The Heart Finds Peace

I set out on creating a smaller piece using a 6"x6" canvas.  I drew inspiration from this fabric I got from Burkina Faso, Africa (left).  The same fabric I used for my fabric scrap keychain.  I love the colors and layers of patterns, so I wanted to use it as the background of this piece.

Months ago, I read the phrase "Here the heart finds peace" and it has been stuck in my head ever since, but I couldn't remember where I originally read it.  I googled the phrase and I found this quote "At this place abides happiness, here the heart finds peace." from Bavaria, 3rd, by Rodney Bolt.  I'm thinking I may have found this quote when I was reading a book that talks a little about the Neuschwanstein castle... who knows?!

I chose the font and layout I wanted using Adobe Illustrator and printed it out on some thick photo paper.  Exacto'ed out the black parts, taped it to the canvas, and 'stenciled' in the letters.

Once I pulled off the stencil, the letters were a little messy so I tidied them up a little, but I also like it a little rougher.

Sidenote: The low quality pics are from my computer since my camera batteries are dead and I'm too lazy to go buy new ones.  Anyways... Here is the final piece:

update:: I bought some batteries for the camera so here is a clearer picture:

Grandma's chair

I got this chair from my grandpa.  My grandma reupholstered it years ago (it even has a matching mirror).  Unfortunately, the chair has this huge rip in it and the padding was coming out.  My grandpa was getting rid of it and knew I was interested in free furniture and upholstery projects.

I'm not quite ready to tackle a full on wingback upholstering project because of the amount of time and space it takes up.  I decided to just cover the rip with a little strip of fabric.

I got this coordinating green fabric for about $6 a yard from Joanne fabrics.  I laid out the fabric and cut, pinned, and sewed it to fit perfectly to the chair.  I also painted the legs white with a primer paint I have left over from this side table redo.

My glue gun died, so I ended up using Gorilla glue to put the fabric in place.  In the future, I probably wouldn't use Gorilla glue for fabric because it bleeds through.
Here is a final-for-now picture:

I'm thinking it needs a little something else, but I'm not really sure what.  Any suggestions?

update:: I decided I'm not happy with the way this looks and it doesn't mesh well with everything else I have so I am looking for a fabric to redo it with.

Getting Artsy

My sister, Celia, wanted to make some original art for her new apartment.  I sent her a few ideas and she settled on a doing a piece inspired by this post on Young House Love. (side note: I recently stumbled on this blog and I have been obsessively reading it. Sooo good!)  We basically used the same approach that Sherry used on Young House Love so check out their blog for more details.

Once we finished the top part, I taped off the top and painted the edges yellow to add a little pop... and introduce a new color to Celia's life.

passes Clove's inspection

Here is the best picture I have of the final:

We've since gone through and tidied up some of the lines.  I'll update the picture when she is moved in and this is put up.

Pollock Inspired

A couple a weeks ago, I bought some blank canvases to make my own pieces.  I had a little design in mind, but it wasn't really turning out how I envisioned it.  I scrapped that idea and decided to do a piece inspired by Jackson Pollock.  Here are some Pollock and Pollock tribute pieces that I drew inspiration from:

Cathedral

Pollock Tribute No. 2

Untitled No. 2

I painted the whole canvas with the leftover coral color from my balcony table project.  I settled on black and gold to drizzle on.  I mixed a little water with the paint so it was more liquidy and drizzled on the colors.  Make sure you put a big drop cloth down...  I only put a small one down but I still found little paint drips on the window, some stuff I had lying around the place, and even a couple of spots on Clove.

Here are some of the process pictures:

And the final (sorry, couldn't get the best picture):

This was so easy to make and only took about 1.5 hours.

Yellow & Turquoise

I have been obsessing with this color combo since I reorganized some filing drawers at work.  I used teal/turquoise and yellow hanging folders and it makes me so happy whenever I go to file one of my purchases... hey, the little things count.

I couldn't find a lot of looks with this color combo, but here are two very different looks that I like:

Pinterest

From the bold above to more of a subtle take on this color combo.

Florence Finds

And a Letterpress print from Urban:

Urban Outfitters

After jumping over to Pinterest, I just realized I used this color combo with my board covers on my Pinterest homepage.  Looks like I've liked it a little longer than I originally thought.

What do you think of this color combination?