DIY: Ceramic Plate Wall Art

Here's another little idea for an inexpensive, DIY gift that you can make for someone special. There are SO many things you can do with this project which is what makes it so much fun! It's one of those quick projects where you can just dump out everything in your craft arsenal and make it work! (Thank you Tim Gunn)

Supplies:
1. ceramic plate (you can find these at any craft or hobby store)
2. rub-ons or clear back stickers
3. ribbon
4. scissors
5. popsicle stick or bone folder
6. measuring tape
7. plastic gems

Step 1:

Measure the diameter of the flat portion of your plate to determine your useable area.

Step 2:

Choose your favorite rub-ons to use and peel the backing off. Hold it up to your plate to get an idea of how your design will look.

Step 3:
Cut out your design to cut down the excess material, then use your popsicle stick to firmly rub over the design to adhere it to the face of your plate. Carefully peel back the plastic.

Step 4:
Use ribbon to trim your plate or use as a hanger. I also decided to add some gems to mine to make it look like the dandelion is being blown away!

Misc Tips:
*Non-cardstock stickers work best like the flexible ones with clear backings.
*Get creative and decorate your plate with washi tape! It's cheap and repositionable!
*If you don't want to hang your plate on a wall, you can lay it on your dressing table and use it as a trinket dish for earrings!

I hope you liked this tutorial! When I hung mine up in our hallway, I got more than the obligatory "Good job, babe!" from Ian, so that's saying something!
<3
E

Dress up Your Doorway

The door photo is via Holly Mathis Interiors. All other links can be found below!
In case y'all haven't noticed, THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US! I've been spending this evening decking the halls of our apartment with glittery holiday cheer! One of the first things I put up was our wreath that I made last year (picture to come... because I don't think I've ever shared it??) and I thought it would be fun to put together a little diagram of holiday door decor ideas!

1. Sans serif house numbers. This is a great way to make a lasting change to the appearance of your home even after Christmas! Updating those outdated numerals on your door gives it a modern and trendy feel. It might cost a little more than most changes, but they'll last for years and years! The ones pictured above are the Avalon numbers from Atlas.

2. Mid-century mod doorbell plate. Oh how a lovely starburst can make a difference! This is so dreamy. I wish I had a doorbell so I could pretty min up for the season. This one is a pretty accurate replica of mid-century modern ones you would find on old homes! I just think it's whimsical and stylish!

3. Vintage-style letterbox. I would love traipsing up to my door in the winter to find some pretty Christmas cards sticking out of a little tin letter box! You can use it to replace your existing mailbox, use it as a planter for a hardy succulent, or just have it there for decoration! Vintage style housewares are the best and this one from Pottery Barn is even on sale!

4. Personal scroll monogram. I found this super beautiful door monogram on the incredible blog of Holly Mathis and was blown away. Any door would be lucky to have such a beautiful piece! What a sweet way to celebrate family. Holly shares that she bought her custom piece from Southern Proper Monograms.

5. A buffalo plaid scarf. I thought a cute way to dress up a wreath or monogram on your door would be to add a buffalo plaid scarf behind it. You could drpe it across, use it to hang the wreath, tie it in a big oversize bow, or even WRAP a foam wreath with it! So many options. Check out this one from the Gap or just thrift a cheap one!

6. DIY graphic doormat. I've always admired this DIY tutorial from A Beautiful Mess. With all your holiday guests looking down to stomp the snow off their boots, a graphic doormat would be a winning choice and yet another way to decorate your door or entryway. There are tons of tutorials out there that are affordable and super simple!

7. Bright coat of paint. Never underestimate a simple makeover of a fresh coat of brightly colored paint! (if your landlord/apartment manager allows, that is.) It truly makes a huge impact. Best to do this one sooner rather than later because paint can be very hard to cure in the cold weather!

I hope you loved this and got some ideas for your own doorway! A few honorable mentions are here and here. I want to put a little more effort into mine and really take the holiday sparkle to the next level! Coming soon I want to do a little apartment tour of all our Christmas decorations, so hopefully by then I will have some personal progress.

Happy decorating!
<3
E

Vintage Matchbook Re-Style

A few years ago, I was at a flea market that had little grab bags of vintage matchbooks and I couldn't pass them up. They were all so colorful and graphic that they just seemed perfect for some sort of project. I never knew what my plan for them was, but I figured it would come to me someday. Well recently, I came across the matchbooks again and the sight of them sparked an idea! I knew I had to frame them somehow and display them on the wall of our new apartment.

I got a square display frame at Hobby Lobby for 50% off and used a piece of subtle print scrapbook paper for the backing. Then it was just a matter of measuring out distances between each matchbook to make it symmetrical. (That took some time and I hate math. lol)

The project came together nicely and it's just waiting for me to decide where to hang it! Possibly in the hallway or far wall of the kitchen. Who knows. :) Ian LOVED the outcome too and was impressed at the impact those little pieces of cardboard made!

This project was SO easy to do, relatively inexpensive, and a great way to display vintage art and little pieces of history in your home. You could do this with literally anything you found at a flea market or antique mall and have a real conversation piece in your home!

<3
E

Around our Home

The other day I got stitchy and made a cute little ghost pillow for our living room. I wanted something kitschy and Halloween for the armchair and decided that a pillow would be perfect!

It turned out adorable. The front is dark brown fabric to match our couch and the back is a spiced orange color with brown polka dots. The ghosts on the front are cut from a thick stiff piece of felt from the craft store and sewn on with my sewing machine! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Phoebe popped in for the shot and I couldn't resist a close-up. :)

I also livened up our cubicle top and half-wall with some favorite fall prints, a white woodgrain votive holder, and my favorite fall collection: my little ghost family!

I got that "Boo" sign at Hobby Lobby for only $4!

This little guy is a find from last year that I altered to make it more cute. I love the falltime and since it's my birthday on Halloween, that makes it extra dear to me!

<3
E

Home Trend: Wire Drums

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I'm LOVING this home trend of wire drums that I've been noticing. I think it would fit my home's style perfectly and I love the versatility you have with them! There are so many ways you can incorporate one of these industrial pieces into your home: as a storage basket, a waste paper bin, flip it over for a side table, prop something up, the list goes on and on. I'm going to try to find one while thrifting and spray paint it to re-create these looks!

Here's a styled home with 3 of these cool pieces in one room:

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Love it! I hope I can score one soon and use it around the holidays for wrapping paper rolls!

<3
E

Mini Studio

I've spent the last 2 days doing something extra exciting for me: revamping my craft studio area in the apartment. After moving into this place, it became abundantly clear that this double door closet would be my new studio:

That's the before shot from after the movers threw everything into the closet. haha

After this afternoon, the studio now looks like this!:

Everything's now organized, accessible, and beautiful! We found a perfect little desk to fit the mini studio at Goodwill for $6.00 and I promptly repainted it, gave it a coat of gloss, and it's just perfect!

I also concluded that the bulletin board needed a makeover too. It ended with a pretty teal fabric covering and new graphic ribbon border which i love.

Also, almost a whole shelf dedicated to Project Life supplies which is never a bad idea. :)

I think that the mini studio will be SUCH a good thing: a workspace that I can shut the door on if messy? yes. That's the dream.
<3
E

New Bedroom Tour

As you might have guessed, the last few weeks have been largely devoted to decorating and organizing the new place. Probably my favorite room of the house right now is the bedroom (probably because it's the most done! lol). So the treat for you all today is a photo tour of how the bedroom looks thus far!

View from the doorway. I love the way those (HANDMADE!) chevron valances hit you when you peek around the corner. :)

The bed. Not much changed there. Art over the bed is painted by me.

Those tissue pom poms are handmade too. I thought they might be fun. I haven't had anything suspended from our bedroom ceiling since The Davis Suite.

Reassignment location for the Pennant Bunting. The pennants and the chevrons are becoming best friends.

Those little white shelves, gold owl, AND that rad letter D were all Goodwill finds.

This is the top view of my new "jewelry chest" area that houses my ring holder, trinket bowls, and newly handmade jewelry display board. (Tutorial to come!)

Here's another little book by our closet that's going to be getting some more attention soon. I want to hang some handmade art here and maybe put a little lingerie chest underneath. We'll see.

On a whim, we thought it would be charming to use the space under our huge window to put out some of our favorite records. That big one is a Harper's Bazaar print.

So there you have it, folks! I'm pretty thrilled with the way it has turned out. It seems more bright and spacious with comfort stirred right in. It's been a labor of love because some of those DIY projects took a lot of doin' ya know? I'll have another post to feature the jewelry display board and that whole vignette coming up soon. Also more room tours from the rest of the apartment!

Ciao!
<3
E

Parts for the Apartment

Here's a little inspiration that I've been finding for the new apartment. There's SO much I want to do with this space, but I know that I need to streamline and make it cohesive but still eclectic.

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Initial ideas:
*I'm really loving the idea of yellow. I've been popping it in all over the house. Much more than in the last apartment.

*I'm going for more clean lines, airy rooms, graphic pieces, and LOTS of handmade art.

*I need more vintage cameras to make my display on bookshelves come true.

*I have much more wall space than I know what to do with. I also think I'm slightly stupid on where to place/how to arrange certain pieces of art...

*So far, the bedroom has been the most fun to decorate.

*I can't wait to have it all done so I can share a little tour.

<3
E

Brights and Bolds

News news news! Ian and I moved! We moved apartments across town and it has been one HECTIC 2 weeks! We really weren't planning on moving, but we WERE apartment hunting. Then we toured a complex one day, and everything just seemed right so we applied and were accepted! The place is fabulous and we gained 300 sq. feet! (Considering our old apartment was only 443 sq. feet, 300 seems like an entire second apartment worth of space! haha)

So needless to say, I'm going to have a lot of home decor posts coming and lots of little DIYs along the way! First up is an old lamp that I gave a new life this week!

We needed a lamp for our dark hallway, and since cash is low, we rummaged around at my parents' house and found this white one from my childhood bedroom:

Plain, very old, slightly stained shade= BORING!

So I got a few cheap supplies from the craft store, sat down with Season 5 of FRIENDS, heated up the glue gun, and got to work! I was going to wrap the shade in ribbon, but decided not to actually wrap it because it would take twice as much ribbon. So I cut the ribbon into uniform strips, hot glued the top right inside the rim of the shade, then glued the bottom. I overlapped the ribbon strips to give it a pleated look and I love the way it turned out!

I chose a really graphic ribbon print and paired it with a silhouette iron-on decal I found at Hobby Lobby. Then I wrapped a little bit of velvet ribbon around the base of the lamp to tie in the black. Poof! Completely new lamp!

The apartment is going to look amazing once I get done creating everything, decorating, and making the apartment spiffy! I'll of course share pics when everything is done and little snippets here and there!
<3
E

Feature: Arcadia graphic

I'm here today with an interview with Claire, the shop owner of Arcadia graphic on etsy! She's got some of the cutest prints on the web and I can't wait to share some of these beauties and inspiration from Claire with my readers! You know I've already got some coming my way, so check it out below, visit Arcadia graphic, and leave her some love!

1. Tell us a little about the person behind the artistic genius!
"I just graduated from Ball State University with a double major in Urban Planning and Economics (thank goodness!), and I'm attending University of Illinois at Chicago this fall for graduate study in Urban Planning and Policy. I’ve always been very creative-minded (I originally went to Ball State with the intent to study architecture). So when I fell in love with the less design-oriented field of urban planning, I started looking for other creative outlets. I went through a phase of jewelry making, completed a number of DIY projects from Pinterest, of course, and then somehow landed on digital design, which combined the academic design training I had received with my desire to create somewhat offbeat, funky design prints."

2. What kind of artistry do you focus on in your shop Arcadia graphic? How would you describe your brand?
"I definitely say my focus is on poster prints (though hopefully I will also have photography up soon). I would say by brand involves creative, quirky humor as well as custom prints for the home and gifts."

3. How did you come up with your shop name?
"I live next to a town called Arcadia, where my high school was. And my shop focuses on graphic art. Therefore, Arcadia graphic!"

4. You've had QUITE a few sales for the short time you've been open! That must feel fantastic, right?
"Yes! I had no idea how the shop was going to do. Of course I liked my work, but you never truly know how everyone else feels about it until you get some feedback. I’ve been creating things for years, so it feels amazing that other people actually value my work enough to even pay money for it!"

5. What made you decide to open an etsy shop and sell your pieces?
"I essentially started creating these prints to decorate my new apartment in Chicago. My original plan was to combine typography prints, sketches, and photographs I’ve taken in my travels to Haiti and Southeast Asia in a multi-frame collage over my bed. I’d been thinking about opening an etsy shop for a while, wanting to sell various creations. It wasn’t until around February/March of this year that I considered doing poster prints, similar to the ones I sell now. But of course school work picked up as always, and the etsy thing got put on the back burner.

I finally found a little time this summer as I was working as a waitress at a local restaurant that wasn’t doing so hot, and my hours got cut dramatically. Around this time, I paid the deposit on my apartment for the fall, and I saw my summer savings vanish! Luckily I have an assistantship to cover many of my grad school costs, but I was definitely still in need of funds, so I thought the etsy thing might be worth pursuing. I still had a lot going on, but I just decided to suck it up and open shop!"

6. Where do you look for inspiration in your work?
"Everyday things that are essential (coffee) or almost essential (wine). Or things that I love (lake houses, martinis, ice cream). Or things that make me chuckle (potatoes with hipster glasses, penguins, sloths, narwhals, etc)."

7. Would you consider accepting requests or custom orders?
"Absolutely. I recently did a custom order for a friend. The tricky part about setting up such a shop is knowing what people are looking for. When someone requests a custom order, they remove all the guess work and uncertainty."

8. What are some art goals or things you want to accomplish with your shop?
"Ultimately I’m hoping to add some of my photography from Haiti, India, and Nepal. So far I haven’t had time to get all of the logistics figured out for the photography prints. I also want to offer larger sizes of my current prints. Similarly, I’m still working on getting all of the details worked out."

9. Can you share any secrets about upcoming prints?
"I’m hoping to do more custom prints, such as the wedding prints and the lake house prints. I just sold my first lake house print yesterday, so I’m pretty excited about that! Customized prints make great gifts (some of which I plan on using for upcoming weddings and showers that I’m going to), and I’m hoping to further develop my offerings in this category."

10. Anything else you'd like the indie art community to know!?
"I love custom orders, ideas for prints, requests, etc. If there is something you would like to see, please don’t hesitate to ask!"

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Thanks for stopping by and meeting Claire! (Isn't she a doll?) What's your favorite print?! I hope everyone's having a beautiful and inspiring day!

<3
E