{ Spring Centerpiece }

Spring has sprung!

Although my nose and sinuses are suffering, I'm so happy Spring is HERE!  The colors, the sun, the warmth, the general HAPPINESS.  I LOVE SPRING.

I decided my table needed a taste of Spring.

My sweet Mother-in-law gave me some empty spaghetti jars recently (Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, peeps!) and I knew it was time to whip out the spray paint.  I used Krylon's Pistachio, roughed up the paint a little with sandpaper, wrapped some gold string around the jars, and put some (fake) Hydrangeas in them.  DONE. 

Now I have some pretty spring colors to make me happy!

Thanks for reading, y'all!

Jess

Drab to Fab: Tribal Print using Freezer Paper

We've ALL seen the tribal print craze.  Leggings, purses, shirts, jackets, scarves, pockets, and more and more and more!  Here's a way to join the trend (or add to your tribal print collection!) without spending much or ANY money!

1.  Draw your favorite tribal print on the paper-y side of freezer paper with a pencil.  (There's a waxy side, too.)  Before you draw, decide the size you'd like your print so you don't have to erase a bunch of times!

2.  Using an Exact-O Knife, carefully cut out the print to create the negative.  Iron the print with the waxy side DOWN.  Smooth out/iron down the fabric first to avoid bubbles and creases.

3.  I chose to use Martha Stewart's Multi-Surface craft paint.  I'm unsure of the durability of regular craft paint on fabric, and the only color of fabric paint I had on hand was black!  (Look back HERE to see where else I used this metallic paint!)

4.  Carefully dab the paint onto the fabric in the negative space.  Make sure to put cardboard or extra freezer paper in the middle of the shirt to prevent bleed-through.  

After deciding if you need another coat of paint, carefully peel off the freezer paper.  (My favorite part!!)  I chose to do only one coat of paint and peeled the paper off immediately after finishing.

Be careful to follow instructions for the fabric paint!  Some paints suggess letting the paint 'cure' for 48-72 hours, then heat-setting the fabric either with an iron or in dryer.

Now it's time to rock that print!  You can obviously choose a more intricate pattern to paint, but I like ease and time to be on my side in my projects!  This was literally a 30 minute deal.  You can make it even EASIER by printing out the tribal print from a template.  But we don't have a printer... bummer.

Let me know what you think!  This project is obviously VERY versatile.  Paint a word, picture, etc.

Thanks for reading y'all!!

-Jess

Front Door, Back Door Makeover

This VERY rarely happens.

And by 'this' I mean completing a project this quickly after blogging about it.

M surprised me this weekend with a TON of time spent on home projects.

And I couldn't have been happier!

The project I worked on was painting the inside of both the front and back doors black.  

And it did not nearly take as long as I expected.

We used Valspar outdoor paint and primer in one for the first time, and I was very impressed.  

2 coats (with about 2 hours of drying time in between) and I was done!

And I love the results.

I hope M doesn't read this, but I am tempted to paint all the interior doors black in our next house, I like it so much.

1.  Remove ridiculous pillow cases from back door window.

2.  Tape off window panes.

3.  (After first coat of paint.)

4.  After 2nd coat of paint (and glass frosting).

I used Young House Love's glass frosting technique like I mentioned in the last post.

It was fairly easy and is removable in case future owners don't like it!

(Oh, and if you look at the tile floor in the before and after pictures of the back door, you can get a sneak peak of some grout work that M was working on while I painted the doors.  Check back soon for a post on his hard work!)

Happy Thursday, y'all!

Rox

Geometric Print Drape Front Cardi {tutorial}

I went through a stage where I felt like I needed to get ALL solid printed clothing so it would be versatile... 

SO... what do you do if you need more patterns in your wardrobe without spending the bucks?

Do. It. Yourself.

Here's how I added a little pattern to a piece in MY wardrobe:

1.  I grabbed a plain black knit drape front cardi from my closet that I NEVER wear...

2.  Using a sheet of foam from the craft store (with adhesive on the back), I cut a couple triangles and attached them to a jar lid to create a stamp.  I used Martha Stewart's Metallic Gold acrylic paint and a foam brush to paint the stamp.

3.  After deciding to alternate the triangles pointing up then down, I started stamping in the middle on the bottom of the back of the cardi.  I didn't worry about perfect spacing or clean stamping.  On each 'drape', I stacked the triangles higher so the triangles would be more noticeable when worn.

-  After the paint dried, I threw the cardi in the dryer to 'set' the paint.

And that's it!

tunic:  Marshalls // cardi:  Target (refashioned by me) // 'leather vest':  thrifted // leggings: Wal-Mart //booties: thrifted //short necklace: Wal-Mart // long necklace: thrifted

{I styled my cardi over a sheer tunic with leggings and wedge booties.

I added a 'leather' vest for texture and stacked two necklaces for added interest.}

I know this piece will get a lot more use now that I updated it with a little pattern!  I can't wait to try this with a lighter colored cardi and and darker paint...  I'm thinking an aztec feel!

Let us know if you have any questions or if you try it out!!

Thanks for reading, y'all!

-Jess