arts and craft Archives - Page 41 of 75

accessories, arts and craft, decor, Decorating, Home Decor, Lowe's Creative Idea, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, Trash to Treasure, Upcycling

Simple Vases using Radiant Orchid {Lowe’s Creative Idea}

There I was digging things out of the recycling bin again. Pretty Handsome Guy gave me a raised eyebrow, but he knew better than to question my motives. I had that idea bulb flashing over my head, and I was ready to transform some jars and tins. With Springtime just around the corner, it was time to force a little vibrant color into our home. I introduce to you the cheapest way to bring Radiant Orchid color into your décor! If you have recycled jars and tins, you are set!

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Materials:

Kilz Primer
Paint brushes
ScotchBlue Painter’s tape
Sample pot of Pantone Radiant Orchid

Optional: Gold vinyl stripes or washi tape

Instructions:

Clean out your jars, bottles or tins.

Coat the exterior of your recycled vessel with primer. Allow to dry.

Paint each bottle and tin with radiant orchid paint. Allow to dry. You might need two coats depending on the coverage. Read more

February 28, 2014/13 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Contributor, Crafts, decor, DIY, Home Decor, organizational tips, Tutorial

Perpetual Menu Board

We were recently in North Carolina visiting with Matt’s family. While we were there I took the time to visit an old dear friend of mine. This girl has known me for years! In fact I just realized it’s been 21 years since I first met her. Needless to say it’s important to catch up with friends like this whenever you get a chance. While visiting her, I noticed she had an adorable menu board in her kitchen where she keeps track of all of her meals for the month. Since “What’s for dinner?” is one of Matt’s favorite things to ask me, I knew I had to make one of these menu boards.

Materials:

12×12 Frame
Clear Plastic Calendar Page
Scrapbook Paper
Magnets
Dry Erase Marker(s)
Printer Paper or Card Stock
Printer
Laminator or contact paper
Sheet Metal
Magnetic Paint
Tin Snips
Safety Glasses
Gloves

Instructions:

Start by measuring the inside of the frame. (In my case that measurement was 12″ by 12″.) Using a marker, mark a dot 12″ down from the edge onto your sheet metal. Repeat this on the opposite side.

Use a straight edge (or carpenters square) lined up on the dots and draw a line. This will be where you make your cut.

Valentine’s Day Garden Flag from a Placemat

I love making unique garden flags. My go-to material for these outdoor accessories are Dollar Tree placemats! You read that right. $1 fabric placemats! But, if you don’t live near a Dollar Tree and you have old placemats, you could upcycle them into a Valentine’s Day garden flag!

A few years ago, I made this Let it Snow flag:

Although it doesn’t seam to convince Mother Nature to bring us some white powder, it has held up nicely in the cold and rain. I’ve since set out to create a garden flag for each season. I have a Fall themed flag and a Summer flag. So, why not a Valentine’s Day flag?!

Start by collecting some supplies. Feel free to substitute what you have on hand.

Materials:

Dollar Store placemat
Ruler
Soap sliver (pencil or disappearing fabric marker)
Letter stencils (I chose a set by Martha Stewart Plaid)
Round paint brush
Tulip Fabric paint (white and black)
Tulip glitter fabric paint
Tulip glitter transfer sheets
Fabric scraps (red, pink and white)
Polyester stuffing
Scrap fabric, towel or rag (for ironing the glitter iron-ons)
White thread
Scissors

Begin by ironing the fabric you will be using (including the placemat). Use caution when ironing the placemat, the DollarTree ones I bought are polyester and needed a cooler iron. Read more

February 10, 2014/12 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Build It, Contributor, Decor Adventures, Decorating, DIY, power tools

DIY Wooden Arrows

Although I don’t typically decorate for Valentine’s Day, this year I couldn’t resist a little craft project to celebrate the holiday. After all, it is about love and chocolate and who can resist love and chocolate? Instead of the usual craft creating something heart shaped, I decided to pay a little attention to Cupid and his arrows. I put together these easy DIY wooden arrows and now I’m going to show you how you can make one too!

This project is really easy, and totally customizable so you don’t have to be exact with your measurements. Feel free to be a little more free style. You can paint it {or not}, just about any color you’d like.

Materials

Wooden Shims
Wood Glue
Miter Saw (or a hand saw and miter box)
Pencil
Ruler
Spray paint, craft or wall paint or wood stain {optional if you will paint/stain it}
Frame for framing {optional}

Instructions

1. First select some nice wood shims to use. Make a rough representation of what you’d like your arrow to look like.

This was a rough image of what I came up with. Two shims for the point and a few more for the tail.

2. Start cutting your arrow and tail parts. You can cut the pieces like the arrow on the right or left, shown below. Either way you’ll need some pieces with a 45 degree angle. That’s where your miter saw comes in. See Brittany’s post about how to use a miter saw here. It’s one of the first power tools I learned to use and is very easy to handle and work with.

3. To cut the 45 degree angles, first set your saw at the 45 degree mark. Then cut one end of the wooden shim to 45 degrees.

All You Need Is…Valentine String Art & Engraving

All You Need is...Valentine String Art | Pretty Handy Girl

All you need is some scrap wood, and maybe a little string. And a few nails. And how about a gum wrapper? If you had all those you could be like MacGyver and build some kind of cool device that would catch fire. But, since I had everything except the gum wrapper, I decided to make a Valentine art project. Follow along and I’ll show you how easy it is to make your own heart string art and engraving art for Valentine’s Day. If you need any of the materials, you can pick up most of them at your local Lowe’s Home Improvement store (probably the same place MacGyver shops because they have gum at the registers.)

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Materials:

Plywood or scrap wood
Valspar red paint sample
Paint brush
White paint pen
Scissors
Brass brad nails
Hammer
Twisted white mason string
Glue
Wooden popsicle stick or paint stirrer
Dremel
Dremel engraving bit
Chalk
Pencil
Quote print out
Wet rag
Cup Hooks (or screw eyes)
Picture hanging wire and hooks
Piece of Gum

Instructions:

Start by painting your wood red.

After the paint has dried, draw a heart with chalk. Read more

February 3, 2014/4 Comments/by Brittany Bailey