Polka Dot Painting

You probably already know by now that polka dots are all the rage. 

My friend, Julie, just moved and wanted to make some art for above her bed. She was inspired by this blog and images on Pinterest. We started talking about a Polka Dot Painting and she told me her ideas. She wanted to do it on a canvas and we both agreed that working with potatoes stamps isn't usually successful for us. So we brainstormed and went on a trip to MICHAEL'S!

Juile picking up supplies

 At Michael's we found these amazing round sponges with plastic holders by none other than Martha Stewart. Each is a different size in the package but it had the size we needed. They are officially called "pouncers." Julie picked out acrylic paints in shades of gray, blue, purple and white for mixing.

The Cast of Characters appearing in this craft are:

Pouncer + Goomba helped with spacing

Pencil
A Canvas
Acrylic Paint
Circular Foam Pouncers (sponges)
Scrap Paper
Two Rulers or Measuring Tape
Paint Palette and Palette Knife (or could use plate, bowl, chopsticks, paper clips, etc)
Lint Roller (in case your canvas needs a little dust removal)
Painters Tape (optional)
Paint Brush (for touch ups)

First: After you have gathered your supplies and lint rolled your canvas, it is time to MEASURE! This Polka Dot Painting will have evenly spaced dots. Julie chose to have a 3" border and her dots 3" apart. With measuring tape and a ruler we made tiny dots or x's every 3" to tell us where the dots will go.

Bunny Tip: We lined up the measuring tape with a ruler and held it down with painters tape. This way we could quickly get an entire row done.  If you mess up, no worries. The pencil erases right off the canvas. AND the pencil doesn't show underneath the paint as well. 

Second: Mix your paint colors! We got a white paint to mix with the others to create different shades. Julie made each color as she went along. We tested the colors on scrap paper.

Third:  Stamp dots on the canvas! Stamp one color at a time and in random spots on the canvas. Make sure you eyeball where you are putting the dots so they are evenly spaced throughout.












Bunny Tips for using the Pouncer: 
Sometimes the paint didn't evenly spread across the sponge. Julie used her fingers or scrap paper to make sure it was evenly spread on the sponge and wasn't collecting around the sides. It isn't necessary to press the sponge all the way down, but you can. Paint will collect in the sponge so you don't have to reapply for each dot.

Some Pictures of the Process

With a few colors

Fourth: Finally, let it dry! 

The finished polka dot painting

Julie with her finished Masterpiece

Bunny Tip: When the canvas is dry, you can go over any little mistakes with white paint.

Lastly, I got a little inspired watching Julie dot away. I had a canvas laying around the house, so I tried making my own without even spacing. I randomly spaced some of the dots and clustered others close together.

A big "Thank You" to Mr. Hulse who took photos, brought us water AND washed our dinner dishes! 

I have the best husband ever.

Potted Herb Centerpieces

Happy Wedding Wednesday! 

Wanted to share with you some pictures of coming up with my centerpieces. 

I had a very small budget for centerpieces and wanted to them to be "green."

We got the idea from Martha Stewart Weddings to use potted herbs. A potted plant is always 

a "green"choice (over cut flowers) and I wanted to make sure the containers were green as well. 

Bio-degradable planters!

Kmart had these very chic and sturdy bio-degradable containers...and you can see the sale sticker right there!! I ended up getting them in two different sizes in these three colors. I bought some in MA and in NY to make sure I had enough. 

Two days before the wedding my husband and I drove up to the Berkshires. We bought herbs and flowers at Home Depot/Walmart. Then we showed up at My Aunt and Uncle's house unannounced...where they so kindly fed us and got all the kids together to help us.

My family planting!

We had five generations putting together these centerpieces! We planted freely and then watered!

My grandmother-my Auntie-My two cousins-and my first cousin once removed 

(my first cousin's son). Here are some pics by my Auntie Merry!

The cutest gardener ever!

My cousin Marina

The groom...aka sticker remover

Another set of cousins drove the arrangements over to the reception the next day! 

 I was very happy at the end of the night to see guests and staff bringing them home. My friends and family kept telling me they used the basil, parley, oregano...all summer!

DIY Umbrella Chandelier from Free People

          I'm so excited to share this guest post from Free People, a premiere bohemian clothing boutique. (I'm sure you have heard of them...) This project is so inspiring and pretty. I have a window in my kitchen that looks into the living room that needs something new hanging from it. It NEEDS it. I've been thinking about a chandelier and luckily this project has come into my life! AND Wouldn't this be a great project to use up-cycled materials with? Enjoy! 

The Free People store display design team recently created beautiful umbrella chandeliers for the Pittsburgh store. Take a look at this intriguing chandelier display made of paper umbrellas, stripped and then beaded, which we hung above the dressing rooms to evoke the spirit of artist Sylvia Marius.

Here’s a DIY for you so you can tackle this abstraction on your own:

You’ll Need:

1.       A paper umbrella (Not the kind in your Tiki Palace Drink. Think: Chinatown! Party Supply stores!)

2.       Cord, twine or heavy string.

3.       Beads! There are never too many beads in the world.

4.       Scissors.

5.       Strips of fabric, for fun.

6.       Tape or glue.

You’ll Do:

1.     Open umbrella. Cut paper from the umbrella frame. Don’t cut the string parts. Just remove the paper. (You can leave some paper for artistic purposes too.)

2. Wrap handle and post of umbrella in fabric strips if desired.

 

3. Measure pieces of twine that will span from one spoke’s end to the umbrella handle, when the umbrella is fully opened. Add a few inches for tying and knots. Tie one end of twine to end of umbrella spoke.

 

4. String beads. If you like, you can sting beads and knot them, leaving string in between beads to space them out.

5.  When finished beading, tie the end of the twine to the umbrella handle. Don’t pull too tight, but a little curve in the spokes will be OK. Secure both ends with tape or glue.

6. Add strands of beads and/or strips of fabric as your heart desires.

   

 

Hang ‘er up and you’re done!

 

This guest post was contributed by Free People, a premiere bohemian clothing boutique. For more DIY posts, check out their blog at http://blog.freepeople.com/ every Wednesday!

Paper Heart Ornament

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today, I'm sharing with you this fun craft and our first ever video blog! Below are the instructions to get you ready to craft along with the video. Even if you aren't crafting, you can watch the video and see how I closed me sweater with a clothes pin...

What you will need to make the paper hearts above:

1) Stapler (OR glue and binder clip)
2) Scissors and paper cutter
3) Hole punch
4) Paper * - 12" strips x 2, 10" x 3, 7" x 3
5) string or yarn for hanging

* You can use any kind of paper: maps, comic books, sheet music, construction paper, etc.

Before watching the video you will need to cut out your paper strips. You can see above I used sheet music. Curbly.com has some great directions for making similar ornaments and different sizes. If you get confused, check out their website.

1) Cut two strips that are 12 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.

2) Cut two strips that are 10 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.

3) Cut three strips that are 7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.

Below are a couple variations

Variation 1-
Omit the extra 7" strip.

Variation 2-
Omit the 7" Strip and do not tuck the strips into the bottom. Instead collect them all at the top and staple. This works well with heavier paper

New Year's Eve Party

I rang in the 2011 by hostessing a soiree at my apartment this year. I want to hostess more often to 1. be more social and giving and 2. have incentives to keep fixing up my home. Anyway, it worked out nicely, because I got inspired to hang/invent some new art and I had a great time with my guests!

I forgot to upload the framed albums I put up as art (Michael's sometimes has amazing frame sales. I got my LP frames for $4 a pop), but I did upload this turtle postcard that I framed. It adds an air of whimsy to the hallway, and it cost nothing to do.

I also framed a card that our neighbors gave us at our housewarming party last June. How cute is that little house??

Anyway, I went into party planning knowing that a 7-layer dip had to happen. I mean, duh! I always do a veggie side and omnivore side in the same large glass lasagna dish, splitting the two sides with a thick layer of aluminum foil. Here are my layers

1. Refried beans

2. Shredded cheddar

3. Tomato and garlic salsa

4. Black beans

5. Guacamole

6. Sour Cream (totally forgot this on NYE0

7. Beef (or corn on the veg side)

Then I do more cheese on top, but cheese is already one of the layers, so I'm not going to use the same ingredient twice and call it 8-layer dip. That's lazy.

Of course, to counter balance that savory goodness, I had to make my grandmother's sugar cookies. No recipe, as it's a secret, but I will let you know that butter and sugar start the whole thing, and there is little in the world I love more than butter and sugar in combination.

Artichoke and romano bruschetta also happened.

As did cocktail weenies in BBQ sauce. No photos of weenies are allowed on this blog.

I snagged this little wooden crate from the recycling room in my office. I want to paint it and toss legs and casters on it so it can serve as a drinks cart, but for the party it was just a drinks crate.

My BFF brought amazing Pick Your Nose Paper Cups for everyone to drink out of. I'm modeling the large shnoz with blonde mustache below.

And of course, Miss Parsley was the belle of the ball!

Happy 2011, everyone!

Banner template from The Sweetest Occasion.

Cheers!

Bea

Wreath Interpretaions: A holiday outing

I'm always looking for holiday activities that will keep me out of Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I saw "Wreath Interpretations" listed in Time Out New York and gave my fiance a lunch date on our advent calendar. I wasn't sure what the Arsenal Gallery was and was pleasantly surprised to be lead to a building right before the Central Park Zoo. It is the offices of Park and Recreation with wreaths hung up on the third floor. It isn't shiny and it feels like a hole in the wall type place. But the lobby has amazing murals and the place is charming (esp. if you watch Parks and Recreation).

I've been obsessed with wreaths so this was the perfect thing to see. Some of the wreaths are inspiring and some are just plain strange. It is open until Jan. 6th and it takes 30 minutes MAX to look at the wreaths. Could be a fun and low key New Year's adventure!


Here is one of my favorites!

Checkout the Parks Dept. Website for more info.

Craft Submission- Stefanie Estes

"Cork wine holder? Yes! Cozy Rustic endeavor? Perhaps?" asks Stefanie Estes.


I think perhaps we will have to make this! How cute to set out on your holiday table or just to hold that half open bottle in the kitchen. I'm having some neighborhood friends on New Year's Eve and I'm sure there will be corks leftover....

Cork Wreath

Bunny here. Remember when Bea made that adorable cork wreath? Well, we both put the word out looking for corks and I got a bunch from Madame Marble... who then sent me an amazing picture of a cork wreath at Curbly. Thus I found Curbly (amazing blog!) and the inspiration to make this wreath! The tutorial on Curbly doesn't direct you to make the wreath they have pictured. So, I googled directions and found some amazing directions from Lolly Chops.

Bunny Tip 1: I highly recommend reading ALL the directions before you start! She has a tip at the end about saving corks with pretty designs for the last layer! And I wish I had done this.. but I made mine as I got corks in batches.

Bunny Tip 2: It does use a lot of glue in the glue gun... so make sure you are stocked up!

I gifted my wreath to Madame Marble for Christmas yesterday! I gave a gold ribbon with the wreath for hanging or decorating. And I can't wait to see where she hangs it in her home! The wreath drew some attention from shoppers in Despana's where we had lunch! And it seems impressive.. like it took a long time to make...but it didn't take long... and it was fun!

This wreath could not have been made without the generous cork donations of Bea, Madame Marble, Bea's bartender friend, AND Scott and Sarah.... I met Scott and Sarah at a party and after hearing about my wreath came back to the party with a bag of corks! Luckily, they lived down the hall! So, thank you!