Wall Collage II

Hi there!

I thought I'd take a minute to share one of the other wall collages I have done.

This is hanging in my bedroom. Again, I used record covers from the thrift shop. Some of them I cut, like the West Side Story one in the middle of the bottom row, and the other one on the top left. The rest of that one was really boring and the other half of the West Side Story one was orange and didn't really go with anything else. The other components of this collage are two paintings someone special did for me for my 18th birthday, and a black picture frame with some shiny wallpaper in it.

I wish I had a record player now so I could listen to the music I have hanging all over my walls. I'm sure some of it would be really interesting. The white record cover in this collage is called "The School for Scandal." I think it may be a play, and it sounds like quite an entertaining one.

Tough but Fair

I am lucky enough to live in North Carolina, where this political ad is airing.

I saw a sign for this guy on the side of the road while I was out the other day. The word "CONSERVATIVE" is written bigger on the sign than his name. I would never have guessed he was conservative based on this goofy ad. I know we're in the south, but a banjo? Really, Paul? I would trust Mr. Newby to polish my shotguns and feed my bloodhounds, but not to be on the NC Supreme Court.


PS: I have neither bloodhounds nor shotguns.

Wall Collages

One of the projects in my apartment I am proudest of is the wall collage I made for the living room.

I think collages are a really fun way to fill a large, empty space. Let me go through the different things I have in here. While perusing the thrift shop one day, I decided to look at the records. I usually ignore that section with all the old cassette tapes and record players and things, but there was a really pretty record cover sitting on top, and I got the idea to use them as wall art. The local thrift shop was closing for renovations, so everything in the store was $2 a bag, so I got a bunch of old records and a couple other things for $2. I feel kind of badly because I had no interest in the records themselves at all, just the covers. I picked ones that I thought were cool and that would match our turquoise/orange thing we have going on. My favorite one is the yellowish one it the middle. It is a Joni Mitchell record. I really like her music, and I had no idea she was also a painter. One of her paintings is in the middle of the cover. It is hard to see in the picture, but it is rather brilliant, I think.

Next, there are a few empty picture frames. I got all of those at the thrift shop as well quite a while ago. Some of them had really hideous artwork in them. The brown square one on the left has really magnificent carvings in it. On the top right there is another frame I got at the thrift shop, but I left the art in it. It is a precious little drawing from a children's book series. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me... it is one with little dressed up woodland creatures. The two little square ones under the clock are also thrift shop finds. The gold one is a little finch picture, and the other is a tiny mirror with a really ornate frame that my roommate Mary found.

There are also three vintage books. I'll let you guess where I found those! Hint: the only place I've gotten any of this stuff. The blue one on the far right is called "The Port of Missing Men," which I got as kind of a joke because my three roommates and I were all single at the time and far from finding significant others. The one at the top left (you can't really tell it is a book... teal with the circle pattern) is a book a poetry from a withdraw pile at my old high school library, called "The Moon is Shining Bright as Day." What a cool title. The last, really crooked book is called "The Planter of Trees," which I originally got to cut a hole in and make into a planter, but that project got pushed to a back burner.

That's mostly everything. Obviously, there's a clock. I've had that clock for a long time. I think I got it for Christmas one year when I was in middle school. Of course, there's the "G," which doesn't really stand for anything, but I picked it to add some round edges to the collage, along with the cross-section of tree. I got both of those from the craft store. Those two items bring up the most conversation. "What does the 'G' stand for?' and "Where the heck did you get that piece of tree?" are common questions from guests. I was a lumberjack named George in another life. Just kidding. Don't question the art, people. Let's see... what have I left out? Ah, the small silver square and the record. Obviously, one is a record. I had use for one of them other than the covers after all. The silver square is just a piece of cardboard covered with some shiny beads for some metallic elements and some texture. Those darn beads are all over the place. Vertical is not their prime position. Oh, and the gold and brown thing are just scrapbook paper. Ah! And the big tall orange thing- that's just some orange yarn I wrapped around a white board.

So that's everything! The whole project probably cost me about $30. Well, not including the Command Strips I needed to hang everything. Except I gave up and used tape for a lot of things. Don't tell my RA.

Here are a few more pictures, some close ups and some of the process:

Getting the layout perfected on the floor before attacking the wall

Some handy work with some yard twine to try and get the darn books to stay closed

The left and the right sides! A collage is a great way to incorporate a lot of separate pieces that mean something to you! I think using record covers is a great idea. If you don't have anything else to incorporate, why not try one with just record covers, or just empty picture frames? Doing things that are the same size would be an easy way to start a project without having to worry about how to fill in space and making everything kind of have some common element. I did a smaller wall collage in my bedroom that I will post another day. If you make a wall collage of your own, please comment and let me know what you did and/or send me a picture! I would love to see your ideas!

Pinterest Flower Mirror Do's and Don't's

Hi There!

If you have ever been on Pinterest for any amount of time at any point in your life, you have probably seen the flower spoon mirror. Here's the link to the original tutorial.

Being an avid pinner, I tried to make this mirror myself, and in the long run, I think I was quite successful. It was definitely a trial and error process, so I'm going to share some tips with you that will make it a lot easier than the original tutorial and a lot easier than what I went through.

Here's the finished product. I think mine ended up being a bit bigger than the original tutorial. I used six boxes of spoons!

Here are some pictures in the process. As you can see, I did something a little different and just used one flat piece of heavy-duty foam board cut into a circle. I hot glued the mirror directly to the foam board. To get an idea of the size, I cut the biggest circle possible out of a standard sized foam board.

So, here are some more tips I discovered along the way.

1. First, break the stems off the spoons with your hands. It isn't too difficult, but you need to take enough of the stem off so that the little stem stub doesn't interrupt the row of spoons you'll be putting on top of it. They don't have to be perfect, but you can use scissors to trim the stems further.
2. The spoons that go around the middle, innermost row have to look perfect. I found the best way to trim these and round them to the right shape was to use nail clippers, then file it down with a nail file. Something I never intended to use my manicure kit for. 
3. I wish I had done this myself, but I think you should prime the spoons before gluing them down. I primed them after, and it was really hard for me to get the primer under the rows of spoons, which created a lot of bubbles and pools of primer. I still recommend painting them once they are attached. 
4. So, the hardest part (once you break all those darn spoons) is gluing the spoons down. I didn't follow any particular pattern, but if you want to be perfect, I would glue one on each pole (North, South, East, West) of the outermost row, then fill them in from there. Leave enough space between the outermost row, because the rows will get tighter and tighter as you go in and you'll end up with some awkward overlap. 
5. Hot glue works really well for the spoons glued to the hot glue, but it won't stick the spoons to the mirror. I had several different failed glue types before I just broke down and used super glue. That worked fine until my roommates threw a football at it, but that was just a minor repair. 
6. I painted the mirror with basic tempera paint. I bought the darkest shade as is and mixed with white as I went out. When you prime the spoons, it might be a good idea to flip the over and prime the backs, too. The spoons are somewhat translucent, and I found it looked better and made the colors more vibrant to have the backs painted so light didn't shine through. 
7. Tempera paint on plastic isn't the most permanent thing... if you scratch it, it comes off, so I had to seal it. I just bought a basic craft sealer in extra shiny finish. It made bubbles too, so I had to go back and smooth them out again and again. The brush I used had a little bit of purple paint left in it from another project, and it made a really cool purple tint in the sealer that made it look like a more natural flower petal. 
8. Finally finished! At this point, the mirror will be filthy! I used a Q-tip and nail polish remover to get really close to the spoons on the mirror and Windex and paper towels for the rest. 
9. Since the back of the mirror is flat if you use foam board, I used Command Strip picture hanging strips for it. I love those things and use them for everything since we aren't allowed to make holes in the walls of our apartment.

 Here's the finished product hanging in our entryway! I redid that table too. I will post about that later. I hope these tips help make things easier if you want to give this project a try! It is really time consuming, but I worked on it little by little over the summer. It is a good, mindless thing to do while watching a movie or something. It would be fun to do with kids! They would probably enjoy breaking all the spoons a lot more that I did! Remember to recycle the spoon stems!

And here are my puppies! I'm home for fall break enjoying their company! Sadie is on the left. She is 7 months old. Zoe is the other one... she just turned 12. They're so cute!

Tea Time

Hi Everyone!

For my first official post, I thought I would share a cute and easy project I put together for my apartment.

First, you should know that I love the thrift shop. I could just look around for hours. You'll see that a lot of my projects use things that I've purchased at the thrift store or Goodwill. In this case, I used a bunch of tea cups and saucers as planters for little cacti.

They really liven up the window sill. I picked cactus plants because, well, they're probably the only plants I can keep alive. My roommates and I have a bad reputation for killing every plant we ever take in. Slightly to the right of the above picture is a planter of shriveled up herbs. We planted them from seeds and they sprouted and we transplanted them into a different pot, and that was the end of them. To the far right, you may be able to see our green onion. Did you know that if you put green onion bulbs in water, the green parts grow right back? Well, we did that but we left it for too long and now it is like a green onion jungle. Green thumbs we are not, which is funny actually that I have worked on a farm before, but that's a story for another time.

Here are a few more pictures of this project.

The whole project only cost around $20, with the tea cups and saucers, the cacti, and the soil. We've had them for about a month now and they are still alive! It you are going to plant something other than cacti, I would probably recommend drilling some holes in the bottoms of the cups for drainage, or putting some pebbles in the bottom of the cups, but I think the cacti are super cute.

Breaking the Ice

Hello, internet!

My name is Brittany and I'm a college senior. I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now but haven't been able to think of a name for it! I am still lukewarm on "Creativersity," and open to suggestions.

Let me tell you the main idea here. I am planning to share crafty, foody, and just interesting things that go on in my life. I love doing decorating projects around my little apartment. You can look forward to things perfect for college living- temporary, cheap, and definitely cute. Also, my roommates and I often experiment with new recipes. We're all vegetarians on a budget who love to eat. I'll also post things I find interesting or helpful in general.

I'll post more about me as I go on, but I just thought a quick intro would be useful before my first project. Come back often for updates! Thanks for reading!