DIY: Storage Bench

Book Hearts Project

I finished my first project of 2013! 

I had originally planned on making a book page wreath, but I just couldn't find a wreath that I liked. The one I had was way to big and the ones at the craft stores had crispy leaves woven throughout that fell off and got over everything. I knew if I hung it up there would be fallen, crispy leaves all over my floor, or at least until Drusilla found them and ate them. I didn't want that to happen, so I opted for a book page shadowbox instead.

It was really a very simple and inexpensive project. Those are my favorite projects! :)

Materials

Shadowbox

Book - I used 8 pages out of a paperback mystery

Scrap piece of red construction paper

Foam adhesive squares

Scrapbook paper - I used 2 sheets and cut it to fit my shadowbox

Scissors

Cost

$1.75 - I had to buy the foam squares, but I had a 50% coupon for Michaels. :)

I first made a template for my hearts. Well, I actually made two. The first one, the heart was way to big for my shadowbox, so I cut a little off and made a smaller heart template. I then tore some pages out of a paperback novel I had already read and started cutting my hearts. I folded the pages so I could get four hearts out of every page. 

Once all of my hearts were cut out, including the one out of red construction paper, I arranged them onto my blue scrapbook paper. I already had my scrapbook paper attached to my shadowbox, so I didn't have to worry about that. 

After I had everything arranged the way I wanted it, I, carefully, took each heart off and bent it slightly in the middle. It gave each a little more dimension. I then attached a foam square to all of the hearts and gently pressed down to make them stick. For some reason I have a hard time writing, drawing, cutting and crafting in a straight line, so I had to move some of my hearts around until I got them almost straight. I then hung the shadowbox on the wall!

I think it looks pretty good! At least I have something up for Valentine's Day now. I was thinking of changing the heart to a skull and crossbones for Halloween. It would be perfect, since the hearts are from a mystery novel. :)

Check out all of my 2013 projects, here.

Pinspiration - Wrapped Books

I haven't done a pinspiration in awhile, at least not in the new year. This one was super simple and will add a little shabby chic to my mantle!

I found this really cute picture on Pinterest awhile ago. I added it to my photography board and really forgot about it. A few weeks ago I was going through my boards and came across this picture again. As soon as I saw it I thought it would be perfect for my revamped living room.

This project was so simple!

What I used:
4 pieces of scrapbook paper
4 old books
Piece of lace ribbon

Cost: $0.00

Over the past several months, my mom has been giving me some of my old childhood books, which were perfect for this project. I didn't want to mess them up in any way, so I just lightly bent the scrapbook paper and then wrapped a piece around each book.

Once I had all of the books stacked, I wrapped a piece of lace ribbon around them to keep them in place. I wrapped my books like I was wrapping a present, not just around the front but the sides too. I needed it to be fastened a little tighter, especially since I didn't glue or tape my pieces of scrapbook paper onto the books. I then added a little teapot to the top of the stack to keep the ribbon in place.

I am really happy with how it turned out. I think it will look super cute on my mantle!

Pinspiration - Retro Lampshade

I haven't done a pinspiration in a while, basically because I just haven't had the time. I'm hoping to change that this week. My goal for the summer is to focus on my crafts and then in the fall focus on my writing. That is the plan, at least for now!

I saw this pin a month or so ago, and thought it was so '70s retro that I just had to try it.

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So, a few weeks ago, while watching a TNT marathon of The Mentalist, I sat down and attempted to make this string lampshade. Can I tell you, it took FOREVER! Seriously, about 3 hours to wind all of the various colors of yarn around the lampshade. I almost gave up halfway through the project, because it was so time consuming and boring, but I am happy to say that I did finish it.

Here is my lamp before the yarn!

I guess I should have arranged my nightstand and lamp nicer, like the picture above, but this is where it will be and how it will look on a daily basis. I'm just keeping it real! Oh, and the glass of water is for the girls to drink at night. That is why the towel is there too. Drusilla is messy :)

And, after the yarn!

I like it, especially the colors, but when I turn the light on the lamp doesn't give off that much light anymore. I just don't have the heart to take it apart after all the work I did.

I used all yarn from my stash, so it was a great destashing project. In case you are curious, the colors I used were:

#1 white: red heart super saver
# 07445 yellow: bernat super value
#860-142 rose: vanna's choice
#184 peach: jamie classics

I'm also thinking of a different colored base. Maybe a white lamp would be better. What do you think?

Pinspiration - Lyric Wall Art

I have been wanting to make some lyric wall art for awhile now. I am a huge music fan! I love all types of music and songs, but I am especially drawn to songs with strong lyrics. So, putting my favorite lyrics on my wall was really a no-brainer for me.

While this isn't the lyric project that I have at the top of my list, it was a quick and cheap wall art project to help me get my feet wet in lyric art, choosing lyrics, and assembling the words on canvas.

I found my wall art project on Pinterest via ThistleWoodFarms.

It was actually inspired by another project that was found on Pinterest. Pinterest really is inspirational!

The materials needed for this project were super simple, or so I thought:

• 4 x 4" blank canvas - I used a 10 x 10"
• paint 
• lowercase metal alphabet letters in white

Canvases can sometimes be pretty pricey, but I found mine at my local Michaels and got to use my 40% off coupon too. I debated about whether I needed to buy paint since the canvas was already white and I was going to use white letters, but I bought a little bottle of craft paint in a darker white so it wouldn't be so plain. The problem material was the white metal lowercase letters. I couldn't find it in the stores or online. I had almost given up hope when I stumbled into the kids craft aisle at Michaels. There I found a pack of 125 puffy foam letters in white. What I didn't realize until I got home was that they were actually stickers, which made this project even easier!

The hardest part about this project was figuring out which lyrics I wanted to use, and which ones would fit in a heart shape on a 10 x 10" canvas. It was both time consuming and frustrating. I'd find lyrics that I loved, but they were either too long or didn't look right shaped as a heart. So, I went through all of my top 10 favorite songs and only one had lyrics that not only fit on the canvas, worked well as a heart, but made sense too. . . Wonderwall by Oasis.



I am so in love with this song!

Assembling the canvas was super easy, especially since my letters were stickers. I painted the canvas with two coats of white paint and then placed my lyrics in a heart shape. One letter at a time, I carefully peeled the backs off of the letters and stuck them on the canvas. I didn't push the letters too hard to the canvas in case I needed to move them around, and I'm glad I did that. I had to move some of the letters in "Wonderwall" around a few times to make it fit. When it looked good I went back and pressed each letter down onto the canvas.

It is a little hard to read, but I like how subtle it is. I really love the way it turned out! I think I'm now ready to move onto a more difficult lyric wall art project. :)

Pinspiration - Toy Bins

I have become quite obsessed with Pinterest. Have you checked it out yet? It is such a wonderful site, especially for those of us who are crazy about organization. I can "pin" pictures with attached links to anything from home decor ideas, website, craft projects, and recipes, then put them all together on a single "board". It is truly awesome! You can follow along with my pins by clicking on the "P" on the top right hand corner of the blog or by following ThisGirlCreates.

I am amazed daily at some of the items people pin. There are so many crafty and talented people on the internet, it is nice to get to connect with them through Pinterest. And, I'm constantly getting inspired by their projects. Whether it is for a new craft project, character for my book, or home renovation project, Pinterest always delivers. I call these inspirations, "pinspirations", and I'll be posting regularly some of my favorite pinspirations and the project they inspired.

One of the very first projects I pinned was for a pair of chalkboard toy bins.

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I knew I needed to redo my kitty toy bins, so I used this project for my inspiration.

I couldn't find the Joann Fabric bins that the above project called for, but I did find some wicker bins that were almost as perfect. I also couldn't paint the bins with chalkboard paint, so instead I bought two $1.00 mini chalkboards from Michaels. I hung one on each basket using ribbon and a little hot glue. I then wrote each girl's name on a chalkboard and put their toys in their new bin. As you can see, Daphne's toys barely fit. :)

I couldn't leave my bookcase looking all crazy with my new bins, so I organized it a little nicer.

I am very pleased with my first pinspiration project!