Nailed art

This project has been sitting in my draft section for a while, only because I could not think of a great name for the post. So today I said forget it and decided to post it without a catchy mail. I can only hope the pictures and easy tutorial will spark you to give it a try.

Materials:
Old piece of wood (fence board, pallet wood..etc)
Paint (as many different colors as you would like)
Carpet tacks
Hammer
Teaching paper
Design you want

Instructions:

1. Paint your piece of wood any base color you would like. I ended up doing 2 layers, but you can do just one for a vintage feel.

2. While your wood is drying, i left mine over night, trace any design you want to the tracing paper. Keep in mind that it's got to be a good size for the wood. If your tracing the design from your computer you can always use the zoom feature to control how big the design is.

3. My original idea was to use nails with larger heads, but it turns out home depot didn't have nails short enough to not go through my wood. So instead I used carpet tacks. They were a little harder to get in and keep straight but had just the right length and head left to paint.

Take your design and cut around it and tape two of the sides down to the wood so it won't move around on you while you hammer the tacks in.

4. Start with one side and then work your way around the design. Try not to jump around too much. What i noticed was that as the design came to an end my fingers were a little big to get in between some of the tacks, so a pair of needle nose pliers to hold the tacks might be a good option.

5. Once your tacks are hammered in paint the heads and let dry.

From here it's all up to you what you would like to do with it. I left mine alone, but you could mount hooks to the back of the wood so it can be hung, or even secure ribbon or twice to the sides so it can go on your front door.

Play around with the design and even paint words into the wood after your design is in place!

Soft sided dog house/bed

For the first, back to the grind project, I wanted to make something simple, useful and cute. (granted my husband is not a fan of the fabric colors or patterns)

Materials:

Dog house pattern by Butterick

Foam padding

3 different Fabrics (1 or 2 is acceptable)

iron-on applique

velcro

This project came about when I went with my friend to the fabric store so she could pick up some fabric for a backdrop. I had been itching to break out my sewing machine, but couldn't figure out what I wanted to start with. So I did what most people do and found something in the pattern books they have and grabbed the pattern. It took me about 45 minutes to pick out the fabrics I wanted to use and had to ask multiple times how to read, and even what a few of the items I needed were. In the end I came out of the store with most of what I needed and a TON on excitement. 

I went straight home and cut out all my patterns for the dog house. I wanted to take it slow so i wouldn't get overwhelmed and actually read through the instructions as well as how much to cut and how to baste everything together. Which for the record is NOT what I usually do. 

The next day I wanted to do most of my fabric cutting with lots of natural light, why, I have no idea. So the following day thats exactly what I did. Come to find out I didn't grab enough fabric, probably due to the fact I cut all over the fabric and not in an orderly way. But never the less, I went back to the store and picked up more fabric and some velcro. ( I altered some of the sewn pattern to be closed with fabric so the bed would be collapsible.) 

Once everything was basted I broke out the old sewing machine, borrowed a plastic table from my parents, and invested in a rotary cutter and yard stick. 

Honestly, I think the hardest part of this house was figuring out how to get all the sides to stick together. What I mean by that is once the front and back sides of the house were sewn together with the main section, I was confused on how to get everything together. (the roof comes off, it just stays on top with the velcro.) I suppose I should have gone back to my instructions, but at this point it was home bound and I wanted to get it done. I was so excited to see it completed. 

The first try was hand sewing it, but wasn't a fan of how it looked, so I thought, hey why not just add velcro so it could be portable. (Incase I later try to make a larger version.) So thats exactly what I did. I didn't use a strip for the whole side though, Instead I cut 3 small pieces and evenly spaced it down each side. I think it looks much better than before. 

From there I was done. I just placed the pad I make for the inside and used an iron-on monkey applique to add some character. 

And there you have it, 

I made a soft-sided dog bed/house. 

    

Skeeter (on the left) and Panda (middle and right) modeling the dog house after completion

Getting back to the grind

Its been much to long since I was able to break out the sewing machine and get crafty. So after the wedding, honeymoon and holidays passed I was really itching to get back into blogging and some diy projects I had planned. 

So as one of my new years resolutions I wanted to blow off the dust and start making my magic.  Haha or something like that. 

A few things that I have started are:

1. A journal for all of the projects I want to try/do.

2. Got more support from the hubby towards what I want to get accomplished. 

3. Am using pinterest as a main staple for my projects.  This allows me to venture into un-charted territories and give feedback on awesome things we see on there. 

4. (This goes along with the last one, but I think warrents it's own bullet) Trying to expand my talents. For example trying things I never actually thought of doing; upholstering, painting of furniture..etc.

5. More eager to start and continue something important to me. 

6. Ending on an even number!

Colored Mugs

With the approaching wedding, I thought it would be fun to do a really simple DIY project with one of my bestest best friends.

What is great is that it is completely personalized and can't be done wrong!

Supplies:
-Mugs, Plates or bowls
-Sharpies

Draw on your item with the sharpies and then bake in your oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

Here are our mugs

Cracked Hearts

I like the crackle polish, but I'm not a huge fan of the entire nail crackled. So I wanted to play around with a few designs. One design I tried this week was the heart. It is super simple to paint on and cute.

I used a base coat and two crackle polishes for the hearts. What I really enjoy about this design paired with the crackles is the fun. It gives it a rustic look. Almost like it has been there and now starting to fade. Awesome for spring!

Mix and match colors as well as designs and share!!

Step one: Apply base coat

Step two: Apply Design.

HaVE FUN!!!!

Color Combo Cards

Since I picked up a ton of great new nail colors for spring along with some discounted crackle polishes, I wanted to figure out what the crackles would look like over the new colors. Last time I painted each finger a different color with a crackle over it, but wasn't so fond of the multi-colored nails! haha

So this is what I came up with.

A while ago I picked up a few storage boxes that had some large index cards that I had no idea what to do with. Finally found a use for them!

1. Make 1 card for every base color you want to try

2. Paint slots of base coat for as many top coats as you want to pair the base with. In my case I wanted to try my 5 crackles. 

3. Next to the base coat I labeled the top coats I was gunna paint over the base.

4. Finished painting the top coats of crackle on my base coat samples. 

Spring has sprung and so have the DIY ideas!

So since my allergies have settled down a little I can start focusing again on the things I want to get done. I have a few great simple DIY projects lined up and a few summer recipes I will be trying out. I found my camera and have lots of time to write my posts.

I recently moved, last weekend actually, and have a ton of ideas for making the place feel like home.

In the front yard under the main window is a great little shelf, so I am thinking FLOWERS!! There is also a small triangular shape and separate little pathway along the walk away so I would like to fill that in and plant some great things there. I have never really had a green thumb, but I'll be damned if that is gonna stop me.

So please keep checking for little DIY projects and tutorials, along with pictures on the progress of turning house into home.