Category Archives: Decor

DIY Watercolor Quote Art

July 15, 2014 | Decor, DIYs

So last week I shared my office gallery wall. One of the pieces I created was a printed quote over a watercolor I did. I love the contrast between the printed typography and the fluidity of the paint.

Here’s how to make your own!

Supplies needed:
- Watercolors or Acrylic paint
- White duck cloth or thin canvas (I used duck cloth because I used it for several other projects)
- Freezer paper
- Inkjet printer

I started by lightly wetting my entire piece of fabric (make sure to put something down to protect your workspace from water and paint bleed-thru). I began painting with my lightest color and basically just did brush strokes as if I were trying to clean it.

TIP: A little paint goes a LONG way if you’re using acrylics so start light.

There’s no wrong way to do this…it’s just art, not brain surgery.

I tend to create 2 or 3 pieces at a time and then pick the one I like the best and toss any I don’t like.

After your paint dries iron your fabric flat (on the non-painted side). Then cut freezer paper to the size you want your final piece.

As long as you can run it thru your printer you can make it any size (most likely anything smaller than 8.5×11).

Iron the freezer paper to the back of your fabric (shiny side down), then trim off the excess fabric.

Now you’re ready to print!

Just lay out your artwork (or download mine below) and set your page size to match your fabric size. Then load your fabric and print it!

The first time I did this I 100% assumed it would be a total fail and my printer would jam but this actually DOES work. Proof:

And that’s it.

Want to download the quote and print for yourself?

Download Quote Art

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Office: Gallery Wall – Creative Inspiration

July 7, 2014 | Bliss, Decor

When we moved into our new house we I immediately claimed the room with the largest window and most sunlight for my office. Since I freelance I need a space to actually work but I also use it as my craft space.

Above my workspace I created a gallery wall. It’s been a long time coming since I started my office makeover…then we moved and I had to start all over in a new space.

But here is where I do most of my work:

The entire space isn’t totally finished since my non-essential projects are at a stand-still for now and my other desk has become a temporary first-aid station.

Obviously I started writing this months ago since my calendar still said May…it currently says June so I’m going to assume I took this midway thru last month. The calendar is from Sugar Paper.

Creative Workspace

I feel like it’s constantly changing as I find new things to frame.

I made this gold 3D heart with my Silhouette Cameo and the pattern that can be found here. After just looking at that page I want to make a whole bunch more of them because they’re so adorable. I love framing things without glass and having them come out into the space. Eventually I’d like to make my feather artwork something more dimensional.

Office Gallery Wall, DIY Painting

I love the Coco & Hearts paintings by Jen Ramos but they’re always sold out so I made my own inspired-by brush-stroke painting. I actually make about 4 and then just framed the one I liked best.

The ampersand art was inspired by Two Twenty One’s Glitter State (although I just used my cutter to cut it out of glitter paper).

The quote is a good reminder especially to me since I always tend to take on too much.

The herringbone art was just a fun painting I created to take a break from working on the computer.

The top print says “I never met a color I didn’t love” and can be purchased from etsy seller Pencil Shavings Studio (I made mine).

Office Gallery Wall, DIY Painting

This was a mixed media piece I created to remind myself to take creative risks.

My gold dog tape dispenser stands guard near my polka dot pencil cup.

My DIY Bulletin board and my degree (which I just framed…10 years after receiving it) hang to the left of my workspace.

Creative Workspace

So that’s one wall of the office, maybe I’ll put all the junk I moved off my desk back and photograph the rest eventually…when it’s clean…my husband just laughed.

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Master Bedroom…Making Progress

This story was posted in Bliss, Decor on May 27, 2014 by Christiana.

So remember how I mentioned my next project was updating our master bedroom? Remember how I also promised to get distracted and never finish it? Well I did it! By “it” I mean both get distracted and have failed to finished it. I like to set attainable goals.

So it may not be totally finished but I think I’ve reached a good point to share the progress I HAVE made (plus if I never get any further at least it won’t be like my office makeover).

So here it is today.

Definitely an moving in the right direction. As I mentioned I wanted a neutral palette since this is the one place I can keep toy free and it has minimal toddler-traffic.

The rug was purchase from Joss & Main (see my review here). The mirror is from TJMaxx/Homegoods (words cannot even express how much I live TJMaxx).

Our lamps came from Kohls. I knew for sure I wanted mercury glass and gourd shaped bases. Target had some nice ones that weren’t the right shape or size.

The curtains used to hang in our guest bedroom at our old house so I was happy to find a new place for them (and to not spend any money on them). I got the clips from Target to make them a bit longer.

I had two of our wedding photos printed in black and white and framed them in these champagne frames from…TJMaxx (apparently its the only place I shop).

Bedding is from Kohls. Its super hard to find king-sized bedding without breaking the bank so when I saw these on super sale I grabbed them. Right now the duvet is over our old brown and blue comforter. Luckily it only shows thru a bit on the edges where the brown trim was, so it works till I find a great deal on a duvet.

I made the pillow using the same technique I did here. I mixed some gold paint with a touch of grey and metallic white to make more of a champagne color. I think we still need some euro pillows but I’m keeping the decorative pillows to a minimum since they just get tossed on the floor.

I obviously haven’t done anything with our night stands but the difference of color between them and the bed doesn’t bother me like it did when the bedspread was brown. Also I figured out what to do with the cords for my ipad and phone.

I just fed them thru the back and there was enough of a gap they dont get pinched when its closed. Now everything is neatly contained…along with my collection of earplugs. Doesn’t everyone have a collection of earplugs? They do if their husband snores like an asthmatic grizzle bear (sorry honey).

Evan saw the camera and insisted on “saying cheese”…yes, that’s a tape measure around his neck.

The vase is from Walmart and I just spray painted the bottom gold. The flowers are from Michael’s. I went back recently to pick up a few more of the garden roses that were in my previous photos but their selection was minimal…maybe because it’s wedding season? Note to self: Always pick up extra when you see good faux flowers. So I found this bunch of peonies for $5…and I spray painted them….yes I did. They were a little too cream so I figured it was worth a try.

The painting on the right was just a quick one I did to throw in the background of some photos for a client’s jewelry line. The frame is from the Dollar Tree (I seriously bought about 10 of these when I saw them).

So that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I think we still may need something for the end of the bed and I haven’t done anything with our demon TV. I also need to figure out what to do with this big empty wall…