The Animal Print Shop

Check on The Animal Print Shop - such cute prints! I love their baby animal section. Here are a few of the prints that I'm swooning over lately:












(hey look, it's Dutch. Looking for crumbs I assume...)

100th Post!! And (if there's time) an art tutorial!

100th post on this blog!! An exciting milestone that I'm glad I didn't miss. How do I want to celebrate? Well, an art turtorial of course! This is an awesome cheater project (don't worry, I won't tell).

A corner of our living room was looking a little too sparse, so I decided to spruce it up with some cheap artwork using mostly things that I had at home (and normal people could find at a craft store)

I grabbed two art frames, and headed (virtually) over to Graphics Fairy (who I`ve mentioned here before) for some ol`fashion prints. I simply printed the images on white cardstock, taped them to large white poster board, and framed!

Loved it! Except, something was off. I lived with it for a few days until I realized what it was.
The white cardstock was a much brighter white than the poster board. Boo.

So I decided to get crafty again, and I carefully removed the art from the frame to rearrange it.



I decided to add a border of black to frame the white cardstock, to see if that fixed the problem (Spoiler alert: it did). I grabbed some black cardstock (sometimes it's nice to have a surplus of scrapbooking supplies in the house) and my handy tools.



I fiddled around with the black cardstock to see how much I wanted to show - I decided on 1/2 cm all the way around the print.



Because both cardstock pieces are 8 1/2" x 11", I figured I would cut the print down 1/2 cm on each side, so that the black cardstock would be big enough for the frame.



Chop chop!



Then I lined up my snipped print with the black cardstock and taped in place (I always like my artwork to be reversible)



And I taped the newly matted print back on to the off white poster board.



Hint for when framing: SwifterDusters are the best!! A quick once-over will make sure that no little fluffs and how-did-that-get-there 's get framed as well.

And here are my two newly reframed prints! I love the way the black matting frames the print so perfectly. Even without the white/off white dilemma this is a great idea.

And here is a before-and-after, so you don't have to tire your weary finger from scrolling up to the top of the post.

Before

After

And there you have it! A quick artwork idea to fill up an empty wall, while not breaking the bank. Because I had all these supplies on hand, the whole project cost me zip! Here is a break down for you 'Norms':

Frames $8 each
Poster board $3.50 each
White and black cardstock $3.00 for a package of 100 sheets

This only feeds my need for vintage prints. What type of cheap artwork do you have in your place? Any bicycles in your living room? Every room needs a little 'bicycle'.

Art You Beautiful!

Most of you have probably seen or used Art.com before, but some of you may not know how their site has recently improved. They have recently launched a new tool called 'Match My Image' that could possibly be the greatest idea ever. You simply upload an image, and it shows you a bunch of art that coordinates with it. Genius!

So lets say you had a photo from a camping trip years ago, but needed something similar in the room to balance things - presto!



Art.com has also updated their search engines - and they are super user friendly now. I tried a few searches test it out, and I was amazed with the results.

1. Animals;DogsAndPuppies;Scottish Terrier;Canvas;



2. Maps; MapsOfEurope;Vintage;



3. Photography; BlackAndWhite; Dance;



Sah-weet.

Have you checked out this updated Art.com yet? Isn't it super neat? Are you all really pumped that it's Friday and you get to sleep in tomorrow? Or are you going to Ikea and have to be out of bed at 5:30am? Just me?

Ikea Trip

A few weeks back my Mom asked me if I would like to go to Ikea (2 hours worth of driving and a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride each way). She asked me. As if it was a question. Silly Mom.

And now the time has come for our shopping trip of crazy-dash-around-the-store-and-eat-swedish-meatballs spree. Which has turned my attention towards the Ikea website for ideas. Here are a few products that I am really wanting to see this Saturday, and hopefully take home with me.


IKEA STOCKHOLM - Cute bowl for fruit and what not on the dining room table



IKEA STOCKHOLM BLAD - I have loved these curtains for ever, but at $100, they are out of my price range. I just want to see them in person (or find a slightly damaged/marked down one to take home)



KASSETT - Needing more storage in my living room, and I think these are a cute idea for stashing movies, magazines, and toys.



GISLEV - not sure where I will put this, but it is super cute and I am really into grays right now.



MÖRKT - this little lantern is so cute it should be everywhere! Maybe I'll get a few..



SALONG - for the main bathroom counter top (yes, that silly bathroom renowe are currently ignoring)



ÖDMJUK - I have been on the hunt for the perfect tea pot for ages and this one might fit the bill! We'll see on Saturday when I give it the Erin-once-over.



SKURAR - too cute! The website doesn't say how big it is, but I picture a few of these growing herbs lined up on my kitchen window sill.



JUBLA - not all candles have to be white - these beautifully saturated candlesticks really have my attention.



ERIKSLUND - for my upper hallway black-and-white gallery.



BILD FJÄLLSTA - for my upper hallway gallery as well - and make some nice black frames to match!


When was the last time you visited the Ikea Palace of House Love? Are you jealous that I get to go in two days? Do you have any knowledge about why the heck those little meatballs are so yummy? Me neither, but I don't fight it.

Girly Girl

Another Lamp Upgrade

I love the smell of spray paint in the morning! Well, I've been at it again, turning an ugly old ($2.50 did I mention?) lamp into a thing of beauty. All it took was a little help from my ol' friend Spray Paint.

Remember when I went to the DeanParkAnnualGarageSale and grabbed all those great lamps on the cheap? The brass/glass one (second from the right) was my target this time.



This time I opted to do something different and cheery - a little different than my 'very-erin' white lamps.

Krylon has an amazing array of colours for their indoor/outdoor spray paint (available at Walmart, CanadianTire, etc) - for this project I grabbed a pretty 'robins egg blue'



You may remember my little side table in the living room, from when I made little orange and blue boxes during a snow day.



And here is my cute table now with my lovely blue lamp

I taped off the glass middle (a last minute decision) and I am so glad that I salvaged some of that beautiful old world charm.

Well, have I convinced you to spray up some lamps yet?

Watching reruns of TrueBlood - I know it's a stupid show, but I forgot how gosh darn entertaining it is! Are you guys suckered into this show to? Do you remember when Sookie starts dreaming about Eric? Okay, maybe that's the only reason I'm watching..

Speaking Of Blue..

Painting the exterior of the house must be really getting to me, because I'm starting to dream in blue. It is making me realize just how much I love that colour!

While browsing blogland today, I found two photos that perked my interest. Here is one design photo featuring a set of blue coral artwork.



As soon as I saw it, it reminded me of this artwork that I did for the kitchen, which is available for purchase at Bird and Bear (I'm also getting a lot of request for the 'BlueShrimp', so I will be making that available on the website shortly)



And I also spotted this photo online. Notice the sign



'Hippies Use Backdoor' - hah! I've looked at this sign for sale at Michael'sCrafts a billion times, and loved it, but never knew where I would use it. Love the application of it in that room though!

I find it especially funny because my little brother is a hu-uge hippie. He's an old photo of him that is my favorite.



Ahh, reminds me that I need to go to the beach lots this weekend. Are you going to the beach this weekend? Are you going to try and get some colour on those 'chalky-white' legs of yours? Did you slap your friend Jamie when he said your legs looked 'chalky-white'? Oh. Just me then.

My Sidney, BC readers will probably find this story interesting!

There She Blues!!

Okay, how many 'blue' reference post titles can I come up with that make me giggle? So far two.

I spent another few hours working this weekend, painting the exterior of the house (our summer project originally mentioned here), this time working on the front entrance area. You might remember that I painted the front door about a month ago (seen here) and I thought it might be a good place to do "round 2" of gettin this ol' house all painted and perdy.

I started by painting the siding blue as before, making sure to get it all the way into the corners. This usually involves using my trusty brush (that I have used on most of my painting projects for the past few years. We're pretty tight, brush and I.) to get into all the cracks and corners, then rolling out paint on the base with a 'wizer' (ie a mini roller).

Once that has dried, I take my trusty brush, and paint the trim in ivory paint. This takes a steady hand to 'cut in' the paint, and can make or break a paint job. I, for no particular reason, am really good at cutting in paint, so this job usually falls on me. In this case, all of the painting job fell on me.

It looks so nice and crisp once I started painting the trim ivory. Here is a little before and after all-in-one shot (ie Erin was only half done painting the trim)

Above you can also see I painted the 'ceiling' area in the ivory as well, just to brighten things up.

It is now a far cry from how it looked a month ago. Here is a 1 month before and after of the entrance area:

And lastly, a photo taken at 'magic hour', when the sun was just going down.

Is anyone else painting their house this summer? Is everyone else ditching home renos for the lake, like I did yesterday? Did you get 'saved' by your 200lb newf dog every time you swam too far from the beach? Does anyone else buy their bathing suits with their dogs fur colour in mind?