Gallery Wall PINspiration + a Free Printable!

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a big dork and I'm really excited about all of this.


So we're moving, thank the heavens, and our new apartment home has a gorgeous space perfect for a gallery wall.  Actually, more like TWO gallery walls.  A gallery hallway/alcove?  Perhaps!  And this means that I have been able to divide my limited free time between two addicting Pinterest searches: organization and gallery wall ideas.

My gallery wall obsession ended up branching off and needing to be split into two boards (here & here).  But can you blame me?  Look at some of my finds!

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So what's an overexcited creative mama to do?  Why start making her own images of course!  So I sat back and I thought and I thought and I thought, much like Winnie the Pooh, because I wanted my own original saying for my first piece.  And I came up with this.

Click for the full size if you want to print it!

Eeeek, I love it.  I haven't made a real, printed, physical copy of this yet, but I have big plans for this little image... I'm just saving it for Stashbusting September over at The T-Shirt Diaries (which is starting up soon, obviously, so stay tuned!).  I can't wait to start making some upcycled projects for the new place and finally tackle some of my stash before it swallows up my room.  :/

PX’s 1st Self-Portraits

PX has always been fascinated with my camera so now that he’s older (and can at least understand “don’t throw that!”) I let him play around with my camera from time to time.  Typically he just likes to press the buttons and watch the world go by on the LCD screen but the other day he turned it on himself.  And snapped these.  Perhaps this is the start of a fantastical love of photography.  Or maybe he was just amused by the flash.  Either way, he captured my two favorite since birth features:  the big curious eyes and the fuzzy ears. 

Black & Orange Aren’t Just for Halloween

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t inspired to bust out my bag of vintage DMC floss and go to town after seeing this post.  With two under two and a tight budget, we’re a hand-me-down, repurposing, thrift store & yard sale type family.  I have no qualms with this, but sometimes the clothes can be a little boring.  Like these pants we got for PX: totally perfect condition, good quality, but plain.

Maybe it’s the fact that 2T clothing is bigger and looks less “babyish” but these pants just screamed to me that they needed some attention.  So, I got crafty.

I’m really pleased with how this pair turned out.  I hadn’t picked up an embroidery needle in about 8 years!  I definitely won’t be waiting another 8 years now.

My Newest Addiction

Alright, things are a bit calmer in the roost (for the time being) so hopefully I’ll be able to get back into some sort of routine.

Last month for my birthday, the other half gave me a budget and let me loose in Michael’s.  [yeah, he’s awesome]  I immediately made my way to the fabric paint et al isle and found this, the Tulip Fabric Paint Cannon.  Considering my sewing nook is a disaster and I’ve been itching to get creative, I snatched it up.

I’m not a fan of wearing white, especially with two kids under two, so I turned this

into this!

   

Doesn’t it remind you of sprinkles?!

After playing around online I noticed this awesome little gadget was getting some bad reviews, so I decided to write down a few tips for anyone thinking of using this.

• You CAN use this with just about any type of paint or dye!  Just know that the thinner the medium, the more your spray will resemble real spray paint; the pink in this shirt was done with the paint made for the cannon, the blue and yellow were done with basic acrylics thinned just a little (I wanted some splattery-looking spots).  So if your paint is coming out clumpy, try thinning it out.
• Pump the cannon A LOT before starting any real design, to limit the amount of times (if any) you need to stop and repump.  Also try pumping more if your paint is coming out not-so-misty.
• Let each color dry before applying the next, unless you want the colors to blend/bleed a little.
• HEAT SET!  HEAT SET!  HEAT SET!  (For a great tutorial on heat setting acrylics, check this out).

I’m truly addicted to this thing.  I have all sorts of things planned out for it.  I need to be stopped!  ;)

My Poor, Neglected Blog

I take a little mini-vacation sotospeak and my poor blog collects dust.

So much is going on around here, and unfortunately not much of it is fun and noteworthy.  It’s hit that point in summer where I look around and realize I am very much behind in life but have little motivation to catch up.  Perhaps after Daddy Drax’s birthday next week things will return to some sort of normality.

But for now, I’ll just include a visual representation of my birthday events and my mini-vacay.