Arts & Crafts - Subway Art

In this post, I had mentioned (OK described in far too much detail) how I wanted to created a seasonal vase display for my kitchen work area. I had also wanted to incorporate subway art into the display and had got Tolsby frames from Ikea for the art. I pinned loads of subway art ideas onto a Pinterest board (sincere thank yous to everyone whose links/prints I've pinned there for the great inspiration).

However... 

I was struggling to find the time to make any progress on the vases project and in the end I abandoned it for the kitchen and am hoping to resurrect it for the den when we're finally able to do the prettifying in there.

I was OK with that decision even though its still left me with my work area shelf undecorated - I'm still pondering that and hoping to get me some inspiration on our shopping trip this weekend.

Anyhoo, I was a bit miffed at having done all the ground-work for the subway art idea (I'd chosen the monthly themes, decided what words I wanted to use and just needed to make up the monthly prints) and then it looked like it was going to fall by the wayside.... but doo do doo (that's a fanfare in case you didn't realise), thanks to a happy accident and a lucky find in Ikea the subway art project is all systems go... in  THE STUDY.

BTW as an aside, I am conscious that so many of the posts lately have been about the study. By way of explanation, being in the wheelchair, I'm limited by the DIY and decorating I can actually do (pretty much zero to be honest), so I have to rely on the Hubs for that. He often works from 6am to 10pm and recently has been away on Saturdays on a training course to. So progress has been painfully slow on the major projects (dining room, bedroom, den).

The study however doesn't need any major redecorating, its just what I call joojing that's going on and I can so take control of that! So I am all about the study right now, otherwise I'd go stir crazy if I had nothing I could achieve on the home decor or organising front while Hubs is MIA. Sorry, just felt the need to wander off on a tangent and explain - I felt if I didn't it would seem a bit crazy that there was no progress happening where the chaos is the worst!!

Ramble over, back to the project...

When I was sorting out the mess on the desk in the study I knocked a picture frame down the back of the desk and haven't been able to retrieve it (or convince Hubs to go crawling on the floor to rescue it for me), so that left a gaping hole on my desk crying out to be filled... you can see said gaping hole here (between the lamp and the white pot):

On to the lucky find in Ikea. When I was looking for the Tolsby frames, I came across a silver easel frame and just knew it would be perfect for interchangeable art. No messing about with taking a frame to bits to put a new print in, just put a new bit of art onto the easel whenever the fancy takes you - love it!! I would post a link to it, but for some reason its not on Ikea's website - I've checked the UK, US and Swedish sites and no sign - no idea why?!?

At this point, I didn't specifically have the subway art in mind or know where I might use it, but when the happy accident happened in the study I put 2 and 2 together and came up with subway art hanging out on the easel in the study!

As its SO easy to change up the art on the easel, I knew that the monthly themed subway art idea would be perfect. I just needed to change up the colour-scheming to work in the study and ended up keeping it simple and having all the text in a soft grey which I thought would go well with the cream and metallic tones of the study.

So I set about creating the works of art (well they are to me anyway). Like I said I stuck with grey text on on a plain white background and once I was happy with the fonts I used, I kept these consistent each month, so that the change was quite subtle. Here are the results (I've only shown pics of a few of the months, but you get the idea):

February - Valentine:

April - Easter:

June - Our Anniversary:

EDIT: Thought it would be appropriate to also include March, since its right around the corner!:

The fonts I used are: Kredit, Sybil Green, Burnstown Dam, Aberration, Earwig Factory, Hill House, Planet Benson 2 and Jokerman and they are all free online.

The themes/words for the other months are:

• January (New Year/Burns Night) - Countdown, Burns Night, Resolutions, Old Lang Syne, Celebrate, Fresh Start and Midnight
• March (St. Patrick's Day) - Leprachaun, 4 Leaf Clover, Blarney Stone, Top of the Morning, St. Patrick's Day, Pot of Gold, Lucky Irish and End of the Rainbow
• May (Springtime) - Sunshine, New Growth, Umbrellas, Birds Nests, Rainbows, Busy Bees, Blue Skies and Tulip Fields
• July (Tanabata - Japanese Wishing Festival) - Make a Wish, Cherry Blossom, Geisha Girl, Kyoto Tokyo, Tanabata, Fingers Crossed, Harajuku Girls, Saki & Sushi
• August (Summer Holidays) - Summer Hols, Ice Cream Cones, Sunburnt Bits, Sandcastle, Lazy Hazy Days, Roadtrips, Thunderstorms and Sunny Days
• September (Autumn) - September, Wrap Up Warm, Hot Chocolate, Lovely Colours, Getting Chilly, Autumnal, Harvest Time and Falling Leaves
• October (Halloween) - Halloween, Fancy Dress, October 31st, Orange * Black, Trick or Treat, Pumpkins, Under a Spell, Clocks Go Back
• November (Bonfire Night, Thanksgiving) - Fireworks, Give Thanks, Chilly Nights, November, Bonfire Night, Blankets, Roaring Fires
• December (Christmas) - Christmas, Cards & Pressies, Wonderland, Ho Ho Ho, Snowball Fight, Let It Snow, Jingle Bells, Santa Claus.

The great thing is I can totally customise these and change the words or the theme as I choose.

February's on display right now (March coming up next week - gulp, March already!):

All in all I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and all thanks to my happy accident! 

Arts & Crafts - Wallpaper Art

This is one of those projects where I got all carried away to get it done and didn't take any progress photos!!

I am trying to sort that out and keep my camera handy when there are going to be any art, craft, organising or decorating activities going on!

So, when we were clearing out the Den I came across an old silver picture frame that originally been in the kitchen pre-remodel as well as some leftover wallpaper from the mini make-over of the study (I'd got loads of samples when I was determined that the mini-makeover was actually going to be a major makeover!).

I'm not particularly creative or artistic but I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to have a go at some upcycling and DIY art (and take a break from all that organising!).

I used a neutral paper with a subtle ribbed effect as the background. One of the wallpapers had an ethnic medallion style pattern so I cut one of the medallions out and cut it in half. Another paper was a paisley pattern so I cut out a few of the motifs. I had got our initials in a trip to the DIY store (again with no purpose in mind for them I just liked them), so I stuck mine onto the frame (I'd lost Hubs' one oops!). Then it was just a case of playing around with the placement till I got an arrangement that I liked.

I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

I put it onto the chair to take a photo of it and have decided to leave it on there - its a bit random to have a picture on a chair but hey ho. The chair sits in a corner of the room opposite the door because I don't need to have a chair myself at the desk and its just for the odd occasion Hubs might use the study.

For ages the chair has been piled with filing which finally also got sorted out in what I'm calling the great purge. I had been debating whether to move the chair out of the room completely given that its so rarely used (and I have to move it when I want to print something) but with the print laid on it the chair actually looks purposeful and quite cute. So its had a reprieve and staying for now.

I am finding the achievement of even these small projects so satisfying!

"Arts & Crafts" - Surge of Creativity

I've been busy gathering lots of great ideas from the www recently - my new-found love is Pinterest . So much inspiration, so little time. I've made my own little creative contribution though, in the form of some DIY art work.

Here's what I've come up with so far. The pics are all for a gallery wall I want to create in the Den, so I've still got to figure out the colour-scheming. (Don't gasp in shock) It's going to have a multicoloured theme (inspiration taken from this Kandinsky print). Hopefully despite how it sounds it won't be too garish.

It was good to get the basic ideas created (I used Picasa and it was really simple - I'm sure you'd be able to create something even fancier in Photoshop). Thanks to Becca at From Gardners to Bergers, Cape 27, Nefotlak and House Dressing for the original inspirations.

I have a thing about &s - we're going to create a display of them on top of our kitchen cabinets - more on that soon hopefully!

I like the "Keep Calm" kind of typograhy but it feels like its getting a little cliched now - this appeals to my sense of humour a bit more!:

My take on eye chart art - it makes me smile:

One of my favourite Scottish words (its a term of endearment even though its slightly mocking):

One of my favourite Scottish sayings (its a Glasgow thing):

A collection of some of my favourite Scottish words - most of  my favourites seem to relate to expressions of stupidity - I've been thinking up words for another version of this... watch this space. How stupid am I though - I didn't include GINGER! Duh!!:

Words from a song by Darren Hayes "So Beautiful" - one of my favourite musicians:

Another of my favourite Scottish words (a tumshie is a turnip which is what we Scots call a swede):

I just thought this was cute:

Hubby's DOB, my DOB and our wedding date - awww:

I wanted to try and have pictures that were quirky and with a bit of a sense of humour and a dash of Scottishness (is that even a word!), hopefully I've achieved that - what do you think?

I'm linking this post up to:

   

Arts & Crafts - Seasonal Decorating

In our kitchen I have a work area where I do all my kitchen prep, often read magazines or eat lunch sitting there too. We couldn't design the kitchen so that this work area faced into the kitchen so I have my back the 

room when I'm sitting at it. I wanted to pretty it up a bit, so we built it with a little shelf we could put ornaments onto.

On there so far is:

• an easel frame with some home-made artwork from some old cards I had lurking around on the left-hand side;

• in the middle a metal & symbol and a couple of empty glass vases (pic to follow!);
• a speaker dock for my iPod on the right-hand-side.

Its getting there but so far I've been lacking inspiration for the glass vases. I decided that I wanted to use this little arrangement to create a monthly vignette that was either seasonal or relation to a holiday during that month.

Here are some of the ideas I have so far - it is still very much a work in progress and I've failed miserably with doing anything for January as I've not been able to go shopping due to other commitments plus I hurt my back and have been stuck at home.

1. JANUARY - BURNS NIGHT

I wanted a combination of a wintery theme with something Scottish as its Burns Night on 25th January - I wanted a layered effect to look cosy/wintery and thought about grey felt, layered with a grey tartan ribbon on top, tied with string and perhaps with a sprig of heather tucked into the string. The vases would have battery operated tealights inside. I did order some ribbon from The White Company, just not sure whether I can incorporate it or not - but at least now I have a year to figure this out!! This is the picture inspiration for January (from saniapell.com):

2. FEBRUARY - VALENTINE'S

I didn't want to go all out valentine with red/pink, but I did like the idea of hearts wrapped round the vases. I'm thinking to go with a purple candle in the vase with a heart garland wrapping the outside of the vase. This is the picture inspiration for February (from bhg.com):

3. MARCH - ST PATRICK'S DAY

I know I definitely don't want to go down the green route of St. Patricks Day but I did think something maybe with white four leaf clovers might be an idea. I'm still pondering this one. This is the picture inspiration for March (from usinotto.blogspot.com):

4. APRIL - EASTER

I want to fill the vases with bare branches and hang white eggs with purple ribbon onto the branches. From my picture inspiration though I do also like the idea of putting eggs into the vase itself but the vases might be a bit wee for that. This is the picture inspiration for April (from theinspiredroom.net):

5. MAY - SPRING THEME

For May I think I'll just go with a generic spring summer theme and introduce some flowers to the display to change things up a bit. In other parts of the kitchen we have dark aubergine (eggplant) coloured roses and orchids so for the vases I'm thinking to go white as that is pretty spring-like. This is the picture inspiration for May (from diy-wed.central.com), so I would probably use white tulips, orchids and cherry blossom:

6. JUNE - I HAVE NO IDEA

As I've gone with a spring summer floral theme for May, June has me a bit stumped - its Father's Day and its our Anniversary in June but so far nothing is inspiring me. I did think something with butterflies might be nice, but its random and not really relevant! There's no picture inspiration for June yet.

7. JULY - TANABATA

I was having real difficulty with all of the summer months as there are no really big holidays celebrated. So, doing a bit of lateral thinking and remembering my love for all things Japanese, I want to do something centred round Tanabata which is the Festival of Wishes celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month. This is the picture inspiration for July (from site.advantagebridal.com). I've bought white luggage tag labels from the White Company which I'm going to wrap in handmade paper, tuck a wish into each one and then hang them:

8. AUGUST - BEACH

We are having our summer holiday in August for the first time ever this year - normally we wait till the schools go back in September. So in honour of this and because I loved the idea from the picture inspiration, I am going to do something with white shells. This is the picture inspiration for August (from girlunderglass,net):

9. SEPTEMBER - AUTUMN

Usually when we have our holidays it is heading rapidly towards autumn so in honour of that I am going to do something with silvered leaves, white painted acorns (if I can get them) and pinecones), This is the picture inspiration for September (from centsationalgirl.com):

10. OCTOBER - HALLOWE'EN

Continuing the autmnal theme but incorporating Hallowe'en too I'll have white pumpkins, pinecones and maybe pussy willow. This is the picture inspiration for October (from 1.bp.blogspot.com):

11. NOVEMBER - BONFIRE NIGHT

Heading back into the wintery theme I'm thinking of covering the vases with white cosy jumper sleeves and then trying to have some sort of sparkler/bling to reference that its Bonfire Night in November - I've got some mini sparklers from The White Company to see if I can incorporate this some way - not sure yet. This is the picture inspiration for November (from countrydays.wordpress.com):

12. DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS

I loved the snowball garland I found from an inspiration picture, so that is going to be the basis for the December vases. I need to expand on this as I think just the garland on its own will look too insignificant. This is the picture inspiration for December (from etsy.com):

I've been busy gather inspiration from around the net and frantically pinning to a couple of my boards on Pinterest - these can be viewed here and here.

I'll post updates showing the monthly theme as and when (and IF) I achieve them - I have a feeling with all the other home priorities we have that for this year, these ideas might just well stay as ideas - but as the vases are currently sitting sad, empty and lonely hopefully that will bother me enough to get on with it!!

If you have any ideas I could use for the vases or you've done anything like this yourself, I would LOVE to hear from you.