Matching DIY

In a previous post, I talked about making my own pillows for the back cushions of some couches gifted from a wonderful friend!

Now that I am on Spring Break, I have some time to be creative.  So, I decided to make a painting that I could hang over the couches and I wanted them to match.

I started out by sketching one of the flowers, but I hated it, so I sketched another one.  Once I liked it on paper, I sketched the flower directly onto the canvas.  Here's a hard to see photo of my initial sketch.

Again, sorry that it is so hard to see, I wanted to do a light sketch in case I made a mistake.

I knew that I wanted some kind of color in the background and thought of a way to include some other colors of the pillows.  The first thing that I did was dry brush on my base (I used craft smart "suede" because they are usually on sale at Michaels for 40cents).  After lightly dry brushing on the paint, I took a paper towel and rubbed in/off the excess.  Because of this technique I didn't have to use much paint, and it took a few paper towels.

Next, I used a natural sponge to add some light blue.  My technique here was to dab a smaller sponge into the paint.  I then lightly dabbed that onto a bigger sponge which I then dabbed onto the canvas.  Sorry if that sounds confusing, but there is a lot of dabbing, and I hate it when there is too much paint on one part of my sponge.  

After painting the background, most of my sketching had disappeared so I had to re-do it as best I could.  It actually worked out because I was able to fix a few mistakes.  Once I was happy, I started painting.  I used sage green for the center and mixed equal parts magenta and red for the rest of the flower.  Here is the results after my initial painting.

There was something not quite right about my product.  I wanted more color and realized that the parts I liked were the filled in petals.  My husband suggested that I try filling in some more of the petals and I think it really helped.

It gave the flower more of a pop art feel and I really like it much more now.  (Hopefully you do too!)  In case you didn't notice, I painted them onto four different canvases so here is the final, separated product.

Thanks so much for reading!  I hope you enjoy the painting and maybe got a few tips!

Do they go together?

DIY Couch Pillows

Not too long ago some friends gave us their old couches because they were getting new ones.  The only catch was that they did not come with back pillows.  So, I decided to be creative and made my own.

The first thing that I did was head over to HomeGoods and look at what they had.  I ended up buying five European Pillows which are typically for a bed.  I got home and measured them and found that they would take a little less than 2 yards of fabric each to cover with an envelope flap.  Typically a full bolt of fabric only comes in 8 yards so I had to piece them together.  If you can find enough of one fabric at a single store you do not need a full 10 yards but, I suggest that you do just to be on the safe side.

Pillow covers are the easiest things to make because all that you have to do is cut the fabric into the shape of the pillow and then sew straight lines.  For these I cut a piece the size of the pillow, and another with an extra foot for the flap.  If you are adding the flap, then I suggest that you finish off the edges that will not be sewn.  To do this you simply fold the edges over 1/4 inch twice and iron it.  Then run it through the sewing machine.  I don't even use pins because the heat of the iron holds it pretty well if you sew it right away.

Next, I just pinned the pillows and sewed them.  Turn the covers inside out and insert the pillow.  It was a pretty easy project and I was able to customize my new couches with a fabric that I actually like! Here are some pictures of the final product.

The Love Seat

 The Sofa

A Closer Look

(With Gypsy to say hello!)

The blue and white pillows on the side were from a previous purchase at IKEA.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but the couches are like a sage green which matches some of the colors in the fabric.  Now, I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures of the process, but if you have any questions, leave a comment and I will do my best with an answer!

Thanks for reading!

Gypsy Rose Lee

About a year and a half ago our family got a most wonderful addition.  As a graduation present my parents decided that I could get a dog.  Instead of supporting a puppy mill and paying an exorbitant (English 9 vocab word!) amount for a designer dog, we went looking around the nearby shelters.  After almost a week of searching, I found her at the SEAACA shelter in Downey CA.  She was not the prettiest of puppies, but there was something about her that I saw potential.  I mean, who couldn't love this face?

(This was the picture that they had of her on their website)

I'll be honest, at first I was not impressed and my mom was skeptic of the thing in the corner of her eye.  But, after spending some time with her, I knew that I wanted her.  Unfortunately the way that they operate is to hold the animals for a certain amount of time before you can adopt them.  If you come in and like an animal, you put your name in and they give you a number and a date to come back.  Number one has until 10am on that day to claim the dog.  If by 10am they are not there, it goes to number 2 or 3 and so forth.  Being number 2 I was very nervous and showed up so early that I had to sit there and wait for at least 45 min.  But, I lucked out and number one never showed up.  She was all mine!

That evening we picked her up and brought her home.  I was so excited that I had to take pictures, even though she was so out of it from her surgery.  She was so small!

This tiny little thing became an instant hit with me and my family.  Of course we took silly pictures of her and spoiled her rotten!

I named her Gypsy after a musical that I love, and it fits her very well!  Here she is in her pink bed with only a fraction of her toys.  A scraggly little thing only about three months old here.

She just has this way about her to make you feel happy, loved, needed, and playful all at the same time.  Whenever I come home, she is there to greet me with a ton of excitement!  There is just so much comfort coming from this dog and whenever I have a bad day, or am feeling blue, she cheers me up and gives me all of the hope that I need.  I cannot imagine my life without this dog and she has made the past year and a half incredibly wonderful.

I realize that she is just a dog, but she's here for me when I need her, especially when I just need someone to listen.

 
So if you have a dog, give them a big hug.  If not, then go get one and love it as much as you can!  And as always, HAVE FUN!

So Sweet!

So today, I definitely wore my pink dress and got so many compliments!  First another teacher told me that she loved me in pink this morning, so I spent the day feeling good.  Then towards the end of the day I saw one of my sixth period drama class students and she stopped to tell me how cute I looked!  It was really nice, and made me feel much better about the tiring day. 

Other than that, I came home to my wonderful puppy who always gives the best welcomes and got a chance to relax and just hang out.  It is so nice to just come home after teaching and relax.  No one to hang out with, nothing to do, just spend time with my puppy and catch up on "My Fair Wedding" and "The Real Housewives".  So enjoy some relaxing time and as always HAVE FUN!

Adventures in Shopping

Last night my mother and sister Michelle left for Phoenix to have a family friend take Michelle's high school graduation pictures.  But, before they left, my mom took me out for a little shopping/bonding time!

We couldn't decide if we wanted to go to Nordstrom's Rack or Lane Bryant.  She wanted shoes, and wanted, well, everything.  But, I wasn't too excited to go to either because the clothes in my size aren't really very trendy, or my style.  I end up buying a piece of clothing that is decent, and I have to tell myself that it's cute but feel frumpy when I actually wear it.  There are so many cute clothes out there that I think are so cute, but they don't fit.  I just don't understand why they can't make them in a bigger size.

Then my mom remembered another store that she used to shop in, and they have shoes.  So, we went to Avenue to see what they had.  The moment we walked in, I was a little skeptical... I heard two different people being asked if they had an Avenue Card, and if they "wanted to open one and receive 30% off of their purchase today".  I hate that! When someone offers me a store credit card I am immediately turned off, especially if they ask me before I get to the register.

So we got away for a while and started looking for shoes.  We actually found some cute pairs that we were planning to buy.  As we were looking though, the first worker comes up to ask if we need any help, and then asks if we want an Avenue card.  We said no thank you and she finally went away.  Not 30 seconds later, the next lady came up and asked us the exact same questions!  It was so annoying to be bothered when we were just trying to find a cute pair of sandals.

Then we got to the clothing.  There's just something off about the clothes there. It is like they attempted to make things cute, but fell short.  We decided to check out the jeans, which were on sale for only $25.  They had boot cut, straight, and skinny, and of course I went for skinny.  They had stacks of jeans on one table which were all boot cut and straight.  Behind were more stacks on higher shelves.  My mom and I tried looking for my size and noticed that there was no order to them, and it was hard to see the sizes.  She did what anyone would do who wanted to look for something to purchase and took down a stack to start looking through.

Not long after, one of the workers came over as if she was annoyed at us for trying to shop in her store.  My mom finished with the first stack and the lady condescendingly took the stack from her, tried to "tidy" them up, and put them back.  She then started to look herself so that we would not mess up her precious stacks.  We let her deal with it and walked away to try on some leggings that we found on another rack.  When they didn't fit, we ran out of the store.  Didn't even buy the shoes. I'm serious when I say that we ran!

Luckily we were across from Nortstrom's Rack.  There we each found a super cute new watch, and a pair of shoes!  She found a DKNY large face watch with white leather band for only $25 and a pair of black sandals marked down from $62 to $13!  I got a very girlie black metal Betsey Johnson watch with pink rhinestones around the large round face.  Then I found an adorable pair of  Nine West flats which are beige and have a peep toe.  So at least something good came out of the day and I love what we found! 

Here's a picture similar to the watch that I got. (On mine, the rhinestones are pink instead of white)

So always keep looking and you will eventually find what you love!

HAVE FUN!

Ted is Awesome!

I am so sorry for not posting yesterday!  It was so hectic!  In the morning I had to tape myself teaching a lesson plan in 20 min so I was of course slightly nervous.  Another unfortunate part about this was that I had to dress professional and the temperatures reached about 80 degrees.  For some reason, dressing professional these days means to either wear pants, a pencil skirt or a sheath dress.  Pants were of course out because of the hot weather!  Left was my sheath dress which is awful for full figured girls like myself, even with the spanx on... So needless to say, I felt a little frumpy, and scattered yesterday and was not in a girlie mood. 

That is however, until school was over and I got to go see my wonderful boyfriend Ted who drove all the way down from Malibu to see me!  He brought me Chick-fil-A and treated me to the movie Rango.  They were both awesome and I recommend them both to everyone.  The fun did not stop there.  After the movie, he indulged me by going into the nearby Marshals and Ross for some shopping!  Unfortunately no incredible deals were found, but it was fun to hang out with him and check the two locations out! 

Our night continued back to my house where we watched some very funny television shows and just relaxed.  It was a perfect evening with my wonderfully thoughtful boyfriend!  It is always hard to see him go because I miss him almost immediately.  I cannot wait to see him again on Saturday when we go to the Paley Fest for Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.  Should be fun, especially because I'll be with Ted! 

HAVE FUN!

Magazines

Unfortunately for my boyfriend I have a growing collection of bridal magazines.  He hates them, and I have to hide them when he comes to visit.  No worries though because I LOVE them!  I do make it a point to not subscribe to them, only because I don't want a huge pile of them to remind me of my addiction.  I also sometimes avoid buying them in the super market because the women at the check out like to ask me if I'm getting married, which is when I have to reveal to them that in reality, I am just another loser constantly fantasizing about her wedding.  This weekend however, I did buy the latest Brides Magazine and Martha Stewart Weddings. 

Out of the two, I have to say that I love Martha Stewart's more.  There are just so many cute crafts and activities that caught my eye on almost every other page.  From DIY tips that anyone can manage along with gorgeous dress picks that match my style and (hopefully) eventual theme.  The soft pinks really catch my eye because so many others are just trying to throw crazy colors at me!  I like being different, but classic at the same time and Martha understands! 

Now, based on all of this, one might think that I am crazy for always thinking about weddings when my engagement ring is very far away.  But, for some reason, I just do not care!  Weddings are a day of joy and the ultimate way to show everyone how much you love someone and are willing to spend the rest of your life making a family with them.  I was into them before I had a boyfriend, and when I'm finally married, I will probably still be into them as well. 

So pretty much, I like weddings, Martha Stewart gets me, and I like weddings! 

HAVE FUN TED!