DIY: METALLIC GOLD PLANTER

A few weeks ago I went down to South Carolina to visit my family & came back with two plants. One of them was the Jewels of Opar. My Grammie divided hers into several styrofoam cups & sent us each home with a section. 

The little styrofoam cup was only meant to last the car ride home, but I accidently made it last through my trip to Siesta Key, then my trip to New York, then my trip to Baltimore. 

See I was trying to find a cute pot! Something unique, but affordable. But as my Jewels of Opar started to die, I realized I didn't have the luxury of time. I caved & bought the 97 cent standard pot from Home Depot.

& then I remembered my golden spray paint! I gave it two coats, they dried in just a few minutes!

As you can see (left) I don't have so much luck with plants. So I took a gold paint pen for a little quiet  encouragement. Moral of the story: everything looks better in gold :)

SMALL SPACE LIVING: BUILDING A CORNER COFFEE BAR

Wait! We've moved!!!

But you can find this exact post by clicking HERE.

APARTMENT DIY: INSTAGRAM FRIDGE MAGNETS

Instagram, VSOCAM, Pinterest, Snapchat, IPhone, Facebook, Twitter.... photos on-the-go are in. I mean really, what better way to keep our friends & family & coworkers & crushes up with our really photogenic lives??

As you know, I'm trying to make this new (to me) 450 square foot box into my home. Step one: Plaster the space with my favorite images. When I was in college, I used to tape huge (I mean huge.. maybe, 2ftx3ft?) photos of my friends & family on my dorm room wall. Over the years, however, I've developed a taste for tinier things & better adhesives. & lucky for me, it's at that crossroad you'll find Instagram Fridge Magnets.

You need:

• Printic App (Free)
• Stick-on Magnet Sheet
• Pen
• Scissors

I read on Delightfully Tacky about a DIY just like this. There's this free app called Printic. Guys, its so cool! Through the app you can log right into your Instagram, Facebook & Mobile galleries & order as many prints as you want... directly from your phone! There's several options & I chose the "Prints." Ordered just about 30 photos for under $15! Best of all, they were mailed to me in just three days.

Next I bought a sheet of sticky magnets from Michael's. (HINT - they have tons & tons of coupons online. Just check on it before you go up & they'll scan it right from your phone.) 

Then, you guessed it: trace, cut, stick, trim. 

Before you know it, your apartment is going to look like home ... or at least one little corner J

Happy DIY-ing!

HOW TO: GALLERY WALL

My drafting table is my prized possession. So, naturally, I feel it deserves only the best kind of decor. Like a magical little corner of perfection. Whether from thrifting, or from my sister calendar (post coming soon J), or the ones my friends have made (how cool is that Flowering Tree print?!?), or my little sister, or sometimes the one's I've even done myself... I've somehow gathered a lot of art over the years. Any who, today I'm going to show you how it all came together to give my drafting table the wall it deserves.

I grew up wanting to become a  professional collage maker. I'm serious. I thought I could create a market for myself. (You know, collages are at such a high demand!) While I found myself a different profession, my collage-making skills came in very handy for this project.

It started here (& stayed here for almost a year). 

Then, I found this post about Building a Standing Desk & this one on 20 Easy Wall Hanging Ideas by A Beautiful Mess. Suddenly, I knew my drafting table deserved so much more! So I pulled my extra frames out from under the bed, & ripped a few months out of my sister calendar. For a few weeks we had this:

Still, I was stalling, hoping for the perfect centerpiece. & I found it! 

Inspiration HERE (seriously love these) - but I recreated to fit my light + airy theme & feature my fave Cincy neighborhoods J. Funny story, I accidentally made this 5ftx7ft tall! Luckily, Staples in Hyde Park was able to shrink down to the size I wanted. 

& then it was time to put my collage skills to use J

GALLERY WALL | YOU WILL NEED

• Art & Frames
• Phone Books & Paper Grocery Bags (or maybe wrapping paper?)
• Scissors (I kind of want to spray paint mine gold...)
• Marker
• Tape
• (Bright Pink) Hammer
• Nails that will support your Art

No need to eyeball the sizes anymore, you can trace!

Even better: mark the nail hole so that after you tape everything into order, you can just nail through the paper. 

Nail. Remove paper. Hang frame. Repeat. 

& soon you'll have a gallery wall :)

Easy Peasey, right? I adjusted mine a tiny bit at the end.. decided to go for a non symmetrical look (Top Photo). What do you think guys??

LOST IN A DREAM.

I get lost in projects. Give me a pencil and some headphones - it'll be seven hours before I come back into the "real world." Give me a story to write about, I may never go to bed. These ideas take a hold in pockets of my mind, burrowing and growing and inspiring until it has a life of its own - and just needs someone to give it form.

I recently had the idea to repurpose my second blog, the one chronicling my dream to write and illustrate a novel, into more of a website. I could have asked someone to help - but the idea struck too quickly. Before I knew it, I was swimming in code and html (with which I had limited experience) and burning through the wee hours of the morning to make my vision take form.

For me - these ideas and dreams are a magical simplicity. They teach me about who I am and who I can be. It's nice to get lost in a dream every once in a while, and I admit I've been doing it quite often. Please though - take a look at my new site & recent magical simplicity. 

A Magical Makeover

 

The magical world of a move can come with a few hefty price tags. So it's wise to cut costs everywhere possible.

Thus I present: the magical makeover! From chair on the left (a hand me down from the neighbors) to the very Annie chair on the right: it took a can of white spray paint, a clearance patterned fabric, staples and a staple gun, and a little extra stuffing from the basement. What do you think!?

dreams of dreamweaver

This has been my life. My electronic portfolio. My final project for visual rhetoric class.  Twenty percent of my overall grade.
I have never used dreamweaver before, and let me say WOAH its hard. The code on the left is literally a foreign language. I spent at least seventeen hours on it. I had to start over a total of six times. I sat at king library for hours, talking to myself and pushing the most random of buttons just TRYING to make a presentable piece.
And then all of a sudden, dreamweaver clicked. I knew what i was doing, and (dare I say) I actually liked it. How amazing that you can create a website out of literally a blank page. That is something magical.
Anyways, I'm almost finished. www.users.muohio.edu/butlera3/home.html aka, my world.