So I needed some wall art to finish off our bathroom wall. I wanted something elegant yet not too busy and something that would also withstand the humidity in the bathroom. Here is what I came up with:

Total Cost of Project: $31.00 (keep in mind I had a canvas laying around and I didn't need to buy paints)

I am working on designing our guest room, I wanted something calm and relaxing for guest to stay in...you know nothing crazy or busy. My first thought was we live in Florida and I have TONS of sea shells from all over Florida, why not make it beachy!

Here are TONS of pictures from our last vacation. Enjoy!

Leaving Florida was fine, it was when we hit Georgia the weather started to act up. After 11 hours of driving we found 1 room left in Gatlinburg, TN.

Simmon's Bond Inn Bed & Breakfast

This was our room "The Tiffany"

Total Cost of Project: $33.00 (which includes paint and canvases)

I wanted an abstract art piece for our dining room. In stores the prices were outrageous, I was looking to spend anywhere from $80-$200 for artwork just in our dinning room. I wanted something different and something that "popped out at you." After looking around in multiple stores I decided to sketch out my own ideas. I started off by creating this 4 canvas art piece. I really like the colors at the time, then after months of looking at it on the wall  I realized two things, one, I am not into this "electric blue" anymore and two the art piece seems a little small for the wall.

The concept of this piece is really interesting and I learned it back in one of my studio classes in college. I wish I saved my pictures on how I did this but I will do my best to explain how I came up with this:

1. I took my picture out of a magazine and I analyzed the picture and found 4 areas that I thought were pretty neat looking.
2. I boxed off those 4 areas (with a perfect square since my canvases were perfect squares.
3. The idea of boxing the areas off is that you will be transferring each box to one canvas. So really what helped me out was I used one sheet of paper per image and sketched out the image. Now you are able to see the image in a bigger picture.
4. I then sketched out each image on the canvas. This is not a free hand painting, if you can do it great! I found that there was just so many little details that I had plan out before painting it.
5. Once your images are sketched out you can begin painting!

Four of my friends were all having baby's within weeks of eachother. I was trying to figure out what to get them, I wanted it to be something special and not just toys and clothes.  I always remember my Grandmother knitting blankets for all her grandchilden and new members of the family when I was little. She was the first one to teach me how to knit. Back in my college days while I was working at Hallmark I had a co-worker show me the basics on crocheting.

Long story short I started off knitting my first baby blanket, I lost one of the stitches and tried for hours to pick it back up. I had 4 months to make 4 baby blankets. This is when I decided crocheting would be best route to take.

Here they are...3 boys and 1 girl...

Total Cost of Project: $27.00 (including costs of paint and canvas's)

One of my girlfriends is having a little boy and she decided to decorate his room based on the Disney movie "Cars." She was telling me how ridiculous the price of artwork was to display on the wall. I thought about some and thought, I do paintings for my house why not attempt this for her. When it comes to painting I am more the "abstract artist" I am not usually one to paint people/animals or cartoons. I did some searching online and she gave me a picture of what the baby's bedding would like and here is what I came up with...

I took this picture the other night, Kona was peeking out of the closet and as I started walking towards him I saw his face in the mirror, it scared the crap out of me for a second, then I thought “Wait, this is a Kodak moment” I told him to stay while I got the camera and took a bunch of shots. He was so good and yes he was rewarded a treat after his photo shoot. Here are my two favorite shots…

This is one of favorite art projects; I came up with this all on my own. I had TONS of beads  and I had no idea what to do with them. I thought it would be different to see an art piece come alive from the beads. So the first step was choosing a piece of art. One of my favorite pieces is Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” I will admit I was a little intimidated at first at attempting the project, what inspired me the most was that it was different and all together challenging.  This project took me over 3 years to complete, not because it was that time consuming but I needed bright blue beads for the sky. It was taking me forever to get the blue beads I needed.

So I have decided to start a blog, I have been thinking about for some time now and the hubby has been encouraging me to do it. This site is geared towards my crafty inspirations that come upon me. Oh, and from time to time you will be seeing pictures of our dog, exciting things going on in our lives…and photography. Whenever I want to decorate or buy something unique I always think...can I make this and save some money? 8 out of 10 times I can do it so come along on my crafting adventure with me. Over the years I have created pieces that no one will ever have all at a small cost.