Watercolor Prints - GIVEAWAY

Win a set of woodland art prints!

I recently made some prints of three of my watercolor paintings. Each of the paintings has a woodland animal theme and a quirky saying to go with it. The paintings were a lot of fun to make and I am really happy with how the prints came out. Each print measures 4x6 and was printed using archival inks on archival photo paper.

I am hosting my first blog giveaway to draw some attention to my etsy shop. You have a chance to win the whole set of prints!

You're Foxy

Partners in Crime

Oh Deer!



HOW TO ENTER:

Just go check out my etsy shop and leave a comment on this post telling me what your fave item is.

On February 10th, one lucky commenter will be win this set of prints. I'll be shipping them out just in time for Valentine's Day!

Bloglovin :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Busy Busy Break

Today is the last day before I have to go back to work and while I'm not looking forward to waking up early I am looking forward to seeing my students. Winter break has been two weeks of projects for me!

As an early birthday present, my mom helped me track down a "new" sewing machine on craig's list this December. We found a really nice lady who fixes up old metal machines and sells them. I ended up falling in love with a vintage Singer 337 (from 1965). We only paid $30 for it and it works really nicely.

The little owl and the flowers were cut out of a kleenex box. The beautiful artwork that was on the tissue box is by Cori Dantini.

Here are a couple of the things that I have created with the machine so far:

I made my mom a funky monkey out of a pair of old socks as a thank you for the machine.

I made this turtle for my sweetie. He keeps trying teasing our dog with it and I'm sure that we will find it in pieces one of these days.

I used some fabric scraps to make this cute little zippered pouch for my friend Lauren. I based it off of a tutorial from Noodlehead.

This is my first attempt at quilting! This post helped me firgure out how to do a chevron pattern using square pieces. The fabric i used is actually reporpused bedsheets. (Also note the handmade pillow with a bird that matches the chair I reupholstered in my previous post). I just turned 25 and Colin says I'm already acting like a granny, but I think he's ok with it ;).

I've also been updating my shop.

This little owl needs a good home. He was lots of fun to stitch :)

I also created some printable valentines. Only $3 in my shop.

I'm looking forward to Valentine's Day and thinking about lessons to do with my students for the rest of the school year.

Reupholstering is F-U-N

A week or so ago I saw some really lovely upholstered headboards on Pinterest. There are some DIYs for them out there but the voice of reason (my boyfriend) steered me away from starting such a huge and ambitious project in our tiny apartment.

I was still obsessing over the idea of upholstering something pretty, so I went thrifting on my way home from work one day. I found myself driving home with this pretty blah 6-dollar chair. Pretty scratched up, not a nice color, and it looks like it was originally upholstered with a piece of plastic table cloth or something.

Even Lars was disapproving at first. The one important criteria chair is that the seat is screwed on --not nailed or glued-- which allows you to remove the seat and reupholster. If you have everything together you can knock one chair out in less than 15 minutes.

All you need for this project is:
-upholstery fabric cut to size
-needle nose pliers
-screwdriver (probably a Phillips head, depends on the screws)
-staple gun
-foam if you need to replace the seat foam

The reupholstering part only took a few short steps:
*Unscrew seat from chair
*Use pliers to remove stapes and take off original upholstery
*Replace foam if desired (I did this because the foam under there looked really old and needed replacing)
*Lay the fabric wrong side up on the floor and then place foam and seat on top of them
*Wrap and staple in place
*Screw seat back onto chair

One thing I was unsure about was how to tuck the corners on my squarish seat. This awesome photo tutorial from craftaholics anonymous really helped

I kept my seat off to slap on a few coats of black semi gloss paint before putting it back together. Here's the final product.

I'm pretty pleased with it and now I want to reupholster some more furniture. It's a little bit of work for a huge pay off-- instantly prettier furniture!

Art Vs. Art 2011

I decided to participate in the Art Vs. Art painting contest this year! We had four hours to paint any subject.

Now the photos have been uploaded on their site artvsart.net where the public can vote for their three faves. At the end of the voting period is the main event where paintings are pitted against each other in a death match! The paintings that don't get auctioned off to an audience member will be destroyed. Their fate is decided by "the wheel of death"-- an over sized spinner with different methods of destruction. The last painting standing earns the painter a prize of $4000.

It's all in good fun. I'm not banking on winning or even having my painting sold, but I wish I could see it get destroyed. There is a lot of talent here in Indy and it was a blast getting to see everyone paint.

Here is a photo of the painting I made in the four hours I was given. I'm really loving woodland creatures right now and of course tea parties :)

Let me know what you think or take some time to vote on your favorites :)

I've been so busy in my classroom I haven't had much time to work on my own projects lately, so it felt good to paint for myself.  More projects to come soon! Share yours with me too.

Recent DIY Ventures

Since school has started up I have been super busy planning lessons, getting my classroom organized, and the like. In the evenings and on weekends I have been working on a few projects of my own. I recently started playing around with embroidery-- just basic stitches on some remnants fabric.

Here is my first attempt:

I think You're foxy

Here is another fun little project that I have been working on. I picked up some cheap frames for a couple of dollars each and decoupaged them with some pretty scrapbook paper! I framed some of my work. I'm not sure if I will hang them up in my office/crafting space or bring them into school to show my students some of my work.

Colin and Me with our anniversary :)

Mr. Fox

 Thanks for looking!

I heart repurposing!

I just finished making this shaggy pillow for my mom. It's made out of shirts I had to wear as part of my uniform for a sales job I had my Senior year of college.

It was super easy and quick to make.  I found the tutorial on craftgawker a couple of weeks ago -- here is a link to the tutorial below. You don't have to use old t-shirts to make it but it's much cheaper and more green that way :) I even stuffed the left over snippings from the shirts inside my pillow along with polyfil I had lying around.

**Check out the Pillow Tutorial from V and Co

The repurposing project that I am most excited about is my teacup planter idea! I picked up some teacups (and one gravy boat) at my local thrift and repotted some houseplants into them. I thought it would add a cheery bit of color and fun to my classroom's windowsill.

Here is a pic of me and Lars (my wiener dog) hanging out on the patio after repotting. (BTW, this patio furniture is repurposed too-- it used to be a dingy white abomination in my mom's back yard until I spruced it up with some spray paint and took it home with me).

Here are some close up shots in my classroom

 I found a great tutorial for labels for my planters-- these sweet spoon plant makers. I ordered some metal stamps and I should get around to these next week.

From Shrimp Salad Circus

I'm loving my teacups--  and what will I use to water them with? A teapot of course (also from the thrift)

The total cost of this project has been about $12 including the plants. Lots of plants will be on sale this time of year due to the lateness in the season but despite that these house plants can thrive year round with proper sunlight and water.

What are you doing to save money and resources these days? Share your projects :)