Places I've Been - US & World Travel Pin Maps

I’m about to share one of my favorite projects to date!

For the past couple of months I’ve been looking for a large piece of art to hang on one of the walls in the office, but I just couldn’t find anything that I liked for that space. Coincidently I’ve wanted to create a travel pin board for awhile now…probably since I saw this one in Young House Love’s gallery hallway, so this seemed like the perfect solution.  I wanted a US map and world map, so my original plan was just to buy couple maps, back them with cork and hang them on the wall. Turns out it’s hard to find matching US and world maps that aren’t massive. So I moved on to Plan B – the DIY version.
 
I started with this corkboard from Hobby Lobby. It was originally $69.99, but it was on sale so I only paid $34.99. Actually I had a gift card leftover from my birthday, so I didn’t pay anything for it.

Then I used my Silhouette to draw the United States and world maps. I bought this shape for the states and this shape for the world (99 cents each from the online Silhouette shop). I also bought the Silhouette sketch pen starter kit from Amazon for $15.50 (although now it’s $19.99) for this project. I have to say that I absolutely love the pen set. I never really thought about using the Silhouette to draw things, so my mind was blown watching it draw out my maps!

I cut the maps to the same size and used double stick tape to hang them on the corkboard. 

To mark the places we’ve been I just used sewing pins. Places I’ve been are marked with fuchsia pins, places my boyfriend has been are marked with navy pins, places we’ve been together are marked with teal, and home is marked with a yellow pin.  I only marked places if we actually spent time visiting or sightseeing…airport layovers didn’t count. 

I love how it turned out, plus it was fun asking my boyfriend about places he’s been. I didn’t know he’d been to Mount Rushmore! I think it’s funny that my pins are mostly around the coast and his are mostly inland. 

I decided to use the rest of the space on the board to add pictures from our various trips. I cut them all into 4”x4” squares, so they’d be uniform. I missing some pictures from trips I took pre-digital camera days and I don’t have pictures from my boyfriend’s trips, but it’s a start. There’s still plenty of room to add more pictures too! 

Seeing all of those blank states really makes me want to hop in the car and road trip up the west coast and through the mid-west. Too bad I don’t have enough vacation time to do that!
 
Since we are talking about vacation plans - this seems like the perfect time to share the news about our next “teal pin”.
 
...*drum roll*….
 
ALASKA!
 
Yep, we’re headed to Alaska in July to fish the salmon run! We are flying in a day earlier than our friends so we’ll have an extra day to do some sightseeing around Anchorage. Then we are all off to the Kenai River to fish (and sightsee) for the week. I’m not really an outdoorsy person, so this is a little out of my comfort zone, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for an Alaskan adventure!
 
Have you ever been to Alaska? Any trips/recommendations?

White China Hutch

After two and a half years of procrastinating, the china hutch is finally painted! Yayayayayayayay!

As a reminder, this is what it used to look like:

It was my grandma’s and it came to live with me after my grandpa remarried. At first I was hesitant to paint over such a nice piece, but I know that my grandma would prefer I paint it and enjoy it rather than give it away because it didn’t fit my style or begrudgingly keep it out of obligation. I knew that painting this piece was going to be huge effort and time consuming so I’ve been putting it off for years. Finally over Christmas break I decided to start painting.
 
Luckily it’s made up of two separate pieces so it’s easier to move and work on. I started with the bottom half – sanding, priming, and painting. I used Dove White by Valspar and I’m really happy with the color. It’s not stark white, but nice and creamy without any blue/green/purple/yellow tint. I used Rustoleum Paint + Primer in Oil-Rubbed Bronze to paint over all of the hardware.

Once the bottom was completely finished I started on the top half. This piece was a lot easier than the bottom, but that center piece of glass isn’t removable, so I had to work around that. I didn’t feel like taking the time to tape off the glass, so I just painted over it and used a razor blade to scrape off the paint. 

I left the inside wood because my ironstone and china are mainly white. I thought the wood would be a nice contrast against the white. I’m not sure if I’m completely sold on the look. I might end up painting the inside a nice light blue color like this. After how long it took to paint the rest of the hutch, painting the inside will be a breeze! 

I love how it turned out, but I’m glad I waited until I had a break from work to start on this project. It took for-ev-er and would have been completely overwhelming to work on over a weekend. If any of you have a painted a china hutch, you know what I mean. If you did it over a weekend, you are my hero! 
 

DIY Abstract Art

Have you ever seen an abstract painting and thought “They want how much for that?!?! I could totally paint that myself”? I have too…which led to this DIY abstract art project. 

I’m not a huge art buff, but I do like Michelle Armas’ abstract paintings.

 

(source)

But y’all know I’m cheap, so there’s no way I was going to pay $300-$400 for a piece of art. I knew I wouldn’t be able to paint exactly like her (plus I don’t want to completely rip-off her work), but I figured I could paint something inspired by her use of color and ideas.

(source)

I bought this canvas at a yard sale a couple years ago for around $10-$15. I liked the picture and 
it was a great price for a canvas that size (it’s originally from IKEA). BUT, I never loved the picture – the colors are too muted against the navy table and the picture blends into the wall color too much. I’d always planned to paint over the picture, but could never work up the courage to actually do it. I have no artistic ability whatsoever, so I was worried my painting would look horrible.

Finally last weekend I got a wild hair up my ass and decided I didn’t care if I ruined the daisy picture. I was sick of seeing it and ready to try something new. I took the picture off the wall and covered it with two coats of primer before I could change my mind.  

No turning back now! At this point I was unsure where to start, so I used Kimberly from Swoon Worthy’s short brushstroke method and just started painting. My original plan was to start at the bottom with the darkest color and work my way up to the lightest color. For the paint, I just used some craft acrylic paint that I already had on hand (navy, robin’s egg blue, tropical orange, and yellow) and sample pots of Valspar Pale Jade and Behr White Truffle.

I knew lots of layers would look the best, so I just started painting, waiting for the paint to dry a bit, and then added another layer. I worked up to about four layers before I decided I didn’t like how light the top was turning out. I tried to add some random navy, but I hated it, so I primed over that corner and decided to start over. 

I let everything dry over night and then started on my blank corner the next morning. I decided to change my plan and decided to go from dark to light to dark, so I started with the navy paint. 

Multiple layers later, I was done! 

I don’t think I’ll quit my day job and become a professional painter, but I actually really like how it turned out.

I think it looks so much better with the navy coffee table and light wall color. I’m debating adding another section of navy on the middle right because it seems kinda blah right there, but I think I’ll live with it a bit before I decide.  

If you decide to try this yourself, my advice would be to just go for it! Pick the colors you want to use and start painting! Yes, it’s actually harder than it looks, but it was actually kind of fun and now I have a custom piece of art that didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Actually, I already had everything on hand, so this update was free! Even if you count the price that I originally paid for the canvas and paint, it still was only about a $20 project. Can’t beat that!

Have you tried your hand at abstract art? If you have, send me a link. I’d love to see!

 

 

Travel Keepsake Boxes

I used to love scrapbooking, but I haven’t put together a book in a few years (probably because photobooks are so much easier).  Even though I haven’t done any scrapbooking lately, I’m still in the habit of saving every ticket/pamphlet/memento…just in case. That means have manila envelopes full memorabilia from the past few years.

One day while browsing Pinterest I saw a pin for travel keepsake boxes. The travel keepsake box idea is from Martha Stewart and you can see the original here. Basically, you paint a wooden box, stencil the destination on the side, and fill it with mementos from your trip.

I decided to make a London box and Paris box to hold all the tickets, pamphlets, pictures and scraps from our trip. I bought two of these wooden boxes from Michael’s – originally $19.99, but only $12 with coupon.

 

I painted the London box robin’s egg blue and painted the Paris box navy. Then I used my Cricut (did I mention that I bought an Expression 2?) and some scrap vinyl to cut out “LONDON” and “PARIS”. I used the scissors from the Cricut Tools Basic Set to cut the vinyl the same size as my wood box (it helps to keep the letters straight when placing the vinyl). Then I peeled away the lettering to create a stencil and used transfer tape to place it on the side of my box. Although the scraper tool is meant to clean the cutting mat, it also helps smooth out the vinyl on your surface.

 

First I painted a thin coat of the original color to prevent any bleeding. This method worked really well when I painted the stripes on my office walls, so I decided to try it out on a smaller scale. After that dried, I painted two coats of white paint over the stencil.

As soon as I finished painting the second coat, I peeled the vinyl off so I’d get a nice clean line. I used the weeder to peel off the smaller pieces– way easier than using a toothpick (my old method)! The white paint only bled under the vinyl in one spot, so painting a coat of the original color first definitely worked well. 

Once the paint was dry I filled my box with our plane tickets, entry tickets, pamphlets that we picked up from each stop, printed copies of my blog recaps, and pictures.

The boxes are now sitting on the entertainment center in the living room. I love that I can see them all the time and I catch myself reminiscing about our trip daily.

To read more about our time in London – click here

To read more about our time in Paris – click here

Disclosure: I was provided a set of the new basic Cricut tools for this post. All opinions are my own. 

 

Bye-Bye Brass + How-To

When I painted my front door last December I ended up replacing the dated brass hardware with new satin nickel knobs and locks. I had every intention of replacing all of the interior knobs soon after…10 months later, it’s done! 

Originally I thought about just spray painting the knobs, but I decided not to after realizing the knobs weren’t all matching, about half of them have keyholes (I don’t have the key), and a couple of them were dented, so I’d have to replace some of the knobs anyway.  For me, it was worth buying all new knobs.

 

Plus, this project ended up being free (for me)…let me explain how:

The company I work for gives out “pride points” as a reward for working on special projects, going above and beyond your job duties, supporting a successful project, etc. A point is equivalent to $1 and can be cashed in for merchandise or gift cards. On top of that, our company hosted a fitness challenge over the summer and gave out Amazon gift cards to everyone who successfully completed the challenge and reached their goal.  

SOOOOO, with my stash of gift cards I bought new door knobs…exciting, I know!  

I used $75 worth of Lowe’s gift cards to buy the first 5 knobs (3 for bed/bathrooms and 2 closet knobs). Then I used my Amazon gift card to buy 4 more bed/bathroom knobs and 1 closet knob. Even without the gift cards, this project would have only cost about $140. I don’t think that’s too bad for something that completely modernizes your home. 

For those of you who want more how-to details, here ya go:

First, remove the old knob. Don’t forget the strike plate on the door frame! Just unscrew 6 screws (in any order) and you’re done!

Next, use 2 of the short screws to attach the bolt mechanism to the door.

Now it’s door knob time. Both sides of the knob should easily fit together through the bolt mechanism. Use the 2 long screws to attach the knobs. If you pull the knobs apart a little, you can see the holes and it’s easier to line up the screws.

Again, don’t forget the strike plate on the door frame!

If you get confused, look at one of your other doors to see which direction the pieces should go.

Honestly, I’m sure most of you can figure out how to replace a door knob by yourself. It’s not that complicated. I’m mostly sharing these instructions so you can see how it easy it is. Don’t be scared to do it yourself! Ladies, you don’t need to wait for your man to come home…you can do it! Once you replace a couple of them and get into the groove, you’ll be able to remove and install a knob in about 5 minutes. Seriously, you can do the whole house in under an hour (unless you live in a mansion with lots of bedrooms/bathrooms)! 

 

I’d Rather Be Fishing Sign

Cue the applause! I actually created something that I pinned!

(source)

As you all know, I’m putting together a gallery wall in the office. My boyfriend and I both use the room, so I want both of our personalities to be reflected in the space especially since I don’t ask for his opinion anywhere else in the house. I thought a his/hers gallery wall would be a fun way to do that, so I’m hanging items he likes over his side of the desk and items I like over my side. I love how it’s turning out…plus my boyfriend actually likes it too.

My boyfriend LOVES fishing and we are only about 15 minutes from the lake, so he takes his boat out at least once a week. He spends a lot of time and money fishing, so of course I had to include something fishing related on the gallery wall.

Here’s my inspiration:

(Source via Pinterest)

I loved this sign because I know my boyfriend would rather be fishing than doing most other activities, but I didn’t love the $49 price tag. So I decided to make the sign myself using the same method as my EiffelTower Wood Shim art.

I used two packages of wood shims plus two smaller pieces leftover from my last project. I already had the gray paint, white paint, and vinyl, so my version cost less than $5!

I followed the exact same process as my Eiffel Tower art, so if you need more detailed instructions, click here. The only difference is that I painted my shims gray and used a little white paint and water to whitewash the boards.  

Here’s the finished sign with the rest of my boyfriend’s gallery wall items:

I only have a few more items to gather until the gallery wall is done. I’m hoping to finish before my trip, but we’ll see…

Eiffel Tower Wood Shim Art

Today I’m going to show y’all how to make signs out of wood shims. I like to call them faux-pallet signs because they have the same look as all those pallet projects you see around blogland and Pinterest, but are a lot simpler to make.  

First, gather your supplies. You only need wood shims, paint, and wood glue for this project! I bought my wood shims at Hobby Lobby (2-pack for $2.33). The shims are about 12 inches long and 1 ½ inches wide. I needed 5 shims for my finished sign, so I had to buy three packs (I’ll use the extra piece on another sign). I also bought a pack of smaller shims to help assemble my sign.

Start by painting the front and sides of all the shims. I just used white craft paint.

 

I forgot to take a picture of the assembly step (my bad), but it’s really simple. Flip the shims over and place them together. Add a line of glue to the back of the smaller shims. Lay them across the shims, press down, and wait for the glue to dry. That’s it! The shims are so light weight that you don’t need nails or screws.

Next you need to decide on a design. I picked the Eiffel Tower in celebration of our upcoming trip (less than 3 weeks!). I found this Eiffel Tower shape online and used my Silhouette to cut it out on some scrap vinyl. I used transfer tape to layout the design on my board. If you don’t have a Silhouette or Cricut, you can use stickers or freehand/trace your design.

 

Now it’s paint time! I used navy craft paint and a foam brush to paint in my design. Remove the large pieces of vinyl while the paint is still wet, but wait until the paint is dry to remove the smaller pieces. Otherwise, you’ll smudge the paint…ask me how I know… If you have any bleeding, it’s easily fixed with a small brush and a little paint.

Et voilà!

 

I used two small pieces of mounting tape to hang my new artwork in my office gallery wall. I love how it turned out and I can’t wait to see the real Eiffel Tower in a few weeks!