Following the Color Trends: Lavender

One of the prettiest colors this spring is Lavender. This lovely shade of purple is currently a hot spring color, but the truth is, lavender stays in style. Lavender has been a popular color in just about every style decade (from pale 1950's dresses to boxy 1980's suits). It's super pretty right now because it compliments the other popular colors right now-mint green, pale pink, coral, and sea foam green. 

How do you work lavender into your lifestyle? It goes really well with soft skirts and I love the idea of wearing lavender ballet flats with my outfits. It would also work well in beautiful spring artwork to display in your home. Pair it with bright whites, mint greens, and other bright colors. Avoid black and dark colors; this season's lavender should stay bright and cheerful.

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Living Room Makeover

I'm so excited to share pictures of my living room makeover. I painted my couch mint green (one of my favorite colors!!) sewed some new pillows, made new wall art, and incorporated some of previous craft projects. Unfortunately...I managed to delete my "before" pictures. The only one I have to share with you is a photo of my cat asleep on my couch, just so you can see how wild (awful) the cover for this sofa really was. 

Really crazy, huh? Anyway, there were just too many colors in that pattern, it was so overwhelming. I gave my living room a pastel-themed makeover, (pastels are super in right now, aren't they?) mainly coral and mint, gold and silver. See the pics below.

I am in love with the minty-ness of my couch. Plus, it's now much more durable thanks to the paint. In case you're wondering, I mixed regular interior semi-gloss paint with textile medium, which turns regular paint into "fabric paint." It's going to be super easy to keep clean, dirt just wipes right off. I also think that with a solid colored couch, it will be much easier to change trends/designs now. FYI, this is an IKEA Klippan Sofa. 

See how I did the chair restyle here. Want to make your own tribal baskets? See the tutorial here. Confetti art? Tutorial here. Also, keep an eye out for a tutorial on how to make your own geometric art soon!

Mini Hand-cut Hearts Garland DIY

Okay everyone, I'm excited to share a fun and quick valentines craft with you! But...I'm even more excited to share it with you because I've written it in a totally new format. So please, please tell me what you think! I really like how fun flipping through this tutorial is, so tell me if you agree. Also, please let me know if you have any problems with it! 

Thanks for reading! -Taylor

Liquid Leaf Painted Glassware DIY

I've been wanting to do this project for awhile now, I've been super-inspired by painting geometric patterns on things. I'm not much of a freehand artist, and I can't draw a stick person to save my life. But patterns...patterns I can do. And who doesn't want to feel successful at their project design? So, I like sticking to patterns. Enjoy the tutorial below

Using washi tape, mark off a design on the glass. I chose to paint triangles onto one glass, and geometric shapes on another to make it look like pieces of glass. It's important to make sure you stick the tape down really well so that the paint doesn't seep through and mess up your designs. The Liquid Leaf paint is kind of thin, so you will probably have to paint more than one coat.

I would recommend that these dry overnight before peeling off the washi tape. I really like how modern-feeling these turned out. And of course, painting anything gold makes me happy. 

It's important to note that you should handwash these-I imagine that the dishwasher would strip the paint right off. Also, if you find that the lines of your designs aren't perfectly clean (the paint seeped through), once the paint is completely dry you can take a craft knife and scrape the excess paint right off. 

DIY Jewelry Organizer Wall Display

Supplies Needed:

3 small unfinished wooden frames

3 sheets of glittered scrapbook paper

bits of ribbons and string

Acrylic paint OR Liquid Leaf One-Step Gold Paint (this is what I used)

Hot glue, scissors, etc

1. Trace glitter paper to fit inside the frames, however, BE SURE to cut at least1/8th of an inch outside of your traced shape to have enough room to glue the paper into your frame.

2. Paint frames whatever color you like.

3. Glue ribbons and strings of various widths across the papers. Glue only at each end of the ribbons, not all the way across.

4. Adhere to frames with hot glue or double sided tape.

5. Hang on your wall and enjoy! I'm so thrilled with the way that these turned out <3 I have tons of feather earrings and my cat will take any chance he can to get at them. Hanging them on the wall keeps them safe plus it's super cute art! I love how accessible my jewelry is now and that I can just look at all of my choices all at once.

Note: This was my first time working with a gold leafing paint and I l-o-v-e-d it! I was so surprised by how much smoother and "gold-er" this was than just typical metallic gold acrylic paint. Be warned: it does contain copper and smells very strongly. Work in a ventilated area! I'm super excited to try
this paint on many other projects!

Pintastic Things This Week

This week's theme is....geometric patterns!! I'm brainstorming for a living room makeover and want to do some geometric art. Here are some things that inspire me and I hope they inspire you!

Geometric Embroidery Art by She Makes a Home

What a cool DIY for Geometric Paper Lanterns by Oh Happy Day!

LOVE this geometric necklace on the Modge Podge Rocks blog:

These Washi Tape geometric shapes featured on Apartment Diet

That's it for today's Pins! If you repin these, please use my links back to the original source, that way the artist gets credit! Thanks!

-Taylor

Holiday Decorating: DIY Christmas Art Wall

Just wanted to share my art wall, holiday-style. The moose is always up, but it's been Rudolph-bombed :) I also included my snowman wreath, (click here for tutorial!), Katie's Christmas light art (tutorial), and a piece that I made with scrapbooking papers and pieces. 

I made this by piecing together blocks of red scrapbook papers onto a canvas, and then taking green strips and trimming the ends to look like ribbons. This was a super-fast project and could easily be translated onto holiday cards or gift tags. I think it's a pretty bold statement piece when combined with the other pieces on my art wall. All in all, I'm thrilled to have this display for Christmas!

Christmas Light Art DIY

My sis Katie created this amazing mixed-media art canvas. I l-o-v-e the bright colors against a tone-on-tone white background. Below is an easy tutorial to make or gift one of your own! If you haven't already, throw some quick and festive art up on your walls for the holidays!

 Supplies: Patterned Paper, Scissors, Marker, Other Embellishments

 1. On the back of your patterned paper sketch out a Christmas light shape.

 2. Cut it out.

 3. From brown patterned paper, cut out a small rectangle and glue it to the top of the light.

 4. Cut as many as you like.

5. Glue them to a canvas, and embellish!

Last Minute Gift Idea- Color Blocked Tote Bags

Katie and I whipped up these amazing tote bags in just one afternoon. You can find blank tote bags at Michaels, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, etc, and we used acrylic paint which works very well on fabric. Simply tape off a design and paint! We used washi tape as it peels off very easily. Also, be sure to place paper or cardboard inside the tote bag while painting so it doesn't bleed through. I love how they turned out!

What kind of last minute holiday gifts are you making?

-Taylor

Pinterest + Party Planning

Pinterest is no secret to most bloggers, blog readers, crafters, and pretty much everyone else on the internet. If you don't Pin, your friends probably do. I've been using it for awhile now, and I just love it. It's such a great way to find craft inspiration or to build up a collection of ideas. If you want to see my pinterest, check on the button on the sidebar. I thought I'd share some photos from one of my current boards, my Graduation Party Board!

The party is on Friday so I'm working on the cake and most of the decorations have been put together. I've been so inspired by all of the tissue paper, streamers, and paper laterns I've seen...basically anything with glitter and layers! The color scheme will be Kelly green, gold and white. Next week I'll definitely post photos.

See my pinterest for photo sources.

-Taylor

Blogs I HEART

Here's a happy, middle-of-the-week round up for anyone who likes to do some blog surfing.

1. Thanks, I Made It

cute diy's!

2. Into Mind

beautiful home design inspiration!

3. True Blue, Me and You

this blogs makes me want to craft right now!

4. Punk Projects

my sister's blog...can't help but love it!

Glittered Toy Animal Magnet DIY

So...you know when you've got a cute craft idea and you've just gotta do it right then? This was one of those. I love how they turned out. I'm particularly pleased with my diy. These would be so magical in rainbow glitter. If you are inspired to make your own, please tweet me a pic!

Supplies:

spray adhesive

glitter

toy animals

old refrigerator magnet

1. Spray toy animals with adhesive. Make sure you cover it really well!

2. Dip in glitter! The adhesive will be so sticky so watch your fingers or you'll end up coated in glitter too!

3. Glue a strip of an old magnet to the back of the animal.

cute, don't you think?