profane scrabble art

I love my kids, but good god they get in the way of DIY! Hopefully someday they will actually be able to help rather than hinder, but for now trying to do anything without them when they're awake is pretty much just pissing into the wind so things are moving at a glacial pace when it comes to actually finishing anything. It's fine. After three kids I know that time to do the things I want is not something that comes easy, or often, and to be honest I've realised that the time I do have is usually better spent looking after myself or spending time with my husband unless I really WANT to do some painting or whatever. It's a work in progress, but I'm getting better at suppressing my control freak tendencies and not letting the to-do list haunt me. 
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finding art for your home on the cheap

Art can transform a room! What you display in your home can totally change the mood and a simple print can often be the finishing touch that really pulls a room together and makes it "yours". 

I love that I can change the paintings in my dining room and suddenly it feels completely refreshed, and I love finding meaningful little images or quotes that I can stick in a frame to add some fun to my decor. You know what I don't love? Paying good money for something when I don't have to! Yes, I have bought particular prints that I really loved, but in general I've found that when I want to jazz things up a bit there are plenty of very inexpensive ways of getting my grubby mitts on the art I'm after!

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personalised cork board

Keep your eyes peeled people, the playroom reveal is coming this week! I've decided that I'm never going to do the couple of things I've been meaning to "finish off" in there so this is a good as it gets. I'm just waiting for the gods of good photo's to bless me with a bright day that happens to coincide with the room being tidy and I'm golden!

So basically don't hold your breath.

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a gallery wall with a difference

The playroom is finished!....well, practically finished anyway, I just have to figure out how to incorporate a little bit more lighting in there. I hate overhead lighting and I will avoid using it at all costs! However, the lamps and strings of lights I would usually use really aren't a great choice in a room designed for such small kids so I'm a bit stumped. Suggestions are totally welcome :)

Anyway, while I'm waiting to get the whole room photographed and up here on the blog I thought I'd share a few of the different elements in here first, and to start with I chose.......yet another gallery/feature wall!! SURPRISE!

You're not surprised? Yeah, me neither.

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the kids are alright

Happy "you made a human out of food" day! I'm not usually one for marking these weird "force people to buy an awkward present" kind of occasions, but seeing as being a mother is pretty much my sole occupation at the moment this one got me thinking, about how maybe it shouldn't be just about other people acknowledging what you do for your kids, but about you acknowledging it too.

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amazing free download-able art!

Amazing free printable alert! My husband called me over to "show me something cool" this morning, and that usually means he's found either a picture of an animal so weird it should not exist or an epic Ron Swanson meme, but today what he had to show me was really worth the trip across the kitchen....Click here to read the rest of this post »

creating (or curating) a great* gallery wall

*if I do say so myself

So it would seem that this week is gallery wall week here at make do and diy! I don't plan my posts, things just happen when they happen and then when I can muster the energy I blog about them, so it looks like I've been in picture hanging mode here recently seeing as I finished two last week!

There was a big blank space on the wall over our ikea hack dresser in the bedroom that was crying out for something to dress it up (I didn't take a picture, this was a late-night, impulse project). I had considered a large piece of art, and had bought one that I loved (this one) but when I hung it there it just didn't do it for me. So, back to the drawing board, and I decided on a gallery wall (based mostly on the fact that I have a LOT of frames hanging around this house).

I had collected a lot of pictures and items that related to our wedding and the kids that I had planned to build up until I had enough to fill a really tall blank wall at the top of the stairs, but what I had was perfect to fill the space in the bedroom so I decided to put it there for now instead. 


           


In all honesty we will probably have to give in and put wardrobes in this area eventually anyway (I had been holding off because I thought it would make the room look much smaller) so the stairs gallery wall will probably still happen some day! 
I'm just learning that I need to work with what I have right now, not with some potential future layout in mind, because who knows when that will happen? And I'd rather have a house that's decorated to make me happy as it is for the time being. Holes in walls are easy to patch!!

So I gathered up what I wanted to use on the wall and played around with the layout on the bed until I had something I was happy with, and then Gavin and I spent half an hour holding things up (him) and standing back to make sure it looked right (me) before using a combination of nails, command strips and blu-tac to put everything up. I started with the large gilt frame with our initials in it and then worked out from there, balancing the larger and smaller pieces, as well as the gold and black, making sure they were all quite evenly distributed.

Does that make sense? It's hard to describe something like this as it's really subjective. What looks good to me might look terrible to you!

*sidenote ~ I'm an eyeballer. Lifes too short to measure distances between frames!



And here's the finished product in all it's naked-baby celebrating glory! 





I love it, it's nice to see all those reminders of when I was skinny and the reasons I am currently...less skinny ;)

The gilt frames are from charity shops. You can nearly always pick some of these up really cheaply if you look at the frame, not what's contained in it - bad art can be removed! The large one was €5, the smaller one was €1. 

The canvas of naked Emilia was a beautiful gift from friends of ours (who also took the photos), and the pics from our wedding were taken by them as well-I recommend having a talented photographer for a friend ;)

That little painting is Emilia's first ever commissioned artwork-I gave her the colors I wanted and let her go to town!

This is the topper from our wedding cake....

Naked Max-not to be outdone by Emilia.







I didn't have a suitable mat for this one so I just stuck the photo directly onto the glass with double sided tap and I love it, makes the old-fashioned gilt frame look modern. 

Also, mustaches on babies - always hilarious.


       


I picked these frames up for €4 each on sale in Heatons. I buy frames cos I like them and they're cheap, I rarely buy them with a specific place or photo in mind. When I need one I just go to my "collection"! I generally stick to gold/white/black/wood so they fit in anywhere in the house.

I'm afraid she may have inherited a chronic case of RBF from me.

I kept the colour scheme to black and white images and black and gold frames, which ties the whole thing together. I think it's important to pick some sort of a theme and carry it through to tie your display together and make it look like a cohesive piece rather than a random collection of things....my theme for this was obviously "look at my awesome family!", which is why I kept it in our room so as not to be too obnoxious about it ;)

I picked up the mirror on sale in Heatons for €4. It was originally silver, but that never puts me off, spray paint is cheap!

I left a gap at either side cos I have a bit of a crazy idea for a diy for two lights to go go there, something like this gold one....

Trendhunter

      

But if that doesn't pan out I'll extend the gallery right up to the wall on either side I think. Thoughts?

Yes, that's a mirror ball and a reindeer plant pot, I don't discriminate when it comes to decorative items!

I genuinely, 100% love hearing from you all in the comments...talk to me!! :D

Linda xx




If you liked this post, you may also like:

washi tape frames

kids room gallery wall

simple ikea rast hack

washi tape frames

This is hardly a wildly innovative idea or anything, but I had a problem and I solved it with this neat little idea that cost very little and took about five minutes, so I thought it was worth sharing!

Winnie the pooh quote free printable

The problem was the gallery wall I had put up in Max's room. 

I always planned on having some sort of gallery in there and had gathered a couple of things, like the cards from Tiger (2 for €1) and the feathers, but when I had my mad burst of energy and got the feature wall done and the other decor up I was on a roll and decided I wanted the whole thing finished! (there are no "finished rooms in this house, I got impatient!)

So I took myself on over to pinterest to find some free printable's to bulk it out and found this lovely set of baby woodland animals  from "We lived happily ever after" (amazing blog, loads of great ideas and free printable's). 

I printed them off on white card and set about arranging my wall, just sticking the paper up with blu-tac and then adding a couple of frames I'd gathered with the intention of using them in here at some point. This setup was fine for a while, and I was going to leave it like that, but the edges of the pictures were wonky cos I just cut them willy-nilly with a scissors, and they didn't stand out as much as I'd like, especially next to the framed pictures.

So I looked around for some cheap frames, but couldn't find anything I liked in the right size, and to be honest I didn't really want to buy six small frames just because something that was really fine wasn't exactly how I wanted it. I already have a large frame collection, and whereas bigger, chunkier frames would always be re-used, smaller ones aren't so versatile.







And then, when I was browsing in Tiger I came across their packs of washi tape and realised that was the answer! Washi tape is cheap, comes in loads of colours and patterns, and wouldn't damage the walls. I'd just outline the art in patterned tape! 

So here's the finished product....

Oh, to be able to afford a proper camera!

It makes the pictures stand out and improves the whole display. Also, these pictures didn't need nails in the wall or expensive command strips cos they're just pieces of paper, win!

Washi tape comes in all colours and patterns, and it has about a million uses. I love it, I'm amassing quite a collection! I've bought some online when I wanted something specific, but stationary/craft shops usually have a decent selection, and it generally costs around €1/€2 per 10 meter roll. I can definitely see myself using it for more gallery-style displays, these inspiration pics are so simple and pretty.....

Fox and Star

Design Sponge

What do you think? Washi tape ever come to the rescue for you?! I've seen some amazing ideas for using it, feature walls, furniture upcycling...you name it, washi tape can be used to jazz it up! In fact there's a wall in my living room I may need to introduce it to....

Lindaxx

easy diy birch forest painting

#

This isn't an original idea or anything, but it turned out so well and took so little time and effort that I thought it was worth sharing!

I'm always on the lookout for cheap and easy ways to create great artwork. I change my mind about what I want to display so often that if I didn't create a lot of it myself I'd be broke! Or more broke to be accurate ;) So when I saw this idea on pinterest (I was actually looking for mural ideas for the wall in Max's "woodland" room) I knew I had to give it a try, and in a spare half hour while Max was napping last week Em and I broke out our art supplies and did just that.

You'll need all the usual stuff, plus an old membership card to make the "birch bark" effect. I used acrylic paint for the background and a sample pot of regular wall paint for the bark, cos it was the right color and I had it to hand. ~I've often used house paint in art projects, there's no reason not to unless you're looking for some sort of chunky effect that you'll only get with acrylics or oils.

I just used cheapo masking tape cos I wasn't too fussed about clean lines and I didn't want to waste my frog tape, that stuff isn't cheap!

I taped off the "trees" with two pieces of tape each.

Then I painted in between the trees to make a background.

I wasn't feeling my first attempt to I went back over the pink with grey and white.

Emilia tried to "help", hence the blue marks....they were on taped parts though so no harm done. I removed the tape before the paint dried, leaving me with clean, white "trees".

Then came the fun bit! I dipped the card in the dark paint, tried it out a few times on a piece of paper to get a feel for it (and discovered less is more!) and then just went along the edges of the trees, dragging paint across.

Just don't put too much paint on the card, you can always add more and go back over it if you need to.

It was really quick and easy, I did the whole thing in about twenty minutes.

I added the little gold heart with our initials, cos I'm sentimental like that. (cue uncontrollable laughter from anyone who knows me). Really, I just thought it needed something extra. It would look better done in gold leaf but I didn't have any so I just used gold acrylic paint and it didn't turn out too badly.

So there you have it. I really like it, it was so easy to do and I think it's really striking. It might even be better with a plain white background, I'll try that next! And I'm definitely going to try the technique on a bigger scale on the wall in Max's room, sooner rather than later. Watch this space!

What do you think? Would you give something like this a try?

Linda xx

The simplest diy geometric art....or how to fool your toddler into letting you get something done!

This project was so simple that I wasn't even going to post about it, but then I figured it was so quick and easy and ended up being so effective (I think anyway) that it was worth sharing!

When we finished the dining room storage (post on that coming soon, I promise!) and I had it all styled up I was left with two blank spaces either side of the shelves that were crying out for some decorating.

I had originally planned on adding a display of old silver plates that I had collected from charity shops, but with the items on the shelves, plus the dark wood and gold brackets, I was afraid the whole thing might end up looking a bit too....old-fashioned? and while there are elements of retro/antique style that I love (obviously!) I want them to look intentional, not just like I inherited a house load of stuff from an elderly relative!

So, I thought about it, and I decided that what it needed was something ultra modern and graphic 

as in lines and strong shapes, mind out of the gutter please

I wanted it to be very simple, just black and white, to completely counteract the storage and tie in with the combination of the very classic style table and retro/modern white Eames style chairs in the dining room.

I had a set of three long, thin canvases in my supplies which I though would be perfect, so I dug them out, grabbed a black sharpie marker and a ruler, and just.....started drawing lines.

ugh...I can only apologise, when I'm in the middle of doing something my photography skills leave a lot to be desired.

Finished products side by side

Now, this is the point where the I'm going to impart the really valuable information, namely, how to get a very nosy toddler to leave you alone long enough to get this project done.

 These steps may not work for a longer project, but for the thirty minutes I needed to get this done these were the steps I followed....

1. Take out all your supplies and set them out where you want to work.

2. Wait for nosy toddler to come and ask you what you are doing. (this will take approximately 2.5 seconds, and will be timed to coincide with you just being about to get started, they can smell when you are getting ready to do something that they can potentially ruin)

3. Get out toddlers art supplies so that they can work alongside you.

4. Give the toddler paper to draw/paint on, commence your own artwork.....but, and here's the clever bit, this must be a DECOY piece of art. This first attempt must be one you are resigned to losing, so arm yourself with extra materials before even attempting this!

5. Continue with your art, fending off attempts from toddler to "help" until you "give in" and let her have it 

~ it is essential that you really sell it at this point, they can smell insincerity a mile away!

6. Quietly start your own real project while the toddler terror is distracted with her destruction of the decoy.

7. Complete project in record time and put out of her reach as soon as possible.

And in my case....

8. Tell yourself that this was the plan all along, and that you didn't just lose another fight to a two year old! Luckily you had an extra canvas.....

My lovely assistant

Her effort - to be honest I've seen worse! fyi I was thinking of filling in random triangles with color before I settled on the black and white. I think this would look good too but it just wasn't right for what I wanted this time.

So, how I actually went about drawing these was to basically draw a lot of random triangles that overlapped. There was no plan! I didn't try to make them both the same or anything.

I also just stuck them up with blu-tac cos they're so light and I didn't want to waste command strips, those things are expensive!

It was a super quick little art project that I think turned out really well, and they fit in the space exactly how I wanted them to, standing out against the more traditional style of the storage and shelving.

So there you have it, ten minutes and €3 (canvases were €1.50 each) later and I have exactly what I wanted for my dining room.

What do you think?

Linda xx

Easy diy wire quote art

I love quotes.

No wait, that's not quite right. 

I love words.

Words on their own are not special, but in the right hands they can be strung together in such a way as to encourage and inspire people. To make them feel as if they are right there with the writer, sharing the experience.

I have been a devourer of books since I first learned to read, and I would still rather be in bed reading than doing almost anything else in the world.

For real, pre-kindle a big worry for me when packing for a holiday was how many books I could feasibly bring, and would it be enough for the week. 

It was never enough!

So there are books that I love that I read time and again because they remind me of being a kid and staying up way too late in order to finish just one more chapter, or of trying to find a way to prop my book open while I ate, and I hope one day I'll be able to read them to my kids, and that they will love them as much as I have.

 (fyi the solution to that little problem turned out to be pre-cutting everything so I only needed one hand to eat ;)

So maybe I have a little bit of a problem when it comes to using quotes as art for my home, but I can't help it, I like to be reminded of the books, poems, even songs that I love by having little bits of them on display......I am trying to cut back though ;)

Today however, I've given in to the urge and come up with something for the dining room. 

There was a blank space over the entrance to the sitting room that I thought would be just right for some delicate wire lettering. I had been meaning to try this out since I had seen it over at Jones Design Company http://jonesdesigncompany.com/create/diy-ribbon-wrapped-wire-words/ a while back. It looked like a quick, simple and effective diy for art, and that's what I like!!

I chose a quote from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a book I love. It's from the mad hatter's tea party cos I thought that would be appropriate for the dining room, and also it sums us up pretty well :P

Apologies for the crappy photography, I'm a total novice!

I love how delicate it is, and the glint of gold on the wall (I'm so predictable!)



It was a really simple project to do, and only took about an hour total. All you need is some craft wire (I got mine in Tiger for €2 and used one and a half packs of it, they have other colours too), a pencil and paper.

Then I just wrote out the words in the size I wanted as a guide and followed them with the wire. It's really easy to work with!

It doesn't need to be perfect!

When I came to the end of the word I clipped it off and moved on to the next one.

I wrote each word to pretty much fill an A4 sheet of paper and this kept them approximately the same size. Once the word is finished and clipped off you can adjust it if necessary, the wire doesn't really look any the worse for being shaped and re-shaped.

 In fact, one of my letters got totally mangled by a little girl who shall remain nameless and I re-shaped it with no problems.

The culprit, looking like butter wouldn't melt...

What do you think? Anyone else have a serious quote addiction?!

Check back for more dining room stuff tomorrow!

Linda xx