Ombré Art DIY

Inspired by this DIY on a lovely blog called Two Delighted (which of course I found on Pinterest), I decided to take a canvas I had on hand and turn it into a personal piece of art.

As the blog said originally, there are no real step-by-step instructions for this DIY. Basically, if you start with a darker paint color and keep adding white paint to it, the ombré effect will happen naturally. 

It was fun, actually painting and getting results because let's face it, I am no artist. My dad was a for real artist (paints, easels and everything), and I always dreamt of having that talent... but no dice. I just don't have the kind of creativity that can turn nothing into something with a flick of my wrist and a palette of paint. I wish!!

But anyway - my ombré art: it's simple, it's not flashy.... and I love it. I'm happy! :)

Gallery Wall

I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling pretty glum about the state of my living room recently. Well more like I think it's glum. It's boring. It's decorated in a broad color spectrum of beige, brown, white and more beige. *yawn*. 

Here's a picture of my living room about a month after we moved in. 

Not much has changed since this picture was taken. The couch has been pushed back and now my husband's desk is in the back corner. And we have a new tv? Other than that, samesville. 

I decided quickly that I don't necessarily want to repaint....the beige walls aren't my biggest irritation with the room. A beige wall isn't the enemy. It's the insane lack of color. Brown blinds, white trim, brown table, brown couch, brown clock... I could go on. 

What I decided to do was inject color slowly. I bought bright blue and green pillows on clearance at target, to go with the existing burnt orange pillows I've had since we got married. That wasn't enough though. I began looking around my house for things I could swap out and place in my living room. I remembered that my sister in law had bought me durable paper coasters in Katie Daisy prints. I saw a project on Pinterest that involved an old picture frame, string, mini clothespins and Instagram prints. I immediately decided that this was the perfect idea for the coasters, since I knew right off the bat that I wasn't going to put drinks on them. 

I just love how it turned out. Everyone told me how cute and creative it was when I shared it on Facebook and I was so happy that it brought in pops of color to my beige walls. 

I had a big empty space on the other side of the window that was still calling my name. It was so empty and boring. 

 

I would eventually like to get a taller bookshelf to house all of our books, but in the meantime we have condensed it to just as many books that fit in the 3 shelves. 

My friend Carrie and I had started talking about gallery walls, and I knew I wanted to do one eventually. I just wasn't sold on how much I would probably end up spending on frames and Etsy prints. 

One night, I just caved. I have a large box of random picture frames that I've collected over the years and never used. I started picking out frames that looked good together and matching them with prints I made myself and scrapbook papers that I love.

 

I think it turned out awesome.

I took some close up pictures of the pieces I love the most:

Coaster Art

Oh. Hey. Is anyone there?

Probably not. It's been like 18 years since I've logged into this blog.

Whoops.

Excuses such as "life got busy" or "I had to focus on me" don't apply here. I wasn't busy. I focus on me quite a lot. I just stopped caring. For a while, I was living in a basement and all of my crafts were boxed away in storage. Then we bought a house and sure, things did get crazy. But we didn't do any major updates to the house that I thought would have been blog-worthy. We mostly painted and moved in.

I've done crafty things since... but nothing I felt warranted a blog post. I don't even really think this does, based on how little time and resources it took me to complete it. Buuuuut, I think it turned out perfectly and exactly how I imagined it. And cost me literally $2.99 to make. The best!!!

I took apart an old print so that I could use the frame. It actually took a screwdriver to pop out staples and some serious patience, but it worked out. Part of me wanted to take out the glass, but I think it helps preserve the coasters a little better since they aren't exposed to the elements.

(This is a bad picture of the frame before I destroyed it.)

I then measured out string that I already had on hand and stapled it into the back of the frame, making sure they were taut. 

The only money came from the mini clothespins - I think I spent $2.99 on a bag of 50 from Hobby Lobby.

The coasters were a gift from my sister in law for my birthday last year. The artist is Katie Daisy, and if you aren't familiar with her work, I strongly suggest checking out her Etsy shop and buying everything. These coasters are actually manufactured by Drinkblots and are called 'Life is Beautiful'.

After about 5 minutes of work, I now have a completely one-of-a-kind statement piece that features my favorite artist AND breaks up the monotony of my beige walls.

I'm officially in love!