Oh What a (Craft) Night

Last weekend, I had a craft night with one of my very bestest friends. She’s one of those friends who didn’t judge me when I cried about getting a C on a science test in 7th grade, who supported my blonde Kelly Clarkson “Miss Independent” highlights in Jr. High, and has stayed a close friend even after going to different high schools (this was devastating at the time as you could imagine) and different colleges across the state.

Anyways, we had a dramatic and fun-filled night with pizza, wine and crafts! We had the  Best of Jimmy Fallon on the TV in the background which only added to our hyperness. We each made two crafts and experimented with vinyls for the first time. I painted a small canvas teal and added a “Be Happy” vinyl to the top. It’s simple but I really like it.

I gave a larger canvas an ombre effect by painting a dark teal color on the bottom and gradually transitioning to a lighter teal at the top. I’m not handy with a paint brush by any means so this was a big deal for me. Last I added an anchor vinyl to the top. I did not come up with this on my own. (I wish!) It was an example on the wall at Crafts Direct in St. Cloud (aka pretty much a crafter’s dream) and for some reason it jumped out at me.

Every time I craft, I ask myself, “Why don’t I do this more often?!” since I absolutely love it. I love starting out with a disaster and then later ending up with impressive end product. I like unleashing my creative side. The good thing is that Mags and I decided that we would have craft nights every other month for the rest of the year. I’m so pumped!

DIY Chevron Canvas

So since I’m a crafty girl and I’m under 50, it’s no surprise I love chevron. Ha. Last year I painted this chevron canvas but it failed. I didn’t paint a white base coat, so my painted lines bled a bit, even with painters tape. My end product didn’t have the clean, straight edges you see here, which was a huge bummer since I meticulously measured and masked the entire canvas.

(Don’t worry! This post will turn from a sob story to success story very shortly!)

Well, this week I finally got around to fixing up my canvas! I bought new white paint and carefully filled in the bleeding lines. It’s not absolutely stunning like the tutorial I followed (props to the original blogger, Jessica!), but I’m pretty happy with it. Now I have a cute and trendy decoration! I think I’ll set it out on my desk at work. Why not?

 I’m also going to fix up another failed wreath of mine. I’ll show you “before and after” pictures later this month. Well, that’s only if the “after” looks presentable. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Super Easy DIY Mirror Makeover

Over the summer I actually got my butt out of bed on a couple Saturday mornings and went garage sale shopping. Man, I love garage sales. I love the thrill of finding old furniture, barn windows, lamps, or a mirror in today’s case for super cheap. Sometimes you’ll only find junk, sometimes you’ll find gems.

So I bought this mirror you see here for $2 at a garage sale. It was a nasty gold. Not the cute gold that’s embellishing every button and accessory at Forever 21 right now, we’re talking ’90s gold. You get the idea.

mirror after

Here are all the tools I needed to makeover this old-school mirror:

• craft paint (I used a bottle from Michael’s)
• paint brushes
• old newspapers
• painters tape (masking tape will work too)
• mirror (any shape or size will do)

First things first, I placed old newspapers across my work space so I wouldn’t smear craft paint all over my kitchen counter. Then, I cut painters tape to cover the mirror surface. You’ll want to cut and size the tape correctly so you can paint freely and not worry about spilling paint on the mirror.

mirror before

After the mirror surface is covered, whip out your favorite color paint. I used lime green because I’m obsessed with bright colors and I had it handy in my craft bin. You’ll want to squirt your paint on a paper plate so it won’t stain those Target college dishes you still care about (We’ve all got them. Shout out to Room Essentials ’08!). I painted three coats on my frame just to cover every bit of that horrendous gold.

mirror makeover

And….here’s my final product. Tadaaa! It looks a little yellow-green here given my phone quality but I promise it’s lime. I’m not sure where I’ll put it in my new apartment. I thought it might be fun to paint a few more mirrors in different colors and make a grouping, but we’ll see. Any suggestions?