DIY - Yarn art

Well what do ya know, dear friends; we're covered in snow again! Good grief, Charlie Brown! Will it never end?! I sure am looking forward to long days outside with the paintbrush again. On a positive note, we've been stretching our creativity inside and I tried a really cool, (and easy to make), piece of art that I'm excited about sharing today!

What you'll need:
-1/2" pdf board, (the piece I used was a scrap piece from a sheet I had cut at Home Depot. The whole sheet was $11.50 and this was the half I didn't need)
-nails and hammer
-yarn

Step 1:
-Stain your pdf board as dark as you'd like for a richer finish. When applying stain I prefer to use a lint free cloth, (aka ripped up T-shirts), rather than a brush. It helps me get a more authentic finish and into all the grooves. I dip the cloth into the stain and then wipe it on moving in all directions, finishing with a back and forth motion.

Before

After a coat of Minwax Golden Oak stain

Step 2:
-Once the stain is dry, trace your design onto the board with a pencil, (press lightly). I decided to do a heart but you could choose whatever shape you want.

Step 3:
-Using a hammer, gently tap the nails into the board following the trace of your design. Don't tap the nails in all the way; about half - 2/3 will do. I spaced my nails about an inch apart.

Step 4:
-When you have covered your whole design with the nails, it's time to string the yarn! Tie the end of your yarn to a corner of your design, then start stretching the yarn across your design, looping it around each nail. When you like how your design is covered, cut a few extra inches of yarn and tie a knot around a nail, (snip the 'tail').

Lovin' our new funky art!

I propped the new piece up on a shelf in our little entry 'nook', which is a shared space with our living room, dining room, and kitchen. And that train track has practically become a 6th member of our family. I can't remember what the room looks like without it!

Photo bomb! The very best kind. :) Love that boy, (even though he's gonna go and turn 3 on me next week)!

This piece of art was so easy to make but the finished product is rockin'! So, something good did come out of being snowed in again. Sweet Spring, where are you?

Thank you for stopping by!

~Chelsea

P.S. Local friends to Northern Virginia, the garage is caving in with refinished pieces ready for a new home. Please check my Available for Sale page for all current listings and let me know if anything interests you, (and please, please share with anyone you know who might be interested)! If price is an issue contact me anyways. I would like to be ready with more work space for new pieces when the weather warms up again, (hopefully soon?). Thanks, friends!

This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Paint inside the lines {DIY custom canvas}

Hi guys! As promised at the beginning of the week I'm sharing a really awesome DIY art project today! This will surely change the way you look at art when you're out perusing.

We bought these canvases at Ikea within a few months of moving into our home, (about 3.5 years ago). They were right for us at the time because, well, I had no clue what I was doing in our home and wanted something large scale for a wall in our dining room. They were neutral and soft and worked for a while.

Before - a little too timid for our updated space

Fast forward to now. I wouldn't say my style has changed so much as it has finally developed, (through lots of trial and error). Needless to say, these soft taupe-y lovelies just didn't have a place in our home anymore so I stuck them in the garage. They're just such a nice size, especially when hung together, so I held onto them in case something came to mind.

Then something came to mind. Paint over the painting! I needed some large scale art to hang over Shire's bedroom dresser, but wanted it to really pop. I picked a few paint colors, mixed a couple of my own, and painted 'in the lines' of these canvases.

Now customized and full of life!

(More pictures of Shire's room HERE)

Doesn't this just change everything?! If you can color in the lines you can do this project. One tip I have, as a non-canvas artist, is the larger the scale, the easier it'll be. Less room for error, (or is it more room for error??? I always get that confused). But really, all you need is a painting of a picture you like. Then just customize it with colors you want to see in your home!

Side by sides are always fun:

(A bit more abstract now, but I think that's charming in this case)

Doesn't this just make you want to run to your closest thrift store and find some lonely art?! I'm looking forward to trying this again for sure. 

And just to officially open the door, I always love seeing what YOU guys are up to! If you've finished something you're excited about in your home please share via email, (chelseasgarage@gmail.com). You're such a creative bunch and I love passing around inspiration. You may see your project featured here!

Thank you for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Out of the box {A new answer to art}

Hi friends! Thank you for letting me share our 'new' living room with you yesterday! As I mentioned, I refreshed the wall above our church pew with some newly inspired art.

Honestly, after I rolled out the bold Ikea Lappljung Ruta rug I was stumped what to do for art. The book-page wreath hanging above our couch made the cut, (tutorial here), but we've got lots of blank wall space above our church pew that needed something. 

We had some really pretty soft flower canvas prints hanging on that wall previously, but once we moved the rug in, they just didn't measure up. They looked way too timid with the new bold rug. I spent a bit of time looking at some different options; mirrors, clocks, bolder art prints, etc. The other thing I had to consider was that on the other side of the wall, in our dining room, we've got a gallery wall. 

I didn't want to have two large gallery walls less than a few feet apart competing with each other...but when it came down to 'what do I really want to look at and see?', the truth was I wanted something personal like a gallery wall with family pictures and fond memories.

After seeing this image while Google image searching, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

Pinned from lesleymyrick.com

My version

I collected a few family photos and mementos from some favorite trips. To 'beef up' some of the family pictures, (most of which are 3x5 and 4x6), I just glued the photos onto pages of scrapbook paper. 

The 'B', for our last name, was a very easy project that took all of 10 minutes one afternoon! I wrote out a large 'B' on a thin piece of cardboard, cut it out, and wrapped it in a long strip of white scrap fabric that I had, (it was actually a piece of trim that I had pulled off a curtain which I re-purposed).

After my 'B' was done, I spread out the pictures and mementos on the floor and arranged everything how I wanted it to look on the wall, (I measured the space above the church pew to figure out how long my strung-up collage needed to be, then just placed the hooks on either end that far apart on the floor).

I screwed my hooks into the wall after marking the space with measuring tape and a pencil, then tied a line of twine between the two hooks.

Finished product!

The hooks and decorative clothes pins, (bought in a pack of 5), are from World Market. The hooks were $1 each, and the 5-pack of clothes pins were $3. Now we've got the perfect piece of sentimental art over the church pew for a whopping $5, (well, free thanks to the WM gift card I got for Christmas. Thanks, Casey!!!)

What I love about this look is that it's personal, casual, and easily swap-able! I have so much fun decorating our home but don't believe in taking the decorating too seriously, and I think this out of the box art above our church pew speaks of that.

Another company thinking out of the box is Today's Homes! As custom home builders, they understand more than anyone that an ideal home, ideal budget, and comfort are as individual as a persons fingerprint. That's why they work so closely with their clients in open communication to build the home of their dreams!

Thank you so much for coming by!

~Chelsea

This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.