My Lovely Wall Art!

This project is by far the most time consuming DIY project I have taken on so far. When I first saw this idea on Jennifer's blog, "Life, Crafts, & Whatever", I thought it would be an easy, inexpensive way to spruce up my bare living room walls. Boy, was I wrong. Not only did this cost much more than I intended, it took forever!

Did you guess what this lovely is made out of? If you guessed paint chips, you're right! I felt like a shoplifter taking hundreds of paint chips from Wal-Mart with no intention of actually buying the paint, but it was worth it when I saw the finish project. So how did I create this unique art?

1. I cut up each individual paint chip to the same size (I don't remember the exact size...but if I did it again I would have been a bigger perfectionist and measured so there weren't half squares at the bottom and spaces on the side. Oh well, it makes it unique!)

2. Using spray adhesive, I glued the chips on a blank canvas one by one. (That stuff smells horrible!)

3. After all the chips were stuck on, I applied 3 coats of Mod Podge to seal those bad boys on good.

4. I used a regular ol' furniture stain and quickly stained over the top to create a more "weathered" look.

5. I didn't like the sides of the canvas being plain white, and the stain didn't darken it enough, so I just painted all the edges with a dark brown fabric paint.

My creation doesn't look nearly as perfect and pretty as the one I stole the idea from, but I like it kind of imperfect...it's more me :)

Another project I did with the intention of going along with my paint chip art were these little lovelies:

Simply canvas covered in scrapbook paper, layers of Mod Podge, some more of the dark brown furniture stain, and that's it.

I intended on hanging these randomly around the other wall art, but I'm considering either scattering them on another wall or setting them on the ledge we have over our kitchen cabinets - I can't decide. The colors of our kitchen/living room are green, orange, and brown so I went with that theme and created six of these, two in each color scheme. To make it look prettier, I could have only put the scrapbook paper on the front and painted around the edges, but that seemed so tedious that I figured this would work just as well.

I got this idea from a different blog, but I feel horrible that I can't give her credit because for some reason I didn't bookmark it!

I have a couple more projects I did in the past few weeks that I'll be sharing soon, so don't forget to follow me! Also, go check out this fantastic blog:

  'Til next time...

 

*These pictures were taken by my lovely friend Bailey! :)

Recent Makeup Purchases!

I'm quite the bargain hunter when it comes to makeup...I have so much of it that it's hard to justify paying full price for anything that won't be used every day! I've found some good deals on makeup recently on Walgreens and thought I'd share.

Milani Jewel FX Nail Lacquer in "Gold"

I'm not a huge fan of glitter nail polish, but I've been lusting over this since I first laid eyes on it. This amazingly chunky gold glitter looks amazing over any color, but especially warm tones. The past few times I've used it, it's been over....

Revlon metallic nail enamel in "Gold Coin"

This is a fantastic shimmery gold color, and best of all, it only needs one coat!

Revlon scented nail enamel in "Not So Blueberry"

Not exactly something I would usually go for, but the blue/purple duochrome excited me. Yes, it does smell like blueberries once it dries.

Jordana Glitter Rocks Retractable Eyeliner in "Rockabilly Brown"

Jordana Glitter Rocks Retractable Eyeliner in "Blues Rock"

Jordana Glitter Rocks Retractable Eyeliner in "Glam Rock Green"

Jordana Kohl Kajal eyeliner in "Parisian Plum"

Jordana Kohl Kahal eyeliner in "Green Gables"

CoverGirl Intense Shadow Blast in "Extreme Green"

Unfortunately, all of the Jordana eyeliners have been discontinued, which is why I bought them for around 50¢ a piece. They have come out with new products though, which are definitely worth a look. The Intense Shadow Blast has a sponge-tip applicator that is a little wobbly and I don't particularly like, but I've just been using it to apply on my eyelids and then just using my finger to blend it. I was so skeptical about buying another cream eyeshadow, because I have yet to find one that doesn't crease or smudge, even with primer, but this stuff stays on forever! I went swimming with it on and still had it one when I got out hours later!

Swatches...eyeliners in order from left to right, and the Intense Shadow Blast underneath.

Stay tuned, because there are a lot more posts to come!

*These photos were all taken by my wonderful friend Bailey :)