ENGAGED!

Guys I got engaged! Actually since my last post, I graduated and got a job doing research! So crafts have been put on the backburner :(. But this engagement party was an excuse for Amy and our friend Alix and I to get crafty! We kind of just all brought things and brought ideas and it came together so amazingly, better than I ever could have imagined! We did not have any particular theme in mind, other than we wanted diamonds. Here are some pictures of the details.

THRIFT FINDS: PART II

 

Some more of my favorite finds!

1. Painting with frame $5

2. Steve Madden Heels $2

3. Star Mirror $1

4. Messenger Bag made from recycled billboards $4

-Jerica-

FONTS TO KILL FOR: PART TWO

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More free fonts!

-Jerica-

PAINT BY NUMBERS ART

 I saw this upcycle a while back on A Beautiful Mess, of course! I have to say that a lot of my ideas/inspiration for crafts come from that site. When they did it, they bought pre-made adherent letters and spray painted white over it, then peeled them off. Way easier. However I wanted to do a longer phrase (from one of my favorite Animal Collective songs) so I would have had to buy a few packages of letters. So I set out to do it the hard way! I've had this idea in the back of my head, while I kept an eye out for a Paint-By Numbers piece of art at the thrift stores. And finally found this one! It is super faded so I realized the color scheme kind of looks like camouflage.. but I was desperate okayyy! 

Materials

Finished paint by numbers artwork

White paint

I printed out the phrase I wanted, "Kissing the wind through my window screen" in the font I wanted and the size I wanted, to make sure it would all fit on the picture. Then I just free-handed it, looking at the font and size for reference. Paint white around the letters and you're done! The font I chose was kind of a hassle because of the little details, but I love how it turned out! Also, choosing a more bulky font will allow you to see more of the original picture behind it!

-Jerica-

MINTED

Over at Minted there is an awesome design contest going on! They are giving away weekly $200 gift cards and a grand prize of $1000! The site takes submissions for all kinds of independent artists for things like invitations, stationaries, photos, cards, envelopes, artwork; you name it. You can look through hundreds of professionally designed invitation prints, with most averaging at about $2 an invitation. Not too bad! Its a way to support smaller artists and get invitations and cards that you actually like. Here is a little collage I put together for the design contestfrom one of the wedding invitations on the site, with a neutral/pale palette.

wedding2 board by Jerica. See more Minted.com

DIY VINTAGE BOOK FRAMES

This project was floating around Pinterest some time ago and I can't seem to find where I pinned it but it is a really fun project. All you need are some old books (got mine from the thrift store of course) and to cut out the pages. 

MATERIALS:

Vintage books

Exacto Knife

Glue

Ruler

The easiest way to do this is to run your exacto knife down the pages on each side, at the beginning of the book and the end, as close to the spine as you can get, and it will make the pages fall out in one nice chunk. After that, use the ruler to help you keep a straight edge and cut out whatever part of the cover that you would want a picture to go and in what ever size. Do whatever feels right to you! Go with the flow! Just be yourself! The sky is the limit! (I hope that helps your decision).

Shown above, I used the book pages that were cut out to create a little display of a brooch (also from thrift store). Just glue the pages together to make sure they stay together when you hang them up! 

-Amy-

FONTS TO KILL FOR: PART I

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Not to mention, freeee! Now go murder people over these fonts.
If you aren't sure how to install fonts, there is a guide here!

-Jerica-

FAUX COW SKULL

Believe it or NOT (believe it) this faux cow skull is completely made from Resin! I had been wanting to get this forever from Hobby Lobby but it was $35 dollars so I couldn't bring myself to get it. This particular one I found in the Western theme section, and they had other neat antler and skull stuff as well. I love this one because it has a completely flat back unlike a real skull so it can hang perfectly on a wall. Finally I went and saw they were having a 50% off sale on Men's Resin! Uhh whatever that meansss....

I had seen a post on Free Peoples' blog a long time ago and have been wanting to put something like this together since the dawn of time. I gathered up some feathers and dried flowers I had from different occasions to put in the eye sockets, and the color on the antlers is just embroidery thread. 
When you're wrapping the thread it's best to start by wrapping it once around then making a knot in the back, leaving a large amount of the end of the thread sticking out, and not making any cuts yet. Continue to wrap the antler and when you're finished, cut it and tie it to the thread sticking out from where you made the first knot, so that each color is one continuous portion of thread. Basically you just want the knots to be in the back. I hope that makes sense!

If you want to buy this bag as a tote, click on the picture below!

 
-Jerica- 

TRIANGLE ART WITH PAINT SAMPLES

Another craft with a thrift store frame and paint samples! I used the card stock that was already in the back of the frame, painted it white, and used a little mod podge to glue all the triangles on. The triangles are cut from paint samples, as well as Anthropology and Urban Outfitters catalogs. Seeing as everything is too expensive for me might as well put those catalogs to good use!

-Jerica-

DIAMONDS ON MY MIND

 

Working on a logo idea! This was done on Adobe illustrator as a little doodle for a class project but I am loving how it turned out! Especially the one with the outline removed! Of course edited in Instagram- my lazy attempt of photoshop. ;)

 I played around some more with cutting bits and pieces out and got a western looking cow skull out of it! Triangles are a magical shape!

-Amy-

I AM SEEING TRIANGLES

Triangles are my inspiration today. Not sure why but I am loving them at the moment. For another project I had to pick my favorite letter and create a graphic rendition of it in which the letter remains intact but is not as recognizable. I chose the letter A.... slightly narcissistic apparently. I am not going to lie this probably wont get me an A. I spent less than a half hour on this- when I was suppose to at least dedicate an hour to this project. I guess I shouldn't have waited till the last minute. 

-Amy-

DIY INSPIRATION BOARD

Here’s a project I did recently that only took me about 45 minutes! I wanted to redo my desk area and found inspiration here. All you need is some cork board (I got a pack of four with a sheet of double sided tape at hobby lobby for $9) some white paint, and painter’s tape. Because they are stuck on the wall with double sided tape, you can remove them and switch the pattern so it looks more like this. Either way is great!

MATERIALS
Cork Board
Painters Tape
White paint
Double sided tape to hang

DIRECTIONS
1. Take the painter’s tape and line it up on the cork board.
2, Take the second square and place the tape strips diagonally, making sure the tape lines up with the tape from the first one. I didn’t do any measuring and just eyeballed it because I was doing it on my lunch break from work and was too excited!
3. Paint a few layers of white paint on the open spots and be careful around the edges of the tape so it won't bleed. I had to do a few touch ups where the lines didn’t quite match up, but I think it turned out pretty gooood.

-Jerica-

DIY WALL PLAQUES

On a random shopping spree at Walmart I came across this awesomeness! A two in one burning tool for wood or stenciling. Check it out here: you will LOVE it. It has become my new favorite crafting tool! I had some extra wood plaques that was left over from my picture transferring onto wood project, I decided to put them to use and see what happens.

During a moment lapses of creativity (and as a practice piece) I decided to use the blog title and play with a font I found on Jerica’s Pinterest and one of my logo ideas. I did some accents with some acrylic paint and voila! On another plaque I decided to burn lyrics from one of my favorite songs, Pachuca Sunrise by Minus the Bear. The lyrics are “This is a city for not sleeping and the clocks are set by feel, at this moment from where I sit none of it seems real”. ooooo so deep and meaningful haha. But really it is one of my favorite songs.

The only thing with using this tool is that its hard to get the fonts exactly how you want them especially when they have curves in them. It could possibly be because of the head I used but the other additional heads that came with the kit did not heat up as hot. I am definitely one that likes instant gratification so I didn't want to wait around redoing each letter to get the dark scorch marks on each of the letters. The tip I used was the angled tip.

Since the plaques were a light color and looked unfinished I tried a stain that has been all over Pinterest! Are you seeing a theme here? Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest. I soaked some old nails and steel wool in apple cider and absamic vinegar to get a gray wood stain. I had to let the mixture sit for almost 24 hours before the color actually started to become apparent. So hard for me to wait that long but I did it! Add a coat or 2 for a darker shade.

-Amy-