Home Decor – The Realty Housewife

Category: Home Decor

19
Jul
2017

Yarn Wreaths

As I was looking up how to make a pine cone wreath, I saw this cute idea for a yarn wreath. I like to do crafts with my girls. Well, scratch that. I like to do crafts and my girls like to do crafts so I try to find stuff we can do together. There’s usually some drama but more fun than drama. But so it goes with any family together time. :-p It’s fun with a tinge of drama – as long as none of us takes the cake with the drama then we are good.

What you will need:
Styrofoam wreath (we bought ours at Joann’s) – Or you can duct tape 2 pool noodles together..
Felt to coordinate with the yarn colors (for the rosettes – we bought ours at Joann’s)
Yarn (assorted colors – we chose a max of 2 colors per wreath because it can get tangly – one would be even easier)
Pins (for the rosettes)
Spray glue
Good scissors
Stapler

To make the wreath:

1.) To start, we stapled the yarn to the wreath with three staples, then used the spray glue and sprayed the wreath in that beginning spot (just a little section) and wrapped around a few times – this made it extra secure.

2.) Every time you wrap around, you have to put the balls of yarn through the wreath which ended up being hard with my little one’s wreath because she picked such a small wreath but she insisted the smallest kid has to have the smallest wreath – lol.

3.) Then just keep wrapping the yarn around and spraying the spray glue every once in a while to make it extra secure.

4.) I wrapped the yarn around the wreath twice to make sure all the white was covered. One of my daughters wrapped once and the other wrapped haphazardly so who knows how many times she went around. They all turned out fine. Once you get to the end tie a knot in the yarn and you are done with the wrapping of the wreath.

Time to make the rosettes or whatever you want to call them. I tried to find pre-made felt creations at the store that I could just glue on, but I didn’t find anything that I liked and the girls kept wanting to buy poop emoji and other ridiculous (sandwiches, hot dogs, etc) stuff which I thought would ruin their wreath so I abandoned that idea and told them we were just going to make our own things to glue on. Luckily, I found this site that taught me how to make rosettes and also luckily the girls didn’t have any ideas to make poop emojis out of felt – dodged a bullet there. I like to roll the R when I say rosettes – try it it’s fun. I nicknamed my little one Rosa for the day because she was a rosette making beast.

To make the rosettes:

1.) Trace a circle onto the felt using whatever you can find. I used a peanut butter jar that had about a 4 inch diameter, a coaster with a 3 inch diameter and also a circle from our Twister game which was the largest – about 6 inch diameter. We traced all of these on the different colored felt then cut them out.

2.) Next, cut a spiral out of the circle (make a snake). That’s not confusing at all, right? Here’s a picture (as you can tell, you don’t even have to be great at cutting):

3.) Then, roll up the snake into a rosette starting with the tail of the snake. Here’s a picture (I always wanted to be a hand model):

4.) Last, put a pin through the rosette to hold it together, then hot glue it to the wreath wherever you want it.

One thing to be careful of when making the wreath is to make sure that you don’t have too much line of yarn because it will get tangled very easily. I did have to get out quite a few tangles, but it wasn’t so bad because we were doing all of this while watching TV so we were sufficiently entertained/distracted. I prefer to be distracted when doing crafts because it calms me – music or TV. I also like to have something called Sleepytime Tea which also calms the nerves or at least that’s what the package says – that’s enough to convince me. The stocker at Wal-mart got a real good laugh when I asked him what aisle the sleepytime tea was in (he asked me what kind of tea I was looking for – should’ve made something else up)..

My 9 and 8 year old did theirs all by themselves. They used different strategies to get them done but both look great. My 5 year old couldn’t do the wreath but she did make all her rosettes by herself which completely blew my mind b/c cutting the felt is rather tedious. My 8 year old agreed to make my 5 year old’s wreath for her as long as I promised to let her use the glue gun. I was really nervous that she was going to burn half her face off but it worked out fine. You just have to keep your expectations low like I do. :-p My 8 year old actually glued most of the rosettes on all the wreaths except mine (because I didn’t want to freak out if she messed mine up). And she did better than I probably would’ve done.

We all did ours our own way. My oldest wrapped the yarn haphazardly. She wasn’t able to cover all the white of the styrofoam wreath this way, but it still looks great I think and she got done way quicker than the rest of us. My 8 year old meticulously did hers to cover all the white on the first wrap around because she did NOT want to have to wrap it around again. I wrapped mine around twice in order to cover all the white and I didn’t worry too much about having mine twisted I didn’t mind it being a bit messy or mummy-like.

Cara (my 8 year old) made up this saying we used whenever anyone critiqued any of our wreaths while we were working: “I tried and I tried and all you want to do is blame me.” But you have to say it in kind of a drawn out Minnie Mouse accent type of voice and really drag every syllable out. Here’s a link to Cara’s voice: Voice_170713_1[1] This had us cracking up the whole time. Once, I got annoyed with Cara because she really tangled up her yarn (and I was of course the designated detangler) and she said this and had us cracking up so the rest of us used it too. This came in handy to break up the intensity of crafting. So, I say to Sydney after an hour of her making her wreath that I’m not so sure about her strategy because the white will still be showing, etc. She says, “I tried and I tried…” LOL.

I used this website as my guide for the wreath: http://millionmoments.net/2013/01/how-to-make-yarn-wreath.html

And this website as my guide for the rosettes: http://millionmoments.net/2013/09/make-felt-flowers-rosettes.html

Here’s a pic of the kids all hard at work:

15
Jun
2017

Pine Cone Wreath

categories: Home Decor

I can’t really decide if this one is a Pinterest win or fail. I’m still thinking about it. I’ll let you decide. The wreath I bought was falling apart and had faded after having it up for 6 years straight so I pulled all the berries off and was left with the wreath skeleton. Which, when my husband saw it without the berries – he’s like, “Great! We can just put that up!”. Lol!

I had some pine cones left over from when I bought some cinnamon scented pine cones from Michael’s like 20 years ago – lol. They had obviously lost their scent and had gathered so much dust. They were perfect. Also, I had my girls collect pine cones from the park as well. So we had plenty. I was trying to use stuff I already had or that was free. I seriously considered making one out of all the kid’s mismatched socks, but thought better of it. One day I’m going to figure out a use for those.

I cut the pine cones with a tree trimmer like tool. Or is it a bush trimmer? I have no idea – found it in the garage. I guess you can tell I haven’t done any yard work. Here’s a picture of it:

I actually thought I could use tin snips at first but no way. These things are hard to cut – you need something heavy duty. And some of the cuts aren’t going to go well so plan for that. Then, I put them in a box and spray painted them red – actually this color from Home Depot. I love red (it’s apple red):

I wanted to do multi-color but I didn’t feel like buying more paint so it’s all red which worked out because then I could just slop them on there however I wanted. I hot-glued them on there – seems to be going pretty well so far. We’ll have to see if they start falling off.

However, I think I could’ve spaced them out a little better – it looks like it has ears. Maybe I’ll add a few more filler pine cones at a later date, but I ran out of spray paint because I used half of it for something else so for now this is going to have to be good enough!

I think it looks especially good from afar – at least that’s what I think. Or maybe the Home Owner’s Association is going to write in the bylaws – no DIY wreaths – because of my creation. We shall see. Lol.

UPDATE: This ended up being a massive Pinterest fail. The pine cones kept falling off (I guess the hot glue wasn’t a good idea for summer time – it just melted and the cones kept falling off). I was too irritated with it to try to fix it that I just tossed it in the garbage. 🙁

Here’s a close up:

26
Mar
2016

Giving Jar for Girl Scout Philanthropy Badge or Cute Everyday Piggybank

categories: Home Decor, Kids

I was recently in charge of a Girl Scout meeting for my oldest girl scout to help the girls earn their Philanthropy badge. Well, me and my daughter were in charge but you know how that goes… 😉 We needed an activity for the girls during the meeting and I felt like this giving jar was the perfect idea. This jar is a place where they can save up their coins to donate to a charity of their choosing. We talked about what charities already exist out there and about how a dime doesn’t buy much here but in a third world country could buy a child a breakfast of oatmeal and such. I also had some magazines and had them cut out some wants vs needs and glue them to poster boards but I would say they were more excited about the jars.

What you’ll need:

sponge brushes (to paint on the mod podge) Found a pack of them at Wal-Mart for cheap.
mason jars (pint-sized – got from Wal-Mart b/c they had some that didn’t have any engravings on them)
tissue paper (multi-colored)
mod podge
card stock (multi-colored for the lids)
box cutter (to cut the slit in the lid for the coins)

The girls were excited to make their jars. I cut the circles out of tissue paper beforehand. At first, I bought a circle punch from Michael’s and that was worthless. It kept tearing the tissue paper and not cutting then eventually broke from too much use (or frustration on my part?!?!) so I had to abandon that idea. In the end, I found the best way to cut out the circles was to fold the tissue paper over itself multiple times and trace a 1.5 inch circle which I first cut out of card stock (using my whole punch when it was still alive). Then, I traced that on the folded tissue paper and cut out multiple circles at a time that way. You will need some strong scissors – I used the kitchen shears b/c I wanted to cut as many circles as humanly possible at one time.. :-p They don’t have to be perfect – no one will notice..

First, you paint mod podge on a section of the jar using a sponge brush (it dries quick so just one small section at a time), then stick the circles to it, then paint the mod podge over the circles and repeat. It is pretty easy. Just keep overlapping the circles so that every inch of the jar is covered. For the top, I just cut a circle out of card stock and used a box cutter to make the coin slit in it. Wallah! Pretty cute, right? You could also just use it for a pencil holder or you could do the same thing with a vase from the dollar store. Whatever you want. I need to make one using different colored tissue paper for my office.. 20160326_171604 (2)

20160326_171610 (2)

Here’s a link to the video that shows you the tehnique:

And here’s a website where I initially found the philanthropy badge information and the common sense jar. I kind of combined the two ideas:

http://followthejrleader.blogspot.com/2014/03/brownie-philanthropy-badge.html

25
Feb
2016

Hallway Transformation into Command Center

categories: Home Decor

Because I love magnet and tack boards so much, I decided to update this hallway in between the kitchen and the office into a place where I could put the menu for the week, to do lists, hang the kids artwork, homework, Christmas cards, pictures, etc. Why not? I already had the magnet board collage on the one side (as per earlier post), but I made the 4 tack boards more recently (over Christmas break) using different colored yarn to match the magnet boards and hung those up using french cleats. My husband actually did the hanging and boy was he excited and not in a good way!!! j/k – sort of :-p I actually made the tack boards instead of putting together Christmas cards to send out (which would explain my lack of Christmas cards received) b/c I’m ADD like that and I REALLY enjoy doing new projects when I’m supposed to be doing something else – isn’t it strange how that works? Anyone else like that? Some pics below:

16
Feb
2016

Chrysanthemum mirror

categories: Home Decor

Things you’ll need:
Extra large heavy duty box (Home Depot – around $5)
7 inch mirror (Joann’s – around $3)
6 packs of spoons (dollar store) – you may need more or less depending on size of your mirror
hot glue gun and glue sticks
buttons (Joann’s – bought a jar of white ones for half off $3)

Cut large circle out of the card board box.
The diameter for mine is about 22 inches. I made a large compass by using a pencil, some string, and a tack. I tacked the string to the center of the circle and tied the string around the pencil at about 11 inches, then I drew the circle, keeping the string taut. It doesn’t have to be perfect – this project is very forgiving. Cut the circle out with some strong shears.

Glue mirror to center of cardboard using hot glue.

Cut spoons up. This doesn’t have to be very precise either. Mine popped off in random spots. You could even break them too if you wanted.

Glue spoons on cardboard starting at the outermost edges and working your way in towards the mirror. See my spoon spacing in the pictures below. Once you get closer to the mirror you may notice some asymmetrical-ness however you can just glue some extra spoons in places if you need to fill in any gaps. It is pretty forgiving.

Pull off the glue strings.

Spray paint the whole thing except the mirror. I just taped some paper to the mirror to cover it so it wouldn’t get spray painted. The edges did get a little bit of paint splatter on them but I covered the edges with buttons so it didn’t show too much. Pull off any other glue strings that showed up. It’ll take a few rounds of spray painting to get everything fully covered and you’ll have to hit it from several different angles. I used Rust-Oleum Apple Red from Home Depot – the kind of paint that says it adheres to plastic.

Lay out your buttons the way you want them and hot glue them on. I put them half on half off the mirror to cover up the spoon handles and paint splatter. Here’s some pictures of the progression.

Lastly, I hot glued two large saw tooth hangers to the back of this and planning to hang with 2 dry wall screws. We’ll hope that holds it b/c if it doesn’t I will be having myself an adult tantrum! :-p UPDATE: I had to glue the saw tooth hangers on with wood glue – the hot glue didn’t hold – luckily only one of the hangers came off and the mirror was still being held up by the other hanger – whew!

Actually, this project is quicker than you think if you don’t do the trial and error like I did. I originally tried to make this ombre where you had red in the middle, then pink, then light pink then white spoons, which meant I had to paint each spoon individually with acrylic paint – I do not recommend this! It didn’t work for me. First of all, I would’ve had to paint each spoon twice which already once tried my patience and I had several drips onto the cardboard (which I had spray painted white) that just made it look messy and sloppy. So, I spray painted over that whole mess with the red and it looks so much better. Next time, if I try ombre (and I might b/c now the girls want this same decoration in their rooms!), then I will spray paint the spoons ahead of time (some dark pink, some lighter pink, some white, etc) and then glue them on – I will not try to paint with acrylic paint and paint brush again – no thanks! I made this one for the laundry room since I spend all my time in there anyway and I thought I’d like a pretty flower mirror to look at – makes complete sense, right? Yep, my husband thinks so too! :-p

07
Nov
2015

Painting extra tall walls when you’re a shorty

categories: Home Decor, Renovation

Things you’ll need:

Shur-line edger (the one with wheels that can be attached to extender pole)
Duct Tape
Paint Brush
Paint pan that is wide enough (see the metal pan bought from Home depot) – you’ll need to be able to easily fit the shur-line edger in there flat so test it out before you buy the pain.
Extender pole for painting
Paint roller (that can be attached to extender pole)
Trim roller (that can be attached to extender pole)
Ladder (we borrowed an extra tall one from my husband’s dad)

Here’s a picture of the tall wall (this was the finished result):

We rolled the walls with a roller and extender pole which got significantly harder the higher you got on the wall b/c you don’t have as much control on the highest parts and you can’t put as much pressure. Then, we were left with the edges and the corners of the wall to do. We bought this Shur-Line Edger from Home Depot (the one with wheels) and this metal pan b/c the paint pan we had wasn’t wide enough for this edger So, you rest it in the paint and then you need to squeeze some of the paint off, especially at the upper edge near the wheels. This is very important b/c if you have too much paint near the wheels it’s going to squeeze off onto the ceiling.

This is what your edger should look like. See how there is less paint at the top?:

It should not look like this:

Now, push down the ceiling protector:

And edge away! The important thing is to move this thing side to side, not up toward the ceiling or again you will push paint up over the wheels and that will get it on the ceiling.

And make sure you are clinching your butt cheeks just perfectly as seen here.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. But seriously, my husband did use a ladder for this b/c you can have more control over the edger this way, but there were areas on the stairs where he couldn’t use a ladder and it still worked out fine. But make sure you practice before you try it on a hard to reach area. It takes some trial and error to get used to the way it works. This is something I didn’t do in the front common area and I did get it on the ceiling in places – woops! Again, I’m still working on my impulsivity and impatience.

And then for touching up, I duct-taped my favorite paint brush to the extender pole and touched up some of the corners, etc. The edger doesn’t work as well in the corners – the head of the edger actually rotates to do the corners, but we just didn’t think it worked as well as it did near the ceilings – mostly the corners had to be touched up. My husband used a trim roller (see pic below) in the corners also – this worked better for corners. And we’ve just seen that they have corner rollers at Home Depot though we didn’t try them – worth a try next time.

05
Oct
2015

5 shades of gray

categories: Home Decor, Renovation

Gray is the IN color right now or so it seems, but I have such a hard time liking it! It all stems back to when I first met my husband. Gray is his favorite color (I guess b/c it’s manly [insert man grunt here]). So, when I first met him and went to his house – it was a bachelor pad with actual flannel sheets hanging as curtains instead of curtains – getting the visual now? And I found that he painted the entire house a light shade of gray and the baseboards were a darker shade of gray. I’m not going to lie, it kind of made me think of a prison. I called that shade of gray “prison gray” from then on. And, after that, I couldn’t bring myself to paint any rooms of the house gray – I developed an aversion.

Before I moved in, I repainted every single wall to a non gray color. But then what happens – gray is now IN. So, I’m forced to reconsider. I have tried out a few shades of the HGTV Sherwin Williams line at Lowe’s. And I fell in LOVE! Gracious Greige and Stone Isle are my favorite. It seems the lighter shades of gray remind me of prisons or mental patient facilities (not that I’ve ever been in one, yet – there’s still time! :-p) because they can come across as cold. Though, I did do another post on Lighter Shades of Gray in which I found some that aren’t cold – here’s the link: Lighter Shade of Gray But here’s my current review of these shades:

5 shades of gray. I didn’t quite have the finances or energy to try 50. :-p And no I’ve never seen that movie and don’t plan on it. That’s just not something I’m into. I’d rather men be good old-fashioned nice, you know? Nice is sexy. I’m not so much into crazies or encouraging crazies:

1.) Icy Avalanche (lighter shade on same paint card as Stone isle): I think this was the exact color of prison gray that my husband used on his first house. I don’t recommend this one. Though I used it in a bathroom where the tile was grayish so it might have just been a little overwhelming – still don’t recommend. I’ve found that the trim, tile, etc in the room really effects the way the paint color comes across.

2.) Stone Isle (slghtly blue-ish gray but more on the gray side – still very neutral): I LOVE this color. It kind of reminds me of like a beachy kind of gray – my brother called it cape cod. It’s still on the neutral side. It looks very modern and classic. I wouldn’t paint an entire house in this color, but one or 2 rooms would be good. I actually painted the common area of our four-plex building in this color b/c I’m using some artwork that has red in it and it will go really nice with red. It’s also very neutral but still modern and stylish. I’ve gotten alot of comments on this color from the tenants – they really like it. It comes across as warm even when paired with red/brown brick. LOVE this color.

3.) Repose Gray (little darker than what I was looking for): This was a little darker than what I was looking for in a rental house. I needed more neutral and light.

4.) Basalt Powder (HGSW2457 – lighter shade on same paint card as Gracious Griege): I painted the other bathroom with this color and it’s not bad – not great either but not bad – just kind of meh neutral. It looks very close to white though so it depends what kind of look you’re going for. If you want an almost white color, then this might be for you. It might come across as a little cold though in a living room – I think for a bathroom it was alright. UPDATE: I tried this in the living room in a different unit and I really like it! It looks very modern. See other post Lighter Shade of Gray

5.) Gracious Greige (HGSW2456): LOVE this color. I would paint an entire house in this color and not think twice. We painted the kitchen of our rental unit with this color and it looks great. This is a very neutral color and it’s also light enough – not too dark. Plus, it’s got a little beige in it so it’s not all gray – more like grayish. Good for those of us who are still walking the line on whether to like gray or not. This is my new favorite neutral.

Here’s the gracious greige in the kitchen:

BroadmoorKitchenBest — Gracious Griege Kitchen

Here’s the Stone Isle in a bedroom:

Here’s the Icy Avalanche in the bathroom (don’t recommend – I just felt like it was kind of blah and seemed very masculine to me – think garage. Maybe b/c of the colors it’s up against – that makes a huge difference):

Broadmoor_HallBath — Icy Avalanche Bathroom

Here’s the Basalt Powder in the other bathroom (again not my favorite – very close to white – but it is neutral). Sorry you can’t really see the wall that much in this picture – the door is in the way and the lighting’s not great. It’s such a small bathroom – hard to get good pics:. This one kind of made me think of a dentist office or a pharmacy :-/:

BroadmoorMasterBath — Basalt Powder Bathroom

See this next post on lighter shades of gray: Lighter Shade of Gray

20
Sep
2015

Bulletin Board – DIY

categories: Home Decor, Organization

This is literally straight out of Do It Yourself magazine which is a Better Homes and Garden Special Interest Publication. I splurged last minute in the checkout line at Home Depot and bought a copy. I’m so glad I did – I discovered this cool bulletin board. I really want a subscription to this magazine!!!! But I’m kind of cheap so we’ll see.

We recently had a rental unit become vacant in our four-plex building (building has four units) and we are in need of some art in the common area. I think this might be the perfect thing! We’ll see how long it lasts though! 😉 I figure why put some generic piece of art when you can have something functional. And it does look cute, don’t you think? If someone wants to leave the tenants a note or something – wallah!

What you will need:

-Crochet yarn (whatever color you like-I did red, my favorite!) – found at Joann’s
-Decorative tacks (whatever style you like) – found mine at Joann’s
-Fabric (I used white linen – found at Joann’s)
-Felt (I used white felt – found by the yard at Joann’s)
-MDF board ( found in the lumber section at Home Depot – they had 2 x 4 boards and I had my husband cut one in half so I had to 2 2×4 boards). I bet they will cut it for you at Home Depot if you ask someone though – they are awesome like that. I didn’t think of it at the time.
-Hammer
-Pliers (needle nosed are important b/c those tacks are small!)
-Ruler
-Staple Gun and Staples

Directions:

1.) Cut and prepare the fabric: Cut your fabric so that there is about 2 inches of fabric to wrap around the back of the board. You will need enough to staple. Cut the felt the same. Iron the fabric. I didn’t iron the felt. Cut the corners of the fabric such that when you fold over and staple there won’t be too much fabric on the corners. A little L-Shaped cut off all four corners – just won’t cut past the board itself – not really possible with the board lying on top of the fabric. Don’t worry, you won’t screw it up. I don’t even know if you really need to do this – it just makes it easier to staple the corners.

2.) Staple the fabric to the board: Lay the fabric down on the floor then lay the felt on top of it, then lay down the board. Start on one side and wrap the fabric around then staple it about every few inches. This is tricky since it’s better to use two hands on the staple gun. No worries – you can always hammer the staples in more later if you need to – this is what I did. Staple all around doing opposing sides first to pull taut the fabric as much as possible.

3.) Time to put the tacks in: First, measure out how many tacks will fit on your board base on how wide and long your board is. I had a 2×2 board so I had 24 inches to work with on each side. I wanted to put the tacks about 1 inch away from the sides and 3 to 4 inches of space between. So, I did some fuzzy math and came up with 7 tacks across and 5 rows of tacks from top to bottom. I placed the tacks 3.75 inches apart on the width which meant 7 tacks across and 5.5 inches apart on the height which meant 5 rows of tacks. This left an inch around all the sides and enough room for pictures, envelopes, stuff like that. I pencil marked the first row of tacks using a ruler and pencil and the start of each of the rows of tacks, but I kind of eye-balled the rest. You will not be able to erase the pencil marks later (just fyi). It doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s what I tell the girls – art is art – the beauty is in the imperfections. Hold the tack in place with the pliers and hammer away! Those pliers are important b/c if it gets cock-eyed – that’s how it will go into the board. Make sure to hold it straight. I have a few crooked ones though and it’s fine! Again, art is art! Yes, I do consider bulletin boards art.. :-p

4.) Zig Zag away the yarn: Tie the yarn into a knot around the first tack you want to start from. I just started from the upper left most tack. Then, this is where the creative part comes in – you can zig-zag however you want. Ever been to a work out or dance class and they say it’s time to free-style? And everyone’s all excited dancing around like maniacs – well, that’s where my eyes get big and I look around dumb-founded – it’s frightening! It’s kind of like that to me when someone says that with art b/c I’m not creative at all. But I managed to come up with something and I don’t think you can really go wrong with it. Then, when you are done, tie a knot around the last tack and you are done. I went through and pushed all my thread down so that it’s flush against the board, but I’m not sure if that’s really necessary.

5.) Hang: Put pictures or Christmas/Birthday cards behind the yarn and hang on the wall – I always use Command Picture Hanging Strips!

The one on the left is the one my daughter did – I like hers better. Here signifies the difference in the two minds – mine is chaotic – hers more organized. :-p

Update: I had to use a french cleat to hang these b/c they kept falling off the wall (professional, eh?). I’m no longer fond of command strips – I’m starting to think it’s just a matter of time before the other stuff starts falling. :-/ I used Liquid Nails to glue the french cleat to the back of the tackboard (it is hard to get it level this way though we just used some wall putty (the blue stuff used to stick things to the wall and shoved that in the french cleat space to level things out – a hack, I know – unless you can find a better way to level it) and then there is a level to hang the other part of the french cleat to the wall. They cost about $8 at Home Depot and the one I got holds up to 60 lbs.

17
Sep
2015

Collage of Collages

categories: Home Decor

So, if you know me, you know that I love collages. Therefore, it’s no surprise that a collage of collages really excites me! I used PicMonkey‘s free service for these. This is just a nice way to fit a bunch of pictures of family on one wall and not have to buy special collage frames – you can buy whatever frames you want and you aren’t limited in what you do, how many pictures, etc. It’s really easy – the trickiest part is getting the pixel size just right for whatever frame you are using. If the size is wrong, you could end up with someone’s head getting cropped off, which is not ideal. I saved mine as 3300 x 4200 pixels when I did them but I’ve noticed that PicMonkey doesn’t let you go over 3400 pixels now so I’ve read that 2200 x 2800 pixels will also work for 11×14. You just click on the create collage button and select the type of collage you want, upload your pictures, and play away. I’m not going to go into those details here b/c I’m sure PicMonkey has better tutorials than any I could do. Here’s the recommended pixel sizes from the blog site that I found:

3×5 inches: 1500 x 2500 pixels

4×6 inches: 1600 x 2400 pixels

5×7 inches: 1500 x 2100 pixels

8×8 inches: 2000 x 2000 pixels

8×10 inches: 2000 x 2500 pixels

8.5×11 inches: 1700 x 2200 pixels

9×16 inches: 3200 x 1800 pixels

11×14 inches: 2200 x 2800 pixels

11×17 inches: 2200 x 3400pixels

I got these sizes from the Perfectly Rooted Blog. She has some good suggestions about how to create artwork in PicMonkey which I haven’t done yet. I’ve only used Picasa for that and PicMonkey for collages. I love all these free tools though – one day!!!

06
Sep
2015

Wall Word Art DIY

categories: Home Decor

I love DIY wall art in general! I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that already though I’m not overly creative so you’re not going to see anything magazine-worthy here, but I’m happy with the results which is all that matters, right? :-p I love that you can choose the colors, the content, etc.

So, there are a few sayings that I really love and I’ve made a frame for each of the girl’s rooms with custom phrases for each of them – tailored to their personalities. I’ve also made a couple for my dining room. I used Picasa – it’s free! Here’s a link to the tutorial I used:

Centsational Girl

I love Centsational Girl’s blog – I could spend hours there on the weekend and sometimes do! Here’s some pictures of the word art that I’ve made so far:

For my very emotional daughter:

For the daughter that gets a nervous belly ache everyday before school..

Because my one daughter thinks she’s a princess and she is of the one true King.

For the breakfast room, because we need a daily reminder, even before breakfast:

And it kind of looks like a bowl, right? Or a vase, but whatever… :-p