Wall Collage part 2 FINISHED!!

Yes that's right! I have been diligently working away at my wall collage over here. All other projects and fun things, such as crocheting, have been on total pause. I was determined not to take a break from this wall collage and move onto something else. I'm SO excited to share my wall collage project now! 

Here's everything! 

{See part 1 of wall collage here}

As you can see, I finally came to a decision on what color I would paint my frames! 

And here are all 14 of them painted.

Each frame got a little bit of sanding down, and painted with acrylic craft paint. I did have some white Krylon spray paint, but it was definitely too cold for spraying out on the balcony.. I did try it inside though! haha! Shhhh, don't tell! {I have a big old gross blanket thing that I pinned up in our storage room/closet and and did a little bit of spraying, but it did NOT turn out nice at all! I don't like that white spray paint. So using cheap dollar store sponge brushes with a large bottle of white acrylic paint was the way to go! And they turned out nice. It took SEVERAL coats to get complete coverage. I used a couple coats of polyurethane and the painting part was done! 

Then on to printing pictures and filling the frames. 

Walmart is where I print my photos. I had a few 8x10's of Hubby and me, and a really cute free print that I found on someone's blog, and I also made up a couple of my own prints on picnik. Those prints {the ones form blog and what I made} didn't print out the right color at Walmart. I was so bummed! So I asked the Hubs if he would let me buy some colored ink for our printer just for this project! They printed out in perfect color from our printer! 

I also framed fabric pieces. I already had a few of the things that I was going to frame, and just went out to purchase some mustard-ish yellow colored fabric. Walmart sells little fat quarters of fabric, and I had one already that I wanted to use, and I bought another one to fill a frame {I wanted something more black and white}. 

My round frame that I used is a little different, and it doesn't have a glass or backing. 

So this is what I did for it:

 my salad sized plate was an almost perfect fit inside the frame. so I traced it onto both sides of a pizza box and cut them out a little wider then the trace line. Taped the two together for a thicker stronger backing.

Found a bird shape online and traced it right from my computer screen to paper. Cut that out then pinned it onto white felt and cut out the design. Then I used heat and bond to secure the bird to my fabric.

Used thumb tacks to poke into the sides to hold down the cardboard since there was no backing or prongs to hold it down. 

{this is actually before all the above, I was just seeing what it would look like if I went with this idea}

And here are all my frames filled and awaiting their new home on the wall! 

I love the colors!

I forgot to take pictures of how I did big "M" monogram. I picked a font from my computer, enlarged the screen as big as I could get it and traced it right from my computer screen, lightly with a pencil of course. Then I filled it out with a pencil on my own to make it have volume and thickness and look normal, and then cut it out. Then I took a piece of black cardstock and traced that M onto it. Perfect! For the M frame I had to get another 8x10 frame just to use the glass as a backing- I wanted the M frame see through. The M fits tightly between the two pieces of glass. 

Last night I traced all my frames onto newspaper and wrote on papers which paper went to which frame. Then I turned over each frame, laid the newspaper on top of each frame and poked a whole through where the hanger was on the backs. This is for knowing where to put the nail in the wall when you put the newspapers on the wall. I arranged my newspapers on the wall, and did some arranging all night. At first I had the layout a little too bunched together, so I spread them out over the wall a little more. 

I have been SOOO nervous about actually getting everything on the wall! So Hubby put the nails in the wall for me, and I hung everything up! 

And now, here's is our new photo wall collage... 

... what we've all been waiting for.. 

.... what I have been working on for these past few weeks .... 

... hehe, here it is folks! .....

I couldn't stop squealing with happiness after seeing it all on the wall! It actually turned out as beautiful as I have imagined, and the plans that I made up on the word documents! Yes, I'm calling my own project beautiful.. I'm not boasting or being prideful, just so excited that I was able to put together something this nice looking for our home. Photos of the collage just don't do it justice. It looks so much nicer in person. And it doesn't look like a little pile of pictures on the wall in person either. Our living room is small.

I love it.

A Collage Wall part 1

Yes, I'm attempting my first real wall project since being in our apartment. These kinds of decisions always drive me crazy! Anyway, last week we got rid of this huge tv stand hutch thing that we've had since we first got married. I was SO excited to finally be getting rid of it! I had it listed on Kijiji for a couple months but no one wanted to buy it, and I kept reducing the price too! .. down to $15!! Still no takes! "THAT'S IT! I'm listing is as F-R-E-E!" ... what do you know, ten minutes after I post the add I get 6 emails of people wanting it. Oh brother.. who cares though, it's G-O-N-E! Okay, yes I'm getting to the point of my post. So with that huge jalopy gone we have more space and I've been able to rearrange my living room the way I want, which is so much fun.

Here's my wall I'm attempting the project on

Excuse the untidiness. I didn't feel like making it perfectly presentable for the picture. 

So this is my sad naked wall that needs some love. I have a collection of frames that I've been grouping on the floor in different arrangements, looking for one that jumps out to me. 

Here's the last grouping I tried, and I think I might actually like this one.

My frames are not as much of a variety as I was hoping for.. But awhile back I got this bag of like 12 frames (8x10's and 5x7's) for $5! And some others I found at thrift stores. They'll all be painted once I figure out what colors I want and such.. which is such a hard decision for me. Our living room is not exactly matching in any way. It's a bit of this and that. I think painting them all black might be a bit too .. dramatic or something. I want a lighter look, and I REALLY want some pretty colors. I plan to fill the frames with photos of the Hubby and me, pieces of attractive fabrics, and some other things that I'll have to think up. 

I'd really like some suggestions with this project, because I'm not that great with putting things on the walls. Putting things on the walls is the scariest and most intimidating thing for me!

I used a word document to open up my living room picture in, and I added shapes on the wall for the frame grouping. 

And here's another one.. 

This is pretty much the same layout, but I just added another 4x6 shape near the bottom in the space. The space made it look a bit off balance. I think. I'll have to go find another 4x6 frame if I go with this one. I guess this would be an oval layout? Right?

So what do YOU think?? How would this look on my wall? Would it be weird if I painted some of my frames white, since my walls are white? (not all the frames, just a few). Share some tips with me! I'd love to hear what anyone has to say for this project, cause.. I'm scared!!!

Dollar store pillow covers

It's been weeks and weeks since I've been to one of my favorite stores- the dollar store! So today seemed like the perfect day to go! I had just seen a blog post of someone turning a placemat into a pillow and of course I wanted to try. The placemats I found weren't very comfy feeling or soft. But I did find some cushion covers! So I picked out two matching colors to redo the ugly pillows that came with our couch. I just used the stuffing inside the old pillows. The covers on them were hideously stained and nasty. 

So here I am trying to make our home life prettier..

New pillow covers..

 Old pillows and stuffing... 

Ripping apart old stuffing into pieces... 

Stuffed new cover with old stuffing! 

It might not all match perfectly {and nothing really does in our apartment!}, but I think our little couch looks more comfy, clean and inviting.

It's so nice to be rid of those old stained up pillows! 

Oh, here's the left over mess... 

... and into the T.R.A.S.H it goes!

I like my new couch pillow!

 Ugh, when we got our used loveseat last year for $30 (off Kijiji.ca), it came with it's throw pillows too. They are ugly and sometimes it grosses me out that we have kept them. I did wash them before we put them to use, but still.. So I've been wanting some new pillows in our living room. MAN! Are throw pillows expensive, or what?! At Walmart they are 12 to 19 bucks a piece! ... am I cheap??? .. cause I passed...

Then I saw these awesome adorable crocheted pillows 

{by Lacasadecoto}

.. and I started to day dream :) 

.. then whipped out some yarn and a crochet hook! 

.. and got to work

Following this youtube video tutorial, I crocheted two circles. Each one has 12 rows of double crochet. I still don't understand how to make a FLAT circle! It kept puckering. 

{ewwww my hands look so gross and wrinkly! I guess that's the cold Canada weather for ya!}

I put right sides of crochet together {I like the "wrong" side of the crochet better than what is actually the "right" side.. I think I'm right.. maybe not.. but whatever side is facing me while I stitch, I liked that side better}, and then I stitched them together by slip stitching around...

.. and leaving a part open for stuffing. I actually stitched it closed more than the picture shows.. I just didn't take another photo of it after I did it. It was probably about 6 or 7 inches open. 

Then I stuffed it with 100% polyester stuffing after I turned the material right side out. I cut some material from an old white sheet to line the insides so stuffing won't pop through, but .. not sure how long that's going to last. I guess I hadn't thought that step out all that well! The material pieces will shift I'm sure and the stuffing will most likely pop out here and there someday. oh well! 

After stuffing it I slipped stitched it closed with a much smaller hook, because the slip stitch creates a raised stitching and I wanted it to look as less noticeable as I could get it. I didn't know any other way to close it up and I don't have a big needle for yarn. 

But I managed to finish it and here it is all comfy and cute on our couch.

I found the two gray throw pillows yesterday- 2 for $5. They're smaller and thinner than I would prefer, but they're alright until I become rich. They have zippers and an insert inside, so I can redo them sometime if I want. I don't know why they look shiny in the photo, because they're not. They'll also go with the colors I'd like for our bedroom, so maybe they'll eventually find their way in there.

And here's me enjoying my new made-by-me pillow!

.. it's pretty comfy! 

I'd like to make a few more for the living room in some fun bright colors!

What do you think? Am I becoming too crochet happy? .. because the last several posts have been all about crochet! haha! 

I'm in love with this living room!

The Yellow Cape Cod shares about her striped curtains, and I have completely fallen in love with them and EVERYTHING ELSE in her living room! It all looks so beautiful!

My mom has curtains coming for me in the mail. There are white panels for our living room and I just might try this! We don't really have any sure colors going through our apartment yet, but I just might make these colors work! 

I'm so inspired!

My simple fall decorations

Mom always said fall was her favorite time of year. I never realized what the big deal of it was until I got older, and boy do I agree with her now! There's just something about fall.. it brings some kind of wonderful feeling in the atmosphere. You just can't help but "fall" in love with fall!

I love to burn candles and make our place smell yummy. The other day I bought a pumpkin spice candle and have been melting it on my candle warmer. M-M-M! LOVE IT! That's another favorite part of the season- the smells!

Then there's the changing colors of the leaves.

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Peaceful. Dreamy.

Thanks to all you bloggers out there, I have been inspired and motivated to do a little of my own simple decorating for the season {emphasis on simple}

After coming across this pretty work of art
by High heels and a Hammer

.. and this super cute creation
found at Love Stitched 

I had an idea for my own..

and here it is

 OK, so I realize mine in NO way compares to the others! .. because they are just a-mazing!
But I tried.. and I like it.
My pinecones are the cinnamon smelling ones. So you can just imagine with that and the candle our little apartment smells YUMMY! Even my Hunny loves it!

And here are some pretty colorful leaves I picked

... and framed

How's some fall decor to clothe our naked living room wall for the season?
We like it, but photos just don't do the arrangement justice. .. you know how that goes.

 
That's my Hunny, sitting in the biggest comfiest recliner.
We like our cozy little mismatched living room.

And here's my candle collection and simple scattered fall decorations- pretty simple
Mmmmmm... wonderful smelling cinnamon pinecones
I love my candles!

 Do you see the white card in the middle??
That's our VERY FIRST 1 year anniversary card!
October 24th marks the special day.

There you have it. My very simple fall decorations for the season that
I love love LOVE.

Happy season of dreamy fall!

... I may be back soon with more fall posts. I have some plans up my sleeve {as always}.