In the mood to paint...

..but I don't have any time!  I hate when this happens.  So many things I need/want to paint:

-paintings for my etsy shop:

-this dresser:
(excuse the mess on it...life has been pretty hectic.)

 by the way, this is how I want to paint it:

silly, but you get the idea - HOT PINK and gold.  My new fave color combo!

...and last but not least......

-my new bedroom!!

(not even going to show a picture here...but just imagine dark, navy blue and banana yellow. yes. do not know what my sister was thinking!)

I'm hoping next week will be a good painting week - I have a couple of days off (finally).  Cannot wait to show you guys the dresser fully finished.  I'm super excited. 

PS - happy friday! 

diy {gold elephants}

During my HomeGoods, Goodwill, Michael's (etc...) shopping excursions, I've been looking for some sort of animal figurine (preferably a pig or elephant) that I could paint gold and use as decoration on my book shelf.  I spotted these cardboard elephants while at Michael's ($0.99 each!) and decided to give them a try.

Now here's what they look like:

I need to style them up, but for now, I like them!  What do you think??

diy {paper covered box}

Found this ugly red box in the $0.99 bin at Staples.  WIN!  I immediately thought of covering it in some beautiful paper.  So, here's the before and after.  With a glue gun and some pretty paper from Papyrus, I turned this:

into this:

Now I just need to decide where to put it! :)

painted beer bottle from the other night...

So here is the beer bottle I painted like the one I found on Pinterest via PS I made this:

Not bad for my first try, but again, it was just a practice round.  I'm not sure if you can see from the photo, but the spray paint looks crinkly in some places.  Does anyone know what that is from?  I think maybe I sprayed too close?  I'll post a diy when I do my next piece! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Inspiration board part I

I am desperately in need of an inspiration board.  I bought a simple cork board from Target months ago, and have been meaning to decorate it for a while now.  It is especially necessary now to cover the board since my cat, Bella, got to it:

I guess the cork was just super fun to scratch.  Lovely.


I'm thinking of using a simple, patterned fabric to cover it and adding nail head trim to make it a little fancier.  Maybe I'll use fabric like these: 

 all via Madeline Weinrib.  Love her fabric.

And I was going to hang it over the dresser, but I kind of like it leaning on the wall like it is in the above photo.  This will also save me time and headaches from having to hang it with the hardware the board came with.  Perfect!  Look out for part II coming up!

penny wall

So I found this ah-mazing DIY/cool interior idea on Pinterest, originially from House and Home.  And I want to start saving my pennies!  Isn't it awesome??!?!

 image via here.

There are sooo many different things you could do with pennies along this same wavelength - make coasters, backsplashes, floors, table tops, frame them, make a design out of them...

This is such a great idea for me because I personally hate pennies and sometimes actually throw them away (don't judge me).  I'm thinking I need a beautifully-decorated jar or bottle to hold them in.  Perhaps one like this:

Yes, it's another DIY from Pinterest via PS I made this.  I think this would be the perfect little bottle to hold all my pennies!  I'll keep you posted on the penny collecting progress as well as the DIY bottle!  Hope everyone has had a good Tuesday!

diy {cover an ugly tray, part I}

So I bought this lacquer tray from TJ Maxx knowing I wanted to resurface the map design somehow... 

...then I found this pretty paper at Paper Source in georgetown.  My idea was to modge podge the paper onto the tray to cover up the map design.  It was easy, but didn't work out the way I wanted.  Here's how I did it:

-First, I traced the tray onto the back side of the paper and cut out the hexagonal piece.
-Then I had to trim the edges of the paper a bunch in order for it to fit inside of the tray.

-I made sure the paper fit inside, and then put modge podge onto the base of the tray:

(Here is where I realized I should have taped off the edges of the tray, but wanted to see my results faster, so didn't.)
-I placed the paper onto the bottom of the tray, then smoothed out all of the edges and bubbles.  (and there were A LOT of bubbles - so much so that I am seriously considering redoing this project)
-Lastly, I painted modge podge on the top of the paper and set it to dry:

From this picture, you can really see all of the bubbles/creases that formed from the paper being wet.  I'm really disappointed about this.  If you go back and look at the first picture, the paper looks great - I just need to protect it somehow.  SOO I'm thinking about using the first piece of paper I cut (that was a bit too small) on top of what I modge podged, then cover it with a piece of glass cut to fit the tray. 

We'll see.  As I just typed that, it sounded very ambitious with getting the glass and all.  Has anyone done this before? 

Wish I had thought about how wet the paper would get before I started.  Boo.  Here's how it looked when I finished:

The bubbles aren't as evident, but they will still bother me.  For now, though, I think it will have to work.  I'll keep you posted when I decide to finish this. 

another diy {from Martha}

image and diy via martha stewart.

I was actually just thinking of doing this the other day - I found a good-sized, magnetic closure box from staples on sale for $1.00!  The box is hideous - it is covered in an ugly, red-textured design.  Totally in need of a makeover!  I was going to try using decorative paper to recover, then seal it somehow, but fabric may be a good option too!  Oh, Martha, always there to help us out!

diy mail sorter {from Martha}

image via Martha Stewart. 

Paint a wooden pot lid rack and voila! I've been needing a mail sorter, so this will be just perfect!  I may even recruit my dad to saw down the first couple of pegs for shorter pieces of mail and leave the back ones longer for magazines and such.

more time!

Loving Needtobreathe's song More Time - because that is exactly what I need right now!  So many things to do before I graduate!!  I wish there was more time in the day.  I need to keep my focus instead of looking at fabric online.  This habit is a problem for various reasons, including: a) I have no time to do this! b) I do not own a sewing machine (but wish I did!) c) I do not have a lot of money to purchase said fabric and d) my bachelor's essay is due in one month! Yikes!  But, since I've already looked and found some incredibly cute fabric that I will probably buy once I actually have money, time, and a sewing machine, I'll post them!  Enjoy!

All fabric via Amy Butler