our bedroom.

our bedroom’s original color was yellow with yellow trim. yep, lovely. {thankfully, our bedroom has the 11 foot ceilings & picture rail like our living room.}

it took me a long time to figure out what color i wanted in this room. i tend towards grey {& deliberately chose not to paint our living room grey as it is the biggest space in our house} but i wanted to brainstorm a little more & not go for something so easy. at the same time, i wanted to keep the color pretty neutral as it is the place we sleep, as well as match the citrine color of the new roman shades.

it took until we were at the paint counter at lowe’s actually buying the paint for us to finally figure out the color. the winner was woodlawn sterling blue from valspar which is a light blue-grey. this color is also part of its national trust historic color collection as is the carolina inn club aqua by valspar color of the living room. i used the allergy & asthma paint which is a little spendy, but highly, highly recommended. i have used this paint all over the house – it is no VOC & has great coverage.

after priming the trim & walls, & painting on the wall color, we finally had beautiful not-yellow walls!

the pictures really don’t do the room justice – it is so awesome in person {not that i am biased or anything}.

we still have to finish painting the insides of the windows {requires warmer weather} & also finish painting the closet doors, but just the paint on the walls is a vast, vast improvement!

have you updated the color in a room recently?

a pinterest christmas: clay ornament & pom pom santa.

welcome to the second week of a pinterest christmas {see the first post here} – very exciting!

this week i was able to add more ornaments to our family christmas tree.

first up, a house key clay ornament. i really liked the idea of preserving our first house key as there is a {slight} chance we won’t stay in this house forever.

{original pinterest link is unknown}

there wasn’t a page that linked to this pinterest {hence no source link above} but it was a pretty easy project to figure out.

instead of buying white clay, i followed this recipe to make a simple clay.

supplies:

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup baking soda
glass – to make round ornament
key
plastic straw – to make hanger hole
parchment paper
cookie cutters – optional {i used ones from the trader joe’s christmas sugar cookie kit}
ribbon/twine/string
thin marker/Sharpie/paint pen

once the mixture started heating up, i stirred it often in order to scrape up the cornstarch that would stick to the bottom of the pan. once in the bowl, i let my clay cool for a couple of hours before i rolled it out on the cutting board.

i had a little trouble with the dough crumbling & had to make a few round ornaments before i got two that i liked {i made two in case one didn’t turn out}. i also found that moving the round circle of clay to the baking sheet before imprinting the key was much more successful! {sidenote”: on the snowman & christmas tree there is unevenness – this is because when i was rolling out the clay, pieces stuck to the rolling pin. i liked the texture so i left it.}

after the ornaments had cooled, i added the string. on the house key ornament, i wrote our first house 4.27.12 – i used a sharpie marker. the clay was a bit soft, so the pen made an imprint where i wrote. in hindsight, i would try a thin paint pen.

i also made this cute little pom pom santa!

{original pinterest link – pom pom santa}

supplies:

knobby white/cream yarn
red felt
ruler
small wood beads
red embroidery floss
needle with large eye
glue – i used hot glue
scissors

the original link has a really great tutorial. the only thing i did differently is how i made my yarn pom pom – instead of using the fork method, i used the method kendra used last week for her pom pom wreath.

i trimmed up my pom pom, but didn’t worry about it being a perfectly round shape. this is supposed to be santa’s beard & i liked it to be a little uneven. when i made the felt hat, i didn’t use a compass – instead i measured out the 3 inches along the bottom & side of the corner & also from the corner, making marks. then i cut along the marks i had made.

these were the only small wooden beads i could find at michael’s. i sort of like the idea of making santas with different racial backgrounds!

i love this pom pom santa – he was easy to make & so cute! i only made one for our tree, but i am planning on making them {without the hanging string} as placecards for christmas dinner {perhaps adding a name sign to the hat or something}.

since this is my christmas ornament post, i will also share the pinecone ornament i made out of a pinecone i saved from our now-gone cedar tree {see timber details here}.

{this pinecone is nearly 4 inches tall & weighs a lot, so i rested it on a tree bough along with hanging it!}

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – diy ornaments & alternative christmas tree

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo – ornaments & junk & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – diy ornaments

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – ornaments & scrabble

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – ruffle tree skirt & abbi @ The Pena Family

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

a pinterest christmas: reindeer wreath & felted garland.

last year i did a series during the holiday season that was called a pinterest christmas {you can see the first post here and the rest of the posts are under the diy tutorials page here}. i am doing this blog series again this year, but this time i recruited a few blogging friends to join in on the fun {see their blogs & posts below}.

i wanted to make a wreath for our front door this year {you can see there is a wreath theme this week for the blog series} because i didn’t have a wreath last year. i had pinned the felted wreath from west elm {see below} as a {p}inspiration.

{felted wreath from west elm – in white}

this ended up being one of those projects that just wasn’t meant to be. diy-ing can be an awesome way to create something either for cheaper or to be super personalized, but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. this wreath fell in the latter category. first, this west elm wreath was exactly what i wanted – dare i say perfect! second & probably most important, the supplies to make this wreath would have cost two or three times as much as just buying the wreath. so, alas, i did not make this wreath – i bought it, added a gold ribbon, & it is currently hanging on my front door. i am in love!

so, after that lesson in diy, i was determined to make a christmas wreath this year. i am happy that i found a fun tutorial that satisfied not only my need for a wreath, but also my desire to have a cardboard deer mount in the house.

{original pinterest link – recycling meets rudolph}

supplies:

cardboard – i used an old moving box
red felt, marker, or paper
red cording
2 – 3 jingle bells
wreath – i made one {see below}
black marker
scissors
hot glue/glue
exacto knife
reindeer template – i printed it out on two pages, increasing the size by 196%

{note: this project took a little while, mostly the cutting out of the cardboard, but it was so worth it!}

the instructions are pretty straightforward:

1. cut out the template & trace onto cardboard

2. cut out cardboard

3. glue inside of noses together

4. add rectangular piece across back of headpieces

5. glue on cording to inside of headpieces & sew on jingle bells to cording

6. make noses red – i used felt pieces

7. add black eyes

8. assemble antlers – i glued the pieces in with glue – & attach to headpieces

9. make wreath – i glued holly leaves onto a foam wreath core

10. hang & enjoy – i used a 3M hook

since i was originally going to do a felted wool wreath, i also wanted to do a felted garland.

{original pinterest link – felted garland}

supplies:

wool roving – i bought two packages which made 24 1.5 inch balls
embroidery thread
old tights
big needle

i have never felted before so i opted for the tights-in-the-dryer method as opposed to buying felting tools. yes, my felt balls did have little dents from the knots in the tights (the tutorial posts calls the balls fannies) but i didn’t think anyone would care too much. the process is really easy, i was a little surprised! this would be a really fun project for a kid’s room or nursery too.

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – diy sweater wreath

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo – diy pom pom wreath & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – diy pom pom wreath

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – quick & easy wreath/garland

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – letter wreath & abbi @ The Pena Family

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

happy halloween!

our front porch is decorated with pumpkins & our candy bins are overflowing in preparation for the neighborhood kids to trick-or-treat at the lower house tomorrow! there is also a neighborhood parade where the kids get to show off their costumes – so excited!

we hope you have a spooky (& safe) halloween!

the polaroid project.

while we were in paris in the spring of 2011, we started taking pictures of the beautiful french doors that were all over the city. i didn’t know what we would do with them at the time (& didn’t for over a year after the trip), but i wanted to do some kind of art piece for the house.

i thought at first i might just print a few, frame them, & hang them in a grouping, but then i thought that it would be cool to print them to look like polaroids. my original idea was to print the photos, cut them into squares, & mount them onto white cardstock – a faux polaroid.

i didn’t work or even think about this project for months, but then this summer i stumbled onto the perfect thing: the polaroid image maker. this program is a free download & pretty fun to use. you open up the “camera,” drag a picture file into the camera, & the picture “develops” on your screen. you can only do ten pictures at a time (since real polaroid film only has ten exposures) so if you want to do more pictures, you have to close & re-open the program. also, the program can also put a filter on the image, but this is optional if you don’t want it.

{my polaroids developing on my desktop}

{a sampling of my polaroids}

once i had all of my polaroids (i made almost 50 since i couldn’t choose which doors wouldn’t make the cut) i had them printed at mpix. the reason i chose mpix over the usual snapfish or target printing is because mpix has a 4 by 5 print option, which is perfect for printing a polaroid (or is it a faux-laroid?).

i got my prints fairly quickly & was really happy with the results. obviously they didn’t look exactly like polaroids, but they were pretty darn close! i wanted to keep this project simple, so i decided just to tape the polaroids to the wall instead of trying to do any framing or anything. i found some cute “airmail stripe” washi tape* on etsy that i thought would fit in with the parisian theme without being too corny. {update: a few of the pictures have been falling off the wall, so i think adding a bit of poster tacky stuff – you know what i am talking about? – to the backs of the pictures to keep them from falling since washi tape isn’t very strong.}

{i put them up on opposing walls of our bedroom near our closet doors & changed up the pattern. apparently i should have printed one more picture…fail.}

i don’t know if we will keep this photo arrangement after we paint our room (fingers crossed this happens over thanksgiving weekend!) but for now it is a fun reminder of our trip to paris & an easy way to cover some once-bare walls.

are you nostalgic for polaroids? have you tried making your own faux-laroids?

*when did wasabi tape start being called washi tape?

pinspiration project: nursery art.

even before i had planned to surprise meg at her shower a few weeks ago, i knew i was going to make (at least part of) my present to baby garner-ballard. since i have been helping meg with ideas for the nursery for months now, i thought it would be fitting that i made something for the nursery.

meg & i have been going back & forth on the art for her mostly gender-neutral nursery, but since she has loved all things map from the beginning, i knew she would adore this piece!

{original pinterest link: be curious.}

if you follow the original link, it takes you to a huge website compilation of prints & pictures. obviously there was no tutorial, so i had to create it.

one of the things i loved about this piece was the old school map that it was printed on. i searched high & low (from the comfort of my couch – thanks interwebs!) until i found the perfect map on etsy. this map was meant to be a “travel map” where you put pins every place you have travelled, but the size & colors were perfect.

i knew ahead of time that i would more than likely have to letter directly onto the map because i didn’t want to figure out how to try to print it onto the paper, but i didn’t know how until the map was in my hand. at first i attempted to draw out my own letters copying the pinspiration, but that ended up being frustrating & would have taken so long (me being a perfectionist & everything). so, i decided to blow up a copy of the pinspiration (i did a print screen, copied it into a Word document, & blew it up) to the size that i wanted the letters to be & then i printed the image in black & white.

{the print-out}

i cut out an 8 by 10 inch piece from the map choosing a similar layout of the pinspiration – the middle being the atlantic ocean & showing north & south america, europe & africa. once i had the cut out of my map & the print out of the letters, i figured tracing the letters would work the best. fortunately for me i have a glass-top desk, so i turned on my iPhone flashlight & traced the letters onto my map with a pencil.

after i had everything traced, i “colored in” the letters & flourishes. i happened to have a thick chisel tip whiteboard marker in black & a red sharpie – not ideal but they didn’t bleed & got the job done!

i picked up a white ribba frame from ikea which worked perfectly.

i hope that baby garner-ballard & his mom & dad love this little print as much as i do. i love the way this print turned out & i can’t wait to see it in the nursery!

what are your thoughts on making your own prints?