Yarn Wreath for Nana

Nana gave me this multi-colored yarn, so I made her something
out of it.

I used the ugliest frame I had (so what if I sort of capitalized on an excuse to get rid of that thing) and leftover felt from a project my students were working on.  It was perfectly serendipitous because I had been waiting for an excuse to make a wreath with the yarn, but I wasn't sure exactly which colors would be right.  When I looked down today and those 5 colors of felt (green, blue, light blue, khaki, yellow) were all that was left, I knew it was meant to be.

I love all the flowers!  If they didn't take so long, I might have made a wreath like this that I will love forever and ever with my whole heart.

Dahlia Tutorial

Rosette Tutorial

Carnation Tutorial

Inspiration Flower

Dandelion Tutorial

More Pictures:

Red-Headed Wild Flower - Kitchen Chair

This is one of the chairs that go with my younger sister Val's kitchen table.  She is moving into a fantastic new place soon, and I am her interior decorator.  

I am so lucky that I have a sister who's basically my muse, who completely indulges my creations.  Ever since I can remember, she's been the one to bounce an idea or a joke off of, and she's basically the intended audience for any and everything I create.  I am extremely lucky in that she has let me complete freedom with her new apartment. She gives me the materials, be it old furniture or home decor from college, or a new table and chairs she got for $50 on Craigslist.  She didn't even know I was going to make her chair into a little slice of adorable, but she knew that whatever I did, she'd like it.  I could totally fuglify her new space, and she trusts me to give her something she'll like.  Now that's support.  In turn, I made her something. :)

For tons more pictures, including Before/After

Wiz Khalifah Dahlia Table

Black and Yellow

Inspired by Jessica at Juicy Bits, I created my own (smaller) version of the Dahlia Decoupage table.  I had found this yellow paint in our garage, and I liked the idea of getting to use B&W paper and doing some more shiny black painted pieces - maybe so I can use some other colors to POP with.

This is just one of those 3-legged side tables you get for cheap and cover with a marginally cuter tablecloth.  I found the top separate from the legs, and I'm still not totally sure I will attach them.  I think they cheapen the piece.  Juicy Bits used a table from Ikea with a much cuter base than this table.  And honestly, it's not terrible as wall art.  We'll see.

The papers I chose at first.
I ended up making a couple of changes throughout the process -
you really have to see it all laid out to be sure it looks right.

After I cut out all the "petals", I laid them out on the table top.
I drew super light pencil lines through the diameter, making 16 points around the edge.
Then I laid out the outermost petals first , making sure to keep both points on the line.
Then I just worked my way in.

With the Wiz Khalifa Lamp

Wiz Khalifah Yellow Lamp

Color scheme inspired by Wiz Khalifa

I remember this ugly thing from our old, old house that we moved out of when I was 12, so you know it's ancient.  And when I found it, it was in my dad's man-cave, which has been unkept since he's been gone.  Not that it was so neat and tidy before anyway - 'cave' is an appropriate term.  Then I found out that it belonged to Dad's dad, PawPaw, so yes.  Old.  But the colors were what was fugly, and I could tell the texture would be lovely.  One coat of white paint, one coat of yellow, minor touch-ups, and a coat of clear acrylic, and voila!  A gorgeous addition.

This isn't pretty.  Very fitting for a Paw Paw, I guess.

At first I had envisioned it in white, so I used acrylic paint for the first coat.
I figured either way it needed that first coat of paint.

Also I just got Hipstamatic and I've been playing around with it.

More Hipstamatic shots :)

Once I decided to paint the table (on the left) yellow for the dahlia design,
I knew that I would do the lamp in yellow as well.

One coat of yellow American Painter.

Antique-y

The little black dot is an accent thingy, I decided against using them, but they were cute.

Ava by Melody Ross Patchwork Wooden Stool

In my effort to cover everything in the house and to overcome my inability to finish big projects, I stumbled onto this quick project.  Mom wanted something that matched her laundry room a little better than the tablestool I painted red.

White paint, 4" squares of each of 3 patterns, and some regular Mod Podge made this a beauty.

Ava by Melody Ross Decoupage Lettering

I usually go to Michael's because it's bigger and closer to my school (and often go on my conference period), but the other day I stepped into Hobby Lobby on my way home, and I was so excited to see that they carried several different styles of wooden and chipboard wall letters, probably at least twice what Michael's had.  And for cheaper.  These are by The Paper Studio, and were 40% off their original low price of $1.77/letter (actually, for some reason a couple of the letters were $1.97... perhaps like on Wheel of Fortune some letters are worth more than others?

I used spray adhesive and my lovely new precision craft knife to cover these in the paper I absolutely fell. In. Love. With.  This gorgeous array of blue, green, and yellow is the Ava Collection by Melody Ross.

More Photos after the jump.

That's me!